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Create Barchart in Android Studio

I will keep the code simple and let's jump into the coding part. Setting up build.gradle(Module: app) file Add the following code in your file. repositories { maven { url "https://jitpack.io" } } dependencies { //... //... implementation 'com.github.PhilJay:MPAndroidChart:v2.2.4' } and click on the Sync option which pops up. Building activity_main.xml file <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent" android:paddingLeft="16dp" android:paddingTop="16dp" android:paddingRight="16dp" android:paddingBottom="16dp" tools:context="Android.in.barchart.MainActivity"> <com.github.mikephil.charting.charts.BarChart android:id="@+id/barchart" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent" /> </RelativeLayout> Coding MainActivity.java file import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity; import android.os.Bundle; import com.github.mikephil.charting.charts.BarChart; import com.github.mikephil.charting.data.BarData; import com.github.mikephil.charting.data.BarDataSet; import com.github.mikephil.charting.data.BarEntry; import com.github.mikephil.charting.utils.ColorTemplate; import java.util.ArrayList; public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity { @Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.activity_main); BarChart barChart = (BarChart) findViewById(R.id.barchart); ArrayList<BarEntry> entries = new ArrayList<>(); entries.add(new BarEntry(8f, 0)); entries.add(new BarEntry(2f, 1)); entries.add(new BarEntry(5f, 2)); entries.add(new BarEntry(20f, 3)); entries.add(new BarEntry(15f, 4)); entries.add(new BarEntry(19f, 5)); BarDataSet bardataset = new BarDataSet(entries, "Cells"); ArrayList<String> labels = new ArrayList<String>(); labels.add("2016"); labels.add("2015"); labels.add("2014"); labels.add("2013"); labels.add("2012"); labels.add("2011"); BarData data = new BarData(labels, bardataset); barChart.setData(data); // set the data and list of labels into chart barChart.setDescription("Set Bar Chart Description Here"); // set the description bardataset.setColors(ColorTemplate.COLORFUL_COLORS); barChart.animateY(5000); } } Play with entries.add() and labels.add() functions. You will understand how plotting is done. Basically, entries.add(new BarEntry(8f, 0); Here 8f is the value and 0 is the index value which is mapping to labels.add("2016"); which is at 0th index. Source and Credits: https://github.com/PhilJay/MPAndroidChart which is A powerful 🚀 Android chart view/graph view library, supporting line- bar- pie- radar- bubble- and candlestick charts as well as scaling, dragging and animations. Clone/Download the repository and play with the code. There is so many chart example available. Thank You.

https://medium.com/@karthikganiga007/create-barchart-in-android-studio-14943339a211

['Kartik Ganiga']

2019-06-21 08:04:00.165000+00:00

['UI', 'Android', 'Charts', 'Development', 'Android App Development']

3 Mistakes Developers Make When They’re in a Hurry

Not Reading Enough Code Have you ever seen a movie where a programmer stares at a screen for a couple of minutes and does nothing? Me either. Usually, they type something at a breakneck pace and the problem is solved. Unfortunately, our daily job is not so glamorous. We need to read code — lots of it. And besides reading the code, we should understand what it does and why. Random code from the internet Not reading enough code comes in many flavors. When was the last time you were looking for some answers online, found a code snippet on Stack Overflow, and pasted it? I probably did it this week. There’s a big chance the code from SO works. But do you understand what it does, why it does it, and what the limitations are? Is it secure? How does it deal with edge cases and your requirements? Sometimes, you have to paste code and pray it works. Some things are too complicated to fathom in the limited time you have. But usually, you can understand the code in 15-30 minutes. You should be reasonably confident you know the code you put into the project. If you don’t, you may compromise the project’s security and maintainability in the long term. Code in your project How about reading your project’s code? It’s the same old story: You’re called to fix a bug in the code part you’re not familiar with. Fortunately, you have a hunch and try to fix it immediately. It works, so you push the changes and get back to your business. That’s a huge mistake. If you’re not familiar with the codebase and don’t have tests, the chances your fix doesn’t break anything and handles all the cases are small. You always need to understand things before you try to fix them. Just poking around with random adjustments won’t cut it. You may be lucky once or twice, but sooner or later, you’ll break something big. Code in the libraries How many libraries do you add by default when starting a project? Are you sure you need them and understand how they are implemented? I’m not trying to make a case for not using libraries and frameworks. You should use verified and well-tested code wherever possible. Reinventing the wheel is a common problem and can do more harm than good. What I want to say is it’s beneficial to understand the tools you’re using. Popular libraries are often excellent pieces of software, and you can learn a lot by studying their codebases. This will let you become a more skilled developer or you may realize you don’t need a certain library. Either way, you win. You don’t have to analyze every library you use, but when you use something time and time again, it’s worth taking a look at how it works. Reading good code makes you a better developer and helps you understand your products. You may believe you don’t have time to read code, but that’s not true. Familiarity with your product’s code will speed up your coding, and reading other code will let you grow as a developer. So, in the long run, reading code will save you time — not waste it.

https://medium.com/better-programming/3-mistakes-developers-make-when-theyre-in-a-hurry-29a8a46109dd

['Szymon Adamiak']

2020-09-04 15:17:33.176000+00:00

['Programming', 'Education', 'Software Development', 'Development', 'Learning To Code']

Hollywood To Go

Hollywood To Go Courtesy of Jeremy Moore/Fine Art America *Musical Selection: Rufus & Chaka Khan’s Hollywood* He’s got dreams — He tells his sister He’s gonna make it. His hands flailing in the Air, outta control. There’s nothing in his bones Remotely close to talent, But, he’s got dreams. Who was she to trample on them? Schoolboy fever, he spends His free time creating art No one buys, but he’s Going to Hollywood — City made of lights And overpriced ecstasy. “Eh, lemme hold somethin’!” The words echo within his Mind louder than a bullhorn Can muster. Must be Sean. He’s gotta brand new car, Riding the flex, showing off That candy-red paint. Oh, they’ve all got dreams, But his are more important. He’s gonna escape the Death grip of past due bills, Stale coffee, and beaten up Trash bins holding day-old-bread With just enough mold to be Considered dangerous for consumption. They eat it anyway. Of course, what do you do When Hollywood is twenty years Down the road in a glass Globe with figurines Standing around waiting to be Shaken? You take your chances.

https://medium.com/a-cornered-gurl/hollywood-to-go-7faaabcd81a3

['Tre L. Loadholt']

2017-04-23 21:50:07.985000+00:00

['Dreams', 'Audio Poems', 'Art', 'Hollywood']

It’s a challenge guys!

Damn, my people what do I say, it’s been more than a month that I have been feeling so lethargic and tired all the time, loosing concentrations, not focusing and stressing out, not following healthy diets, stopping my workouts and yoga’s. While I must say I have not even gone to balcony, too unaware about earth and nature. I miss nature, I miss talking with my stars, I miss my morning walks, and I have not even managed time todo them all. I really want to start again. You know what it’s never late to start, it’s okay if you were off the track, now you get back again. Our smallest to smallest habits shape us, and we don’t know how long we grow by building some smaller habits, whether it be’s waking up early or drinking a coriander seed water in the morning. Create your life guys, your way of living: choose your dreams, today, yeas today! That one day in my life, is going to become “day one”! “Prasuma’s 35 days challenge”: Get ready guys, Let’s create a challenge! So, it’s 10:08 pm and I will be updating my blog every morning after I wake up, and it’s a challenge! Ohmygod, prashuma are you up for it? Yeasssssssssssssssssssssss The challenge has begun, tik tokkk! I would be grateful if I carry forward any of my three healthy habits everyday, and my goal is to create a life. To create my day, to create the person I am going to be, cause everyday is your day one, sweethearts! Wake up, create your schedule, your muscles, it’s time for your skin care, take a chill pill with nature and move your body, drink water and smile at your mirror. Get dressed up in your best fit and start your day with a beautiful portray of you, you would love to be in. You can do this guys! I will be giving you all the reviews on my everyday experience, and I won’t let you guys down! Wish me luck guys! I ‘am getting nervous, deep breathhhh, yeas, will see you all tomorrow, with my updates. Time to take my vitamins. Goodnight guys, tomorrow is going to be prettier. -love love ❤ -PRASUMA

https://medium.com/@magaratiprasuma20/its-a-challenge-guys-cdae65fae19a

['Prasuma Magarati', 'With My Flaws']

2020-10-13 16:50:56.723000+00:00

['Life Lessons', 'Morning Routines', 'Happy', 'Challenge', 'Life']

Global Startup News…Month In Review — February 7, 2020

Friday, February 7, 2020 Global Startup News (GSN) is a curated resource, showcasing hard-to-find, early-stage technology companies and related startup industry news from around the world. Chris Valentine CEO and Founder Adeo InterActive Quote of the Month “Don’t start a company unless it’s an obsession and something you love. If you have an exit strategy, it’s not an obsession.” — Mark Cuban Featured Startup News Global | Africa | Asia | Europe | North America Oceania / Australia | South America | Weekly Spotlights Global The World’s Most Productive Countries — Labor Productivity Source: You Tube PwC Aviation Industry Forecast 2020 to be another year of strong performance for global aviation industry Source: Irish Tech News Europe Data, Decrypted: What We Learned From Analyzing 6 Years of Startups at Slush Source: Slush The year of the French unicorns Source: Tech Crunch Dutch scaleup funding 2019 Source: Startup Juncture New, extensive survey on the Icelandic innovation ecosystem Source: Northstack North America Venture capital slowly seeps outside of Silicon Valley Source: Axios How Mormons Built the Next Silicon Valley While No One Was Looking Source: Medium The United States Of Venture Capital: The Most Active VC In Each State Source: CB Insights Asia Israel Earns Its Name as the Startup Nation with Over 6,000 Startups Source: Medium Bahrain: The challenge of staying competitive Source: Wamda A Startup Nation: Why Israel Has Become The New Silicon Valley Source: Apex Africa The biggest problems facing South Africa’s tech entrepreneurs right now Source: Business Tech African tech startup funding hits $491m in record-breaking 2019 Source: Disrupt Africa The top 5 pan-African startup sector developments of 2019 Source: Disrupt Africa East Africa: EAC Must Not Be Left Behind in Fourth Industrial Revolution Source: All Africa Rwanda: Five Major Tech Trends of 2019 Source: All Africa South America Investment in cloud and AI to increase in Brazil Source: ZD Net Oceania / Australia How Australia can lead the electric vehicle revolution Source: Startup Daily Random Thoughts Visualizing Unequal State Tax Burdens Across America Source: Visual Capitalist In the internet era, public libraries are more vital than ever Source: Mashable Australia is building a research submarine Source: Startup Daily Who We Are Global Startup News If you have any questions, please contact Chris Valentine at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/valentinechris

https://medium.com/@globalstartup/global-startup-news-month-in-review-february-7-2020-2fdfc0b1ef01

['Global Startup News']

2020-02-07 15:39:27.080000+00:00

['Startup', 'Investors', 'News', 'Venture Capital', 'Entrepreneurship']

Walking Your Troubles Away

Walking Your Troubles Away A regular stroll improves more than physical wellbeing Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash Most people know there are documented physical health benefits for seniors who take a daily walk. Often overlooked are the mental and emotional benefits. Walking and/or other non-impact forms of exercise can help you live better, longer, and ward off mental decline, depression, and anxiety. Walking and other exercises change the chemicals and cells in our bodies. Nerve cells communicate better in those who exercise regularly which leads to improvements in processing information. Researchers have found regular exercise stimulates brain cell growth and produces more protein in the brain which improves learning and memory function. Take steps to improve emotional wellbeing Walking daily has been shown to lower your risk of depression. Walking for Health is a non-profit in England that organizes walks for people seeking better health. It reports: “Physically active people have up to a 30 percent reduced risk of becoming depressed, and staying active helps those who are depressed recover.” Walk to a better night’s sleep About half of people over 65 have trouble falling asleep. Research indicates that walking can solve that problem. In 2017 Morehouse University School of Medicine studied older adults with sleep problems. Roughly half of study participants experienced greater ease falling asleep and staying asleep after establishing a walking routine. Physicians often recommend walking as a way for seniors to lose weight and boost physical and mental strength. Also, walking is easy to do and requires no special equipment. Walk more, live longer Taking 4,000 steps a day is considered a low level of physical activity. Often, doctors and trainers will recommend 10,000 steps a day as the optimum goal. However, a study last year that teamed researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that 8,000 steps a day were enough to reduce mortality risks in participants. Those who walked 8,000 steps a day versus those who walked 4,000 steps had a 51 percent lower risk of dying over the next decade. Those in the JAMA study who walked 12,000 steps daily had a 65 percent lower mortality risk than other participants. Slow and steady wins the race The same study found that the intensity or speed with which participants walked had no impact on their lifespans. So a casual stroll is just as effective as a power walk. My dad was a testament to the slow and steady approach. He was diagnosed with Leukemia at age 70 and told he had about three years to live. Reading everything he could about cancer and consulting with a great oncologist, he developed a daily walking regimen. At first, it was a couple of blocks. His rambles grew to a couple of miles and never achieved great speed. He died thirteen years after being diagnosed, three months short of his eighty-fourth birthday. No doubt genetics and dad’s positive attitude contributed to his longevity, but his daily walks also helped. You are never too old My father’s age illustrates another fact research bears out. It’s never too late to start an exercise regimen. A prime example is Fauja Singh. However, he did not walk. He ran. After his wife and son died, Singh, in his 80s poured his grief into running. He built his endurance over a few years and ran his first marathon at 89. Continuing to build his speed and endurance, he recorded his best time — five hours and 50 minutes at 92. In 2004 and again in 2012, he was an Olympic torchbearer. In 2011, Singh became the first person to run a marathon at age 100. By the way, Singh was not a great runner when he was a kid. Due to a birth defect, he did not even walk until he was five-years-old.

https://medium.com/crows-feet/walking-your-troubles-away-4a0fdf5270d3

['Max K. Erkiletian']

2020-11-12 15:55:47.762000+00:00

['Health', 'Mental Health', 'Aging', 'Exercise', 'Seniors']

It’s the energy, stupid!

It is dawning, even on economists, that the situation might be serious: recession is looming, banks are virtually bankrupt and negative interest rates are destroying the financial system as well as the very concept of savings. However, most of them have still not figured out the real cause of this crisis and, by extension, the fact that this is not a just some part of the economic cycle but truly the end of an era. To understand this, it is necessary to go back to basics, meaning economic models. For centuries, these models have been ignoring the most basic laws of physics, a fact that did not seem to bother them that much. The lack of scientific training prevents most economists from understanding that every economic process is about transforming matter and that this transformation requires energy. Our modern world was born with the Industrial Revolution which was a scientific revolution but also a revolution of the way we exploited fossil sources of energy: coal, then oil. If we wanted to be rigorous, economic output, as measured by the GDP, should be a linear function of the energy used. Oil output and growth (source: the Shift Project) For over two centuries, a flash-in-the pan compared to humanity’s economic history, we have regarded natural resources oil, coal, but also wood, water, copper, zinc, sand, phosphate and a lot of elements found in the periodic table as infinite resources. Unfortunately, they are not and since the beginning of the industrial revolution, their stocks have been steadily declining. Rather than admitting this fact and accepting that growth would mechanically experience a slowdown in the late 20th-early 21st centuries, governments decided to pretend that everything was fine and embarked on a flight forward whose dire consequences are catching up to us now. This flight took the form of debt, I’ll go back to this, and the increasingly costly exploitation of natural resources which are getting more and more difficult to obtain. As an example, fracking and shale gas enabled the USA to buy itself twenty years of respite but the activity itself is not profitable and can only exist because it is heavily subsidized by the US government. When talking about energy, one should not look at the volume or the price but at something called “Energy Return On Investment” (EROI). EROI represents the amount of energy necessary to extract a given quantity of energy. The lower the EROI, the higher the cost of extracting the energy and the less profitable the activity is, as it is the case with shale gas. Even if a lot of fields of one given resource still exist, if it costs you more, energetically speaking, to get it out of the ground than what you get energetically out of it, it is useless. To summarize: as your EROI diminishes, the economy contracts in real terms and so does your discretionary income. Truth be told, debating whether or not natural resources are declining is absurd because we are actually already suffering from the decline of the EROI and the reality of dwindling natural resources’ stocks. In fact understanding the decline of the EROI is the key to understanding the trajectory of the economy since the 1970’s. In fact the first oil crisis in 1973 is actually a direct manifestation of the decline of the EROI (see graph). If a factory worker could raise a whole family on his salary and can no longer do so in 2019, it is ultimately because of the decline of the EROI. If the subprime crisis happened in 2008, it is ultimately because of the decline of the EROI ( overlending and junk bonds are just ploys to temporarly delay the inevitable contraction, see below) The decline of the EROI is a physical hard fact: the energy we extract from the environment and use to make the wheels of great economic machine turn is getting scarcer and of a lower quality. As a result, the economy is contracting in real terms. Our governments found a solution to sweep the problem under the rug: massive debt creation, i.e. transferring the cost of the adjustment to future generations. For decades, monetary creation has been used to offset the decline of the EROI and maintain the illusion of prosperity as well as supporting the economic take-off of countries such as China. Problem is, this strategy is no longer working. Governments, banks and financial institutions are currently finding themselves between a rock and a hard place: massive monetary creation is currently destroying the global financial system thanks to the negative interest rates it triggered but at the same time, putting an end to this policy would bring about a global economic crash of epic proportions. One can only escape the decline of the EROI for so long and the system will find balance again but at a huge cost. The collapse of the EROI does not mean the end of civilization or a return to the Stone Age. If you are making $10 000 a month but still spend like when you were earning $20 000, you are by no means poor but you are living well beyond your means and it is the discrepancy between what you earn and what you spend that will make you bankrupt. The same logic applies to world economies. All our productive systems, infrastructure but also standards of living are oversized compared to the energy “budget” we have and the huge inequalities brought about by globalization and the secession of the “elite” are only making things worse. Instead of flying forward, we could have acknowledged the reality of declining energy stocks and gradually reduced our standards of living accordingly. We could have: -done away with the dogma of economic and demographic growth and stabilized our societies at sustainable levels -let economies and population shrink naturally rather than trying to force them to grow through debt creation and immigration -defined what we consider acceptable standards of living, public services and infrastructures and downsized accordingly, reducing waste, bureaucracy and public spending in the process -discouraged the creation of massive amounts of household and corporate debt as well as excessive risk-taking from investors rather than supporting the lax monetary policies of Centrals Banks -developed an economic system that recycles, repairs and produces locally rather than one who encourages mass consumption, goods renewal and import/export. -anticipated the energy transition by investing in nuclear energy not renewables, sustainable habitat not big city hubs and suburban sprawls and energy efficient petrol-engines not electric cars. These adjustments will happen in any case but they will painful, chaotic and hasty rather than benign, anticipated and gradual. We are about to witness the greatest economic contraction in history and we are, all of us, economically, politically and psychologically unprepared to face it. This is why you have to laugh out of the room and call a charlatan any politician who promise you growth and to increase your standards of living, same thing with an economist or an “expert” who does not know the first thing about the EROI and its implications for economic systems. Growth is not coming back and no silver bullet or miracle technology is going to come to save the day. It’s stone cold physics. The future will be about frugality and limits. It’s not going to be the end of the world but it’s going to be the end of a world. Let’s make sure we take better care of the new one than those before us did with the old. Further reading: Enery and the Wealth Of Nations, Charles A.S Hall, Kent Klitgaard. Translated from French by the author The original article can be found here

https://medium.com/@stanislasberton84/its-the-energy-stupid-5be417a2d3c6

['Stanislas Berton']

2020-03-18 19:00:47.115000+00:00

['Crisis', 'Economics', 'Energy', 'Oil']

A/B Testing Platforms: Build vs Buy

However, there are also many problems with existing 3rd party platforms. Usually they use their own event tracking, meaning that it’s impossible to test against your existing metrics or data warehouse (Growth Book, by the way, does let you do this). It also means yet another place you’re sending your user data, which might lead to you being out of compliance with the various privacy laws. The kinds of metrics you can test against are typically limited too, with most only supporting binomial events (yes/no, or clicked/didn’t click). If you open up the platform for many of your team to start tests, you can end up with interfering tests and make the results meaningless. You also run the risk of running it like the wild west, where the tests make no sense, are out of your design style guide, or lack strategic direction. Front end testing can cause pages to flicker as they load as the payload is injected into the page. Flickering text or buttons can cause the results to be meaningless, as it either slows the page down, or causes users to notice flashing parts more. Deeper code integration for back end testing is harder to implement as it can be a round peg into a square hole. Often the back and front end analytics are not talking to each other. The biggest impediment to buying, as with most things, is the cost. Many A/B testing platforms charge in a way that increases the more you test. Since you want to be testing a lot, this can mean that things get very expensive. Other solutions, like Google Optimize, are free as long as you stay under their usage limits, but once you go over the limit, then it’s $150k. It is also quite limited in terms of the tests you can run. It’s not uncommon for a medium-sized site to have the cost of the A/B testing platform be equivalent to one quarter to half of a full-time developer’s salary. Conclusion To build vs buy can be a hard decision. A/B testing platforms have come a long way over the recent years, and are adding enough features that you should think really hard about building yourself. The costs of building and maintenance are probably much higher than you expect. By the way, we built Growth Book based on our experiences with exactly this decision — and it addresses almost all the negatives addressed above (we are built for back end tests, and currently don’t support a front end admin). We tie into your existing data infrastructure, are built to make a seamless developer experience, and have tools to encourage a culture of experimentation. We have years of experience doing experimentation and building these tools. We offer all the advantages of building your own system, without the negatives of buying. Spend your time on products that add value for your users. Contact us and let us show how we do A/B testing better.

https://medium.com/growth-book/a-b-testing-platforms-build-vs-buy-dfb8604e77e

['Graham Mcnicoll']

2020-11-23 15:27:55.557000+00:00

['A B Testing', 'Data Engineering', 'Data Analytics']

Making a Biden/Harris Listening Tour Meaningful

Making a Biden/Harris Listening Tour Meaningful Photo by Manny Becerra on Unsplash In the lead-ups to major elections, political listening tours have become as predictable as the sun rising in the east, wherein candidates scarf fried dough at state fairs and drop by diners for a chat over coffee with constituents. Once seen as mere political showmanship, these made-for-tv moments are now a leadership imperative. The brand of cultural reconnaissance these informal meet-and-greets produce confirms the beliefs of political scientists and journalists everywhere: the best way to find out what voters think is to…ask them what they think — and then listen to their response. An authentic listening tour seeks connection and is uniquely suited to clearing the air for a real exchange of ideas in the spirit of progress and unity. Or at least, that’s the goal. The reality of reaching out to those who don’t share our views is a bit messier, mostly through no fault of our own. That we are having trouble finding common ground at this moment in 2020 is an understatement. Post-election we are as deeply divided as ever, with huge swaths of the population in seeming disagreement on nearly everything — not just issues and ideas, but on basic facts. Radio silence is not the answer, but before respectful conversation can even begin, we the public need to work towards actively listening to each other in an atmosphere of respect. Finding common ground depends on us figuring out a way to recognize that there are basic facts in the world that we must agree upon, especially in the age of social media when facts and opinion are interchangeable. The Social Dilemma, a documentary that aired on Netflix in 2020, illustrates that much of the divisiveness so prevalent today is due to content algorithms that “learn” about users and send them down idea-confirming rabbit holes — while also fueling a spiraling sense of negative self-esteem. This discrepancy in fact-based knowledge has been artificially created by social media companies that prioritize the monetization of user attention over objective communication, leading to out-of-control conspiracy theories and harmful misinformation. False information spreads faster and farther than fact, according to a 2019 study published by researchers at MIT’s Media Lab, which found that falsehoods are 70% more likely to be retweeted on Twitter than the truth and reach their first 1,500 people six times faster than fact. A person who believes in a conspiracy theory will hang on to that knowledge until they see competing evidence that disproves it, but internet rabbit holes prevent this kind of natural correction. YouTube has been called out for the way its algorithms amplify extremist views, though the claim that the site’s recommendations facilitate far-right radicalization is disputed. Just as radio interference blocks transmission, the static from the internet prevents us from communicating clearly with one another. On the internet, where many of us spend significant amounts of time, it is a challenge to find others willing to have an open discussion guided by curiosity and respect rather than indulge in indignance and bullying. How do we reach each other when there are such significant barriers to open communication? What does an exchange like this look like? This social media-driven consolidation and strengthening of particular views — however “right” or “wrong” they may be — means that Biden and Harris have their work cut out for them. Fortunately, they are both great listeners — practiced in weighing the concerns and views of others, even when those views do not tidily align with their own. A listening tour would not only put their skills to the test, but, more critically, would allow them to model those behaviors for the rest of us. By getting out there and meeting with all stripes of Americans face to face (or, in the near-term, over Zoom), the kind of genuine dialogue and mutual respect Biden and Harris personally take part in would be a positive step toward bridging the gaps among the rest of us. A Biden/Harris listening tour — if it has any chance of success or breaking through barriers — might want to take the environmental factors affecting how we got here into account.

https://medium.com/@dr-karynemessina/making-a-biden-harris-listening-tour-meaningful-6c1943087f70

['Karyne Messina']

2020-12-19 18:25:22.464000+00:00

['Biden', 'Politics', '2020', 'Psychiatry', 'Listening']

Why I Stopped Writing Poetry

I stopped writing. Stopped putting pen to paper Stopped listening to the raindrops of my soul Because the paper was too bright, Ink was too dark, the contrast Harmonized with nothing and created Rivulets of discord, raining down in space And time. I stopped because the shift became Too strong and the words became Like jello underfoot, melted into A simple pot of pentameter That I wanted to walk away from Before it consumed me. I wanted to get away from all the Weirdness and all of the poets Become something real and stagnant And valuable in the world, Not floating from tree to trainwreck Pontificating softly on the dew-down On the nape of my lover’s neck.

https://medium.com/@claire-boyce24/i-stopped-writing-poetry-2efff660d08e

['Claire Boyce']

2020-12-23 21:21:24.468000+00:00

['Poetry', 'Poet', 'Poems On Medium', 'Poem', 'Poems And Stories']

Science Fiction Afternoon

Afternoons are so absent in ones life unless one is a child or one is very old. Yet they play such an important role in our lives every day, month, year.. and this afternoon was not the usual one. May be the sun rose a couple of degrees on the west or maybe the wind was blowing slightly to the East , everything was out of character this afternoon. One could have easily missed it, maybe the out of character-ness saved it and made it a little more memorable. Lunch was in order and the daily ritual had to start, a walk down the stairs, asking fellow colleagues to join and then walking into the food court to choose in on one food joint. But I realized I wanted to recharge my mobile phone and this was maybe this was too ‘out of character’. With a steely resolve I broke the ritual that afternoon and took the road straight to the small kiosk 100 meters away from the office. In situations like these of out of character-ness, the mind goes into an overdrive and literally assumes your life has turned into a Sci-fi movie. It thinks — anything could happen now, an earthquake can happen right there, you could meet a dear friend out of nowhere or it could start raining suddenly. What would you tell your mind when it started raining that time and I had to quickly take shelter in a bus stop. Life is indeed a hidden Sci-fi movie. The bus stop started attracting more Sci-Fi minded people and then somehow it all became normal, the mind had calmed as if something very expected happened. But then out of nowhere the rainbow came out — the sun, the rain and the people all now in a trance. The mind giggled as it quietly said — ‘Did not I tell you, its all SciFi out here’. The out of character afternoon, the LSD trip laden mind and the rainbow gazing people gave me little hope that all that was happening was leading to something more. The spell had to break as the realization of the limitedness of time took over. Time is a funny thing, like one stick moving around a circle once and then once more and then once more and it just keeps doing that. We attach our emotions, ambitions, aspirations and hope to it that maybe on one fine circle things would change, everything would either be set right or everything would fall apart. As funny as it sounds, it’s the same mind playing its Sci-Fi game, isn’t it? This time though, I did not feed the monster and I respected the stick moving around the circle and indeed it had moved quite a lot of times than it should have -according to my wish. I ran to the shop and asked the shopkeeper to ‘load currency into my mobile phone’. Another sci-fi equivalence, another unexplained mystery of modern-day life — a physical exchange of goods resulting in a meta-physical activation of signals. The humans present on either side of the exchange being content on the non-physical fulfillment. What comes next is even more magical. I had to make a phone call to someone. That was the whole point you see of breaking the mold of the usual afternoon. Everything happening that moment was normal to a third person. For my mind, each small thing was Sci-Fi, each thing seemed out of character. As I consciously played this different afternoon in my head, I smiled. Such smiles are only found in such afternoons and that’s why afternoons are special. I clicked on a name and the device know who I wanted to speak to, it did the rest. Made me wait for a while — it was like some milli seconds -it was kind of a silence followed by immediate sound maybe to not disappoint you, maybe to tell you it is there doing the work for you. After some tones and sounds the ring came in. How would have Alexander Graham Bell felt when he would have made the first phone call, when he would have had this moment of silence and anticipation and voila! You listen to someone on the other side. For the mind, the invention of the telephone would have been something like ‘discovery of wheel’ on drugs. All of it happens in split second but a whole lot of it is still hidden and mysterious. What would have Alexander Bell felt in this moment — a weird anxiety or a fulfilling contentment. I guess he would have felt the same as my mind felt — the whole fucking this is a Sci-Fi movie. Every single time, you and I know it, the time you listen the ‘Hello’ from the other side, there is a small shiver down the spine, a small shock. Some just outgrow the curiosity and kill the whole enigma but that day when I heard the voice on the other side I just exactly felt the same quiver, slowly growing every milli second until the next word was spoken. I spoke for briefly 10 minutes and then I pressed the cancel button. The whole trip had ended, the conversation was over, the magic had faded. I glanced towards my watch and realized I had only 10 minutes to eat and I rushed to get some sandwich which I wolfed it down. I was on my way back, glanced at the bus stop which was rather empty now. The sun was hidden in the clouds and the wind started blowing maybe a touch harder which made me cold. I came back to my desk, giggled with my colleagues and started work. This was the perfect work as usual. The mind was calm, was rather absent as I took over the daily routine. The Sci-Fi movie had ended some while ago. It was not afternoon anymore, the dawn of the evening had nicely started to settle in. Things had moved on as they should have, but the mind will once again yearn for that afternoon. The out of characterness, the magic, the science fiction, all of it.

https://medium.com/@karthikiyer_89574/science-fiction-afternoon-879b0f438d3a

['Karthik Iyer']

2020-01-14 20:34:54.255000+00:00

['Science Fiction', 'Magic', 'Personal']

Bitcoin Cash — could it have a renaissance

In August 2017 there was a hard fork of bitcoin. Bitcoin cash was born. Each holder of bitcoin received an equal number of bitcoin cash tokens. The reason for the fork was disagreement about the future direction of bitcoin. One factions wanted a larger block size to accommodate more transactions, faster transactions and less fees. The other faction wanted a different amendment known as Segwit. After the split both sides tried to claim that their token was the “true bitcoin”. We now know that the Segwit side won and their bitcoin core is regarded as the true bitcoin (BTC)while the spin-off is known as bitcoin cash (BCH). For a while the prices of bitcoin and bitcoin cash were relatively close. One BTC would buy around 6 to 9 BCH. The price of bitcoin (BTC) as measured by bitcoin cash (BCH) in August 2017 after the hard fork. Since 2017 the price of BTC and BCH have been drifting apart. Bitcoin has moved up. The longer term ratio between the two coins can be seen in the chart below. As of today one bitcoin buys around 70 bitcoin cash. Today one bitcoin buys you 10x as many Bitcoin cash as it did shortly after the hard fork in August 2017. Is bitcoin cash too cheap? In dollar terms, the BCH price is still in the range it traded at shortly after the fork and it is well below the peak of over $4000 achieved in December 2017. e BTC, on the other hand, is well above its December 2017 peak of nearly $20k. Currently the BCH price is around $700. It has gone nowhere while the price of bitcoin, ethereum and most altcoins have been soaring. BTC is the original that everyone has heard of. However fans of BCH describe it as a “better bitcoin”. BTC and BCH, are, effectively they same thing except that BCH has a larger block size, faster transactions and lower costs per transaction. Both BTC and BCH have a maximum fixed supply of 21 million and both go through a “halvening” every four years. With BTC and BCH being so alike, why has BTC performed so much better? The answer lies simply in human psychology. The crowd decided which was the true bitcoin, and bought that. BCH solves many of bitcoins problems. It’s much more accessible to people trading smaller amounts. As retail investors and users get more into crypto, many will discover that BCH won’t wreck them on fees, and that could boost BCH greatly. Source: bitcoinfees.cash BCH fees are less than 100th of those of BTC BTC is still the king of crypto. It still holds the crown. However, with BCH so cheap, some of the money which missed the BTC boat may be looking for alternatives. BCH is so similar to BTC, that investors may just turn there. BCH has enough legitimacy and recognition that it could really take off with retail investors, which could then pull in some institutional money. Is BCH starting to recover some of its lost ground? Take a look at the recent chart of BCH against the USD. The price has started rising. It looks like interest in owning BCH is now growing. The price of bitcoin cash is starting to rise Whilst BCH seems to be breaking out in USD terms it hasn’t yet in BTC terms. In the chart below, which prices BCH in BTC terms, we can see that that BCH still has not broken out of its long term downtrend. When it does, it will really fly. The price of BCH expressed in BTC terms shows that BTC is still the top-dog Conclusion Although the bullish signs are not yet confirmed, particularly when we look at the last chart, things are stirring. I think it is worth taking some of the money off your other cryptos to stock up on BCH while it is still cheap.

https://medium.com/@discreet-wuzzy-cat-574/bitcoin-cash-could-it-have-a-renaissance-909dd04b5e5c

[]

2021-02-14 18:05:26.978000+00:00

['Btc', 'Bch', 'Bitcoin Cash', 'Bitcoin', 'Crypto']

Most VR Is Total Bullshit

Most VR Is Total Bullshit How tech companies turned an instrument of human potential into one of exploitation A visitor plays with a virtual reality VR set at Sony’s PlayStation brand booth during the Ani-Com & Games event in Hong Kong. Photo: SOPA Images/Getty Images “This is going to change everything,” Timothy Leary told me as he took off his bulky headset and pulled an electronic glove from his right hand. It was the early 1990s, at a rave club in San Francisco. The famed psychologist and popularizer of psychedelic drugs had ventured into virtual reality for the first time, and he was reeling. At last, a technology capable of taking humanity to the next stage of consciousness and communication. In those early days, virtual reality was respected. Feared, even. Full immersion was a portal to the great unknown — a reality that could become indistinguishable from real life, and maybe swallow you up. Experiencing virtual reality (VR) was to going online like what LSD was to smoking marijuana: the full on, total experience of digital autonomy. Liftoff. But VR in those days wasn’t about immersion so much as expression. We imagined creating simulations of our dreams for others to experience; expressing ourselves to our friends with no words at all; or constructing worlds with completely different rules through which we could model new social norms. If the current iteration of virtual and augmented reality really does take off this time, I fear it will be as an entertainment, yet another diversion from the supposedly untenable reality of being human. The technology companies leading the charge seem eager to leave that dangerous, creative potential of VR behind, making it less about what people might do with such powerful tools, and more about what they — and other corporate brands — can do to us or sell us, once we’ve jacked in to a reality they control. Less like the fulfillment of the internet’s great democratic promise, and more like the final stage of television. We are using the ultimate reality-programming device to program ourselves. Make no mistake, there really was a time when the context around virtual reality was countercultural and psychedelic. The only place you could really find out about it was in alternative culture magazines (yes, print magazines) like Mondo 2000 — voice of the “cyberdelic” renaissance. And this same divide between the technology’s creative and commercial potentials was already at play. In the Bay Area, there were two main personalities behind VR. Jaron Lanier was considered the more corporate player (in spite of the dreadlocks), simply because he could talk about developing VR for applied purposes like architecture. And then there was Eric Gullichsen, a psychedelic explorer and good friend of Leary’s who hung out at the “Mondo House” (the Victorian mansion in Berkeley where Mondo 2000’s editors lived and cavorted with their subjects) and made his own version of VR called Sense8. Sure, Jaron’s VR workstations could render faster and at greater resolution, but there was something special about Eric’s rig. It was crude, sometimes duct-taped together, and consisted mostly of simple goggles and a billiard ball to navigate. It was small and cheap enough that he could bring it over to the Mondo House and everyone there (sometimes including me) could try it out, moving around and creating things. Visually, his virtual world was about as complicated as Asteroids, but you were really there. It felt like an opening to something truly infinite. VR, in those early days, seemed like the gateway drug for a whole new way of engaging with life. It would be a technology for enacting what science fiction author William Gibson called “the consensual hallucination” — a shared space conjured up by the thoughts of everyone within it. We called it “virtual reality” because we truly saw it as a test run for virtual reality. We cyberpunks actually believed — and maybe we all still should — that this ability to collectively dream things into existence could be learned and practiced in real life. Like other early digital technologies, VR suggested that we could build a world where pretty much anything one imagined could be realized. As I chronicled in my book about that period, Silicon Valley firms had trouble finding employees who could handle the implications of programming new worlds. They began to seek out users of psychedelics, warning employees about upcoming drug tests, and giving them more latitude in dress and hours than corporations were accustomed to granting staffers back then. They needed the “heads,” as they were called, because aside from children, who were also open-minded enough to be great computer hackers, these were the only people comfortable with hallucinating things into reality. And I don’t mean this metaphorically. We cyberpunks actually believed — and maybe we all still should — that this ability to collectively dream things into existence could be learned and practiced in real life. So when Leary slipped on the VR goggles at that rave in San Francisco, it felt as if two worlds were coming together, perfectly and inevitably. Meanwhile, a crowd had gathered around several large monitors to see what the counterculture legend would do in there. A showman, he was up to the challenge. We saw him move through the virtual spaces, engage with a torus (think of a geometric donut), and shatter a few walls. Leary would “ooh” and the crowd would “aahh” as if watching over his shoulder. He was playing the roles of both explorer and carnival barker — Christopher Columbus meets P.T. Barnum. When the show was over, though, he got serious. “I was wrong about space migration,” he told me, referring to his book Exo-Psychology. “Humanity is not going to migrate into outer space. We’re going in there. That’s what’s next. It’s digital acid.” Terence McKenna, the ethnobotanist and entheogen trailblazer, was similarly intrigued. He used to tell me that virtual technologies would someday soon allow humanity to rebirth itself into a new reality, “to get to the place where information can detach itself from the material matrix,” as he told me in a 1991 interview, “and then look back on a cast-off mode of being as it rises into a higher dimension.” He believed that, thanks to VR, we would eventually be able to migrate out of bodily and temporal existence, becoming something like the “machine elves” people sometimes see on a DMT trip, at once inhabiting the environment and creating it. He spoke about how squid communicate by dancing and spraying ink. “In virtual reality, Douglas, you will literally be able to see what I mean.” “Humanity is not going to migrate into outer space,” Timothy Leary declared after trying VR. “We’re going in there. That’s what’s next. It’s digital acid.” Of course, the regular world still didn’t even know cyberspace was a thing. This was back in the days when even the notion of ubiquitous personal computers seemed far-fetched. I took it as my personal responsibility to explain virtual reality to the world, and to make sure they understood it would soon change everything. I even made it onto Larry King Live. I felt like a herald of the inevitable cyberfuture. Alas, we in the cyberdelic fringe were too confident that our understanding of the net and virtual reality would become universal. As Leary used to say about an acid trip, one’s “set and setting” — by which he meant one’s mindset and context — determined the journey. By the early 1990s, Wired magazine came along and gave the new technology a completely different set and setting — reframing the digital revolution as a market phenomenon. VR headsets were among the most popular “gadgets” featured in the front of the book. Once the right one caught on, the editors were convinced, VR would replace TV and the telephone as America’s primary communication and entertainment interface. Far from threatening the foundations of capitalism, digital and immersive technologies would be the catalyst for a “long boom” of infinite, exponential growth. No wonder, 25 years later, we are all in the midst of a bad trip characterized less by imagination and creativity than surveillance, control, and extractive corporate capitalism. The VR revival seems fixated on augmented reality, where instead of going into a whole new world, we see imagery superimposed over this one. It is a marketer’s dream technology: novel enough to be interesting, grounded enough to prevent true exploration, and perfectly suited to the task of labeling every object in the world with a price tag. The current VR hype doesn’t offer us access to new worlds so much as new ways to package consumer entertainment. It’s Facebook’s Oculus Rift, gaming, movies, Bible stories, and of course porn. Most VR today is little more than 360-degree video, a slightly more immersive version of business as usual. This non-interactive entertainment is to real interactive VR what Game of Thrones is to Dungeons and Dragons or Windows is to the command line. The fact that the technology has become easier to navigate and more lavishly rendered is hardly a consolation prize. It’s a prison. It’s a paralyzing, sensory overload reminiscent of the Gruen transfer people experience when entering a shopping mall. The high ceilings and confusing architecture make customers forget their original intentions, and become more susceptible to impulse purchases or overt manipulation. That’s why when I listen to developers talking about even their most ethical, well-intended applications of immersive VR, I often come away troubled. They say things like “this Syria immersion will make people feel more compassion for victims of war.” Or, “this climate simulation will force people to respond to the global crisis.” The users are the objects being acted upon. The VR is just a platform for propaganda. Once you’re employing technology to get people to do something, you’re back in television land. Enthusiasts love to cite studies indicating that VR can help make people more empathetic than older media. The idea here is that putting on goggles and seeing the world through the eyes of, say, a homeless person will inspire more action than simply seeing the suffering person in a photo or on TV. It matters more if it feels like the bad stuff is happening to us. If true, that’s a sad commentary on our ability to empathize with someone else’s hardships. Besides, the same sorts of empathy claims were made about TV in the 1950s, and remained true only as long as TV was a novelty medium. People raised with these virtual worlds at their disposal will come to prefer them to reality, anyway, just as they are coming to prefer porn to the messiness of sex. VR does appear to have value in medical or therapeutic contexts. I’m glad we have virtual experiences that can help retrain an obese person to eat less. Gulf War veterans suffering from PTSD have benefited from VR that recreates the conditions of their trauma. But we mustn’t fool ourselves into believing that these applications are delivering the Promethean power of digital fire to the masses. They turn their users into the passive recipients of content, rather than the active constructors of a reality. And so the race is on to build a VR landscape of, say, the Serengeti, where the animals and savanna look as authentic as they do in Disney’s new CGI version of The Lion King. Never mind the climate crisis threatening the real savannah. People raised with these virtual worlds at their disposal will come to prefer them to reality, anyway, just as they are coming to prefer porn to the messiness of sex. And as members of the Frankfurt School tried to warn us, once a culture prefers the simulacrum to the world, fascism can’t be far behind. No, the true promise of VR, or any new medium, rests in its ability to help us ask new questions — to challenge realities rather than reinforce them. Some decidedly less celebrated VR practitioners are still pushing in this direction. Not surprisingly, the experiences they’re offering don’t require a whole lot of technology. Amelia Winger-Bearskin and Sarah Rothberg, for example, built a simple piece for the Oculus Rift called Your Hands Are Your Feet that makes your hands look and act like your feet. That may not sound like much — not compared with 360-degree renderings of entire landscapes — but it’s a deep, “proprioceptive” challenge that changes the way you think about your body. Similarly, Genderswap by The Machine to Be Another, challenges your experience of gender. You sit, clothed or naked, in VR gear, connected to someone of a different gender. So when you look down at, or touch, your body, you see the other person’s being touched instead. Some developers are even working to realize Terence McKenna’s vision of total, squid-worthy communication in VR. The Meu messenger platform by Radix Motion, lets people depict their emotions through body movements that translate into explosive imagery, haptics, vibrations, or sound. Even a VR application as simple as Google’s Tilt Brush (basically, MacPaint in VR) lets users create virtual worlds around themselves. This is a more fundamentally advanced experience of technology than wandering around in the latest hi-res 3D futuristic dystopia. By focusing on immersive simulation over active creation, most virtual reality technologies undermine the innate human abilities that they could be fostering. “It is worth pointing out that we have been making virtual realities for a very, very long time,” Terence McKenna reminded us at the dawn of VR. “When you sit the children down around the fire and begin to tell the old, old stories and pictures rise out of the flames — that is virtual reality.” We must use technology to stoke those collaboratively creative flames, instead of extinguishing them.

https://gen.medium.com/most-vr-is-total-bullshit-81a08431df38

['Douglas Rushkoff']

2019-08-27 23:15:56.373000+00:00

['Tech', 'Gadgets', 'Virtual Reality', 'Business', 'Future']

Give a new lease of life to src/test/java

Before I start a quick question to all of you; So how many of you were excited to switch to new functional paradigm of programming in Java? I was very excited when I started learning the more declarative way of doing things. I liked the idea of telling what to do and not baby sit and tell how to do everything. I promised myself there is no going back to the old procedural style anymore. I was very happily replacing my old code with new found streams and lambdas. Until after writing all the new code and I sat to write test cases. That’s when euphoria faded away and I realised that I am back in the procedural world minutes after promising myself there is no going back. My simple test case was I need to verify that my method under test is returning 3 persons and I need to verify their names, gender and age. With the tools in hand I only came up with following code: List<Person> result = getPersons(); assertEquals(3, result.size()); for(Person person: result) { If(person.getName().equals(“Harry Potter”)) { // do 4 assertions for Harry Potter — Name, Gender, Age, hasMoney } If(person.getName().equals(“Ron Weasley”)) { // do 4 assertions for Ron Weasley } If(person.getName().equals(“Hermione Granger”)) { // do 4 assertions for Hermione Granger } } Or I thought of using Streams and filters but then test case quickly became as complex as the code being tested. And then I learned about AssertJ the fluent assertions library and boy I was impressed in first look. I can use fluent assertions to write my test code and no more procedural code. It was very easy to write the previous test in much better looking code with AssertJ. List<Person> result = getPersons(); assertThat(result).isNotEmpty() .hasSize(3) .extracting(Person::getName, Person::getAge, Person::getGender) .contains( tuple(“Harry Potter”, 11, “Male”), tuple(“Hermione Granger”, 12, “Female”), tuple(“Ron Weasley”, 13, “Male”) ); Clean, Precise and more importantly declarative. If you are still not impressed carry on reading.

https://medium.com/@puneet-wadhwa/give-a-new-lease-of-life-to-src-test-java-1573e74b2974

['Puneet Wadhwa']

2020-11-18 21:53:36.002000+00:00

['Junit', 'Unittest', 'Clean Code', 'Assertj', 'Java']

How To Capture Your Complete Writing History

Your writing history tells the personal story of how you overcame all the obstacles, and achieved literary success. It will only be a long interesting tale if you don’t quit, and instead, keep writing and spend a little time recording the ups and downs of the journey. Every successful writer ends up running a business. But not every writer knows how to make it efficient and profitable. It’s a long road between your first article and all the money you dream of making. Most writers do a lot of experimenting, stumbling, quitting, restarting, and living through their own particular version of hell on earth before a road of success unfolds behind them. A writer's life should develop with at least a bit of order. That means creating a filing system that can grow with the business, and the discipline to maintain that semblance of organization. Making money is not the first thing you should worry about. That will grow over time, and systems to look after income already exist. But what do you do with everything else? There are a couple of tools you can use.

https://medium.com/the-brave-writer/how-to-capture-your-complete-writing-history-39254629be88

['Barry Desautels']

2020-05-22 02:50:25.799000+00:00

['Writing Prompts', 'Writer', 'Writing', 'Writing Tips', 'Writing Life']

Five life-changing paintings everyone should see before dying

Guernica (1937) — Pablo Picasso, The Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid Guernica by Picasso — Oil paints on canvas Maybe one of the most memorable and symbolic pieces Picasso has ever created, Guernica, is a masterpiece, both in size and in content. The cubist style of the 3,5 by 7,7m canvas brings a different dimension to the meaning and consequences of war, portraited as a brutal, inhuman, chaotic, and painful event that affects militaries and civilians. This painting is heavily inspired after the bombing of the city of Guernica by Nazi forces in 1937. The magnitude of this tragedy incited Pablo to denounce what had happened to the Spanish people during and after the attack. Through the simultaneous composition of different elements, Picasso was capable of capturing, in a complex layout, the falling out of one of the most agonizing genocides in Spanish history. At the upper left corner and the middle of the canvas, we can see respectively a bull and a horse, which are both elements of national significance to the Spanish culture. The drawing of these animals with deformed bodies and distorted expressions reverberates with the feeling Picasso had that the military caste was sinking Spain in an ocean of pain and death. However, Guernica managed to extrapolate the barrier of one country and became in the following years an international declaration of war against war and a manifesto against violence. The soldier lay dead on the floor, reinforces this message by holding a broken sword in one hand and a white poppy in the other. Universally flowers are known for representing a peace offering, translating the painter’s desire of the end of war and brutality. Fun fact: Dora Maar, Pablo’s girlfriend at the time, photographed the progress of the painting, which allow us today to have an insight into the thought process behind one of the most elaborate artistic protest of the century. In case you are interested, the site of the Museo Reina Sofía has a timeline of the entire painting and its repercussion around the world, along with the photos mentioned before.

https://medium.com/art-direct/five-life-changing-paintings-everyone-should-see-before-dying-6f94ed8105bb

['Beatriz Freitas']

2020-08-02 08:27:13.716000+00:00

['Art', 'Painting', 'Museums', 'Artist', 'Culture']

Personal Day

My previous brush with a doctor didn’t go so well. My mother-in-law was having a tough time with her hips. So much so that she was scheduled for hip replacement surgery. Only, when they had her open, they discovered that the source of her pain and reduced function wasn’t arthritis. It was a tumor, right on the structure of her hip. I was standing next to my wife, who was standing next to her mother, who was lying on a hospital bed, when the doctor relayed that little tidbit. I wanted to shout “How the hell didn’t that show up on the X-rays or the MRI?”. But I didn’t. What would that accomplish? She, and her daughter, and me I guess, were already scared and sad enough. She would have had the same surgery anyway. But still. So a few weeks later, when I get a headache lasting five days and counting, I get worried. I take a personal day, the whole day, and go to the doctor’s myself. My doctor. The nurse takes my temperature, blood pressure, weighs me, asks me if I am depressed, asks me if I feel threatened at home. I open my mouth, roll up my sleeve, stand on the scale, say the words “No” and “No”. What’s the reason for my visit? “I’m worried about my weeklong headache”, I answer, and tell the nurse about my mother-in-law. She nods, with a concerned look, and runs several tests and probes involving blood, light, sound, and radiation. Lucky me, the clinic has all the equipment right there. About an hour goes by. My doctor, Dr. Brioni, opens the door after knocking but not waiting for an answer, and walks in. He’s looking at some paper on a clipboard as he shakes my hand. He looks up at me, still shaking my hand, and speaks. “Not every headache is a tumor, you know.” “Thankfully”, I answer. “Everything else checks out. So you’re good”, he says. “So I’m good?”, I answer. “You’re not good?”, he asks. “Well…” I say, “I’ve still got this headache.” “Most people,” Dr. Brioni tells me, “when they find out it’s not a tumor, their headache goes away. They stop worrying so much, and their headache just goes away.” “Hey, that’s great”, I say. “When can I expect that to happen to me?” “For most people,” he starts, “it’s instantaneous. For others, well, I suspect it’ll vanish on your way home.” We’ve both been standing this whole time. He writes one or two things on the paper on the clipboard, then puts it in the holder on the back of the exam room door. He turns to shake my hand again. “Good to see you again. You’re all set. See Kelly on your way out.” “Thanks, Doctor. Good to see you too.” He opens the door and walks through. He looks to the right down the hallway and nods to someone I can’t see. “I’m going to leave this door open” he says to me without looking, and heads left. My total time in his presence today is about ninety seconds. Two minutes, tops. All the way home I think about the would-be consequences of my would-be tumor. The effect on my wife, my children, my place in the world. I just now turned a corner at work, with high hopes and high possibilities. I notice things on the way home, like people looking at their phones while driving, people piling into liquor stores, the big billboard flashing the lottery jackpot. What are they looking at more important than the road? What are they celebrating? What car would I buy first if I won the jackpot? What about the smaller prizes? That’s still quite a lot of money, a real windfall. How would I spend that? Hey, my headache’s gone! The Doctor was right. I guess ninety seconds is enough! I smile, smile the rest of the way home. I pull into my driveway and walk through the front door of my house. My wife looks at me anxiously, and reluctantly asks me how it went. I say “Not every headache is a tumor, you know.” She smiles, and her eyes well up. “Hey”, I say, holding her close, “it’s OK. It’s all OK. Doctor Brioni says ‘Hello’, by the way”, I lie. She wipes her eyes with a tissue that’s already in her hand. The kids are still at school, and I’m glad we didn’t mention anything to them before. “Let’s go get a lottery ticket”, I say. “Just to see. Just to see.”

https://medium.com/@kurtreno/personal-day-fd18080211ee

['Kurt Reno']

2020-12-19 01:31:09.422000+00:00

['Short Story', 'Short Fiction', 'Short Read', 'Doctors', 'Personal Day']

This Is an Actual Video of Frank O’Hara

It was filmed the night before he died (he was run over by a dune buggy on Fire Island, which I think he would have found funny, had it happened when he was old and tired instead of young and vibrant and talented beyond measure.) You should read a Frank O’Hara poem every day of your life, and two on Sundays. You should start with “The Day Lady Died,” about Billie Holiday. Go read it now, and we can talk about it a little. (via)

https://medium.com/the-hairpin/this-is-an-actual-video-of-frank-ohara-987cb3a8cdee

['Nicole Cliffe']

2016-06-02 01:47:38.376000+00:00

['Genius', 'Poetry']

7 Steps to Recover From A Breakup

7 Steps to Recover From A Breakup Let it hurt. Cry, scream, breakdown. Do whatever it takes to get your emotions out. The more it’s bottled up, the harder it’ll be to move forward. When I first broke up with my ex, I thought it was necessary to be strong for myself. I felt like I had to keep it together, but the anger boiled and bubbled as the months progressed. Eventually, I found myself hysterically crying and angry. I couldn’t control my feelings. However, when I let all my erratic emotions out, I finally felt able to move on. It’s equally important to know when to stop letting it hurt. Give yourself a week or a month to soak in the grief of your breakup but, don’t destroy yourself in despair. Revamp your space. The most hurtful part of breakups is remembering the spaces you and your loved one once shared. It becomes hard to navigate in those spaces because everything reminds you of your relationship. My advice is to revamp your space, redecorate it! It could be as simple as rearranging furniture or maybe purchasing new bedspreads and pillows. By revamping your space, you reclaim it as your sanctuary. Your space should be a safe and comfortable place to reside. You’re starting a new chapter of your life, and you’ll be making new memories in your space; consider it the necessary preparation to begin anew. Watch romantic comedies. I know, this one is weird but, let me explain. After a breakup, it feels like your whole world is caving it. You can’t see that your breakup might be part of a bigger story. However, romantic comedies like Friends and How I Met Your Mother allow you to see life's bigger picture. Characters go through dozens of breakups, and they thought each partner was “the one.” But every breakup shapes the characters slightly differently. By the later seasons, characters have learned new things about themselves, they’ve sought different opportunities in different places, and they’ve dated new and interesting people. Eventually, you forget who Joey was dating in season 2. Like shows, we go through multiple seasons of life; some are great and some not so wonderful. Your relationship was a season, and like those characters, you’re still growing, and you’ll have so many more opportunities to find love. So watch those romantic comedies and find solace knowing this pain is part of a season. Make a vision board. Sometimes in relationships, we push aside things we want to do because our partner isn’t on board. Now is the time to dust off those old dreams and become excited about them again. No matter how big a dream may be, you now have all the time in the world to make that dream come true. No one is invalidating you, and no one is arguing with your decisions. So, travel the world, cut your hair, start your business, or go back to school. The best way to reconnect with yourself is to make a vision board. When you see your dreams and goals laid out beautifully on a board, it motivates you to work towards them. It’s a constant reminder that you’re investing in yourself, and you’re worth every single penny. Your vision board should mark the beginning of something new. It doesn’t matter if you’re halfway through the year or a quarter way through the year. I encourage you to make one! A break up is an opportunity to start fresh, it may not be a new year, but it marks a new you. Defy your ex. I’m a sucker for watching Christmas movies from my childhood but, I could never watch Barbie the Nutcracker around my ex. He found it so stupid, and whenever I brought it up, he would shoot the suggestion down. But, this holiday season, I’ve watched it eight times, and I’m still counting. It’s a movie that makes me happy, and now no one shames me for watching it. If you ever felt shamed for having a particular hobby or interest, that should validate how incompatibility you and your ex were. Someone meant for you will accept everything you are and be supportive of your interests. They’ll want to know the different sides of your personality: the good, the bad, and the quirky. Defy your ex and reclaim your interests. Find a medium to de-escalate your pain, like journals. Journals are great ways to release your emotions throughout your healing period. There will be moments where you’ll have to confront a particular item, memory, or space that your ex and yourself once shared. Those moments will revive painful feelings, but a journal is a lovely place to de-escalate your pain. When you’re on an emotional high, it’s hard to simmer back down. But through writing, you eventually release those emotions until you return to a neutral, calm state. There are also other ways to release that energy. Physical activities such as painting, jogging, or yoga are perfectly viable ways to re-center yourself. I can only speak from experience of what’s worked for me. However, every person is different, so find an outlet that best works for you! Learn patience. Healing is a process, it takes time, and it’s non-linear. Some days will be more challenging than others. Your emotions will bubble up, and you’ll want to breakdown all over again. But, unlike your first explosion, these explosions will be minuscule. You’ll have the power to control yourself, and the grief won’t debilitate you. Then you’ll be able to get past the memory that elicits that pain. Acknowledge your emotions, confront them, and release them.

https://medium.com/@simplyy/7-steps-to-recover-from-a-breakup-169c70035e27

[]

2020-12-15 15:22:59.501000+00:00

['Breakups', 'Relationships', 'Self', 'Psychology', 'Love']

Mixed-Race Musings

Mixed-Race Musings Re-inspired by Mariah Carey’s and Lenny Kravitz’s healing and validating autobiographies — and why I love Barack Obama I’m currently (and excitedly) working on a story to perform for The Moth. The story below was my initial direction, but we decided to try something different. Still, this piece means a lot to me because mixed-race identity is complicated when it comes down to it. In some spaces, I’m too preppy. In others, I’m Harriet Tubman. But the truth is, I’ve always defined myself. I’ve spent a lot of my time on this earth trying to make people happy. From an early age, I learned that bringing people happiness was a good, celebrated thing. I remember the moment that my pre-school teacher said I was “one of the good kids.” I was just four years old, but I felt myself standing a little bit taller because I knew in my little life, I must have been doing something right. And in tandem with being good, I also wanted to “do good.” I put this in action during a kindergarten play in Queens Village, NY where I grew up. I was totally on-brand as a “sunshine” kid, and my classmate and I were supposed to come on stage and banish the clouds away by singing our sunny day song. Except, my classmate got stage fright and ran off the stage before we could finish. Eyeing my sobbing classmate and seeing my parents in the audience, I thought as quickly as I could to save the day. I sang both of our parts and yelled, “Don’t worry, I’m coming!” as I ran off to console my classmate. The crowd broke into applause and awws, and putting the production, and my classmate before me, made me feel like I saved the day. Growing up in Queens, I was pretty much shielded from the racism that I’d learn about later in my life, thanks to my parents. Queens is the most diverse county in the world, and I got to grow up with a little bit of every culture. My best friend growing up was Irish; I listened to dancehall (thanks to my neighbors blasting Shabba Ranks and Patra next door) as much as I would Janet Jackson and the stories from my Teddy Ruxpin. It seemed like my first gen friends spent their Saturday mornings learning about the language of their cultures. I didn’t seem to encounter much racism, but even in this unusual Queens safe space, I was not shielded from colorism. My mother is Black and Honduran, with dark skin and a bright smile — a smile that’s pretty much identical to mine. And my dad is Puerto Rican, what people today might call a white-presenting Latino. And together they had me, a composite of both of their sketches that caused wide-eyed stares, unexplained awe, and on the flip side, unexplained frustration. My parents split when I was very young. So I spent most of my time being shuttled around from elementary school and kids’ birthday parties to high school and eventually being shipped off to college, with my mom shepherding me the entire way. And even though we have that identical smile, that didn’t seem like enough for people to place me as her daughter. She was either my “nanny” growing up or my “friend” as I got older because it seemed odd to people for a dark-skinned woman to be the mother of a light-skinned child. I would smile politely and correct them at a young age, almost trying to will them into seeing that yes, this was my mother, and yes, I could belong to her. When I would visit my dad at Yankee Stadium, where he worked for years, it was clear that I was his daughter. But if any of my Puerto Rican and Italian cousins would join us while meeting new stadium people, they’d greet my cousins as my dad’s kids and then surprisedly recover when he introduced me as his child. I set down my own gauntlet that no, I wasn’t going to become that “uppity light-skinned girl” that some family elders warned my mother I would likely become. That I wasn’t part of the problem. Because I wouldn’t let myself exist too loudly. As I got older and my peers were assembling their own ways of dealing with differences, I was introduced super early to awkward comments. “So your father isn’t white, huh? He definitely looks white,” I’d hear. So I started to just deny deny deny. I’d deny everything about my identity. If someone asked me if my hair was real, I’d tell them, absolutely not! This hair? Oh, I got it from the beauty supply shop, it’s #189. What are you? I’m a person. Where am I from? Queens. At 13, I thought this was brilliant. It was my way of being an ironic quippy kid, but really, the underlying goal was not to offend anyone with my identity. I set down my own gauntlet that no, I wasn’t going to become that “uppity light-skinned girl” that some family elders warned my mother I would likely become. That I wasn’t part of the problem. Because I wouldn’t let myself exist too loudly. I had grown up with this being my normal that I didn’t even think to be angry about it. I’m an introvert by nature, and I never liked being the topic of conversation, especially when my existence was the topic. Fast forward to college. I had been accepted to NYU, a school I didn’t feel like I was even good enough for, even though I had a stellar GPA coming out of high school. This practically Ivy League institution was a reach school in my mind, and I only applied with the encouragement of my guidance counselor — my plan was to go to a SUNY school that I’d likely get a scholarship to, and be as little a burden on my parents as possible. I was pre-med, partly because I was genuinely interested in medicine to heal people, and partly because I knew it would make my parents happy. And as a lifelong do-gooder, making them happy was priority #1. But the West Village was definitely no Queens Village. I finally got why people kept asking if my mom was my nanny when I was young. Most of the Black women I’d see in Washington Square Park were pushing the strollers of white children or children many shades lighter than them. This was a dynamic that was so new to me, but not to many of my classmates. I noticed that only a few kids looked like me in any of my classes. Although I was usually one of the few actually from New York City in class, I was made to feel othered. But what’s different about college kids is that they broke it down scientifically, with actual percentage rates. And if they could break down stats, that means they had to be unequivocally right. I tried to do the dance and keep up with my impossible balancing act while being overwhelmed with an intense pre-med track and double majoring in journalism. I got quieter and quieter in every aspect of my life. Aside from making friends with one classmate who is still my very best friend, Jing Jing Mei, who quickly set the bar of how she would be treated by telling our classmates, yes, she is from Brooklyn, and no, she did not have a recommendation for a dry cleaner. I stayed to myself in the library, with massive headphones on — listening to the ’80s soul music, hip-hop, and soca that made me feel like I was back home. But this building pressure to not offend anyone by existing, wanting to declare a new major, and just hearing myself think and figure out who I truly wanted to be in this world became unbearable. In a literature class focusing on Caribbean identities, the dam broke. I’d mentioned that with my own Bahamian roots, I had related to the mindset of one of the protagonists of a book we were examining. A classmate told me that he found that to be surprising since the Black experience couldn’t actually be mine. “Come on, you’re light as Aaliyah. No one’s seeing you as this character.” I was stunned, but my first reaction wasn’t anger or a quippy comeback. It was fear. By identifying with this character, was I claiming an experience that wasn’t mine? Do I have the right to claim any of the boxes I’d been trying so hard to cram myself in, not to upset anyone, my entire life? I felt so much shame. I wanted to immerse myself with stories about mixed-race identities. I wanted to bury myself in the pages of stories of people who may have been feeling the same shame and uncertainty. And I wanted to see how they made it right. Right before Father’s Day in my junior year, I discovered Barack Obama’s first book, Dreams From My Father, on a random Barnes & Noble discount display. I didn’t think much of the author, considering I had picked up the book in the early 2000s when he was a Chicago senator, and there was no talk about a presidential run for the virtual unknown. My quest to “find the right way to describe myself” quickly transitioned into seeing my exact shame and insecurity projected back to me within his words. He talked about being the only child of a white mother and an African father, and how growing up in Kansas, he tried to learn about the blackness he couldn’t get from his mother and grandparents by watching Soul Train. He talked about being the “only one” in classrooms all over the country, and even in Thailand. He spoke about his present-day views when younger family members are targeted for being Black by police. He didn’t let some percentage rule change the way he identified as a Black man. This book caused a gradual shift and lifted my insecurity boulder for the second half of my time at NYU. But I never challenged that classmate, and still, I rarely spoke up in class. I found myself spending less time in the chem lab and more time writing papers ferociously, and infusing them with as much culture as I could. My culture. The culture of the mixed kid from New York City, who deserved to walk NYU’s campus, and to tell her authentic New York story with no shame. I wrote about my Puerto Rican grandmother and how she used a meal to keep her family both nourished and united. The history within her cast iron pots passed down from generation to generation. I wrote about the authenticity of Notorious B.I.G., who, yes, entered the drug game just to feed his daughter, in a Bed Stuy that’s nothing like the gentrified oasis that has removed Brooklyn residents like him. They exist, and I exist, and New York City belongs to us. I wrote and wrote with the fire that I guess I was supposed to have as a Leo but never permitted myself to embody. I told my parents that no, I did not want to be a doctor. I did not want to cram myself into this life I knew everyone wanted for me. I wanted to spend my life writing stories I was afraid to speak before so that young people could discover my words and know that no, they are not crazy for being so confused in a world that puts so much value in locking us in boxes no one, whatever race, should be forced to fit in. Since then, a thing happened. Obama became president. I learned that we have the same birthday, and I would follow his steps as a kind and impactful leader and have them subtly guide mine as I became a working journalist. Just recently, we could also add Meghan Markle to the August 4 club, a biracial woman who’s self-made with a strong sense of identity and an even stronger mission for a better world. As she deals with scrutiny in a world not used to being confronted with her existence, I remind myself that speaking up with my pen lifts her up, and those like her. I spent many years in knots about who I should be, until I started to untangle them and realized that only I write my own script.

https://jada.medium.com/mixed-race-musings-7dcb76e4e63c

['Jada Gomez']

2020-10-16 17:10:39.754000+00:00

['Identity', 'Mixed Race']

Boosting Supply Chain Resilience in the High-Tech Industry — An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Co-authors: Jeff Howell (Global Vice President of the High-Tech Industry Business Unit) & Manfred Kopisch (Director, Solution Management, High Tech Industry Business Unit) Benjamin Franklin wrote in 1735 “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” when advising Philadelphia about protecting towns from fires. Nearly 300 years later, these words still apply to any area where abrupt disruptions can have disastrous effects on a system. Covid-19 is the latest in the string of major supply chain disruptions the high-tech industry experienced in the last decade. External macro events including, for example, tariff wars or natural disasters are a recurring element of risk that will continue to happen. In the example of COVID-19, it exposed the vulnerability of many organizations’ supply chains and raised the topic of supply chain resilience to the boardroom. The consequences of supply chain disruption range from increased personnel costs, severe productivity losses to poor customer experiences. To minimize those risks, companies must understand their supply chains vulnerabilities as well as appropriate mitigation strategies available. In August 2020, SAP’s High-Tech Industry Business Unit led by Jeff Howell started to pool the strengths of industry experts across multiple domains, customers, partners and various SAP solution experts. Supported by SAP AppHaus, part of SAP’s Customer Innovation organization, they developed an innovative new vision: a dashboard that provides a supply chain resilience score based on five different risk factors. Additionally, the solution suggests risk avoidance strategies, which are tested by simulations and ultimately increase the company’s supply chain resilience. Following a human-centered approach Following SAP’s Human-Centered Approach to Innovation, the initial challenge was to design a tool for making supply chains more resilient while at the same time easy for the end user to consume and react to the information. To turn the vision into reality, Jeff brought together various experts from different Lines of Business (LoB’s) who ran through different design thinking workshops, creating personas, conducting end user research with customers and partners and extracting supply chain management challenges. The outcome was a conceptual prototype of a supply chain resilience dashboard. Like a credit score, this dashboard provides a single score that expresses resilience based on five risk factors: Component Risk: Identifies critical and highest at-risk components Disruption: Assesses suppliers’ potential for disruption based on location, regulatory, geopolitical or other issues Workforce: Assesses suppliers’ current workforce capacity and ability to expand Agility: Rates suppliers’ ability to serve based on capabilities: find alternate sources, alternate capacity Visibility: Rates suppliers’ capabilities to provide visibility to customers and secure visibility of their suppliers. The prototype leverages frontier technologies provided by SAP Business Technology Platform and data provided by SAP Ariba, SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain, SAP Supply Chain Collaboration for High Tech and Qualtrics. The dashboard provides maximum transparency on supply chain resilience and allows detailed insights into every factor to make informed decisions. By simulating recommended actions within the system, the end-user can evaluate a quantitative-based assessment of the cost-benefit tradeoffs. A day in the life of a supply chain executive leveraging the solution Resilience in the supply chain planning process The developed prototype envisions companies incorporate resilience into their supply chain planning process. They anticipate supply chain risks, respond using machine-based recommendations, minimize disruptions, maintain business continuity and ultimately increase customer service, market share and financial performance. This visionary prototype was made possible by the commitment of the cross-LoB and industry experts, customers and partners. The SAP Customer Innovation AppHaus team led the effort with critical thinking and facilitation skills, creativity, speed and determination. If you would like to join us on the innovation journey and, as a customer, collaboratively develop the Proof of Concept further, please contact us. Tell us what you think and share your comments below.

https://medium.com/@eric-klebeck/boosting-supply-chain-resilience-in-the-high-tech-industry-an-ounce-of-prevention-is-worth-a-1745cdac79e8

['Eric Klebeck']

2020-12-17 16:05:08.974000+00:00

['Covid 19', 'Supply Chain Disruption', 'Supply Chain', 'Sap', 'Innovation']

Google Cloud Pub/Sub Ordered Delivery

The Google Cloud Pub/Sub team is happy to announce that ordered delivery is now generally available. This new feature allows subscribers to receive messages in the order they were published without sacrificing scale. This article discusses the details of how the feature works and talks about some common gotchas when trying to process messages in order in distributed systems. Ordering Basics Ordering in Cloud Pub/Sub consists of two properties. The first is the ordering key set on a message when publishing. This string — which can be up to 1KB — represents the entity for which messages should be ordered. For example, it could be a user ID or the primary key of a row in a database. The second property is the enable_message_ordering property on a subscription. When this property is true, subscribers receive messages for an ordering key in the order in which they were received by the service. These two properties allow publishers and subscribers to decide independently if messages are ordered. If the publisher does not specify ordering keys with messages or the subscriber does not enable ordered delivery, then message delivery is not in order and behaves just like Cloud Pub/Sub without the ordered delivery feature. Not all subscriptions on a topic need to have the same setting for enable_message_ordering. Therefore, different use cases that receive the same messages can determine if they need ordered delivery without impacting each other. The number of ordering keys is limited only by what can be represented by the 1KB string. The publish throughput on each ordering key is limited to 1MB/s. The throughput across all ordering keys on a topic is limited to the quota available in a publish region. This limit can be increased to many GBs/s. All the Cloud Pub/Sub client libraries have rich support for ordered delivery. They are the best way to take advantage of this feature, as they take care of a lot of the details necessary to ensure that messages are processed in order. Ordered delivery works with all three types of subscribers: streaming pull, pull, and push. Ordering Properties Ordered delivery has three main properties: Order: When a subscription has message ordering enabled, subscribers receive messages published in the same region with the same ordering key in the order in which they were received by the service. Consistent redelivery: If a message is redelivered, then all messages received after that message for the same ordering key will also be redelivered, whether or not they were already acknowledged. Affinity: If there are messages with an ordering key outstanding to a streaming pull subscriber, then additional messages that are delivered are sent to that same subscriber. If no messages are currently outstanding for an ordering key, the service delivers messages to the last subscriber to receive messages for that key on a best-effort basis. Let’s examine what these properties mean with an example. Imagine we have two ordering keys, A and B. For key A, we publish the messages 1, 2, and 3, in that order. For key B, we publish the messages 4, 5, and 6, in that order. With the ordering property, we guarantee that 1 is delivered before 2 and 2 is delivered before 3. We also guarantee that 4 is delivered before 5, which is delivered before 6. Note that there are no guarantees about the order of messages across different ordering keys. For example, message 1 could arrive before or after message 4. The second property explains what happens when messages are redelivered. In general, Cloud Pub/Sub offers at-least-once delivery. That means messages may be sent to subscribers multiple times, even if those messages have been acknowledged. With the consistent redelivery guarantee, when a message is redelivered, the entire sequence of subsequent messages for the same ordering key that were received after the redelivered message will also be redelivered. In the above example, imagine a subscriber receives messages 1, 2, and 3. If message 2 is redelivered (because the ack deadline expired or because the best-effort ack was not persisted in Cloud Pub/Sub), then message 3 is guaranteed to be redelivered as well. The last property defines where messages for the same ordering key are delivered. It applies only to streaming pull subscribers, since they are the only ones that have a long-standing connection that can be used for affinity. This property has two parts. First, when messages are outstanding to a streaming pull subscriber — meaning the ack deadline has not yet passed and the messages have not been acknowledged — then if there are more messages to deliver for the ordering key, they go to that same subscriber. The second part pertains to what happens when no messages are outstanding. Ideally, one wants the same subscribers to handle all of the messages for an ordering key. Cloud Pub/Sub tries to do this, but there are cases where it cannot guarantee that it will continue to deliver messages to the same subscriber. In other words, the affinity of a key could change over time. Usually this is done for load-balancing purposes. For example, if there is only one subscriber, all messages must be delivered to it. If another subscriber starts, one would generally want it to start to receive half of the load. Therefore, the affinity of some of the ordering keys must move from the first subscriber to this new subscriber. Cloud Pub/Sub waits until there are no more messages outstanding on an ordering key before changing the affinity of the key. Ordered Delivery at Scale One of the most difficult problems with ordered delivery is doing it at scale. It usually requires an understanding of the scaling characteristics of the topic in advance. When a topic extends beyond that scale, maintaining order becomes extremely difficult. Cloud Pub/Sub’s ordered delivery is designed to scale with usage without the user having to think about it. The most common way to do ordering at scale is with partitions. A topic can be made up of many partitions, where each stores a subset of the messages published to the topic. When a message gets published, a partition is chosen for that message, either explicitly or by hashing the message’s key or value to a partition. The “key” in this case is what Cloud Pub/Sub calls the ordering key. Subscribers connect to one or more partitions and receive messages from those partitions. Much like the publish side, subscribers can choose partitions explicitly or rely on the messaging service to assign subscribers to partitions. Partition-based messaging services guarantee that messages within the same partition are delivered in order. A typical partition setup would look like this: The green boxes represent the partitions that store messages. They would be owned by the messaging servers (often called “brokers”), but we have omitted those servers for simplicity. The circles represent messages, with the color indicating the message key and the number indicating the relative order for the messages of that color. One usually has a lot fewer partitions than there are keys. In the example above, there are four message colors but only three partitions, so the second partition contains both blue and red messages. There are two subscribers, one that consumes from the first partition and one that consumes from the second and third partitions. There are three major issues a user may have to deal with when using partitions: subscriber scaling limitations, hot shards, and head-of-line blocking. Let’s look at each in detail. Subscriber Scaling Limitations Within a set of subscribers across which delivery of messages is load balanced (often called a “consumer group”), only one subscriber can be assigned to a partition at any time. Therefore, the maximum amount of parallel processing that can occur is min(# of partitions, # of subscribers). In the example above, we could load balance across no more than three subscribers: If processing messages suddenly became more expensive or — more likely — a new consumer group was added to receive messages in a new pipeline that requires longer processing of the messages, it may not be possible to gain enough parallelism to process all the published messages. One solution would be to have a subscriber whose job is to republish the messages on a topic with more shards, which the original subscribers could consume instead: The downside is that now both of these topics must be maintained or a careful migration must be done to change the original publisher to publish to the new topic. If both topics are maintained, then messages are stored twice. It might be possible to delete the messages from the first topic once they are published to the second topic, but this would require the migration of any subscribers receiving messages from the original topic to the new topic. Hot Shards The next issue is a hot shard — the overloading of a single partition. Ideally, traffic patterns across partitions are relatively similar. However, it is possible that there are a lot more messages or much larger messages hashing to one partition in comparison to messages hashing to other partitions. As a result, a single partition can become overloaded: What can be done to deal with this hot shard? Typically, the solution is to add partitions. However, maintaining order during a repartitioning can be very difficult. For example, if we add a new partition in the case above, it could result in related messages going to completely different partitions: With this new set of partitions, purple messages now publish to the first partition, blue messages to the third partition, and yellow and red messages to the fourth partition. This repartitioning causes several problems. First of all, the fourth partition now contains messages for keys that were previously split among the two subscribers. That means the affinity of keys to subscribers must change. Even more difficult is the fact that if subscribers want all messages in order, they must carefully coordinate from which partitions they receive messages when. The subscribers would have to be aware of the last offset in each partition that was for a message before adding more partitions. Then, they need to consume messages up to those offsets. After they have processed messages up to the offsets in all the partitions, then the subscribers can start to consume messages beyond that last offset. Head-of-Line Blocking The last difficult issue is head-of-line blocking, or the inability to process messages due to the slow processing of messages that must be consumed first. Let’s go back to the original scenario: Imagine that the red messages require a lot more time to process than the blue ones. When reading messages from the second partition, the processing of the blue message 2 could be needlessly delayed due to the slow processing of red message 1. Since the unit of ordering is a partition, there is no way to process the blue messages without processing the red messages. One could try to solve this by repartitioning in the hopes that the red and blue messages end up in different partitions. However, the processing of the red messages will block the processing of others in whichever partition they end up. The repartitioning also results in the same issues discussed in the Hot Shards section. Alternatively, the publisher could explicitly assign the red messages to their own partition, but it breaks the decoupling of publishers and subscribers if the publisher has to make decisions based on the way subscribers process messages. It may also be that the extra processing time for the red messages is temporary and doesn’t warrant large-scale changes to the system. The user has to decide if the delayed processing of some messages or the arduous process of changing the partitions is better. Automatic Scaling With Ordering Cloud Pub/Sub’s ordered delivery implementation is designed so users do not need to be subject to such limitations. It can scale to billions of keys without subscriber scaling limitations, hot shards or head-of-line blocking. As one may expect with a high-throughput pub/sub system, messages are split up into underlying partitions in Cloud Pub/Sub. However, there are two main properties of the service that allow it to overcome the issues commonly associated with ordered delivery: Partitions are not exposed to users. Subscribers acknowledge messages individually instead of advancing a partition cursor. By taking advantage of these properties, Cloud Pub/Sub brokers have three useful behaviors: They assign subscribers to groups of ordering keys that are more fine-grained than a partition. They track publishing rates per key and scale to the appropriate number of partitions as needed, maintaining proper ordered delivery across repartitioning. They store the order of messages on a per-ordering-key basis so delivery is not blocked by messages for other keys in the same partition that have not yet been processed. These behaviors allow Cloud Pub/Sub to avoid all three major issues with ordered delivery at scale! Ordered delivery doesn’t come for free, of course. Compared with unordered delivery, the ordered delivery of messages may slightly decrease publish availability and increase end-to-end message delivery latency. Unlike the unordered case, where delivery can fail over to any broker without any delay, failover in the ordered case requires coordination across brokers to ensure the messages are written to and read from the correct partitions. Using Ordered Delivery Effectively Even with Cloud Pub/Sub’s ability to deliver messages in order at scale, there are still subtleties that exist when relying on ordered delivery. This section details the things to keep in mind when building an ordered pipeline. Some of these things apply when using other messaging systems with ordered delivery, too. In order to provide a good example of how to use ordering keys effectively, the Cloud Pub/Sub team has released an open-source version of its ordering keys prober. This prober is almost identical to the one run by the team continuously to verify the correct behavior of this new feature. Publishing in Order On the surface, publishing in order seems like it should be very easy: Just call publish for each message. If we could guarantee that publishes never fail, then it would be that simple. However, transient or permanent failures can happen with publish at any time, and a publisher must understand the implications of those failures. Let’s take the simple example of trying to publish three messages for the same ordering keys A: 1, 2, and 3. The Java code to publish these messages could be the following: String[] messages = {"1", "2", "3"}; for (String msg : messages) { PubsubMessage message = PubsubMessage.newBuilder() .setData(ByteString.copyFromUtf8(msg)) .setOrderingKey("A") .build(); ApiFuture<String> publishFuture = publisher.publish(message); publishFuture.addListener(() -> { try { String messageId = publishFuture.get(); System.out.println("Successfully published " + messageId); } catch (Exception e) { System.err.println("Could not publish message "+ msg); } }, executor); } If there were no failures, then each publish call would succeed and the message ID would be returned in the future. We’d expect the subscriber to receive messages 1, 2, and 3 in that order. However, there are a lot of things that could happen. If a publish fails, it likely needs to be attempted again. The Cloud Pub/Sub client library internally retries requests on retriable errors. Errors such as deadline exceeded do not indicate whether or not the publish actually succeeded. It is possible that the publish did succeed, but the publish response wasn’t received by the client in time for the deadline, in which case the client may have attempted the publish again. In such cases, the sequence of messages could have repeats, e.g., 1, 1, 2, 3. Each published message would have its own message ID, so from the subscriber’s perspective, it would look like four messages were published, with the first two having identical content. Retrying publish requests is complicated even more by batching. The client library may batch messages together when it sends them to the server for more efficient publishing. This is particularly important for high-throughput topics. In the case above, it could be that messages 1 and 2 are batched together and sent to the server as a single request. If the server fails to return a response in time, the client will retry this batch of two messages. Therefore, it is possible the subscriber could see the sequence of messages 1, 2, 1, 2, 3. If one wants to avoid these batched republishes, it is best to set the batch settings to allow only a single message in each batch. There is one additional case with publishing that could cause issues. Imagine that in running the above code, the following sequence of events happens: Publish is called with message 1. Publish is called with message 2. Publish for message 1 transiently fails. Publish is called with message 3. The result could be that messages 2 and/or 3 are successfully published and sent to subscribers without 1 having been sent, which would result in out-of-order delivery. A simple solution may be to make the calls to publish synchronous: String[] messages = {"1", "2", "3"}; for (String msg : messages) { PubsubMessage message = PubsubMessage.newBuilder() .setData(ByteString.copyFromUtf8("1")) .setOrderingKey(msg) .build(); boolean successfulPublish = false; while (!successfulPublish) { ApiFuture<String> publishFuture = publisher.publish(message); try { String messageId = publishFuture.get(); System.out.println("Successfully published "+ messageId); successfulPublish = true; } catch (Exception e) { System.err.println("Could not publish message "+ msg); } } } While this change would guarantee that messages are published in order, it would make it much more difficult to publish at scale, as every publish operation would block a thread. The Cloud Pub/Sub client libraries overcome this problem in two ways. First, if a publish fails and there are other messages for the same ordering key queued up in the library’s message buffer, it fails the publishes for all those messages as well. Secondly, the library immediately fails any subsequent publish calls made for messages with the same ordering key. How does one get back to a state of being able to publish on an ordering key when this happens? The client library exposes a method, resumePublish(String orderingKey). A publisher should call resumePublish when it has handled the failed publishes, determined what it wants to do, and is ready to publish messages for the ordering key again. The publisher may decide to republish all the failed messages in order, publish a subset of the messages, or publish an entirely new set of messages. No matter how the publisher wants to handle this edge case, the client library provides resumePublish as a means to do so without losing the scaling advantages of asynchronous publishing. Take a look at the ordering key prober’s publish error logic for an example of how to use resumePublish. All of the above issues deal with publishing from a single publisher. However, there is also the question of how to publish messages for the same ordering key from different publishers. Cloud Pub/Sub allows this and guarantees that for publishes in the same region, the order of messages that subscribers see is consistent with the order in which the publishes were received by the broker. As an example, let’s say that both publishers X and Y publish a message for ordering key A. If X’s message is received by Cloud Pub/Sub before Y’s, then all subscribers will see the messages in that order. However, publishers do not have a way to know in which order the messages were received by the service. If the order of messages across different publishers must be maintained, then the publishers need to use some other mechanism to coordinate their publishes, e.g., some kind of locking service to maintain ownership of an ordering key while publishing. It is important to remember that ordering guarantees are only for messages published in the same region. Therefore, it is highly recommended that all publishers use regional service endpoints to ensure they publish messages to the same region for the same ordering key. This is particularly important for publishers hosted outside of GCP; if requests are routed to GCP from another place, it is always possible that the routing could change if using the global endpoint, which could disrupt the order of messages. Receiving Messages in Order Subscribers receive messages in the order they were published. What it means to “receive messages in order” varies based on the type of subscriber. Cloud Pub/Sub supports three ways of receiving messages: streaming pull, pull, and push. The client libraries use streaming pull (with the exception of PHP), and we talk about receiving messages via streaming pull in terms of using the client library. No matter what method is used for receiving messages, it is important to remember that Cloud Pub/Sub offers at-least-once delivery. That means subscribers must be resilient to receiving sequences of messages again, as discussed in the Ordering Properties section. Let’s look at what receiving messages in order means for each type of subscriber. Streaming Pull (Via the Client Libraries) When using the client libraries, one specifies a user callback that should be run whenever a message is received. The client libraries guarantee that for any given ordering key, the callback is run to completion on messages in the correct order. If the messages are acked within that callback, then it means all computation on a message occurs in order. However, if the user callback schedules other asynchronous work on messages, the subscriber must ensure that the asynchronous work is done in order. One option is to add messages to a local work queue that is processed in order. It is worth noting that because of asynchronous processing in a subscriber like this, ordered delivery in Cloud Pub/Sub does not work with Cloud Dataflow at this time. The nature of Dataflow’s parallelized execution means it does not maintain the order of messages after they are received. Therefore, a user’s pipeline would not be able to rely on messages being delivered in order. To ensure that one does not use Pub/Sub in Dataflow and expect ordered delivery, Dataflow pipelines that use a subscription with ordering keys enabled fail on startup. Pull For subscribers that use the pull method directly, Cloud Pub/Sub makes two guarantees: All messages for an ordering key in the PullResponse’s received_messages list are in the proper order in that list. There is one outstanding list of messages per ordering key at a time. The requirement that only one batch of messages can be outstanding at a time is necessary to maintain ordered delivery. The Cloud Pub/Sub service can’t guarantee the success or latency of the response it sends for a subscriber’s pull request. If a response fails and a subsequent pull request is fulfilled with a response containing subsequent messages for the same ordering key, it is possible those subsequent messages could arrive to the subscriber before the messages in the failed response. It also can’t guarantee that the subsequent pull request comes from the same subscriber. Push The restrictions on push are even tighter than those on pull. For a push subscription, Cloud Pub/Sub allows only one message to be outstanding per ordering key at a time. Since each message is sent to a push subscriber via its own request, sending such requests out in parallel would have the same issue as delivering multiple batches of messages for the same ordering key to pull subscribers simultaneously. Therefore, push subscribers may not be a good choice for topics where messages are frequently published with the same ordering key or latency is extremely important, as the restrictions could prevent the subscriber from keeping up with the published messages. In summary, ordered delivery at scale usually requires one to be very careful with the capacity and setup of their messaging system. When that capacity is exceeded or message processing characteristics change, adding capacity while maintaining order is a time-consuming and difficult process. With the introduction of ordered delivery into Cloud Pub/Sub, users can rely on order in ways they are accustomed to in a system that still automatically scales with their usage.

https://medium.com/google-cloud/google-cloud-pub-sub-ordered-delivery-1e4181f60bc8

['Kamal Aboul-Hosn']

2020-10-19 14:48:55.184000+00:00

['Pub Sub', 'Google Cloud Platform', 'Distributed Systems', 'Google Pubsub', 'Data Analytics']

8 Things to Know About Running and Your Breasts

Breasts: They don’t do anything to help your running. They just hitch a ride and get in the way — requiring their own special equipment and in some cases, causing discomfort. In a 2013 study of female runners at the London Marathon, 32 percent said they experienced occasional pain in their breasts. Of those, 17 percent sometimes cut back on their training because of breast pain. But the news is not all bad. Researchers continue to study breast motion during sports, bra technology is improving all the time, and evidence is growing that running is one of the best things you can do to protect yourself from breast cancer. Here’s what scientists know — and what runners should, too — about taking care of your pair. 1. The body is not naturally kind to the breasts. “Depending on the size, they can be very heavy,” says Andrea Cheville, M.D., physical medicine and rehabilitation researcher and director of the Cancer Rehabilitation Program at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “The body doesn’t support them very well. There’s not much to keep them stable and immobilized.” Just your skin and a few ligaments. Other parts of the body are luckier. “If you think of something like the abdominal fascia, it’s just incredibly strong,” Cheville says. “You can run and your insides don’t jiggle around, because we have a strong, fibrous envelope. But that’s not true of the breasts. They have essentially no support. And yet they have pain receptors. And when the limited support elements are stretched, that hurts.” 2. They move more than you think. Michelle Norris, senior research associate in the department of sport and exercise science at the University of Portsmouth in the U.K., studies breast movement and tests breast support products in the lab. To do so, she and her colleagues have women running on a treadmill bare breasted (bless those ladies), and then in low or high support bras. They use 3-D motion capture to look at the range of movement of the breasts. “We have some very willing participants — and we owe them a lot,” Norris says. In the lab, Norris and her colleagues have found that breasts move in a figure eight pattern. Not just up and down — that vertical movement is what most runners think of — but side to side and forward and backward as well. “[Breast is] just a mass of tissue, not a muscle,” Norris says. “It is not rigid structure. It can move in all three dimensions when we run.” And it does. When you add all that movement in three planes together, Norris says, breasts — unsupported — move about 15 centimeters during running. (Different labs report different numbers, depending on the cup size of the cohort they’re testing.) About 50 percent of the movement is in the vertical, and then 25 percent is side to side movement, and the other 25 percent is anterior-posterior motion. Regardless, that’s about six inches of motion with every stride. (R)UNWIND WITH RW: The perfect way to recharge your running life? Register for one of our 2017 Runner’s World Women’s Getaways! 3. A good bra is a must-have. With all that movement, female runners need support. Shop carefully, the experts urge. Try on a lot of different bras. Get the best fit possible. Look for a specialty running store with a knowledgeable female salesperson. Buy a high support bra for running. ​ How to Find the Proper Sports Bra by Runner’s World US Play Video ​ Some women prefer compression, others prefer encapsulation models. Doesn’t matter. The best bra is the one that you’re happy to wear. “We’re all about bra fit here,” Norris says. “It is one of the most important facets for any woman in sport. We always say that it should be one that fits you extremely well and one you’re comfortable with.” If you get one that hooks in the back, you should be able to wear it on its loosest fastening. As it goes through the wash and becomes looser, you can go to the tighter fastenings. RELATED: Find Your Perfect Sports Bra 4. Your pace does not affect the motion. Here’s what surprised Norris, a runner herself, from the research in her lab: It doesn’t matter what speed you’re going, your breasts move the same amount. “I would have thought that the faster I run, the more my breasts might move. That’s not actually the way it goes,” she says. “If you’re running at 10 kilometers per hour (about 10:00 pace), they’re actually moving at their maximal displacement. If you’re running at 14 kilometers per hour (about 7:00 pace), they’re not going to move any more than that.” The lesson for runners: Don’t think if you’re going for a long, slow run, you can use a bra that is less supportive. You need a high support bra all the time. 5. Are they shrinking? Athletes new to a running program often notice a curious reduction in breast size. What’s happening? Running in essence doesn’t shrink your breasts, Norris says. But the breasts are composed of fat and fibrous tissues. “So if a person is training and eating well and they’re reducing their overall body fat, it’s reasonable to think they could also decrease their breast size because they’re decreasing fat in their breasts,” she says. “It works more like decreasing their overall body fat instead of spot reduction.” 6. Pain should be taken seriously. There are different kinds of breast pain — most of which are easily explained. But you shouldn’t ignore it. “Breast pain is pain,” Cheville says. A lot of breast pain during exercise is from inadequate support — your bra falling down on the job. (See №4.) And, Cheville says, for large-breasted women, adequate support can be tough to find. RELATED: The Best Sports Bras for Sizes DD and Larger Many women are extra sensitive in their breasts in the days leading up to menstruation. It’s highly variable from person to person. If the pain is severe enough, you might want to pick a workout with less impact. “Recognize that this too will pass, and while you’re tender, take it easy,” Cheville says. If you want to power through, it’s fine to use an over-the-counter anti-inflammatory. And watch the salt intake, which can lead you to retain water during the perimenstrual time, adding to the swelling in your breasts, she says. Any unusual pain, see a doctor. “A small breasted woman who has new onset pain, that’s harder to explain and more concerning,” Cheville says. “She should probably see a clinician.” 7. Discomfort can kill your motivation. Recent research out of the Portsmouth lab has shown that breast comfort affects a woman’s willingness to run. It can be hard enough to get motivated to drag yourself out the door for a few miles. Without being conscious of it, you could be letting your breasts sabotage your workout plans. Says Norris: “If you pick up the wrong bra, you’re not going to go.” 8. Breast cancer strikes in runners less frequently than in sedentary women. Recent studies have established a clear link between exercise and reduced rates of breast cancer, Cheville says. “Primary prevention means it keeps you from getting it in the first place,” she says. “Secondary prevention means it keeps it from coming back. For breast cancer, there’s pretty solid evidence for both primary and secondary prevention with exercise.” A 2014 study showed running beats walking for breast cancer survival rates. Vigorous exercise was better than moderate exercise for the women in the study. All the more reason to hit the road — with a good bra, of course.

https://medium.com/@sarmadmayo007/8-things-to-know-about-running-and-your-breasts-66cdd86252de

['Sarmad Mayo']

2020-12-17 19:09:06.146000+00:00

['Exercise', 'Running', 'Weight Loss', 'Weightloss Foods', 'Lose Weight']

A Guide to O3 Wallet (Mobile)

After you download the O3 Wallet app from App Store, Google Play or our official website, open it and you’ll see the interface in the image below (I’m using iOS to demonstrate, but it should look similar on Android): Grant your consent to our User Agreement by checking that box and we’re good to go. How to import an existing wallet 1.1 In the interface above, click ‘Import Wallet’, and you’ll be prompted to choose which chain you want to view your wallet on. 1.2 Now you should be directed to the interface below. Enter your Private Kay/Encrypted Key with password, or use an NEP6 File to import your wallet. 1.3 When the steps above are completed, you can begin using your wallet. 1.4 Alternatively, if your wallet is already configured, you can choose import additional wallets with ease. To import a wallet you will first click the settings icon, as shown in the. interface shown below, to invoke the ‘Manage Wallet’ tab. From there, click ‘Import Wallet’ to start the process. 2. How to create a new wallet 2.1 In the welcome page, click ‘Create Wallet’. 2.2 You’ll be directed to the interface below. Enter a name for your wallet and set a password. When you’re done, click ‘Create’. 2.3 After that, you’ll be prompted to backup your keys carefully. The QR code and the wallet address will also be shown to you in the interface below. Once your wallet is backed up, it will be ready for use. 2.4 Alternatively, if you are already using a wallet and wish to create a new one, you can click the marked area in the interface shown below to invoke the ‘Manage wallet’ tab, and then click ‘Create Wallet’ to start the process. 3. How to manage a wallet (This includes funtions like backup public address/keys and remove wallet from the app) 3.1 Click the marked area in the interface shown above to invoke the ‘Manage wallet’ tab or go to ‘Me’ -> ‘Manage wallet’. 3.2 In the interface shown below, choose the wallet you want to manage (there’s only one in the image) and click the three dots on that wallet tab. 3.3 In the interface ensued as shown in the image below, you can perform a series of actions to your wallet like edit the wallet’s name and password, view wallet address/keys, and export the wallet.

https://medium.com/o3-labs-o3-wallet/a-guide-to-o3-wallet-mobile-489415aa820e

['Caroline']

2021-04-12 11:00:21.968000+00:00

['Mobile', 'O3', 'Wallet', 'Guides And Tutorials', 'Cryptocurrency']

Solving Business Problems with Analytics: Workload Evaluation (1.3)

Recap (You can skip this section to the next heading if it’s still fresh) We determined that to solve all these problems, we must first start with the information we have available to us. We know that we have some employees, and we know that we have some volume of work to accomplish. Okay, easy enough so far. The most important thing we need to do is to determine how to measure the total work volume that is required of us. Each of these problems is dependent on the solution to this one; This must be our starting place. How do we measure the total work volume? Well, this is going to require that you research the potential variables in the real world. Every manager you talk to will probably have a different answer to this, so collect all the features you can for this evaluation. For our example, we came up with some general ones to use: purchases, invoices issued, and purchase dollar value. We need to evaluate and make a determination of the best of these measurement for each scenario. Then, we will have to normalize these measurements and add them together to get the total work volume. Since we are trying to measure work, the best measurement will have the most linear relationship to the effort of accomplishing the unit of volume. While effort is a really hard thing to measure, we can infer this value by looking at its cost; The cost of effort is time in an organization. Therefore, to evaluate the best potential measurement of work volume we will evaluate the correlation coefficient for each volume measurement, and the highest value will be our choice. ρx,y = co-variance(x,y)/(σₓ*σᵧ) Where x = effort, and y = volume effort = 1+((x-μ)/σ) volume = sum(units) volume_category = {category|max{ρ(effort,vol_measure):∀vol_measure}} normalized_units = ∑{units/max(units)|volume_category} _________________ relative_volume = effort * normalized_units So now that we have our total work volume measurement, everything else falls into place naturally. The next hurdle is to determine how much work to expect from a single contributor. To evaluate this we take the average total work volume divided by the average time required to accomplish that work to give us a measurement of work efficiency. To determine how much to expect from the average contributor, we’ll take the average of our efficiency measurement and return the average volume contribution where the efficiency is within a standard deviation of the population mean. avg_volume = avg(relative_volume)/employee avg_efficiency = avg_volume/avg(time) _________________ exp_vol_contribution = avg_volume <--- avg_efficiency - σ < avg_volume < efficiency + σ Now that we know how to measure total work volume and the expected contribution of an employee, we can answer the rest of our questions pretty easily. To evaluate the employees required, we just take our total work volume and divide it by the expected contribution. To evaluate our current workload capacity, we take our current employees and multiply it by the expected contribution. req_contributors = relative_volume/exp_vol_contribution capacity = exp_vol_contribution * count(employees) We can now answer each of the questions we’ve been presented with. Now to see this solution in practice we will first have to generate some test data.

https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/solving-business-problems-with-analytics-workload-evaluation-1-3-30d2bf287891

['Mark Styx']

2020-03-05 17:56:37.038000+00:00

['Communication', 'Business', 'Analytics Life Cycle', 'Workload Management', 'Data Science']

Three Next Gen Battery Technologies that could power the world.

The world needs more power, ideally in a structure that is clean and sustainable. Our energy saving procedures are right now molded by lithium-ion batteries — at the next gen of such innovation — yet what would we be able to anticipate in years to come? We should start with some battery basics. A battery is a pack of at least one or many cells, every one of which has a positive electrode (the cathode), a negative electrode (the anode), a separator and an electrolyte. Utilizing distinctive synthetics and materials for these influences the properties of the battery — how much energy it can store and yield, how much power it can give or the times it tends to be discharged & recharged. Battery organizations are always testing to discover sciences that are less expensive, denser, lighter and all the more dominant. A research clarified three new battery innovations with transformative potential. LITHIUM-SULFUR What is it? In Li-ion batteries, the dynamic materials are layered between the lithium particles in stable host structures during charge and release. In lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries, there are no host structures. While discharging, the lithium anode is expended and sulfur changed into an assortment of chemical compounds; during charging, the reverse procedure happens. WHAT ARE ITS ADVANTAGES? A Li-S battery utilizes exceptionally light active materials: sulfur in the positive terminal and metallic lithium as the negative electrode. This is the reason its hypothetical energy density is phenomenally high: multiple times more noteworthy than that of Li-ion. That makes it a solid match for aviation applications. WHEN CAN WE EXPECT IT? Li-S technology needs further research and development work to improve its life expectancy and to continue to increase specific energy density. It isn’t relied upon to be prepared for applications requiring long battery life for somewhere around five years. SODIUM-ION WHAT IS IT? The way that sodium-ion (Na-ion) batteries work is like lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries; as the name recommends, the fundamental distinction is the substitution of lithium by sodium. An assortment of sodium-based materials can be utilized as the battery’s positive terminal, which is definitive with regards to performance — longer life or cycling limit with regards to precedent. WHAT ARE ITS ADVANTAGES? Na-ion batteries offer various preferences. The primary one is that they are less expensive than Li-ion batteries (by up to 35 percent per cell). Be that as it may, this innovation won’t almost certainly contend with Li-particle as far as vitality density — neither by weight nor volume — and must be utilized for stationary applications where this is anything but a noteworthy prerequisite. These might incorporate putting away abundance power produced by sustainable power sources, for example, sun-based or wind control. WHEN CAN WE EXPECT IT? Many of the cell components and manufacturing processes are the same as for current Li-ion batteries. The main development is focused on electrode materials. Na-ion batteries might be ready to enter production in three to four years’ time. SOLID-STATE WHAT IS IT? Solid state batteries represent a change in outlook as far as innovation. In present-day Li-ion batteries, ions move to start with one electrode then onto the next over the liquid electrolyte (additionally called ionic conductivity). Taking all things together solid state batteries, the fluid electrolyte is supplanted by a strong compound which enables lithium ions to move inside it. This idea is a long way from new, however in the course of recent years — because of serious overall research — new groups of solid electrolytes have been found with high ionic conductivity, like a liquid electrolyte, enabling this specific technological hindrance to be resolved. WHAT ARE ITS ADVANTAGES? The main tremendous favorable position is a checked improvement in wellbeing at cell and battery levels: inorganic strong electrolytes are non-combustible when warmed, in contrast to their fluid partners. Second, it allows the utilization of imaginative, high-voltage high-limit materials, empowering denser, lighter batteries with improved security execution and a better time span of usability because of decreased self-release. As the batteries can display a high capacity to-weight proportion, they might be perfect for use in electric vehicles. WHEN CAN WE EXPECT IT? Several kinds of all-solid-state batteries are likely to come to market as technological progress continues. The first could be solid-state batteries with graphite-based anodes, bringing improved energy performance and safety. In time, lighter solid-state battery technologies using a metallic lithium anode should become commercially available. To know more:- http://www.bhairavisurgical.com/

https://medium.com/@pratik.ad2brand/three-next-gen-battery-technologies-that-could-power-the-world-e0b9076b60be

['Pratik Urkande']

2019-05-25 09:54:38.093000+00:00

['Generation', 'Technology', 'Energy', 'Market', 'Battery']

Male Exclusive Blood Sacrifice in Maya Religion

The Calendar as a daily blood sacrifice MAYA MYTHOLOGY & RELIGION We know the Mayan calendars, the 260-day Count, The Tzolk’in, 20 days repeated 13 times and numbered from 1 to 13 in 20 successive counts. It is really mentioned once but at the same time the clear allusion to the four directions and the center leading to the reference to one of the oldest Mayan glyph, probably even older than Mayan and coming from very far in time, the “quincunx” that can be found in some other glyphs like that of the eighth day Lamat/rabbit or that of the eighteenth day Etz’nab/Flint. It is very difficult to penetrate such symbolism because there is no one today that knows about it directly, as an heir and descendant of such religious beliefs and practices. And I am not sure it is correct to believe the center is a point especially if we take into account the interpretation of “quincunx” as being a representation of a pyramid. The center is a vertical line with a zenith, the Sky referring to the Heart of the Sky, to Quetzalcoatl, and with a nadir Xibalba, the territory of the Xibalban Lords of the underworld from whom the newly created human species has to free themselves. The most intriguing question is that of the self-sacrifice, sacrifice and blood culture and civilization that justify rites and rituals of blood offerings or heart offerings. Even the divine or quasi-divine ancestors of the Maya tribes go through a ritual of sacrifice, especially Hunahpu and Xbalanque, the latter sacrificing the former by dismembering, beheading and then heart extraction, just before calling him back to life. And this is a trap to lure the main Xibalban Lords, One and Seven Death, to demand the opportunity for both of them together to go through such a sacrifice, from which they will not be resuscitated. This book then is essential and this edition is richly illustrated and it has a great corpus of notes, bibliography, and index. At the same time, I am surprised by the list of the 20 days that does not correspond to the one I standardly work on, that or Michael D. Coe and of the Codex Borgia. I also regret that the list is given in two languages, Quiché and Yucatan, and not in English. Actually, Michael D. Coe does the same but only in Yucatan Maya. On the other hand, Bruce E. Byland, in his presentation of the Codex Borgia only gives the English translation for the names of the day. Only Maya requires some research with a dictionary to know what the names mean. Only English requires another type of research to know what they are and mean in Maya, because most glyphs when they are not phonetic syllables, have several meanings clustered together. And we cannot always know what is meant though Maya is definitely for me a synthetic third-articulation language moving from a totally glyphic writing system to a syllabary writing system. And some words can correspond to several different glyphs and are thus different in writing from what they are in oral practice, as far as we can reconstruct it. So, enter this book, in this edition or another. There are several on the internet in free open access. Here are some personal remarks on this book. Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU DENNIS TEDLOCK, Translator — POPOL VUH, The Definitive Edition Of The Mayan Book Of The Dawn Of Life And The Glories Of The Gods And Kings – A TOUCHSTONE BOOK — 1965–1996 Some compare this book to the Christian or Jewish Bible. I guess some compare it too to the Quran. Such comparisons are unfair to this book because they cast it into a mold that has little to do with the Mayas and Mayan religion, mythology or culture. We could definitely compare some motifs or patterns in the story with those of the Bible or the Quran, but the patterns only have the meaning the general architecture in which they are cast provide them with and this meaning is not the same in the three books concerned here. First of all, this book does not state at any time there is only one God. There are many Gods in this story even if maybe Quetzalcoatl is the main one, even if we could consider this is the beginning of the emergence of monotheism in this book, but really nothing but a sketchy beginning, especially when we know Quetzalcoatl is dead, he was sacrificed for the Maya world to stabilize and develop, though it is not clear whether it is a self-sacrifice or a formal heart-rending sacrifice performed by a priest of some kind. Note this sacrificed God, not son of God, of course, is supposed to come back from the East. The second element is about the creation of the world, or rather the creation of the human species. The least we can say is that the creator who is maybe one, maybe several, was or were very sloppy and had to start all over again several times. These gods are not almighty far from it. But the most surprising element is that God appears to have many qualities, or names, and at times these qualities or names are seen as separate maybe even over several entities. Over the total watery world, “in the dark, in the night” (translation problem or fair translation? The dark is a clear characteristic that is defined easily as the absence of light, but the night is nothing but the other side of the day, night implying day from which it has been discriminated: so how can it be before daylight has been provided to differentiate day from night), “only the Maker, Modeler alone, Sovereign Plumed Serpent, the Bearers, Begetters are in the water, a glittering light. They are there, they are enclosed in quetzal feathers, in blue-green.” (p. 64) This is a beautiful story but is the Maker one or many? But is darkness defined as opposed to already existing light? But how come quetzal feathers exist before the creation of life? And the next sentence is even more mysterious: “Thus the name, ‘Plumed Serpent.’ They are great knowers, great thinkers in their very being.” (p. 64) We then come to an essential element of the cosmic vision of the Mayas. Their cosmos, their universe is vertical and going up you get into the sky and you consider the Heart of the Sky which is the Sovereign Plumed Serpent again. We will find later an underworld, Xibalba, and the emergence of humanity will come from a rebellion of the first humans against the lords of this underworld with the support of the Gods of the Sky, of the Heart of the Sky. And this Heart of the Sky has many names: “named Hurricane. Thunderbolt Hurricane comes first, the second is Newborn Thunderbolt, and the third is Sudden Thunderbolt. So they were three of them at Heart of Sky who came to the Sovereign Plumed Serpent.” (p. 65) This ternary pattern is typical of all religions before Judaism (a binary vision: “God and his Spirit” of Genesis) and Islam (God is one and only one and Mohammed is only his Prophet). Judaism emerged from various religions whose pattern was ternary. Christianity reintroduced the trinity but we can wonder if it was a reintroduction by Jesus himself or if it was a rewriting of the Jewish reference of Jesus to his Father and the Holy Spirit (only two, and father is a normal metaphor for God in Judaism), a rewriting introduced later by some disciples, apostles or not. What is interesting is that this book cannot be reduced to a single numerical pattern. Note however that Hurricane refers to the wind and in the Maya tradition, there are four winds corresponding to the four cardinal directions. We will find them later represented as a crossroads of four roads with four colors, “red, black, white, yellow,” (p. 95). Traditionally they are red for east, black for west, white for north, and yellow for south, and along with the upwards (Sky) and downward (Xibalba) directionality of the center, then heart, brings the cosmic vision to six, though traditionally again this center is reduced to a point, and then the four directions and the center form a “quincunx,” the oldest glyph found in Mesoamerica, similar to the eighth day, Lamat/Rabbit, and the eighteenth day, Flint/Etz’nab, of the Tzolk’in calendar. It is also an aerial view of a pyramid. The full six-directional vision is that of a textile shuttle, and note this vision will be recaptured by William Blake though Blake will redesign it inside out and outside in. But that’s another story. Note here that the “heart” is really sacred, divine, and that must bring in our minds two remarks. Blood is sacred and divine and blood is the best offering to this Heart of the Sky with self-sacrifice generally by puncturing one’s penis with a jade sacrificial knife. No women can do that. Women are side-tracked. At best you can also puncture your tongue or your ears, but that is a second choice. This simple fact is a sign of a post-Ice-Age agricultural society that has pushed women out of the picture, or at best on its side. The second remark is that the heart itself is sacred and divine and the best act of subservience and obedience to the Gods is to offer one’s heart to him or them with ritual sacrifice. This centering cult on self-sacrifice and sacrifice is the very starting point and center of the vision. God is not seen as going along with his Spirit, but as the heart of the sky and we have to take this word literally. And this multiple-facetted god is redefined again this time as a nonary entity: “Hurricane, Newborn Thunderbolt, Sudden Thunderbolt, Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth, Maker, Modeler, Bearer, Begetter.” This male figure is all-male up to its seventh characteristic. But his last two features are female. A male cannot bear or cannot beget any child. Note though, in spite of what some may think, this Plumed Serpent is not the first creator in this cosmos because he is himself a newborn and to be born he has to come from a bearer, and this bearer has to be impregnated with the future newborn. Of course, we are working on a translation but these are intriguing and there is no possible comparison with the Bible. In the Bible, God is introduced as existing in the watery dark world along with his spirit without any mention or allusion to any origin at all. Here the main multiple-facetted god has been born to existence and is himself the bearer and begetter, hence he is both the newborn and the bearer, or shouldn’t it be the bearer and the newborn. He is the mother, the father and the son all in one multiple facetted God we are dealing with here. This chaotic creation starts a series of pairs of humans. In a group of four, Xpiyacoc, Xmucane, Hunahpu Possum and Hunahpu Coyote. The mason and sculptor who invoke the first two, ask them to count days and to count lots, meaning to attach fate and the future to the days of the calendar. But at once they enter that very future. Xpiyacoc and Xmucane are declared to be respectively the grandfather and the grandmother (note the text gives the other order first and then specifies the order the way I have just given it. They invoke then the other two, Hunahpu Possum and Hunahpu Coyote with a long series of pairs of words ending with “Grandmother of Day, Grandmother of Light. Yet these people were manikins, woodcarvings and “there was nothing in their hearts and nothing in their minds.” (p. 70) So the decision was taken to destroy them. And yet Seven Macaw survives in his vanity: “I am their sun and I am their light, and I am also their months.” (p. 73) That’s when the manikins were destroyed by a flood, the famous flood that is the rising of the water after the Ice Age: 120 meters altogether submerging the coastal platform that had been open, inhabited and covered with vegetation for more than 20,000 years. It pushed humans away from the eastern coast (a fundamental migration stated in this book, and later on recalled as an initiating rite to the rising sun, to dawn as a metaphor for the development of modern humanity. Seven Macaw survives, but not for long. I will jump now to the second part, the story of Seven Macaw and his descendants. This Seven Macaw has a wife, Chimalmat and they had two sons, Zipacna and Earthquake. Let them define themselves “Here I am: I am the sun,” said Seven Macaw. “Here I am: I am the maker of the earth,” said Zipacna. “As for me, I bring down the sky, I make an avalanche of all the earth,” said Earthquake.” (p. 77–78) That’s when Hunahpu and Xbalanque come into the picture. The first encounter with Seven Macaw makes Hunahpu lose one arm, ripped off by Seven Macaw. Then the two boys invoke a grandfather and a grandmother, Great White Peccary and Great White Coati, to approach Seven Macaw. He and his wife die because the grandfather and grandmother take care of his broken jaw and teeth and they deprive him of his metal. His wife dies too. Zipacna during that time is bathing on the coast when 400 boys come along. He helps them carry a log but they are suspicious. So they make him dig a deep hole and they bury him in it though they are mistaken as for his death and he kills them all. But he then encounters the two boys and these trick him into chasing a crab in some cave or crack in the mountain and he is turned into stone. During that time Earthquake is enjoying his earth-quaking power. He comes across the two boys who pretend they are going hunting in the mountains. He joins them and they get some birds. The two boys prepare one for him with gypsum on top. Earthquake eats it but after that, he cannot walk anymore and the boys bury him. That’s how Hunahpu and Xbalanque defeated Seven Macaw and his two sons. What is interesting here is the pattern of two sons against two sons. The first pair have a father and they are a triad of bad people, the mother being totally marginal. The second pair invoke two grandparents when necessary but they are not really part of this quartet because the grandparents are there to kill Seven Macaw, thus saving the mission of the two boys. We assume they are twins. But it is not said that clearly. That binary pattern is going to continue. Xpivacoc and Xmucane have two sons, One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu. One Hunahpu has two sons too, One Monkey and One Artisan. Seven Hunahpu has no children, he remains a boy. One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu just throw dice and play ball every day in pairs, we assume with One Monkey and One Artisan. The triple God Hurricane-Newborn-Thunderbolt-Sudden-Thunderbolt sends a falcon as a messenger. The four of them go on playing but along the road to Xibalba, the underworld. They are met by One Death and Seven Death, two lords of Xibalba. This underworld is governed by twelve Lords that go in pairs. By their names and by their functions they are entirely dedicated to killing people and making them suffer. The six pairs are One and Seven Death; Scab Stripper and Blood Gatherer; Demon of Pus and Demon of Jaundice; Bone Scepter and Skull Scepter; Demon of Filth and Demon of Woe; and Wing and Packstrap (who make people die in the road, meaning by sudden death). One and Seven Hunahpu go on to Xibalba, whereas One Monkey and One Artisan stay behind. The latter pair will be defeated by Hunahpu and Xbalanque later. The Lords of Xibalba send four messengers, four owls: Shooting Owl, One-Legged Owl, Macaw Owl and Skull Owl. One and Seven Hunahpu accept to follow them. They are submitted to extreme tests, when they arrive, in the Dark House, Rattling House, Jaguar House, Bat House, Razor House. They had received a lit up cigar and torch and they were supposed to bring them back at the end in the same original state they had received them, which of course they could not do. So they were sacrificed and buried. One Hunahpu’s head is hanged in a tree along the road. Then we have the story of Blood Moon, a maiden whose father is Blood Gatherer. She gets pregnant from the skull/head of One Hunahpu by just talking to it. Her father who is connected to the Lords of Xibalba wants to know the father. She refuses to tell. She is sent to sacrifice by her father. The Military Keepers of the Mat have to do the sacrifice, but Blood Moon reveals the identity of the father to them. So they cheat and she finds refuge with the grandmother of One Monkey and One Artisan. Blood Moon explains her situation to the woman who is now her grandmother-in-law. After a first refusal, she accepts the grandchildren who are Hunahpu and Xbalanque. These get into some rivalry with their brothers, One Monkey and One Artisan. The two older ones climb in a tree but can’t get down. The two younger ones tell them to let the tail of their loincloth hand behind and they are turned into monkeys and they skip away in the forest. The mother-in-law asks the younger ones to call the older ones back by playing the song Hunahpu Monkey. They come back three times but the grandmother laughs each time. They try a fourth time to call them back but they do not come back. They became animals. Hunahpu and Xbalanque, while trying to cultivate a garden unsuccessfully, capture and torture a rat who tell them they have to recuperate what belongs to their father One Hunahpu. And that is the last leg of this binary story. Their descent to Xibalba and their vengeance. Having learned from their predecessors the tricks of the Lords of Xibalba, they can respond, mostly with magic, to the various houses Their grandmother sends them a message via a louse that is swallowed by a toad that is swallowed by a snake and that is swallowed by a falcon who delivers those it has swallowed to the two boys who can thus get the message. This quaternary pattern is emphasized by the swallowing process and then by the delivering spitting out or vomiting. Before leaving, they plant two ears of corn in the middle of the grandmother’s house for them to dry to show their death in due time. They cross the two rivers Pus River and Blood River on their blowguns. They came to the crossroads of the four roads, Black Road, White Road, Red Road, Green Road. There they summoned a mosquito spy who went first to bite the people he met there in order to make the Lords of Xibalba who were there speak their names. The first two people were wooden manikins and they did not respond, but then the twelve Lords responded to the bites and from one to the last they reveal their names. So when the boys meet them they can greet them by names, the twelve of them. They refuse to sit on the cooking stone slab presented as a bench. Then they defeat every house they enter. Dark House first where they accept to deliver, after letting themselves be defeated in the ballgame, four bowls full of red petals, white petals, yellow petals, and whole flowers before the end of the night. Then Razor House where they pacify all the knives and call for the ants which get into One and Seven Death’s garden and steal the petals and the flowers they deliver in four bowls as requested. In Cold House, they simply shut the cold out and survive. In Jaguar House they pacify the jaguars by giving them a pile of bones. In the Midst of the Fire, in a house of fire, they are only toasted and simmered, not burned. Inside Bat House they sleep in their blowguns. Hunahpu though sticks his head out to see if dawn is coming and a bat snapped his head off. Xbalanque then summons all the animals and ask them to bring their food. They bring rotten wood, leaves, stones, earth, and then unspecified food till the last one brought by the coati: a squash that becomes the simulated head of Hunahpu with brains provided by the Heart of Sky, Hurricane. To finish the simulated head a possum makes four streaks that make the early dawn red and blue. In the ball game then the rabbit is supposed to lure the Xibalbans away after Hunahpu’s real head is kicked into the game as if it were a ball that, after two rebounds, ends up among the ball bags. The rabbit runs away after the ball supposedly, the Xibalbans run after him and Hunahpu can recuperate his real head. The squash becomes the ball and the game can start again and they make equal plays on both sides. But two knowers are called in, Xulu and Pecam who describes the death of the two brothers in an oven. The two brothers walk hand in hand into the oven and die there together. Their bones are ground and spilled in the river. “They just sank to the bottom of the water. They became handsome boys; they looked just the same as before when they reappeared.” (p. 132) And yet on the fifth day they reappear. Seen in the river as two catfish first, then they become two vagabonds dressed in rags. They dance, the Dance of the Poorwill, the Dance of the Weasel and Armadillos, Swallowing Swords and Walking on Stilts, performing miracles. They mutually sacrifice themselves one for the other, and yet get back to life. The Lords of Xibalba invite them and ask them to perform a show for them. To entertain the Lords, the two vagabonds sacrifice a dog that comes back to life after dying. They set fire to the home of the lord, with all the Lords inside. They are not burned and the house is reconstructed. Then they perform a human sacrifice, hold up the human heart and then bring the person back to life. Then Xbalanque sacrifices Hunahpu. Legs and arms are cut off. The head is decapitated. The heart is dug out and presented in a leaf to the Xibalbans. Xbalanque dances and orders his brother to come back to life and he does. That’s when the trap works. One and Seven Death ask them to sacrifice them both. Which they do but this time the two Lords do not come back to life. Then all the Lords submit and accept their defeat. And the two vagabonds reveal their names, Hunahpu and Xbalanque. They reveal their fathers’ names, One Hunahpu, killed by the Xibalbans who then lose their greatness and brilliance. During that time the ears of green corn they left in their grandmother’s house dried up when they died in the oven but then the corn plants grew again. “Then the ears were deified by their grandmother, and she gave them names: Middle of the House, Middle of the Harvest, Living Ears of Green Corn, and Bed of Earth.” (p. 139) Note the binary quartet. That’s the mention of a Maize God who is in fact associated to the resurrected father of the two brothers, a father who is one but as a member of a pair since he is One Hunahpu and is associated to Seven Hunahpu. This One-Seven pair that appears too in One and Seven Death, is mysterious, except that 1 + 7 = 8, bringing us back into the binary pattern 2–4–8. But this final renascence is concluded by a last miracle: “And then the Four Hundred Boys climbed up, the ones who were killed by Zipacna.” (p. 142) We have to note that this 400 is the only mention of the vigesimal counting base of the Mayas in the form of 20 x 20 = 400. The writing of numbers by the Mayas would clearly show this complexity. So in a way we have to consider the resurrection of the 400 Boys is the institution of Mayan mathematics which is also the basis of the Mayan Calendar. Note here the second figure of this calendar, 13, has never appeared in this story. The closest was the set of twelve lords in Xibalba emphasized when the two brothers met the Lords for the first time by the revelation of their names by the mosquito and then by the twelve personal greetings addressed to them. But thirteen remains a mystery. It will only appear in the next part as the “thirteen allied tribes” but it will never be clear specified who they are in the next sections of this book. I will stop here because in the next sections it is rather the history of the establishment of the Maya nation or empire and we are no longer dealing with a myth but rather a mythologized real history. In this historical description, the Quiche (should be Cauec) Lords are attributed fourteen generations with nine lineages, great houses, and nine rulers. The Greathouses’ generations are counted up to eleven with two addenda that are not clear, and nine declared lords of the great houses but only eight listed, though a note clarifies this discrepancy as being the result of the translator cutting off the sixth lord because he is identical to the fourth (Chief of the Reception House) though the note says that this sixth lord should have been Chief Yeoltux Emissary, thus bringing the number of lords back to the announced number of nine. The third lineage is called again the Lord Quichés (which is correct) and have nine lords but no generations at all. In the same way, the next chapters present four Founders or four humans who are the fathers of the Maya people: Jaguar Quitze, Jaguar Night, Not Right Now and Dark Jaguar, who have four wives, respectively, Red Sea Turtle, Prawn House, Water Hummingbird and Macaw House. But these four main lines in the Maya people only have three gods for the first three lines: Tohil, Auilix, and Hacauitz. Dark Jaguar does not have a god. And this Dark Jaguar will more or less be sidetracked little by little and the four original humans only give three separate lineages: Jaguar Quitze and the nine great houses of the Cauecs, Jaguar Night and the nine great houses of the Greathouses and Not Right Now and the four great houses of the Lord Quichés. Note this list (p. 149) is in contradiction with the listing of the generations that calls the first lineage the Quiché lords. But one thing is clear. The fasting and penance doing of the Lords are based on the twenty days of the calendar, here translated as “scores” and they fast and do penance during multiple scores of days: “For nine score days they would fast, and for nine they would do penance and burn offerings. Thirteen score was another of their fasts, and for thirteen they could do penance and burn offerings before Tohil and their other gods. They would only eat zapotes, matasanos, jocotes; there was nothing made of corn [it would be better to say “maize”] for their meals. Even if they did penance for seventeen scores, then for seventeen they fasted, they did not eat. They achieve truly great abstinence. This was a sign that they had the being of true lords. And there weren’t any women with them when they slept.” (p. 192) If you follow the progression we have 9 scores, then 13 scores and then 17 scores. 9 is not as such part of the calendar but 9 is present in many sections when speaking of the houses and their lords. 13 is the number of scores (the basic sets of twenty days) of the Tzolk’in calendar. But 17 is nothing at all: I did not find it anywhere in this book. The second calendar is the Haab and it counts 18 scores of days plus five. So this book remains mysterious and does not solve some problems. We can see the Mayan counting system emerging and we can see the Tzolk’in calendar emerging but many other numerical elements are mysterious. I will conclude with the last sentence of Part Three: “And so they [the Four Hundred Boys] came to accompany the two of them [Hunahpu and Xbalanque], they became the sky’s own stars.” (p. 142) And that conclusion makes Hunahpu and Xbalanque be like the sun and the moon, at least in symbolic treatment. The illustrations are absolutely amazing and beautiful. Quincunx, Four cardinal directions and the center Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU

https://jacquescoulardeau.medium.com/male-exclusive-blood-sacrifice-in-maya-religion-82319e95dd2d

['Dr Jacques Coulardeau']

2018-09-02 21:46:07.587000+00:00

['Maya Religion', 'Quetzalcoatl', 'Human Behavior', 'Submission', 'Maize God']

THE MAJOR CAUSES OF FAILURE.

THE MAJOR CAUSES OF FAILURE. HOW MANY OF THESE ARE HOLDING YOU BACK ? Life's greatest tragedy consists of men and women who earnestly try and fail! There are thirty major reasons for failure and principles through which people accumulate fortunes . A description of the thirty major causes of failure will be given . As you go over the list , check yourself by it, point by point, for the purpose of discovering how many of these causes-of-failure stand between you and success. 1). UNFAVOURABLE HEREDITARY BACKGROUND.- There is but little, if anything ,which can be done dor people who are born with a deficiency in brain power. This philosophy offers but one method of bridging this weakness- through the aid of the MASTER MIND. Observe with profit, however, that is the ONLY one of the thirty causes of failure which may not be easily corrected by any individual. 2). LACK OF A WELL-DEFINED PURPOSE IN LIFE.- There is no hope of success for the person who does not have a central purpose, or definite goal at which to aim. Ninety-eight out of every hundred had no such aim.perhaps this was the MAJOR CAUSE OF THEIR FAILURE. 3). LACK OF AMBITION TO AIM ABOVE MEDIOCRITY.- We offer no hope for the person who is so indifferent as not to want to get ahead in life and who is not willing to pay the price. 4). INSUFFICIENT EDUCATION.- this is a handicap which may be overcome with comperative case . experience has proven that the best-educated people are often those who are the known as "SELF MADE", OR "SELF EDUCATED". IT takes more than a college degree to make one a person of education Any person who is educated is one who has learned to get whatever he wants in life without violating the rights of others.Education consists, not so much of knowledge effectively and persistently APPLIED. Men are paid,not merely for what they know,but more particularly for WHAT THEY DO WITH THAT WHICH THAY KNOW. 5). LACK OF SELF-DISCIPLINE- DISCIPLINE comes through self-control. This means that one must control all negative qualities. Before you can control conditions, you must first control yourself. Self-mastery is the hardest job you will ever tackle. If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self.you may see at one and the same time both your best friend and your greatest enemy, by stepping in front of a mirror. WE WILL DISCUSS NEXT STEPS IN THE NEXT BLOG.

https://medium.com/@piyushsingh199921/the-major-causes-of-failure-2f39385506bb

[]

2020-12-20 16:17:24.521000+00:00

['Positive Thinking', 'Success', 'Daily Blog', 'Brain Training', 'Self Improvement']

Is Mouth Taping Good for Our Dental Health?

Mouth taping is a practice that has increased in popularity in recent months, helped in part by the social media application TikTok. Users across the platform have been encouraging their followers to use mouth tape when sleeping, due to apparent benefits like an improvement in sleep and general oral health. However, there is limited scientific evidence to justify its use. Furthermore, many dental professionals have questioned its effectiveness, and warned of potential side effects. Mouth taping is hardly a new practice, but it is something that has risen in popularity in recent months. For example, mouth taping has been promoted heavily on the social media app TikTok. Many users on the video-creating site have suggested that taping the mouth shut before sleeping guarantees an improvement in sleep quality and other oral health benefits. However, research on the subject is far from conclusive, and many well-known health professionals have raised concerns about the practice. For example, some have suggested it is actually dangerous. TikTok has been blamed for the rise in impressionable youngsters engaging in so-called “dental hacks”, such as using bleach on teeth. However, these hacks can actually be unsafe. Regular open-mouth breathing while sleeping can cause obstructive sleep apnea and snoring. Consequently, a dry mouth, bad breath and other dental problems can result. The desire is to breathe through the nose when sleeping. Breathing through the nose allows contaminants to be filtered out [1]. Furthermore, it also helps to increase our intake of nitric oxide levels, which has a range of benefits, including brain function and blood oxygen levels [1]. There are a huge range of videos on TikTok that show users literally taping their mouth shut before sleeping. They then wake up the next day, speaking of their breath being fresher and resulting oral health. Mouth taping does seem to help against dry mouth, which is something that many people suffer with. Because dry mouth is lessened, people are less at risk of oral health problems like cavities and gum disease [2]. However, despite the proposed benefits of mouth taping, the research into its effectiveness is limited. In some cases, it hasn’t proven to be effective. Many users on TikTok have spoken of an improvement in symptoms of Sleep apnea, which is a potentially serious condition where breathing is affected during sleep. A pilot study treated 30 patients with sleep apnea with an oral patch [3]. There were positive results. In fact, the researchers concluded that mouth taping was effective at decreasing snoring, which benefited sleep apnea [3]. Another well-known study looked at how mouth taping affected asthma. The researchers suggested that mouth taping could be an effective approach to asthma control [4]. The study participants had a four week period of regular sleeping monitored. They then underwent a two week period of mouth taping. Again, their sleeping was monitored [4]. But there was no noticeable difference overall, with the researchers concluding that mouth taping “had no effect on asthma control” [4]. Users on TikTok have suggested that asthma control is one of the biggest benefits of mouth taping. However, this research suggests otherwise. However, regardless of the supposed effectiveness of mouth taping, it is worth considering what dental professionals say about mouth taping. A group of professionals created a fact-sheet that reviewed mouth taping [5]. One of the main concerns with mouth taping is that it cannot be guaranteed that some people will get enough air into their nose while sleeping. Therefore, this could cause serious breathing problems [5]. Another issue with mouth taping is the dangerous potential side effect of Chronic Obstructive Pulonary Disease (COPD). Because mouth taping can cause upper respiratory obstruction, this can lead to a strain on the heart and eventual COPD. COPD can be life threatening [5]. Moreover, the fact-sheet also pointed out that for those with allergies, sleep apnea or septum problems, mouth taping could obstruct breathing ability [5]. The dental professionals also pointed out that sleeping with the mouth open isn’t “abnormal” [5]. The lack of conclusive evidence is also concerning for many dental professionals. Social media can result in impressionable youngsters engaging in risky behaviors. The practice of mouth taping is an example of this. While it can be effective for some, there are a range of side effects. For those that are encountering sleep problems, there are better methods available, such as sleeping on your side, having a regular bedtime routine, taking allergy medications, quitting smoking, decreasing caffeine intake and avoiding alcohol where possible. It is important to say that some people will derive benefit from mouth taping. While it is a personal choice, those ready to engage in mouth taping should do so with caution. Overall though, dentists largely advocate against its use. 1) Many people struggle to sleep properly. But instead of trying radical approaches like mouth taping, why not visit your local dentist to see if they can suggest any improvements in sleep hygiene or oral health? 2) There can be underlying dental conditions that cause problems with sleep. By visiting your Calgary dentist for a regular check-up, any issues will be able to be identified and then treated. 3) Do you have children? If so, it is worth checking in with them on supposed “dental hacks”, so that they don’t act in a way that will cause them significant problems. is a dental clinic based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. We provide our patients with a warm welcome, a comfortable experience and advice whenever needed. We recommend that our patients attend our Calgary-based dental clinic twice a year for a regular dental check-up. When problems are detected, we have many treatments available. For instance, these include cavity fillings and . We also have some cosmetic treatments too! Importantly, we recommend brushing your teeth at least twice a day and flossing regularly. Moreover, eating healthily and trying to avoid sugary foods and drink is helpful. In addition, all of our services at our Calgary dental clinic are in line with the . Alberta Dental Fee Guide We would love you to visit our dental clinic in Calgary! You can find out more about us by visiting our website . https://taradaledental.ca [1] Shapiro, N. (2019). . Last accessed: 17 Keep Your Mouth Shut, But Should You Tape It?. Available: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ninashapiro/2019/10/18/keep-your-mouth-shut-but-should-you-tape-it/?sh=347fd2e266e9 thDecember 2021. [2] Naftulin, J. (2021). . Last accessed: 17 TikTokers are taping their mouths shut while they sleep, claiming it helps snoring and dry mouth. Doctors say the practice can be risky . Available: https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/tiktokers-are-taping-their-mouths-shut-while-they-sleep-claiming-it-helps-snoring-and-dry-mouth-doctors-say-the-practice-can-be-risky-/articleshow/88285456.cms thDecember 2021. [3] Huang, T-W., & Young, T-H. (2015). Novel porous oral patches for patients with mild obstructive sleep apnea and mouth breathing: a pilot study. Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery. 152 (2): p369–373. [4] Cooper, S., Oborne, J., Harrson, T., & Tattersfiekd, A. (2009). Effect of mouth taping at night on asthma control-a randomised single-blind crossover study. Respiratory Medicine. 103 (6): p813–819. [5] Orofacialmyology.com. (2017). . Last accessed: 17 Concerns about Lip Taping in Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy. Available: https://orofacialmyology.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/concerns-about-lip-taping-in-orofacial-myology-myofunctional-therapy.pdf thDecember 2021.

https://medium.com/@taradaledentalgl/is-mouth-taping-good-for-our-dental-health-7b52f8ce9c8d

['Taradale Dental']

2021-12-22 01:19:48.571000+00:00

['Dentistry', 'Oral Health', 'Dental Care', 'Dental']

Convicted Terrorist Kills 4 In Austria; Watched By Intelligence Agencies

November 2nd 2020, 8pm local time As people tried to enjoy their last night before a curfew went into effect due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an Islamist terrorist attack targeting six locations in Vienna, Austria killed four people and injured over twenty others. Within minutes, police officers shot and killed one assailant and the attack came to a halt. Police sealed off most of Vienna and urged the public to shelter in place. Public transport was shut down and police scoured the city searching for any accomplices. In the hours following the attack, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer made it clear that at least one other suspect connected to the attack was at large. Nehammer said, “According to what we currently know, at least one perpetrator is still on the run.” It remains unclear why Nehammer was convinced of a secondary suspect linked to the attack at this stage of the investigation. The possibility of additional suspects persisted into the next morning when Austrian Chancellor Kurz declared, “ We will find and hunt down the perpetrators, those behind this and their associates and mete out a just sentence. And we will pursue all those who have anything to do with this outrage with all available means.” That day, Austrian police raided 18 properties and arrested 14 people in a massive manhunt. According to Interior Minister Nehammer all of those arrested in Austria have a migration background. Vienna police chief Gerhard Puerstl added that some were dual citizens of Bangladesh, North Macedonia, Turkey or Russia. Additionally, four of the suspects arrested in Austria following the attack also have criminal convictions for terrorism-related offences. Two of those terror convictions involved attempted ‘honour killings’ — whereby a Muslim kills a member of a family over a percieved shame or dishonor brought upon the family. Meanwhile, police in Switzerland arrested two men near Zurich with links to the attack in Austria. According to a report, the suspects, aged 18 and 24, were arrested in the city of Winterthur and are citizens of Switzerland. According to reports, the justice minister said the two were friends with the gunman and attended a meeting with him in Vienna in July. The deceased gunman was identified as Kujtim Fejzulai, age 20, with dual North Macedonian and Austrian nationality. A man identified as Fejzulai’s grandfather told a local television channel in North Macedonia that his grandson would visit his ancestral home, the tiny mountain village of Cellopek, every year. The terrorist organization Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in Vienna through its Amaq News Agency. Additionally, a picture was published on Telegram of Kujtim Fejzulai identified as “Abu Dagnah Al-Albany”. Albany would normally be used to refer to someone with Albanian origins. IS’ Amaq News Agency also posted a video of Albany in which he pledged his allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi. He was speaking Arabic in the video. By age 18, Fejzulai was known to Austrian intelligence agencies initially because he was one of ninety Austrian citizens who had attempted to travel to Syria to fight with the Islamic State in their war against the Syrian government. Fejzulai attempted to cross the border from Turkey into Syria in 2018 but was deported back to Austria. Fejzulai was sentenced to 22 months in prison in April 2019 for being a member of a terrorist organization. Shockingly, due to his age, it was revealed that Fejzulai had been released from jail less than one year before the deadly attack after serving only eight months of a 22-month sentence. “He was released early exactly because he gave the impression that he had engaged with deradicalisation programmes and was prepared to integrate himself into society,” Nehammer told a news conference. According to reports, little is known about his life after that, except that he took part in a de-radicalisation program, which was still ongoing when he launched his attack. It was revealed that, in July 2020, Slovakian intelligence had provided information to Austrian intelligence that Kujtim Fejzulai attempted to purchase ammunition but was unsuccessful. After receiving the tip from Slovakia, Austrian intelligence reportedly conducted ‘necessary checks’ and followed up with Slovakian intelligence. Months before the attack, Austrian law enforcement conducted surveillance on Fejzulai for days and witnessed him meet with foreign Islamists in Vienna before inexplicably stopping their surveillance within days. It was revealed that there was a connection between the attack and people in Germany who are currently “monitored around the clock” following the attack. The suspects in Germany had stayed in Austria in July and met Fejzulai in Vienna. Austrian intelligence monitored the meeting and Fejzulai for days, observing how he and acquaintances picked up the four visitors from Germany and Switzerland at Vienna airport and showed them around the city. “A meeting took place in Vienna among the people you addressed from Germany and Switzerland but there were also people present at the meeting with the later assailant who were arrested in the context of the investigation,” said Director General for Public Security Franz Ruf. Vienna police chief Gerhard Puerstl said, “These facts together with the findings that emerged from the information from Slovakia could have led to a different outcome regarding the assessment of the threat posed by the perpetrator.” But Austrian intelligence allegedly broke off their operation just as Fejzulai travelled to Slovakia. Why that operation was halted is unclear. Following the revelations, Nehammer called for the formation of an independent commission to examine the errors made preventing Austrian intelligence from preventing the attack. “It’s up to the commission to clarify whether the process went optimally and in line with the law,” said Nehammer. Austria’s National Security Council signed off on setting up the commission later that day. In a surprising development, the head of the Vienna Provincial Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counter-Terrorism (the main domestic intelligence agency for the city of Vienna) announced he would be stepping down while an investigation was carried out. “Obvious and from our point of view intolerable mistakes were made,” said Nehammer. While we can not expect every terrorist plot to be prevented, we can expect to hold our public officials responsible for their failures and potential acts of negligence (or worse) which have continued to result in the deaths of hundreds of citizens across Europe in recent years.

https://medium.com/@abarnare/convicted-terrorist-kills-4-in-austria-watched-by-intelligence-agencies-bfbbab8a4168

[]

2020-11-27 23:42:33.243000+00:00

['News', 'Terrorism']

Easily Deploy JavaScript Apps to GoDaddy — Part 1: Deploy Script

work smarter, not harder I’ve been running an Angular app to help Peralta Community College students find classes for the past few years. Recently I decided to renovate it. It was fun but I ran into pain and misery when deploying my changes. The site is hosted on a GoDaddy shared server which I have FTP access to. Every time I made a change I would need to upload the file to the right directory, overwrite the existing file, and hope that I included all the changes. This was an error prone process that led to a great deal of frustration and false bugs. So, I wrote a script that will bundle, minify, and package the app then upload it to GoDaddy with just a Bash script and a few Gulp tasks. In this article, I demonstrate the deploy script and in a future article I will share the Gulp tasks. Summary & Code Hosting your app on GoDaddy or another hosting provider that gives SSH access? Do you want to deploy your app without the hassle of dealing with SFTP/FTP? If you already have SSH access and a key on your computer, try this deploy script. What You Need GoDaddy hosting with CPanel access or any hosting provided that gives you SSH access OpenSSH — comes with macOS and Linux; Windows needs some setup SSH Access and Credentials GoDaddy makes it easy to enable SSH access. Follow these steps. Afterward, go to the Godaddy dashboard by exiting the cPanel and going back to the GoDaddy main site, then clicking Dashboard on the top left. On the right side of the dashboard, click Server : GoDaddy Server Info Then click Manage under SSH access . Copy the SSH username, host, and port number. You will need that information for the Bash script. SSH Server Credentials Create an SSH Key You can also create your own SSH key using GoDaddy’s CPanel. I found this easier and faster than creating my own key locally and uploading it to the server. From the dashboard click cPanel Admin on the top right. cPanel Admin Then scroll down to the Security tab and click SSH Access . Click Manage SSH Keys , then click Generate a New Key . Name it deploy_key . Do not put a password on the key. Doing so will force you to enter the password every time you use the key, which complicates our script. For our use case, the default options are fine. Add the SSH Key Once the key is created, click View/Download from the Manage SSH Keys page. Then click download and save it here ~/.ssh —this folder might be hidden, but it should be in your root folder, nonetheless. You need to change the permissions of the SSH Key to be stricter. Run this command which restricts read and write access to the key: chmod 600 ~/.ssh/deploy_key Create a Deploy Script In your project directory, create a Bash script and name it deploy.sh . This script will do the following: connect to the server via SSH: ssh -i ~/.ssh/deploy_key [email protected] <<EOF delete the existing deployment: cd build && rm -rf * disconnect from SSH: exit upload the new deployment using SFTP: scp -r -i ~/.ssh/DEPLOY_KEY ./build/* [email protected]:/build/ All together the script looks like this. #!/bin/sh echo "deploying..." ssh -i ~/.ssh/deploy_key [email protected] <<EOF cd build rm -rf * exit EOF scp -r -i ~/.ssh/deploy_key ./build/* [email protected]:/DESTINATION/ echo "deploy finished" You will need to change the username and address, [email protected] as well the destination folder, DESTINATION . You can get the username and address from the SSH Setup on GoDaddy’s dashboard, documented in the steps above. The destination folder needs to be the folder you are serving your app from currently. Back up this folder before running this script because it will delete everything in it!!! I didn’t run into issues, but you might have a few files and folders in the destination folder that you might want to keep. Make the Deploy Script Executable Run this command in the directory where the deploy script is: chmod +x deploy.sh Your done! You can run script via terminal from the same directory: ./deploy.sh What’s next? I will be publishing an article on how to bundle and minify JS and CSS in the coming weeks. If I have the time, I will also share how to deploy different builds.

https://medium.com/@m-t-a/easily-deploying-javascript-apps-to-a-server-part-1-the-deploy-script-4664278c99df

['Michael T. Andemeskel']

2021-01-12 05:10:36.930000+00:00

['Deployment', 'Bash', 'Godaddy', 'Ssh', 'Deployment Automation']

How to Be a Good Team Leader

I published this article on the Workfront blog on March 23 but wanted to make it available here. Enjoy! Learning how to be a good team leader could be the most important skill you master in your career, especially if you aim to climb the corporate ladder. No matter how talented you are in your functional area of expertise, you’ll never rise through the ranks without strong management skills. And yet there isn’t a single, sequential pathway to the top. Good managers come in all shapes and sizes, with varying philosophies about leadership, employee motivation, team building and more. The idea might best be expressed by borrowing a famous quote about motherhood: “There’s no way to be a perfect manager, but a million ways to be a good one.” Whether or not perfection is your goal, start by incorporating these five foundational tips. You may never need to draw upon the 999,995 other ways to be a good team leader. 1. RECRUIT THE RIGHT TALENT “Be as thorough as possible in recruiting and hiring the right people and then creating an environment where no one wants to leave,” says Chris Thomas, president of the Intrepid Agency in Salt Lake City, Utah. “This may seem idealistic, but at the same time the value of strong teams cannot be overstated.” You can’t build a strong team if employees are ill-suited to their positions, whether that’s due to a mismatch of skills, interests or temperament. If your internal HR department has recruiting tools available, use them. All too often, when an employee doesn’t work out, the problem can be traced back to missing steps in the interviewing and recruiting process. References weren’t checked. Not enough candidates were interviewed. Managers decided to “go with their gut” rather than appropriately weighting the talents, skills and knowledge needed for the position, and then searching for those specific attributes. 2. FORGE GENUINE RELATIONSHIPS This one’s easy. Genuinely care about each of your team members as individuals, and allow them opportunities to develop their strengths. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has found that the following consistently rank among the top five aspects of job satisfaction, alongside compensation, benefits, and job security: Opportunities to use skills and abilities Relationship with immediate supervisor The work itself Likewise, in the bestselling book, First, Break all the Rules, authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt W. Coffman found that “the manager — not pay, benefits, perks, or a charismatic corporate leader — was the critical player in building a strong workplace. The manager was the key.” Start by genuinely caring, and the rest will follow. 3. VALUE VISIBILITY To be an effective manager of people and processes in any field, you need to have insight into three essential things: What each member of your team is working on Where projects stand in terms of completion The available bandwidth of each individual and your team as a whole Without this information, it’s impossible to have a true picture of what your team has already accomplished, what they’re working on now, or how much bandwidth everyone has. You won’t be able to manage team productivity or forecast future work. You can easily fall into the traps of burning out your top performers and failing to notice or address underperformance, both of which contribute to poor team morale. Today’s project management solutions can provide the transparency you need to overcome these pitfalls. 4. ENFORCE EXPECTATIONS CONSISTENTLY Once you have visibility into individual and team performance, you have to be willing to set clear expectations and hold everyone on the team accountable. One of the biggest detractors to team morale is when managers allow poor productivity or destructive behavior to continue without consequences. Buckingham and Coffman’s 1999 book (mentioned in tip two above) introduced what is now called the Gallup Q12 Employee Engagement Survey, which has been used by businesses worldwide for more than 15 years to gauge workplace satisfaction. By translating the first six questions in that survey into action items, you’ll find the six core essentials in creating a strong and vibrant workplace: Set consistent expectations for all of your people Treat each person differently (based on their strengths) Match roles to talents and abilities Challenge your people Care, acknowledge, and recognize individual accomplishments Terminate an employee when necessary 5. REWARD AND RECOGNIZE Be specific and immediate with your praise. This is the best way to ensure employee contributions are noticed, individuals and teams feel valued, and productive behaviors are reinforced. When you notice outstanding behavior, speak up in the moment — whether verbally, via a sticky note, or using a recognition feature in your work-management solution. Official, company-wide employee recognition systems can also help create a healthy team culture. If you have such a program available to you, use it. Becoming a good team leader takes time and practice. You won’t be an inspiring and charismatic leader overnight. But if you’ll start by incorporating these five tips into your management practice, you’ll have a strong leadership foundation to build upon.

https://medium.com/@marcuskvarner/how-to-be-a-good-team-leader-abb40b24278a

['Marcus Varner']

2020-12-08 12:17:53.873000+00:00

['Leadership', 'People Management', 'Manager', 'Management And Leadership', 'Motivation']

American Idol Rewind

To all you lovely Idol fans and even those who have just heard the name Daughtry, Yamin, McPhee or Hicks; they will be on AIR to help count down the final weeks of this season! Every Saturday this May, AMERICAN IDOL REWIND will premiere an all-new episode featuring exclusive interviews with the season 5 top four, as well as never-before-seen footage from one of the most extraordinary years in Idol history. Relive the rise of a rock star, the beginning of the “Soul Patrol” and the birth of “McPheever”! On Saturday, May 1st, 2010: an unimaginable elimination defined season five like no other with Chris Daughtry’s shocking exit from the competition, and three were left standing- Elliott Yamin, Katharine McPhee, and Taylor Hicks. On Saturday, May 8th, 2010: AMERICAN IDOL REWIND unveils a one-hour Chris Daughtry special focusing on his electrifying rise from one of thousands of Idol auditioners in Denver to international rock superstar. On Saturday, May 15th, 2010: There are three contestants left in the competition, and only two spots in the season five finale — it came down to just a few votes, but unfortunately one Elliott Yamin is sent home. On Saturday, May 22nd, 2010: Only one can be named the American Idol, and Taylor’s amazing victory is one that no one will ever forget- hear from Idol insiders as they break down the competition and share the secrets that led to an American Idol with grey hair. AMERICAN IDOL REWIND is nationally syndicated-check their local listings or www.tvguide.com/listings to find out where to watch in your area. Encore episodes air on TV Guide Network.

https://medium.com/a-teen-view/american-idol-rewind-9214fd457df2

['Arin Segal']

2016-11-04 00:41:17.875000+00:00

['Music', 'Rewind', 'American', 'Idol']

Anger is a Mystical Warning

Something is Awry Family Archives I’m with a married couple. They sit on the plaid couch in my office. I am their pastor. “Would two weeks from Sunday work?” The husband and wife are planning a party to celebrate their 40th anniversary. They want it at the church. He says, “We’d like to make it during fellowship hour after worship. Most of our friends are from church anyway.” “And if they aren’t, then you will have extra people in worship. How about that?” She was born in Madison, Wisconsin. They were married in Milwaukee. His job at Wright Patterson, Air Force Base, brought them to Xenia, Ohio, a thirty-minute drive to work. “I used to listen to cassettes in my car. The drive went faster,” he said. “My new car doesn’t even have a CD player.” I say, “Tell me a highlight or two of your marriage.” “Of course our two sons,’ she says, “We couldn’t be prouder of them. He says, “You know, in all these years we have never argued. Never. Not once.” For a moment, the three of us sit still, me in the wood chair (did it come from a yard sale?) and them together on the couch. I think I noticed, or imagined, a slight twitch in her face. She crossed her arms. Five more minutes of conversation and the party is planned. There will be cake and balloons. Their friend Nancy will make bean soup. (The soup will simmer all Saturday and during worship too). The husband asks, “Will you offer a prayer? I suppose before the soup is served.”

https://medium.com/the-neurons-of-heaven/anger-is-a-mystical-warning-db96fd80d79c

['Tim Shapiro']

2020-12-20 18:11:06.084000+00:00

['Neuroscience', 'Religion', 'Family', 'God', 'Anger']

Image Captioning with Attention: Part 2

Model Training In the first part of the article, we have covered the overall architecture of the Encoder-Decoder model for image captioning. Now let’s discuss the training process in detail. You can find the training notebook via the GitHub link. Hyperparameters Note the smaller batch_size results in a stronger regularization effect and makes it easier to fit one batch in memory. I’ve chosen a batch size equal to 64 . results in a stronger regularization effect and makes it easier to fit one batch in memory. I’ve chosen a batch size equal to . vocab_threshold - the total number of times that a word must appear in the captions before it is used as part of the vocabulary. The higher the threshold is, the stricter limit we impose on creating our vocabulary. - the total number of times that a word must appear in the captions before it is used as part of the vocabulary. The higher the threshold is, the stricter limit we impose on creating our vocabulary. Based on the experimentation the number of epochs was set to 14 . In practice, we keep training as long as the training and validation errors keep dropping. Transformers Data transformation First, we resize the original image, performing transforms.Rezize(256) and randomly crop to get a 224x224 image sample- transforms.RandomCrop(224) . and randomly crop to get a 224x224 image sample- . Subsequently, we flip the sample horizontally transforms.RandomHorizontalFlip() , convert to a tensor transform.ToTensor() and normalize. , convert to a tensor and normalize. Note that normalization is applied to all channels (depth=3) of an image sample - transform.Normalize((0.485, 0.485, 0.485), (0.229, 0.229, 0.229)) , given the mean of 0.485 and a standard deviation of 0.229 . Training loop To complete the training on a single epoch, we define the function which receives the following arguments: epoch — number of the current epoch. encoder — model’s Encoder, which is set to evaluation mode eval() . . decoder — model’s Decoder, which we aim to train. optimizer — model’s optimizer (Adam in our case). Adam is a common choice for the training, that possesses the properties of both AdaGrad and RMSProp ⁶. criterion — loss function to optimize. We use Cross-Entropy Loss CrossEntropyLoss() that comprises an effect of Negative Log-likelihood NLLLoss() , applied to probabilities, produced by softmax function. that comprises an effect of Negative Log-likelihood , applied to probabilities, produced by softmax function. num_epochs — total number of epochs. We used 14 epochs to train the model. epochs to train the model. data_loader — specified data loader (for training, validation, or testing). write_file — file to write the training logs. We store the stats in two separate txt files. files. save_every - to save the results after each trained epoch. Note, we store the captions that we train on without the first word in the captions_train variable and target captions without the last word in captions_target variable. The full code for the training loop is shown below. Training function Validation loop The validation function follows the same logic as the training one, except for the BLUE score we calculate for the model’s hypothesis. At each validation step: We pass the output indices terms_idx , generated by the model to the get_hypothesis() function and get the list of hypothesis hyp_list for image batch. , generated by the model to the function and get the list of hypothesis for image batch. Next, we populate the hypothesis and references lists with hyp_list and caps_processed correspondingly. The first list stores all hypotheses we get within a single epoch. The second list contains all processed target captions caps_processed , returned using get_batch_caps() function. and lists with and correspondingly. The first list stores all hypotheses we get within a single epoch. The second list contains all processed target captions , returned using function. Calculate the BLEU score using the corpus_bleu() function from the NLTK package. BLEU score in a nutshell BLEU score is a standard metric, which is widely used in NLP and CV domains for evaluating the machine-generated translation or caption against the human one. The details of the BLEU algorithm can be found in the original paper¹ and this famous Deep learning course by Andrew Ng. I also provide the formula and supportive example to demonstrate the BLEU score calculation for a single image, according to the NLTK implementation. BLEU score calculation BP — “brevity penalty”. We set it to 1.0 if the length of a candidate is the same as any translation length. Brevity penalty calculation Let’s have a look at BLEU scores estimation based on 1,2,3 and 4-gram precision for a single image from the batch.

https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/image-captioning-with-attention-part-2-f3616d5cf8d1

['Artyom Makarov']

2020-12-15 16:34:45.404000+00:00

['Deep Learning', 'Image Captioning', 'Computer Vision', 'Pytorch']

The DriveSales™ | Most successful sales strategy for a recruitment agency to close and win more…

Recruitment agencies work as a broker between the client company and the job seekers they provide. Earning revenues through those firms and also paying those employees from your end, not necessarily always. As at times, it is companies that directly establish connections to the employees and do not want the bridge to sustain. And while it could not always be easy to meet your clients with their needs, you can do more to find more things and make sales. So their requirements are met, and you can have happy testimonials. Here are the proven and highly recommended sales practices for a recruitment agency to win more deals: 1) Have the right environment — Build your office set up in a design that people would like to visit and be a part of, must be welcoming to people and located at places they could reach comfortably. You might not necessarily invest a lot in decorations, but keep things subtle and appealing, which might appeal to your clients. For people to come, trust your agency, they must like the feel of being in the organization and trust that the agency they would be working with is the best for them. 2) Be straight forward with your services — Making up a million savage promises and fulfilling a few of them might never really work in recruiting firms. When a client offers you to seek people with the right decrees and specific abilities, it becomes your duty to check and verify each of the people you are sending and know if they could meet their needs. It’s never really about the hundred people you show them for three positions, but those three people you show that smoothly fit in those positions, try being more precise, and deal with things professionally. Providing people with jobs and clients with employees might be your duty but seeing that the right individuals fit in the right corporates is also your goal. 3) Perform your best — And while numbers and people might keep increasing, make sure you treat deals in a personalized way and start every contract as if it’s your first deal, having the same enthusiasm and confidence for each of your people in front of clients. As mistakes amidst the thing might feel okay, a good start would boost it and take it to a better level. 4) Work out of those four pillars — The function of recruitment agencies is to provide the best fits to clients. And for you, to seek more people, watch out for different professions, and interact with individuals, you must explore the world outside and make contacts, instead of just depending on the existing. It is when you step out of your comfort zone and meet different people every day, is how you would learn to get better and improvise your sales. 5) Market your services — After having worked for some time in the recruitment industry, there are a few services you could consider and showcase your expertise. Whenever you meet a new company or advertise your agency through traditional or online media, you can highlight those points and have better conversations with people. As that expertise might not just bring you with individuals, you could train and make better easily, but also people who are sure about your services and would be willing to take part. You can talk to them and make your setup better. 6) Have testimonials — Testimonials from big companies that have been your clients or even small, can help you showcase your authenticity and legibility towards those services. They act as a value of trust and are often prone to bring in more clients from similar types or different ones.

https://medium.com/@thedrivesales/the-drivesales-most-successful-sales-strategy-for-a-recruitment-agency-to-close-and-win-more-a39ed2e7075a

['The Drivesales', 'Making Sales Stories Promising']

2020-12-18 04:59:46.293000+00:00

['Sales', 'Hiring', 'Recruiting', 'Marketing', 'Recruitment']

Building Ocelot API Gateway Microservices with ASP.NET Core and Docker Container

Building Ocelot API Gateway Microservice on .Net platforms which used Asp.Net Web Application, Docker, Ocelot. Test microservice with applying Gateway Routing Pattern. Introduction In this article we will show how to perform API Gateway microservices operations on ASP.NET Core Web application using Ocelot Api Gateway library. By the end of the section, we will have a empty Web project which implemented Ocelot API Gateway routing operations over the Catalog, Discount, Basket and Ordering microservices. Look at the final appearance of application. You’ll learn how to Create Ocelot API Gateway microservice which includes; Implement API Gateways with Ocelot ASP.NET Core Empty Web application Ocelot Routing, UpStream, DownStream Ocelot Configuration Sample microservices/containers to reroute through the API Gateways through the API Gateways Run multiple different API Gateway/BFF container types The Gateway Aggregation Pattern in Shopping.Aggregator in Shopping.Aggregator Containerize Ocelot Microservices using Docker Compose Background You can follow the previous article which explains overall microservice architecture of this example. Check for the previous article which explained overall microservice architecture of this repository. We will focus on Api Gateway microservice from that overall e-commerce microservice architecture. Step by Step Development w/ Udemy Course Get Udemy Course with discounted — Microservices Architecture and Implementation on .NET. Source Code Get the Source Code from AspnetRun Microservices Github — Clone or fork this repository, if you like don’t forget the star. If you find or ask anything you can directly open issue on repository. Prerequisites Install the .NET Core 5 or above SDK Install Visual Studio 2019 v16.x or above Docker Desktop The Gateway Routing pattern Gateway Routing pattern main objective is Route requests to multiple services using a single endpoint. This pattern is useful when you wish to expose multiple services on a single endpoint and route to the appropriate service based on the request. When a client needs to consume multiple services, setting up a separate endpoint for each service and having the client manage each endpoint can be challenging. For example, an e-commerce application might provide services such as search, reviews, cart, checkout, and order history. The solution is to place a gateway in front of a set of applications, services, or deployments. Use application Layer 7 routing to route the request to the appropriate instances. With this pattern, the client application only needs to know about and communicate with a single endpoint. If a service is consolidated or decomposed, the client does not necessarily require updating. It can continue making requests to the gateway, and only the routing changes. So this pattern is the ancestor of API Gateway Pattern. Api Gateway Design Pattern We can simply define our internal services as the proxy layer hanging out. When the user throws a request from the application, he doesn’t know what’s going on behind. Api-gateway may be going to dozens of microservices inside to respond to this request. Right here, we have the api-gateway pattern to figure out what we need about how to fetch and aggregate data. This pattern is a service that provides a single-entry point for certain groups of microservices. It’s similar to the Facade pattern from object-oriented design, but in this case, it’s part of a distributed system. The API Gateway pattern is also sometimes known as the “Backend For Frontend” (BFF) because you build it while thinking about the needs of the client app. Therefore, the API gateway sits between the client apps and the microservices. It acts as a reverse proxy, routing requests from clients to services. It can also provide other cross-cutting features such as authentication, SSL termination, and cache. Backend for Frontend Pattern — BFF When splitting the API Gateway tier into multiple API Gateways, if your application has multiple client apps, that can be a primary pivot when identifying the multiple API Gateways types, so that you can have a different facade for the needs of each client app. This case is a pattern named “Backend for Frontend” (BFF) where each API Gateway can provide a different API tailored for each client app type, possibly even based on the client form factor by implementing specific adapter code which underneath calls multiple internal microservices. Main features in the API Gateway Reverse proxy or gateway forwarding, API Gateway offers a reverse proxy for forwarding or forwarding requests (layer 7 routing, usually HTTP requests) to endpoints of internal microservices. As part of the gateway model, request aggregation, you can aggregate multiple client requests into a single client request, often targeting multiple internal microservices. With this approach, the client application sends a single request to the API Gateway, which sends several requests to internal microservices and then collects the results and sends everything back to the client application. Common Feature; Cross-cutting concerns or gateway offloading Authentication and authorization Service discovery integration Response caching Retry policies, circuit breaker, and QoS Rate limiting and throttling Load balancing Logging, tracing, correlation Headers, query strings, and claims transformation IP allowlisting Ocelot API Gateway Ocelot is basically a set of middlewares that you can apply in a specific order. Ocelot is a lightweight API Gateway, recommended for simpler approaches. Ocelot is an Open Source .NET Core-based API Gateway especially made for microservices architectures that need unified points of entry into their systems. It’s lightweight, fast, and scalable and provides routing and authentication among many other features. The main reason to choose Ocelot for our reference application is because Ocelot is a .NET Core lightweight API Gateway that you can deploy into the same application deployment environment where you’re deploying your microservices/containers, such as a Docker Host, Kubernetes, etc. And since it’s based on .NET Core, it’s cross-platform allowing you to deploy on Linux or Windows. Ocelot is designed to work with ASP.NET Core only. You install Ocelot and its dependencies in your ASP.NET Core project with Ocelot’s NuGet package, from Visual Studio. Analysis & Design This project will be the REST APIs which basically perform Routing operations on Catalog, Basket and Ordering microservices. We should define our Ocelot API Gateway use case analysis. Our main use cases; Route Catalog APIs with /Catalog path Route Basket APIs with / Basket path Route Discount APIs with / Discount path Route Ordering APIs with /Ordering path Along with this we should design our APIs according to REST perspective. Starting Our Project Create new web application with visual studio. First, open File -> New -> Project. Select ASP.NET Core Web Application, give your project a name and select OK. In the next window, select .Net Core and ASP.Net Core latest version and select Web API and then uncheck “Configure for HTTPS” selection and click OK. This is the default Web API template selected. Unchecked for https because we don’t use https for our api’s now. Add New Blank Web project under below location and name; src/ApiGateway/APIGateway Library & Frameworks For API Gateway microservices, we have to libraries in our Nuget Packages, Ocelot — API Gateway library Configure Ocelot in Startup.cs In order to configure and use Ocelot in Asp.Net Core project, we should define Ocelot methods into Startup.cs. Go to Class -> Startup.cs public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services) { services.AddOcelot(); } // This method gets called by the runtime. Use this method to configure the HTTP request pipeline. public async void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IWebHostEnvironment env) { if (env.IsDevelopment()) { app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage(); } app.UseRouting(); app.UseEndpoints(endpoints => { endpoints.MapControllers(); }); //ocelot await app.UseOcelot(); } Configuration Json File Definition of Ocelot In order to use routing function of Ocelot, we should give the configuration json file when Asp.Net Web application start. Go to Class -> Program.cs public static IHostBuilder CreateHostBuilder(string[] args) => Host.CreateDefaultBuilder(args) .ConfigureAppConfiguration((hostingContext, config) => { config.AddJsonFile($"ocelot.{hostingContext.HostingEnvironment.EnvironmentName}.json", true, true); }) .ConfigureWebHostDefaults(webBuilder => { webBuilder.UseStartup<Startup>(); }); We have added configuration file according to Environment name. Since I changed the environment variable as a Local, application will pick the ocelot.Local.json configurations. Ocelot.Local.json File Routing API In order to use routing we sould create Ocelot.Local.json and put json objects. The important part here is that each element we define in the Routes series represents a service. In the DownstreamPathTemplate field, we define the url directory of the api application. In UpstreamPathTemplate, we specify which path the user writes to this api url. Create Ocelot.Local.json file. "Routes": [ //Catalog API { "DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/v1/Catalog", "DownstreamScheme": "http", "DownstreamHostAndPorts": [ { "Host": "localhost", "Port": "8000" } ], "UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Catalog", "UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "GET", "POST", "PUT" ] }, { "DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/v1/Catalog/{id}", "DownstreamScheme": "http", "DownstreamHostAndPorts": [ { "Host": "localhost", "Port": "8000" } ], "UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Catalog/{id}", "UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "GET", "DELETE" ] }, { "DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/v1/Catalog/GetProductByCategory/{category}", "DownstreamScheme": "http", "DownstreamHostAndPorts": [ { "Host": "localhost", "Port": "8000" } ], "UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Catalog/GetProductByCategory/{category}", "UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "GET" ] }, //Basket API { "DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/v1/Basket/{userName}", "DownstreamScheme": "http", "DownstreamHostAndPorts": [ { "Host": "localhost", "Port": "8001" } ], "UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Basket/{userName}", "UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "GET", "DELETE" ] }, { "DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/v1/Basket", "DownstreamScheme": "http", "DownstreamHostAndPorts": [ { "Host": "localhost", "Port": "8001" } ], "UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Basket", "UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "POST" ] }, { "DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/v1/Basket/Checkout", "DownstreamScheme": "http", "DownstreamHostAndPorts": [ { "Host": "localhost", "Port": "8001" } ], "UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Basket/Checkout", "UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "POST" ] }, //Discount API { "DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/v1/Discount/{productName}", "DownstreamScheme": "http", "DownstreamHostAndPorts": [ { "Host": "localhost", "Port": "8002" } ], "UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Discount/{productName}", "UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "GET", "DELETE" ] }, { "DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/v1/Discount", "DownstreamScheme": "http", "DownstreamHostAndPorts": [ { "Host": "localhost", "Port": "8002" } ], "UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Discount", "UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "PUT", "POST" ] }, //Order API { "DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/v1/Order/{userName}", "DownstreamScheme": "http", "DownstreamHostAndPorts": [ { "Host": "localhost", "Port": "8004" } ], "UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Order/{userName}", "UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "GET" ] } ], "GlobalConfiguration": { "BaseUrl": " } } "Routes": [//Catalog API"DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/v1/Catalog","DownstreamScheme": "http","DownstreamHostAndPorts": ["Host": "localhost","Port": "8000"],"UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Catalog","UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "GET", "POST", "PUT" ]},"DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/v1/Catalog/{id}","DownstreamScheme": "http","DownstreamHostAndPorts": ["Host": "localhost","Port": "8000"],"UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Catalog/{id}","UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "GET", "DELETE" ]},"DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/v1/Catalog/GetProductByCategory/{category}","DownstreamScheme": "http","DownstreamHostAndPorts": ["Host": "localhost","Port": "8000"],"UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Catalog/GetProductByCategory/{category}","UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "GET" ]},//Basket API"DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/v1/Basket/{userName}","DownstreamScheme": "http","DownstreamHostAndPorts": ["Host": "localhost","Port": "8001"],"UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Basket/{userName}","UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "GET", "DELETE" ]},"DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/v1/Basket","DownstreamScheme": "http","DownstreamHostAndPorts": ["Host": "localhost","Port": "8001"],"UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Basket","UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "POST" ]},"DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/v1/Basket/Checkout","DownstreamScheme": "http","DownstreamHostAndPorts": ["Host": "localhost","Port": "8001"],"UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Basket/Checkout","UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "POST" ]},//Discount API"DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/v1/Discount/{productName}","DownstreamScheme": "http","DownstreamHostAndPorts": ["Host": "localhost","Port": "8002"],"UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Discount/{productName}","UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "GET", "DELETE" ]},"DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/v1/Discount","DownstreamScheme": "http","DownstreamHostAndPorts": ["Host": "localhost","Port": "8002"],"UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Discount","UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "PUT", "POST" ]},//Order API"DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/v1/Order/{userName}","DownstreamScheme": "http","DownstreamHostAndPorts": ["Host": "localhost","Port": "8004"],"UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Order/{userName}","UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "GET" ]],"GlobalConfiguration": {"BaseUrl": " http://localhost:5010 These routes definition provide to open api to outside of the system and redirect these request into internal api calls. Of course these requests will have token so Ocelot api gateway also carry this token when calling to internal systems. Also as you can see that we had summarized the api calls remove api path and use only /Catalog path when exposing apis for the client application. We have Develop and configured our Ocelot Api Gateway Microservices with seperating environment configurations. Run Application Now the API Gateway microservice Web application ready to run. Before we start, make sure that docker-compose microservices running properly. Start Docker environment; docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.override.yml up -d docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.override.yml down Check docker urls : Catalog http://localhost:8000/swagger/index.html Basket http://localhost:8001/swagger/index.html Discount http://localhost:8002/swagger/index.html Ordering http://localhost:8004/swagger/index.html Before running the application, configure the debug profile; Right Click the project File and Select to Debug section. Change the App URL to http://localhost:7000 Hit F5 on APIGateway project. Exposed the APIGateways in our Microservices, you can test it over the chrome or Postman. Rate Limiting in Ocelot Api Gateway with Configuring Ocelot.json File We are going to do Rate Limiting in Ocelot Api Gateway with Configuring Ocelot.json File. Rate Limiting Ocelot https://ocelot.readthedocs.io/en/latest/features/ratelimiting.html — Example configuration “RateLimitOptions”: { “ClientWhitelist”: [], “EnableRateLimiting”: true, “Period”: “5s”, “PeriodTimespan”: 1, “Limit”: 1 } After that we can try on Catalog route configuration. EDIT Get Catalog “Routes”: [ //Catalog API { “DownstreamPathTemplate”: “/api/v1/Catalog”, “DownstreamScheme”: “http”, “DownstreamHostAndPorts”: [ { “Host”: “localhost”, “Port”: “8000” } ], “UpstreamPathTemplate”: “/Catalog”, “UpstreamHttpMethod”: [ “GET”, “POST”, “PUT” ], “RateLimitOptions”: { “ClientWhitelist”: [], “EnableRateLimiting”: true, “Period”: “5s”, “PeriodTimespan”: 1, “Limit”: 1 } }, — Test on Postman GET http://localhost:5010/Catalog Second Call ERROR API calls quota exceeded! maximum admitted 1 per 5s. Response Caching in Ocelot Api Gateway with Configuring Ocelot.json File We are going to do response Caching in Ocelot Api Gateway with Configuring Ocelot.json File. Response Caching https://ocelot.readthedocs.io/en/latest/features/caching.html — Example configuration “FileCacheOptions”: { “TtlSeconds”: 30 } After that, we should add required nuget package; Add Nuget Package Install-Package Ocelot.Cache.CacheManager Modify DI Ocelot Startup.cs public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services) { services.AddOcelot().AddCacheManager(settings => settings.WithDictionaryHandle()); — CHANGED !! } Add Configuration ocelot.json — how many seconds keep cache “FileCacheOptions”: { “TtlSeconds”: 30 } — UPDATE Catalog API “Routes”: [ //Catalog API { “DownstreamPathTemplate”: “/api/v1/Catalog”, “DownstreamScheme”: “http”, “DownstreamHostAndPorts”: [ { “Host”: “localhost”, “Port”: “8000” } ], “UpstreamPathTemplate”: “/Catalog”, “UpstreamHttpMethod”: [ “GET”, “POST”, “PUT” ], “FileCacheOptions”: { “TtlSeconds”: 30 } — — — — — — ADDED }, 30 second cache. — Second call will comes from cache. As you can see that, we have perform response caching in Ocelot Api Gateway with Configuring Ocelot.json File. Configure Ocelot Json For Docker Development Environment in Ocelot Api Gateway We are going to Configure Ocelot Json For Docker Development Environment in Ocelot Api Gateway. Before I am adding to ocelot.Development.json file, let me clarify our environments. — When we create any aspnet web application, you can see the environment value is Local — Change env is Development Right Click OcelotApiGw Properties Debug ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT = Local change ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT = Development Also if we check the docker-compose override file, for every configuration we set ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Development. ocelotapigw: container_name: ocelotapigw environment: — ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Development That’s why we can say that our Development environment should be full docker environment with docker names of the containers. We only configured for our local environment and tested successfully. So now we are going to configure Ocelot for Docker Development environment in order to Run and Debug Ocelot Api Gw on docker environment. ocelot.Development.json “Routes”: [ //Catalog API { “DownstreamPathTemplate”: “/api/v1/Catalog”, “DownstreamScheme”: “http”, “DownstreamHostAndPorts”: [ { “Host”: “catalog.api”, “Port”: “80” } ], “UpstreamPathTemplate”: “/Catalog”, “UpstreamHttpMethod”: [ “GET”, “POST”, “PUT” ], “FileCacheOptions”: { “TtlSeconds”: 30 } }, { “DownstreamPathTemplate”: “/api/v1/Catalog/{id}”, “DownstreamScheme”: “http”, “DownstreamHostAndPorts”: [ { “Host”: “catalog.api”, “Port”: “80” } ], “UpstreamPathTemplate”: “/Catalog/{id}”, “UpstreamHttpMethod”: [ “GET”, “DELETE” ] }, { “DownstreamPathTemplate”: “/api/v1/Catalog/GetProductByCategory/{category}”, “DownstreamScheme”: “http”, “DownstreamHostAndPorts”: [ { “Host”: “catalog.api”, “Port”: “80” } ], “UpstreamPathTemplate”: “/Catalog/GetProductByCategory/{category}”, “UpstreamHttpMethod”: [ “GET” ] }, //Basket API { “DownstreamPathTemplate”: “/api/v1/Basket/{userName}”, “DownstreamScheme”: “http”, “DownstreamHostAndPorts”: [ { “Host”: “basket.api”, “Port”: “80” } ], “UpstreamPathTemplate”: “/Basket/{userName}”, “UpstreamHttpMethod”: [ “GET”, “DELETE” ] }, { “DownstreamPathTemplate”: “/api/v1/Basket”, “DownstreamScheme”: “http”, “DownstreamHostAndPorts”: [ { “Host”: “basket.api”, “Port”: “80” } ], “UpstreamPathTemplate”: “/Basket”, “UpstreamHttpMethod”: [ “POST” ] }, { “DownstreamPathTemplate”: “/api/v1/Basket/Checkout”, “DownstreamScheme”: “http”, “DownstreamHostAndPorts”: [ { “Host”: “basket.api”, “Port”: “80” } ], “UpstreamPathTemplate”: “/Basket/Checkout”, “UpstreamHttpMethod”: [ “POST” ], “RateLimitOptions”: { “ClientWhitelist”: [], “EnableRateLimiting”: true, “Period”: “3s”, “PeriodTimespan”: 1, “Limit”: 1 } }, //Discount API { “DownstreamPathTemplate”: “/api/v1/Discount/{productName}”, “DownstreamScheme”: “http”, “DownstreamHostAndPorts”: [ { “Host”: “discount.api”, “Port”: “80” } ], “UpstreamPathTemplate”: “/Discount/{productName}”, “UpstreamHttpMethod”: [ “GET”, “DELETE” ] }, { “DownstreamPathTemplate”: “/api/v1/Discount”, “DownstreamScheme”: “http”, “DownstreamHostAndPorts”: [ { “Host”: “discount.api”, “Port”: “80” } ], “UpstreamPathTemplate”: “/Discount”, “UpstreamHttpMethod”: [ “PUT”, “POST” ] }, //Order API { “DownstreamPathTemplate”: “/api/v1/Order/{userName}”, “DownstreamScheme”: “http”, “DownstreamHostAndPorts”: [ { “Host”: “ordering.api”, “Port”: “80” } ], “UpstreamPathTemplate”: “/Order/{userName}”, “UpstreamHttpMethod”: [ “GET” ] } ], “GlobalConfiguration”: { “BaseUrl”: “ } } “Routes”: [//Catalog API“DownstreamPathTemplate”: “/api/v1/Catalog”,“DownstreamScheme”: “http”,“DownstreamHostAndPorts”: [“Host”: “catalog.api”,“Port”: “80”],“UpstreamPathTemplate”: “/Catalog”,“UpstreamHttpMethod”: [ “GET”, “POST”, “PUT” ],“FileCacheOptions”: { “TtlSeconds”: 30 }},“DownstreamPathTemplate”: “/api/v1/Catalog/{id}”,“DownstreamScheme”: “http”,“DownstreamHostAndPorts”: [“Host”: “catalog.api”,“Port”: “80”],“UpstreamPathTemplate”: “/Catalog/{id}”,“UpstreamHttpMethod”: [ “GET”, “DELETE” ]},“DownstreamPathTemplate”: “/api/v1/Catalog/GetProductByCategory/{category}”,“DownstreamScheme”: “http”,“DownstreamHostAndPorts”: [“Host”: “catalog.api”,“Port”: “80”],“UpstreamPathTemplate”: “/Catalog/GetProductByCategory/{category}”,“UpstreamHttpMethod”: [ “GET” ]},//Basket API“DownstreamPathTemplate”: “/api/v1/Basket/{userName}”,“DownstreamScheme”: “http”,“DownstreamHostAndPorts”: [“Host”: “basket.api”,“Port”: “80”],“UpstreamPathTemplate”: “/Basket/{userName}”,“UpstreamHttpMethod”: [ “GET”, “DELETE” ]},“DownstreamPathTemplate”: “/api/v1/Basket”,“DownstreamScheme”: “http”,“DownstreamHostAndPorts”: [“Host”: “basket.api”,“Port”: “80”],“UpstreamPathTemplate”: “/Basket”,“UpstreamHttpMethod”: [ “POST” ]},“DownstreamPathTemplate”: “/api/v1/Basket/Checkout”,“DownstreamScheme”: “http”,“DownstreamHostAndPorts”: [“Host”: “basket.api”,“Port”: “80”],“UpstreamPathTemplate”: “/Basket/Checkout”,“UpstreamHttpMethod”: [ “POST” ],“RateLimitOptions”: {“ClientWhitelist”: [],“EnableRateLimiting”: true,“Period”: “3s”,“PeriodTimespan”: 1,“Limit”: 1},//Discount API“DownstreamPathTemplate”: “/api/v1/Discount/{productName}”,“DownstreamScheme”: “http”,“DownstreamHostAndPorts”: [“Host”: “discount.api”,“Port”: “80”],“UpstreamPathTemplate”: “/Discount/{productName}”,“UpstreamHttpMethod”: [ “GET”, “DELETE” ]},“DownstreamPathTemplate”: “/api/v1/Discount”,“DownstreamScheme”: “http”,“DownstreamHostAndPorts”: [“Host”: “discount.api”,“Port”: “80”],“UpstreamPathTemplate”: “/Discount”,“UpstreamHttpMethod”: [ “PUT”, “POST” ]},//Order API“DownstreamPathTemplate”: “/api/v1/Order/{userName}”,“DownstreamScheme”: “http”,“DownstreamHostAndPorts”: [“Host”: “ordering.api”,“Port”: “80”],“UpstreamPathTemplate”: “/Order/{userName}”,“UpstreamHttpMethod”: [ “GET” ]],“GlobalConfiguration”: {“BaseUrl”: “ http://localhost:5010 As you can see that, we have Configured Ocelot Json For Docker Development Environment in Ocelot Api Gateway. Run Application on Docker with Database Since here we developed ASP.NET Core Web project for APIGateway microservices. Now it’s time to make docker the APIGateway project with our existing microservices image. Add Docker Compose and Dockerfile Normally you can add only Dockerfile for make dokerize the Web API application but we will integrate our API project with Ocelot docker image, so we should create docker-compose file with Dockerfile of API project. Right Click to Project -> Add -> ..Container Orchestration Support Continue with default values. Dockerfile and docker-compose files are created. Docker-compose.yml is a command-line file used during development and testing, where necessary definitions are made for multi-container running applications. Docker-compose.yml version: ‘3.4’ services: ocelotapigw: image: ${DOCKER_REGISTRY-}ocelotapigw build: context: . dockerfile: ApiGateways/OcelotApiGw/Dockerfile Docker-compose.override.yml version: ‘3.4’services: ocelotapigw: container_name: ocelotapigw environment: - ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Development depends_on: - catalog.api - basket.api - discount.api - ordering.api ports: - "8010:80" Basically in docker-compose.yml file, created one image for apigateway. Run below command on top of project folder which include docker-compose.yml files. docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.override.yml up –build That’s it! You can check microservices as below urls : Let me test Ocelot Api Gw Routing Features in docker environment TEST OVER OCELOT Test Open Postman GET http://localhost:8010/Catalog http://localhost:8010/Catalog/6022a3879745eb1bf118d6e2 CatalogGET http://localhost:8010/Catalog/GetProductByCategory/Smart Phone GET http://localhost:8010/Basket/swn BasketGET http://localhost:8010/Basket { “UserName”: “swn”, “Items”: [ { “Quantity”: 2, “Color”: “Red”, “Price”: 33, “ProductId”: “5”, “ProductName”: “5” }, { “Quantity”: 1, “Color”: “Blue”, “Price”: 55, “ProductId”: “3”, “ProductName”: “5” } ] } POST“UserName”: “swn”,“Items”: [“Quantity”: 2,“Color”: “Red”,“Price”: 33,“ProductId”: “5”,“ProductName”: “5”},“Quantity”: 1,“Color”: “Blue”,“Price”: 55,“ProductId”: “3”,“ProductName”: “5” http://localhost:8010/Basket/Checkout POST { “userName”: “swn”, “totalPrice”: 0, “firstName”: “swn”, “lastName”: “swn”, “emailAddress”: “string”, “addressLine”: “string”, “country”: “string”, “state”: “string”, “zipCode”: “string”, “cardName”: “string”, “cardNumber”: “string”, “expiration”: “string”, “cvv”: “string”, “paymentMethod”: 1 } http://localhost:15672 See from Rabbit Management Dashboard http://localhost:8010/Basket/swn DELETE GET http://localhost:8010/Discount/IPhone X DiscountGET http://localhost:8010/Discount/IPhone X DELETE GET http://localhost:8010/Order/swn OrderGET As you can see that, we have tested Ocelot API Gw with Routing features on docker environment. Develop Shopping.Aggregator microservices with Applying Gateway Aggregation Pattern We are going to Develop Shopping.Aggregator microservices with Applying Gateway Aggregation Pattern. Shopping.Aggregator Microservice cover the; Aggregate multiple client requests using HTTP Client Factory Targeting multiple internal microservices into a single client request into a single client request Client app sends a single request to the API Gateway that dispatches several requests to the internal microservices Then aggregates the results and sends everything back to the client app We are going to routing operations over the Catalog, Basket and Ordering microservices. Client only send the username of 1 api exposing from shopping.aggragetor microservices. Reduce chattiness between the client apps and the backend API Implement the Gateway aggregation pattern in Shopping.Aggregator Similar to Custom api Gateway implementation. The Gateway Aggregation pattern Use a gateway to aggregate multiple individual requests into a single request. This pattern is useful when a client must make multiple calls to different backend systems to perform an operation. To perform a single task, a client may have to make multiple calls to various backend services. An application that relies on many services to perform a task must expend resources on each request. When any new feature or service is added to the application, additional requests are needed, further increasing resource requirements and network calls. This chattiness between a client and a backend can adversely impact the performance and scale of the application. Microservice architectures have made this problem more common, as applications built around many smaller services naturally have a higher amount of cross-service calls. As a Solution, use a gateway to reduce chattiness between the client and the services. The gateway receives client requests, dispatches requests to the various backend systems, and then aggregates the results and sends them back to the requesting client. As you can see in this picture, We are going to develop Shopping.Aggregator Microservices with implementing Gateway Aggregation pattern. This Shopping.Aggregator Microservices expose only 1 api to the client applications with taking user Name information. And Aggregate multiple client requests with consuming Catalog, Basket and Ordering internal microservices. Client app sends a single request to the API Gateway that dispatches several requests to the internal microservices. Then aggregates the results and sends everything back to the client app. We are going to routing operations over the Catalog, Basket and Ordering microservices. Client only send the username of 1 api exposing from shopping.aggragetor microservices. This will Reduce chattiness between the client apps and the backend API. Developing Service Classes for Consuming Internal Microservices in Shopping.Aggreation Microservice We are going to Develop Service Classes for Consuming Internal Microservices in Shopping.Aggreation. Before we start, remember that we have added url configurations in appsettings json file. Addding Configurations Create Services Folder — for consuming apis Create folder Services Add service interfaces; ICatalogService public interface ICatalogService { Task<IEnumerable<CatalogModel>> GetCatalog(); Task<IEnumerable<CatalogModel>> GetCatalogByCategory(string category); Task<CatalogModel> GetCatalog(string id); } IBasketService public interface IBasketService { Task<BasketModel> GetBasket(string userName); } IOrderService public interface IOrderService { Task<IEnumerable<OrderResponseModel>> GetOrdersByUserName(string userName); } Add service Implementation classes but no implementation only write methods with empty bodies. CatalogService public class CatalogService : ICatalogService { private readonly HttpClient _client; public CatalogService(HttpClient client) { _client = client ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(client)); } In this service classes we need to consume apis. So we need HttpClient. In order to use it, inject HttpClient object with Client Factory in Startup.cs Register HttpClient to AspNet DI We are going to register HttpClient definitions in aspnet built-in dependency injection. With AddHttpClient method we can pass the type objects as a generic tpyes. By this way httpclient factory manange httpclient creation operation inside of this types. This is called type-based HttpClient Factory registiration. Startup.cs; services.AddHttpClient<ICatalogService, CatalogService>(c => c.BaseAddress = new Uri(Configuration[“ApiSettings:CatalogUrl”])); services.AddHttpClient<IBasketService, BasketService>(c => c.BaseAddress = new Uri(Configuration[“ApiSettings:BasketUrl”])); services.AddHttpClient<IOrderService, OrderService>(c => c.BaseAddress = new Uri(Configuration[“ApiSettings:OrderingUrl”])); We have registered 3 microservices integrations with giving base addresses We have registered service classes and http client object will manage by factory by this type configuration dependency. Now ready to Implementation Service Classes; CatalogService public class CatalogService : ICatalogService { private readonly HttpClient _client; public CatalogService(HttpClient client) { _client = client ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(client)); } public async Task<IEnumerable<CatalogModel>> GetCatalog() { var response = await _client.GetAsync(“/api/v1/Catalog”); return await response.ReadContentAs<List<CatalogModel>>(); } public async Task<CatalogModel> GetCatalog(string id) { var response = await _client.GetAsync($”/api/v1/Catalog/{id}”); return await response.ReadContentAs<CatalogModel>(); } public async Task<IEnumerable<CatalogModel>> GetCatalogByCategory(string category) { var response = await _client.GetAsync($”/api/v1/Catalog/GetProductByCategory/{category}”); return await response.ReadContentAs<List<CatalogModel>>(); } } BasketService public class BasketService : IBasketService { private readonly HttpClient _client; public BasketService(HttpClient client) { _client = client ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(client)); } public async Task<BasketModel> GetBasket(string userName) { var response = await _client.GetAsync($”/api/v1/Basket/{userName}”); return await response.ReadContentAs<BasketModel>(); } } OrderService public class OrderService : IOrderService { private readonly HttpClient _client; public OrderService(HttpClient client) { _client = client ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(client)); } public async Task<IEnumerable<OrderResponseModel>> GetOrdersByUserName(string userName) { var response = await _client.GetAsync($”/api/v1/Order/{userName}”); return await response.ReadContentAs<List<OrderResponseModel>>(); } } After developed Service classes, we should expose api with creating Controller class. Develop Controller for Shopping Aggregator ShoppingController [ApiController] [Route(“api/v1/[controller]”)] public class ShoppingController : ControllerBase { private readonly ICatalogService _catalogService; private readonly IBasketService _basketService; private readonly IOrderService _orderService; public ShoppingController(ICatalogService catalogService, IBasketService basketService, IOrderService orderService) { _catalogService = catalogService ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(catalogService)); _basketService = basketService ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(basketService)); _orderService = orderService ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(orderService)); } [HttpGet(“{userName}”, Name = “GetShopping”)] [ProducesResponseType(typeof(ShoppingModel), (int)HttpStatusCode.OK)] public async Task<ActionResult<ShoppingModel>> GetShopping(string userName) { var basket = await _basketService.GetBasket(userName); foreach (var item in basket.Items) { var product = await _catalogService.GetCatalog(item.ProductId); // set additional product fields item.ProductName = product.Name; item.Category = product.Category; item.Summary = product.Summary; item.Description = product.Description; item.ImageFile = product.ImageFile; } var orders = await _orderService.GetOrdersByUserName(userName); var shoppingModel = new ShoppingModel { UserName = userName, BasketWithProducts = basket, Orders = orders }; return Ok(shoppingModel); } } As you can see that, first we call basket microservices, in order to get basket information with a given username. After that we call catalog microservices for every basket item into the basket and get product detail information and enrich our aggregator basket item data with product informations. Lastly we call Order microservices to get user existing orders Finally return to aggregated ShoppningModel to the client. You can create your own BFF — backend for frontend microservices for aggreagotr or api gateway operations. These are 2 design patterns Gateway Aggregator Gateway Routing So that means you can create your custom api gateway with the same steps of Shopping.Aggreation Microservices.

https://medium.com/aspnetrun/building-ocelot-api-gateway-microservices-with-asp-net-core-and-docker-container-13f96026e86c

['Mehmet Özkaya']

2021-04-01 15:15:07.392000+00:00

['Docker', 'Api Gateway', 'Microservices', 'Aspnetcore', 'Design Patterns']

<Sub/Tweet> Evaluating LinkedIn’s New B2B Lead Generation Ad Type

It’s been a few months since LinkedIn released its long-rumored lead generation form ad unit, allowing B2B social marketers to streamline user experience and leap ahead in the advertising funnel. I myself have leveraged this new ad type a number of times already and have some thoughts to share — hopefully you’ll find some points to take and apply to your own campaigns. Customize Form with Your Brand’s Privacy Policy Since LinkedIn’s lead gen product has been introduced much later than that of Facebook, the professional network had the opportunity to learn from other’s early shortcomings. In doing so LinkedIn has allowed marketers to include their own brand’s privacy policy within each form. This may seem to be an unimportant detail but it really is the difference maker for whether clients would approve the use of the LinkedIn lead generation ad type to begin with. When introducing a client to this new concept, be sure to make this a lead-off point. Auto-populating forms — better than your average site form! That’s right — LinkedIn’s lead generation ad type comes equipped with info auto-population capabilities! Just list the kind of information you’d like to receive in the specified form’s settings and users will be able to submit the form with one click/tap after reviewing. This is obviously a major plus that will persuade many marketers to move their B2B lead generation efforts off their website to LinkedIn. Set expectations with clients before using this ad type If brands have been exposed to the Facebook lead generation ad unit in previous campaigns, it’s possible they’re expecting the same CPAs from the LinkedIn counterpart. For that reason it’s important to set realistic expectations in regards to what this new ad type can accomplish on LinkedIn. This has just as much to do with the nature of B2B paid social audience targeting as it does effectively planning and managing a lead generation campaign. On average, I’ve seen CPCs as high as $13.00 and CPMs around $44.00 on LinkedIn. Accordingly, average cost-per-lead values on LinkedIn can be astronomically higher and will vary based on your project budget and target audience. The one question you need to keep asking yourself is: How and where can we find the value in a LinkedIn lead generation campaign? Each advertiser’s answer will be different, but it will usually involve finding a balance between campaign reach, message resonance, and how you intend to use these leads in the future. Most imporant — I’m seeing improvements Despite my cautioning above regarding the budget it takes to make the new LinkedIn lead generation ad type, I’ve already seen improvements in performance. My campaign cost-per-lead values have decreased on average and I’m able to scale and pace campaigns using this new tool. Accordingly, I have found myself beginning to allocate more budget to campaigns using the lead generation form. These improvements in ad type performance are the result of LinkedIn users becoming more familiar and comfortable with the lead form. They have seen the form materialize more often than before (thanks to marketers ramping-up their use of the product) and many more now feel more comfortable interacting, resulting in an increase in form opens, form completions, and conversion rates across the board. More CRM integration coming soon Marketers can currently export leads generated from given campaigns in order to send along to clients or upload themselves to certain CRMs. There are automation tools out there to make this process easier and more streamlined. I recommend Zapier. In coming months, I expect LinkedIn to offer more in terms of connectivity with advertiser CRMs that may eventually deem these third-party services unnecessary. Don’t trust me? A/B test for yourself When this product was first released I was skeptical as well. So I set up a simple test — run simultaneous lead generation campaigns on LinkedIn: > One regular sponsored content update campaign optimizing for website visits to a branded page with a form. > One regular lead generation form campaign. With equal budgets and the exact same creative and copy on the sponsored content updates for each campaign, as well as the exact same audience targeting parameters, run for at least three weeks and observe. Keep in mind, I ran this test back in early April 2017, so the results may be even more noticeable for you. You should find reason to begin to at least assign a portion of your B2B lead generation budget to using the form product. In my opinion, it’s already worth a full campaign budget and significant consideration for 2018 planning. Had a similar/different experience? Leave a comment!

https://medium.com/the-subtweet/the-sub-tweet-evaluating-linkedins-new-b2b-lead-generation-tool-25a5f310002

['Joey Vara']

2017-10-03 15:00:37.570000+00:00

['Lead Generation', 'B2b Lead Generation', 'Paid Social Media', 'B2b Marketing', 'Linkedin Marketing']

KTI ADVANCED PACKAGE

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https://medium.com/ktiglobal/kti-elite-package-a74e9f8dc430

[]

2018-04-13 00:03:20.369000+00:00

['Investing', 'Services', 'Signals', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin']

How to Reboard Employees Back to the Office

At long last, after a long period of uncertainty living and working through the coronavirus pandemic, companies in many countries are welcoming back employees to the workplace. While most employers are familiar with the terms preboarding, onboarding, and offboarding, which cover the entire employee lifecycle, reboarding is term that, historically, has been used in connection to employees returning to work after parental leave or long-term sick leave. However, today, reboarding more commonly refers to introducing employees back to the workplace and refamiliarizing them not only with their role but the company’s policies in a post-pandemic world. However, it’s not as easy as simply opening the doors and getting back to business. Before welcoming employees back to the workplace, it’s essential that companies have a plan to reboard employees. Work Is Not What It Used to Be Although many employees are returning to the office, it won’t be like it was before. That is to say, few organizations are likely to return to the way things were pre-covid, where all employees were required to work from the office full-time. Instead, we will see many variations of hybrid working models. Before welcoming employees back to the workplace, it’s essential companies have a reboarding plan. Whether individuals work from the office two or three days a week or from home the majority of the time, we’re going to see many different ways of working. In our study of more than 58,000 employees throughout Europe, 59% of employees in Denmark, 49% in Germany, 46% in France, 45% in the Netherlands, 34% in the UK, and 30% in Sweden said they would like the opportunity to work from home more in the future. The large majority from all countries in the study say they would like to work from home somewhere between 40–60% of the time. What’s more, 73% of French, 69% of German, 64% of Danish, 63% of Dutch, 57% of British, and 40% of Swedish respondents say that flexible working hours are extremely important when deciding whether or not to apply for a new job or stay with their current employer. Before You Start Reboarding While preparing to reintroduce employees back to the office, it’s essential that companies have defined their policies and guidelines. For example, is there a seating plan? What are the company’s policies around working-from-home? What are the rules regarding work equipment? Are there health guidelines that employees should be aware of, such as restricted numbers allowed in meeting rooms and lunchrooms? Do employees need to wear masks? Having the answers to these questions is essential before reboarding employees. Another matter that employers should be prepared for is a possible clash of opinions amongst employees about the pandemic itself. As HR magazine shares, the pandemic has affected and challenged us all differently and everyone has an opinion on how things should be handled. This is why companies must be clear in communicating expectations and policies in the workplace. One way to minimize the risk of employee conflict is to establish a counsel assigned to resolve disputes. What’s more, employees should know who or where they can turn to if they have any questions or concerns. Mixed Emotions For many, there are mixed feelings about returning to the office, which employers should consider when putting together their policies. According to the American Psychological Association, nearly half of Americans (49%) say they feel uneasy about adjusting to in-person interaction once the pandemic ends and 46% say they do not feel comfortable going back to living life like they used to before the pandemic. While many employees cite being scared that they’ll lose their work-life balance and other work-from-home privileges when returning to the office, others cite feeling anxious about returning to office life and socializing face-to-face after such a long period of restricted contact. For many people, it will also be the first time that they meet their colleagues in person. But these “new” employees are not the only ones who will need time to adjust to changes. Having worked in isolation for so long, employers should be prepared for a period of adjustment, where employees adapt to sharing their workspace again. For many, there are mixed feelings about returning to the office, which should be considered. Tips for Reboarding 1. First and foremost, when reboarding employees, employers must inform employees of the company’s policies, practices and procedures. Furthermore, employers should inform employees of the company’s road map, where the company is headed, and its stance on flexibility and remote working. 2. While it’s probably unnecessary to give returning employees a tour of the office unless, of course, your company moved premises, consider what you need to do to make working conditions optimal. Do desks need to be arranged to create a safe distance between colleagues? Do meeting rooms need to be modified to seat fewer people? Do hand sanitizing units need to be installed in bathrooms? 3. Reestablish and reinforce a sense of culture and unity. Ensure employees understand how they contribute to the company’s success. Here are more tips on how to build a positive workplace culture. 4. Ask employees what they need and want to make the transition smoother. Send regular surveys and questionaries that employees can answer anonymously. Through surveys, employers can gain valuable feedback and learn how employees feel, how they’re adapting to changes, what they believe is working well, and what can be improved. 5. Review your employee benefits. When we asked employees how strongly they agree that the benefits they are offered by their employer reflect the current situation, except in the Netherlands (34%), fewer than 20% in the UK, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and France say they strongly agree. What benefits do your employees say they need and want? What benefits will support their well-being? To see more results from our study and to help you prepare for tomorrow, be sure to download The Future of Work Report.

https://medium.com/@benify/how-to-reboard-employees-back-to-the-office-69857031d3b3

[]

2021-09-03 08:48:27.127000+00:00

['Reboarding', 'Employees', 'Benefits', 'HR', 'Employee Experience']

I am E Pluribus Unum. So are you.

Photo by Jeremy Thomas on Unsplash I think we all, in some way or another, seek to find our identity in life. Who we are meant to be, what we are meant to be, and how we relate to the world at large. We try to find meaning in the world, in ourselves, in our work, and our relationships with others, religion, politics, sexuality, and gender. We find these categories and start marking them as if we’d been handed a survey of demographic information or a census of sorts that goes far beyond some governmental survey. These categories make us feel safe, it makes us feel valid, and part of communities and groups of people with whom we identify. It’s a personal quest that people embark on somehow, some form or fashion that usually starts with asking oneself, “Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of all of this” It brings order to the chaos of life, or at least, it tries to. It takes away the loneliness of life, in some regard. Especially now, in the age of DNA testing and the internet, we’ve been able to assemble an even more significant amount of information and share that experience with a broader range of people. The obscurity of life has diminished. As a citizen of the United States, a nation built by immigrants and slaves, identity and searching for it feels heavier. In a country obsessed with ‘race’ that suffers from self-inflicted wounds of racism and, most recently, tribalism due to discrimination and lack of identity, I am starting to uncover who I am. Or instead, I am discovering where it is I’ve come from. My early years of life was chaos. I was handed labels from other people around me for years, ‘name,’ ‘male,’ ‘baptist,” white/caucasian,’ and so forth. Everyone gets a label, markers identifying who and what they are. The chaos happens when you receive other brands from other people, ‘faggot’, ‘poor,’ ‘working class,’ ‘ugly,’ ‘fat,’ ‘average student,’ stupid,’ ‘saved,’ and so forth. Cruel labels from a harsh world where your identity is up for grabs. Tags both malicious and benign or well-meaning but abusive in other ways given to you by those surrounding you. But we grow. We change. We evolve into ourselves and out of ourselves and search for more than what we had. This change comes from experience, education, spending time with ones-self learning about life through the act of simply living it. Yet, at a certain point, we start trading these labels in for others like baseball cards or Pokemon cards at some unseen cosmic comic book store. A lot of it has to do with accepting or rejecting the premise of the label itself or making a choice to change them. Some of these label changes will be permanent, ‘faggot’ for ‘gay’ for instance. Some of these will be temporary, ‘soldier,’ ‘airman,’ ‘student,’ ‘unemployed.’ Unfortunately, some of the labels that we give ourselves in our lives will be harder to shake off, ‘worthless,’ ‘unloveable,’ damned,’ ‘baptist,’ ‘saved,’ ‘conservative,’ ‘republican,’ ‘white,’ ‘nobody,’ These labels, at least for me, were so heavy because they come with some built-in baggage to them, and were so contradictory to themselves and to the ultimate truth which was how false they are. Or, perhaps, that the label itself was or is meaningless. There are no real parameters. “Saved’ for instance. What does that mean? “White’ what does THAT mean? ‘Conservative’ What am I conserving? Whales? Trees? Salt? Electricity? The White, male, protestant, privilege? What? In this day and age of QANON and ProudBoys, conspiracy theories, flat earthers, anti-vaxxers, and so forth, it’s hard to find some empathy for people who align themselves with social malignancy. These real threats to America itself and the world are like cancer to the body. In our post-truth world, with national security figures selling the country down the river, and a president who refuses to admit he lost, hatred and anger are festering. And it’s hard to compassionate to people who seem to have abandoned their minds completely. But what if the labels they had to work with, that was projected onto them by the outside world, were terrible, to begin with? Let’s start with the brand, ‘white.’ What does that mean? Think about it. What does it mean? On a census form/ job application/ etc. , it would say, “White/ Caucasian/ Non-native”. According to Google, “Caucasian” means “White Skin/ of European Descent.” I want to hold us there for a second — white Skin/ European Descent. The term “White People” did not exist before the formation of this country. It was a way to unite non-black, non-Asian, non-native peoples together. Since there is no pan-European culture, no pan-European language, art, or belief, this country’s powers had to establish a link to unify people here to maintain control over people of color. In that process, ‘white people’ abandoned their inherent diversity for a label with no history, no culture, no faith, no language, art, philosophy, etc.. At the same time, it stole black bodies in Africa and did the same thing to them. I am in no way saying American’s have no identity. But White people aren’t the only Americans. We are a nation of immigrants. They bring life into our veins. They breathe breath into our lungs. They bring their world into our world, and all things are made new. That has always been our truth; it has ever sustained us — E Pluribus Unum — From many, one. And yet, while these immigrants come bringing home, culture, and art, and more importantly, a link to their past, white people and black people suffer from lacking all of that — one by theft, and one by choice — linked together inextricably by men hundreds of years ago. With so much information at our fingertips, with the creation of DNA testing now available for home purchase, with Ancestry databases, and so much more, it no longer has to be this way. “White People” and “Black People” can determine who they are and where they come from. Their past, roots, heritage, diversity, and culture can be handed back to them. The labels given to you by others can be traded in for meaningful ones with depth, and language, and art, and history, and some of it may surprise you. For instance, I discovered recently (as of 48 hours ago) that I have a cousin or an uncle (great, great, great, something or other) who was beatified in the Holy Roman Catholic Church. George Napper, a derivative of Napier, was executed by King James in 1607 for the sin of being a priest. He was martyred and made beatified by Pope Pious XI. For someone with MY history, that’s not only amazing, but it’s also ironic and hilarious. ((I was raised Fundamental Baptist. We were raised to not like Catholics and use the King James Bible only)) These proud boys, etc. et al., fear their label. They fear karma because of that label. Retribution. It started with Barack Obama, who at the end of the day, despite the insane amount of bullshit, and the fact that liberal progressives hated him, was a moderate centrist. The biggest scandal was he wore a tan suit. That fear led to Trump and Trumpism, which brought that label and all the weight and history of that label, roaring back from history’s shame. And now? They’re losing their fucking minds. So much so that they’re practically babbling word salad all over the internet and trying to piece it together to bring order to the chaos between their ears. It doesn’t have to be that way. It may not solve racism per se, but we all get to make choices in life. And we can choose to turn inward for truth, literally inside of our DNA where exists music, art, language, dance, literature, going back thousands of years, and shrug off the implications of a really shitty (and historically recent) label that’s hurt people including the ones wearing it. I am Scottish/ Irish American. I am a writer. A husband. An artist. I am a Lutheran. I am Queer. I am alive with so much rich history, meaning and struggle, and hopes and fears and lives in my veins. I am E Pluribus Unum, and so are you; you don’t know it yet.

https://medium.com/@fefeeleyjr/i-am-e-pluribus-unum-so-are-you-d2856094b805

['Frederick E Feeley Jr']

2020-12-19 23:30:57.222000+00:00

['Heritage', 'E Pluribus Unum', 'Racism', 'White Supremacy', 'America']

Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall, What’s the Safest Sex of All?

Back in 1994, the Surgeon General of the United States of America was forced to resign over a comment she made while speaking at the United Nations conference on AIDS. She was asked if it would be appropriate to promote masturbation as a way to keep young people from engaging in riskier forms of sexual activity. And she said, “I think that (masturbation) is part of human sexuality, and perhaps it should be taught.” To be clear, Dr. Elders was not suggesting teachers have children practice dropping their drawers and touching their Wee Willies and Wet Wandas in the classrooms. All she said was that masturbation perhaps should be added to the sex ed and wellness curriculum. Ironically, the president who fired Dr. Elders might have saved a young intern’s reputation had he been more comfortable relieving the pressures of the Oval Office himself. Yes, it was Bill Clinton who first hired then fired the good doctor. I was 28-years-old when that mess blew up in Elders’ face. I’d been working with an international development organization that had programs around the world, including in Africa and what Dr. Elders said made all the sense in the world to me. But, if you’d asked me then how I felt about dropping my hands below my waist to spend a little time self-loving, I’d have made my scrunch-face (not attractive), shaken my head, and said, “It’s great for other people, perfect sex to reduce the transmission of HIV, but mastur — you know, it’s not for me.” My feelings about self-love have shifted slightly over the last 25 years, but not much. Certainly, not enough to make me happy. However, over the last several months, I’ve been pushing myself to talk and write about sex and my sexual hang-ups. All this talk — mostly with my husband — has had the benefit of pushing me to try new things, too. Like mutual masturbation. Turns out that’s quite enjoyable. But I draw a mysterious line with the lube when it comes to masturbating on my own. Why, oh, why? I wanted to break free of this phobia so, on May 20th, I signed up for an online masturbation course that I suspect Dr. Elders would be proud to endorse. The course was two-thirds finished, but I figured ten days of learning how to self-love would be a good start. The emails landed day-after-day, and I immediately filed them for later… I’ll start tomorrow, I promised myself. Neither I nor tomorrow ever came. On Day 30, ashamed that I’d failed so dramatically at overcoming the shame I felt touching myself, I sent the course-creator an email and asked if she planned to make her course evergreen. The next day, she shared a link that allowed me to try-try again, from Day 1. I signed up immediately. That was June 1st. On June 2nd, I wrote, with naïve optimism, about my plan to do the course right this time in Ladies: Start Your Vibrators! Embracing the power of becoming a self-lust goddess. And now here we are at the end of August and how many times in the past 57 days have I followed the prompts in Eleanor’s emails? Twice. And even then, I broke her rule about not using a vibrator. If I was being graded, I’d get a solid 0/30 in this course. I imagine Dr. Elders shaking her 86-year-old head in disappointment. But I really, really want to be an A+ self-love student. I am neither too old nor too proud to admit that I need help. Having a course at my fingertips is clearly not enough to motivate me to move those fingertips to the places they’re being encouraged to explore. I need accountability. I need to take this journey into lubricating my libido with another gentleperson’s genitals at my side. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Obviously, it would make the most sense to ask my partner to do this with me, but I know that this won’t work. For one, he’ll want to have sex if we masturbate together. Second, we have wildly different sleep schedules and for the few hours we are together awake, we’re never alone. We would never feel comfortable excusing ourselves to the bedroom every day immediately after dinner. Third, I’ll want to have sex if we masturbate together. And the point is to learn how to self-love. If mutual masturbation became foreplay, I think that would void the purpose of pleasuring my pleasure points… right? I considered placing a Craigslist ad. Sexually repressed dame seeks masturbation buddy But as soon as I wrote the headline I realized I’d be spending more time reading emails from men about their masturbatory fantasies than authentically loving myself if I used this approach. And, I would run a high risk of being sent a dick pic. <Shudder>. And that’s when my creative, erotic imagination spoke up. It said, Ask your friends on Medium. All you need is one person to take this challenge with you, to check-in with once-a-day, to ensure that neither of you is ignoring your nethers. I’m also considering emailing Dr. Elders, to ask if she’d be willing to be the person who holds me accountable. I’m not expecting an “I’d be delighted to” response, but the reply might be amusing. And since laughing is one of the things that turns me on… well, in this case a fail might be a win for my masturbation efforts. Finally, to make sure failure is not an option, I’ve promised myself an expensive gift at the end of thirty days of successful self-loving — but only if I get that A+. It’s a hands-free vibrator meant for couples that promises to be a thing of orgasmic beauty. I am so ready to receive the benefits of masturbation — better sleep, higher self-esteem, decreased muscle tension, and increased libido. I’m counting on the whambam combination of accountability and a special reward to help me finally overcome the illogical shame and irrational fears I hold about making my sacral chakra shake. Postscript — teaching masturbation 25 years later And the postscript on the status of Dr Elders’ idea of teaching masturbation as a safe sex alternative to penetration: it’s still not widely done. In fact, masturbation was finally added to the curriculum in one Canadian province three years ago only to be removed again in 2018 with the leader of that province threatening to fire any teacher who used the updated curriculum that spoke of masturbation. Safest sex or not, talking about masturbation is still a topic that can get some people fired. So let’s give those conservative political leaders the finger by taking courses about how to shamelessly finger ourselves.

https://medium.com/love-and-stuff/mirror-mirror-on-the-wall-whats-the-safest-sex-of-all-3e1ddf2caadb

['Danika Bloom']

2020-04-29 17:28:59.258000+00:00

['Self', 'Health', 'Sex', 'Ideas', 'Sexuality']

Why is Self-Love important?

Tell me something about yourself that you really admire? Is it beauty, interests, or other qualities? In modern days, people prefer outer appearance more than inner specialties. This is more common in the teenage phase. Many teeners get so confused and tensed about their appearance that they almost forget what they are! Or should I say who they are? They don’t care what matters or what is actually important. They just want themselves to look perfect. They want to be famous and want to gain interests and popularity. For some time, it convinced them that their presence matters, people love them, admire them just by following them on social media. The reality flashes out when they are in trouble and nobody cares. Then the truth comes out, no one is your friend, you are on your own and you have to face problems alone. I was an invisible girl. Nobody ever knew who I was, not even my name! I had a friend; I thought she was but turned out she was never there for me, never mind. So just a normal, boring girl with specs living a normal life. At first, I didn’t bother about friends and popularity, then I grew up. Started hearing things about myself, how cheap and simple I was. People hated to sit near me in class. I was probably untouchable for them. Slowly it became harder and more complex to bear all this shit. I was ugly and fat and not even considered a friend. Then I met someone. He was kind and funny and he understood me, at least I thought that he did. But little did I know that I was again going to end up alone. Everybody rejected me as a friend and off-course as something more. It also crushed the bit of hope left when he broke up with me saying that I was a cheater. It was a big misunderstanding made by others, and he trusted them more than me. Obviously, he would do that. What is there in me? Nothing! I became furious and realized that enough is enough. I can’t tolerate it anymore. I had to show that they were wrong. I totally changed myself, stopped caring about others and what they think, started prioritizing myself, and became tough. And they started giving attention to me. But importantly, I started loving myself. The strength of self-worth gave way to my growth and understanding. Everybody is born nothing, but it’s on us if we want to be nothing! To be a good person, we just need to be honest and real to ourselves. Don’t follow others, what they do, or what they think. Just live up to yourself, follow your dreams, and do what you like. The world is a big place, don’t be someone else, be who you are. Honestly copying others is a lot of work, it’s better not to. Embrace the beauty within and let the world see how beautiful you are! Everyone is trying to destroy your confidence, trust none, and follow your heart. The world will become a better place for you, just need some effort to adapt. Nothing is possible if you don’t believe in yourself. Trust yourself and start working on your thoughts and your abilities. And in a short time, you’ll see yourself successful in life, happy, and people will admire and inspire you.

https://medium.com/@ambikaaaa/why-is-self-love-important-4ddbdf4b6da5

['Ambika Piu Santra']

2020-12-22 11:08:33.139000+00:00

['Beginner', 'Self Love', 'Writing']

Flutter sign in with Google in Android (without firebase)

There seems to be missing a guide for Google sign in with flutter, without firebase. Guides for firebase are in abundance, but if for any reason you want to go bare with google sign in, you are on your own. So let’s discover what is necessary for Google sign in with flutter; Most of it is also relevant for any other framework (Android native, react-native etc’). Our steps are: - Generate signed key for your android app - Registering the app in Google cloud services - Using google_sign_in package to sign in with google Necessary authentication background Google sign in is using oAuth 2.0 protocol, which in turn use various ways of authentication depending on the platform. The details themselves are interesting but not relevant for you now, all you need to know is that in mobile the method is using some secure signature of the app to allow you to make requests. Should you want to use the same google sign in with web application or server-to-server the communications way will be different. Server-to-server for example is more reliant on secret key passing, as you are in a “safe” environment and not running on a customer client. What that means for you, is that in order to start using Google sign in with your android application, you need to sign it. Something you’d need to do anyway if you wish to release it to the playstore, but now is a good place to start. Generate signed key for your android app When generating signed key for android, there are 2 “channels” in the build that use the signed key: debug and release . If you wish to have the Google sign in works on your debug environment, you need to sign that too. Generating a key for debug is identical to how we’ll do it for release , apart from the alias that must be androiddebugkey in that case. To generate the key, run this: keytool -genkey -v -keystore ~/key.jks -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000 -alias androiddebugkey It will ask you to assign a password and some other parameters. Then it will generate a key.jks file for you. This file is the secure key, so remember to keep it a secret. Do not commit this to git. The next step is configuring build.gradle to build the app with this signed key. In android/app/build.gradle under android add these settings: signingConfigs { debug { storeFile file('key.jks') storePassword 'android' keyAlias 'androiddebugkey' keyPassword 'android' } } buildTypes { debug { signingConfig signingConfigs.debug } } A few things to note here: - in storeFile we direct to the key file. Here it assumes it is in the same android/app folder, but you can direct it to wherever is convenient for you. - we have storePassword and keyPassword that are the password you chose before when generating the key - The keyAlias is as I mentioned before, and for debug it is always androiddebugkey As for “release” key, it is pretty much the same. I recommend following the react-native guide on the matter, as it is far better than the flutter one. Don’t worry, this is just android configurations so it is perfectly suitable for flutter projects too; https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/signed-apk-android Registering the app for google sign-in First, you should have a project set up in google cloud platform. If you don’t have any yet, go to https://console.cloud.google.com/ and create one. Once you have a google cloud project set up, you’ll need to configure your project to have Google sign-in enabled. You can do that here: https://developers.google.com/identity/sign-in/web/sign-in Click to configure for Android platform, and you’ll get to this screen: There are 2 things to fill here, package name and SHA-1 signature of the certificate we created earlier. Find your package name at AndroidManifest.xml file, under the package= attribute. For the SHA-1 signature, use the command showing in the window on the keystore generated earlier. Note: the keytool CLI tool is available only once you install JDK. So if for some reason you do not have JDK installed yet, do that first. keytool -keystore key.jks -list -v Is the command for the key you generated earlier, and in the output you’ll have the SHA-1 fingerprint (as well as SHA-256 but there is no use for it here). Use `google_sign_in ` package in the app To limit the scope of this article I will just show how to use the package directly. If you wish to use it with the Bloc pattern for example, there is a great demo app here to follow: https://bloclibrary.dev/#/flutterfirebaselogintutorial The most basic usage of the package is to initialize: _googleSignIn = GoogleSignIn() and then, when you wish to authenticate just call the future: _googleSignIn.signIn(); And the package will take care of everything else. The package will also add the flutter plugin for google sign in, so make sure to hard restart your app to make it work. But going further, you can adjust the scopes you request from google when initializing the GoogleSignIn object as such: GoogleSignIn _googleSignIn = GoogleSignIn( scopes: [ 'email', 'https://www.googleapis.com/auth/contacts.readonly', ], ); There are many scopes, for every google service available. For a full list see here: https://developers.google.com/identity/protocols/googlescopes and remember that in order to use some of these scopes, you need to enable their APIs in your google cloud platform first. When using the basic configuration, and calling await _googleSignIn.signIn(); The resulted GoogleSignInAccount might look like this (In my case): GoogleSignInAccount:{displayName: Snir David, email: snir***@gmail.com, id: 1234567123456712367, photoUrl: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a-/AAuuE42_4fdsAFV} And that's a wrap. Hope this article helped you in any way.

https://medium.com/flutter-community/flutter-sign-in-with-google-in-android-without-firebase-a91b977d166f

['Snir David']

2020-02-05 11:24:04.738000+00:00

['Authentication', 'Google', 'Flutter', 'Android']

SECOND CHAPTER OF DEVELOPERS OUTREACH PROGRAM AT ELLIPSIS DIGITAL IS NOW OPEN

Every year we train upcoming software developers from colleges in Tanzania in various software development skills so that they can become better software developers and help them gain paid work experience. DOP@E provides college students in Tanzania an opening to the digital economy and give companies access to skilled talent. As a student, this program will help you thrive in a rapidly changing world by getting the real programming education you need. We ensure that every student has access to the collaborative, coding, and technical skills that unlock opportunities. We successfully completed the 1st Cohort of Developers Outreach Program at Ellipsis Digital (DOP@E) that admitted 20 aspiring software developers for high-quality training in August 2020. These developers were trained for 12 months on both theory and practice to upskill them in the latest coding technologies and help gain practical paid work experience in order to be ready for real-life projects for companies in Tanzania and in the East African region. As the aim of the program is to bridge the gap between the desires of just learning to code to becoming a skilled software developer, in addition to technical and professional skills development and mentorship by the end of the program you get the chance to develop websites, web platforms, mobile apps and software solutions to gain working experience that will help you land a job and also make you a better leader of your local tech communities.

https://medium.com/ellipsisdigital/second-chapter-of-developers-outreach-program-at-ellipsis-digital-is-now-open-72f4db1ca1f0

['Ellipsis Digital']

2020-12-23 10:10:29.885000+00:00

['Course', 'Coding', 'Africa', 'Training', 'Software Developer']

‘City of Waterfalls’ Home to Stunning Natural Scenery

The natural beauty of Greece rivals its extraordinary history, and the waterfalls of Edessa are a prime example of its natural wonders. Visitors looking to escape the crowds of summer that flock to Greece will find a peaceful, relaxing destination in Edessa, where the sounds of its 70-meter waterfall drift through the town. Location and history Edessa, which means “tower in the water,” is located in Macedonia in Northern Greece on a bluff that overlooks the Loudhiás River. The city was built around the Skirtos (now known as the Edhessaíos), a fast-flowing stream responsible for creating the beautiful waterfalls that have made the city famous. In ancient times, Edessa was located along the Via Egnitia, a road connecting the Aegean and Adriatic Seas. A bridge built by the Romans or Byzantines in the town still stands. Over the centuries, Edessa has been the target of Turks, Bulgarians, Serbs, and Byzantines, but in 1912, it became part of Greece. Edessa is about 345 kilometers north of Athens, and it can be reached via car, bus, plane, or train. Land travel takes an average of six hours regardless of the mode of transportation, and air passengers must fly from Athens to a nearby city, such as Thessaloniki, and then take ground transportation to Edessa. The waterfalls The waterfalls of Edessa have evolved over the centuries. Until the 14th century, the Eddessaios river, which supplies the waterfalls, ran from the foothills of the Pindus Mountains to the west of the town and collected in a small lake. However, due to a unique geological shift, the water switched direction and ran through the city, and the lake dried up. Visitor accounts from the 17th and 18th centuries describe Edessa as a city on a rock where waterfalls cascade. Today, one large waterfall and two smaller ones fall over the cliff. The city now is traversed by many smaller rivers snaking out from the Eddessaios. As visitors stroll around the city, which includes walks over numerous small bridges, they are treated to the peaceful sounds of running water. The main water is about 70 meters high, and centuries of aquatic sculpting have created interesting geological formations in the rocks around it. For many years, Edessa’s waterfalls were hidden from view because of the area’s steep hills and thick vegetation — only the most adventurous beat a path through the weeds to view them. In the early 1940s, when Germans occupied the town, residents began sprucing up the city by planting flowerbeds and installing ponds. However, the citywide landscaping fell by the wayside during a civil war, and it wasn’t until the early 1960s that residents began to build paths to the waterfalls, including stairs that that offered several vantage points along the way. Today, the falls are easily accessible to visitors, and the majestic cascade is surrounded by tall trees and flowers. Visitors also can walk behind the falls, getting a look at the backside of the curtain of water and a cave covered by falling water on the lower level. The nearby smaller Lamda falls cascade into turquoise pools. The Open-Air Water Museum and aquarium The area around the waterfalls is filled with tourist-friendly amenities, including restaurants and a hotel. The unique Open-Air Water Museum highlights Edessa’s history as a water-based industry, dating back to the 15th century during Ottoman rule. Visitors can view the water-power mills that once ground wheat and sesame, as well as pre-industrial workshops, centuries-old plaster buildings, and old mills with equipment that was used through the 1960s. Because water is so abundant in Edessa, people have found ways to harness its power for hundreds of years, whether it was powering tanneries or serving as an energy source for powering individual homes. The nearby aquarium, found at the Giannakis watermill, is home to snakes, turtles, eels, and baby crocodiles. Edessa’s Folklore Museum While the waterfalls are a natural testament to Edessa’s history, the area also is home to evidence of more than 3,000 years of humans living in the area. About 450 meters south of the falls, visitors can see ruins of the ancient town, including the agora and an inscribed column that dates to the Roman era. Visitors also can stop by the Folklore Museum in the area. It features exhibits that showcase the daily lives of Edessa residents from the 19th century through the 1950s, including an exhibit featuring local clothing and another highlighting rural interests such as raising cattle. The museum is closed on Mondays, and admission is 1.5 euros (children younger than 12 are free). Whether you choose to stay in Edessa or make it a day trip from Thessaloniki, this city of waterfalls will be a one-of-a-kind experience on your Greek vacation.

https://medium.com/@DrGeorgeHatzigiannis/city-of-waterfalls-home-to-stunning-natural-scenery-bb6d6e9d1808

['Dr. George Hatzigiannis']

2019-10-08 16:16:01.255000+00:00

['Edessa', 'Vacation', 'Greece', 'Holiday', 'Travel']

Sleepy Joe’s American Dream

Is sleepy Joe’s idea of America nothing but a dream? The 2020 presidential election was humorous to say the least. A never-ending comedy of errors, duly punctuated with a host of laughable litigations of voter fraud that left non-Americans laughing from afar whilst counting their blessings. After the live debate had taken place many were left more confused and pessimistic of the future that lay ahead. Sleepy Joe is in most people’s view a better prospect for the U.S and the free world. Sleepy Joe is ambitious with his plans for America. The first of his obstacles in office will be to save the country from a worsening Covid-19 pandemic. With plans to increase testing, his decision making will be somewhat easier in this area as it is in the interest of the Republicans and the Democrats to see the end of the pandemic. Mitch McConnell is a bigger obstacle for Biden. McConnell the U.S Senate leader, a Republican — will be hesitant to act on any of Biden’s plans. Obama went through a similar fiasco. What else is in store for Mr. Biden? Climate change, racism & the economic recovery in short. A short yet a challenging list. Biden hasn’t been shy with international affairs and has already been poking his finger across the pond at Trumps doppelgänger Boris. Biden has long opposed Brexit and his Irish roots will keep him interested in the on-going Brexit talks with the EU. Its a pivotal moment for the U.S, much is to be overcome and achieved. With all that is going on in the U.S at the moment - I’d rather a sleepy joe than a moody, unpredictable and self-centred Trump.

https://medium.com/@aamirsyed94/sleepy-joes-american-dream-43863b49d0f5

['Aamir Syed']

2020-12-09 12:11:11.449000+00:00

['Donald Trump', 'Covid 19', 'Joe Biden', 'Climate Change', '2020 Presidential Race']

A Love That’s True

I was who I was You were who you were We did the best we could With what we both had Like two kids playing house Like cats fighting over a mouse We were both too damn proud The whole thing was strange & sad I tried to tell you But you wouldn’t listen You did your own thing And I eventually did mine On the better days we got along But there were those nights When everything went wrong Yet we acted like we were fine As long as I had my bottles of beer And you had your glasses of wine We had what we had Stuff we both would collect From all those expensive trips In the States and overseas I got mugs and German steins You’d dress up to the nines We both got what we’d want Now I have such painful memories I tried to tell you But you wouldn’t listen You did your own thing And I eventually did mine On the better days we got along But there were those nights When everything went wrong Yet we acted like we were fine As long as I had my bottles of beer And you had your glasses of wine Oh but I got sick of you Always going away every week So I’d head down to the creek And fished for trout with flies It was somethin’ to do Somethin’ to occupy my time I wasn’t committing a crime Then I began huntin’ with the guys You didn’t like my rifles You didn’t like what I’d bring back All those camouflage clothes Ducks, quail & doves in a gunnysack You threatened to move out You said I had completely changed You were right, I’d go to the range Spendin’ time I’d never get back I tried to tell you But you wouldn’t listen You did your own thing I decided to do mine, too The better days we spent apart Then there were countless nights When I had a darkened heart I’m not sure you cared or knew So I packed up my belongings Now I’m searchin’ for a love that’s true Now I’m searchin’ for a love that’s true October 3, 2020

https://medium.com/@mkgraylyricist/a-love-thats-true-613e8d672113

['Matt Gray']

2020-10-03 12:10:53.234000+00:00

['Drifting Partnerships', 'Lyrics', 'Toxic Living', 'Country Songs', 'Unhealthy Relationships']

We will tackle this together stay with me :).

We will tackle this together stay with me :). You need to have access to an AWS account. I logged in as root user in AWS. Install Visual Studio 2019/2017. AWS studio toolkit installed on your computer. Part one: Build sample .net core Rest API Refer the below link to do that Create a sample rest API application Copy the API URL someplace you used in postman from the above tutorial, We will require it during API gateway integration. My URL looked this way you https://m40spcat1h.execute-api.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/Prod/api/ShoppingList Part Two: Creating a congnito pool. In the AWS console select Cognito. Click on Manage User pools. Create user pools. Give a pool name. (All the names must contain only lower case letters and hyphen or so special characters.) Click on Review Defaults. Click on Add App client. 7. Again click on AddAppClient option. 8. Give the app client name of your choice. 9. Enable username password-based authentication (ALLOW_USER_PASSWORD_AUTH). 10. Hit the Create app client option. 11. Click on create pool option. 12. Click on Domain name. 13. Give a valid domain name(name related to your API would be more appropriate) copy the domain name in this (mydomain125) and save changes. 14. Click on Resource Servers that you can see in step 12. 15. Fill the fields as I have shown in the Image again choose a name appropriate to your application. Scopes are added so that you can restrict API’s capability say you want a particular API only to get not create you can do that using the scopes. I recommend you use that in this case. Then click save changes. 16. Click on App client Settings. Click on select all. Scroll and select what I have high lighted. Client Credentials will be used for authentication purpose and scopes, as mentioned, are useful to give necessary capabilities to API. 17. Client Credentials are in AppClient. Copy your ClientId and Client Secret Someplace. You are set with Cognito. Yipeee :). Part three: Creating API gate way and integrating with Cognito. In Aws Console choose API Gateway Hit CreateAPI button. Select the one configuration you require, I have selected the below and select build. 3. Next Choose New API and give valid and human-friendly API name. 4. Choose CreateAPI Option. 5. Click on Actions and select Create Method. 6. And select appropriate CRUD method, In the above rest API, we have GET So I have selected GET to demonstrate the Cognito Integration. Select the check icon after that. 7. Endpoint URL is the API that you got after deploying to AWS, Refer part 1 if you are confused and hit save. 8. Choose Authorizers in the same window and hit CreateNewAuthorizer button. Give a valid name and select the type as Cognito and the Cognito User Pool field will give a drop-down with the Cognito User pool we Created in Part 2. Choose that. Token Source Give it as Authorization. 9. Click on Resources and Select Get which currently shows authorization as None. Click on Get 10. Click on Method Request. 11. In Authorization drop-down select the Authorizer you created in step 8. OAuth Scopes, you can find it in AppClientSettings Repeat steps 9 through 11 for all the methods. 12. Voila you have now integrated Cognito with API gateway. Deploy and test the gateway using Postman. Testing our Application Set up. Fire up the postman, Click on new request You need to keep these things ready to get access token Auth Url https://{your-domain-name}.{region}.amazoncognito.com/oauth2/token In my case it was domain125 You will need your Client Secret and Client Id, Refer step 17 part 2. Don’t forget to set the Grant type to Authorization, Click on GetNewAccessTokenButton, You will get new Token. Set the Authorization in Headers Token and hit send you will get response I have tried to keep this article as short as possible, In case if you have any question leave a comment I will try to get back to you at the earliest. Say cheese Chickpeas :). hehe

https://medium.com/@jay356/we-will-tackle-this-together-stay-with-me-d7f544c6a9c5

['Jay Rao']

2020-12-08 07:39:52.905000+00:00

['Integration', 'AWS', 'AWS Lambda', 'Aws Cognito', 'Aws Api Gateway']

BORN 2 BE GREAT SONG LYRICS » LIL TJAY » Lyrics Over A2z

BORN 2 BE GREAT SONG LYRICS » LIL TJAY » Lyrics Over A2z Alternateoflyricsoveraz Apr 1·2 min read BORN 2 BE GREAT SONG LYRICS » LIL TJAY: The Born 2 Be Great Lyrics / Born 2 Be Great Song Lyrics in English by Lil Tjay is the Latest English Song of 2021. The Born 2 Be Great Song is Sung by Lil Tjay. The Born 2 Be Great Song is Produced by Non Native & Bordeaux. The Born 2 Be Great Song is Released on 31st March, 2021. The Born 2 Be Great Song is Presented by Lil Tjay. Song Title: Born 2 Be Great Singer: Lil Tjay Release Date: 31st March, 2021 Language: English Label: Lil Tjay BORN 2 BE GREAT SONG LYRICS » LIL TJAY [Intro] Mm, mm-mm Mm, mm-mm Bordeaux and Non Native Mm, mm-mm [Verse 1] Sometimes it feel like niggas you love the most be the one that brings you down Just speakin’ from experience, ’cause I done been around I remember shit was smooth, we was dreamin’ cap and gowns Older niggas preached to us the shit that we see now Some of your friends gon’ die, some of your friends gon’ live Some of ’em go to jail for all the shit they did every year they straight I was always solid, solid all the way The way this shit at stake, you couldn’t wait your turn Studied my position, really had to sit and learn Reel up all my money, better pay me like Big Worm Still, I’m cleanin’ money like a nigga ‘fraid of germs Drippin’, I’m the flyest, you could never call me sherm This Louis V on me cost me like nothin’, I could burn Life is so funny, like every day I see it turn Misunderstood, don’t understand, you could learn [Chorus] I was born to be great And I won’t let nobody tell me I ain’t And I can’t stop, won’t stop And I, I

https://medium.com/@alternateoflyricsovera2z/born-2-be-great-song-lyrics-lil-tjay-lyrics-over-a2z-999677040169

[]

2021-04-01 02:02:07.809000+00:00

['Hollywood', 'Songs', 'Music', 'English', 'Lyrics']

What It Was Like To Climb Cotopaxi, The World’s 3rd Highest Active Volcano

Friday 20:00 trying to sleep…cold… wind howling… is that an avalanche?! 21:00 finally toasty warm in sleeping bag… sleep at 4,800m/16,000ft is hard… was that some sleep or just a daydream 23:00 ffs, there’s only like 6 other climbers sleeping here and one has to be snoring like his life depends on it from the other room 23:30 earliest wake up call ever. game time 24:00 3 layers on bottom and 4 layers on top. helmet, harness, ice axe, lfg. “don’t forget the crampons or sunglasses”, I am reminded for the 4th time Saturday 00:30 used the boiled hot water to fill up the camelbak water container. plastic stretching, sagging unnaturally under the weight and heat. dear god, please don’t rupture in my backpack 00:45 ¡vamos afuera! me and my 52 y.o. guide Julian set out with our partner group, Americans Noah and David and their Ecuadoran guide. Noah feeling pretty bad stomach pain and both guys reporting tingling hands. is it the altitude, or the Diamox (it’s definitely the Diamox) 01:00 slow and steady gana la carrera 01:30 crunch sounds the snow underfoot. crisp, clean smelling air. the darkness interrupted only by our head torches and the distant yellow glow of Machachi and Quito. temperatura comodo sin sudor 02:00 reach the beginning of the glacier. take the crampons out the pack. my pair has apparently been to the summit of Mt. Everest! I got this shit! 02:05 right crampon not fitting. Julian fiddles with setting. realizes I simply fucked up placing my foot inside. has to fiddle back again with freezing fingers, slightly annoyed. I got this? 02:15 Julian ties us together with climbing rope, harness to harness. I wonder to myself what situations look like where the rope is needed 02:30 I step close to the rope with my crampon. Julian advises me I owe a beer for every time i step on his climbing rope (fast forward: I owe one beer) 02:45 wind really picking up. cold punishes any momentarily exposed fingers 03:00 the hike up is largely a solitary, mental experience. breathe, step, think 03:15 unable to hold back the tears thinking about mom stuck in the hospital from severe multiple sclerosis attack. I remember how wonderful she is, how much love she shares, and let the feelings wash over me with each step I crunch 03:30 hmmm… steep slope to left… can’t see where it goes… is that a crevasse in the glacier? I think we’ve entered the “no mistake zone”. I am thankful I have a great guide A massive “serac” (glacial ice wall) we took a break beside. 03:45 5–10 min break under massive “serac” (glacial ice wall). over halfway. altitude ~5,450m/17,880ft, higher than Thorong La Pass on Annapurna Circuit, my previous highest. first waft of sulfur hits the nose 04:00 steep, steep slopes. iceaxes out. more crevasses and steep cliff-like ledges I don’t want to see any closer. legs feeling some definite fatigue. water hose frozen solid… no more water for rest of climb 04:15 enter final section, “rampa de yanasacha”. colossal exposed black rock wall to the left. super steep. every step a challenge 04:30 really not sure this is worth it. pure effort and discomfort. not sure I could ever handle Everest or anything remotely like it. sulfur smell again 05:00 needing more breaks. no sign of the sun yet. progress slow. altitude ~5,750m/18,864ft. wind insane. give knocks and a “you got this man, hang in there” to the American with stomach pain, clearly also struggling 05:15 can’t go around it. can’t go under it. no way out of this but to go through it. left foot, right foot, repeat 05:30 OMFG! I see some light blue over that ridge! potent sulfur smell. visibility poor and wind ripping across our backs so Julian says we’ll wait here before final 5 mintute push to summit. 15 minutes to chill, literally. reach hand down into 2nd layer sweatpants pocket for GoPro… you’ve got to be fucking kidding me… 50+ minute pocket video recording & 14% battery… facepalm. plop into selfie stick anyway. time to summit this bitch 05:45 we fucking did it! three small groups on top in mutual ecstasy. rope untied with a warning from Julian, “don’t go close to that ledge”. hugs and high fives. all smiles. photos and a few short vids. smoke and fog swirling and totally obscuring the inside of the 500x800m wide conical crater. I so wish I could see down inside the top of Earth’s 3rd highest active volcano. visibility off volcano low as well. these things we cannot control… we accept gratefully what Pachamama and the mountain give us

https://medium.com/@andrewmahowald/climbing-cotopaxi-the-worlds-third-highest-active-volcano-833d6bd2f71b

['Andrew Mahowald']

2021-04-13 21:32:32.803000+00:00

['Adventure Travel', 'Hiking', 'Ecuador', 'Trekking', 'Mountains']

5 Signs Your Baby is Overtired

5 Signs Your Baby is Overtired She immediately falls asleep in the car seat If every time you put your baby in the car she falls asleep immediately. This a sign that she was exhausted before she got into the car, and the motion of the car soothes her into sleep. A well rested baby will not usually fall asleep in the car right away unless it happens to be her nap time, and her awake time has surpassed. This is true up into the toddler years. It takes forever to get her to fall asleep When my clients tell me that it takes “forever” to get their baby down for a nap or at bedtime. I know that the sleep “timing” is off. They are too late getting their baby down. She’s already overtired which makes it harder for her to relax. Have you every stayed up late 4 nights in a row or been out all weekend partying and then try to go to bed on the Sunday night but you can’t because you are sooo tired — that is overtired. I know you’ll have to think back a few years ‍She wakes up 20 minutes into sleep A daytime sleep cycle is 45 minutes, and a night time sleep cycle is 3 hours. After 4 months of age, if a baby wakes up 20 minutes into a nap, she hasn’t even cycled through one cycle, and this is a sign that she was overtired before she fell asleep. The timing is off. ‍ Baby wakes up crying from a nap If a baby wakes up after a 45 minute nap and is crying, this is a sign that she is still tired. The only exception is that if she has gone 4 or more hours since a feed, then it could be hunger. If your baby wakes up crying from a 45 minute. She’s gone through one sleep cycle, and either can’t figure out how to relax herself back into sleep or is so exhausted can’t calm herself to do so. ‍ She wakes up every 3 hours or more at night A night time sleep cycle is 3 hours. So it is not uncommon for a child who relies on being held, rocked or nursed to sleep to surface from a sleep cycle and cry out for Mom to help put her back to sleep in the same manner in which she fell asleep. But if your child wakes up every 3 hours through the night, there is also like overtiredness at play here. Many babies sleep longer stretches of 4–6 hours, but then start waking up every 3 hours at 4 months. You can learn more about that on my blog about the The 4 Month Sleep Regression. (It’s legit!) The first 6 months of life are the hardest for sleep. As there is so much to learn on top of keeping that child fed, gaining weight and alive. Newborns are fussy right? 6 months old are also fussy, yes? While this is true, one of the most common causes of fussy babies is being overtired. As a new parent we often don’t realize that since we have no point of reference. When I work with a new client, they always describe their baby’s disposition as happy. Yet after our sleep training has occurred and their baby is getting more quality and quantity of sleep. The parents always comment how much better their baby’s disposition is. If there is one thing I can tell all you new parents out there, it is this: You have to create the conditions for your baby to fall asleep and decide when they should be going to sleep. So often we are looking to them for the signs — are they rubbing their eyes, or yawning. In the newborn stage of 0–3 months, yawning and eye rubbing are signs that they are on their way to overtired. We have more of a role in getting to sleep on time at this age then we realize. There is a subtle set of signs that come before the yawning that indicate they are getting ready to be put down. THE SUBTLE SIGNS OF NAP READINESS INCLUDE: Decreased limb activity Decreased interest in their surroundings A “zoned out look” In the 0–3 newborn stage, feeding that baby is our most important endeavor. Especially if a Mom is breastfeeding, as that in itself is an all encompassing and often challenging practice. We’ve always heard the term “sleeps like a baby” so we assume that this is something that will come naturally. But for most people — that is NOT the case. Your newborn 0–3 months, should be back asleep 45 min to 1.5 hours after waking up. So really, we’re talking, eating, burping, being held or play for a very very short time, and then putting her back to sleep on her own, or with a little help from you. Don’t underestimate the power of a swaddle, a Mom’s “ssssshing”, and a timer to give that scenario 5 minutes to be successful. As new parents it is very common that we give up on things too soon. The signs that a baby is overtired become harder to read after 6 months. So it is much easier to go by the clock and “awake times”. Your baby’s “ awake time”, which is the amount of time he/she can comfortably be awake for without becoming fussy, starts to lengthen. YOU NEED TO DOWNLOAD MY AWAKE TIME CHART. This will tell you your baby’s awake time by age and how much sleep she needs in 24 hours. By 4 months, the maximum amount of time stretches to 1 hr and 45 minutes, and then 2 hours by 5 months. Don’t forget though that these are maximum times, based on babies who are sleeping well through the night, and not waking every 3 hours. Thus, the awake time may be shorter for some babies, which is when the signs can be helpful. Getting your baby down with the right timing can mean the difference between having that baby asleep in 10 minutes, versus 45 minutes. If you make it until 1 year without having to visit the emergency room, you have surpassed most people’s expectations! If you want to learn more about your 6 month’s old sleep. You can read this blog about 6 months old sleeping requirements. The other thing about sleep is just when you think you’ve got it figured out, it changes! In my experience, most parents have “perfect” sleep for about 2 weeks until 1 year of age. There so much change happening that first year with dropping naps, becoming more mobile and gaining teeth, their sleep patterns are often disrupted. There’s a major nap drop between 7 and 10 months. Which you can learn more about here: 7–10 month old naps.

https://medium.com/helping-babies-sleep/5-signs-your-baby-is-overtired-2631a1ea1fce

['Dr Sarah Mitchell']

2019-12-22 00:24:01.087000+00:00

['Moms', 'Baby Nap', 'Overtired', 'Baby Sleep', 'Sleep']

Latest Updates on Google Data Analytics (August 2021)

Latest Updates on Google Data Analytics (August 2021) The highlights of the updates on BigQuery, Data Studio, Google Analytics (GA) & Google Tag Manager (GTM). By Alexander Junke datadice Follow Sep 8 · 5 min read Photo by Dirk Pohlers on Unsplash In this blog post, I want to summarize the new releases from the Google tools, that we use daily in datadice. Therefore I want to give an overview of the new features of BigQuery, Data Studio, Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager. Furthermore, I will focus on the releases that I consider to be the most important ones and I will also name some other changes that were made. If you want to take a closer look, here you can find the Release Notes from BigQuery, Data Studio, Google Analytics & Google Tag Manager. BigQuery There are some new features to discover in BigQuery: New table creation statements CREATE TABLE LIKE and CREATE TABLE COPY are two new DDL statements in BigQuery. CREATE TABLE LIKE: creating a new table with the same metadata and data from the original table CREATE TABLE COPY: creating a new table with the same metadata Let us take a quick look at both examples: The like statement just creates the table “like_table_name” with the structure of the table “origin_table_name”. The new table is empty then. The copy statement just creates the table “copy_table_name” with the structure and data of the table “origin_table_name”. The new table has the same content as the original one. Change the data type of an existing column There is another new DDL functionality. With the function “Alter column set data type” you can transform some data types of a column to a data type that is less restrictive. Following changes are possible (not reverse); INT64 to NUMERIC, BIGNUMERIC or FLOAT64 NUMERIC to BIGNUMERIC or FLOAT64 Important: If you change the data type of a column that is referenced in a materialized view, the query will fail. So you have to delete the materialized view and create it new. New Administrator views Furthermore, there are two new administrative views in BigQuery available. With “BigQuery Admin Resource Charts” you can analyze the usage of BigQuery slots and jobs. To get more insights, how to use this monitoring tool, you can take a look here. The view “Slot estimator” helps by predicting the needed slots for the BigQuery workload. Based on historical performance data, it estimates the need for slots in the future. A guide for this view you can find here. Data Studio New chart type “Gauge” There is a new chart type available in Data Studio. With the gauge chart, you can define ranges and targets for the change of a measurement. Before this update, the gauge chart was just available as community visualization. Left: Data Studio visualization, right: community visualization To add a Gauge chart: Adding a gauge chart to the report This chart type takes a date range dimension for sure and one metric. The more interesting part is the style tab of the chart. There you can define one target and a maximum of 5 ranges. The ranges define the background areas of the chart The target is a line in the chart The screenshot shows an example of a gauge chart. It has three ranges to 100000, 300000 and 500000. The target (black line) is 600000. This is a nice improvement, but it has some restrictions. Some missing features are: Give every range another color Define the complete range of the half-circle Add a dimension to breakdown the measurement Text function improvement Google removed one limitation for the functions to create calculated fields. For many text functions, you can add parameter values for the starting index or the length. But the problem was that you can just enter literal values and no values which are related to another field. And this is possible now. Things like LEFT_TEXT(field_name, LENGTH(field_name_2)+1) is possible to get the number (depends on the length of another field value) of characters from the beginning. New templates Data Studio offers many templates to see the possibilities of creating dashboards. There are some new templates available now. You can find them here. Google Analytics Getting unsampled data GA4 has already higher sampling limits than UA. If GA4 still sampling the result of your data request, you are able to get an unsampled result now. In the exploration menu, you see a green tick when there is no sampling in this report. If this symbol has a red cross, the data is sampled and you can click on “Request unsampled results”. This data is available within 30 minutes after a page reload or in an email. Summary card of archiving CDs and CMs Getting more insights into the consequences, when the user wants to archive a custom dimension or metric in GA4. He/She will see a list of audiences, explorations, … that is affected of this change. Google Tag Manager Cross-domain server-side tracking GTM got a little improvement. For server-side tracking, cross-domain measurement is easier/possible. You have to enable the settings inside the container and the related server containers must be in the same account. Further Links This post is part of the Google Data Analytics series from datadice and explains to you every month the newest features in BigQuery, Data Studio, Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager. If you want to learn more about how to use Google Data Studio and take it to the next level in combination with BigQuery, check our Udemy course here If you are looking for help to set up a modern and cost-efficient data warehouse or just some analytical dashboards, send us an email to [email protected] and we schedule a call.

https://medium.com/geekculture/latest-updates-on-google-data-analytics-august-2021-e4154be882c5

[]

2021-09-08 08:33:36.769000+00:00

['Google Analytics', 'Bigquery', 'Google Data Studio', 'Google Tag Manager', 'Release Notes']

Do Psychics Prey on Sadness?

A few months after my daughter died, I joined a Facebook group comprised of parents who, like me, want to believe that our child’s soul lives on. There are nearly four thousand members in this group. We have lost children of all ages, in every imaginable way. It’s a place for grieving parents to share signs of their dead children — or our hope of receiving signs — without judgement. One of the group’s main purposes is to connect psychics and mediums with bereaved parents and this is the real reason I joined. I’m always looking for signs. I don’t consider myself an atheist, but I’m not religious, so I was unprepared for the deep spiritual crisis I experienced when my daughter was dying. I had no way to convincingly reassure her that her soul would survive death because, quite frankly, I wasn’t sure it would. I told her that there is a place I believe all our souls go to after we die, a place of joy and solace. I wanted this to be true, but she knew me better than anyone. She saw the doubt in my eyes. She was fifteen — too old for fairytales. After she died, the idea that nothing was left of her — not even her soul — was impossible for me to believe. She felt so close, as though she was at the periphery of my vision or around the next corner. In the weeks after her death, I watched for signs constantly, testing the idea of faith for the first time in my life. I collected feathers, heart-shaped stones, and other trinkets that I imagined she’d left in my path. Still, I doubted that these were actual messages from my daughter. A thought kept running through my head — a desperate heart sees what it wants to see.

https://jacquelinedooley.medium.com/do-psychics-prey-on-sadness-8942c4efffe5

['Jacqueline Dooley']

2019-04-19 15:34:33.986000+00:00

['Mental Health', 'Grief', 'Parenting', 'This Happened To Me', 'Death']

Making a Big Splash: What I’m doing next

Making a Big Splash: What I’m doing next Photo credit: Unsplash (Chris Hardy) I’m a bit of an accidental VC. In 2016, after an exhilarating 16-year career as a product leader in Silicon Valley, I started exploring the next phase of my career. My two favorite career experiences were eBay and Stella & Dot, both mission driven companies experiencing hyper-growth. Both allowed for hundreds of thousands of individuals to become entrepreneurs and build their livelihoods using new platforms. Beyond that, eBay and Stella & Dot were community-driven platforms, allowing people to build meaningful connections over shared interests and passions. Each day, I would bound out of bed excited to get to work, because the work truly mattered for the community we were serving. Around that time, I reconnected with my former boss from eBay, Shripriya Mahesh, who had just joined Omidyar Network as a partner. She invited me to join Omidyar Network as an Executive In Residence (EIR) to work with mission-driven founders in Omidyar’s portfolio. This was my very first introduction to the wonderful world of venture — investing in and supporting the very best founders building a more hopeful future. In early 2018, Shripriya and I, along with Sara Eshelman, formed Spero Ventures to back the next generation of great mission-driven founders building purpose-driven companies that could achieve venture scale. Every day for the last five years, I’ve bounded out of bed excited to get to work, because the work of supporting our founders in their mission matters. It’s been an awesome privilege. Two months ago, I met the founders of a weird and wacky startup as they were raising their Series A. As I got to learn more about the company, I was absolutely blown away. After multiple conversations, I developed deep conviction around the company and the founders’ bigger vision. Today, I’m excited to announce that I’ll be joining Swimply at the end of this month as their Chief Experience Officer. It’s the realization of the dream I had five years ago — to help build a mission-driven startup experiencing hyper-growth and that is positively impacting the lives of their community of users. Swimply is an online marketplace that empowers owners of swimming pools to monetize their underutilized asset by sharing them locally by the hour — think Airbnb for swimming pools. The startup experienced incredible rapid growth, driven by customer love, word of mouth, and robust media coverage. In just the last six months, 200,000+ strangers have enjoyed a stranger’s pool (4000% YoY growth). Swimply’s mission is to extend the sharing economy beyond the functional to the experiential, by building an authentic community-driven marketplace that democratizes access and enhances quality of life for the average family. Helping owners earn an income from their underutilized assets reduces the financial anxiety of ownership and simultaneously fosters community. When I reflect on the remarkable journey I’ve had over these past five years, I’m filled with gratitude. I’m thankful for the great privilege of working alongside the incredible team at Omidyar Network and Spero Ventures. They will always be family. I’m also grateful for Pierre and Pam Omidyar, who fund Spero’s work and catalyze change for millions of people through the extraordinary work of our founders. And, of course, I’m deeply honored to have met so many amazing early stage founders, co-investors, advisors, executives and friends: every one of you has inspired me more than you’ll ever know. Spero is Latin for “hope.” Our founders are building a more hopeful future, and I will always root for their success and cheer them on as they fulfill their missions. And I will always have the utmost admiration for my Spero partner Shripriya Mahesh, someone I’m proud to call both a friend and mentor, who invited me to join alongside her on this remarkable journey. She carries on our work of partnering with and supporting the very best mission-driven founders alongside our phenomenal team at Spero: Sara Eshelman, Marc Tarpenning, Jonathan Kroll, Stephen Wemple and Brandon Walker. The last five years have truly transformed me. It has been the privilege of a lifetime. But for me it’s time, once again, to build. I’m excited to be jumping back into the entrepreneurial pool (yes, pun intended). I plan to share more about my startup experiences in the coming months and years through my writing and speaking. Thank you for being part of my journey over the last five years, and for supporting me in my new journey. If I can be of service, I hope you’ll reach out. I look forward to keeping in touch!

https://medium.com/@pokergirl/making-a-big-splash-what-im-doing-next-abb7b93e2ead

['Ha Nguyen']

2020-11-24 17:29:00.773000+00:00

['Venture Capital', 'Startup Life', 'Marketplaces', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Startup']

Remote Year Month #6 in Review: Prague

And with that, my first 6 months of Remote Year have wrapped up. It is hard to believe that it has been 6 months since I was last working in Toronto. Now spending a few days at home in Winnipeg, it feels both strange and familiar to be home. I love seeing friends and family but also miss my Tramily (never really thought I would use that word). The Remote Year group really becomes part of everything you do and it feels a little strange to be removed. Prague was the only city on my Remote Year itinerary that wasn’t new for me. I loved getting to see it from a more local side, learning about the nuances that make the city so unique. Below is my month in review.

https://medium.com/go-remote/remote-year-month-6-in-review-prague-f1a1230fa16c

['Vanesa Cotlar']

2018-08-03 02:38:47.820000+00:00

['Remote Year', 'Digital Nomads', 'Lifestyle', 'Travel', 'Experience']

Building Go App with Gitlab Runner on Azure |Part 1

ggm🤩 Hello fellow techies and non-techies, for this post we would be looking at the following tasks: Setting up an Azure VM Opening a port on Azure using NSG (Network Security Group) Installing Docker and Golang Building a simple Golang web server Setting up and Installing GitLab runner Creating a pipeline on GitLab with the web server created in point 4 Let’s assume you are a developer building an application and you consider writing test for this application, there is a high chance of you making mistake when you write them manually. An automated test can only bring out their true potential when you run them continuously and for every change so as not to allow it works on my machine issues. With the help of Continuous Integration (CI) tools, problems such as this are easily detected and reported, it also makes it easy to get the application ready for deployment. Examples of CI tools are GitLab, Jenkins, Semaphore, TravisCI, Circle CI, TeamCity etc. Setting up an Azure VM feeling_when_using_azure😌 Let’s discuss what Azure is before setting up a VM in Azure. Microsoft Azure popularly referred to Azure is a cloud provider that offer cloud computing services, this service ranges from servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, intelligence and more, over the internet (the cloud). Creating an account on Azure is quite easy, visit Microsoft Azure and fill in the required information and you are good to go, also if you have a student email you will be able to access services on Azure free of charge. For this post, we will be creating an Ubuntu VM on Azure and I will guide you on how to do this and also include images. Once you have your account created on Azure, sign in to Azure portal then you should be redirected to this page and of cos without the recent resources: Azure_home_page The first step is to create a resource group A resource group is like a box that houses resources required for an application in a single manageable unit. For example say you have a web server using a database, virtual machine and some sort of storage set up, rather than creating this in various resource group you can easily put them into one resource group and you can manage the application collectively. Click on the ➕ icon to create a new resource group and the next page that will be displayed to you is: creating_rg_azure Since we will be working with Ubuntu Image, select Ubuntu Server 18.04 LTS and you should have this displayed on your screen: new_hub_create For my Azure account am using my Microsoft Learn Student Ambassador account, to learn more about becoming an MLSA, visit here. With this account, I was given a Subscription because using Azure requires an Azure Subscription which gives authenticated and authorized access to Azure products and services. Click on the drop-down to select your Subscription or create one if you can’t find any since we don’t have any resource group, click on Create New and give your resource group a name, I will be going with gitlab-prac. Also, I will be giving my virtual machine a name and for this post, I will be going with gitlab-vm, you should note that the virtual machine name as to be unique as you will see in the image below that there’s a green check-mark which indicates that the name is unique, I decided to use West US region for this post, you can as well use any region of your choice and I left other option as default. Region is a geographical area on the planet that has one or more data centres and Azure has 54 available regions in 140 countries vm_setup The next line of action is to create how you will connect to this virtual machine (VM) and with Azure, you can connect either using SSH public key or Password. For me I already have one SSH key created called adefemi-mind, but you might need to create a new one by giving any preferred admin username for the VM, for the SSH Public Key Source, click on the drop-down and select Generate new key pair and then give the key any name of your choice. To connect to this VM, you will need to allow some port to be opened especially port 22, by default this port is selected because it allows you ssh into the VM and for the image below I also opened port 80 and 443 to allow HTTP and HTTPS. vm_port_opening With all this filled, click on Review+ create, you will also need to download your Key and depending on your browser settings, you should find it in the Downloads section of your PC. You can as well add some additional settings on the disk tab, networking, management, advanced and tags, but for this post, I will be going with the default settings. You will need to wait for a few minutes for the resources to get created and you should get the output below azure_vm_success Click on Go to resource and you should this output, Azure create a virtual network, public IP address, nsg, network interface and a disk just like the image below, you should note that the name will be different azure_gitlab_rg Next step is to SSH into the server you created, firstly click on the VM name, mine is gitlab-vm and at the tab click on connect, select SSH and the next step is to ensure you have read-only access to the private key you download. navigate to where the key was downloaded and in your terminal run the following command: changing_pem_key_access Then connect with the VM using the following command as well: vm_ssh With this, you should have the output below success_vm_ssh Yeah, you are now running an Ubuntu Server in Microsoft Azure cloud cloud_nine😎😎 Take some time and spread your wings😌🤪. It doesn’t end when one creates a new VM, best practice is to update and upgrade APT repositories and to do that run this command in your server: apt_repo_update_upgrade With these steps, we are done setting up Azure VM. Opening a port on Azure using NSG nsg_bounced😩😩 For the Golang web server, it will be running on port 7000 or whatever port you specified in the code. From the previous step, while we were trying to open up SSH access, we specified a port 22, if this port was not specified we would be like the kid trying to get out without a key😩. Therefore, to have access to port 7000, we need to create it using Azure Network Security Group (NSG). door_break😂😂😂 Azure NSG allows filtering of network traffic to and from Azure resources in an Azure virtual network, the NSG contains security rules that allow or deny inbound traffic to or outbound traffic from, various Azure resources and for each rule you specify the source and destination, port and protocol. Since we are opening port 7000, navigate to the Azure portal, then click on Network security groups select the name of your VM’s nsg and click on Inbound security rules since we are allowing traffic on 7000, click on ➕Add depending on your settings but for this post I will be leaving the Source As Any, Source port ranges As *, Destination as Any, set Destination port ranges to 7000, Protocol As Any, Action As allow and Priority As 350, give the port a name, called mine port_7000 and also a description. nsg_port_7000 Just like the man kicking the door down, you just got access to port 7000 on your server 😉😉. That was not so hard right? Installing Docker and Golang docker🐋🐋 For GitLab runner, you need to provide runner executor that can be used to run your builds in different scenarios. And various executors are ranging from SSH, VirtualBox, Docker, Kubernetes and you can also create a custom executor, for this post we will be using Docker as our runner executor hence the need for us to install it. To install Docker and enable Docker, run the following commands in your terminal install_enable_docker_command After running these commands you should have this output: install_enable_docker_output And to exit, simply click on q and you should be back to your shell. Next step is to install Golang gopher_gif Golang is an open-source programming language that makes it easy to build simple, reliable, and efficient software. Since this post is not about Golang, to learn more visit their webpage. Installing Go is quite straightforward and for this post am using go1.15.5. To have Go installed, run the following commands: At the end of the command you should have an output like this: golang_version_output And with this, you should have both Docker and Golang installed on your server. relax_chill Yeah, you should relax and chill cos we’ve just concluded the first part of this series. A quick recap on what was done We looked at setting up a VM on Azure We opened port 7000 using Azure NSG for the VM we created Lastly, we installed Docker and Golang on our server In the next post, we will be looking at the last three tasks to complete this project.

https://medium.com/@adefemi171/building-go-app-with-gitlab-runner-on-azure-part-1-5e2a21c47876

['Adefemi Micheal']

2020-12-22 13:12:50.516000+00:00

['Gitlab Ci', 'Cloud', 'Golang', 'Gitlab', 'Azure']

How I Safely Returned to Running After Childbirth Using an Evidence-Based Approach.

Walk Before You Can Run The first walk I managed was around the block. It probably took less than 10 minutes and my partner, Lucy, had to carry bubba as I was too sore. A few weeks later I’d extended that out to a couple of miles, always listening to my body. At first, the walks were cut short by that dragging/heavy feeling in my pelvic region I’d been warned about in the guidelines. I knew I was healing when I stopped feeling that sensation. Before I started running, I got myself to the point where I was comfortable walking an hour and a half with bubba in the sling and I was feeling good. In addition, I purchased an aerobic step. Being in lockdown slashed the opportunities for moving throughout the day so I wanted to try and combat that. My little girl liked being in movement as she dropped to sleep for naps, so instead of relying solely on my swiss ball, I also did low step-ups while I held her to my chest. Within 100 steps, her eyes flutter closed. Within 200 steps, she’s lightly snoring. Within 300 steps, she could be transferred to her cot, and I’d got a work out in. Step-ups were a considered choice. You can easily elevate the humble step up into a running-specific drill called — funnily enough — a Runner’s Step Up. Instead of just stepping up with one foot and then placing the trailing foot adjacent to it, you bring your trailing leg through so that you are flexed 90˚ at the hip and knee. I love this exercise for so many reasons. When moving into this position, you’re working your gluteus maximus — or bum muscle — which is a huge driver in running. It also really challenges your hip flexors and quads. And if you pause at the top of the movement, you are working on your single-leg stability. Running is, after all, just a series of single-leg stances at speed. By adding the ever-increasing weight of a baby into the mix, I had a really simple but targeted running exercise I was able to do in short bursts throughout the day. It built up my strength and endurance even when I couldn’t get out and run.

https://medium.com/better-humans/how-i-safely-returned-to-running-after-childbirth-using-an-evidence-based-approach-4bee93fdf8dd

['Vee Uye']

2020-12-12 08:10:41.089000+00:00

['Womens Health', 'Running', 'Health', 'Childbirth', 'Fitness']

Making the Invisible Visible. At Square, the Developers team exposes…

Heads up, we’ve moved! If you’d like to continue keeping up with the latest technical content from Square please visit us at our new home https://developer.squareup.com/blog At Square, the Developers team exposes APIs that allow third-party developers to build custom business-processing solutions. On October 18, we announced to developers using our APIs that webhooks would now support retries. If a webhook cannot be delivered, our system will now be able to retry multiple times until a successful delivery. Square’s webhook delivery system is a service I’ll refer to as Webhooks. Improving Webhooks’ reliability was a project I had the opportunity to dive into the first week I started at Square as a new college graduate. From the beginning, we wanted our Webhooks upgrades to require no change on the part of our external developers, in stark contrast to the amount of research, planning and work that went into the project. In fact, the announcement we sent out assured developers that they “should not need to make any changes to support webhooks with retries.” My manager remarked that it was “the most invisible change ever” — and that is how it should be. The focus of our team is to enable developers to easily integrate with Square’s APIs and provide them with a reliable and simple-to-use experience. Perhaps it was my manager’s remark about our “invisible” project that inspired me to share some insight into not only our webhooks reliability project, but also some of our “visibility” practices here at Square. Webhooks In web development, webhooks are defined as snippets of code (HTTP callbacks) that are triggered by specific events. As soon as an event occurs, a developer is notified of it and can handle it in real time. With traditional APIs, developers may have to constantly poll an endpoint in order to detect events. I wanted to cover how we designed Webhooks at Square and the changes we made to improve reliability. If you want more technical details about Webhooks at Square, check out our earlier blog post. The most engaging way of explaining webhooks is following the lifecycle of a single webhook notification through Square’s infrastructure. Let’s say that I own an online store called Lindy’s Laughing Llamas and that it uses Square’s APIs. The application that runs my online store receives webhook notifications from Square. When a llama-loving customer purchases a llama from Lindy’s Laughing Llamas, I receive a webhook notification informing me that someone just made a payment. Between the time of purchase to the time of notification, a lot has happened to transform this payment “event” to a webhook notification that I receive. After the customer purchases a llama, the payment event is published to a feed, which many internal services at Square read. The Webhooks service owned by our team reads this payment event from the feed, transforms the event into a webhook notification, and delivers this notification to the endpoint specified by the Lindy’s Laughing Llamas application. However, during periods of high traffic, events could pile up in the feed, and subsequent notifications could be delayed. Intuitively, we needed a way to separate the reading of events from a feed and the delivery of a notification. Although there are many approaches to solving this problem, the simplest approach is to create separate thread pools for reading events from the feed and for delivering notifications. Our solution was to shift our Webhooks’ delivery mechanism to the cloud using Amazon Web Services (AWS). Our primary motivation for moving Webhooks to the cloud was to lower Square’s system complexity and costs (rather than having to maintain Webhooks in our own data centers). We could improve Webhooks’ reliability by using well-documented and commonly used cloud infrastructure. Using AWS allows Webhooks to decouple event reading and notification delivery. In our new webhooks system, the lifecycle of a Lindy’s Laughing Llamas payment event becoming a webhooks notification changes slightly. After a customer purchases a llama and the payment event is published to a feed, our Webhooks service reads it just as it did before. Once the event is transformed into a webhook notification, our service then sends the notification as a message to AWS. Our tools in AWS contain logic to deliver the message to the Lindy’s Laughing Llamas’ application server. If Lindy’s Laughing Llamas takes too long to respond to the message, or is unable to take a message at the time of delivery, AWS will retry. During every subsequent delivery attempt, AWS increases the time in between retries; this backoff strategy ensures that the message will continuously be retried without overwhelming the server. Additionally, AWS sends metrics about all delivery attempts back to Square. The end result? A developer of the Lindy’s Laughing Llamas application can stop polling Square’s APIs, since webhook notifications will arrive in a timely manner. If the application server is busy, a developer doesn’t have to worry about missing notifications, because they will be retried. From the perspective of the developer, no changes were necessary to get the new timely notifications and retries. Visibility and Impact What surprised me at the conclusion of this project was the amount of visibility it had within Square, as well as other projects. On the day before the launch, we sent a company wide product update email. I was impressed with the meticulousness with which my team combed through old emails, work items, and document comments for people outside of our team who contributed to our project. From code review to design advice, the contributions of these people were not forgotten. And within minutes, the email received “Reply All’s”, expressing congratulations and providing context for the impact of a better webhooks on Square’s developer platform. A “Product Updates” email sent to everyone at Square. My team also had the opportunity to share our learning experience. The Developers team has a bi-weekly “lunch and learn” meeting where we get together to present about new technologies, frameworks, and the various services and projects we are working on. These lunch and learn meetings highlight Square’s emphasis on knowledge sharing within the organization. By creating awareness of Webhooks and the technologies our team adopted, the teams we work most closely with can use our learning experience to develop their own projects. Oh, and Webhooks wasn’t merely visible — it was also audible. After a launch, it is Square tradition to ring the gong, and we let the office know loud and clear that we shipped something new to production. Ringing the gong after launching a better Webhooks. Being able to share our knowledge and learning experience, both within Square and outside of Square, is meaningful, but it was just as important to hear feedback from our developers. One developer appreciated our back-off retry policy because it avoided “hammer[ing] [the] server when it’s already having a rough time.” In the week after we launched the improved Webhooks, we were able to successfully deliver over 31,000 notifications that had failed on their first delivery attempt. Being able to quickly make an impact on Webhooks — as a new hire still learning the ropes — inspires me to continue improving Webhooks and start on other projects that help not only our fictional Lindy’s Laughing Llamas, but real-world developers who want to use Square to process online and in-person payments seamlessly.

https://medium.com/square-corner-blog/making-the-invisible-visible-a-look-at-building-tools-for-square-developers-bae30a212950

['Lindy Zeng']

2019-04-18 20:40:28.874000+00:00

['Engineering', 'Webhooks', 'AWS', 'Square', 'Developers']

Decentralized Governance Matters

Blockchain hype is at an all-time high and many people anticipate the first decentralized application to reach the market and gain mass adoption. The term DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) is no longer esoteric. And hundreds of like-minded teams are building decentralized collaborative social news, insurance and investment platforms, numerous collaboration spaces, and even a couple of decentralized autonomous space agencies. The common element still missing in the above examples is a proper decentralized governance system: an efficient and resilient engine for collective decision-making, at scale. The possibility of thousands, and millions, of people to make decisions together, quickly and wisely. This is the first blog post in a series on decentralized governance systems, beginning with describing its most basic challenge and the necessary principles to overcome it. In the next post I detail a novel governance model that could efficiently coordinate thousands of cooperating agents. In the third post I present DAOstack: an operating system for collective intelligence and the necessary toolkit for decentralized collaboration, at scale. I will review its architecture and components therein, going live on the Ethereum mainnet in March 2018. In another post I will introduce Alchemy, a first interface to the DAO stack for easy configuration and management of DAOs. Its up-coming MVP is focused around decentralized budgeting for open-source projects. Blockchain Is a Decentralized Governance System In preparation for the main subject, note that the blockchain itself is a decentralized governance system, albeit a very specific one. It allows for a large network of computers to continuously agree on certain things every few seconds such as the balance of tokens, and more generally a set of programs and their internal states. The blockchain achieves a consensus about certain objective realities such as who transacted how much, to whom and when, and is thus an engine for objective consensus. Comparably, a general governance system of human agents can reach a consensus on intersubjective realities, such as the value of a contribution to a collaborative project, the size of an insurance payout, or the quality of an article. It is thus an engine for intersubjective consensus.¹ Yet the blockchain plays a key role in intersubjective consensus engines as well. We need the blockchain to record agents’ inputs, as well as keep the unambiguous conversion rules from input to output (the governance protocol), and most importantly execute them trustlessly. Moreover, being a governance system by itself, the blockchain faces the universal challenge of collective decision-making, described below, and the corresponding principles to overcome it will be analogous to known principles used in blockchain research. Natural Tension Consensus engines suffer from a fundamental challenge known as the “scalability problem” ³: In any decentralized governance system there is a principal tension between resilience and scalability. In this context, resilience means the tolerance and even resistance of a governance system to faulty behavior: whether fraudulent or simply due to poor consideration. By scalability we mean the ability of a governance system to process a large number of decisions in a given period, and even increase its rate as more agents participate in the network. It is easy to understand the origin of this tension. Decentralization of decision-making processes means having a large number of impactful decision makers, or voters. Resilience demands that decisions cannot be hijacked by a small minority; which naturally needs a large fraction of active voters paying attention to each decision in order to avoid that. And scalability, once again, means potentially many decisions to be made at every interval. However, if each decision needs to be considered by most voters, then the entire organization has the bandwidth of a single agent, and even worse than that, roughly the bandwidth of the slowest one. Which certainly cannot be scalable or produce many good decisions in a short time frame.² This problem simply reflects the natural limit on the bandwidth of collective attention, resulting in the inescapable tension between resilience and scalability. Basic Principles The above is a real physical tension. In consensus systems, increasing the threshold for consensus increases resilience but lowers scalability, and vice versa. More decentralization of the process enables more intelligence agents to contribute, potentially increasing capacity and resilience at the same time. However, effective decentralization depends critically on the degree of coherence in the system, and otherwise may reduce them both. To be specific: Any resolution of this tension will allow minority decisions (improving on scale) that are guaranteed to be in strong correlation with the majority “truth” (protecting resilience). This would be our definition of coherence and is a necessary condition for scalable governance. A few basic principles are available to enable coherence and scalable governance. I introduce them below in broad strokes and will give a detailed example in my next post in this series. We will see that each of these principles is analogous to a known principle in blockchain research. Monetization of Attention Human attention, and in particular intelligence, is a scarce resource, and thus has to be represented by a scarce element. In other words, attention has to be monetized: acquiring collective attention on a network of intelligent agents has to be paid for by a valuable token. This is also the basic economic model behind the blockchain itself and specifically the notion of gas in Ethereum. However, in a decentralized governance system, acquiring attention works differently than paying miners to verify transactions in the blockchain: there is no single voter approving a proposal at a given time analogous to the notion of a successful miner of a block. Monetization of attention allows a decentralized, wider decision-making process, while protecting it from abuse and maintaining resilience in the network. Compositionality Decision-making processes can become more efficient in a more complexly structured system. To demonstrate that, let us consider the comparison between two voting-system modes: an assembly and a confederation. An assembly is a single, flat voting system, with, say, fifteen equal voting agents. Majority decision is achieved with the consent of eight. In a confederation, the same fifteen agents organize into three parties of five equal-vote agents. Each party is a meta-agent with equal voting power within the larger system. There are three ways by which the confederation is superior to the assembly: The parties can organize around different topics of expertise, and with sufficient trust, the larger group can delegate topical decisions to the smaller parties. On-going decisions can be delegated to the smaller parties by, for example, allocating a limited budget for them to manage locally. Decisions of the entire confederation are made more efficient. A global decision can be approved with the consent of two parties (as two-out-of-three voting agents), which is achievable by the total consent of six basic agents, three from each group, rather than a total of eight. (Note, however, that not just any configuration of six agents works.) This principle is somewhat reminiscent of blockchain scalability solutions such as sharding, Cosmos, and Polkadot. Holographic Consensus Group consensus means that an entire group of agents agrees on something, whatever their rules for agreement may be (e.g., the consent of 50% majority of token holders or 60% of reputation holders). By “holographic consensus” we mean that a deciding group allows any subset, a smaller party within itself, to make decisions on its behalf, under certain conditions. A good holographic consensus guarantees a high degree of coherence, and thus strong correlation of sub-group decisions with the will of the greater majority. The crux of holographic consensus is having an external staking system in which “auditors” can predict the outcome of incoming proposals. This would be the broader analogue of the off-chain computations paradigm used these days to solve blockchain scalability. In the next post I will introduce this novel holographic-consensus model in detail. We will see how the attention of the collective is drawn to the “interesting proposals” and how the system maintains coherence and remains protected from faulty behavior. In the third post of this series we present DAOstack, an operating system for collective intelligence, a general framework for blockchain governance and crypto-economic incentive systems. In March 2018, DAOstack launches Alchemy, its first application for decentralized budgeting. Alchemy implements the holographic-consensus protocol designed for scalable and resilient governance, permitting crowd-management of budget for large-scale, open-source projects. Closing Remarks Decentralized governance is a critical element for DAOs and DApps. The greatest challenge of distributed consensus is to enable an efficient navigation of the collective attention, effectively charting decision space and picking up the important decisions to have it focused on. Such a mechanism would resolve the tension between excessive output of collective attention on certain things, to achieve greater efficiency; and insufficient collective attention on other things, for the sake of better consensus. Monetization of attention, complexity and coherence are necessary principles to achieve the two goals simultaneously and form a truly scalable governance system, with which thousands of collaborating agents would process hundreds decisions a day, safely. Join the DAOstack conversation on Telegram or Forum. ————————————————————————————————— ¹ To be fair, the reality of token ownerships is partially intersubjective as well. However, the incoming events influencing those realities are themselves objective. ² In the particular high-frequency case of blockchain, an additional bottleneck of communication speed among agents makes scalability a bigger issue. ³ See, for example: https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/Sharding-FAQ .

https://medium.com/daostack/decentralized-governance-first-principles-1fc6eaa492ed

['Matan Field']

2018-02-13 19:22:05.879000+00:00

['Dao', 'Collective Intelligence', 'Scalability', 'Blockchain', 'Decentralized Governance']

Exploring Pre-Votes and Pre-Commits for the Byzantine Fault Tolerance Consensus (BFT)

Since their introduction in late 2018, Lisk Improvement Proposals (or LIPs), have helped to improve the ecosystem in close collaboration with the Lisk community. One of the many network features we introduced through this process was the new Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) consensus system. We have already covered the benefits of this consensus algorithm for the Lisk protocol in this blog post. Ahead of its implementation in Lisk SDK 3.0.0, I want to focus one important aspect of the BFT consensus — the process of computing block finality i.e. a guarantee that a particular block is never reverted. What are the Main Benefits of BFT? Before we dive deep into this topic, let’s quickly go through basic key features that BFT improves on the blockchain. 1. Safety: If more than ⅔ of the active delegates in the network follow the protocol honestly, two conflicting blocks can never be finalized on the chain. 2. Liveness: Even if ⅓ of the active delegates go offline, new blocks can still be finalized on the network. 3. Accountability: If a delegate violates the protocol, he/she will be held accountable for it. These are the three high-level values BFT provides to the protocol. As an effect it tries to recover from forks as quickly as possible to grow the network chain with better finality. Each of these features require more extensive understanding. If you want, you can also explore the LIP itself or the research paper. Here we will focus more on the implementation details. With the BFT consensus, each node does not only maintain the blockchain. It also maintains additional metadata in memory to validate and verify blocks, according to the rules defined by the algorithm. This information will also be partially persisted on the blockchain itself, to make sure that a node can rebuild this in-memory dataset if it crashes. One of the properties we additionally persist to the blockchain for every block is the height at which a delegate has previously forged and maximum pre-voted height at the time of forging that block. Along with this, each node will persist the finalized height, so in the case of chain recovery the already finalized blocks can’t be reverted. Let’s dive into the topic for the day — voting for the blocks by the delegates. Vote Democracy for Blocks Voting is not anything new in the Lisk Ecosystem — it’s the backbone of any Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) consensus algorithm. LSK token holders can vote for delegates, then, based on their votes, the system chooses the top delegates which are eligible to forge new blocks for a particular round. Previously, the voting system was used only to vote for delegates. With the introduction of BFT, this concept expands. Now, each delegate will cast a vote for each block, the only difference is these votes will be maintained and kept by individual nodes to themselves. Only few computed attributes will be shared with the network, and not with the whole voting ledger. The mathematical formulas and protocol checks in the system will ensure each node casts the votes appropriately. Like in any voting system, the basic rule is that you, as a delegate, can cast your vote only once for a block at a particular height. Since two blocks can’t exist at the same height, you can actually cast vote once for each block. This process is called pre-voting. The blocks which will collect more than ⅔ of all votes (majority) are eligible for the next round of voting. The second round of voting is called pre-committing, and the rule is the same — one delegate can pre-commit one block, only once, for the blocks which are qualified (already got more than ⅔ of all pre-votes). So during the second round, the block which got more than ⅔ of pre-commits will be considered finalized. The highest block finalized will be considered as the finalized height for the chain. All the blocks with height below finalized block will be also considered as final and cannot be reverted, in any case. There are some other rules as well: 1. A delegate can’t pre-vote and pre-commit the blocks for the round in which they were not active. This happens in order to avoid spam votes. So we need to keep track of the round when the delegate became active. 2. A delegate can’t pre-vote and pre-commit more than two rounds behind, to improve the performance of the whole system. Example Scenario #1 — Four Delegates, All Forging To better understand this concept, let’s take one small example. Say we have four active delegates in the network.To finalize any block — at least ⅔ (or three delegates) must agree.

https://medium.com/lisk-blog/exploring-pre-votes-and-pre-commits-for-byzantine-fault-tolerance-consensus-bft-8aabd9e148a9

['Nazar Hussain']

2019-08-28 12:39:16.436000+00:00

['Consensus Algorithm', 'Finality', 'Byzantine Fault Tolerance', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain']

Rohit Arora, CEO and Co-founder of Biz2Credit — Building the Next Generation of Business Lending

Call for Nominations for our first annual Top 10 Fintech Leaders list. 2020 was a challenging year, but it was also a year for Fintech to shine. We would like to recognize those leaders who rose to the occasion during COVID and helped make the world a better place. And we invite you to help us nominate them! Who would you like to nominate as a Top Fintech Leader in 2020? Who inspired you? Submit your nominations here — > http://bit.ly/3nJA2QU — — Miguel Armaza sits down with Rohit Arora, CEO and Co-Founder of Biz2Credit, a New York-based company that offers financing, research, and educational resources to small businesses. Rohit and his brother founded Biz2Credit in 2008 and in the last 13 yrs the firm has arranged $2B in funding and registered over 200,000 clients. They have also raised over $60M in equity and $300M in debt from investors including Westbridge Capital and Nexus Venture Partners. We discussed Rohit’s journey scaling Biz2Credit Fundraising challenges as a contrarian entrepreneur Lessons on resilience and leadership The perils of a “growth at any cost” business mindset Biz2Credit’s experience navigating the COVID crisis and what he believes will be the long term effects of the pandemic And a whole lot more! Full interview → Spotify | Soundcloud | Apple Rohit Arora Rohit Arora, CEO and Co-founder of Biz2Credit is one of America’s top experts in small business finance. He is responsible for driving Biz2Credit to its leadership position in the alternative lending industry among Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500. He holds a Masters in International Business from Columbia University and an Engineering degree from Delhi University. Rohit is often quoted about small business lending by major news media outlets, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Entrepreneur, American Banker, CNNMoney, MSNBC, Inc., and the Washington Post. In 2011, he and his brother Ramit were named New York City’s “Top Entrepreneurs” by Crain’s New York Business, which also named Biz2Credit among NYC’s “Fast 50” of 2014. Since its inception in 2007, Biz2Credit has arranged $2 billion in funding and now has over 200,000 registered small and mid-sized company clients. About Biz2Credit Biz2Credit was founded in 2007 with one goal: make the business financing process work better for lenders and their customers. The company is focused on funding what’s next for small businesses and leverages data, cash flow insights, and the latest technology to give business owners an automated small business funding platform. Biz2Credit has provided over $3 billion in small business loans and financing. With over 350 employees globally, the team — made up of engineers, marketers and data scientists — is building the next generation in business lending solutions. Biz2Credit is also the company behind the Biz2X Platform. Biz2X is the natural outgrowth of Biz2Credit’s established platform software that brands like HSBC, Oriental Bank, and TATA Capital have chosen to launch new online lending initiatives. Biz2Credit raised $52M Series B in 2019 and is headquartered in New York City. Learn more at www.Biz2Credit.com. Full interview → Spotify | Soundcloud | Apple Previous Episodes You May Enjoy: Building a Financial Giant with Lex Greensill, Founder and CEO of Greensill Capital Fintech for the Future of Work with Craig J. Lewis, CEO & Founder of Gig Wage Reimagining Small Business Insurance with Jay Bregman, CEO and Founder of Thimble Financial Literacy, Mocking Oprah, and Life Lessons with Neale S Godfrey Leading Russia’s Fintech Innovation with Oliver Hughes, Tinkoff CEO Unlocking Entrepreneurial Progress with Vanessa Colella, Head of Citi Ventures Creating Pathways to Better Financial Health — Anu Shultes, CEO of LendUp

https://medium.com/wharton-fintech/rohit-arora-ceo-and-co-founder-of-biz2credit-building-the-next-generation-of-business-lending-5a46343be857

['Miguel Armaza']

2020-12-23 15:21:26.660000+00:00

['Startup', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Fintech', 'Technology', 'Banking']

pale wings

( LauraLisLT via pixabay) I cannot find home here it seems it lacks, most utterly lacks a few things that lock in my mind from those other places, things that somehow make it to the new address: warmth not from the sun but from patterns of sunlight on the wall early morning pale wings from certain angles or the deep afternoon orange blush or the scent of eucalypt almost-burning and sometimes, I can draw stuff like that up from the grey myself, sometimes it’s as simple as being still late at night when only two-rooms across the hum of the fridge is left to keep time, and by whatever accident my mind grows still too because all the restlessness has fallen out and behind, in the space that was once occupied by a squirming mass of notes-to-self there it is, there’s clean glass and the sill too both of them waiting for me to go and rest my hands there

https://medium.com/literally-literary/pale-wings-2ab7c082d501

['Ashley Capes']

2018-07-26 10:41:01.007000+00:00

['Home', 'Memory Loss', 'Poetry', 'Australia', 'Literally Literary']

Revisiting The Toad: A Second Experience With 5-MeO-DMT

“The resurrection of the body need not be postponed until death. It can happen at any moment.” — Robert Anton Wilson Nearly a year to date after my first 5-MeO-DMT experience, I decided to journey back to the realm of the toad. In the twelve months that had passed, a lot had shifted for me. Many long standing patterns had begun to change and life had started to develop a clarity that I had never experienced before. Sure there were struggles and collapses along the way, but the progress I had made emotionally wasn’t just significant in it’s depth, it was also accelerating. It was hard not to proselytize the toad to everyone in the months after my first experience. The feeling of being awakened and alive for the first time was too great not to share. Thankfully there were several experiences along the way that helped temper and refine this excitement into a deeper understanding. One of those experiences was when I felt the state of the toad while using a different psychedelic. Another time I was having a conversation with a friend and he recalled feeling the same state without using 5-MeO-DMT. It made me realize that what I was actually proselytizing and wanted others to feel went far beyond the toad. This was a state that some people could tap into from meditation; something I was deeply skeptical of because of my own failed attempts. It was also the state that many religious followers described in different gospels of faith. After making the connection across all these disparate activities, I realized that there were many paths to achieving this internal state. It was universal. What exactly was this state? For me it was a place beyond the little “s” self. It was a state of love. It was freedom from the illusion. It was peace. Do I Need To Do It Again? This was a question I went back and forth with in my head in the year that passed since my first experience. In the initial few weeks afterward, it felt like my journey was a solid demarcation point in my life. How could doing it again possibly enhance or improve what I had felt? Perhaps it would even dishonor the feeling if I tried to replicate it. But as the months went on, I noticed that there were times when I would lose the centeredness that the toad had bestowed upon me. There were flights that I felt anxious on as the old feeling that the plane was going to crash resurfaced. The death anxiety that had dissipated had begun to creep back. Why was this happening? Was the toad only temporary? Ultimately what took me from this state was when I resisted changing aspects of my life that weren’t in alignment with the divine internal state I had discovered. The toad helped me to reconnect my mind with my body and soul, and now that my body was communicating to me in ways I could understand, it became harder to ignore. As a dear friend reminded me, “The body is ALWAYS right.” That phrase has stuck with me. I spent most of my life disconnected from the feelings in my body. Every time my mind was making a decision that my body knew to be wrong, harmful, or not in alignment, was just another opportunity to suppress those feelings and ignore them. Except that they can’t ever truly be ignored, for they always manifest in other ways. And make no mistake, they do manifest, even with one’s best effort to the contrary. So even though significant progress had been made on my healing journey, I knew that there were some larger patterns that were still present. My experience with the toad and subsequent emotional work had shaken them loose, but some were still clinging to the recesses of my mind. And that’s what led me to the decision to revisit the toad. I wanted a reminder of the divine source and feeling that had brought about so much change in my life. Consciousness Beyond The Veil So what was different in my second experience compared to my first? For one, there wasn’t any fear of trying something new going into it. Fear of the unknown had always been a part of trying new substances for me. For a few of those substances, this didn’t lead to positive experiences. With that fear removed, I was eager to be transported back. As I breathed in on my first dose, I felt the familiar wave wash over me. What I did not expect was my body’s resistance. Despite surrendering my mind, my body was shaking. It didn’t want to let go. “I’m so close to breaking through,” I thought to myself. When I inhaled my second dose, that’s exactly what happened. Within seconds my mind and body had completely let go. I had returned! I felt the light beyond my eyes and the knowing beyond my mind. Everything was as it should be; divine and at peace. As I sat with the freshness of that experience, I simultaneously felt a renewed sense of life and also new connections in my mind that I hadn’t made before. Familiar afterglow effects had returned. When I flew the next day there wasn’t a hint of anxiety in my body, even during turbulence. My mind had also found it much easier to stay present and enjoy a slower pace. Even now I’m still having multiple dreams a night that I remember. In contrast to the first experience, however, some of the dream themes I’ve been having that once manifested as nightmares no longer trigger fear or negative emotions. It makes me think that my subconscious is really processing something and has let go even further. Carrying It Forward “The privilege of a lifetime is to become who we are.” — Joseph Campbell There is a paradox with the toad that I felt I was able to resolve more of this time around regarding the consciousness beyond the form of our body and mind. While this experience can be incredibly liberating, it also brings up interesting implications. Why continue to live? Is one of these conscious experiences an illusion? You get the idea. There are many questions that spawn from having such an earth-defying experience. But as fate would have it, I came across a quote that day that helped square aware this rabbit hole: “The final place that the game leads to is where you live consciously in all of it. Which is in nothing. You are eternal. You have finished perishing. There is no fear of death because there is no death. It’s just a transformation. An illusion. And yet, seeing all that, you still chop wood and carry water. You still do your thing. You flow in harmony with the universe.” That hit me at just the right time. It’s not to say that nothing matters, but rather that every intentional action in our life matters that much more. The distinction is critical. It’s not about retreating from the material world and occupying another dimension. It’s about unifying those moments of divinity with the everyday actions of one’s life; from the mundane to the extraordinary. Fresh with the gentle reminder from my experience, the question I ask myself is how do I continue to live with this reminder and carry it forward? If I really feel that experiencing the toad has been so life changing to me and that it is something I want to share with the world, then I must start with honoring how I can continue breathing that experience into every aspect of my life. By starting here I will in turn be sharing it with others, but it must start with me. For all the clichéd talk about psychedelic integration, it really cannot be overstated. Without it, these beautiful experiences can be far more fleeting than we anticipate. The profundity of a stolen moment can last an eternity or blink out of existence. The choice falls on us. And so I see my journey with the toad continuing to unfold throughout my life. I liken it to a religious experience. Some people go on a pilgrimage once in their life, some go to church every day, and others occupy some level of commitment in between. It’s not important where you fall on the continuum, but rather that you are intentional with why you fall where you do. My intention is to carry forward this reminder from the toad for as long as I can, while knowing that when I am not in alignment with the love and divinity that I channel that I may lose some of this reminder. And that’s okay too. The reminders help me to remember that there is more to life than this mortal coil, and that time can make this feeling elusive if not properly cultivated and brought forward. Perhaps a day will come in the future when I feel the toad calling me back, and in that moment, I will feel the knowing for the first time once again.

https://medium.com/@faustiandilemma/revisiting-the-toad-a-second-experience-with-5-meo-dmt-10fd7127ad1e

[]

2020-11-27 04:51:56.687000+00:00

['Psychology', 'Emotional Health', 'Psychedelics', 'Spirituality', 'Love']

Corrections: It’s in the Name

The point of the penal system is for the inmates to learn how to live their lives without crime — to rehabilitate them to the point that they can live a normal life outside of the joint. This has not been the case for a long time. More often than not, inmates return to the system after previously serving time. Mental illness within the system contributes to this, and nothing contributes more than the environment and mistreatment inmates receive from each other and staff when there, and for these reasons, it is vitally important that correctional facilities, along with jails and prisons, should do just that — correct. Returning to the system: The criminal justice system often has recurring inmates. This is a known fact among many. According to James Gilligan, two-thirds of inmates re-offend within three years of leaving the system, and over 90% of inmates return to the system within a few years of getting out. In a short amount of time, these men and women commit more crimes, often worse than they’d done the first time. This really says something about the way the system is run because It’s not as if only a certain few inmates return to the system, it’s common for 90% of them to go back. Those who have been to jail or prison and returned clearly were not given the knowledge and help needed for living a normal life on the outside. It’s not fair for the inmates, nor the employees, nor the taxpayers to have to deal with and pay for a problem that could be fixed simply by submerging them into a more positive and respectful environment. There’s also a cycle that people with mental illness go through in the system. Mentally ill people will be picked up and taken to jail after committing a crime, as well. Mental illness: Mental illness is and has been for a long time a great problem within the criminal justice system. Not only are there people there who have suffered outside of the system, but there are also people inside that have acquired some forms of mental illness simply from just being there, such as depression. According to Etienne Benson of the American Psychology Association, “psychologically healthy individuals could become sadistic or depressed when placed in a prison-like environment.” The system is doing something wrong. He also says that the prison population “has rates of mental illness at least three times the national average.” Now, this can either be because they develop mental illness on the inside, or because those with actual issues are more likely to end up in jail than those with none. People may think that inmates, with or without mental illness, are terrible and don’t deserve to be treated as humans, but they’re still people. It’s not fair that human beings are treated so terribly in a place that should be helping them get back on their feet. Mistreatment in the Penal Environment: The penal system simply doesn’t work due to the bad environment and mistreatment inmates receive while there. James Gilligan describes it like this: “The more severely children are punished, the more violent they become, as children and as adults. The same is true of adults, especially those in prison.” His comparison of children and prisoners just makes sense. He later says “it is vitally important how we treat them while they are incarcerated.” This is such a true statement that those running America’s prisons and jails can’t seem to grasp. There’s a reason that so many inmates return to the system, and it’s because they’re not and haven’t been treated like human beings. Diane Taylor of The Guardian says “decent prisons in which prisoners are respected seem to provide a foundation for prisoner self-growth. Indecent, unsafe prisons allow no such growth and further damage those who have to survive there.” This goes along with what Gilligan said. The treatment of our prisoners is very important for their futures, and the future of our criminal justice system. She also says that “the best the prison estate can offer prisoners is an environment where they are treated with ‘decency and dignity’.” So, if this is the best they can do, why aren’t they doing it? Summary: Punishment is not helping people in prisons and jails. In a way, it’s hurting inmates more. They may deserve the time they are doing, but they do not deserve to be treated with anything less than some sort of decency. Although we cannot control how inmates end up in the system, we can bring back the rehabilitative morals of the system to better their lives, because, in the end, they’re still people.

https://medium.com/@311544/corrections-its-in-the-name-8034719cc512

[]

2020-12-08 18:46:04.799000+00:00

['Jail', 'Criminal Justice', 'Rehabilitation', 'Prison', 'Mental Illness']

Digital Citizenship Is The Future Of Every City

Digital citizenship is an integral part of the whole paradigm of being a citizen in the 21st century, with all of the rights that it affords us to gain. With the development of information technology and the future leap to ultra-fast 5G networks, the integration of the individual within this system becomes crucial so that he can fully engage not only socially, but also with the government’s institutions (both local and national) and the broader political and societal processes. The technology we use to construct our digital future is here and is being implemented all over the world with the sole purpose of making each community better. From the newly developing digital services in some East African capitals like Nairobi and Kigali, to the fully integrated national efforts for full-scale digital citizenship — like in Estonia, where you can even open, operate and file taxes for your business online. Urbanization as a driving force With over 50% of the global population already living in urban areas (the figure will reach 68% by 2050, according to the UN), the role of cities in shaping this increasingly important and soon to be an irreplaceable aspect of everyday life, is becoming ever so important. Now more than ever, cities need to build up their technological capabilities at a greater pace in order to become smarter. The smart city is for sure one with good physical infrastructure — roads, bridges, water and sewage systems, parks, public transport… All of these are never going to be irrelevant and will continue to be of prime importance for any good city management. However, becoming “smart” necessitates the integration of every one of these aspects within a technological framework, which will allow their effectiveness and efficiency to be increased through management synergy. Reshaping life as we know it The goal of adopting the new IT solutions into the functioning fabric of the city is to reshape modern life and how we interact with and manage the urban environment around us. This will require substantial readjustment by both management systems and society. The good news is that this is not a single measure to be taken in an instant and then suddenly upending everything, but more of a gradual process of multiple measures which need to be upgraded, integrated, and expanded with time, in order to accommodate the needed change with the acceptable pace of change and gradual adoption. A crucial part of these efforts is digitizing the communication and the interaction between citizens and their local government, in order for all the benefits the smart city can offer to reach the individual digital citizen properly and for their effects to be felt in everyday life. Once such steps have been taken to get the city’s services (such as parking, mobility, ticketing, etc.) conveniently in the citizens’ pockets through their smartphones, a smart municipality can improve the communication and build on many other immaterial, but nevertheless important aspects of the interactions in the city. Digital Citizenship: the smart solution every city needs A smart digital platform can be used by the municipal management to engage its citizens in a respectful debate for the present and future of the city, so they can feel included in the process. The digital world has many tools through which such outcomes can be reached to shape and communicate public policy better, and increase trust in the local authorities. Another way the digital citizenship platform can help resolving local issues and for the optimal solutions to be agreed upon, is to use it to fight the problem with the widespread disinformation and fake news though creating reliable channels for the city’s officials to convey valid information to the public and thus set the dialogue on a better footing. How can Telelink City help your local government implement Digital Citizenship? With Telelink City you will have a partner in the integration of the crucially important new technologies in both your physical infrastructure, as well as helping you create and operate your digital infrastructure and capabilities to reach your goal of making digital citizenship in your city a reality today. We have developed working and tested solutions for the smart management of every aspect of the city’s environment. Along with that, Telelink City has created an interconnected platform for integrated digital citizenship, which is highly customizable, easy to implement, and does not require the development of additional and highly complicated IT resources by the city management. At the same time, it delivers solutions in most areas of the development of fully-functioning digital citizenship, such as: Mobile Ticketing Urban mobility Parking Information portal Social aspect & engagement Surveys Alerts & notifications Complaints & suggestions Cultural life & events Points of interest Active living & active participation You can lead the way towards your city’s digital transformation. Contact us today and let’s talk smart! website: telelink-city.com e-mail: [email protected]

https://medium.com/@telelinkcity/digital-citizenship-is-the-future-of-every-city-e958f5253a6e

['Telelink City']

2021-09-10 14:27:59.603000+00:00

['Urbanization', 'Digital Government', 'Digital Citizenship', 'Smart Cities', 'Smart Solutions']

5 Common Misconceptions About TDD & Unit Tests

Most developers seem to agree that testing is good, but developers frequently disagree about how to test. In this article, I’ll break down some common misconceptions and hopefully teach you a few things about how you can benefit the most from TDD (Test Driven Development) & unit tests. 1. TDD is too Time Consuming. The Business Team Would Never Approve This is a common excuse for not testing, and it can really hurt both your development team and the business. Let’s set the record straight. The business team doesn’t care at all about the development process you use, as long as it’s effective. What they do care about are business metrics. How does TDD impact business metrics? TDD can: Improve developer productivity (long term) Reduce customer abandonment Increase the viral factor of your application (i.e., user growth) Reduce the costs of customer service The benefits of TDD have been tested on real projects by companies like Microsoft, IBM, and Springer, and they found that the TDD process is enormously beneficial. Their finding: Without tests, and even adding tests after you implement, many more bugs get past the development phase, and every bug that gets into production doesn’t simply waste developer time, it hurts the company’s brand and quality reputation. It wastes enormous resources in customer support costs. Fixing bugs interrupts the normal flow of software development, which causes context switching that can cost up to 20 minutes per bug. That’s 20 minutes where the developer is doing nothing productive — just trying to reboot their brain to figure out the context of the new problem, and then recover the context of the problem they were working on prior to the interruption. Depending on which study you look at, the TDD process adds 10% — 30% to the initial development costs, but over time, when you factor in the ongoing maintenance and bug fixes, TDD can improve developer productivity, reduce customer abandonment, increase the growth factor of your application, and reduce the costs of customer service. If you think the business team would resist TDD, you simply haven’t made the case for it with facts. 2. You Can’t Write Tests Until You Know the Design, & You Can’t Know the Design Until You Implement the Code Let’s clear this up right now. Study after study has concluded that writing tests first is more effective than adding tests later. How much more effective? 40–80% fewer bugs in production more effective. If you think you’re doing OK charging in with the implementation before you write the test, I’m here to tell you, statistically speaking, you’re giving yourself a major handicap. TDD requires discipline that takes some time to learn. Developers who have not developed the test-first TDD discipline often charge into the implementation of the code before they know what the API will look like. They start implementing code before they have even designed a function signature. This is the opposite of TDD. The point of TDD is that it forces you to have a direction in mind before you start charging into the fray, and having a direction in mind leads to better designs. Before I even write my first test, I create an RDD doc (RDD stands for Readme Driven Development). I don’t try to flesh out the entire design of the system in RDD form before I start working on the code, but I do decide, I’m building a module that does x, and it needs a function signature that takes y and returns z. In other words, I make an RDD doc that contains dream code with examples of how a unit’s API will be used. The same kinds of examples you’ll see in software library “Getting Started” and API guides. For many of my test cases, I simply copy and paste examples from the RDD, which gives me a starting point for simple tests. For example, a dream code RDD for a number range generator might look like this: This gives me actual and expected values I can copy and paste right into my unit tests. The first usage above could be repurposed in the following test, and so on: For more on how to write tests like this, see “Five Questions Every Unit Test Must Answer”. 3. You Have to Write All Tests Before You Start the Code The reason it’s so hard for developers to imagine TDD working is because software design is an iterative, discovery-driven process. So is building a skyscraper, by the way. Contrary to common belief, architects don’t design the complete skyscraper before any work begins. Crews have to go out and survey the landscape. They have to inspect the ground where the foundation will be built. They have to ensure that the ground can support the weight of the skyscraper. They have to probe beneath the ground to discover whether or not there is a cave system that might collapse, whether there are water problems that need to be worked out and so on. 100% design-up-front is a myth in every type of engineering. Design is exploratory. We try things out, throw them away, try different things until we reach something that we like. Now true, if you wrote every test up front before you wrote a line of implementation code, that would hinder the exploration process, but that’s not how successful TDD works. Instead: Write one test Watch it fail Implement the code Watch the test pass Repeat 4. Red, Green, and ALWAYS Refactor? A common response to the instruction list above is “you forgot refactor!”. No, I didn’t. One of the great benefits of TDD is that it can help you refactor when you need to, but I’m gonna level with you: Unless your code is horrendously unreadable, or you’ve benchmarked it and discovered it’s too slow, you probably don’t need to refactor. “Perfect is the enemy of good.” ~ Voltaire Sure, look over your code and see if there are opportunities to make it better, but don’t refactor just for the sake of refactoring. Time is wasting. Move on to the next test. 5. Everything Needs Unit Tests Unit tests work best for pure functions — functions which: Given the same input, always return the same output Have no side-effects (don’t mutate shared state, save data, talk to the network, draw things to screen, log to the console, etc…) Unit tests aren’t exclusively for pure functions, but the less your code relies on any shared state or I/O dependencies, the easier it will be to test. Lots of your code won’t be easy to unit test. Lots of your code will talk to the network, query a database, draw to the screen, capture user input, and so on. The code responsible for all of that is impure, and as such, it’s a lot harder to test with unit tests. People end up mocking database drivers, network I/O, user I/O, and all kinds of other things in an effort to follow the rule that your units need to be tested in isolation. Here’s a tip that will change your life: If you have to do a lot of mocking to create a proper unit test, maybe that code doesn’t need unit tests at all. Maybe a functional test would be a better fit. Trying to use unit tests for I/O dependent code will cause problems, and I estimate that those who complain that test-first is hard are falling into that trap. Your code should be modular enough that it’s easy to keep I/O dependent modules at the edges of your program, leaving huge parts of the app that can be easily unit tested, but if you feel like you’re forcing modularity just for the sake of testing, and not because it actually makes your app architecture better, you should rethink your testing strategy. That said, if you’re tempted to do all your testing with functional/e2e tests, that’s problematic, too. You’re going to end up with: Inadequate test coverage which doesn’t properly exercise the modular units of your code, and… A tightly-coupled monolith which becomes harder to maintain over time. Very small projects can get away with both, but really successful projects tend to grow out of that phase, and would benefit from more modular architecture, and better testing discipline. Healthy test suites will recognize that there are three major types of software tests that all play a role, and your test coverage will create a balance between them.

https://medium.com/javascript-scene/5-common-misconceptions-about-tdd-unit-tests-863d5beb3ce9

['Eric Elliott']

2018-09-21 19:04:04.503000+00:00

['Programming', 'Tdd', 'JavaScript']

WOKE! — The lost identity

Where does the wokeness and identity politics really come from, and what is the purpose of it all? To be completely honest, up until last year sometimes, I just figured they were all really stupid. Nothing more to it, just extremely loud and unintelligent people. That was before I accidently signed up for a sociology class at the university, twice. I never meant to study sociology, but now I am happy that I did. The year I spent at the department of sociology at the university of Gothenburg actually taught me a lot. Mainly it taught me to understand why sociologists often are wrong in their analyze. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that all sociology and all sociologists and completely useless. They just arrive at their conclusions in a very odd way. What is sociology? To answer that, I would have to write a whole lot of books. The short answer, according to wikipedia, is basically “the study of society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction and culture”. I would like to add that sociology is also how all of these things are interacting with and influence one another. Karl Marx was more or less the person who laid down the ground for “the science of sociology”. Anyone who knows anything at all about Marx can probably start seeing connections to what we see today in our society. The base for it all is more or less a Marxist way of looking at the world, with a myriad of subfields to it. The main issues I have with a lot of sociology is that it doesn’t really give any answers, or rather it can provide you with whichever answer you want. Throughout history there has been a lot of philosophers and sociologists who developed their own theories within sociology. From my experience a lot of what sociologist are doing is simply backwards. The see a phenomenon, theorizes about what might have caused said phenomenon and finally try to find theories that fit their explanation. I saw this a LOT during the year I studied sociology, and if one theory alone can’t explain the phenomenon you simply take the pieces that do fit and keep looking for more theories. I should add that I don’t know how it works in the rest of the world, but at least here in Sweden this is my impression. In practice Let’s say for example that a person commits a crime, let’s say this person together with a friend assaults and rob a person walking home alone at night. Most of us would look to the individuals and ask ourselves why did they commit this crime? It’s not as if they didn’t know it was wrong. They obviously know that if you assault someone, they might get badly hurt. We might recognize that they had a bad childhood and an unstable home, but we don’t see that as an excuse for that type of behavior. What they did was wrong, and our sense of justice tells us that their victim should get some kind of reparation, and the offenders should get some type of punishment. That’s how I believe most of us would think, especially if the victim were someone close to us. If you are a sociologist, chances are that you will start looking for the answers elsewhere. In short you could say that the sociologist would ask questions like what did the society do in order to put these two perpetrators in a position where they had no choice but to assault and rob this other person? What’s the area they live in like? Is it a poor neighborhood? Are the perpetrators part of a minority? If they come from a poor neighborhood and are part of a minority, then at least part of the answer would be that: “it’s a socioeconomic problem, and these two people feel anger towards society because they don’t have what other people have. And the reason they don’t have the material things that some others do, is because our society is inherently racist and is actively working to prevent them from getting anywhere in life.” A very easy answer that takes away all the individual responsibility we all have for our own actions. The society is to blame! But who is “the society”? That’s you and me. What did you and I ever do to makes these two so miserable that they just had to assault and rob an innocent person? I didn’t do anything, did you? The sociologists answer to that is that well maybe you didn’t do anything personally, but you are enforcing the structures of society and these are issues at a structural level. This is also very convenient because none of these structures can be seen or proven. We are just told that the structures are there, and it is your fault, so you should feel bad. How to fix a structural problem How do you fix something you can’t see, that can’t be proven and that you can’t even wrap your mind around? The solution will differ depending on which sociology you ask and which subfield they belong to. Most of modern-day sociologist make use of several different subfields and theories. The feminist sociology for example is based on conflict theory. It is exactly what it sounds like, all conflicts and no peace. There is no balance between the sexes, and we can’t be equal so it’s always a struggle between the sexes. The men of the world can only get a better life at the expense of women, and the women has to take from the man for her life to get better. But within the feminist sociology is not only a battle between the sexes, but also between sexual orientations, between races, nationalities, and economic classes. So how would a feminist sociologist fix this issue? They will blame the toxic structures in society at the people who according to them are the oppressors. This equals to the white, heterosexual CIS-men of the middle- and upper class. This wouldn’t have been an issue if it were as simple as I first though, they are just crazy people. But their movement has gotten really big. They are politicians, media personalities, authors, influencers, professors etc. Anyone who is left leaning will at this point, if not sooner, decide that I’m a misogynist and I’m just afraid of strong independent women. Which of course, is not true. I love strong, intelligent, and independent women. But I would rather we use or strength and intelligence to work together, for a better society for us all. We are not getting anywhere as long as a big chunk of the population constantly feel they are at war with a big chunk of the other side of the population. Unfortunately, there are big money involved, at least in Sweden where I’m from. In Sweden, and I assume large part of Europe, our government are funding a lot of this. Using our tax money, that could have been used for something constructive rather than destructive. The bystander Of course, not everyone is part of this sect-like movement. A lot of people just gives their active or silent support. Our children get taught in school that this is how society works. Boys are taught that they are evil, a rapist waiting to happen. White children are taught they are evil, because of the color of their skin or for what their ancestors might have done. Black children are taught to give up, because our racist society is never going to let them succeed anyway. Little girls are taught that men and boys are dangerous, and it’s just a matter of time until they get raped or murdered. Our politicians are most likely stupid enough to believe what they are fed, or they are too afraid for the stigma that follows if they question the pure ideology with all the answers. As a politician you risk losing a lot of votes if you speak up. As a private person you risk losing your job and livelihood because the movement and the cancel culture. Don’t dare to stray from your path, there is always someone watching, always someone listening and if you say or do something wrong you will have a storm at your back before you know what hits you. Picture: Stockphoto But it’s the bystander that is important. It’s people like you and me, white people, black people, gay people, immigrants, and natives. We are the important ones, because all of this happens because we let it. The next time you see or hear something that makes you hesitate in doubt for a second, take a few minutes and think it through what it was you heard or saw. Did it make sense? When someone yelled that all men are violent rapists, did you think it over? Did you think about your father, brother, lover, son? Is it really accurate that those men you love are violent rapists? The next time you hear or see someone claiming that all immigrants are criminals, will you think it over for a few minutes? Do you actually know any immigrants? If you do, are they criminals? Or the next time you hear or see someone making racist remarks, take a few minutes. Is it accurate according to you, that all or most white or black people are in a certain way? Very rarely in these situations will you get anything else but vague answers along the side “well, not your son of course”, “Okay, your neighbor is nice despite being white/black/immigrant/whatever”. Isn’t it a bit too many exceptions, and very few concrete examples? To speak up in these situations is hard, I know. But just letting what is actually said sink in for a few minutes is a start. It’s okay to have a difference of opinion in politics, religion, football teams etc. But we don’t need to hate other people simply for disagreeing with us. We don’t want this war; I don’t want this war.

https://medium.com/@zanno-jacklin/woke-the-lost-identity-eef59a13088a

['Zanno Jacklin']

2021-05-12 17:43:27.690000+00:00

['Identity Politics', 'Racism', 'Toxic Ideology', 'Sexism', 'Sociology']

3 Ways Your Website is Driving Millennials Away

Ah, millennials. The generation everyone loves to hate. A quick Google search will result in a slew of blog posts blasting millennials for ruining everything from banks to casual dining, napkins, home ownership, cereal, fabric softener, and, yes, even beer. Millennials aren’t the first generation to be blamed for the destruction of tradition, and they certainly won’t be the last. It shouldn’t come as any surprise then, that as this generation matures many B2B and B2C websites struggle to capture their attention. Times are always a changin’, and consumers’ habits, motivations, and needs are constantly evolving, too. As web designers, developers, marketers, and business owners (and just as human beings in general), it’s to our benefit to practice some empathy. Empathy is making a genuine effort to understand who our users are, what they’re interested in, and why they behave the way they do. In short, it is putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. And since millennials have recently overtaken the baby boomers as America’s largest generation, they may be the key to your site’s success. Who are Millennials? Millennials were born between 1980 and 2000. This generation has been exposed, from birth, to the digital revolution. Most can’t remember a time without computers. In contrast, GenX-ers were teens or full-grown adults when home computers became the norm. Millennials matured in a world of school computer labs, dial-up, internet research, Napster, and chat rooms. If your heart sinks a little when you see this, you might be a millennial. #allthefeels As adults, millennials don’t shop, research or buy like generations before them because of their lifelong exposure to all things digital. They are even re-shaping their parents’ and grandparents’ online behaviors, who are increasing their demand for a rich and seamless online experience. By 2017, millennials will make up the largest online audience, and will be responsible for the majority of online purchases. They spend an average of $600 billion a year in the US, and 73% of them are responsible for making purchase decisions for their company. With a digital audience this large, you may be wondering why your website is struggling. Why aren’t millennial users engaged? 1. You haven’t earned their trust. Trust in big corporations and institutions is at an all-time low. Millennials don’t automatically choose their parents’ tax person or insurance company. They want to do their own research and choose a company that speaks to them. The way millennials conduct this research is different from previous generations. Millennials crowdsource their peers for reviews and advice, and frequently value this feedback above any company-generated content. In fact, 84% of millennials say user-generated content on websites is what convinces them to make a purchase. User-generated content includes things like reviews, comments, user photos and feedback on your products. Millennials are looking for companies that are accessible, ones that are willing to connect with them on a personal level. It helps if content is soft in tone, emotional, and approachable. Historically, large corporations’ branding efforts centered around their company’s prestige and history. Their name alone was enough to earn customer loyalty. Millennials don’t typically trust “the man”, and that kind of formal design approach just doesn’t resonate with them. Fonts and color schemes are broadening. Traditional serifs and cool, stark palettes are giving way to more playful fonts and logos in warm, friendly colors. Humanize your brand. Banks like Field & Main (pictured above) and New Dominion have overhauled their branding to appeal to millennials. 2. Your Site Isn’t Efficient Millennials might be large in number, but they are short on time. 71% say that the most important thing a company can do is show they value their user’s time. Millennials have high expectations! Customer-facing technology needs to be intuitive. Millennials are pretty quick to embrace new ways of doing things they are more efficient or add value to their lives. For example, some banks have recently allowed customers to snap a photo of their check to deposit rather than making a drive to the brick-and-mortar. Mobile sites can use a phone’s camera to scan an image a user’s credit card to pay (instead of manually entering numbers in a form). Millennials expect accessible, organized content. 52% of them will abandon an online experience if they can’t find a quick answer. That means taking a good, hard look at your site structure, copy and navigation. If you can do some usability testing, or use analytics to find out where pain points are, even better! 3. Your Mobile Site is an Afterthought These days, most companies have mobile sites, whether they be responsive or stand alone. However, far too many have put almost no thought into how their desktop site translates to a mobile experience! Let’s look at some facts: 1. 80% of millennials own a smartphone 2. 90% are so devoted to their mobile devices, they sleep next to their phones 3. 30% use more than four types of devices a day 4. 62% of Millennial B2B buyers said mobile devices were important when researching new products and services. With this much screen time, millennials need a seamless, polished experience across all devices. Check analytics data to see what types of devices and operating systems your users typically use. Test on all those devices before launching a new site, content, or features. Make sure there aren’t any weird bugs or layout issues. After all, the #1 pet peeve among millennials is a non-mobile friendly site. The mobile experience HAS to be quick. Millennials lead busy, active, lives, and every moment is valuable. It’s frustrating to to have to wait minutes, or even seconds, for a page to load. They paid their dues during the dial-up phase, y’all! SEO also uses page load speed as a ranking factor. The recommended load time is under 2 seconds. The mobile experience needs to be optimized. This moves beyond just “mobile friendly”. This is “mobile first” design! Some millennial users will never see your desktop site, so don’t make that the “holy grail” of experiences. Mobile should be intuitive and engaging. It can be just as fun and creative as desktop!

https://medium.com/exclamation-labs/3-ways-your-website-is-driving-millennials-away-58db5ecb3b7

['Erin Fike']

2017-10-06 16:25:52.941000+00:00

['Millennials', 'Technology', 'Web Design', 'UX Design', 'Digital Marketing']

Five of My Favorite Writing Exercises

Five of My Favorite Writing Exercises Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash I’m going to whisper two dirty words in your ear: Writer’s block We all face it. It hits beginning writers and successful novelists. It hits Stephen King (just consider his novel Misery). We sit down to a blank screen and wonder how we’re going to fill it. The following tips might result in complete stories, or they might serve as practice runs. How they work for you isn’t important, but I hope they jump-start your writing whenever you feel like you need that extra little push. Writing is imagination. It’s experimentation. It’s conjuring something from nothing. 1. Practice your spy game Listen to the woman in line behind you at the coffee shop, the kid bagging your groceries, a neighbor you don’t know very well, anyone. Look carefully at your friend’s jewelry, a stranger’s shoes, the art hanging on a wall in your dentist’s office. What might these words or objects reveal? What stories could they tell? Remember, this is fiction, so you don’t want to reveal any personal information about the individuals who inspire your story. The idea is to create something new from a mere glimpse — to imagine how a turn of phrase is part of a broader context, to wonder about the sentimental value of an opal pendant. There’s no reason to ask for further information from your unwitting subject; let your mind do the work. Example Our good friends visited one evening for dinner, and I noticed the woman had on a silver toe ring. (Additional information: the couple was from New York, but were living in a southern town, so think pearls instead of toe rings!) From that single piece of jewelry, I imagined a story about not quite fitting in, wearing the wrong clothes and playing the wrong music, and ultimately upping sticks and returning home. “The New Yorkers of Tidewater” practically wrote itself. 2. Begin after the finish line Flash fiction requires big ideas in small spaces. We don’t have time to recount all the events or backstory. My advice? Skip to finish line and forget the race itself. Talk about the aftermath, not what led to it (at least, not directly). Show us a character who is dealing with the consequences of an event without explicitly stating what happened. Perhaps your main character is recently widowed. There’s no need to spell that out in words when you can describe the widow’s actions. What does she do with all those casseroles the mourners brought over? How does she go about sifting through her husband’s closet? Focus on the minute behaviors that tell the story in such detail your readers will fill in the white space. They’ll learn not only what happened, but about the character herself. Other events (which you won’t speak of directly!) might be: A dinner party that went badly An argument between siblings A disastrous accident Example One writing prompt from a workshop asked us to sketch a character who was in the process of putting things in order and making sense of chaos. We were directed to not explicitly discuss what happened before, only to show the character’s subsequent behavior. My story, which I eventually titled “Out, Spot,” described a woman in a cleaning frenzy. At first, it appeared she was merely scrubbing away at random objects, but as the 400-word story progresses, it becomes clear she’s struggling to forget a fatal car accident that she caused. 3. Grow a word garden This is one of my favorite exercises from a workshop I took with Kathy Fish some years back. It works especially well for those of us who sometimes struggle with bringing our passive vocabulary (words we know, but seldom use) to the surface. But that’s not all — starting a story with a mess of unrelated words can take our writing in unexpected directions, forcing us out of comfortable shells. Start with a story you wrote yourself or a story by someone else. Now skim over it and pull out five words that resonate with you. Try not to think about it too much; let your subconscious do the work. When you’ve got your five words, write them each on a separate sheet of paper. Now for the fun part: for every word, come up with ten additional words and scribble them down like petals surrounding the starting point. They don’t need to be synonyms or even closely related. ‘Smoke,’ for instance, might lead you to think of ‘fire,’ but it could just as easily generate something like ‘obscure’ or ‘suffocation.’ When you’re finished, you’ll have five pages with ten fresh words on each. Final step? Go through the pages one at a time, circling only one of the petals in every ‘word flower.’ Again, pick them without over-analyzing. Use these final five items (all five of them!) in a brand new story. Who knows where it will lead! Example I began with a piece of flash fiction I’d previously published, and ended up with this list of words: foam, pop, engorge, liquify, spray There were so many water images, I knew the story setting needed to be the ocean. I broke out of my comfort zone and wrote a fun piece about an old man getting back on his surfboard and called it “One Last Endless Summer.” 4. Stop and ask questions Actually, you only need to ask one question: What if? While at the first Flash Fiction Festival in Bath, England a few years ago, I took a workshop with Pamela Painter. Her advice has stuck in my mind ever since. Whether you’re a plotter or a pantser, pausing to think about what might happen next opens up the imagination. Remember, just because you’ve plotted out your story doesn’t mean you’re beholden to the plan. And if you write by the seat of your pants (as I often do), you’ll spend plenty of time staring at the page wondering what happens next. Try this: As soon as you’ve hit a key event in your story, stop writing. Take a few breaths, do some yoga, grab a snack. Then come back to the page and brainstorm five different ways to continue. The technique is similar to growing your word garden, but instead of lexical items we’re expanding the world of possible events. Suppose your story involves a character who has recently purchased an antique desk. There’s a piece of paper stuck inside. Your writer’s mind has already decided it’s a love letter from fifty years ago, and that’s fine. But there’s no harm at in stopping to consider a few other options: What if you show the letter to your spouse, but he or she only sees a blank piece of paper? What if when you pry the paper out, it begins to disintegrate? What if the paper is a scrap from a newspaper dated 100 years in the future? What if on the paper are two words: “Help me”? Example I’ve now used this technique so often, I can’t even remember the specific stories or novels where I’ve played the What if? game. What I do know is I’ve sometimes stuck with my original plotline, other times changed it, and still other times have generated a brand new story idea. 5. Creating plots from events Aristotle, in his Poetics, says, ”The plot is the essential element of a tragedy….The plot does not concern what has happened as an isolated incident.” Consider a single event, say, a man jumping out of a window (Chinquee, 2009). At first, this might sound like your story’s plot, but it’s merely an event. To develop a plot, we need to ask questions. Who is the man? Where is the man? Is he rich? Poor? Famous? Lonely? Sane? Is he suicidal, or is he a stunt man? Who else might be in the house? Wife? Child? Wheelchair-bound father? In other words, we need to recognize how all the other things surrounding the event are the real deal. So try this: pick a mundane event like Woman goes dress shopping or Student cheats on an exam. Write five completely different paragraph-long stories centering on the event you chose. Notice how the event remains the same, but the plot doesn’t. Example A woman goes dress shopping, same as every Saturday. She tries on bold prints and strappy sundresses, things she’ll never wear because there’s no place to wear them. She goes home, dreaming of next Saturday when, for a few hours, she can pretend she’s someone else. Her husband is a cheat, and so she goes dress shopping. Her therapist says, “Lure him back.” She comes home with armfuls of frocks, stashes them in the closet, and smiles as she slides the stolen credit card back into her husband’s wallet. Okay — I wrote these on the fly, but I think you see the point. In each, we have a woman going dress shopping. But how different the circumstances are! The take-home message Writing is imagination. It’s experimentation. It’s conjuring something from nothing. In short, writing is hard work. Whether you’re stuck on the initial idea or hit a roadblock halfway through your story, consider trying one of these exercises and seeing where it takes you. I have a feeling the final destination will be an interesting one. References Chinquee, K. 2009. The Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction. (Tara L. Masih, Ed.). Rose Metal Press.

https://writingcooperative.com/five-of-my-favorite-writing-exercises-abcb292fb279

['Christina Dalcher']

2020-09-06 13:01:02.160000+00:00

['Creativity', 'Writing Tips', 'Writing', 'Fiction', 'Writers Block']

Konka U5-series 4K smart TV review: The (street) price is about right

Konka U5-series 4K smart TV review: The (street) price is about right Jodi Jan 16·4 min read Konka’s 50-inch U5-series smart TV is a good entry-level set. It’s not a great entry-level set, and there are far better TVs at its $450 suggested retail price. But this TV delivers a decent picture most of the time, and we’re already seeing significant discounts that render it a decent buy as a secondary TV for a kitchen or other room where it won’t be the primary source of entertainment. Design and featuresThe Konka model 55U55A reviewed here is a 50-inch-class 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) TV with a 60Hz refresh rate. It has a very narrow bezel and looked good sitting on our test bench. You’ll also encounter 43-, 55-, 65- and 75-inch iterations at retail. Our test unit was thin and relatively light, so using its 200mm x 200 mm VESA mount point to hang it on the wall shouldn’t require robust hardware. The legs are standard V-shaped units that attach via two bolts, a superior alternative to the screws you’ll encounter on many TVs in this price range. The port selection includes four HDMI 2.0b ports (one supporting ARC—the audio return channel—but not eARC). There are three USB ports, coax for cable and antenna connections, ethernet, and a headphone jack. Wireless home network connectivity is provided by an 802.11ac Wi-Fi adapter, and Bluetooth 5.0 is onboard for wireless audio streaming. The latter features is a pleasant perquisite at this price point. This review is part of TechHive’s coverage of the best smart TVs, where you’ll find reviews of the competition’s offerings, plus a buyer’s guide to the features you should consider when shopping for this type of product. Konka Konka’s U5-series smart TV uses the Android TV operating system and supports Chromecast and, of course, thousands of apps. My one minor issue with the ports is the way they’re inset: This made it a bit difficult to plug in the oversized USB memory stick that stores some of our test images and videos. It’s doable, just not as easy as it could be. User interface and remote control Mentioned in this article TCL 5-series 4K UHD LCD TV (43-inch class, model 43S525) Read TechHive's reviewSee it The Konka U5 series uses the Android TV operating system with all the general goodness that entails: Support for Google Assistant, Chromecast, tons of apps, and more. Konka doesn’t add a lot of stuff to the default homepage, but it did provide a DLNA-aware media player, which is something I use quite a bit. The remote rests comfortably in your hand, offers voice control via the aforementioned Google Assistant, and is generally well laid out. If I had a complaint, it’s that that you can’t stray very far off axis of the TV’s infrared receiver or it won’t work. That’s a common complaint with less-expensive TVs. You could say the onboard mic obviates the need for pointing the remote at all, but old habits die hard and you don’t want to talk to your technology all the time. Konka Konka’s remote for the U5 is nicely laid out, and generally as good as it gets at this price point. PerformanceI wasn’t expecting image miracles, given the U5-series’ street prices, and I didn’t get any. This TV does however, deliver an overall picture that’s relatively close to the 43-inch TCL 5-series Roku TV I keep in the bedroom, which was selling on Amazon for $230 at press time). The U5’s color is reasonably accurate, although it’s obvious that quantum dots are not in play here. That didn’t bother me, but I did find myself ruing the lack of overall color saturation at times. Tweaking, and there are a number of tweaks available (hue, white balance, etc.), didn’t improve things much. It’s basically in the type of backlighting involved, which Konka says is full array. The other thing I missed was any sort of motion compensation. Fast pans juddered and even slow pans stuttered quite a bit. Those types of scenes are relatively rare in real-world content, but you’ll notice when they happen. It’s one of my pet peeves, regardless of what Hollywood thinks. Screen uniformity, on the other hand, is good; contrast is decent; and there was just a bit more pop to HDR content than the same content viewed as SDR. Blacks are so-so, as they are with most lower-end LED-backlit LCD TVs. Viewing angles are rather narrow, but the sound was surprisingly adequate—not overly tinny and with a hint of bass. I was expecting much worse. Note: On 12/23/2020 Konka finally sent a second unit that did not suffer the HDMI/HDR hand-shaking issues originally discussed here that caused a pinkish cast to white and gray tones. Still, check to make sure HDR is handled properly with external devices before ditching your reciept. Konka The Konka U5 delivers a decent picture for general viewing, but the lack of motion compensation and color saturation relegate it to merely average for an entry-level TV. Long story short: With most material, watching the 50-inch U5 was a pleasant if not scintillating experience. Here’s hoping we get one of Konka’s higher-end Q7 Pro quantum dot TVs in the near future, so we can see what the company is capable of. ConclusionConsidering it’s an Android TV, has a more than decent remote and a good if not stellar picture, I’d consider the 50-inch Konka U5 if you find it on sale. It’s dirt cheap at discount and Bluetooth at this price is a nice find. As a general rule, however, we advise that greater happiness ensues if you prioritize picture quality. And there’s a lot of competition in the entry-level smart TV market right now. Updated December 24, 2020 to report that Konka sent a replacement evaluation unit that resolved our complaint about an HDMI handshake issue that caused problems when displaying HDR content. Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details.

https://medium.com/@jodi91707698/konka-u5-series-4k-smart-tv-review-the-street-price-is-about-right-49097cbd3293

[]

2021-01-16 01:27:14.619000+00:00

['Mobile', 'Chargers', 'Entertainment']

New release: Perpetual Web Browser

We’ve got some very exciting news to share: we’ve released the first working version of the Perpetual Web browser! What is it? The Perpetual Web is a concept in which public data can live indefinitely, free from censorship and manipulation: a Network of truth. You may already be familiar with the wider principles surrounding the Perpetual Web. If not, take a look at this high-level overview video and Medium post which expands upon the reasons why permanency is such a key foundation for our future. This release is now bringing the first of these features to life and implementing them in the real world. So what exactly does it allow me to do? You can do all the things that were previously possible on the previous SAFE Network browser. But you can also do much more. First, you can fetch websites using NRS-URLs and XOR-URLs (which are both types of URL’s on the Network) and toggle between the site’s version history. This shows you the differences and edits in each version. That means full transparency around any changes and when they were made. This release also has a neat feature that gives you the option of creating an NRS name (the SAFE Name Resolution System) if it hasn’t yet been registered. If you try to visit a site with an NRS name that doesn’t yet exist, you’ll get the option to register that NRS name (which will then be owned by your account). Plus, if you have a pre-existing website on the SAFE Network, you can now edit directly from the Browser. By selecting a local folder, it automatically uploads it and republishes it in your name and URL — sweeeet! Also, as an alternative, sites can also be uploaded and published on an NRS name using the SAFE CLI so once published they can be fetched either with the CLI or with the SAFE Browser. Quick note: it’s not possible yet to edit a website using the Browser if it was uploaded using the CLI — or vice versa. This is a temporary limitation that’ll we’ll be removing soon to enable supporting sharing permissions among apps. This offers users extra flexibility when deciding how to upload files to the Network. This sounds great — where do I get this from? Just head over to GitHub and download. Quick reminder: you’ll need a couple of things in place first:

https://medium.com/safenetwork/new-release-perpetual-web-browser-aaea0898239f

[]

2019-10-03 16:30:57.143000+00:00

['Blockchain']

Poker? Done that. Now the next challenge…

IMAGE: Yuriy Davats — 123RF Poker, as has previously happened to chess and Go, has joined the games that a set of algorithms is already capable of playing better than the human champions can manage. On January 31, after twenty days of Heads Up, No Limit Texas Hold ’em, four people considered among the best professional poker players in the world were defeated by an artificial intelligence machine, Libratus, the product of the work of researchers of Carnegie Mellon directed by Tuomas Sandholm. Twenty days watching computer screens, playing about 120,000 hands, and meeting at night in their hotel rooms to coordinate joint strategies were not enough to beat an algorithm that quickly understood the strategies employed by humans and it soon overcame them. The game was clearly dominated by Libratus from the first moment: the human players were not even close to winning at any time. The aim of keeping the championship going to the end was to achieve a victory that could be considered statistically significant, that is to say, winning 99.7% of the time is hardly the product of chance. What really matters here is that the algorithms used were not specific to the game of poker, nor did they try to exploit the mistakes of the Libratus’s opponents. They simply took the rules of the game as their inputs and focused on improving their own strategy by taking into account the cards dealt, those on the table and the bets placed by each player. Texas Hold ’em, with its unlimited betting and the uncertainty of two hidden cards on whose potential values player speculate, offers a very good example of imperfect information play, and serves as an appetizer for other non-gambling activities such as negotiation, cybersecurity, finance, or even research on antiviral treatments (taking the mutations of the virus, whose genetic sequence is known, as uncertain variables that allow it to survive certain drugs). There are plenty of areas similar to poker: we’re no longer speaking about a machine that can learn the rules of a game and apply computational brute force to calculate. What Libratus’s victory means in simple terms is that artificial intelligence is better at making strategic decisions based on uncertain information than humans are. If you thought that a machine was only capable of repeating what it had been programmed to do, think again: a machine has been able to analyze 120,000 poker moves and, given the cards dealt it, the cards already on the table and the bets of each of its opponents, consistently won on a statistically significant number of occasions, enough to rule out luck or chance. So next time you sit down to play a hand of poker, remember that no matter how well you do, there is a machine out there that will always beat you. And from now on, that won’t just apply to card games…

https://medium.com/enrique-dans/poker-done-that-now-the-next-challenge-330b67b11a28

['Enrique Dans']

2017-02-02 22:29:22.028000+00:00

['AI', 'Poker', 'Algorithms', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Machine Learning']

How to Get Out of Depression and Lessons I Learnt on This Dark Journey

I was in the middle of my kickboxing class when it happened. One moment I was perfectly fine, albeit tired, and the next I was drowning in misery so deep I could not breathe without feeling claustrophobic. I had to get out of there, at once. Fortunately or unfortunately, when I asked my teacher if I could go and buy an energy drink to recharge myself (which was both a lie and a truth), he would not let me go. But I could see the concern on his face as he asked me to stay (my face has always been an open book), so maybe he knew it was a better idea to hold me hostage at that moment. That day when I finally got back home and shut the door of my apartment, I couldn’t even reach my bed before I broke down in tears. And for hours after that I just lay there on the cold floor, still in my sweaty gym clothes, crying as if the world was ending around me. That was not the first time I had broken down like that. After all, when depression strikes us, it tends to stay with us for months on end. It was just the first time I knew what was happening to me. The Case of the Forgotten Brain In our society, we gasp in sympathy and offer condolences when we hear someone is suffering from a grave illness of the body, whether it is a life-threatening condition, like cancer, or a simple case of stomach flu. Why then are we so nonchalant and dismissive when it comes to the health of the brain? We don’t want to talk about it. We don’t want to hear about it. And we definitely don’t want to find out our family tree has been cursed by it. That’s why when I realized I was depressed, I was too afraid to seek help from a trained psychiatrist. After all, I was raised in a family (and society) where discussing mental health issues was the most taboo subject of them all, and I did not want to be labelled a “mental case”. And I was not the only one suffering because of this taboo. One of my closest friends was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder a few years back. Her parents still think she is making it all up just to get attention. Another acquaintance was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia while he was in medical school. And after a hiatus of a few years and many electroconvulsive therapies, when I spoke to him again, I realized that he is still in denial. The list goes on. Our generation has become the first generation where mental health issues, especially depression, has reached an almost epidemic level. And studies show that this meteoric rise, specifically among teenagers, has got a lot to do with the real-world isolation caused by virtual media and gadgets, the rising socioeconomic gap between the rich and the poor, and our increasingly sedentary, malnourished (but obese), and sleep-deprived lifestyle. What do we do then when the world around us is threatening our very well-being? How I Healed Myself (Sorta) Without Medical Help As I mentioned earlier, I was too much of a chicken at that time to go seek medical help. But neither was I going to throw myself off a roof and end my life like many chronically depressed individuals do when the illness makes life seem pathetically meaningless. So I did what I always do when I hit rock bottom — I bought a book. Written by Dr. David D. Burns, M.D., the book, Feeling Good, caught my eye in the Kindle Store because it was a bestseller (still is) and had a catchy tagline — the clinically proven drug-free treatment for depression. And though the book did not cure my depression (unsupervised forays fueled by your willpower will only get you so far before you stop reading), it taught me enough to understand the problem and gave me a tool that helped me climb out of my “pit of despair”. That tool was journaling. And the prompt was: find the flaws in your logic. Depression: A Place Between Reality and Fiction It is said that depressed people see reality more clearly than other people. And they despair because of it. But that’s not entirely true. Because while depression does allow you to see all the nastiness in the world more acutely, it also strips you of the ability to see the good. And this pessimistic outlook imprisons your mind just as strongly as it imprisons the mind of a dreamy escapist. And the book helped free me by allowing me to see the flaws in my own logic. For example, whenever I felt like nobody loved me (a thought that had the highest rate of recurrence), I would list out all the reasons why that statement was false. After all, my mother, sister, and friends loved me a great deal (and still do). But it would still be another year before I could say I was mentally healthy once again. And one of the biggest reasons why I managed to get out of it was because I was brave enough to speak out. Breaking Taboos: How Speaking Out Can Help You Heal Your Mind A working woman was a taboo not too long ago. And so was homosexuality and gay marriage. But we have managed to normalize these issues to a great extent now by speaking up and taking a stand for them. The same is required for mental health issues. And we are living in the best century to make that happen. Why? Because the world is now more connected than ever before. So when an inconsequential person shares their story online (like me), they have as much opportunity to make an impact on the world as a world leader. Plus, in my case, speaking out about my struggles with depression helped me in the following ways:- 1. It made me realize that the taboo around this topic was incredibly foolish and illogical. All sheep-brained arguments are. 2. It made people comfortable enough to reveal to me their own struggles with mental health issues. A conversation that was cathartic for both parties and which made us realize just how common this problem is. 3. It brought people and opportunities my way that supported me through my tough times. Emotional support is important, especially from people who love you enough to honestly tell you when you are wrong. 4. It made me realize that my worth was not dependent on what people thought of me. Because once I knew my own worth, narrow-minded comments about my mental health stopped fazing me, and instead, gave me a glimpse into the minds of the people passing those judgments. 5. It showed me that I was afraid of psychiatrists and therapists. And once that fear became apparent, it was easier for me to uproot it because it was pretty illogical to begin with and had more to do with my inability to trust people than with their “supposed” level of incompetence. Now it’s Your Turn to Speak Out If you are suffering from depression, I strongly recommend you do not do what I did when I was depressed, which is buy a book instead of getting medical help. But what you must do is speak out. And speak out even more once your ordeal is over so you can help people who are still stranded at the bottom of the pit of meaningless despair. ** If you found this article useful, please hit the clap icon below so it can reach more people and help break the taboo around discussing mental health problems. And if you want to pitch in some more and help make this conversation perfectly normal, please share your experience with mental health (whether personal or witnessed) in the comments below. I promise you, it will be the most freeing experience of your life.

https://medium.com/thrive-global/how-to-get-out-of-depression-ce6b6b6d98e6

['Valeria Black']

2018-01-29 22:00:43.968000+00:00

['Mental Health', 'Weekly Prompts', 'Well Being', 'Depression', 'Taboo']

There’s nothing special about “The Blockchain”

If you’ve been reading some of my material laterly, this may come as a bit of a shock — but it’s 100% true. I’m working on releasing some articles which will help people understand the differences between the general types of blockchain shortly, and in the process of reading those you’ll get a deeper sense as to why I’ve made this call. This purpose of this article is to lay out in simple terms why I think there is actually nothing really special about blockchains — which in my mind is very important to understand as you begin to move through this landscape. “The Blockchain” It’s such a nebulous term. These days any monkey who pops that on the end of their company name seems to go out & make or raise an extra $100m: Stupidity…Image courtesy of CNBC… If that’s not the dumbest thing you’ve ever seen, well….then you must’ve seen some really dumb S#*%… Anyway..aside from things like this, what I’m getting at is the fact that people are trying to grasp / categorise / label /pigeonhole a technology in a bid to imitate what Bitcoin has done since it’s inception — all so they can take advantage of a trend. The problem though is Bitcoin’s innovation is NOT the blockchain!! This is exactly what happens when new technology & money come together. All the morons come out of the woodwork, become overnight experts and begin to dribble shit out of their mouths as if they understand what’s going on. Blockchains are NOT inherently innovative. A blockchain is just a new, more secure way of databasing information. Who really gives a shit! We’ve had a multiple ways of bulding new databases emerge over the last 20yrs and nobody outside of back end tech geeks ever really gave a crap. People only really care now because money is at stake. The dumb asses who’ve been saying it’s useless since the beginning are now all bitter because they missed out on 1,000,000% returns. So what would any human with a cognitive-dissonance reflex do in this situation? Simple: try to find ways to rationalise & justify their stupidity by schilling the “next” blockchain that will “take over Bitcoin” and “become the new kinf of crypto”. So here we are, in 2018 — after Bitcoin has gone from 1c to $20k — we’ve got every talking head & overnight expert with ZERO understanding of what’s going on, saying “blockchain is the innovation”. But here’s the News Flash: No..it’s not.. And no, your new bit of “blockchain” tech will not do this: Chart is a little outdated…sorry.. The true innovation is the creation of decentralised consensus protocols & networks that are able to operate without a central authority that people would traditionally need to “trust” in order to allow for exchange, communication, transactions & more. The true innovation is the creation of decentralised consensus protocols What Bitcoin pioneered was the first amalgamation of a number of different technologies, disciplines & theories to create a new form of governance. “The Blockchain” is just one piece of the puzzle. It allows the ledger & the transactions within that ledger to be immutable — and that’s great — but it’s the game theory and mechanisms that were designed where no central party is required to vet, monitor, verify or validate “states”, exchanges, transfers, etc that’s special about “decentralised consensus protocols”. The real innovation in this space is Bitcoin. I’d say Ethereum is also up there, especially with their development of Casper (PoS). But aside from that, there is nothing else at this stage that has truly been able to carve it’s own space & develop a revolutionary new form of governance^^. Everything else is riding the Bitcoin wave, claiming to be the next big thing, claiming to have a faster, or more private “blockchain” and all the while missing the entire point: It’s not about “the blockchain” Since the inception of decentralised consunsus protocols^, we as a society have been able to glimpse the future. A future where all of this wasted infrastructure and the continual time, effort & resources we use to maintain it will become less & less relevant. Governments, courts, voting systems, laws, institutions, organizations, etc, All of these entities have been created to help direct and govern society whilst allowing the public some form of (albeit limited) involvement in the process. The thing is, the majority of these entities, processes, procedures, rules, etc can be codified, AND, the public can have a much greater involvement in the entire process, from selection, through to implementation. We’ve proven that with Bitcoin, Ethereum & the other cryptocurrencies + blockchains that operate via a decentralised consensus mechanism. Right now, we’re ‘only’ able to transact value in the form of money (which in itself I feel is an amazing achievement), but as the best minds flock toward these open source protocols, as more & more people hear about them and use them, we’ll see them evolve the same way the internet did. 15yrs ago I guarantee you would NOT have paid for something on the internet with your credit card. Now? It’s 100% normal. The same thing will happen here. Running around talking about how “revolutionary” blockchains are really only comes from people who don’t get it. It’s the IBM’s of the world (no offence to IBM — it’s more of a metaphor). This is what revolutions are made of.. On the surface, IBM & Apple both built a “computer”, but in reality they were each building two completely different things. One was building a machine, the other was creating a revolution & empowering the people. It’s “1984” all over again, and guess what; blockchains & decentralised consensus protocols / networks (DCP/N’s) are doing two very different things. Conclusion The greatest revolutions & innovations occur when the humanities & sciences intersect & combine. Focusing solely on one brings about incremental improvements — which is fine, we need that too — but the step changes only happen when they’ve come together. Using the Apple example again, Jobs combined art & science to create the iMac, the iPhone, the iPad and more. That completely changed personal computing. Computers were transformed from an enterprise “tool” into something almost as ubiquitous as a shirt, and thus leveled the information playing field.^^^ Likewise with blockchains & DCP/N’s. One is focused on building a tool, which will most probably be employed by enterprises & make them more efficient. Well done. Congrats. The other takes human psychology and self interest via the study of game theory & mechanism design, combines it with technologies such as cryptography, blockchain & computer science and uses it to actualize and liverate a set of the most fundamental human & societal needs: exchange, transactions, agreements, communication, etc. So yeah…Power to the people! lol.. That’s not “Apple” Apple btw ;) Notes This was not my most coherent piece, and I apologise for that. There was soooo much more I wanted to write, but will have to end here for now & save for a future article when I have a little more time to elaborate on each of the ideas. There was also some comments & statements I made during the text that I feel needed a little more explanation: ^ I was been harping on about Bitcoin here because it was the first of it’s kind. It’s not the best blockchain technology, but it was the first place where we saw a system that was capable of allowing people who do NOT know each other to transact, securely, online, using a digital token, where NO central authority had to monitor, verify or validate the transaction. That’s the revolution. Everything that has come after has been an adaptation — some good, some useless — of that idea. ^^ If you’ve followed my writings, you’ll know I’m a big supporter of the entire space. So my little jab at “all the others” is not to discredit the Monero’s, Dash’s, etc of the world. There are some AMAZING projects out there with decentralises consenus protocols that are probably better / smarter than what Bitcoin has — and so they should be; they can stand on the shoulders of a giant — so don’t take my comments the wrong way, I was just making a point that before there was Bitcoin, there was really a bunch of disparate technologies. After Bitcoin, we have a >$500bn crypto market & broader “blockchain” market around it. ^^^ My point here doesn’t take into account what you think about the ubiquity of smart phones, computers, connectivity, etc. Some of you may say they’re great, some may say they’ve eroded society. That’s your opinion, but it’s not my point. And if that’s a sticking point for you, I’d take a moment to read this: It’s one of my earlier articles, so pardon the excessive profanity..lol. ___________________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this post, please show it some love, give it a clap (or a few) and pass it around to anyone you think should have a read. Some of my stuff is a little rough around the edges, but it’s done that way to hopefully jolt people into think clearer / deeper into what they’re doing. Hope you got some value & feedback is always welcome! Aleks ___________________________________________________________________ You can also follow me here:

https://medium.com/hackernoon/theres-nothing-special-about-the-blockchain-35d38c554394

['Aleksandar Svetski']

2018-02-08 06:02:13.187000+00:00

['Blockchain Hype', 'Blockchain', 'Special About Blockchain', 'Bitcoin', 'Blockchain Startup']

The Best Skin Whitening Cream, Supplements, and Soap by Frontrow

Looking for the best glutathione brand skin whitening supplement and skincare products? You are on the right page! So many glutathiones in the market but not all created equal. Luxxe White is already a multi-award-winning number one most effective, safe to use glutathione brand. Best Skin Whitening Supplement Now, who doesn’t want to be the fairest of them all? Everyone dreams of a youthful and vibrant glow. But isn’t it better if that glow emanates from within as a result of a cleaner and healthier body system. And this is how Glutathione enters the picture as the glorious messiah. Our bodies’ need glutathione, and far more than just whitening benefits. Glutathione detoxifies our liver and cleanses our bodies from the inside and out, helps improve skin appearance and elasticity, and, as a side effect, delivers skin clarifying and brightening benefits. A beauty industry-buzzword, the market is saturated with gluta-enriched products-but not all created equal. Through its enhanced formulation, LUXXE WHITE delivers superior benefits and results-it truly understands how the body produces and uses this prized ingredient, providing a formulation with utmost quality. Backed up by raves and a string of accolades, this is what makes FRONTROW’s most effective glutathione supplement.

https://medium.com/@vinceluxxe/the-best-skin-whitening-cream-supplements-and-soap-by-frontrow-dc704d75e6b8

['Vince Servidad']

2019-11-21 04:29:13.570000+00:00

['Beauty', 'Skincare', 'Skin Whitening', 'Weight Loss', 'Skin Care Products']

God, Guns, Country

God, Guns, Country Photo credit: Amazon By Jeff Cann The sign appeared one day on the normal route. That’s what Susan and I call the loop around our neighborhood, the normal route. It’s neat how names develop. “Which way do you want to go?” “Let’s take the normal route.” Eventually it sticks. Sometimes we walk it, sometimes we run it. We’re not the only ones. Seniors actually drive to our neighborhood to walk the loop. People from the Y, located a half mile away, come here to run. It’s a good place to put up a yard sign. People see it. I live in Trump-country. In 2016, two-thirds of my county voted for Trump. But because I live close to town, things skew a little left. Judging by the yard signs I see this year, I’d say allegiances approach fifty-fifty. We don’t have a Biden sign. In fact, I’ve never had a political sign in my yard with the exception of when a family friend ran for county commissioner. In 1992, I put a Clinton bumper sticker on my car. A friend asked me to create a spreadsheet to help track the effectiveness of Clinton’s political advertising. In exchange, I received a sticker. A couple of nights after the election, my girlfriend, appalled by my support of such a conservative candidate, grabbed the edge of the sticker and shouted “Can. we. please. take. this. off. now?” as she struggled to rip the sticker from the bumper. Instead of a political sign, we have a Black Lives Matter flag. It’s a modest thing, twelve by eighteen inches, black with white lettering, and a fist. I nailed it to a pillar on our front porch. It really pops. I feel it says the same thing as a Biden sign, and so much more. Unlike my boss who routinely has her Biden sign vandalized, no one has touched our BLM flag. The sign I saw on the normal route is a Trump sign. The top border reads “GOD, GUNS, COUNTRY.” Susan and I don’t talk much as we run or walk. We use it as meditative time to veg-out or troubleshoot or problem solve. Every now and then, one of us will bring up what’s on our mind, but usually, we just keep our mouths shut and contemplate. I didn’t mention the sign when I saw it, but I sank deep into thought. When I see Trump signs, especially over-large Trump signs, or yards with multiple signs, I realize how proud these people are to support Trump. And then I wonder what makes them proud. I abhor Trump’s policies, especially his stance on immigration, his denial of climate change, and his desire to lower taxes on the rich while cutting services to the poor. But I understand that an open society must include room for people with differing views. What I can’t get past is mocking and mimicking a disabled reporter, bragging about sexual assault, caging kids like stray dogs, and the on-going middle-school name-calling that fills his Twitter feed. The family with the God, Guns, Country sign have three Trump signs in their yard. Clearly, they’re proud of their affiliation with Trump. But here’s an interesting thing. They are people of color. I’ve never stopped running to talk with them, so I know nothing about their background. Is it racist to assume that a non-white person would hate Trump? When I stop and think about it, it seems a little racist to me. But still, these people hail, in some recent generation, from what Trump refers to as a shithole country. Maybe this family likes Trump, but I can’t believe Trump likes them. When I saw the sign, I thought: Yes, if God, Guns and Country are your chief concerns, you certainly should vote for Trump, but then I thought again. I’m sick of racist, right-wingers like Trump claiming patriotism. At a recent Black Lives Matter rally, Susan held a sign proclaiming that Confederate flags are racist. A woman and her shirtless husband (carrying an assault rifle slung over his shoulder) called Susan un-American. I’m sorry, I suck at quick comebacks. A few minutes later I realized that the Confederate Army was actually at war with America. The Confederate flag is, by its very nature, un-American. It would have felt great to zing that back at them. When I think about our Country, I think of the cities, the mountains, the deserts, the lakes and streams. I think about the environment, the people, democracy, civic engagement and social justice. These are things I love about America. Things I’ll fight to defend. I never think about the flag. I could care less about the flag. I know it’s popular for people to wrap themselves in the flag and give the finger to everyone who isn’t white and Christian. To call themselves ‘Americans’ because they revere the patriarchal society that existed at the founding of our country. As an agnostic, I don’t have much right to claim God as my own. And Guns? You can keep them as long as you keep them locked up in your home. But Country? That one belongs to me. — The story was previously published on The Good Men Project.

https://medium.com/equality-includes-you/god-guns-country-328800392893

['The Good Men Project']

2020-10-16 18:16:01.264000+00:00

['Racism', 'Social Justice', 'Election 2020', 'Religion', 'Guns']

Miscarriage and Messy Spirituality

Miscarriage and Messy Spirituality Making Meaning and Connection through Loss This is not a neat and clean piece of writing, not an “everything happens for a reason” story. This is also not a prescriptive story, not a story that I tell so that others can compare and contrast their experience to my own. This is a vulnerability story, a bloody, messy, heartbreak story. (This being said, if you’ve experienced a pregnancy loss or other trauma, feel free to excuse yourself from reading on if you don’t feel strong enough to take in another vivid story of loss.) This is a story without an ending, one whose ending is still being lived out. One that doesn’t get told enough, and happens far too often. This is a story about a loss that many would not even characterize a loss, one mostly invisible to the eye. This is a story about my miscarriage. I’ve thought long and hard in these four months since my early miscarriage in July about whether or not I wanted to share my story. Pregnancy loss is such a dark and secretive place, full of of unwarranted shame and isolation. We don’t talk about it, we don’t post about it on Facebook, some of us don’t even share it with those closest to us. And on top of that, I hold my personal writing in a public sphere in great scrutiny as a therapist. No, I’m not one of those therapists who deflects all personal questions and thinks of myself as a blank slate, but I also guard my sharing so that my experience, I hope, can support and not burden my clients, whose growth and trust I cherish. And yet. Like others who have written their way through loss, I found myself returning to writing. Writing the raw, real, physical experience of losing a wanted and tried-for baby early in the first trimester. October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month. And even though miscarriage is common, with statistics ranging from 10–25% of pregnancies ending in miscarriage to even higher, we don’t really talk about it. It’s still considered taboo to even mention that you are pregnant before the end of the first trimester, almost like you’ll jinx it. And in some ways, having gone through one healthy pregnancy and carrying my baby to term, it’s true that the first trimester is a strange time, one in which you feel extra tired and maybe nauseous but almost unsure if it’s really real yourself. Your baby starts out the size of a tomato seed. It’s hard to even visualize how much is happening in those early weeks and months. Yet, for those of us trying to conceive, the moment a pregnancy test turns out positive, the moment we see a line, however faint, on the pee stick, life changes. We start to envision our future with this baby, with both excitement and anxiety. We start to plan how we will manage our life with this new reality, how our family will grow and adjust. We even see our bodies differently, taking extra care going down stairs, eating with a bit more awareness of the importance of what we are putting into our bodies. The regular exhaustion that comes with caring for a toddler with a 5:30 AM wakeup somehow seems a little more justifiable, and napping while she naps becomes expected. For our family, we knew for less than a week that we were pregnant before I began to bleed. First, it was just spotting, and I kept hoping for the best, while a part of me already knew to plan for the worst. As the bleeding increased, it became clear that this baby was not going to join our family. I can only imagine how this feels to women who have carried their babies for longer before the loss. How many more dreams they’ve dreamed about the future, how much more connected they feel to the tiny life growing inside. I can only speak from my own experience. And it was still heartbreaking. I will never forget sitting around the dinner table with my family, conversation swirling around me, while I felt the blood leaving my body, literally felt my baby leaving me. How can life go on in such an ordinary fashion while I sit here, losing my baby? My grief process, never linear, started as sadness, turned to anger: at myself for pushing myself too hard and not getting more rest, at my body for failing in this way. It progressed to false hope and denial, frantically googling discussion boards of others who had extensive bleeding but carried a healthy baby to term. Then numbness set in, fear that it would happen again, anxiety about if I can carry another healthy baby to term and if not, what that means for our little family. Through the immensity of feelings, however, I found myself sharing about my miscarriage, not only with people closest to me, but also with my broader network of friends and colleagues. Sharing has become a part of my healing. Not to gain sympathy, not to make others uncomfortable. But to integrate my story and to connect. So why in the world is this piece titled Miscarriage and Messy Spirituality? In the most essential way, my miscarriage has been a spiritual experience. When we define spirituality as that which gives us meaning, comfort, purpose and connection, that which moves us beyond ourselves, almost any experience has the capacity to be sacred. Especially hard ones. And our bodies are inextricably tied to our spirits. The spirituality of mindfulness is this, the practice of being in the present and in our bodies through all our experiences, including difficult ones, and noticing what it’s like to be human, finding in this practice self-compassion and connection and meaning. So as I sat bleeding on the back porch of my parents’ house, fourth of July fireworks booming around us, my toddler asleep upstairs, I just felt it. Oh, it felt awful. Crampy and moist and icky, helpless and devastated and lonely. But still, in the midst of all that awfulness, I took each inhale, released each exhale. I tasted each bite of berry crisp and vanilla ice cream, one at a time, one moment at a time. Instead of shutting down and running away, which is impossible when the loss is so tied to my body, I set an intention to continue to stay, to stay open. And I made a choice, to believe that while Love was not responsible for this loss or any others in my life, Love is ever so close, especially in times suffering. And that Love can hold me and us through anything, helping us find the strength we need to persevere and maybe even grow. And when I did this, when I practiced openness and vulnerability, I found that I was actually not alone. My physician called multiple times on her day off to check on me and share her own story of loss. My parents held a supportive, loving space. My husband held me and cried with me. My friends sent me love in texts and cartons of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. The miracle, the sacredness in the midst of my miscarriage is not in the event itself. There was and is no meaning and purpose in that from where I stand. No force of Love, no God, causes loss and suffering. There are hard things in life. We suffer, we experience pain. And yes, we can grow and learn in and through our pain, sometimes learning our most important life lessons. But that doesn’t mean that the pain was given to us for that purpose, that we were made to suffer this sad thing. But the meaning, purpose and connection comes from integrating my miscarriage into the story of my life. It comes from my own deeper sense of connection to my body and to the fragility and miraculous nature of our lives. It comes from the preciousness of my daughter, seen with new eyes and deeper gratitude. It comes from deeper compassion and connection with the millions of other women who have experienced pregnancy loss themselves. It comes from an intentional practice of self-compassion, choosing not to add to my suffering by harsh words but practicing kindness and gentleness in my inner voice, releasing shame and guilt. It comes through releasing the fear around my lack of control with each breath to choose to trust in Love to hold me and those close to me. And most unexpectedly for me, the meaning, purpose and connection that I’ve sought and opened to through my miscarriage journey is the deepened connections with those already close to me, the increased intimacy in relationships that only happens when you walk through something hard together. This is all done, of course, messily and imperfectly. Humanly, that is. We often think about sacred meaning in life as something we find, something we live into or stumble across, something we grow and develop into. And sometimes this is how we experience spiritual growth, a new insight or awareness that seems to find us or open in us. This finding often takes time and perspective. Yet, I don’t think we think often enough about making meaning in and through our lives. Making versus finding implies action, agency, participation in the sacred transformations that connect us to Love beyond ourselves. It requires courage and vulnerability, trust in our resilience and in our groundedness in Something or Someone bigger than ourselves to hold us together when all we can feel is our falling apart. And when we make meaning and connection through our experiences, we make them sacred, and they become a part of our healing. Healing is a process, just as grief is a process, and most days feel lighter than those preceding. Our capacity to feel joy grows again, just as we are still reminded with twinges of grief each time we see a pregnant woman walk past. We become more open to the possibility of trying again, holding all the while that if we are able to conceive again, this will never erase the pain of an earlier loss. That both joy and sorrow can co-exist. We are vast enough to hold them together. For me, I have experienced great healing through this practice of opening to my body, to self-compassion, and to others in the midst of pain and loss. When I, when we bring hard things out of the darkness of isolation and into the light of community, the hard things lose their armor of shame and it becomes more possible to feel what is true, and to heal. My intention, hope, prayer, is that this piece is just another extension of this healing through integration and connection, another sacred act. May we each find ways to make meaning and connection in and through the sacred mess that is being human.

https://medium.com/thrive-global/miscarriage-and-messy-spirituality-ed6cd398b923

['Katy Cribbs']

2017-10-17 18:42:25.205000+00:00

['Pregnancy', 'Loss', 'Spirituality', 'Wisdom', 'Weekly Prompt']

Panasonic VP Brian Rowley: Inspire Your Podcast Listeners Through Creativity to Become Bingeable

Can you tell us a bit of your “personal backstory? What is your background and what eventually brought you to this particular career path? I grew up just outside of Boston, Massachusetts, and went on to attend Northeastern University, where I obtained my Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing. I began my career working for a variety of local telecommunications companies, including Eastern Telecom, CTC Communications and Verizon, where I learned a lot about the technology space, ultimately leading me to my current role as Vice President, Marketing at Panasonic System Solutions Company of North America. I’m focused on driving initiatives and campaigns that support the digital transformation of our 100-year-old brand, from a hardware-focused company to a B2B solutions-based organization. At Panasonic, our ultimate focus is the customer and how we can bring value to their work day across a number of verticals — from manufacturing and food retail, to entertainment and education. It’s about listening to customer pain points, partnering with them to bring about solutions, and tailoring our campaigns to help their businesses grow and evolve. In 2019, we launched our own podcast, which is now known as The Big REthink. Originally focused on the future of technology and what to expect as work changes, we began covering topics from 5G to deep sea exploration and have brought on guests from a variety of companies and backgrounds. As such, our conversations have shifted and grown to encompass new stories around unique topics like remote learning, facial recognition and even the impacts of technology in the ICU. This versatility is especially key this year, as so much of how we work has changed. Can you share a story about the most interesting thing that has happened to you since you started podcasting? One thing we definitely didn’t anticipate when we launched the podcast was a global pandemic, which forced us to rethink how we record and produce episodes remotely, and coordinate logistics and recruit guests — something we had to adapt to quite quickly to keep production rolling. On the other hand, the pandemic has given us a unique opportunity to react in real-time to the world around us. Suddenly, we had to think about new topics brought into focus by the pandemic, and the ways in which various industries and organizations have been impacted and subsequently responded to the pandemic. Many industries, including the restaurant industry which we covered on a recent episode, have transformed their operations in response to COVID-19, and had to rethink the way they work to ensure the safety of both customers and employees, while also ensuring they remain profitable. In this same vein, we’ve had to rethink how we at Panasonic work and how our mindset has shifted. There are so many new ideas coming to the surface that we’ve never thought of before, resulting in shifts in how we now conduct business. The pace at which our world has changed this year is staggering, and we aim to deliver content that inspires, regardless of the circumstances. We’re proud of the work we do and the conversations that are fostered on our podcast, oftentimes about topics of great importance to our listeners. Can you share a story about the biggest or funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson or takeaways you learned from that? A surprising challenge we’ve encountered has been the way our narratives age, and how topics can change in relevance and importance over the course of time. A topic such as digital transformation or remote technology, for example, may have spurred a very different conversation in January than it would now. As the world shifts and changes, and we adapt to the next normal, our perceptions evolve in tandem. Therefore, we have become mindful of the types of narratives we are creating, and how they can be future-proofed for listeners months down the line. How long have you been podcasting and how many shows have you aired? In September 2019, we started our first podcast show called RUGGED RANTS, which focused on the transformation taking place in the mobility market specifically. As our goals and objectives for the show changed over subsequent months, RUGGED RANTS evolved into what is now known as The Big REthink. As of November 2020, we’ve dropped 34 episodes. Our cadence of dropping a brand new episode every two weeks has served us well over the past year, allowing us to discuss current events and topics in a timely manner, while giving our listeners time to digest. Since The Big REthink had such an impact on our company and our audiences externally, we actually decided to start an internal podcast solely for Panasonic employees called Culture Shock. The show incorporates both external experts and even some internal leaders at Panasonic for conversations focused on many topics including leadership approaches or coping with our current environment. Our podcast is very much aligned with our core company pillar of building a best-in-class High Performance Culture, which is why we tend to focus on conversation topics to help us “shock” the Panasonic culture and spur growth. What are the main takeaways, lessons or messages that you want your listeners to walk away with after listening to your show? We strive to present new voices and perspectives to our audience that challenge the status quo and introduce new ways of using technology to transform the world around us. With this, we seek to inspire our listeners to think creatively, and rethink the way work is done. In recent months, we’ve covered a wide variety of topics, such as the role of technology in healthcare, the processes and technologies involved in remote learning, and the impacts of signature verification software on mail-in voting. With these conversations, we’ve encapsulated current events that are important to our audience and to our brand, while taking steps to share new information with our listeners and encourage them to consider alternative viewpoints. We pride ourselves in doing so and this mindset will carry us forward as we continue producing The Big REthink. In your opinion what makes your podcast binge-listenable? What do you think makes your podcast unique from the others in your category? What do you think is special about you as a host, your guests, or your content? Our podcast is unique in that we feature an expansive set of guests, topics and viewpoints. We always strive to present our audience with the best of both worlds, covering topics that inform business decisions and strategy, while also covering topics that have an impact on their everyday lives. With this varied content, we’re able to keep our audience on their toes, while drawing in new listeners. This variety is also what separates us from podcasts in our “category” — we don’t pigeonhole ourselves into one topic, industry or narrative. We expand and grow with the world around us; this year has been the perfect example. Our flexibility and openness has allowed us to take on timely topics such as remote work, digital transformation and hybrid learning. With this, we’ve broken out of a “category” altogether — which is something that we’re very proud of. Doing something on a consistent basis is not easy. Podcasting every work-day, or even every week can be monotonous. What would you recommend to others about how to maintain discipline and consistency? What would you recommend to others about how to avoid burnout? In order to produce a podcast on a consistent basis, I’d recommend creating a content calendar. This document helps to keep the team organized, and our content fresh. Maintaining a steady cadence of episodes also requires dedication and motivation to meet desired end goals. As for avoiding burnout, the answer is simple: keep things interesting. We strive to reinvent ourselves, within reason, when we start to work on each episode. We bring on new guests to discuss topics that challenge us and our audience, to push us to think outside the box. We also have a few hosts to choose from, to keep things fresh and reinvent the voices on each episode. With this, I would argue that creating a podcast — and the consistent work that goes into production — is hardly monotonous. The Big REthink gives us the opportunity to spark new and interesting conversations about topics we care about, and to share these narratives with our audience. What resources do you get your inspiration for materials from? We draw inspiration from many sources, from industry experts on current events and trends to members of our own network whom have stories to share. As we’ve learned over the past year, part of creating a successful podcast is being flexible, thinking creatively and being timely with the stories we tell. To do so, we focus on aligning with a specific topic, as opposed to inviting guests onto the show and determining their topic thereafter. We can then deliver on our goals in providing quality content that’s useful, but also inspires. Is there someone in the podcasting world who you think is a great model for how to run a really fantastic podcast? As podcasts continue to gain popularity as a storytelling medium, more and more individuals and brands are stepping into the ring to take their shot. When we started our podcast, we were drawing loosely on some we enjoyed ourselves, including The Daily and NPR’s Planet Money. While we didn’t “model” our show after any one in particular, we drew lessons from those we found enjoyable and those that were experiencing success. Within our network, we have been lucky enough to have a number of podcast experts, most notably, John Palumbo, in our corner to learn from. John is the founder of the BigHeads Network, an organization that develops and produces internal podcasts for corporations to foster learning and development. For the development of both the internal and external podcasts we’ve created, John’s expertise has shown us the importance of targeted messaging and diverse perspectives to help drive business success. As the space continues to grow, it’s exciting to see how this medium is being used to share new insights, start important conversations and build brands — both professional and personal. We continue to evolve and shift alongside others in the space. What are the ingredients that make that podcast so successful? If you could break that down into a blueprint, what would that blueprint look like? The success of a podcast depends on a number of factors, some standard and others more complex: interesting guests, engaging hosts and the right equipment. Ensuring that all guests that come on your podcast have something of value to offer the audience and that the stories they plan to tell are in line with the brand, goals and value proposition of the podcast, is the first key to ensuring success. With this, you have control over the storytelling and quality of the show you produce. Engaging hosts will add character and consistency to the show, as their voices will become the voice of the podcast itself. Their charisma, tone and experience will echo throughout each and every episode as they lead conversations. Lastly, the right equipment is an important aspect of creating a successful podcast. Ensuring you have the right microphones, headphones, and even audio editing software can make or break the content. Though, ultimately for my team, consistency and providing a steady cadence of content is the key to success — with the stories we tell, how we tell them, and the process by which we build and publish episodes on our show. Can you share with our readers what things you need to know to create an extremely successful podcast? Resources: To create a podcast, you must adequately assess the resources you have available to you, before beginning. With this, I do not mean that you need an excess of funding, time or a large team to make a podcast, but that you need to be honest about what you can put into the show before committing to its creation. Essentially, this comes down to prioritization. Why are you making this podcast? What will the podcast give to your brand and your audience? And are you committed to the creativity that a podcast requires? With this, you must determine if beginning a podcast is the right choice and/or medium for you and your brand. As with any brand-led content, creating a new content platform should be a smart, well thought out business decision. Goals: As mentioned throughout, our understanding of and commitment to the goals we determined at the outset of The Big REthink have not only kept us organized, but have ensured the success of the podcast since its inception. Ensuring that you outline specific goals and follow through on the measurement of such goals to track progress is a tangible way to achieve success in the podcast space. Voice: We attribute much of our success on The Big REthink to adhering to a consistent voice. Keep your hosts, guests and framework around how stories are presented as consistent as possible, while ensuring you’re flexible enough to evolve the context of the discussion to relate back to current events and timely conversations. Ultimately, this principle guides how we create content, while keeping things interesting enough to gain new followers and change the narrative. Value: With every new episode we create, our goal is to offer our audience something of value. To guide us to this goal, we often ask ourselves what our audience will learn from a particular guest, what new recommendations, insights or perspectives will they hear and how will this exposure challenge them to think differently? While this changes with each new episode, we always keep this top of mind when planning out content or inviting guests, asking ourselves what our listeners will get in return for listening to our podcast. Brian Rowley of The Big REThink Podcast shares the best ways to: 1) Book Great Guests. You need to be able to identify the goal of the podcast. For The Big REthink, we strive to target millennials and share narratives that inspire listeners to rethink how work gets done. Each time we identify a potential guest, we think back to this goal and ask ourselves, “how will this guest’s story help us inspire our target audience?” 2) Increase Listeners. We focus on producing engaging, relevant content that continues to draw in listeners and reach them where they are, through social media, earned media and targeted marketing tactics. Creating engaging content is key, and is the first step to accruing listeners over time; though, promotion, whether on social media platforms, in top tier publications, or via marketing channels, helps spread the word about the podcast, and bring in new listeners. We also encourage our hosts and guests to promote their own episodes on personal social channels to share with their own networks, ultimately expanding our reach. By sharing drafted social copy with the involved parties, we make social promotion simple, easy and timely. 3) Produce in a Professional Way. We try to use the best equipment possible and plan ahead. With each episode we record, we rely on the same process: hosting input calls, developing talk tracks, and having a team lead that oversees the recording sessions. 4) Encourage Engagement. Engagement to us is primarily measured by episode downloads and listens. Our main goal is to continue to expand how many people are choosing to tune into our show to learn something new or be inspired. Engagement is also measured by shares, comments and likes across social. As mentioned above, we ensure every episode is shared across our marketing channels, but also by our hosts and guests. 5) Monetize. We don’t use The Big REthink as a monetization strategy. Our goal instead is to spark meaningful and rewarding conversations about how work is changing. We strive to create great content that engages listeners. Though, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention we are also focused on brand awareness. As a channel managed by the marketing team, we use the podcast and the content to reach today’s buyers — especially the millennial audience. We focus on producing episodes that we think will be interesting, but also will help them do their jobs better and more efficiently. For someone looking to start their own podcast, which equipment would you recommend that they start with? The best part of podcasting is that it requires little investment, aside from a few important tools. Every great podcast begins with a reliable pair of headphones, a quality microphone and a quiet room — items that level the playing field in terms of audio quality and professional production. However, the most important “equipment” that is needed to start a podcast is the content. Without creativity, curiosity and inquisitive minds, a podcast cannot be created nor exist. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. In many ways, I feel like we have lost sight of the importance of talking to each other, and instead talk at each other. If I could inspire a movement, it would be focused on the importance of listening to each other more. Podcasts provide a platform where people can actually have a conversation again, and where ideas and visions from that exchange can be shared with others. Podcasts expose us to different points of view and show us what we can learn from alternative perspectives. This doesn’t necessarily mean that we agree with these ideas, but that we have listened and have accepted other opinions. We need to get back to that. I would love for our society to get to a point where we can have differences in an opinion but still have great conversations. How can our readers follow you online? Twitter: @BrianSRowley LinkedIn: Brian S. Rowley The Big REthink website

https://medium.com/authority-magazine/brian-rowley-of-the-big-rethink-podcast-inspire-your-podcast-listeners-through-creativity-to-8af61605da09

['Tracy Hazzard']

2020-12-28 16:02:41.233000+00:00

['Podcasting Tips', 'Podcasting', 'Influencer Marketing', 'Podcast', 'Tech Feature']

2020 Is Going To Get Much Crazier. Prioritize Your Mental Health.

The outrage over the Iowa caucus scandal has continued to burn white hot as more and more establishment manipulations against the Bernie Sanders campaign come into view. At the beginning of a CNN town hall with Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg last night, immediately following the network’s town hall with Sanders, the event’s host Chris Cuomo announced that 100 percent of the caucus results were now in and the former South Bend mayor had narrowly won the contest. These results had been announced by the Iowa Democratic Party moments before Buttigieg’s town hall appearance. There is no reason for anyone, let alone a major news outlet, to believe these results are legitimate. They are full of easily demonstrable errors and discrepancies which have been highlighted by both the Sanders campaign and The New York Times, and they have yet to be addressed. Furthermore, Sanders has a perfectly legitimate claim to the win given the undisputed fact that he received thousands more votes. This is without even getting into all the other extremely shady shenanigans with the now-infamous Shadow app whose crash has given the media days to sing Buttigeig’s praise, which has in turn given him a major polling bump for New Hampshire. But Chris Cuomo (who is the brother of a Democratic New York governor and the son of another Democratic New York governor) declared Buttigieg (who because of his establishment grooming and alt-centrist ideology is beloved by billionaires and spooks) the winner anyway. In front of millions of people. While Buttigieg was standing right there in the spotlight. Immediately after the “results” were released. We’re watching a major US election being rigged in real time, right in front of our eyes, and it’s intense. And it’s only just getting started. In the 2016 race between Sanders and Hillary Clinton, the Iowa caucuses saw some suspicious activity and there was some controversy over improbable coin toss results, but nothing like the furor we’ve been seeing over Iowa for the last several days. It wasn’t until the Nevada caucus that things really started to get crazy in the 2016 race, and we’re still a couple of weeks out from that. So we’re way ahead of schedule in terms of emotional intensity tied to this presidential primary race, and possibly at a more heated point after the very first 2020 primary contest than at any point in the 2016 race between Sanders and Clinton. And it’s only going to get crazier from here. And that’s just looking at the US Democratic presidential primary. Later this month we’ve got the beginning of Julian Assange’s extradition trial, we’ve got the OPCW narrative managing its own scandal by smearing the whistleblowers who revealed that the US, UK and France almost certainly bombed Syria in 2018 under false pretenses, we’ve got continuing revelations that pretty much everything the Trump administration told the world to justify the assassination of Qassem Soleimani was a lie, we’ve got an escalating new cold war between the US and Russia, increasing establishment attempts to censor the internet, an increasing propaganda war against China, the general militaristic belligerence of the US-centralized empire, and God knows what else. As I said back in November, things are going to get weirder and weirder throughout the foreseeable future. We’re coming to a point in history where the only reliable pattern is the disintegration of patterns, and 2020 has come storming out of its corner swinging for the fences working to establish this pattern with extreme aggression. We’re not going to hit a point of stability or normality this year, we’re going to see things get crazier and crazier and crazier. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I know it’s going to be nuts. In such an environment, it’s going to be absolutely essential to take exceptional care of your psychological health if you want to remain engaged with what’s going on in the world in a positive way. And I do mean exceptional. Whatever you’re doing now, do more. Start cultivating new habits to keep yourself lucid and serene, and start now before things get super crazy. Work out your issues with your family and with yourself. Remember to move your body in ways that feel good to you. Carve out some time out each day for just being quiet with yourself. Notice the beauty around you. Give cuddles, get cuddles. Take a shower and sing your heart out. Feel your feet on the floor, nestle your bum into your chair and listen to yourself breath like it’s a song on the radio. Yawn. Belch. Stretch. Roar. Put on some loud music and rock out. Whatever you know works for you to get you out of your head and back in to your body, remember to do it, and remember to do it regularly. Make it habitual. Be proactive with this rather than reactive; if you wait until you have to react to things going ass-side up later on it’s going to feel like you’re fighting to get your head above water. If you do it now you’ll have the mental space needed to navigate tumultuous waters. This is what will be necessary if you want to engage with the increasingly frenetic narrative matrix in the future. The only alternative will be to disengage completely and throw your attention into escapism, or at least away from politics and news. And if you don’t make the cultivation of mental well-being your first and foremost priority you will be forced, in a very unpleasant way, to disengage anyhow. And honestly this is something all activist types should be doing anyway. Believing you can help the world without doing serious inner work is like believing you can clean the house while covered in raw sewage. You can always spot the political activists who engage without doing any inner work by the chaotic, unskillful and frequently counterproductive form their actions take. They can’t see clearly enough to operate efficaciously, because their vision is clouded with unresolved suffering and conflict. Get in the shower and wash the yuck off yourself before trying to clean the house. Some of my readers want a Sanders insurgency in the Democratic Party, some support third parties or independents, while others eschew electoral politics altogether and endorse other approaches to pushing for real change. But in my experience you all care deeply about the world, regardless of your preferred path toward doing so, and that’s going to take a heavy toll as all manner of things unravel over the next year if you don’t have the psychological spaciousness to navigate it lucidly. Above all, be gentle with yourself. We got a ways ahead of us, and we need you fresh and feeling good. You won’t be able to help wake the world up if you let the chaos and confusion drag you down. Know when to take a break from the information stream and all the babbling narratives trying to twist your perception of it. Use your tools to distance yourself from the narratives so that you can perceive them objectively. Ground yourself, find your center, then, when you’re ready, wade back in. No matter how chaotic things get, your ability to navigate that chaos skillfully needs to be your first and foremost priority. Put your mental well-being first, and everything else will fall into place. Be the peace and harmony you want to see in the world. ___________________________ Thanks for reading! The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for my website, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitter, checking out my podcast on either Youtube, soundcloud, Apple podcasts or Spotify, following me on Steemit, throwing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypal, purchasing some of my sweet merchandise, buying my new book Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone, or my previous book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish or use any part of this work (or anything else I’ve written) in any way they like free of charge. Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2

https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/2020-is-going-to-get-much-crazier-prioritize-your-mental-health-7334d7ca38a0

['Caitlin Johnstone']

2020-02-07 15:03:19.679000+00:00

['Politics', 'Progressive', 'Mental Health', 'Self Care', 'Bernie Sanders']

The Visible

Like refractions through a prism in our mind, or echoes of church bells in a fog, moments of remembered experience vibrate, pulsate and resonate, right through the conscious ocean of our joined awareness. And as palm fronds swirl and roll in complex oscillations, possibly unknown to physics, and warm air drifts by in a slow and steady tide, all experience is vibrations and fluctuations, not just of light energy entering the eyes of all life everywhere, or the complex orchestration of signals in the brain. The world is itself made of vibrations. Patterns of coherent oscillations construct, materialize and form, every living cell and all life, in the visible world around us. And then, like when we met that day, near the river, with the water blown into endless slow waves and shifting motions, causing boats to rock and the rhythmic clank of rigging, among the steady shimmer of patterns of reflected light, there are those moments, fleeting, inexpressible and sweet when all vibration inside us seems joined, into the one shared ocean of our being.

https://medium.com/loose-words/the-visible-4271235ac322

['Paul Mulliner']

2020-08-22 08:01:55.909000+00:00

['Poetry', 'Relationships', 'Poetry On Medium', 'Life', 'Self']

5 Ways To Take The First Step To Reach Your Goal

5 Ways To Take The First Step To Reach Your Goal 5 Ways To Take The First Step To Reach Your Goal By Rosalind Ho It was Lao Tzu who said, ‘The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’. Yet, that single step for some people is so difficult to embark on and I was one of them. Being out of the comfort zone is not the natural thing to do. This is because I am very deterred by unfamiliar territory. Experience has told me that once this initial step is taken, you have overcome the first hurdle and would certainly meet more bumps along the way. The journey is never smooth but you need to persist to reach your goals. How does one get started? Set a goal — Know what you want to achieve. Be as specific as possible. Ask yourself what skill would you like to develop？What product would you like to sell? What job would you like to do? Is that what you are really passionate about? Take action — You need to find out more about your goals through reading, asking questions, having a mentor. In today’s world, you have unlimited access to knowledge because of the internet. You may even learn on your own or get tutored online. Gather as much information as possible to find out if that is really what you want. 3 Dive into it — Make a commitment, tell a friend, or to everyone if you want to up your stress level a little because a vow is a powerful motivator to yourself. Put a down payment for the lesson, and show up for the learning. 4 Be enthusiastic — -You are upskilling yourself. Anything you do, you will excel in it with time. No one becomes proficient over a short period. Every new thing you learn is an eye-opener and if you do it well, it makes your life far more interesting. If you do not, don’t be disheartened. Look for alternatives and learn more about it from people better than you. Once, I checked with a sushi chef and he said it took up to 7 years to become highly skilled. To major in anything can take up to 3 to 5 years. You have to start. 5 Expect difficulties — All things are difficult before they become easy. The road to success is paved with frustrations, criticisms, and obstacles. Yet along the way, the small successes are gratifying and encouraging. The peak seems to be in sight but be ready for more stumbling blocks which become easily surmountable due to practice. I would like to draw from two personal experiences. 1 About Writing I am interested in writing because it improves my language, thinking, and my business. I want to write good content because Content is king in today’s connected world and this will lead to an increase in business in the following ways; 1 Content informs the customers. An informed customer is more likely to be a paying one. 2 Good content increases your ranking with Google so that when customers search for information, your company is likely to be found. 3 It makes your company look very professional and even a leader in the industry. 4 It improves your communication skills. 5 Chance of a second career which is Covid-19 proof It was very difficult when I first started. I stared at the blank paper for hours, went walking around the estate, break the silence with telephone conversations, or sip a coffee. I knew that the blank paper was brimming with potential. I needed to get started. The first step was to mull an idea. Then I collected more ideas related to the first one and think of how it would benefit me. I also gathered evidence by listening to other people’s stories and did some research online. Finally, I put them on paper. I wrote that first line then another and another. When I had a mass of words, I organized them like a speech. We should use whatever we have learned at Toastmasters to apply them to writing. We are already equipped at Toastmasters in creating good content and language so writing should not be a problem. When it is done, look through again and make sure that there is an important message to impart. Repeat and soon writing becomes a habit. I still struggled with writing but I am glad to say that because I took that first step and started practicing, my fastest piece of the article was written in a day and I hope to keep it that way. 2 Developing website building skills. This was another unchartered territory for me. Anything related to IT these days seems important. Websites and blogs are gaining popularity and I wanted a website to log my articles. Any blog may also be converted into an e-commerce site. For a dentist familiar only with dentistry, it was a steep learning curve. I committed enthusiastically by signing up for a course. The course turned out to be difficult for me but it seemed to be a breeze for my younger classmates. I documented every step on paper while they typed into their laptops. Most of them came up with beautiful and functional websites and e-commerce sites but I achieved none. A few disparaging remarks did not deter me. The road to success is always paved with nails and I just needed to wear thicker boots. Painstakingly, I did my homework every session which saw my weekends burned several times. Fortunately, there is a telegram chat group where we can post questions and receive technical support from instructors and fellow students. I finally completed my website though my e-commerce site left much to be desired. I manage to procure two clients where I created two simple corporate websites that met their needs and recouped my IT fees. The feeling — elated, delighted, excited! The learning would not stop there as we know challenges will surface again when society and the world changes. Hence, I need to step out again. In summary, take that first step to achieve your goals. Set your goal, take action, dive into it, be enthusiastic, and expect difficulties. If it does not turn out, repeat. If it does, repeat. Two important quotes come to my mind; The secret of getting ahead is getting started — Mark Twain ‘Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall’— Confucius.

https://medium.com/@rosalindho/5-ways-to-take-the-first-step-to-reach-your-goal-448496622708

['Summer Lotus']

2020-11-29 03:37:22.502000+00:00

['Failure', 'Goal Setting', 'Success', 'Persistence', 'Step By Step']

AMAL Totkay: Exploring their significance

Introduction I am pumped up to write this blog about exploring the significance of AMAL totkay and an exciting fact about it is, “Its so much fun”. We as a Pakistani might have heard about “Zubaida Apa (May ALLAH Almighty grant her high ranks in Jannah) ka totkay”. Totkey simply means tips and tricks regarding anything which is under consideration. Amal really emphasizes us to have a growth mindset and hence Amal totkay is all about how to develop a growth mindset. Growth mindset is actually to adopt an attribute of being a life long learner. I would like to quote something here, Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. Getting deep into Amal Totkay As mentioned above, Amal totkay is all about growth mindset. The five totkey Amal gives to develop a growth mindset are: Self-Talk Get out of your comfort zone Create new habits Ask people help Fake it till you make it Let me brief each tip a little. Self-talk is all about reflecting yourself, reflecting your mindset. Empowering your own self can impact you towards success. Getting out of your comfort zone would really compel you to develop a strong yet strategic mindset. Creating new habits which would inculcate learning in your lifestyle and consequently help you to develop the right mindset. Ask people help means to have a good bunch of supportive people around you who would motivate and empower you in life. Fake it till you make it means to pretend that you have a growth mindset and you are confident enough to go. It would actually help you develop the same with the passage of time. I actually like all the tips shared by Amal on developing a growth mindset and I am already implementing some in my life. I always want to become my best version; henceforth, I like to put myself in challenging situations. I always believe that success comes when you get yourself out of your comfort zone. I do have people who actually empowers me whenever things don't go my way. My takeaways I learned that empowering yourself can actually play a crucial role in developing a growth mindset and you feel even more confident towards pursuing your goals. Moreover, having a kind group of people as your support is equally significant for your nourishment. Success is all about getting yourself out of your comfort zone and do what you really want to do. Lastly, an attribute of being a life long learner can really help you even beyond your expectations. So, do you really want to grow yourself? Do you really want to be successful? Try following the above-mentioned tips and develop a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset. believe me, things would change dramatically for you. Good luck!

https://medium.com/@mrahimusman/amal-totkay-exploring-their-significance-3d6d693745aa

['Muhammad Rahim Usman']

2020-12-24 20:31:44.732000+00:00

['Amal Academy', 'Amal Fellowship', 'Amal Totkay']

ELI5: Utreexo — A scaling solution

About me: I’ve been actively contributing to the Utreexo implementation for the past 7 months and have been actively looking into Bitcoin and surrounding tech for the past 2 years as a co-organizer for the Seoul Bitcoin Meetup. Utreexo is a hash accumulator for Bitcoin, proposed by Tadge Dryja, the co-author of the Lightning Network paper. It introduces the following trade-offs. Pros & Cons 4 huge benefits to Bitcoin: A new full node mode in a few kilobytes that syncs as fast as an ssd on an hdd. Allows for parallelization of the initial block download. Strengthens the security of Bitcoin by allowing consensus to be independent of the database implementation (the current one in usage is made by Google). No forks needed to bring Utreexo to Bitcoin. 2 main downsides: Around 20% more bandwidth usage for the initial block download. Additional storage requirements for Utreexo archival nodes. How it works Quick Overview: In Utreexo, a full node has the ability to keep only one hash per block, vs a traditional pruned full node where you have to keep all the UTXOs per block. To understand Utreexo, it is important that we take a look at how hash trees work. We’ll look at Merkle trees since it’s used in Bitcoin. A Merkle tree with 8 leaves would look like this: A typical Merkle tree Every number in this tree represents a hash. All the numbers in the bottom-most row, in Bitcoin, would be a TXID. 08 would be the result of concatenating and hashing of 00 and 01. 13 would be the result of concatenating and hashing of 10 and 11. Currently in Bitcoin, the Merkle tree is used for generating the merkle root in the block header. Utreexo takes this Merkle Tree concept and applies it to the UTXOs. It is important to note that Utreexo doesn’t replace the Merkle tree in the block header. Currently, as a Bitcoin full node, you must store all the UTXOs that are existent. In Utreexo, you can be a full node and only store the root of the UTXOs. The tree would look like this: Utreexo tree with just the root. Note that all the other hashes are deleted. All the other hashes from 00 to 13 are thrown away after validation and only 14, the root, is kept. If a user wants to spend UTXO 07, they would have to prove to you that the transaction exists. This would be done by providing: 06, 07, 10, 12. Then the validating node would make a separate tree with the received hashes: Tree for verifying. Note how the root can be calculated from this tree The empty spaces 11, 13, and 14 can be calculated by the verifying node. If this tree’s 14, the root, matches the one we stored, we can say that the transaction exists. Utreexo is a bit more complicated and is different in how it works from this example, but this is a quick rundown of its concept and how you can only store one hash instead of all the hashes and still be a full node. The Good 1. A full node in a few kilobytes that syncs as fast as an ssd on a hdd Full node in a few kilobytes Currently, there are two full node types: Archival and pruned. In a pruned node, the user only keeps the unspent transaction outputs (aka UTXO). Utreexo allows for another full node mode called the Compact State Node (or CSN) in which we only store roots and wallet information. This enables a full node to be a less than a kilobyte in data vs the current state where the user has to store a couple of gigabytes of data. This ability to only store UTXOs that belong to the user becomes more important as the adoption of Bitcoin increases. With one user needing at least one UTXO (and much more for privacy reasons), it will result in the increase of UTXOs. We can clearly see this growth of UTXOs from the below chart. UTXO count. Excludes OP_RETURNs Because of this, the storage requirement for a pruned node will grow, increasing the minimum storage requirement for a Bitcoin full node. Utreexo thwarts this by allowing a user to prune the UTXOs that doesn’t belong to them. Initial block download as fast as an ssd on a hdd Because a Compact State Nodes (CSN) can represent the entire Utreexo state in less than a kilobyte, there is no need to query the disk during the initial block download. This allows for the initial block download to happen solely on RAM, allowing for an hdd node to sync as fast as an ssd node. 2. Allows for the parallelization of the initial block download UTXO snapshotting is saving the state of all the UTXOs at a particular block height. One potential use case for this is the assumeUTXO project, which allows blockchain syncing from the snapshotted height. The main hurdle for snapshotting is that the size of this snapshot is fairly big at it currently being around 5GB. The size of a snapshot will grow as the state above in Advantage 1. With Utreexo, this is possible with less than a kilobyte in the worst case scenario¹ (best case is around 100 bytes). UTXO snapshotting with Utreexo is so easy that the ZKvM project has already implemented Utreexo and is using it for saving the blockchain state by including the Utreexo tree roots in the block header. With snapshots being so cheap, it is feasible to have a snapshot at every block height. With this, future implementations of the blockchain sync can be done in parallel, meaning that one computer (or cpu core) can sync from block height 0 to 300,000 and another can sync from block height 300,001 to 600,000. With CPU optimizations now focused on core count rather than clock speed and the emergence of GPGPU, this asynchronous block sync will help in further reducing the time needed to start up a Bitcoin Full node. 3. Utreexo strengthens the security of Bitcoin Allows consensus code to be separated from the database The libconsensus project was aimed at separating the consensus code from Bitcoin Core so that: Non-consensus code can be changed without fear of breaking consensus. Allow for one consensus API across different Bitcoin implementations. It was ultimately abandoned since it was very difficult for the database (leveldb) to be separated from the consensus code. This is a hugely important problem to solve, as in 2013, Bitcoin Core moved away from Berkeley DB to levelDB and suffered an unintended temporary hardfork, an unintended temporary softfork, and a hardfork (BIP50). Currently, consensus is dependent on levelDB functioning correctly as you need to fetch the stored transaction. This means if levelDB is not functioning correctly, there can be a fork vs another client that is using a different database. With Utreexo, you can validate an incoming transaction or block against the Utreexo tree without needing the database. The existence of a UTXO that the incoming transaction is spending would be checked upon with the included proofs. 4. No forks needed The RSA accumulator, proposed by Boneh et al. is more efficient in size vs Utreexo. However, the implementation of this would have to be done with a soft fork. With a conservative system like Bitcoin where even soft forks are done with extreme caution, these types of accumulators are very hard to implement into Bitcoin. Utreexo doesn’t require any forks. Users just have to opt into using Utreexo by running Utreexo nodes. The Bad 1. Needs Around 20% more bandwidth In a hypothetical situation in which one is syncing a bitcoin node with a really beefy computer, but lives in the middle of nowhere with very small bandwidth, Utreexo is gonna hurt, not help. The aforementioned proofs would have to be sent over along with the TXO, leading to around 20% more data to download from a peer. Utreexo can be seen as a trade-off between bandwidth and storage requirements in this sense. If you think the price for storage (hdd, ssd) is a bigger hurdle compared to internet speed (and cost), Utreexo helps with decentralization efforts. If you think internet speed is a bigger hurdle, Utreexo hurts decentralization efforts. 2. Additional storage requirement for an Utreexo archival node Utreexo archival nodes are the current Bitcoin archival nodes that store the aforementioned proofs that Utreexo nodes require. Utreexo archival nodes store: All blocks starting from genesis All proofs starting from genesis Because of #2, this will put additional storage burden on archival nodes. If an Utreexo archival node stores all proofs for every block, this will be around 100% extra data to store. However, this can be improved upon by not storing proofs for every block. One can store proofs for every odd block and “resync” if a node requests for proofs from an even block. For example, if proofs for block 566 is requested, the Utreexo archival node would: Retrieve block 566. Retrieve Utreexo tree that was formed at block 565. Apply the transactions from block 566 to the Utreexo tree, re-generating the proofs. Send out generated proofs to the node that requested it. This could be taken even further and one can store proofs for every 10 blocks and so on, further lessening the storage burden. Ultimately, a user can choose their own trade-off between cpu usage and storage. If a user has access to cheap data storage, they can choose to store all the proofs for all blocks. If a user has limited storage but has cpu time to spare, they can choose to store less and compute more. Conclusion Overall, Utreexo represents some trade-offs like any other system. I believe that Utreexo will aid in decentralization of Bitcoin by giving users the option to pick what trade-offs fit best for themselves. An implementation is in active development at github.com/mit-dci/utreexo. Any contribution is greatly appreciated :) Many thanks to Tadge Dryja, Ruben Somsen, Paul Grau, and Janus Troelsen for reviewing this article. Additional Resources In order of least technical to most technical What Bitcoin Did podcast interview with Tadge Dryja MIT DCI grey mirror podcast with Tadge Dryja Bitcoin Magazine article by Ellie Frost and Aaron van Wirdum Bitcoin Edge talk by Tadge Dryja Core Dev meeting transcript MIT Bitcoin Expo Utreexo introduction by Tadge Dryja Original Utreexo paper by Tadge Dryja Reference Implementation (Golang) Footnote ¹ In Utreexo, you have to keep multiple roots at times. Some block heights have less roots to keep vs others. This is explained in more detail in the Utreexo paper as well as the MIT Bitcoin Expo Utreexo introduction video.

https://medium.com/@kcalvinalvinn/eli5-utreexo-a-scaling-solution-9531aee3d7ba

['Calvin Kim']

2020-04-13 03:38:35.869000+00:00

['Scaling', 'Blockchain Scaling', 'Bitcoin', 'Lightning Network']

You take the high road, and I’ll take the unload

You take the high road, and I’ll take the unload Sometimes you need to take the direct path less travelled. An example of a simple bulk load is the Create Table As Select (CTAS) command as follows: CREATE TABLE &tbl_1 AS SELECT * FROM &tbl_2; However the simple bulk load is not the best choice for either: migrating an application to another database. migrating a new feature to an application in another database. Instead, the datapump export and import utilities are an excellent choice for migrating a whole schema, or just several tables and indexes. Using the datapump export, the data is unloaded to a dump file set, and then the datapump import loads the data to the destination database using either the conventional path, or the direct path. The direct path offers the ability to replace conventional redo records with invalidation redo records. The invalidation redo records mark a range of blocks as logically corrupt, but reduce the overhead of the load to improve insert performance. The performance of a direct path load that generates invalidation redo records will depend on many factors. However, what performance benefits are possible to achieve using a direct path load that generates invalidation redo records? Initial setup Before a load can be assessed for performance, we first need the datapump export to unload data to create a dump file set. Creating a dump file set can be as easy as the following: > expdp system parfile=d:\exportdp.table.index.par Once the dump file set is complete, there is a prerequisite configuration to ensure the direct path load can generate invalidation redo records. To generate invalidation redo records, the forced logging configuration needs to be disabled at the database level. Disabling the forced logging of redo records is performed as follows: ALTER DATABASE NO FORCE LOGGING; Database altered. SQL> SELECT force_logging FROM v$database; FORCE_LOGGING ——————————--- NO SQL> Now that forced logging is disabled, we have the opportunity to maximise load performance. A direct path load The following datapump import statement uses the direct path as the default access method: > impdp system parfile=d:\importdp.par The head of the logfile of the datapump import is below: Import: Release 12.2.0.1.0 — Production on Sun Oct 21 01:40:24 2018 Copyright © 1982, 2018, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Password: Connected to: Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.2.0.1.0–64bit Production Database Directory Object has defaulted to: “DATA_PUMP_DIR”. Master table “SYSTEM”.”IMPDP” successfully loaded/unloaded Starting “SYSTEM”.”IMPDP”: system/******** parfile=d:importdp.par Processing object type SCHEMA_EXPORT/USER .. Now switch from command line mode, to interactive mode with a ctrl+c, then exit interactive mode: Export> exit_client The datapump import will continue to load in the background. From an SQLPLUS client, it’s easy to prove that the access method of the load is the direct path by querying the transaction statistics: col name format a40 SELECT name, status, noundo, used_ublk, log_io, phy_io FROM v$transaction; NAME STATUS NOU USED_UBLK LOG_IO PHY_IO —————————————————------------- ------ --- --------- ------ ------ ACTIVE NO 1 13103 12990 SQL> / NAME STATUS NOU USED_UBLK LOG_IO PHY_IO —————————————————------------- ------ --- --------- ------ ------ ACTIVE NO 1 40640 40398 SQL> / NAME STATUS NOU USED_UBLK LOG_IO PHY_IO —————————————————------------- ------ --- --------- ------ ------ ACTIVE NO 1 64784 64258 SQL> The transaction has several thousand I/O but few used undo blocks, and this behavior is consistent with the direct path access method. The forced logging was disabled earlier, but because the objects being migrated are still in logging mode, we expect the direct path load to generate normal redo records: col name format a30 SELECT sid, name, TRUNC(value/1024/1024,1) "MB" FROM v$sesstat ss INNER JOIN v$statname sn ON (ss.statistic# = sn.statistic#) WHERE name IN ('redo size for direct writes', —- direct path only 'redo size') -— conventional plus direct path AND sid IN (SELECT sid FROM v$session WHERE program='impdp.exe' or module like 'Data Pump%') ORDER BY sid, name; SID NAME MB —-— -—-—-—---------------—------ ------ 20 redo size .3 20 redo size for direct writes .1 23 redo size .8 23 redo size for direct writes 0 151 redo size 244.1 151 redo size for direct writes 242.2 SQL> / SID NAME MB —-— ———————————----------------- ------ 20 redo size .3 20 redo size for direct writes .1 23 redo size .8 23 redo size for direct writes 0 151 redo size 1143.1 151 redo size for direct writes 1141.1 SQL> / SID NAME MB --— —---------------—-—————————- ------ 20 redo size .4 20 redo size for direct writes .1 23 redo size .8 23 redo size for direct writes 0 151 redo size 1618.5 151 redo size for direct writes 1616.1 SQL> The session statistics show that the ‘redo size for direct writes’ is steadily increasing, and this suggests that normal redo records are being created for the direct path load. For the generation of many redo records, we expect many switches of the online redo logs: -— recent activity of the online redo logs col 1st_time format a15 SELECT SEQUENCE#, (sysdate-FIRST_TIME) day(1) to second (0) "1st_time", FIRST_CHANGE#, NEXT_CHANGE# FROM v$log_history WHERE NUMTODSINTERVAL(sysdate-first_time,'DAY') < NUMTODSINTERVAL(20,'MINUTE'); SEQUENCE# 1st_time FIRST_CHANGE# NEXT_CHANGE# ————————— —————------ ------------- ------------ 779 +0 00:20:01 7718053 7718210 780 +0 00:19:06 7718210 7718366 781 +0 00:18:14 7718366 7718552 782 +0 00:17:40 7718552 7718726 783 +0 00:17:02 7718726 7718882 784 +0 00:16:27 7718882 7719653 785 +0 00:15:27 7719653 7719870 786 +0 00:14:23 7719870 7720156 SQL> There are many switches of the online redo logs during the time of the direct path load, and the reason is because the objects created are in logging mode. The SQL Developer client can also show redo record generation, and undo utilization, through the instance viewer of the DBA menu. The upper right-hand-side of the display shows the undo utilization at only 2.8%, which is low. The lower left-hand-side shows the rate of redo record generation as high as 5.5 MB/sec. After the direct path load is finished, if there were any invalidation redo records created, they will be recorded: SELECT UNRECOVERABLE_CHANGE#, TO_CHAR(UNRECOVERABLE_TIME, 'Dy ddMonyyyy hh24:mi:ss') timestamp FROM V$DATAFILE WHERE UNRECOVERABLE_CHANGE# > 0 AND ts# IN (SELECT ts# FROM v$tablespace WHERE name=UPPER('&tblspc')) AND NUMTODSINTERVAL(sysdate-UNRECOVERABLE_TIME,'DAY') < NUMTODSINTERVAL(20,'MINUTE'); no rows selected SQL> So certainly normal redo records were generated instead of invalidation redo records. The tail of the logfile of the datapump import will also show the benchmark performance of the datapump import: .. Processing object type SCHEMA_EXPORT/TABLE/INDEX/INDEX Job “SYSTEM”.”IMPDP” completed with 0 error(s) at Sun Oct 21 23:32:03 2018 elapsed 0 00:08:13 So the datapump import has taken over 8 minutes for a direct path load with the generation of normal redo records. A direct path load using the TRANSFORM clause New for Oracle 12c, is the ability to generate invalidation redo records, even if all the objects loaded are in logging mode. To generate invalidation redo records, the TRANSFORM clause with DISABLE_ARCHIVE_LOGGING:Y is specified. > impdp system transform=disable_archive_logging:y parfile=d:\importdp.par The value DISABLE_ARCHIVE_LOGGING:Y means invalidation redo records are generated for all tables and indexes in the load. The head of the logfile of the datapump import is below: Import: Release 12.2.0.1.0 — Production on Mon Oct 22 00:11:26 2018 Copyright © 1982, 2018, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Password: Connected to: Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.2.0.1.0–64bit Production Database Directory Object has defaulted to: “DATA_PUMP_DIR”. Master table “SYSTEM”.”IMPDP” successfully loaded/unloaded Starting “SYSTEM”.”IMPDP”: system/******** transform=disable_archive_logging:y parfile=d:importdp.par Processing object type SCHEMA_EXPORT/USER .. Now switch from command line mode, to interactive mode with a ctrl+c, then exit interactive mode: Export> exit_client The datapump import will continue to load in the background. From an SQLPLUS client, it’s easy to prove that the access method of the load is the direct path by querying the transaction statistics: col name format a40 SELECT name, status, noundo, used_ublk, log_io, phy_io FROM v$transaction; NAME STATUS NOU USED_UBLK LOG_IO PHY_IO —————————————————------------- ------ --- --------- ------ ------ ACTIVE NO 1 61 75269 SQL> / NAME STATUS NOU USED_UBLK LOG_IO PHY_IO —————————————————------------- ------ --- --------- ------ ------ ACTIVE NO 1 6854 107258 SQL> / NAME STATUS NOU USED_UBLK LOG_IO PHY_IO —————————————————------------- ------ --- --------- ------ ------ ACTIVE NO 1 16203 127761 SQL> As for the previous load, the transaction statistics show there are few undo blocks used, so the direct path access method is being used. The question is — how many redo records are generated this time? col name format a30 SELECT sid, name, TRUNC(value/1024/1024,1) "MB" FROM v$sesstat ss INNER JOIN v$statname sn ON (ss.statistic# = sn.statistic#) WHERE name IN ('redo size for direct writes', -— direct path only 'redo size') -— conventional plus direct path AND sid IN (SELECT sid FROM v$session WHERE program='impdp.exe' or module like 'Data Pump%') ORDER BY sid, name; SID NAME MB —-— -—-—-—---------------—------ ------ 132 redo size 2.4 132 redo size for direct writes .8 133 redo size .8 133 redo size for direct writes 0 385 redo size .4 385 redo size for direct writes .1 SQL> / SID NAME MB —-— -—-—-—---------------—------ ------ 132 redo size 3.1 132 redo size for direct writes .8 133 redo size .8 133 redo size for direct writes 0 385 redo size .4 385 redo size for direct writes .1 SQL> / SID NAME MB —-— -—-—-—---------------—------ ------ 132 redo size 3.1 132 redo size for direct writes .8 133 redo size .8 133 redo size for direct writes 0 385 redo size .4 385 redo size for direct writes .1 SQL> For the previous load, the session statistics showed that the ‘redo size for direct writes’ was steadily increasing, but now this is not the case. The ‘redo size for direct writes’ metric is static. Are there many switches of the online redo logs? —- recent activity of the online redo logs col 1st_time format a15 SELECT SEQUENCE#, (sysdate-FIRST_TIME) day(1) to second (0) "1st_time", FIRST_CHANGE#, NEXT_CHANGE# FROM v$log_history WHERE NUMTODSINTERVAL(sysdate-first_time,'DAY') < NUMTODSINTERVAL(20,'MINUTE'); no rows selected SQL> So the load has small ‘redo size for direct writes’, and no switching of online redo logs, and this suggests that invalidation redo records are being generated. The SQL Developer client will also show redo record generation: The undo utilization is still low (2.8%), and the graph of the redo record generation shows the rate is 45kB/sec or lower. The rate of redo record generation at 45kB/sec is much lower than the previous load (maximum of 5.5 MB/sec). After the direct path load is finished, if there were any invalidation redo records created, they will be recorded: SELECT UNRECOVERABLE_CHANGE#, TO_CHAR(UNRECOVERABLE_TIME, 'Dy ddMonyyyy hh24:mi:ss') timestamp FROM V$DATAFILE WHERE UNRECOVERABLE_CHANGE# > 0 AND ts# IN (SELECT ts# FROM v$tablespace WHERE name = UPPER('&tblspc')) AND NUMTODSINTERVAL(sysdate-UNRECOVERABLE_TIME,'DAY') < NUMTODSINTERVAL(20,'MINUTE'); UNRECOVERABLE_CHANGE# TIMESTAMP ————————————--------— ———------------------- 7727610 Mon 22Oct2018 00:12:49 SQL> For the last load there were no invalidation redo records, but now there is a record in recent history. With less redo records generated than before, there should be an improved load performance. The tail of the logfile of the datapump import will show the improvement of the load performance: .. Processing object type SCHEMA_EXPORT/TABLE/INDEX/INDEX Job “SYSTEM”.”IMPDP” completed with 0 error(s) at Mon Oct 22 00:12:49 2018 elapsed 0 00:01:17 So previously the elapsed time of the datapump import took over 8 minutes, but now the same load is just over 1 minute! In Oracle 12c, using the TRANSFORM clause for the datapump import, it’s never been easier to load objects at the highest levels of Oracle database performance. See Also The options for the TRANSFORM clause are here: https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/12.2/sutil/datapump-import-utility.html#GUID-64FB67BD-EB67-4F50-A4D2-5D34518E6BDB About the Author Paul Guerin is an international consultant that specialises in Oracle database performance. Paul is based from a global delivery center in South East Asia, but has clients from Australia, Europe, Asia, and North America. Moreover, he has presented at some of the world’s leading Oracle conferences, including Oracle Open World 2013. His work has also been featured in the IOUG Best Practices Tip Booklet of 2015, and also in the Oracle Technology Network (OTN). He is a DBA OCP, and continues to be a participant of the Oracle ACE program.

https://medium.com/oracledevs/you-take-the-high-road-and-ill-take-the-unload-f93742dc4f52

['Paul Guerin']

2019-05-14 21:08:24.965000+00:00

['Datapump', 'Oracle', 'Migration', 'Performance', 'Oracledevs']

Disney plans to match Netflix in its streaming budget

According to The Economist Disney+ streaming service has been one of the great success stories of the year of lockdown. Launched a year ago with a target of reaching 60m-90m subscribers by 2024, it‘d hit that mark by this summer. Disney said that in the next few years it would release around ten more “Star Wars” series, ten based on the Marvel comic books, 15 other new original series and 15 feature films. By 2024 its content spending on Disney+ will be $14bn-16bn across all its streaming channels (which include Hulu & ESPN+). To help pay for all this, the company plans to raise the subscription price of Disney+ by a dollar a month. But that dollar will be multiplied by what it now expects to be 230m-260m subscribers by 2024 — more than treble its previous target. Across all its streaming channels, Disney expects to have more than 300m paying subscribers by 2024. This could be enough to make streaming the company’s single largest business by revenues. The spending spree will also worry cinema-owners. WarnerMedia, a subsidiary of AT&T, a telecoms group, shocked them last week with its announcement that in 2021 all its feature films will be released on its HBO MAX. The first movie to get this treatment, on Christmas Day, will be “Wonder Woman 1984”. Follow us on our Instagram.

https://medium.com/@techrule/disney-plans-to-match-netflix-in-its-streaming-budget-b4b60790422f

['Tech Rule']

2020-12-26 05:52:48.984000+00:00

['Disney Plus', 'Marketing', 'Netflix', 'Technology', 'Streaming']

Build a relationship and work on networking online

It is odd to have zoom calls rather than heading off to an event or meeting to work with people. If you’re in sales or working in an organization your approach to building relationships needs to shift. I recently saw a post on Instagram where someone said, “Please stop using the word PIVOT.” I laughed because pivot is a good word to describe the new networking skills we must adapt to be successful and confident, especially f you’re introverted. Adapting your style will require you to become the one to take initiative. In the last six weeks your relationship circle most likely became a lot smaller and even more awkward to figure out how to connect with new people. So, adapt and develop skills to do the work to build relationships. Focus on the basics and you will be able to continue to reach your sales goals, advance your career or find a new job. Here are the basics of networking, even online networking. Be strategic. Have a plan for why you want to network. Know who you want to meet and why? Know what you have to offer to them before you even think of sending an email or inviting them to connect on Linkedin. If you’re not clear of what you have to offer and you’re unsure of your strengths, take 30 minutes and complete the Strengthfinder book. This test will give you language to know what you’re good at and how to showcase those strengths in your daily relationship building efforts. Your network may know what your strengths are but since you’re so close to them it may be more challenging for you to value them day in and day out. Really be strategic. It’s Sunday night and you start to think about your week or month ahead, but do you really have a plan for who the people are that you want to connect with or build relationships with to accomplish your goals. Do you have any idea what their goals are? Make a list. Do research. Build your list of your TOP 25 people to meet with. Review your past connections and what you’ve accomplished with these people. If you can’t list 25 people then this is the first place to begin. Be strategic with your relationships. Good habits. Building relationships is about caring and connecting and delivering what you say you’re going to do. It’s also about the habits that show you care. It’s asking another person what you can do for them? It’s know what their goals are and being able to connect them to other people. Habits also include writing follow up notes and using the phone to let another person hear your voice. Good habits are actually posting a comment on Linkedin rather than merely scanning to see what is going on. Convert your habits into a process. For example, I write hand-written notes every Friday afternoon. And lately, I’ve asked people for their home address as I know they don’t go their office every day any longer. Reflect and learn. Building a network takes effort and consistent action. It’s not as easy as reaching out and having the person do what you want. Often you can learn more from the relationships that didn’t work out or were not as productive as you want by taking the time to reflect on what happened. I have had many relationships work and be impactful for both parties. I’ve also had attempted relationships where I didn’t approach the person in the right way. I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t know what I was asking for. And even at one time, I didn’t realize I was reaching out to the entirely wrong person until I had invested a lot of time, energy and expectations. The growth is in the learning. Curious to learn more then join us on these upcoming events. As you work on networking online, keep in mind that everyone is adjusting to to this “new normal”. You will want to be the one who takes initiative, is clear and positive as to why you want to connect and has excellent follow through habits. Keep learning. People are interesting and start with knowing yourself and keep going to find the right mix of people in your network or sales pipeline.

https://medium.com/@cathypaper/build-a-relationship-and-work-on-networking-online-f3a5f080f4f4

['Cathy Paper']

2020-04-26 23:25:07.227000+00:00

['Online', 'Networking Tips', 'Zoom', 'Networking', 'Sales']

A BABY’S DIARY

A BABY’S DIARY CHAPTER 3- MY ABODE A sudden beam of light flashed in my eyes and I could faintly discern things around. I thought I was entering another test. Usually dad brought me for tests, but that time mom held me, so I presumed mom wasn't scared of it anymore. Mom covered my face and said, "Is the sunlight very bright for you baby?" I was out in the sun for the first time. It was hotter outside and I couldnt open my eyes. I tried to peep furtively through the towel, but was dispirited. Click! Click! I heard a noise and I was inside an object. The object moved like my craddle. Daddy said, "This is baby's first trip in our car!". I remembered grandpa mentioning about car. I was in a car! It moved forward, backward, sideways, around, in all directions. I had a feeling of unwonted gaiety in my mind. I decided to tell my mom that we should take tours in car often. But where were we going? Deep in thought I took a power nap but couldn't rest much as there were lot of noises. Beep! Beep! Vroom! Vroom! Pom! Pom! Drrrrrr! Drrrr! Moving in car with amusement and sunlight dashing on my face on and off, I was curious to know our destination. Few minutes later dad helped us to alight and said " You are home!". I was in my new home, my grand mother welcomed me with a plate which had flame burning and she rolled it around my head. My eyes rolled around the plate too, looking at the flame. I could hear more people chattering. They enquired about me and my mom's health. I was delighted to meet them all. I thought they would be getting into our home instead they had another door. Myself, mom and dad were getting into the next door. I was looking around my new home. Mom took to me to the bedroom and put me in the bed. The bed was really cozy and the room was bright. Lying there was better than the cradle, but not better than my mom's lap, neither grand ma's. I didn't feel any warmth in the bed. Days went by and I fell into a routine of drinking milk, sleeping, pooping and so on. We had few visitors almost every other day, all of them were excited to meet me. They brought me gifts, mostly news dresses to wear. My friends from the next door were regularly visiting me. One of my favourites is Diya akka. I remember her voice right from the days I got my ears when I was inside. She used to sing songs for me. My mom said she was 5 years elder to me. I also like Pappu akka, she would always hold my hands when she was with me. Both of them played with me for sometime and went back to their homes. I wished they just stayed with me, but mom said they had a lot of homeworks to do. I was wondering what homework was? Would I be doing it too? The next day my dad started packing things again, I had no intend to leave my home. I loved it here, but he said we were travelling. I was thrilled to travel in a car but I didn't want to leave my home too. Wondering what was going to happen next I dozed off. Sleeping was my hobby, I slept most of the time. When I woke up, I felt happy. We were traveling. But wait, it didn't look like our car. Where was I?

https://medium.com/@vidyavydianathan/a-babys-diary-1ca155a257c9

['Vidya Vydianathan']

2020-06-10 05:58:50.708000+00:00

['Baby', 'Chapter 3', 'A Babys Diary', 'Continuation', 'First Blog Post']

Bentham Science Partners with Chronos Hub on Open Access

Bentham Science takes its Open Access management to the forefront by becoming the first publisher to fully leverage Chronos Hub. The collaboration serves to improve the authors’ experience and guarantee compliance with their funders’ and institution’s publishing policies, as well as automating the payment and reporting processes. “We are very pleased to collaborate with Bentham Science and offer all funders and institutions on Chronos Hub an integrated submission to their over 200 journals as well as the opportunity to publish under an Open Access License at discounted rates in Bentham’s journals as a new member benefit,” said Christian Grubak, CEO of Chronos Hub. In line with the push towards Open Access (OA) and Plan S approaching, funders and research institutions are encouraging and mandating researchers to publish their findings in OA journals. This is, however, faced with many challenges for everyone involved. The collaboration between Chronos Hub and Bentham Science serves to address some of those key challenges, both for the authors and their institutions. The authors can indicate their funding source(s) and directly see which of Bentham’s journals that offer a compliant route. The authors also get a clear view of any Article Processing Charges (APCs) or other publishing fees that need to be paid upon acceptance of their article, taking any consortium or institutional agreements into account, including discounts and read & publish agreements. In addition, the authors get a smoother submission into Bentham’s journals as much of the information on the authors, grants and funders largely get prepopulated through Chronos Hub. This information will further be reused for automating the reporting and payment processes to offload administrative work for the authors. For the institutions, they get access to an OA dashboard where they easily can accept or reject payments for each accepted article from authors at their institution. The institutions can even choose to become members on Chronos Hub and get a consolidated access to articles across all publishers. They can also make use of deposit accounts for easy payments in any currency. Furthermore, the institutions can access reports and data to monitor any financial transactions and auto-populate their own systems, like their local institutional repository. “We are very excited about the collaboration with Chronos Hub,” says Faizan ul Haq, Marketing Director at Bentham Science. “This enables us to support all different OA business models in a flexible way as we transition towards more and more Open Access, and provide our authors and institutions with a peace of mind throughout the publishing process, knowing that they’ll stay compliant and have access to all data and analytics they need.” About Chronos Hub Headquartered in Copenhagen, Chronos Hub is an online platform supporting authors to select suitable journals for their manuscript submissions by making funding policies and institutional agreements transparent. Through a collaborative approach, Chronos Hub streamlines the workflow for publishers, funders and institutions for an effective APC management, funding policy compliance and OA reporting. About Bentham Science Bentham Science is a science, technology, and medical (STM) publisher, providing academic researchers and industrial professionals with the latest information in diverse fields of science and technology. Bentham Science currently publishes more than 200 journals in both electronic and printed formats. These journals cover various disciplines in pharmaceutical research and development, medical subspecialties, engineering, technology, and social sciences. The journals are indexed in recognized indexing services, such as Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, MEDLINE/Index Medicus, PubMed, Scopus, Chemical Abstracts, and EMBASE.

https://medium.com/@jenniferl-bentham-science/bentham-science-partners-with-chronos-hub-on-open-access-7057cc52cc21

['Jennifer Lazaro']

2020-12-21 15:14:27.577000+00:00

['Publishing', 'Academia', 'Science', 'Journal', 'Writing']

Personal Experiences in 2020

At the end of this unprecedented year, 2020, where are we, and where are we heading? The COVID-19 pandemic eruption has taken us into a crisis that no one could imagine before. The losses of over 300,000 precious lives have, in part, been fueled by deep-rooted social and economic divisions as well as racial disparities in our country and the globe. The impacts from these losses and the scars would further require logistic actions to rebuild the confidence in people, the societies, and our communities. Since we all are impacted and grieving in many ways, our souls and spirits also need to heal and free ourselves from these existing rooted problems. These processes may require much tenacity and resilience of our own and the societies. Though personal, I would like to share my little story using this space, the story of my coming out of “the cave” this year. In the Buddhist scriptures, it is said, “Adversity leads to enlightenment.” Despite all the difficulties we have shared, I am still very grateful for what I’ve learned this year. *** I lost my late husband for twenty-six years, Patrick, on July fourth, 2016. We were literally very, very close and inseparable beings. Our umbilical cords must have been intertwined somehow from our past lives. When Patrick was alive, he’d called me “the best-est friend” all the time. However, he’d suddenly fallen ill in June 2013. The fall was so rapid and ironic as if the most multi-tasking and highest functional person had become the one with the worst possibly-imagined disabilities. Regardless of his early prognosis only for a few months and his never-ending crises, he had survived for over three years with my devotion and care. You can imagine how many difficulties his illness, and, of course, his death had brought to him, to us, and me. After all the traumatic events during his illness, I was left alone only with severe insomnia and self-neglected panic attack syndrome. Perhaps, I must’ve been a sufferer of continuous “post-traumatic stress syndrome” as well. Around nine months after Patrick’s death, I began to realize that my attitude to be a better leader and devout Buddhist had precipitated more stress on my system. I’d lived in this system so long, neglecting my own emotions, particularly vulnerability. After crashing myself with shame, guilt, and my own lies, I began to write before his first anniversary. While writing, I’d literally groaned and cried out of sadness, sorrows, and agonies. Some of my sufferings have stemmed from my childhood emotional abuse. But still, I’d left lots of untold stories, almost no scenes to describe what’d happened either. It was because it’d been too painful to face them. The draft was rejected by one of the writing coaches to further process for possible revisions. Then I began to take classes, workshops, and courses for writing. There were lots to learn from them. I’d finished the second revision in another six months. Even in this revision of my book (which wasn’t still publishable at all!!), there were still lots of hidden emotions, deceptions, and lies in me that had stood high to protect my own vulnerability. In January this year, I’d finally decided to take one of the memoir writing courses led by Brooke Warner and Linda Joy Meyer, and I’d begun to work on my third revision throughout the course. Soon, writing had become my battlefields to face deeper truths in me. Thanks to Brooke and Linda Joy, with blood and tears, I’d begun to shed layers of my veils and see myself in the light of compassion. With tenacity and consistency as my own merit and weapons, I’ve kept writing and fighting to accept myself every day. It’s become my spiritual practice to face and accept my ego and find my true Self. My journey in writing has become how I employ its power to transform and change my life. While we were undergoing this COVID summer, I’ve completed the third revision, which now I regard as “the first” draft. In the book, I have found the ground and home, which has been me, Self. Also, as a devout practicing Buddhist myself, I’d long “performed” a good formal part of myself. But now, I am a naked version of myself, a naturally good and much fearless person. The COVID pandemic has brought lots of challenges to everyone without exceptions. It has also made us look deeper into our existing issues from small to large, from an individual to the global level. Like you, I’ve also faced my own existing difficulties. I’ve learned something from my struggles. Whatever the difficulties are, if we have the tenacity to face and work around the heart of the issues, we can eventually transform them into something profound and sacred. I would invite you to this space. We all suffer, yet it would not be the end but be the beginning of our story.

https://medium.com/@kyomioconnor/personal-experiences-in-2020-db506e276c27

["Kyomi O'Connor"]

2020-12-24 22:39:52.867000+00:00

['Empowerment', 'Self Improvement', 'Loss', 'Writing', 'Self-awareness']

10 Quick Ways How to Write a Good Cover Letter in 2021

10 Quick Ways How to Write a Good Cover Letter in 2021 Pedroperez Dec 21, 2021·5 min read A cover letter is one of the main things in the question of building a career. It is a formal letter that you add to your resume to explain to the recruiter why you are interested in a job and why exactly it is worth their time to invite you to the interview. Sometimes a well-structured and honest cover letter can be even more effective than all of your previous experience and accomplishments. However, it also can be challenging for an applicant to write a cover letter which can ensure you a prosperous future with excellent work and a high salary. For this reason, people are looking for professionals who can help to meet the cover letter requirements. It’s an excellent idea to invest in your career and find a specialized company to pay someone to write a cover letter on https://skillhub.com/cover-letter-writing or help you out with the application process. Moreover, you can follow our recommendations on quick ways on how to write a good cover letter in 2021, and your dream job will be yours in the shortest time. Beat the ATS bots A job search can be challenging, even disappointing sometimes. You can have the best qualification and send hundreds of resumes for jobs you are sure you are perfect for, but still don’t have any invites for the interviews for weeks. Why does it happen? It’s a problem with the bots in the applicant tracking system. ATS system is a new software for hiring. It’s something like CRM, but it was designed for the applications’ data. ATS analyses the recruiter’s demands and tries to find the perfect match. It makes the recruitment process simpler for both the future employee and those who recruit. However, despite its benefits, this automation makes it harder for job seekers to be noticed. Its algorithm focuses just on the key skills. That’s why the bot can ignore your other advantages. That’s why it’s essential to write a bot-beating resume and cover letter that will combat the system selection algorithm. For example, you’d rather not submit your documents in PDF format. It also would be better to use the classical fonts for your cover letter (like Times New Roman or Arial) and avoid using any images. Write the Proper Header and Greeting Unfortunately, some applicants don’t pay attention to the letter header. And it’s wrong because this is the first thing you potential recruiters will see. The header checking is the first step of resume scanning. Make sure you added all the needed contact information : your name, phone number, and e-mail. These days it’s getting more popular to also add the link to your LinkedIn or Facebook page. It can help your employers to learn more about your work experience and understand your personality better. It’s significant for some creative positions who can use these platforms as their portfolio (designers, copywriters, PR managers, etc.). : your name, phone number, and e-mail. These days it’s getting more popular to also add the link to your LinkedIn or Facebook page. It can help your employers to learn more about your work experience and understand your personality better. It’s significant for some creative positions who can use these platforms as their portfolio (designers, copywriters, PR managers, etc.). Use the proper greeting in your cover letter. Some companies prefer to use full names, others only use the first name, for instance: “Dear Elizabeth!”. Do some research, try to identify to whom you are writing. Some companies prefer to use full names, others only use the first name, for instance: “Dear Elizabeth!”. Do some research, try to identify to whom you are writing. Be polite to those who can hire you. Don’t forget to include the proper name and the hiring manager’s title in your cover letter. Make sure you don’t use the name from another job application. This tip also applies to the name of the company. Don’t forget to include the proper name and the hiring manager’s title in your cover letter. Make sure you don’t use the name from another job application. This tip also applies to the name of the company. Use a professional-looking email address. Ideally, you should get a work email that has your name in it. Using nicknames in professional correspondence can negatively affect your image. Use Catchy Phrases in the First Paragraph As you probably noticed, the first pages in the books, the first couple of minutes in any video can decide whether you want to continue reading or watching. The same rule works for your job application. Your cover letter should make you stand out from the crowd. That’s why your introduction must be catchy. Your high school diploma probably won’t impress anyone, but a personal motivation story can differ you from other job seekers, so you’ll get more interviews. Sell Yourself to Your Employer Recruiting firms specialists see hundreds of applications every day. The applicant tracking process is a well-organized yet dull system. That’s why it is not enough to craft a winning resume to secure a job. Many career resources advise you to try to sell yourself to the employer. It’s the only way to land the job of your dreams. While your first priority should be beating the bots, your second step should be to impress the human hiring manager that will eventually look at your resume. Of course, the ATS game puts some serious restrictions on how creative you can be with your application. But you should do your best to try and make it as original as possible. Once you have taken care of all the ATS requirements — you can throw the cliches out of the window. Show the hiring manager that you have a personality. Surprise them. Resumes filled with generic statements will just get glossed over. So try to be as unconventional as possible while also staying true to your aspirations and qualifications. Once you’ve captured the hiring manager’s qualification — your chances of getting the job skyrocket. Get Professional Help with Your Cover Letter If you want to land an interview without any problems, try to ask a career advice expert or order a cover letter from professionals in the writing business. These people know very well how to engage the readers, and as a result, it will significantly increase your chances to be employed. The potential boss will hire you faster if you write your letter with a better knowledge of your career field and the job market. It doesn’t matter what job you are looking for. Professionals always know how to find the best approach. For more info visit resumeservice24 or top-resume-reviews.com . Creating a good cover letter is a complicated procedure, but it can help your career growth. That’s why if you dedicate a qualified amount of time to writing now, you will have better chances to get hired to do exciting work in the future. Use our recommendations and somebody will employ you very soon.

https://medium.com/@pedroperez23/10-quick-ways-how-to-write-a-good-cover-letter-in-2021-a2160f67cb04

[]

2021-12-21 16:37:40.173000+00:00

['Resume', 'Resume Writing Tips', 'Resume Writing Service', 'Resume Writing']

Principles of visual design

Principles of visual design These elements are inherently present in any good layout design In my last article in the design series, I talked about seven principles of design in general, whether it be a hardware product, a service, an experience, or a software UI. In this one, I am going a step further to emphasize the design principles that are essential for a good ‘visual’ design on a digital or printed platform. Let me start with the famous gestalt principle: “the whole is other than the sum of the parts — Kurt Koffka”. In other words, an organized whole is perceived as greater than the sum of its parts. Gestalt means form or shape in German. It is a group of visual perception principles developed by German psychologists in the 1920s. These things sound very simple to understand and they are! But it creates confusion and takes time to master once you start practicing them in combination. Let’s try to understand them through examples. Proximity, similarity, and continuity It is all about showing visual spaces to show the relationship between and among the content. Just group similar things together. The elements of the design that are not grouped together, show the lack of relationship. This makes the user’s eyes less strained to understand and filter information if she is in a hurry or quick browsing mode. Reification and Closure People can recognize objects even when there are parts of them are missing. This is reification. Closure forces us to see a white square instead of four broken circles in the image in the next topic. Our brain matches what we see with familiar patterns stored in our memory and fills in the gaps. Figure-ground relationship and relative size As the name suggests, there is always a layout or ground and there is always a figure over it. The trick is we can interchange the figure and grounds to show the items that we wish. In the second and third images below, some will see the two faces whereas some will see the thin vase. The figure and ground changes as per the viewer. The relative size of the vase or rather the distance between the faces affects the perception. The increasing distance starts enhancing more on the vase instead of faces. White space White spaces are not exactly the white-color spaces. They are just the space on the canvas where there is no element. The white spaces, sometimes also called negative spaces, helps designers stress important information and segregate different kinds of information at the same time. White space is one of the most important and key design principles. We will see that ‘how’ towards the end of this article through a video. In the picture below (contrast section), we can see how white spaces declutter the element and give the layout, room to breathe. Alignment We have seen the importance of alignment in all facets of our life. Whether, it be architectural structures, clothing, room arrangement, food display, hardware design, or a layout design that we are talking about here. Alignment gives your design a serene look and improves the readability of the page. This also helps logically group the text to emphasize the hierarchy of the elements. The most important and easy way to follow this rule is to be consistent. Equal spaces from each side like done in the image below(contrast section). Contrast It means differentiating one item from another. It can be done in multiple ways other than just using contrasting colors. It can be done using completely dissimilar text, using dissimilar sizes, and of course by using contrasting colors. It is mainly done to catch the reader’s eye or create a focus on something important like done with the ‘buy’ button below. Hierarchy This is the arrangement of elements (mainly text) in a fashion to catch the reader’s eye on the main elements first and then the less important one and then the lesser important than before. You can easily see that in the above image how the designer has guided the user/reader to read the main heading first and if you think that if of any use for you then continue reading the details or go to the next one. Repetition It is a great saying by Muhammad Ali: It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen. Repetition is another way to become consistent. We can use a color palette to use the colors at all places on our layout. We can also use a particular header or text styles to create a similar type of content. This also makes the reader’s life easier in comprehending the content on your layout. Summary To summarize, I would say that the use of white spaces or negative spaces is one of the most important skills to acquire since that drives all other principles that we see here. The video above emphasizes the point in an easily understandable manner.

https://uxdesign.cc/principles-of-visual-design-fb49004f5a67

['Deepak Singh']

2020-12-27 20:37:54.953000+00:00

['Gestalt Principles', 'Design', 'UX', 'UI', 'Visual Design']

Melvin Feller Discusses Using Business Core Competencies

Melvin Feller Discusses Using Business Core Competencies Melvin Feller Business Group in Burkburnett Ministries and Dallas Texas and Lawton Oklahoma. Our mission is to call and equip a generation of Christian entrepreneurs to do business as ministry. We provide workshops and resources that help companies discover how to do business God’s way and provide a positive outreach as the director. When the heart of a business is service rather than self it can be transformed into a fruitful business ministry earning a profit and being of service to the community and their customers. Melvin Feller is currently pursuing another graduate degree in business organizations. Using Business Core Competencies by Melvin Feller Business core competencies can boost up your business performance. You achieve business success by building high value business core competencies. Your business performance is being determined by how you invest your time and how you use the resources, you already have to achieve your highest value goals. You are successful business leaders. You build a successful future today. Your future is being determined by what you are doing right now. You build, maintain, and develop successful business. You are a successful businessperson. You have an entrepreneurial spirit, credibility, experience and networks to build successful business. Using Business Core Competencies by Melvin Feller The future is being determined by how you manage the resources you already have. Make a list of all the resources that you already have. Sell all of your low-value resources, and buy high-value resources. Why? Because low value resources will waste your time. High value resources will multiply the value of your time. Time is your most valuable asset. Your business performance is being determined by how you use your most valuable asset: your time. You need to build business core competency. Core competencies are your natural abilities. You build high value business core competencies. You focus on business where you have the skills and abilities to deliver high value products and services. You are targeting high demand markets. Using Business Core Competencies by Melvin Feller Every individual need have core competencies. If you are in business, you need business core competencies. In fact, you need to have high value core competency. Focus your mind, time and effort to build high value core competencies. Multiply your success by simply doing what you love. Build personal and business high value core competencies. Delegate anything that does not fit with your personal and business core competencies. The higher level of core competencies, the greater your success will be. Make the most of every opportunity. Quickly and precisely, achieve your goals. Use an accurate strategy. Have a sense of achievement. Act with careful thought. Do not rush. Apply effective strategy to achieve high value goals. Accelerate your progress. Use the power of focus. Create big differences in your life. The performance of your business is being determined by every of your decisions. Every of your decisions determines the future. Understand your current circumstances. Apply effective strategies to build your future. Have a keen understanding about what matter most. Take effective decisions quickly and accurately. Using Business Core Competencies by Melvin Feller The right strategy is very important. The more accurate your strategy, the greater the likelihood of success. The less accurate your strategy, the less likely you will succeed. Failure is expensive in terms of time, cost, and human potential. You apply the principle of daring to succeed, not daring to fail. Failure is not an option. You eliminate the cause of the failure to increase the likelihood of success. By eliminating the cause of failure, you multiply the chances of success. It’s all start with your ability to use time and resources in the best possible way. Eliminate the cause of the failure to increase the likelihood of success. Using Business Core Competencies by Melvin Feller You must set a target accurately and manage resources in the best way to maximize results. Understand all the important details and take strategic steps to create success. You need certain tools to achieve success. These tools are useful for multiply the performance. Without these tools, you will get limited results. Some goals cannot be achieved without tools. Understand the work tools, which are useful to multiply your performance. You need to set short, medium, and long-term goals. Balance the achievement of short-term and long-term goals; bridge the short and long-term goals with medium term goals. When you are setting goals, you need to understand and apply effective strategy to achieve those goals. Ask yourself these questions: What resources do I have, how much time do I need, and what are the desirable results that I will get when I have achieved the goals. Success is a combination of processes and results. You set high value goals as the result to be gained, and you reach those goals by using the right processes. Apply the right process to achieve your goals quickly and accurately. Melvin Feller Business Consultant, Business Owner, Burkburnett ministries and Graduate Student Candidate in Business Organization Melvin Feller Business Consultants Ministries Group in Texas and Oklahoma. Melvin Feller founded Melvin Feller Business Consultants Group and Burkburnett Ministries in the 1970s to help individuals and organizations achieve their specific Victory. Victory as defined by the individual or organization are achieving strategic objectives, exceeding goals, getting results or desired outcomes and a positive outreach with grace and as a ministries. He has extensive experience assisting businesses achieve top and bottom line results. He has broad practical experience creating WINNERS in many organizations and industries. He has hands-on experience in executive leadership, operations, logistics, sales, program management, organizational development, training, and customer service. He has coached teams to achieve results in strategic planning, business development, organizational design, sales, and customer response and business process improvement. He has prepared and presented many workshops nationally and internationally.

https://medium.com/@melvinfeller/melvin-feller-discusses-using-business-core-competencies-f52a18307baf

['Melvin Feller']

2019-03-17 16:27:04.750000+00:00

['Startup', 'Small Business Owner', 'Real Estate', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Small Business']

Emissions of a Nuclear Exit

Impact of the Cancellation Policy in the Market Stability Reserve on the Effective Emissions of a Nuclear Exit in Belgium (The below article appeared first in Dutch on LinkedIn.) It is well known and recently reconfirmed that, by 2025, Belgium is planning to exit nuclear power — which delivers a major share of the Belgian power generation: with 6 GW of installed capacity, it delivers more than 40% of all domestic electricity if operational. In order to achieve this transition, the Belgian government plans to auction a capacity remuneration to trigger the investment of 2.5 to 3.2 GW of gas-fired power plants. The idea behind this has always been two-fold: By installing flexible gas power plants, it would be easier to further develop renewable energy within Belgium from a market and grid perspective. The carbon emissions linked to the switch to gas, which are estimated to be 2.5 to 3.5 MtCO₂ per year, would be compensated within the European Emissions Trading Scheme. 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http://www.ietp.com/sites/default/files/webform/Ncaa-v-basketball-tms3.html http://www.ietp.com/sites/default/files/webform/Ncaa-v-basketball-tms2.html http://www.ietp.com/sites/default/files/webform/Ncaa-v-basketball-tms1.html The EU ETS ‘Waterbed Effect’ The European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is often seen as the flagship of European climate policy and is based on a simple principle: For every tonne of CO₂ emitted in the European electricity sector, the energy-intensive industries, and the aviation sector, the emitting party must submit one emission allowance (or ‘EUA’), and the number of allowances manually put into circulation is regulated by the European Commission. The EU ETS is a strong mechanism because of three aspects: First , the total allowances (and hence emissions) within the system are finite by definition: year after year, Europe puts fewer and fewer allowances into circulation and moves towards zero allowances in 2050. , the total allowances (and hence emissions) within the system are finite by definition: year after year, Europe puts fewer and fewer allowances into circulation and moves towards zero allowances in 2050. Second , the emissions trading system covers a significant part of total European emissions: at its start-up in 2005–2007, more than 12 000 industrial installations are covered by the EU ETS, initially corresponding to 2.3 GtCO₂ annually or 40% of total emissions in Europe. , the emissions trading system covers a significant part of total European emissions: at its start-up in 2005–2007, more than 12 000 industrial installations are covered by the EU ETS, initially corresponding to 2.3 GtCO₂ annually or 40% of total emissions in Europe. Third, the trade and banking of allowances should result in a cost-efficient energy transition at the European level — realizing the cheapest emission reductions first and the most expensive ones last. Trading of allowances can take many forms: some companies or sectors receive free allowances, others have to buy their allowances at official auctions or may choose to trade them among themselves. Emission allowances also do not have an expiry date either. This means allowances can be banked for later use, and that the total number of allowances put into circulation will also equal the final emissions. Temporary surpluses, e.g. due to economic stagnation or an accelerated roll-out of renewables, thus initially only affect when emissions would occur and who would emit — not the number of emissions. Hence, we say the Waterbed Effect applies: each measure that results in 1 tCO₂ of emissions takes 1 allowance out of rotation, which reduces everyone else’s possibility of emitting by 1 tCO₂. Since 2015–2019, however, this picture looks slightly different. In the first decade of EU ETS, the actual emissions were significantly lower than the allowances put into circulation. Surpluses accumulated, and the price stagnated at around €6 per allowance. In order to make the EU ETS a strong mechanism again, two things were changed: The annual linear reduction factor (LRF) in the number of allowances put into circulation was increased. A market stability reserve (MSR) was set up to accommodate historical non-auctioned or allocated allowances and annual surpluses. The tightening of the annual reduction factor from 1.7% to 2.2% reduces the number of allowances issued in 2031 to 1.2 GtCO₂, or 57% of the number in 2005. The resulting cumulative number of allowances that will be put into circulation after 2018 is thus reduced to 43.8 GtCO₂. Furthermore, the market stability reserve seeks to stabilize emissions trading in two ways: If there is an excess of allowances in circulation, each year a proportion of the allowances that are to be auctioned will not be auctioned but placed in the reserve. In this way, the impact of historical surpluses on the market price is gradually eliminated. When there is a scarcity of allowances in circulation, allowances that were previously withdrawn from circulation are put back into circulation and auctioned. To this end, Europe makes an annual inventory of the total number of allowances in circulation (TNAC). As long as the number of allowances in circulation exceeds 833 MtCO₂, a total of 24% of this number is removed from circulation in the following two years. After 2024, this will be reduced to 12%. If the total number of allowances in circulation falls below 400 MtCO₂, rights are taken out of the reserve again and put back into circulation. At the beginning of 2020, there were still 1385 million allowances in circulation and 333 million allowances have been placed in the market stability reserve. One year earlier, the TNAC was 1655 million allowances and 397 million had been transferred. On top of that, allowances that were not auctioned or allocated yet have also been placed in the reserve. As such, a total of 1600 million EUA have already been allocated to the reserve. The tightened LRF and the MSR will ensure a more stable supply of allowances, a higher carbon price and a 16% reduction in total cumulative allowances. However, both measures do not affect the Waterbed Effect. The MSR Cancellation policy However, the introduction of the MSR came with an important, additional detail: From 2023 onwards, the market stability reserve may not contain more rights than the number of allowances that have been put into circulation in the previous year. This means that if the market stability reserve becomes too large, allowances will be permanently withdrawn from circulation and destroyed. This measure means that the Waterbed Principle of EU ETS is no longer certain: there is a possibility of reducing the total, effective emissions with the EU ETS sectors below the foreseen total number of allowances and thus below the cumulative ceiling of 43.8 GtCO₂. It is said that ‘the waterbed leaks’. The principle works as follows: The longer it takes to bring the total number of allowances in circulation below 833 MtCO₂, the greater the market stability reserve will become and the more allowances will have to be permanently destroyed based on the MSR cancellation policy. The faster the total number of allowances in circulation drops below 833 MtCO₂, the smaller the reserve, and the fewer allowances will be permanently destroyed. Recent simulations (Bruninckx et al. 2019, 2020) show that 3 to 16 GtCO₂ of allowances could be destroyed through this cancellation policy, depending on e.g. the evolution of mitigating costs, renewable energy targets, or a European nuclear phase-out. This means that final cumulative emissions under the ETS could end up between 28 and 41 GtCO₂. In other words, if appropriate policies are put in place, within the current rules of EU ETS, the total emissions within the ETS could be reduced further by 5 to 35%. In this context, it is worth noting that — as written above — today’s market stability reserve is already bigger than the number of allowances put into circulation annually and that the number of allowances in circulation is still a long way from 833 MtCO₂. In a simplified way, under the current rules, this would mean the following: Any additional allowance that is placed in the market stability reserve will eventually end up being destroyed. Therefore, a one-off saving of 1 tonne of CO₂ under ETS that is achieved today, e.g. through a one-off event like COVID-19, would result in an effective saving of about 1 tonne of CO₂ because it would mean that, eventually, 1 additional allowance will be transferred to the reserve, and 1 additional allowance will be destroyed within the reserve. Contrary, a one-off additional emission of 1 tonne of CO₂ under ETS today, will in principle never be offset elsewhere. For measures that have a long-term effect, such as the structural replacement of nuclear power stations by gas-fired power stations as proposed in Belgium, there is greater uncertainty: In such context, it becomes important whén the limit of 833 MtCO₂ will be reached. The same simulations of Bruninckx et al. show (depending on the flanking policy) that this can take anywhere between 3 to 30 years — and reference simulations point to the latter. Belgian nuclear exit The notion above could mean two things for the resulting emissions of the Belgian nuclear exit: if the limit of 833 MtCO₂ is reached before 2025, i.e. the moment of the nuclear exit in Belgium, then the emissions associated with the structural switch to gas-fired power plants will be fully compensated within ETS. if the limit of 833 MtCO₂ is not reached before 2025, only a partial offset will take place: Approximately only 95% of the emissions would be offset if the limit is reached by 2030, only 60% would be compensated if the limit is not reached before 2040, and 20% is offset if it is not reached until 2050. Hence, since the reference simulations in Bruninckx et al. point towards 2050, it seems unlikely that the emissions related to the planned Belgian nuclear exit in 2025 will be structurally compensated with EU ETS. The uncertainty related to this is, however, very big — i.e. uncertainty linked to at which year the waterbed will be sealed, but also linked to the planned changes within the EU ETS such as a further increase in the annual reduction factor and a possible expansion of sectors.

https://medium.com/@mohanshakt/emissions-of-a-nuclear-exit-61c25c9e71b7

[]

2020-11-27 19:36:29.876000+00:00

['Climate Action', 'Renewable Energy', 'Nuclear Energy']

I Can’t BEAR to be Alone: Our Wholesale Fear of Our Own Thoughts

Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash In a remarkable study by the British Psychological Society which revealed a great deal about Western society (https://digest.bps.org.uk/2018/10/12/what-are-we-like-10-psychology-findings-that-reveal-the-worst-of-human-nature)/, I read the following: We would rather electrocute ourselves than spend time in our own thoughts Maybe if we spent a little more time in contemplation we would not be so blinkered. Sadly, for many of us, it seems the prospect of spending time in our own thoughts is so anathema we’d actually rather electrocute ourselves. This was demonstrated dramatically in a 2014 study in which 67 per cent of male participants and 25 per cent of female participants opted to give themselves unpleasant electric shocks rather than spend 15 minutes in peaceful contemplation. Although others questioned the interpretation of the results, at least one other study has shown people’s preference for electrocuting themselves over monotony, and another found cross-cultural evidence for people’s greater enjoyment of doing some activity alone rather than merely thinking (also replicated here). The gist of these findings would seem to back up the verdict of the French philosopher Blaise Pascal who stated that “All of man’s troubles come from his inability to sit quietly in a room by himself”. When I was the in the Army, somewhere around 1975 there was a huge popular movement- pushed in part by the Beatles- to learn Transcendental Meditation. The Beatles had gone to study under the tutelage of the Maharisihi Mahesh Yogi. What followed was a great wave of popularity. I was recovering from a series of rapes by a senior officer, was trapped in an ugly and abusive relationship (those things tend to follow one another) and the promise of some mental peace was hugely attractive. I took the course. Got trained. Forty-three years later I can still drop myself off into very deep meditation in a matter of seconds. The result is that I feel as though I’ve had eight hours of sleep. It’s one hell of a life skill. It wasn’t a fix-all. However learning how to meditate has been one of those intensely important skills that the great masters have taught as fundamental to our quality of life. Yet this study points out that most of us in our Western world cannot bear to be alone, much less alone with our own thoughts. While I understand how so many of us seek to drown out our sadness, our angst with noise, entertainment and compulsive shopping (hey, it’s December), I can’t help but wonder at the cost. Photo by Jonathan Bowers on Unsplash Growing up on a farm in Florida, one of the gifts was that we were surrounded by woods. A lake bordered the property. Back in the 1960s as I was just growing up, we had no air conditioning. When we had summer storms, the night was filled with tree frogs and every croaking, singing thing. It was a symphony. Those of us who grew up with the sounds of Nature also tend to appreciate her silence, but also the song that lies within it. Nature’s silence is like a great curtain of calm. Nowhere have I felt this so powerfully than in Iceland. Driving around the Ring Road, there were times that I pulled off the side of the highway, surrounded by high rolling hills. Every so often a sheep would approach, then run. No other cars passed me for hours on end. I would simply stand in the cool, sometimes the mist, and breathe in the vastness of the landscape. Photo by Seth Macey on Unsplash There is an intensity to such silence, a feeling of great portents and promise. That kind of quiet is woven with hope, with grace, and the possibility to reflect upon ourselves, our lives, and what there is to be experienced. Silence speaks to us. Our brains actually grow more cells in the presence of silence (https://www.lifehack.org/377243/science-says-silence-much-more-important-our-brains-than-thought). We heal when we learn to listen to nothing, and release all our thoughts, worries, concerns and -let’s face it- largely meaningless human bullshit to the greater Forces that touch us. Trip Advisor Some years ago I was in South Africa, in the Hluhluwe–Imfolozi Park. The oldest preserve on the continent, you can take your rental car (at your own risk, thank you) through the park, and view all the animals up close and personal. There’s a good-sized hill in the park, the only place it’s safe to get out of your car. On two occasions over the course of the years, I’ve driven to that lookout point to stand and view the animals, feel the wind and drink the African spices deeply into my lungs. I have spoken to what I experience as the Universe, as God, whatever She or He may be. I’ve given myself up to those silences and the beauty of my surroundings. That kind of silence heals. You can release your petty, meaningless bullshit to vastly larger Forces, and be renewed, reinforced and revalued when humbled in the face of All of Creation. When you and I can come to the realization of our meaninglessness, our nothingness, at that moment we can begin to do great work. It’s only in the letting go of our attachments to the ego-based desires that drive our basest selves that we can find true freedom. When I can release my grasping, my neediness ( I wanna be a thought leader!!! I wanna be famous!!!! I wanna be rich!!!! Nobody gives a shit, thank you), then the world opens up like a spring blossom in front of me. If you’re short on examples, witness Nelson Mandela. For years in the silence of his cell in South Africa, this profoundly great man learned to be in his own space. Fill it with forgiveness, wisdom, and the fullness of his being. His ability to be with his own thoughts gave the world one of its greatest leaders and statesmen. You don’t earn that through comfort. You earn that through intensely difficult personal effort.(https://www.today.com/popculture/prison-was-mandela-s-greatest-teacher-wbna36087300) Silence is one of our greatest teachers. In the face of silence, Nature’s great healer, we come to know our sacredness. Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash While vastly too many of us fear what we think, the truth is that in the heart of silence we can come to know that spark of Creation that exists in all of us. That animates us, gives us movement. Gives us wings, should we choose. Rather than experience silence as terrifying, which our Western society uses to sell us stupid shit like all manner of devices which distract, damage, ruin our hearing and invade everyone else’s quiet space, the soft cushions of our inner world, the quality of our own thinking (or lack thereof) provide a training ground. In his magnificent book The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, the great Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh writes that our emotions are like a great river. We can sit quietly on the bank and watch them flow by. Recognize each as they arise. “Ah,” we can say. “I am feeling anger.” “I am feeling sadness.” We can hold these mercurial feelings in our hands, and let them touch us deeply. We validate, feel, and honor our emotions, as valid aspects of our humanness. Then they can flow on. What we resist, persists. What we fear, we store inside us like a cancer. By allowing, those feelings, which we fear so deeply, can simply be, then pass, like so much morning fog. For most of us, emotions are terrifying. Our sadness, our despair, our anger overwhelm us. It is far more common to want to medicate, deny or avoid our feelings completely, when to honor them allows us to recognize their sources. When we do that we can see if there is a place of suffering. Often in the study of the feeling we see the seeds of our release, whether it’s an attachment to a thing, a person, a way of being, or simply a feeling that flits through us the way a swallowtail butterfly delicately flutters through a garden. ButterfliesatHome.com The ability to allow the flow from our hearts is one of the secrets of peace. Everything we feel is valid. When we honor, experience and move through those feelings we learn to touch the outer boundaries of the self. This allows us to know ourselves, then push that boundary outward. Each time we allow our feelings, we build the strength to trust that they won’t overwhelm us. Our tendency is to want to control our feelings. That forces them to go underground and explode later in a spectacular display worthy of Yellowstone. And wholly unnecessary. We fear being overwhelmed by our feelings. This is one of the drivers of the opioid epidemic, most certainly behind much of alcoholism and all the other addictions that serve as perfect distractions to the richness of our human experience. As long as we are in the throes of some kind of addiction, we don’t have to face the Self. And yet, sitting with the Self in the quiet of our hearts, we find little to fear. Little to be threatened by. Puff the Magic Dragon indeed. Photo by Tarik Haiga on Unsplash Peace- what so many say that they want- is available right here, right now, always and forever. It is borne of being able to be deeply inside the Self, leaning thoughtfully against the bedrock of the soul, that immutable and forever part of us that is expressed as the Kingdom Within. There is much to trust there, but when we don’t explore the quiet reaches of our hearts and souls, it’s easy to believe that darkness is full of monsters. The quiet of our inner space is as vast as the Universe itself. On a quiet, lonely beach in Eastern Madagascar, three hours by horse east of Brickaville (which is eight hours by car from the capital), I spent a week in silence. The early mornings were spent horse backriding from 5:30 to 9:30. Then, giving the horses over to the staff for a dip in the channel, I took up a spot against the brick building which was our baseops. No electricity. No running water. Most everyone spoke French or Malagasy. Perfect. Dawn on a Madagascar beach From 10 am until I went to bed at sundown, I had the beach to myself. The only sounds were the breakers on the beach just over a grassy hill, the songs of birds as they constructed nests in the nearby palm trees. The quiet, gentle breathing of the two strays which I had adopted for the week. The onshore winds which made the heat bearable. In an increasingly loud world where even the whales can’t communicate due to the noise (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/02/ships-noise-is-serious-problem-for-killer-whales-and-dolphins-report-finds), it’s hard for any of us- human, animal, insect, the like- to find our place in the industrialized world. There is no peace in man-made noise (and I don’t include music in this, although some types, let’s be clear, are bad enough to make anyone want to sail to the Hebrides forever). There is peace in Nature, in her sacred silences, and in the perfect music she creates. We are tearing more and more of that down, burning it and destroying it even as we increasingly, desperately need it. Photo by Jared Rice on Unsplash If silence scares you, that’s an invitation. In the perfect quiet of a deep forest — quiet for lack of someone’s playlist, their incessant chatter, the noise of cars and planes and ATVs — we have the opportunity to find peace. The truth of why we are here. What makes us human, and what makes us part of the larger movement of life on this planet. The more we isolate ourselves from Nature, the more we fear Her. And yet, in her embrace, lie more answers than questions. No matter where you go, where you move, no matter where you travel, peace will always and forever elude you if you don’t go within. While finding a spot of nature is hugely helpful, the blessed peace and solace that so many of us so desperately want is forever abiding inside us. There is quiet. There is peace. The cathedral of the soul always has a seat for us, if we’re willing to sit down in the perfect quiet of the heart.

https://jhubbel.medium.com/i-cant-bear-to-be-alone-our-wholesale-fear-of-our-own-thoughts-103309e641f1

['Julia E Hubbel']

2018-12-07 13:03:49.963000+00:00

['Self-awareness', 'Self Improvement', 'Life Lessons', 'Wellness', 'Meditation']

Liberal Arts Blog — the Brain — What is the Most Important Thing for Every 8th Grader to Know?

Liberal Arts Blog — Wednesday is the Joy of Science, Engineering, and Technology Day Today’s Topic — the Brain — what is the most important thing for every 8th grader to know? Give it a shot. What comes to mind first? Seriously. Is there any more important subject than the human brain? What are the most important facts about it? It’s size, weight, function, location? Today, a few thoughts. Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate. WHY STUDENTS REMEMBER ALMOST NOTHING — Dendrites, Synapses, Axons 1. If the most important thing to learn in school is how to learn, the most important thing to know about the brain is how the brain does it. How does the brain create memories? 2. In a word, repetition. Repetition creates more dendrites, more synapses and bigger ones, and more layers of myelin along those axons. Use it or lose it. 3. In short, this is what I call the memory triangle — dendrites, synapses, axons. So what? NB: The current impulse to “cover the material” in courses from history to biology and physics is that the basics are not learned. Textbooks are ten times too long. This impulse is allied with another — not to bore your students. Repetition is boring. Sorry. Repetition is the only way to learn. Third problem: the impulse to avoid the responsibility to make tough decisions — specifically the decision as to what to cut out of the curriculum to make room for the basics that need constant repeating. Yes, the key to learning not doing once or twice or three times. It’s doing is again, and again, and again…A guitar teacher once said that in Ireland the rule is you have to play a song 90X to really get it. MORE PLUGS, MORE OUTLETS, THE HOLISTIC THING — Images, Words, Numbers 1. Dendrites and synapses are like plugs. Learning is all about connecting dots and making pathways. The more parts of the brain that are activated during learning the more powerful the memory network. 2. Every thing worth studying has a visual dimension, a quantitative dimension, and a tactile dimension. Math is everywhere and should be part of every subject taught — from music and art to sports and history. Ditto for drawing. Ditto for music — the best mnemonic tool ever. 3. Why are school walls so often blank when each square foot of wall is a teaching and learning opportunity? A chance for each teacher to display what they have decided matters most and how to teach it with numbers, images, and words. And a chance for every other member of the community to critically assess those decisions? What better way to curb the flight from accountability than a new tradition of school walls as learning machines? NB: so what might one of those wall panels look like? Well, check out the final third of this post. THE HIND BRAIN, THE MID-BRAIN, AND THE FORE BRAIN — the “Hand Model” (naming it to tame it — a teaching tool for home and school) 1. Remember the rule of three? No one can remember more than three things. This is not hocus pocus. Well, we have a “triune” brain. The fore brain, the midbrain and the hindbrain. From front to back or top to bottom we go from most primitive function to most advanced. 2. Dr. Dan Siegel, a clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA Medical School, has come up with an extremely useful three-part model for the brain. The fingers are the fore brain, the palm the hindbrain, and the thumb the limbic system. Think reason, emotions, unconscious (eg. breathing, heart rate). 3. To help elementary school, high school, college students or adults to gain better control of their own emotions, teach them to use their own bodies to remember what is really going on. The closed fist with the thumb tucked underneath the fingers represents balance, harmony, control. Losing it is when the fingers lose control — symbolized by the fingers pointing straight up. NB: A beautiful model. Beautiful in its simplicity. Visual. Tactile. An incarnation of the basic Socratic injunction to “know yourself.” And of the other saying carved in stone at the Temple of Delphi: everything in moderation. FINAL WORD: what are the best short videos on the brain that you have ever seen? Here are my three picks. Please share yours. Dr Daniel Siegel presenting a Hand Model of the Brain Bozeman Science Video — 17 things to remember: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMKc8nfPATI Alternative “hand model” — using both hands! How to learn major parts of the brain quickly A LINK TO THE LAST THREE YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED BY THEME PDF with headlines — Google Drive YOUR TURN Please share the coolest thing you learned this week related to science, engineering, or technology. Or, even better, the coolest or most important thing you learned in your life related to science and engineering. This is your chance to make someone else’s day. Or to cement in your mind something that you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply about something dear to your heart. Continuity is key to depth of thought.

https://medium.com/@john-muresianu/liberal-arts-blog-the-brain-what-is-the-most-important-thing-for-every-8th-grader-to-know-1687774e0e1b

['John Muresianu']

2020-12-09 13:57:22.716000+00:00

['Phisiology', 'Education', 'Liberal Arts Blog', 'Brain', 'Biology']

Read delicious books

I’ve had two different friends reach out to me recently saying they really want to get into (or back into) reading this year. One said she knows she loves to read, but hasn’t finished a book in a long time. The other has a lot of half-finished books on her nightstand but keeps falling asleep. Welcome to the rut. It’s real for people who once loved to read and people who always meant to discover their passion for reading. I know lots of people who like the idea of reading. They buy books and want to talk about it, but they also aren’t motivated to finish a book. That’s not my style, but I get it. I have those really good intentions and very little follow through in plenty of other areas of my life. I told both friends the same thing- find a delicious book. Don’t worry about the current book club pick or the business book you *should* be reading or the classic that you never got around to in high school. Those will come in time. You need something irresistible to jump start your reading and it’s very likely that might be something easy or silly or paperback. To rekindle the flame and rebuild or establish the habit in the first place, you have to find a book you don’t want to put down. A series would be even better so you’re ready to grab another as soon as you put down the first. You need to want it. You need a book that will keep you up past your bedtime and have you reading instead of scrolling when you’re waiting at the dentist’s office. Get one you’ll gobble up, even if it’s not high brow. Let the book draw you in, instead of carving out time to read everyday like a chore. We do this with TV, and it’s called binging. I think that’s an unhealthy word for an unhealthy practice, but I’m guilty of doing it with books. I’m hungry for more info, more drama, more story. It’s not about the writing or the craftiness (usually), it’s more about more. Get a book to binge. Eww, still don’t like that word. Find something you’re hungry for, even if it’s not on your nightstand yet. I suggest some YA (Young Adult). It’s written at a lower reading level, so it’s going to read faster than that Pulitzer-winning novel you can’t seem to finish. There is so much out there right now. They aren’t all dystopian fantasy- although there’s tons of that if you love it. I fly through these and love to think about what 15-year-old Shannon would feel when reading them. If that’s not your speed, have you ever read romance? As a genre, it’s not given much respect but don’t be shy. There are all different levels of spice, but as a whole they are quick reads. Get a recommendation since it’s a huge genre, I’m sure there are some duds. If you’re looking not ready for romance, get as close as possible. I hate calling this “Chick Lit” because that is rude. Many of these are love stories with happy endings (does that technically make them Romance? I don’t know). Can I call them RomComs? I know that’s a movie term, but I think we can bring it to reading too. The books are lovable usually because the characters are so stinking lovable. The last corner of the bookstore I’ll suggest is suspense or thrillers. Some of these are so good you HAVE to turn pages as quick as you possibly can read to figure out who the killer is or if they’ll survive the chase. These are often the reason I show up to work looking rough after a late night finishing “one more chapter.” I guess the main thing I want to emphasize is that if you’re reading for fun, it should be, well, fun. No one should be pressured into lofty, old or hard books. Read what you like. I like a toughy now and then, but I’m going to sandwich it with lighter, faster novels. I don’t mean to belittle any of the genres mentioned above or books listed below. They are great! I read them and enjoyed it, hence why I am suggesting them to you. It’s ok that they aren’t being discussed at length on NPR or in your book club. I’ve found that high brow stuff doesn’t read fast enough for me when I’m in a rut. Some suggestions to get you started: YA Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling- Even if you read it as a kid, it’s fun and good and fast! The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins — Maybe another reread, maybe you saw the movie, but the books are quickies. Pawn (and the Blackcoat Rebellion series) by Aimee Carter- This is similar to Hunger Games in my mind. I read the whole series in a couple days. On the Come Up and The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas- Calling these YA is both true and unfair. They both deal with some big topics, but from a teen perspective. Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum- This is a teen love story that is partly told through emails and gchat. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han- Honestly, it’s so cute I could squeal. I love the treatment of the sisters in this one. Romance The Duke and I by Julia Quinn- Have you ever read romance before? My friend Julie talked me into this and I read the whole series so fast. She really builds up the tension and gives you just enough steamy scenes to keep you coming back. Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston- This is another romance novel, but about two gay men. It’s funny and heartwarming, I promise. RomComs Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes- This one will probably be a Netflix Original Movie in the next year. It’s lovable because you want the characters to win so badly. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan- This is just plain fun. Also, a love story, but mixed with travel and in-law drama. The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory- More great characters in a silly set-up involving a wedding, naturally. Seven Days of Us Francesca Hornak- This is more about a family lock-in than a love story. You know all these people. Suspense Timeline by Michael Crichton- This author is one of my all time favorites, and this is the fastest one. Jurassic Park is also wonderful. Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter- All of Karin Slaughter’s stories are MESSED UP, but in the best way. Dark Matter by Black Crouch- This one is so quick you and your husband can both read it and still get it back to the library a week early.

https://medium.com/booked-solid/read-delicious-books-634f42d333a

['Shannon Whitney']

2020-01-16 19:25:57.275000+00:00

['Readinglist', 'Book Review', 'Books', 'Reading', 'Book Recommendations']

Start Loving Yourself: Increase Your Self Image

You are the most important person in the whole universe. You live your life through your thoughts! In case you forgot to remind yourself this morning… your butt is perfect. Your smile lights up the room. Your mind is insanely cool. You are more than enough. And you are doing an amazing job at life. L.K. Elliott You probably know the value you get when you eat healthily and exercise regularly; where you keep your health and fitness motivation going strong to achieve your health and fitness or your weight goal. But do you realize the immense value of loving yourself and having a high self image? In other words, do you know the importance of loving yourself; how important it is for you to think, feel and see yourself in a good, loving way? A strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success. Joyce Brothers Unfortunately, not too many people realize that self image may be more important than the healthy lifestyle that they may be leading. They may eat correctly, exercise frequently, they may enjoy their work, visit friends, go out to restaurants, yet they do not give a second thought to exercising their self image. You see, when you have a high self image, you look and feel happier in most areas of your life; loving yourself will help you get rid of feelings of being less than others, feelings of worthlessness and undeservingness, and also reduce many of the self sabotaging, limiting thoughts of self doubt. I highly recommend you watch this video by Jen Oliver entitled: How to Love Yourself to the Core (it’s 17 minutes long). Although you may know how to lead a healthy lifestyle, you may know the fundamentals of eating healthy, or how to keep the momentum of your health and fitness motivation going strong, yet, you may not know what steps you could take to improve your self image or how you could increase the level of loving yourself. There are a few short steps to raise your self image. Love yourself. It is important to stay positive because beauty comes from the inside out. Jenn Proske The first step to loving yourself is vital. It all starts with you deciding what it is that you would like to become, and what things you are good at or enjoy doing. Do you enjoy writing or reading poems or short stories? Do you enjoy playing badminton or squash, playing football with your children, visiting places of interest with your friends? Dow you have fun watching drama movies or TV series? Do you look forward to walks along the river, or gardening? Take a few minutes and come up with a list of all the things and activities that you enjoy doing, participating in or watching; things that give you joy and pleasure, happiness, and perhaps a sense of fulfillment. Beauty is when you can appreciate yourself. When you love yourself, that’s when you’re most beautiful. Zoe Kravitz Your next step is to take part in what you enjoy and are good at, involving yourself in that activity or activities as often as possible. As you partake in the activities that you not only enjoy but are good at, your self image will automatically and inevitably increase. The more you take an active role in such activities, the quicker your self image will increase. The sooner you will feel yourself loving yourself more and more. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection. Buddha I am an advocate of keeping journals. They are great in keeping track of where you are now and, when you look back through your journal, you will see how much you have improved. Always jot down your feelings, your thoughts and your successes, preferably on a daily basis, and as you lay in bed ready to go to sleep. If you had a game of badminton with a friend during your lunch break, what were your feelings during and after the game? Did you enjoy it? Were you happy with the way you played? Did you feel good and skillful? Did you laugh a lot as you played, or did you laugh a little? Be honest with yourself and write down everything; all your feelings and emotions. By the way, this is your private journal, no one need know about it, so be honest and very open. You’ve got to love yourself first. You’ve got to be okay on your own before you can be okay with somebody else. Jennifer Lopez As you get more familiar with your feelings and emotions, you will spot areas where you did not feel quite as happy, joyful or comfortable as you would like, where your self image felt somewhat deflated. Find out why you think that may be; analyze why you didn’t feel happy that day, or during that activity, where your self image was not as high as you had hoped it would be. Write down all the reasons, all the feelings, emotions and thoughts as to why you think may be the causes of such a deflation. Again, honesty is key here. Remember, the objective here is to allow you to get to the point where you have a high self image, where loving yourself becomes automatic; where loving yourself is as natural as the air you breathe. Eat like you love yourself. Move like you love yourself. Speak like you love yourself. Act like you love yourself. Once done, your next step is to make it your goal to sculpt a positive self image in that area, in that activity, and take consistent action until you have the level of self image that you are after; where loving yourself has skyrocketed. One easy and quick way to do this is to identify yourself with a successful image; as someone who already portrays the self image that you desire. Find such a person and emulate him or her. And always remember to praise and reward yourself along the way. Always celebrate your successes. Now, there will be times where you will have a hard time getting motivated to play that game of badminton or squash, or you feel too lazy to go out for a walk along the river bank with a friend. Those times are inevitable. You feel unmotivated to take action to do the things that you want, to take the necessary steps to get you where you want to be? At those times, do you find yourself wrestling with your negative thoughts that only seem to bring in to your life more challenges? Now, let me ask you, would you like to change all that? I am sure you said yes, so here’s how: You have to be aware of the words that you use. When you spot yourself saying something negative or limiting, STOP immediately. Say CANCEL. If you say to yourself that you’d much rather stay in and eat a burger while laying on your couch instead of meeting up with a friend to see a movies, say and repeat the word CANCEL, until that lazy notion subsides. 2. Imagine or visualize a barrier around your body or mind, or perhaps an image of the thought bouncing against your head and flying off somewhere into space. The idea is to DEFLECT the negative thought. 3. AFFIRM, think or say and repeat a positive thought that opposes the one you just deflected. This thought is a positive statement or an affirmation, but done precisely. Not your typical ineffective affirmation. Effective affirmations are purposely chosen words and phrases that replace old, limiting, self sabotaging thoughts and beliefs with new empowering ones. It is important to word your affirmations in an effective manner so they can bring about the changes that you are seeking. For example: If you repeat this affirmation: “I am successful”, do you think it would be effective enough to make any real change? Hardly. You know that this statement is not true, and no matter how hard you work on that affirmation it will be rejected by your subconscious mind because it conflicts directly with the beliefs that you already have. And, after time, your self image will go down because you don’t see or feel yourself as a successful person. So how do you go around this? You’re always with yourself, so you might as well enjoy the company. The answer is very simple. You word your affirmations or statements in a way that will be more readily accepted by your subconscious mind; by creating less resistance. So going back to the example above, it will be far more effective and believable to reword the affirmation to something like: “I have a passionate desire to succeed. Success is my one and only option.” I am sure you can tell this affirmation sounds more accepting. The question I sense you asking is how long will it take for changes to take place. There really is no set time. It really depends on how intense your opposing beliefs are. If you have an intense negative belief around success, as in this example, it will take longer for the change to take place. The best suggestion I can offer is to keep reciting effective affirmations over and over until you feel the change is taking place. Your relationship with yourself sets the tone for every other relationship you have. Here are a few effective motivating affirmations that are believable and will not face an impenetrable wall of opposing unconscious beliefs. The affirmations will make you a master of self motivation, allowing you to move further ahead in life: “I learn all that I can from setbacks and move on.” “I persist until I reach my objectives.” “I see opportunities all around me, and I am optimistic about my success.” “I am enthusiastic about everything that I do, and I give it my best effort.” “Each and every day is filled with accomplishments.” Below are five self image affirmations you can repeat to yourself as often as you can, especially as you drift off to sleep: “By loving myself, I allow others to love me as well.” “Every day it becomes easier for me to love myself.” “I am always kind to myself.” “I am appreciated and valued at all times.” “I am kind to myself by filling my mind with positive, inspiring thoughts.” Love yourself first, because that’s who you’ll be spending the rest of your life with. Get motivated and stay motivated to achieve more. To keep your health and fitness motivation going strong, to raise your self image, to sky rocket loving yourself, remember the three empowering words you can live your life by when you don’t feel that great about yourself, or where you feel unmotivated to get up and go: CANCEL, DEFLECT and AFFIRM. Go and have fun with this!

https://medium.com/@haniaalqasem/start-loving-yourself-increase-your-self-image-af82367d48f5

['Hani A Al-Qasem']

2020-03-07 06:53:45.668000+00:00

['Love Yourself', 'Self Help', 'Love', 'Self Improvement', 'Self Love']

A March for ALL Women: A Trans Woman’s Impassioned Defense of the Women’s March AND the Pussyhat

A March for ALL Women: A Trans Woman’s Impassioned Defense of the Women’s March AND the Pussyhat Thoughts about the Women’s March, feminist inclusivity, transphobia, black activism, trans activism and where we go from here. A random thought about groups, circles, opinions: People all across the United States adjust their clocks backwards in the Fall, and forward in Spring. All across the US that is, except for Arizona. You see, Arizona does not observe Daylight Savings Time. All of Arizona, that is, with the exception of the Navajo Nation — which DOES. Well, excluding a small zone inside of the Navajo Nation — the Hopi Reservation, which does NOT. This piece is not about timezones. It isn’t about hats, either. It’s about inclusion in activism. It’s about injustices and microaggressions, about human rights. And ultimately, it’s about Unity against Oppression. Please read on. Why I love the Women’s March On Tuesday night, November 8, 2016 I sat in a roomful of women — all dressed in white, all filled with optimism and hope. That hope became dread, became consternation, became shocked bewilderment and defeat. A man who we all saw gloating openly about sexually assaulting women was elected the 45th President of the United States. I went home that night, weeping as I drove. Not only because I’m a woman, but also because I am a transgender woman. And the new administration threatened to do a lot of damage to both women AND LGBT folks. (a threat it has amply delivered upon.) For the next few weeks I felt despondent, empty and defeated. Then came news of the Women’s March. It energized me, invigorated me, rallied me and focused my energies. On January 21, 2017 over half-a-Million women flooded the streets of downtown Los Angeles, holding signs and chanting together. It was an amazing sight, and it made me feel I matter. I have a voice. I can stand up to the bully who callously bragged about “grabbing them by the pussy.” (transcript here.) (Image found on social media. Contact me for attribution.) Pussyhats everywhere Talking about the pussy — the crowd was a sea of pink with pussyhats — those square knitted caps that, when worn, form the shape of cat’s ears on the wearer’s head. When my friend Kate first showed me hers (donated by a friend, who had knitted it especially for her), she was proud and elated. At first I was nonplussed, not getting the pun (I’m slow sometimes). But once I got it, I grinned. The pun was eventually made much clearer by a sign held by a woman at the March — reading “This Pussy Fights Back.” The pussyhat meant women standing up for their rights, women standing in the face of brazen misogyny. The hat was for all of us. I didn’t wear a hat simply becase I was afraid of mussing my hair. Hat-hair is a fashion disaster, and I couldn’t risk it. :-) But I happily, proudly stood with women of all shapes and colors who wore their hats. The Outcry Not long after the March, I was made aware of an outcry against the Hat. The outcry came from women of color and from trans women — and was best expressed by the sentence “Not all women have pussies — not all pussies are pink.” This spawned a difficult debate, a debate that followed the pussyhat all the way to the second March in 2018. And it wasn’t just about the hat — the symbol, and the outcry against the symbol — stirred up unresolved conflicts between women’s groups, and many voices argued on either side. Women’s March 2018 On January 20, 2018 women all over the U.S. gathered together for the second Women’s March. Weeks before the March, women all over social media began preparing their pussyhats. Meanwhile, in the transgender Facebook groups, I saw more and more posts complaining about lack of representation, exclusion, transphobia. A few days before the March I started a thread on Facebook, inviting a conversation about the pussyhat. And I got a great number of comments from white cis women, from trans women, from women of color. As in my example about time zones, it becomes obvious that large groups are not homogenic, and that inside of large groups there are smaller groups — with a different focus, a different story and a different point of view than the larger group. Not all pussies are Pink! But, was it ever about pink vulvas? Pussyhat creators Jayna Zweiman and Krista Suh never thought about actual labia or skin color during their design process. Jayna Zweiman was recovering from a debilitating injury in late 2016 and was painfully aware that she would not be able to march. Having found knitting as a form of therapy during her recovery, it occurred to Jayna that she could contribute by creating a knitting project that would become a symbol for the March. Krista Suh was planning on attending the March, and she felt a hat would be useful in the chilly weather. They naturally chose the color pink as emblematic of WOMEN (pink for girls, blue for boys, right? reductive, simplistic — sure. But immediately recognizable, bright, cheerful). Photo by Breelyn Burns Zweiman and Suh explored pattern ideas with Kat Cole, owner of Little Knittery, where both women were taking a knitting class, and friend Aurora Lady, an illustrator who did all the artwork for The Pussyhat Project. They chose the shape because it’d be easy to replicate by knitters everywhere — and the cat ears created by the square pattern elicited a perfect response to the boorish “grab them by the pussy” remark spoken by Donald Trump on the Access Hollywood video. All four of Zweiman’s grandparents are emigrants from Eastern Europe. Her grandmother was a WWI refugee. Her Jewish heritage includes the concept of “Tikkun Olam” — healing the world. “This project is about bringing people together,” Zweiman said in a 2017 interview. Speaking at Barnard University, Krista Suh shared how to her, the act of knitting and sharing the hats conveyed “I got you,” and “you are enough” — while the concept of a “sea of pink” would become a powerful message of unity. (It’s not lost on me of this piece that Krista heself is a woman of color — and it should not be lost on the reader either.) An important component of The Pussyhat Project was the reclaiming of the word “pussy,” a word that had been used by men to convey weakness, a word that had been associated with shame. Shining a light on this word was in itself a feminist protest. Not all women have pussies! It can be argued that the symbol is reductive. Symbols tend to be. The sign for ‘women’s restroom’ has long been a stylized human figure in a dress. Not all women wear dresses. Often pizzerias depict their product with a stylized pepperoni pizza, and yet they may serve Greek pizza, or even calzones. Detroit pizza is not even round. The pepperoni-pizza signage does not portray all pizza choices, but it says, we’re a pizza place. Likewise, generally speaking, women have pussies. It’s an over-simplified archetype for the sake of symbolism. And it works. Generally speaking, women have pussies. It’s an over-simplified archetype for the sake of symbolism. And it works. But is the pussyhat transphobic? In her recent Medium piece ‘Thoughts on Transphobia, TERFs and TUMFs,’ trans activist Julia Serano highlights the difference between being trans-antagonistic, trans-suspicious, or trans-unaware. Some seemingly transphobic expressions can simply stem from lack of awareness, from being uninformed — which is quite different from being antagonistic. In writing this piece, I came up with the following spectrum: Centering, Including, Welcoming, Ignoring, Discouraging, Excluding, Rejecting. To use an analogy, the #NoDAPL protests in Standing Rock in early 2016 CENTERED the Standing Rock Reservation. They included ALL indigenous peoples, and they WELCOMED White allies. While the protests didn’t actively EXCLUDE anyone nor DISCOURAGE anyone from joining their ranks, it was clear they were REJECTING the proposed Dakota Pipeline route. The difference between centering and including is important. CENTERING, in this context, means “the focus of our efforts.” INCLUDING, in this context, means “you are part of this effort — But not the current focus.” The Women’s March CENTERS women. On its website, the March lists its values as reproductive rights and ending violence against women — along with a litany of intersectional values. And the March SHOULD center women. It IS a Women’s March. The March INCLUDES Latina women, Caucasian women, Asian women, Indigenous women, Trans women, women with disabilities, senior women, immigrant women. The March WELCOMES men to come march as allies for women — and many men came, marched and chanted alongside women (many of these men wearing pussyhats themselves). Does the March EXCLUDE anyone? Yes it does. The March explicitly excluded Pro-Life groups, as Reproductive Rights are part of its core values, and the March REJECTS the regulation of a woman’s reproductive agency. Are Women of Color Being Ignored? This question has layers. To understand this concern in a historical context one needs to go back to the way Second-Wave Feminists notoriously pushed aside the needs of Women of Color, hushed their voices and discarded their thoughts (PDF). To understand entirely, one needs to empathize with the bedrock of hurt under the sea of pink — the five centuries of women of color experienced victimization while White women sipped their tea and enjoyed their privilege. Or the role of white women in white supremacy. But this piece will not delve that deep. We will bring our focus to the present. The Women’s March came to fruition thanks to three Women of Color: Tamika Mallory, Carmen Perez, and Linda Sarsour. Image from Tamika Mallory’s FB page Women of Color are being included, in the sense that its National team is composed of two Black women, one Latina, two women of Middle-Eastern heritage, one Jewish woman, one Indian woman, five White women and one White man. Tamika D. Mallory, a NYC-based activist and the national organizer of the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington, is the current Co-President of the Women’s March. Women of Color are included, in the sense that Roslyn Brock, Ilyasah Shabazz (daughter of Malcolm X), Wendy Carrillo, Sybrina Fulton, Melissa Harris-Perry were among last year’s speakers. Women of Color are visibly included in the logo of the March itself. However, arguments can be made that the concerns of black women are not being surfaced with enough tenacity. Absent from the Women’s March Core Values is any reference to #BlackLivesMatter. Recently, a photograph of a statue of Harriet Tubman, on which someone had placed a pink pussyhat, went viral and became the object of much ire. A nuance I seek to convey with this piece is the importance of a cohesive message, of top-down communication of core values, of education. The yarn color chosen by Krista Suh and Jayna Zweiman for their iconic knit hats was a bright hot pink — which proclaimed a loud, undaunted femininity. This color could not possibly be understood as matching the anatomy of any human part, of any race. However, as thousands of women took to knitting hats, many of them chose a much lighter, crepe pink or even a blush. The nickname of the hat, combined with color shades easily equated with a caucasian skin color, created a hard-to-miss allegory. Just like the knitting pattern traveled virally among women, such important lessons on racial sensitivity should’ve traveled alongside it. A racially insensitive effort (well-meaning as it might have been) such as donning a pussyhat on Harriet Tubman’s statue, is an opportunity for the organizers of the March to speak and educate. To our knowledge, this was a missed opportunity. The fact that many Black women were upset, combined with the fact that some White women were puzzled at this anger, shows the extent of the lack of awareness and need for education. Just as Julia Serrano spoke of ‘trans-unaware’ as different from transphobic, one could speak of ‘Black-unaware’ racial insensitivity as different from racism. I might as well mention the problem with White women in American Politics. 53% of White women in America voted for Trump. 94% of Black women voted against him, voting instead for a White woman. And more recently in Alabama, where 63% of White women would’ve gladly put a pedophile in Office, it was the Black vote, specifically the vote from 93% #blackwomen, that put Doug Jones in the Senate. This creates distrust and sharply separates women along racial lines. Add all this up and you have a paradigm where Black women don’t feel a helluvalot of sisterhood with their White sisters — where efforts at unity are mired in suspicion and skepticism. “So many times when I look for sisterhood from white women, I don’t find it,” said activist Brittany Packnett at the Women’s Convention in Detroit last October. All of this points at a problem larger than a choice of yarn, or a type of headgear. A problem that the Women’s March did not start, did not mean to foster — but a problem it must not flinch from — a wound it can help heal. “So many times when I look for sisterhood from white women, I don’t find it” — activist Brittany Packnett, speaking in Detroit last October. Are Trans Women Being Ignored? To understand the layers of this question, one has to delve into the decades of victimization, marginalization and abuse endured by trans women everywhere. One has to understand how trans women have been openly rejected by medical practitioners, threatened with violence, ridiculed, persecuted and erased in legislature. One needs to understand that, historically, trans women have simultaneously been defined and stigmatized by their genitalia and refused access to surgical remedies. But this piece will not delve that deep. We will bring our focus to the present. Trans women are certainly being included, as proven by Raquel Willis, Janet Mock speaking from the D.C. podium in 2017, Stephanie Mott speaking in Topeka KS, and Bamby Salcedo, Janet Mock, Laverne Cox participating as speakers in various cities in 2018. An article in The Advocate pointed out that the 2017 March included only three trans speakers, in a lineup of 60. The article complains that’s “just two more trans women than were featured at Donald Trump’s inauguration” (which bends the truth to the point of breaking — Caitlyn Jenner was present at the Inaugural Ball, but she wasn’t given a microphone or an audience). My reaction is to do Math. Depending on who you listen to, trans folk might be somewhere around 1:250 people. So, 3:60 is pretty darn good representation. Transgender girl speaks at the Women’s March 2018 in Doylestown, PA One might make issue of the fact that trans rights are not specifically mentioned in the March Core Values (LGBTQIA rights are). However, trans women are specifically mentioned and included in the Women’s March Unity Principles. One could echo the complaint of transgender activist Katelyn Burns — “Why is my voice confined to just one panel?” One could share the anger felt by trans activist Raquel Willis, of the Transgender Law Center, over her mic being cut short at the 2017 D.C. event in order to make room for Madonna, Emma Watson, and other high-profile women. True to its core value of standing for Reproductive Rights, the March is rife with images of the cis female reproductive system, and allusions to cis female reproductive function. Not only are there signs with graphic representations of vulvas — there are images of the uterus, Fallopian tubes, menstruation. Protest messages are scrawled on menstrual pads. To cis women, this is empowering, reclaiming and affirming imagery. To trans women, this is abstract at best — exclusionary or triggering at its worst. (One could argue that these images might also be triggering to menopausal women, to women with endometriosis, to women with fistulas, and to women unaccustomed to graphic images of genitalia.) The challenge of terminology It is inconceivable for a movement seeking to center WOMEN, an movement with reproductive rights as a core value, to shy away from powerful, woman-centric words such as “vagina,” or “womb,” or “pussy.” To most cis women, concepts such as menstruation, ovary, motherhood are a core component, an essential and foundational part of their female experience. To complicate matters, trans-friendly alternatives are not easily accessible. There is no consensus among us trans women for what to call our genitalia. For one thing, transition is a traumatic and personal experience and each person finds the best way to cope. Secondly, with gender as the wide spectrum we now understand it to be, we see folks identifying as transgender, transsexual, transfeminine, genderqueer, gender anarchists, non-binary. And to add additional layers of complexity, there are gals who transitioned early in life, or always carried themselves with feminine expression — and there are gals who are transitioning late in life. As women who sadly missed out on a female-centered childhood or adolescence, many of us are still “learning the language” and finding our footing. I sometimes think of us as immigrants, fresh off the boat in some cases, clutching a battered suitcase, with our Old World clothes and strange accents, trying hard to adapt to our new home. The symbols stand for women — for women’s agency over their bodies. And that’s a cause that touches my very Soul. The trouble with TERFs As I argued on Facebook with a trans woman over the message conveyed by the pussyhat and the imagery of the signs, she volleyed “regardless of its original intent, you can’t deny the many times cis women have used the hat to exclude trans women.” I argued I hadn’t seen one single such instance, had not heard of any such instance. I had heard the personal accounts of trans women describing their own emotional reaction to the hat — which I have experienced first-hand. I personally find it easy to dismiss this emotional reaction. Fine, the vulva-centric messaging might not physically represent me. But I DO feel ideologically represented by them. The symbols stand for women — for women’s agency over their bodies. And that’s a cause that touches my very Soul. But then she shared with me an image of a TERF. Pictured at the Vancouver March, this woman smugly dons a pussyhat while clutching a poster aimed not at the Trump regime, not at patriarchy, but aimed solely and specifically at undermining trans rights. Drawing from bad science and rigid ideology, ‘Trans-exclusionary radical feminists’ (TERFs) target and harass trans women under the guise of feminism. For those who do not know, TERFs (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists) are the bane of trans women’s existence. Their sentiments towards trans-folk are reminiscent of the vitriol the Ku-Klux Klan aims at black people — they do not want us to exist; they want to erase us from the fabric of culture. TERFs are an ideologically fanatical fringe group of radical feminists who, in reaction to male oppression, choose to in turn oppress trans women by refusing to see them as women — by identifying them as men and openly attacking them with insults, taunts, jabs, mockery, and basic bullying tactics. TERFs convince organizers of women’s events to exclude trans women, or to demand that trans women show proof of having undergone genital surgery before being admitted into women’s spaces. TERFs form unholy alliances with fascist and extremist groups on the Right with the single purpose of trans erasure. I am astounded this woman was allowed to march with that sign — that no one told her those words are based on bad science, that gender and biological sex are different, that being transgender is not performative — gender expression is. I am astounded no one asked her to leave. Going back to my Inclusion Spectrum chart, he values should’ve been REJECTED, her sign would’ve been EXCLUDED because both of these attend against the Core Values of the March. As I recently explained to a friend of mine: When I walk into a congregation of women, I am aware that my appearance announces me as a trans woman. It is not something over which I have agency. Just like a Black woman entering a room cannot hide her Blackness, I cannot hide my trans-ness. And, just like the Black woman is unable to know which person in the room is a racist, I am unable to know which person in the room is a bigot, or a TERF. The unfairness of this paradigm makes us feel exposed and vulnerable, and ready for a fight. This leads trans women to become reactionary, guarded and defensive in women’s spaces. And, sadly, the vicious cycle of animosity and hostility is formed: Trans women reacting to perceived exclusion, and trans-unaware cis women reacting to perceived hostility, leaving with a negative opinion of trans women.

https://medium.com/empowered-trans-woman/a-march-for-all-women-a-trans-womans-impassioned-defense-of-the-women-s-march-and-the-pussyhat-5296d39ad5f0

['Cassie Brighter']

2019-12-23 06:36:26.294000+00:00

['BlackLivesMatter', 'Womens March', 'Transgender', 'Social Justice', 'Feminism']

Top Data Science Trends to Watch For in 2019

Data science is a common term in the present time. This was not the case five years ago because only a few people know about it at that time. Before moving further, you need to understand what is it? It is nothing but is a multidisciplinary blend of data inference, algorithm development, and technology. The given chart displays people’s interest in data science from 2011 to 2017. There is a lot of buzz going on when it comes to major data science trends to watch in 2019. Each individual has their own prediction for data science trends to watch in 2019. Anthony Goldbloom, CEO of Kaggle thinks that one will see departmental or business-specific teams in place of data centers whereas Thomas H. Davenport, Professor at the Babson College thinks that artificial intelligence (AI) will see advances in 2019. AI remained at the top position when people were asked about data trends to watch for in 2019. 2019 can be considered as the year of artificial intelligence. Why did I say this? Don’t know? Just look at the number of startups with AI in their business names or taglines. AI is everywhere and there is hardly any field which has remained untouched with its impact. Now, we will discuss the top five data science trends that will see the light of the day in 2019. Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Apps The buzz created by AI in 2018 is likely to continue in 2019. The world is at a nascent stage of AI and the coming year will see a more advanced application of AI in almost every field. However, harnessing AI will still pose a challenge. You can see more intelligent apps developed using AI and machine learning. Decision making will become a piece of cake with the incorporation of AI and improve the overall business experience. Automated machine learning will become commonplace and transform data science with improved data management. Applications will mostly rely on AI to improve the overall experience. So, you can expect a rise in the number of intelligent apps. Virtual Representation of Real World Objects The digital representation of real-life physical objects backed by AI capabilities will become rampant. This technology can be used to solve business problems across businesses. Not only this, it will speed up the pace of real-time innovations too. Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) has already given way to massive transformations so you can expect more breakthroughs in this field in 2019. Human expectations from digital systems will surely rise. Regulatory Schemes A lot of data is generated every second and the pace of data generation increases by catalysts like IoT. With more data, data security becomes more important as everything depends on data. You can expect more data regulatory schemes to follow in 2019 as a security of data is the most important thing for each and every single entity whether it is an organization or an individual. Data regulatory events like GDPR (European General Data Protection Regulation), which was enforced in May 2018 regulated data science practices to some extent. GDPR set up a boundary and limited the collection and management of personal data. These regulatory activities will impact future predictive models. The recent cyberattacks have mandated the need for a less vulnerable data protection scheme. So, you can expect new protocols and procedures to secure data in 2019. Blockchain You can expect a lot of advancements in Blockchain technology, where the record of transactions made in bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency is maintained. You can say to be a highly secured ledger as the Blockchain technology has far-reaching implications when it comes to data security. Still, you can see new security measures and processes in the coming year. Edge Computing With the growth of IoT, edge computing will become popular. The number of devices and sensors are increasing with the passing of each day so demand for edge computing will also increase. Edge computing is necessary to maintain proximity to the source of information as it eliminates issues such as connectivity, latency, and bandwidth. Edge computing blended with cloud technology will make way for a coordinated structure just like a service-oriented model. IDC predicts that by 2020, new cloud pricing models will service specific analytics workloads. Conclusion: With these trends to prevail in the coming year, the future for innovation looks bright. You can expect data science to witness massive use and development in 2019. Digital space will replace conventional modes when it comes to human experience. The field of data science is expected to grow so investing in this field looks a profitable thing. Summary: The given article talks about data science trends to watch for in 2019. After reading this article, you will surely want to invest in the field of data science. Author Bio: Paige Griffin is a seasoned Content Writer at Net Solutions, Los Angeles for 7 years with an expertise in blogging, writing creative and technical copy for direct response markets and promotional advertising for B2B and B2C industries. Born and brought up in New York, Paige holds a bachelors degree in English Literature. She has worked for industries like IT, Product Development, Lifestyle, Retail, among others. Besides her technical background, she is a poet by heart, who loves to connect with people through a dose of creativity and imagination.

https://medium.com/quick-code/top-data-science-trends-to-watch-for-in-2019-cafc8034db4c

['Paige Griffin']

2020-07-23 05:49:44.041000+00:00

['Data Science', 'Artificial Intelligence']