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A Manifesto for the Online Writer Who’s Lost Their Love of Writing | A Manifesto for the Online Writer Who’s Lost Their Love of Writing
Stop playing the viral slot machine
Photo: Alex/Unsplash
My kid was anxious to buy his book about animal kingdoms. He’s 5 and possesses the consumer certainty only a 5-year-old can have. I like this book. I want this book. Buy this book.
I, however, am simultaneously filled with joy and dread when walking into a bookstore. I love the joy of being so close to so many great minds. I despise the dread of residing which one to bring home.
My son tugged at my sleeve. He had his sights set on the free bookmarks at the checkout, not to mention the one book, of all the books, he chose to purchase.
I didn’t want to leave empty-handed. The pandemic has shuttered all libraries and I was starved for the real feel of paper between my fingers instead of the awkward weight of my Kindle. In my haste I scanned the shelves, looking for something, anything to catch my eye.
A red spine. Bird by Bird. Anne Lamott.
I grabbed it and paid, falling 86-cents short in cash. The bookstore employee was nice enough to let it slide. My son and I left. He exuberant in his find, me more hesitant. Some instructions on writing and life, the subtitle read. Great, another writer writing about writing I thought.
Little did I realize that this book is the book on writing. When we got home, I opened the front cover, and before finishing the introduction knew with absolute certainty that Lamott wrote this book for me and me alone. Never has anyone spoken so directly to me. Never has anyone rekindled in me a passion for my craft.
I started reading Bird by Bird yesterday, I haven’t finished it yet, but in my excitement, I sat down to write this morning and what poured forth was a manifesto outlined below.
You see, I began this year with a promise to myself: I would make writing my career. I’ve been writing for over a decade but I never took myself seriously enough to bravely say “I’m a writer” when asked what I do.
I didn’t know what exactly, career-wise, my writing would entail. I figured the majority of my writing would be published online on various platforms. I’d keep some writing to myself. And I’d possibly dabble on side projects and a book or two.
Three-quarters of the year has gone by and although I haven’t made a living out of it per se, I’ve grown addicted to what I call the viral slot machines. It’s a fun game. I refresh my browser or app and see what coins, I mean views come tumbling out.
The views, the notifications, the praise, the comments, the highlights. They may seem harmless, even a poor analogy to a slot machine. I’m not frivolously throwing money away, right? That’s true in a sense, but the act of playing the viral slot machine does cost me something: my time and my attention.
Bird by Bird slapped me across my face. I write not in the hopes of going viral, but for writing’s sake. Somewhere this year I’ve lost that.
Could I get back the joy of writing for writing’s sake? Could I get back to waking early, before the other members of my household, sitting at my desk and alone with my thoughts, through a groggy haze of early morning confusion, string together words in a coherent order?
Could the pleasure of writing derive from the writing itself and not from the off chance that the thing I wrote “broke the internet” so much so that I feel instantly validated inside?
Yes, I believe I can.
And again that’s the reason for this manifesto. Anne Lamott has spoken to me and now I’m speaking to you, dear writer. I am speaking to you because I know we are both blessed and cursed by our craft.
We are blessed in that the gatekeepers of old are long gone. The powers of the interwebs have created a meritocracy where voices that want to be heard can be heard.
Yet we are cursed because to acquire other people’s time and attention we must play a game. A game no one understands. A game without rules. A game that feels like you’re losing until you hit it big. And when you hit it big, you want more. You’ve tasted virality and it’s sweet and sour like a stale bag of Sour Patch Kids.
It never feels like enough.
This is a call to arms my fellow online writers. We must stop playing the game. We must take back our craft. We must find joy and pleasure in the act of writing, not in the downstream effects it may incur.
We must write. Here’s how we will do just that.
The Online Writer’s Manifesto | https://medium.com/the-post-grad-survival-guide/a-manifesto-for-the-online-writer-whos-lost-their-love-of-writing-b6489678bcdb | ['Declan Wilson'] | 2020-10-06 07:10:35.192000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Writing Tips', 'Self', 'Work', 'Writing'] |
Client-Side Routing with Firebase | Client-Side Routing with Firebase
Problem
Let’s say you are trying to build a web application using React and Firebase. As of right now, you have completed the following steps:
Created a blank, single page application: npx create-react-app . Installed the Firebase npm package: npm install --save firebase Added Firebase in the index.js file of your React: firebase.initializeApp(firebaseConfig); Created a basic signup and login UI Added Firebase Authentication code
Your next step is to route the user to a protected page. However, this brings up a few scary questions:
How do I add multiple pages to my single page application?
How do I create a protected route in React?
How do I tie this to Firebase Authentication?
Solution
You first need to add React Router to your project. React Router is a tool that allows you to handle routes in a web app instead of handling them on a server.
Before:
app.get('/home', function (req, res) { res.render('home') ; })
Now:
<Route exact path=”/home” component={Home} />
To add React Router to your web app, you can install react-router-dom. I have used version 5.2.0, so there is a chance that this code may be deprecated in the future.
npm install react-router-dom
Next, add firebase, useState, useEffect, and react-router-dom to your App.js. Then, inside the function App, add a new state variable. This will be used to determine if a user has logged into the app.
Next, we can use the useEffect hook to update the state variable we created above whenever there is a change in the Firebase user.
Finally, we can add our return statement. You may see that the path is set to the subdirectory, like “/login” or “/dashboard.”
Also, notice that Loading, HomePage, Login, Signup, Admin, and Error are all React Components that need to be imported at the top of your App.js. I won’t include any code for those pages because you should already have your signup and login code in there.
It may look like we are all done, but there is still one more step. Route was imported at the top of App.js, but PublicRoute and PrivateRoute do not exist. In your application, you may have pages that only authenticated users can access, like the Dashboard page. However, you may also have pages that authenticated users cannot access, like the Signup page. After all, why would someone already logged-in need to create another account?
Add the following code to the bottom of App.js, outside of the App function.
Now, you have solved the problem of routing the user to protected pages!
Moving Forward
To expand upon this tutorial, you can do the following:
Add more Protected and Public Routes
Add additional code inside the useEffect hook
Change the Redirect for ProtectedRoute and PublicRoute
If you are running into issues, ask yourself:
Are there any signup, login, or admin components that I am missing?
Have I properly created a Firebase project?
Have I installed and imported all of the required packages?
imported all of the required packages? Am I using an old or new version of React?
Finally, here are some resources that I used to learn all React Routing with Firebase. Please check them out! | https://javascript.plainenglish.io/client-side-routing-with-firebase-a6e630f299f2 | ['Ashay Parikh'] | 2021-01-01 17:34:03.847000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'React', 'Web Development', 'Firebase', 'React Router'] |
What’s your healthy meal plan?? | Craving for food is a natural process that you can’t leave out. Many people distressing themselves, heartbroken usually seeking for a perfect diet plan, and wish to achieve an enchanting smart look. Even if a very slender one wants to improve his weight. You go outside hangout with people grabbing a lot of food while enjoying and suddenly get much weight within a short interval of time. Probably, most of the time ratios of proteins and fats concentration present in the meal are not the same. To overcome these variables regarding health you should have a balanced diet plan.
Whether you’ve done with various diet plans on Google… Still, browsing for a better meal plan??
It is necessary to understand that generally meal plans are associated with the individual health of the public. They are not specific and might vary from person to person. However, it depends upon your body which one suits you best. Age, sex, weight, activity level, and digestion factors are important to determine how much food you need to eat and calories to maintain your diet.
FOOD TRIANGLE
Food on your plate defines the supplements that you take. Averagely, an adult needs 2000 calories per day while a young one needs up to 2200 cal. Some nutritionist recommends a 3D diet plan to keep your metabolism balanced and healthy that includes your breakfast, brunch & dinner. You should have to follow a “food triangle” of eatables weekly. In fact, it helps you to keep an eye on carbs, proteins, keto’s, and fats. Like you can put flour, eggs, milk, vegetables, fruits, meat, chicken & beef, grain, beans, cereals, and nuts in your cart when you’re in the market but how to use them properly on weekly basis is the turning point of a diet towards your health. You eat fresh meals when you crave them. A fresh juicy apple washed with cold water gives you a big relish of bite rather than a ripe one. Similarly, set your meal plans for food of your desire that helps you to have your meal on time.
BREAKFAST
Get up early in the morning especially woke up before 10 mins of breakfast. Brush your teeth and wash your face, hands properly. In your breakfast, try to eat food that contains proteins e.g. eggs, bread slices, etc. Fresh veggies and fruits are also taken in breakfast and juice beneficial to boost your glucose level. Canned juice is not preferable as it contains several chemicals that produce toxins during metabolism. You can take coffee as well it contains potassium and magnesium and caffeine that burn fats from the body and make your mind fresh to do work. A little addition of yogurt, oatmeal, chia seeds, berries, nuts, protein shakes, fruit, flax seeds, and cottage seed makes your breakfast tight and healthy.
BRUNCH
In the middle of the day, starvation happens. Actually, it is the peak time of craving begins and it is said to be the combination of breakfast and lunch. You have to eat salad, Russian salad, the toast of bread with jam, pancakes, fried eggs, biscuits and gravy, cinnamon rolls, etc. Preferably, fruits are very vital to eat at brunch, especially seasonal fruits. It benefits you in both ways; Priorly, vitamins, minerals, and various supplements get to fulfill what your body needs. Secondly, it prevents you from drinking beverages and fizzy drinks. Moreover, you can eat sweets like brownies, pastry, and cream cakes but don’t overeat them. Try to avoid junk food and drink 1 glass of water 3 times a day. Read the health slogans and implement them in your daily life.
DINNER
You shouldn’t miss out on your dinner. Loaves of bread, cereals, potatoes, rice, vegetables, meat, chicken, drink, milk, etc… are essentials that you take in your dinner. After having dinner you must have to take some sweet or green tea that digests your food properly. Don’t sleep early after dinner. You should walk at least up to 40 strides. This helps your pancreas and stomach metabolism to digest food well. Drink one glass of milk with chopped almonds and pistachio before sleeping. It serves your brain to learn and memorize things for a long time.
BENEFITS OF A HEALTHY MEAL PLAN:
It is very important to know the benefits of your meal plan that keeps you strong and healthy. There are a lot of advantages you can take from healthy meal plans but it all depends upon how you focus it. You’ve heard a very famous quote “excess of everything is bad” and literally, in the case of food, it quite resembles a perfect match. If you care about yourself you must have to care for your body that helps you live. Choose a balanced diet and focus on a healthy meal plan. Exercise daily at dawn time and try to grab calories that are beneficial for your body. Be careful while eating otherwise it will be useless. There are bundles of golden advantages that you get from a good healthy meal plan. A good healthy meal plan:
1. is convenient, cheaper, and not very expensive. Everyone should buy it easily.
2. saves your time from extraordinary efforts.
3. maintains your health and body temperature. It prevents you from recurrent diseases.
4. helps you to get rid of having a busy schedule and eat on time.
5. tells us about how many calories to take and fats to burn.
6. keeps your fitness long with metabolism.
7. limits the amount of added sugars which are not good for health.
CONCLUSION:
The key to having strong health is a good healthy meal plan and a balanced diet. No matter you belong to which race or country; it is the right of every person to maintain his health. It needs to consider that a strong healthy community leads to a powerful country. Try to eat food along with diet and chew it properly. Workout after grabbing food shows your activity level and also helps indigestion. Eat well, work well, and sleep well. | https://medium.com/@hajrashoukat/whats-your-healthy-meal-plan-50bc5d5a04b1 | ['Hajra Shoukat'] | 2021-01-23 16:15:29.232000+00:00 | ['Meal Planning', 'Living', 'Foodies', 'Healthy Lifestyle', 'Health'] |
A Photo That Captures an Entire Period of American Political History | Source: Huffington Post
This photo struck me as ICONIC. Could be used in the history books of the future to depict an entire juncture in American history and politics. This will endure long past the caricatures of bitter cartoonists, for sure. I’ll tell you why.
The hands poised like a man who “tells it like it is” or, rather, is about to “tell YOU how it is”. The Strong Man, sturdy stance, mouth open. Could be bluster, could be buff, that is for the viewer to read-in.
The media clamoring to re-post and headline his latest tweets, shoving microphones in his face, desperate to hear every self-righteous take on any and all days of the week, at any and all hours. Taking personal and deep offense at being cut off, as if access to him was their lifeline, their raison d’etre.
The perfect image of an institution locked in the patterns of Stockholm Syndrome, lambasted and persecuted by the man but can’t stay away, longing more and more intensely for the attention of the abuser — forcing the rest of the nation to watch them as they keep going back for more and more, only to face more and more lambasting and hostility from the man whose every word their mental grounding clings to.
Bombs and shooters approach their offices, and they look to him to “tell it like it is”, so they can run around in circles re-processing and fixating on every word and tweet. It’s not their fault, to an extent — although some self-awareness could sure go a long way. It’s just how abusers work.
They want to rile you up and get a reaction, so they can then use your reaction to beat you upside the head and coerce you into submission — to treat you with active engagement and undermining hostility, to keep you depending on their every word for your relative sense of security.
His criticisms of the media will simply be lost beyond the objectives he actually accomplishes with that rhetoric — no one will remember what was “fake news” — because at the end of the day, and at the end of his term, the media was always there, hanging on his every single word, loyal through thick and thin to spreading his every message and platforming him from the beginning of his campaign to the bitter, bitter end.
The Media could never bear to leave his side, and they at least felt and behaved as if they were nothing, without him, if it was not actually true in fact. This was the power of the Trump regime — an iron curtain of THIS STANCE, and the media, in lock-step, inseparable, and this is how the nation was led for x amount of years during this period.
This is America — this photo is fantastic | https://medium.com/@sarah_marilyn/a-photo-that-captures-an-entire-period-of-american-political-history-a1a4273566ce | ['Sarah Marilyn'] | 2018-11-12 20:56:22.084000+00:00 | ['Donald Trump', 'American History', 'Photography', 'Photos', 'Journalism'] |
Challenges faced by retailers in providing better service: | While the “customer is always right” mantra has held true for quite some time, the amount of power wielded by consumers has never been higher than it is right now. Customers are no longer forced to choose between just a couple of options when looking to purchase new luxury goods. Today, they have dozens. Maybe even hundreds. Not only has the number of retailers expanded exponentially in recent years, but so has the information available to customers. This means savvy shoppers tend to spend a lot of time researching their purchases — and consider the entire customer experience while doing so — before committing.
Retailers face the task of lowering prices and reducing shipping times, while simultaneously pinpointing and addressing all the operational inefficiencies that arise during day-to-day operations — such as out-of-stocks, misplaced inventory, and supplier meltdowns.
Here are some of the biggest challenges retailers face as they strive to achieve supply chain efficiency and compete with e-commerce:
1. Building fulfillment objectives around each customer
It’s easy for retailers to build their fulfillment objectives around their core customers until they begin to scale. Then the challenge becomes how to bring big picture understanding to each unique customer interaction.
2. Communicating with existing supplier networks
When retailers switch order management providers or seek out new suppliers to conserve resources in light of recent import tariffs, they need to maintain supply chain transparency to remain relevant and effective.
3. Mastering minute-by-minute inventory visibility
Only retailers know the important role reverse logistics play in getting returned inventory repackaged, repriced, and back on the sales floor (or online catalog). The sooner a retailer’s reverse logistics platform makes refurbished or resalable returned inventory visible to customers, the less chance of markdowns or retiring the returned product.
4. Using a ‘big data brain’ for strategic fulfillment
When it comes to order fulfillment, customers appreciate the option to choose between free shipping or fast shipping at checkout. Retailers can meet these expectations by intuitively identifying the most cost-effective and timely shipping option right when an order is placed.
5. Developing a self-correcting supply chain
Many retailers still use a test and learn strategy to try out new technologies. In a world where customers are increasingly unwilling to forgive retailers after a bad shopping experience, this can be risky when rolling out new applications that impact customers’ shopping experience.
Final words
Retailers need the ability to check their seasonal priorities and respond to market changes as they occur. There are many intelligent, self-correcting supply chain offerings that provide retailers with minute-by-minute data and actionable recommendations. These solutions help deliver better experiences and make it that much easier for customers to shop their brand. | https://medium.com/bulkbyte/challenges-faced-by-retailers-in-providing-better-service-7245c6b6f2fe | [] | 2020-12-15 16:23:56.706000+00:00 | ['E Commerce Market', 'Bulk Buying', 'Business', 'Online Shopping'] |
Writing from the ether | Sometimes you pull writing from the ether. It comes from you. But it sounds like somebody else wrote it.
This is the purest writing.
You don’t have to think, it’s already there. Uncovered rather than constructed. | https://medium.com/@notesfromdc/writing-from-the-ether-db74bf291f08 | [] | 2020-12-21 03:13:08.998000+00:00 | ['Writing Process', 'Writers On Writing', 'Writer', 'Fiction', 'Writing'] |
WebRTC 화상회의에서 로컬녹화 구현하기 | in Both Sides of the Table | https://medium.com/uprismio/webrtc-%ED%99%94%EC%83%81%ED%9A%8C%EC%9D%98%EC%97%90%EC%84%9C-%EB%A1%9C%EC%BB%AC%EB%85%B9%ED%99%94-%EA%B5%AC%ED%98%84%ED%95%98%EA%B8%B0-60a9395220ce | [] | 2019-09-09 13:06:07.321000+00:00 | ['Technology And Design', '로컬녹화', 'Uprismio Meetings', '유프리즘', 'WebRTC'] |
[EBOOK]-Princeton Review SAT Premium Prep, 2022: 9 Practice Tests + Review & Techniques + Online Tools (2021) (College Test Prepar… | DOWNLOAD>>>>>> http://co.readingbooks.host??book=0525570446
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Books are a valuable source of knowledge that affects society in different ways. Whether you are reading a masterpiece by an award-winning author or narrating a bedtime story to children, the significance of books cannot be overemphasized.
Human beings need to learn and stay informed, which are crucial needs that books can fulfill. They are also essential for entertainment and enable individuals to develop wholesome mindsets throughout their lives.
“Millions of books have been published over the years and they continue to be an integral aspect of people’s lives around the globe.
From making it easier to understand different aspects of life to serve as worthwhile companions that take you through challenging times, books have proven to be precious commodities.
Books are essential in a variety of ways that go beyond enriching your mind or entertaining you. They have stood the test of time as reliable references for centuries. They stimulate your senses and promote good mental health. Other benefits include enhancing your vocabulary, allowing you to travel through words, and inspiring positivity through motivational literature.
While the internet and television are useful in their own ways, nothing can compare to a great book. Books ignite your imagination, give you new ideas, challenge your perspectives, provide solutions, and share wisdom. At every stage of your existence, you can find a relevant book that will add value to your personal and professional life.
Books are filled with knowledge and they teach you valuable lessons about life. They give you insight into how to navigate aspects of fear, love, challenges, and virtually every part of life. Books have been in existence since time immemorial and they hold secrets of the past while providing a glimpse of the cultures of previous civilizations.
A book has the power to change or reinforce how you feel about your surroundings. It is a therapeutic resource that can equip you with the tools you need to stay on track and maintain a good attitude. Whether you want to learn a new language or delve into the intrigues of nature, there is a book for every situation.
There are numerous reasons why books are important. Reading books is a popular hobby as people around the world rely on them for relief and entertainment. Books contain records of history and are used to spread vital information. Reading books helps to improve your communication skills and learn new things. It can be useful for easing anxiety among students and professionals.
Other reasons that highlight how important books are in their positive impact on intelligence, writing abilities, and analytical skills. Books give people a great way to escape into another dimension. They are packed with endless possibilities for adventure and experiences that would be difficult to access in reality.
It is essential for people to strive to include books in their daily lives aside from using them for academic or professional purposes. They aid emotional and mental growth, boost confidence, and sharpen your memory. It is natural for people to be curious and want to learn more, which is why books are still significant today.
Books are a valuable source of knowledge that affects society in different ways. Whether you are reading a masterpiece by an award-winning author or narrating a bedtime story to children, the significance of books cannot be overemphasized.
Human beings need to learn and stay informed, which are crucial needs that books can fulfill. They are also essential for entertainment and enable individuals to develop wholesome mindsets throughout their lives.
“ | https://medium.com/@tanyarice_14630/download-http-co-readingbooks-host-book-0525570446-7f031f24f4a5 | [] | 2021-12-13 05:00:24.265000+00:00 | ['Download', 'Reading', 'Book', 'Read', 'eBook'] |
Mattress/Cushions Pt. 1 x Windows Pt. 2, Day 13 | December 18, 2020
With our Benches/Bed portion of our project almost at completion, it had come to the part where I have the least amount of experience: upholstery. It’s a good thing that Mama Magno is an expert in this field. I took a trip with her to our local fabric/arts and crafts store, JOANN Fabrics. We were in search of a material that is sturdy enough to withstand the rigors of sitting and sleeping but is also soft to the touch.
We handled numerous bolts of fabric but settled on jacquard— a type of cloth, typically cotton, featuring a woven pattern rather than printed on the surface. We found a taupe and white textile that will compliment our wood/white color theme well. It also happened to be the most cost effective. Score!
I unboxed a LUCID 3" bamboo carbon mattress topper that we purchased from Amazon in preparation for the sewing party. | https://medium.com/@the-magno-mobile/mattress-cushions-pt-1-x-windows-pt-2-day-13-26bbc1e89d9d | ['The Magno-Mobile'] | 2020-12-21 05:35:47.937000+00:00 | ['DIY', 'Conversion Van', 'Vanlife', 'Campervan', 'Projects'] |
A Gift Overdue | “Firstly, I would thank to my Allah.Who helped me in my all circumstances”
When i started to thinking about that person who helped me a lot in my all circumstances.After a long time, i found out that person who deserve thank.She is my mom who helped me in my all circumstances.Here i want to discuss the most important part of my life when everyone left me but my mom stand with me.(At the time of university fee)
We are living in a joint family.I hoped that you knew about the joint family situation.One head person (economical strong) ruled and decided all the things that do in house.After intermediate, i wanted to study in university but all the family members didn’t want that.Everyone said me you should go for the job and do started your education in private college.Due to financial issues, i also knew that i couldn’t survive but my all friends did go to the university.I thought that what they think about me.That time was really difficult for me.But i had a craze to went the university.
On the other side of the room,my mother was listening every situation she stood stand and saying the sentence i shall pay your fee.That really amazing moment for me that i never forget that in my life.She also knew about that she couldn’t do like that and i also knew that, how single she managed.After that family members was against to my mom.But my mom fought for me.After that first time she loaned for me.So i want to say that what i am at this time due to only my mom.I fulfilled my dream because of my mom.
I can also discuss here the success story of myself after one semester i did get the inter-loop company scholarship for my next semester studies.That’s moment was awesome for me i think i gave a little bit,a little bit happiness to my mom on that act.But this was a small thing in front of my mom love.
THANK YOU MY BEAUTIFUL MOM❤.
At last,”THANKS TO AMAL FOR THIS PROJECT” | https://medium.com/@syed.asad131/a-gift-overdue-fb0790c07c5e | ['Syed Asad Kazmi'] | 2020-02-22 02:04:56.614000+00:00 | ['Love', 'Care', 'Mothers', 'Sacrifice', 'Moms'] |
Thalassemia Market Size Worth $3.53 Billion By 2022 | The global thalassemia market size is expected to be valued at USD 3.53 billion by 2022, as per a new report by Grand View Research, Inc., exhibiting a CAGR of 10.8% during the forecast period. Increase in demand for a universal cure, rise in awareness about the disease, and technological advancements are likely to increase the adoption of gene therapies.
Thalassemia is a general term for a group of inheritable blood disorders, in which the body produces abnormal hemoglobin, resulting in the destruction of red blood cells. This ultimately leads to anemia. There are two main types of thalassemia: alpha-thalassemia and beta-thalassemia, the latter being more serious. Beta-thalassemia is a common autosomal recessive disorder worldwide and it is relatively rare in the U.S.
Increase in the incidence of thalassemia is anticipated to fuel market growth. Despite technological advancements, the unmet need for a reliable treatment option still exists. Treatment of thalassemia is mostly restricted to regular blood transfusions and iron chelation therapy. Drugs prescribed for thalassemia mostly cure symptoms and side effects such as anemia, iron overload, and vitamin deficiency. However, gene therapy is emerging as a reliable treatment option for the disease.
Prevalence of thalassemia is reported to increase gradually over the years across different regions. This can be attributed to population migration, intermarriages, and genetic and environmental factors prompting the condition and its implications.
Click the link below:
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/thalassemia-market
Further Key Findings From the Report Suggest: | https://medium.com/@marketnewsreports/thalassemia-market-cb43ac5ae541 | ['Gaurav Shah'] | 2020-10-27 12:09:30.810000+00:00 | ['Germany', 'Pharmaceutical', 'Spain', 'Italy', 'Japan'] |
Wallet, wallet in my pocket, why did I buy this item? | Wallet, wallet in my pocket, why did I buy this item?
We’re all guilty of this habit, it’s fine you can admit it; we often find ourselves buying things then regret it once we get home. It’s like the typical scenario of that tasty burger, as soon as we buy one and eat it, we start contemplating our life decisions. And the funny thing is that we never seem to learn, so is it our fault? Well, it’s a yes and a no, so don’t feel comfortable and blame them just yet, because we’re about to explore the matter in detail, but first let me get that cool keychain even though I only have one door key.
Why did I buy this again? How often do we ask ourselves this question, and then the next day: “Oh cool! Home exercise equipment! Now I’ll be able to exercise at home whenever I want and bring the sexy back like I always dreamed”. What just happened here? Probably saw some athletic bodies on the item listing page, thought about your last night’s burger, and decided that this day should mark the beginning of a new lifestyle. That’s the first secret of merchants, they want you to convince yourself to buy the item, after all, you trust yourself the most.
They’re everywhere, almost on every item, with the classic .99 price point, which we always have the same comment on: “why not just a dollar?”. Though you feel smart because last night you read an article about the idea behind the 1 cent less price point, you think it’ll no longer trick you, but you couldn’t be more wrong. They’re like the icing on the cake of marketing, simple but complement the listing. Flashy labels like SALE, 50% off, best deal, etc, sometimes only add virtual value to the item. Between two items, you’re more likely to buy the one that has the 50% off discount label, even if they’re the same price. That’s because subconsciously the label adds value, your mind is like “50% off? So it used to be twice the price, therefore twice the value for the same price as the other item, this one must be better”, and you just fell into the trap. As for the .99 pricing, even if you are aware of the trick, you can’t control your subconscious mind, 1299.99 is just not 1300, it’s cheaper, even if by 1 cent.
Prices on supermarket shelves might look random, here’s a 2$ water bottle, and here’s a 10$ Gatorade drink bottle, nothing unusual. But if you look at the prices on each level, that’s when you’ll find another trick regarding items placement on shelves. In short, the first items that catch your attention on a shelf are items at your eye level, which are the most profitable for the supermarket, you’ll then proceed to examine the item like you’re analyzing something, when in fact your subconscious mind already decided whether to buy or not. By the time you grab that item you’ll forget about the rest of the shelves, and once again, supermarket tricks got you.
Feeling overwhelmed already? No worries let’s relax and listen to some calm music, like those in the supermarkets. Hold up, are they as simple and innocent as we think? According to many studies, music has effects on our behavior way more than we think, so much that supermarkets use specific types of music that are engineered to put you in the shopping mood, and at the same time do not distract you. So next time you enter a supermarket and hear that clam music, don’t let it trick you!
Ugh, those stores are more like mazes than actual stores! Why can’t they just make them simpler? At this point, you’ve gained enough knowledge to know that for sure it’s not as random as it seems, and indeed you’re right! You see, a customer going into a supermarket to buy specific items is prey to the merchants, a prey that must be captured. Well, they can’t kidnap you as soon as you enter, but at least they can have you spend more time in there than needed. That way you’re more likely to see more items, and to buy more than you planned. So, they place essential items at the very back of the supermarket, because you certainly didn’t go there to buy another cool keychain right? So as you walk past all those shelves, the magic of advertisement starts taking place.
Now you know some of the reasons why your ol’ wallet’s always in good shape! Regular purchase of unnecessary items, healthy overbuying, and daily routine of browsing the internet looking for things to buy because you’ll certainly need someday. Well, enough psychology for now, how about we get serious and learn some tips on how to manage this problem, so we can get in better shape instead of the wallet, and let it add few pounds? That’s what we’ll discuss in the next article. | https://medium.com/ensabill/wallet-wallet-in-my-pocket-why-did-i-buy-this-item-cbf071fd2546 | [] | 2021-05-04 11:24:41.803000+00:00 | ['Labels', 'Sales', 'Discount', 'Music', 'Psychology'] |
Remote Workers: Help Your Neighbor | Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash
While I hoped to write a technical article today my mental state could not avoid the fog surrounding the current pandemic. So instead, I’m taking my own advice and focus on what I can do. What we can do.
For Remote Workers
If you have been privileged with the ability to work from home prior to this craziness listen up. There are some simple things you can do to help those in need before you dive into that box of Samoas you’ve been hoarding by your desk (calling myself out here…) Friends and organizations are being forced into work environments with little to no warning, using tools and resources we take for granted on a daily. While there may be a dedicated IT guy on staff most places do not have that person. Those who do suddenly got overwhelmed with the scale of requests. “Hey, I need 20 laptops by tomorrow…”. Below is a quick example of how we can take our day-to-day knowledge and reach out to those in need.
For Folks Forced Into Remote Life
If you are a small organization, non-profit, team, individual trying to figure this all out. Stay tuned. We are here to help. Hopefully, this will shed some light on resources you can use or at least get conversations started with those who may be able to help.
The Example:
Most city/town organizations are comprised of small teams and offices 15 people or less. There’s not a dedicated IT guy. Instead, there’s a donated work station acting as a server in a closet, everyone just has their files saved locally on their desktop, with all the normal Office tools installed. While it’s not perfect… it works.
If you are in IT, you are probably thinking of 100 different ways this could have been solved for, the cost savings, the concerns of old hardware. You also know this is normal. It’s 2020 and some folks are still out their rocking XP, not caring about the issue until it was an issue… and until last week that was fine.
Today, meetings are being held with stressed organizers and managers trying to figure out how to continue forward while doing what they know is best — Sending people home. While there have always been glaring holes in the IT world, it is the scale that is crippling here. Folks assumed they’d need to replace a couple of machines at some point, but now they are needing to pull the trigger on a whole new infrastructure for their team. Today. These decisions normally take a year or more, budgets planned, business practices and protocols thought through.
So What Can We Do
As remote workers, engineers, and consultants, we already have this knowledge and the resources on lockdown. We have best practices in place, the do’s and don’ts, and why it matters. The ONE THING we can do today is to share this knowledge and some time. This isn’t the time to make a quick buck… This is helping your mom set up her printer territory. Do you know of a company using Office 365 — Help them integrate with Teams and OneDrive. No? Gmail users? Setup G-Drive and Slack. Introduce them to Zoom. Help them work out a meeting schedule. Those daily programs pinned to your taskbar — most folks are not aware. SHARE.
This week alone, I was contacted by a handful of organizations stressed just needing advice on how to function, how WE function. In most cases, this doesn’t even require a face to face meeting, simply a call of confirmation as you walk them through the best tools for the job.
As a Software consultant, this is in my blood. Use the right tool for the job, and empower others along the way. If you work remotely I challenge you in the days and weeks ahead to reach out to your neighbors and help guide the way. A simple 15-minute call could save a team months of stress and anxiety. | https://blog.echobind.com/remote-workers-help-your-neighbor-8402fcc9dd9a | ['Matt Thompson'] | 2020-03-18 18:55:32.774000+00:00 | ['Helping Others', 'Volunteering', 'Team Building', 'Remote Work', 'Consulting'] |
The Paradigm Shift between “The Virgin and the Chad” | From the 90s to maybe even as far back as the 80s, there has been a tacit push by Hollywood and all other facets of pop culture to present socially isolated, “nerdy/”geeky” people, or people that society otherwise deems as losers and outcasts such as goths, LGBT folks, anime kids, etc. as some kind of oppressed minority. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this, because these folks definitely faced way more bullying and harassment in the 80s and 90s.
But post millennium, the paradigm has shifted almost all the way around. In our modern society which finds itself teetering off the edge of a steep cliff into total dystopian nightmare, the Geeks and the Nerds specifically have managed to carve out their own niche. Computer scientist majors, and programmers would have been laughed at 40 years ago; now they could be your boss making well over 6 figures. One look at the years top blockbuster summer action movies gives just a brief glimpse into what academics refer to as ‘Capitalist realism’.
As Zizek put it: “it is easier to imagine an end to the world than an end to capitalism,”. For a brutally visual encapsulation of this concept, watch this short, 2 -minute video clip from Adam Curtis’ PHENOMENAL documentary, Hyper-normalization: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tnl-51cSYg
A niche version of the extremely popular “virgin vs Chad“ meme
Here’s a sobering experience that I subjected myself to: I asked everyone I know, whether they’re right wing or left, educated or not, Boomer, Gen-X, Millennial or Zoomer a simple question: do you imagine that the rest of the 21st century, and whatever comes after, will be overall positive and Utopian, or negative and dystopian. All but one of the answers were negative.
Additionally, it is extremely pertinent who exactly held such optimism. Despite being an unapologetic capitalist, who trades stocks, and deifies Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, my friend “Joe” is, in fact, my friend. Despite his reactionary interest in the last bastion of hope in a Utopian future i.e. Silicon Valley and the mega, multi-national tech conglomerates, Joe is a great friend who always has your back, is extremely generous and likable, and always a blast to party with.
This brings me to my conclusion: The once shunned ‘freaks and geeks’ of yester-year, have managed to become some of the most disgustingly rich and diabolical people the world has ever known. Technology should be a tool to enrich and nurture mankind. It should not be used not devastate the environment, shred what little civil rights and privacy we have left, and drone bomb entire innocent families in the middle east.
The economic downturn of the 1970s helped to extinguish any remaining embers smoldering from the revolutionary yearning for change of the 1960s that we all hold so deeply in our hearts. Academics, artists, activists of all kinds retreated and gave up on their quest to save American civil society. And with a near decade of Reaganomics coming their way, who could blame them. But while most of these people retreated into poverty, disillusionment, and despair, the burgeoning Computer industry created an entire cyberspace to retreat into. This digital retreat has now transformed every aspect of our daily lives so thoroughly that I need not explain them in detail.
The very people that were mocked and laughed at, the so called “virgins”, “neck-beards” “nerds” “geeks: etc. have now become some of the most powerful and potentially evil people in the world. All of the people that I know in real life who fit firmly on the “virgin” side of the Virgin vs Chad paradigm were all Trump voters; disgusting people inside and out. Take a quick look at the faces of every school shooter. It is always the face of a “virgin”, someone who is clearly a social outcast, but by their own volition. The sociopaths who engage in school shootings, 9 times out of 10, leave a manifesto explaining that their actions were a result of sexual humiliation, inspiration from Trump and the alt-Right. As an aside, its important to reflect on the connections that German academics in the 1930s made between growing fascism and the connection between Social and Sexual humiliation.
To their warped world view: it is society’s fault for not catering reality to fit their exact desires. Now that “nerd culture” has gone mainstream and that *gasp* *clutches pearls* Superhero Movies and Star Wars is drawing in new target audiences that aren’t just 16–36 year old men, these ‘virgins’ are forced to confront the uncomfortable truth that it was never computers or video games or Dungeons and Dragons that made them so unlikable by their peers. No, that nastiness and inability to maintain a healthy and non-toxic social life was an ingrained part of who they are. Things like comic books and video games allow these people to perpetually re-enforce their own isolation, while being given a slow-drip IV of Mountain Dew, Doritos and day-old Taco Bell leftovers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To anyone reading this who might sadly identify as an incel, or virgin. I want you to know that it is not too late for you. I used to internalize so much of the same misogyny when I was growing up and out of shape. If i had never started putting an effort into my appearance, and if I had never come to the realization that I had deep flaws that needed correcting, I very well could have gone down this dark path you have chosen. But it wasnt too late for me.
I used to toss and turn at night, praying to god that I would find love and companionship; that I would find my soulmate. And in what felt like a blink of an eye, I met her, and I’ve never been happier. Its not too late. | https://medium.com/@laborwavedesigns/the-paradigm-shift-between-the-vigin-and-the-chad-9fcd88054a75 | ['Leonardo Galletti'] | 2019-06-11 18:32:23.756000+00:00 | ['Communism', 'Politics', 'Hollywood', 'Dystopia', 'Capitalism'] |
Build an Automated Twitter Feed With Python | Making the Bot
First we need to consider how we’ll go about getting news links. The most universal way of doing this is via web scraping — we get the source of the page we want to get news from and search our way through it to extract anything we want.
There’s an excellent library for doing this in Python called Beautiful Soup. Get it with the following command:
pip install beautifulsoup4
This is how we can scrape the posts from Hacker News. Web scraping can be slow, especially when you have to load multiple pages, so it should be avoided where possible.
For Reddit, there’s a much simpler alternative. For every subreddit (e.g., r/Python), there’s a JSON file containing all of the data for the top posts and another file for the new posts. In this example, it’s located here.
Reddit JSON data
Let’s start by making a scraper for Hacker News.
First, we need to study the behaviour of the Hacker News site.
The start page for the site is just the top posts of the day — not particularly useful so far. But if you scroll to the bottom, you’ll see a link that says “More.”
This link takes you to the next page, where the URL changes to https://news.ycombinator.com/news?p=2 .
You can see that the page changes according to p , where p=1 contains the first 29 posts, p=2 contains the next 29, and so on. It’s important to note that p doesn’t ever go over 20, after which it only ever returns blank pages.
If you right-click and press Inspect Element on one of the post titles, you’re able to see the page’s source.
Pay attention to the source. You see the articles are in an HTML table structure.
Each title is a td (table data cell) with class="title" and contains the URL to the story, which also has the text title.
You can see another element too: <td class="title valign="top" align="right"> . This isn’t an element we want, but it is of the class title so will come up when we try to get title class table data cells. To exclude this element we can make use of the align="right" property and disqualify it from our results if the property is present.
There’s also a “new” page that shows posts by most recent submission.
The new page follows a very similar system; however, instead of p=1 , you must specify the first post number on the page with n=(number) . For instance, https://news.ycombinator.com/newest?n=24 displays 24 through 53.
This is all of the information we need to scrape posts from the Hacker News site, and it’ll allow us to get the source of all the pages, scraping all 29 posts from each page. You can apply this process to most sites, though they’ll vary in layout.
Now, we need to put this information into Python. | https://betterprogramming.pub/build-an-automated-twitter-feed-with-python-792f6e865147 | ['Sam Berry'] | 2020-12-30 04:42:47.353000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Web Scraping', 'Twitter', 'Programming', 'Bots'] |
Trump’s Refusal to Dream, Acknowledge Reality, Devastating to Environment and Economy | Greening the Economy is the only way to keep the U.S. competitive in the global economy and to save the environment. flickr.com
President Donald Trump, in comments made at the recent G-7 summit in France, positioned himself as the protector of United States’ wealth, justifying his refusal to address, much less believe in, climate change on grounds that investing in green energy production would damage the nation’s economic standing.
The U.S. has “tremendous wealth,” Trump told reporters. “I’m not going to lose that wealth. I’m not going to lose it on dreams and windmills, which, frankly, aren’t working that well.”
A reality check is necessary here on a couple of counts.
First, green energy production is not a dream, but a substantial reality in nations around the globe, including China, Denmark, and Germany, and, yes, the U.S.
Second, windmills, actually, seem to be working quite well in the U.S. and around the globe.
Just take Iowa as an example. Trump might think about Iowa as a “Field of Dreams,” but the state is actually a field of renewable energy production reality. While states such as New York and California have passed aspirational legislation requiring their states to achieve 50 percent renewable energy use by 2030, and Hawaii has aggressively legislated that utilities must get 100 percent from their electricity from renewable sources by 2045, Iowa has been a trailblazer in creating this reality, generating 40 percent of its energy from renewable sources.
And, according to the United States Energy Information Administration, “One-third of Iowa’s net electricity generation comes from wind, the second-largest share of any state.”
From wind!
And Iowa’s continuing infrastructure investments in windmills promise to lift that level of energy production from wind to 40 percent by the end of 2019. In 2008, only four percent of the state’s electricity generation was sourced by wind.
Additionally, farmers are eager to install wind turbines alongside their corn and garner additional income.
Denmark offers another example of the environmental and economic successes of windmills. The nation generates a whopping 42 percent of its electricity from wind, and the wind energy industry is a billion-dollar industry in Denmark and an export success, whether it be through wind farms, turbine production, or off-shore installation.
And other countries, including the U.S.’s top competitors, are keenly aware that the greening of a nation’s economy, represented in Trump’s phrase “dreams and windmills,” does not result in a loss of wealth but is in fact essential to nation’s ability to maintain and grow wealth and remain economically competitive in the global arena.
Germany, a nation that already generates 41% of its energy from renewable sources, recently announced a plan, expected to be adopted by the government, to shut down all 84 of its coal-fired power plants by 2038 in order to meets international commitments to address climate change. This plan came on the heels of a previous decision, made after Japan’s 2011 Fukushima disaster, to shut down all its nuclear power plants by 2022 (12 of 19 have already been shut down).
Germany also introduced the world’s first zero-emission passenger train to be powered by hydrogen.
Similarly, China has invested heavily in electric buses, and is positioned as a global leader. They have deployed a fleet of 421,000 electric buses. By comparison, the U.S. has 300 electric buses.
Looking at Iowa and around the globe, it’s clear Trump’s “dreams and windmills” are in fact not dreams at all, but rather a stark reality that must be acknowledged and embraced in any viable plan for a nation’s economic development.
Indeed, in a recent report from the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst titled “A Green New Deal for Washington State: Climate Stabilization, Good Jobs, and Just Transition,” Robert Polli, Heidi Garrett-Peltier, and Jeannette Wicks-Lim highlight the intimate linkages between environmental sustainability and responsibility, infrastructure investment and development, and job creation.
The Green New Deal they propose “will create major opportunities to expand job opportunities and launch new industrial development initiatives throughout the state, while also supporting a healthy overall level of economic growth that supports existing employment levels.” Additionally, they project, “clean energy investments in Washington State that would be sufficient to put the state on a true climate stabilization trajectory will generate about 40,000 jobs per year within the state.”
Government researchers, though, have made the intertwinement of economic and environmental health abundantly clear. The report, released last November, emphasizes,
“With continued growth in emissions at historic rates, annual losses in some economic sectors are projected to reach hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century — more than the current gross domestic product (GDP) of many U.S. states.” The report charts the negative impacts of global warming in terms of undermining human health, damaging infrastructure, limiting the availability of clean water, and increasing costs in farming, fisheries, and industrial and energy production, in addition to economic damages and costs related to altering coastlines.
And yet we wait for an infrastructure plan from Trump.
It may be that his denial of climate change is an obstacle to his willingness to invest in infrastructure.
In the past, Trump has praised China for its infrastructure, declaring, “China, you go there now, roads, bridges, schools, you never saw anything like it,” he marveled. “I love China,” he went on. But America? He continued, “We’re dying. We’re dying. … We’ve got nothing.”
To get “something,” though, by many accounts, would mean investing in a green economy, as other nations and even our own states are doing.
Trump once famously pronounced, “The American dream is dead.”
It seems dead primarily — and dangerously — in his political imagination.
And the death of that dream portends an American environmental and economic nightmare. | https://timlittlebooks.medium.com/trumps-refusal-to-dream-acknowledge-reality-devastating-to-environment-and-economy-1b41831d2ed1 | ['Tim Libretti'] | 2019-09-02 16:19:12.129000+00:00 | ['Economy', 'Politics', 'Climate Change', 'Economics', 'Environment'] |
AYS Daily Digest 09/06/2021 — Campaign Mounts to Abolish Frontex | GREECE
Government attempts to defend sound cannons
After news spread last week that the Greek government is using sound cannons at the Evros border, the outrage was widespread. Now, the government is attempting to defend its actions by saying, “What the police do, they must do in their own way” (in the words of Migration Minister Mitarakis).
Meanwhile, the EU has clarified that it did not fund the sound cannons directly, although since it funds so many other murderous projects on the external borders, its hands are hardly clean. Ylva Johansson also did not issue a direct condemnation of this violation of human rights, instead calling it “a strange way of protecting your border.” That same day, the official Greek Ministry of Migration’s Facebook page posted a photo of Johansson and Mitarakis gleefully touching elbows and praising the cooperation between the EU and Greece, without a single word addressing the sound cannons.
For more on the sound cannons and other weapons in the Mediterranean, check out this discussion (in German) with MEP Erik Marquardt.
New pact, de facto end to migration access
Even though the New Pact on Migration and Asylum is technically still under discussion, the Greek government has moved ahead with plans that de facto alter the asylum system, without needing consultations from the EU on its actions. Through new closed centers, concrete walls around existing camps, and deals with third countries such as the one with Turkey that we covered in a previous digest, the government is largely closing opportunities for people to apply for asylum. While the member states continue to quarrel, including over “secondary travel” from Greece, it is unlikely that there will be a functioning solidarity mechanism soon, despite Swiss promises that they would join a system that distributes asylum seekers even though they are not an EU member. Meanwhile, the Commission oversees an expansion of border proceedings with very little oversight. Even if the New Pact is never implemented, some of its worst policies could affect the lives of people on the move for a long time to come.
The designation of Turkey as a safe third country for several groups making up the largest asylum applicants in Greece could seriously undermine access to asylum. The European Commission said that Greece will still have to assess people’s applications individually, but Ylva Johansson also said “there can be a swift approach for returns.” It is impossible to thoroughly assess individual cases while deporting people quickly. Once again, the EU is attempting to cover itself rhetorically while doing nothing substantial.
Updates from Lesvos
The Greek government promised that people will not spend another winter in tents on the Greek islands, including Lesvos. However, many are skeptical of this claim, since the “temporary” camp at Mavrovouni has been in place for months with no improvement on its conditions or progress on an alternate setting.
Current conditions on Lesvos are physically and psychologically damaging for the people forced to live in tents. This is taking a particularly high toll on children. There have been 456 children treated for mental health problems in 2019 and 2020 alone. Of those, almost 200 displayed signs of self-harm or had attempted suicide. Who knows how many other children have fallen through the cracks?
The MSF released this information as part of its wider report on the manufactured crisis at the Greek border, a report which you can read here.
Updates from Patras
People in the Port of Patras are reporting “increased pressure” from authorities, according to conversations No Name Kitchen experienced. Some people even reported encountering German officers. The people described arbitrary detention, threats, physical beatings in prison, and pushbacks from Italy. For more on the situation, read No Name Kitchen’s dispatch here.
Updates from Athens
Greek authorities have been caught refusing vaccines to people whose asylum applications were rejected. As Manos Moschopoulos put it, “The virus does not check papers before it infects people.”
Khora Community Kitchen in Athens has reduced its opening times due to a lack of funding. To learn more about their new hours as well as how you can support the organization, go here. | https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-09-06-2021-campaign-mounts-to-abolish-frontex-aaef5c7fb998 | ['Are You Syrious'] | 2021-06-10 11:49:12.061000+00:00 | ['Digest', 'Migrants', 'Refugees', 'Abolish Frontex', 'Frontex'] |
Winter Spiral Day #11 | a WBC writing invitation series for the Winter Solstice
What do we see dance in the tree?
Who might we be
when the leaves have fallen
and the geese have gone,
our trash our only companion.
How do we band together ‘til spring? | https://medium.com/wisdom-body-collective/winter-spiral-day-11-158a9e8655e2 | ['Amy Bobeda'] | 2020-12-11 00:02:36.675000+00:00 | ['Winter Solstice', 'Writing Challenge', 'Climate Action', 'Writing Life', 'Writing Prompts'] |
Solving Coordinate Geometry Problems in Python from scratch | Solving Coordinate Geometry Problems in Python from scratch
Learn to construct your own Python functions to solve geometrical problems without importing any packages
Photo by Dawid Małecki from Pexels
Introduction
Coordinate Geometry also is known as Analytical Geometry or Cartesian Geometry, used to analyze or study geometry through the means of coordinates and vertices. This concept is held in much geometrical mathematics for example to find the area of geometrical shapes using coordinates, finding the midpoints, dividing a line segment into m:n ratio, and so on. Each of these concepts has its own formulas and methodology for solving the problems. What if we can solve these using python?
Python, being a general-purpose programming language, is highly powerful and efficient in solving mathematical tasks or problems. Even though there are several scientific packages like NumPy and SciPy, defining our own mathematical functions and parameters on top of python would be more flexible. So, what are we going to solve? Read the concept below to know more about it.
Concept
In this article, we are going to solve a problem based on the triangle and a simple calculation on finding the area of the quadrilateral.
Triangle case: There are three mid-points of the triangle P, Q, and R whose coordinates are (12, 6), (11, 4), and (8, 4) respectively are given to us. We have to find the vertices of the triangle (A, B, and C), area of the triangle, compare the original triangle and the mid-point triangle (based on size), check collinearity, and finally plot the triangle. Of course, this problem would take four pages to conclude but, it just takes minutes to calculate in python.
Quadrilateral case: Four vertices A, B, C and D whose coordinates are (-4, -2), (-3, -5), (3, -2) and (2, 3) respectively are given. We have to find the area of the quadrilateral, check collinearity, and plot the quadrilateral. This is what the whole concept is going to be.
Now, let’s program and calculate it in python.
Solving Triangle Case
To solve the problem, the given components are just the coordinates of the mid-points. So, we have to derive the coordinates of the vertices, find the area, check collinearity, compare the original triangle versus the mid-point triangle, and finally plot both the original and mid-point triangle.
Step-1 | Finding the coordinates of the Vertices
The first step is going to be finding the coordinates of the vertices A, B, and C. To calculate the coordinates of the vertices, we can define a function that takes mid-points as the parameters and pass on a formula to calculate the coordinates of A, B, and C. Let’s define the function in python!
Python Implementation:
Code Explanation: Firstly, we are defining a function ‘find_triangle_coordinates’ that takes the mid-points as parameters. Inside the function, we are slicing the given mid-points into single numerical variables and stored them as p1, p2, q1, q2, r1, r1. Next, we are creating three empty lists named A, B, and C in which we are going to store the calculated coordinates. After that, we are passing on a formula in which we used the sliced values of the mid-points and stored that in the respective numerical variables. Explaining the formula intuitively, we are adding the first and third midpoint value and subtracting the value with the second midpoint value. Followed by that, we are appending all the calculated coordinates into the relevant vertices A, B, and C and finally returned those coordinates.
Step-2 | Calculating the Area
In this step, we are going to define a function for finding the area of the triangle that takes the vertices of the triangle as parameters. We will pass on a function inside the function to find the area using the coordinates of the vertices. Follow the code to define the function in python.
Python Implementation:
Code Explanation: Just like how we did in the previous step, we are defining a function ‘find_triangle_area’ that takes the coordinates of vertices as parameters. Inside the function, we are slicing and storing the values into the respective coordinate values. After that, we are passing a formula that takes the sliced coordinate values and calculates the area. The formula is nothing but it takes the coordinate values and crosses multiples them. To understand the formula more effectively, imagine a matrix that has all the x-coordinates in the first row and all the y-coordinates in the second row. Note that, after listing all the three x and y coordinates in the matrix, we have to add another first value of the x and y coordinate at the end of the matrix. Now, take x1 and cross multiply the value with y2, like that, x2 with y3 and x3 with y1. After calculating this part, we have to subtract it with a set of other cross multiplied values starting from y1 with x2, y2 with x3, and finally y3 with x1. Sometimes while applying this formula, we may end up with a negative result but, the area cannot be negative. So using the ‘abs’ function we are converting the sign to positive if the value is negative and multiplying the output with 0.5 or 1/2 (part of the formula). After this whole process, we are returning the final output of the function.
Step-3 | Check Collinearity
What is collinearity? In coordinate geometry, the vertices are said to have collinearity when the area of the triangle results in ‘zero’ square units. We can define a function in python which helps us to check whether the given vertices have collinearity or not.
Python Implementation:
Code Explanation: As usual, we are defining a function ‘check_triangle_collinearity’ that takes the vertices of the triangle as parameters. Inside the function, we are using the ‘find_triangle_area’ function which we defined a step ago to find the area of the triangle. After that, we passing on an if-else statement that returns true when the area which we calculated inside the function is equal to ‘zero’. If the statement gets satisfied, it returns a message saying that the given vertices are collinear. If not, it returns a message of non-collinearity.
Step-4 | Compare the Triangles
In this step, we are going to define a simple and minimal function that compares the given triangles and gives us a result that how many times the original triangle is bigger than the mid-point triangle. Follow the code define the function in python.
Python Implementation:
Code Explanation: As I said before, this function ‘compare_triangles’ is a simple and minimal function that takes the original triangle area and the mid-point triangle area as parameters. Inside the function, we are storing a string that says how many times the original triangle is bigger than the mid-point triangle inside a variable ‘message’. Finally, we returning the message variable.
Step-5 | Plotting the Triangle
In this final step, we are going to define a function that makes us able to plot a triangle using the coordinates of the vertices. When it comes to plotting or graphing, without any other option we have to use the matplotlib package, or else, it takes us long to define the function. So, make sure you have matplotlib installed in your python environment. If you don’t have matplotlib installed in the python environment, then follow or copy the code and paste it into your command prompt terminal: pip install matplotlib
After installing the plotting package, we are now ready to define our plot function in python.
Python Implementation:
Code Explanation: We are defining a function ‘plot_triangle’ that takes the vertices of the triangle and color of the triangle as parameters. Inside the function, we are slicing the coordinates into single numerical variables (just like how we did in the preceding steps). After that, we are importing the plotting package which is the matplotlib package, and tuning some parameters to customize the size (20 inches in width and 10 inches in height) and style (ggplot) of the plot. Next, we are storing the graph into a variable ‘fig’ and finally returning the plot.
Step-6 | The Results
This step is the most exciting one when compared to all the others as we are going to use our defined function to solve the problem and see the results. We can use the defined function just by calling them. Without further ado, let’s implement our defined functions in python!
Python Implementation:
Output: | https://medium.com/datazen/solving-coordinate-geometry-problems-with-pure-python-7417619db690 | ['Nikhil Adithyan'] | 2020-11-29 16:44:09.396000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Python', 'Tutorial', 'Education', 'Algorithms'] |
How the Lockdown Has Impacted Work-life Balance and Remote Working | How the Lockdown Has Impacted Work-life Balance and Remote Working
How remote working have impacted our lives
Photo by XPS on Unsplash
The term “work-life balance” has changed significantly due to the pandemic. As most companies and organisations switched to remote working during the lockdown to keep their services and operations alive, how we balance or differentiate our work from our normal daily lives have been affected.
I work in tech and currently work from home due to the pandemic. Do I enjoy this? I guarantee you that I do. However, due to the pandemic, working from home has become more tedious than I imagined it to be. This is due to not being able to do anything else outside the house. I’m sure some of you feel this way.
Remote working has been practised by most tech companies, and this has been a perk offered to employees. This “perk” has been a means for employees to better manage their time between work and other commitments, whilst also being productive at work.
Technological tools
The use of technological tools has also played a major part in how companies become more remote worthy. The technological tools to do this has always been at our fingertips but has not always been considered before the global pandemic.
We have all been forced into a time where remote working is the norm, and employers have had to take into account the work-life balance of their employees and how effective their work has been.
Companies and organisations have had to provide a means for their staff to have a smooth transition to work remotely and have a good experience. Such tools include Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Slack, Discord, and others.
Remote working productivity
Image by consultancy UK
A survey by Eden McCallum in its third version of the Covid-19 survey series has shown that the sentiment of European business leaders has changed over the past few weeks. Many have reported that productivity from workers has improved, thanks to the positive impacts of remote working on the lives of their staff.
In their report, Eden McCallum reported that the lockdown restrictions saw half of their respondents stating that 80% of their staff were working remotely and about a 5th of the companies with 100% staff working remotely. Out of these, 43% stated that they had seen positive effects on their productivity compared to just 29% with the opposite. These numbers show that working remotely has indeed had a positive impact on the working life of employees.
Positive effects of working from home
Reduced commuting time: With lockdown and social distancing measures in place, an increased number of employees are working from home. The time spent sitting in traffic and rush hour train commutes have been eliminated from some workers daily lives.
With lockdown and social distancing measures in place, an increased number of employees are working from home. The time spent sitting in traffic and rush hour train commutes have been eliminated from some workers daily lives. Increased collaboration: As most companies adopted remote working technology, this also gave them the capability to interact with each other more including messaging and video conferencing.
As most companies adopted remote working technology, this also gave them the capability to interact with each other more including messaging and video conferencing. More time spent with family: As more employees work from home, it also means more time to spend with their families and creating time fathers and mothers can spend seeing their children, so this has contributed to a boost in morale of some employees.
Negative effects of working from home
Although we have some positive outlook on the work-life balance of some staff, there are also some negatives including:
Working longer: for some, differentiating between their work life and normal life has been difficult. They may spend a long time working as they are free to start and finish whenever they want to. The fact that their work is at home with them, doesn’t help the situation.
Companies encourage their staff to stick to strict time limits. However, some find it difficult to stop working and end up working overtime.
A downturn in company morale: Company morale and motivation saw a steep decline during the lockdown. Most of these could be attributed to the economic and health situation Covid-19 has put them in. With some having family members affected by Covid and the loss of contact with family and friends. This was sure to affect the mental health of some workers and cause a decline in staff morale.
What next for remote working?
Photo by XPS on Unsplash
A survey by Eden McCallum has shown that 65% of employers will continue to introduce and encourage remote working. This shows that covid-19 has influenced how we view working from the office. This will potentially boost productivity and talent sourcing as they will not be restricted by location.
Staff are currently not willing to return to the office anytime soon, although employers are encouraging them to do so. Employers are also considering changing the office layout to encourage social distancing at work.
What is the point of getting staff back in the office if productivity has increased? Employees are happy and willing to work from home, so there is no strong reason to force them back.
Companies that have extended remote working include Google, Twitter, Siemens, Facebook and other companies. Will other smaller companies follow the example lead by Google? Some are planning on including permanent remote working including Twitter, Square and Facebook.
We have now seen an increase in the interest in working remotely as a result of the pandemic. Some prospective employees will soon consider this as a requirement. We are yet to see the long term effects this has on the work-life balance of employees. | https://medium.com/the-innovation/how-the-lockdown-influenced-work-life-balance-and-remote-working-bda66c30ee07 | ['Samuel Aigbotsua'] | 2020-11-02 13:23:15.502000+00:00 | ['Work From Home', 'Technology', 'Lockdown', 'Work Life Balance', 'Remote Working'] |
How we scale our automation project Atlas using design patterns | Page Object Model
We will not go into description details of this pattern, we all used or read about it at least once on the world wide web. Briefly, Page Object Model (POM) is an object design pattern in Selenium, where web pages are represented as classes, and the various elements on the page are defined as variables on the class. All possible user interactions can then be implemented as methods on the class.
Let’s check the main points for building a class according to the POM using the Login Page of our application as an example.
Login Page
To reflect this page, we create a single class in our automation project. It’s best to make sure the class’s name is representative of the application’s page so that other contributors can easily locate the class associated with a particular UI page. Any of the elements on the page that will be included in our tests should have properties in LoginPage. These properties are locators to the elements on the actual page. It lets us not to hardcode these locators in any place we use them, so we define them in one place, avoiding duplication.
So, in this case, we’d create a LoginPage class.
The class should also provide methods that allow a test to interact with the application, such as setting input fields and clicking buttons, in addition to the properties. Here are some pointers on how to build these methods so that our tests can make the best use of them:
We write only methods/properties that are currently needed. If a new test needs a new method/property, we can always add more. We don’t have to manage any unused code as a result of this.
Transitions should return new objects. Methods return a handle to the class representing the UI page we’ve moved to when your click results in a page change. If, for example, clicking the log-in button takes us to the application’s home page, method returns a handle to the class that represents that page.
Methods in classes are neutral, in other words methods are generic enough to be used by any test that wants to interact with the page. This simply means we don’t write assertions in page methods.
Issues we solved with POM:
Separation of technical details such as elements in the browser (elements which perform this or that functionality), removal them from the logic of tests to make test logic clean and transparent and store them in different pages.
Reuse of the code that is written in those pages. Many test scripts go through the same pages, then it would be quite logical if code is written once and is invoked every time it’s needed, what, accordingly, will greatly simplify writing tests.
Example code from test script
Loadable Components
The problem is that when a test moves from one page to another, it has no way of knowing whether the desired page has fully loaded. Obviously, usual sleep or not waiting at all aren’t viable options. Usually, test engineers create explicit wait in the page class’s constructor or in its ancestor and override if required. So, what are our options for resolving this issue?
In Atlas all pages extend PageBase and override its check method and these overridden check methods in every page’s constructor do control loading of all most important elements of this page. | https://medium.com/insiderengineering/how-we-scale-our-automation-project-atlas-using-design-patterns-5f47f5d0f41c | ['Leyla Hasanzade'] | 2021-04-07 14:18:07.649000+00:00 | ['Selenium', 'QA', 'Testing', 'Automation', 'Design Patterns'] |
20 More Moons Found Around Saturn | With the discovery of 20 more moons, Saturn now holds the record for the greatest number of moons anywhere in the Solar System, and you can help name them!
The discovery of 20 previously-unknown moons around Saturn brings the number of known moons orbiting that planet up to 82. This surpasses Jupiter, with 79 moons currently known to orbit that world. In an effort to name these worlds, the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which assigns official names to bodies in space, is asking the public to help them choose names for these newly-discovered worlds.
The newly-discovered moons each have diameters around five kilometers (three miles). Seventeen of the 20 newly-discovered Saturnian satellites orbit in a retrograde orbit (in the same direction that Saturn rotates). Three of the worlds revolve around Saturn in the more-common prograde direction. Two of those three moons take less than two years to complete one orbit of the ringed planet, while the third prograde body, as well as the retrograde moons (which orbit further from Saturn), take more than three years to complete one orbit. One of these retrograde moons is the most distant known satellite in Saturn’s system.
The orbits of the 20 newly-discovered moons of Saturn are shown here. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute. Starry background courtesy of Paolo Sartorio/Shutterstock
“Studying the orbits of these moons can reveal their origins, as well as information about the conditions surrounding Saturn at the time of its formation,” Scott S. Sheppard of Carnegie Science explains.
The orbits of the moons of Saturn, seen from above the system. Image credit: Carnegie Science
Seen from the side, the angles of the orbits appear like pick-up-sticks. Image credit: Carnegie Science
The outer moons of Saturn are bound together into three loose clusters, and each of these newly-discovered moons is associated with one of these groupings. This pattern suggests the tiny moons may have formed from the destruction of other, larger, bodies in the distant past.
The orbital path followed by one of these outer groups, the Inuit, is angled at more than 45 degrees from the angle where most of Saturn’s moons are found, while the Gallic group orbits at a 36-degree angle.
“This kind of grouping of outer moons is also seen around Jupiter, indicating violent collisions occurred between moons in the Saturnian system or with outside objects such as passing asteroids or comets,” Sheppard described.
Just as the planets of the Solar System coalesced from cloud of gas and dust, planetary science suggests a similar process occurred around Saturn billions of years ago.
The new moons were discovered using the Subaru telescope, located on Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
A look at what we know — so far — about these newly-recognized worlds orbiting Saturn. Video credit: Lunartic (CC)
“The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage.” — Mark Russell
Sheppard and his team discovered 12 moons around Jupiter in 2018, and Carnegie Science held a contest to name five of the bodies. This time, the public is asked to, once again, weigh in on finding names for some of these diminutive moons.
Unfortunately, Moony Moon McMoonface is out of the running, as names must come from one of giants from Norse, Gallic, or Inuit mythology. Submissions must adhere to several other rules, detailed on the Carnegie Science website. | https://medium.com/the-cosmic-companion/20-more-moons-found-around-saturn-9f50d020110d | ['James Maynard'] | 2019-10-08 02:38:50.862000+00:00 | ['Solar System', 'Science', 'Planets', 'Space', 'Astronomy'] |
A Wake-Up Call For Tech Managers | “Don’t you have a loop to write?”
The most popular article I’ve written is called Why your programmer just wants to code. To date it has received over 62,000 reads.
(The third part of this series, how programmers can change their environment, is here.)
The article tells the story of Jamie, a programmer who joins a new company full of enthusiasm and ideas. Fast-forward a couple years, and Jamie is one of those programmers “who just wants to code.” A programmer who doesn’t contribute new ideas, doesn’t offer new ways of doing things, and just wants to be left alone to write code.
Sadly, I received almost no response from managers or leaders about this story.
It appears some of you missed the point, so let me be blunt.
Tech managers, these situations are your fault.
You must accept responsibility for unmotivated programmers who “only want to code” or who appear to be concerned only with flashy, new tech.
As the leader, you are responsible for creating an environment where everyone can contribute to solving the problems at hand.
Instead it appears many programmers are treated like idiot savants; brilliant children capable only of coding.
Stop it. Seriously.
The massive response to this article should scare the hell out of you. The market is hot, giving them the power to resign and replace YOU with a better leader.
I get the sense that they are mad as hell, and aren’t going to take it anymore.
Don’t believe me? Read on…
I wrote the article in hopes that leaders would recognize that programmers want to bring their whole brain to work, but too often the environment prevents them from doing so.
Instead, I received thousands of responses (claps, comments or message) from programmers who wish their managers paid attention. Who wish their culture welcomed, discussed and debated ideas.
Some of the comments which stood out are…
“Omg preach! 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼 This “idea/feedback negging” phenomenon is the deadliest innovation killer of all the land, and it hurts every department (not just a coder problem). “ “I came in to the workforce guns blazing, ready to make a difference. Now, I struggle to suppress my true thoughts everyday and just deal with how things are… I REALLY hope leaders start figuring this out soon.” “I went through something similar, I even stopped working on my pet projects because coding at work was sucks and demanding, glad I just left them after 5 months!” “It’s sad that actually the coding culture in my current environment is that programmers are merely interested in finishing a task instead of thinking of sharing ideas.”
Hasen takes a slightly different view.
“What we need is not “acceptance” of ideas. We need to see our ideas discussed and debated, and then see that the decision is based on the merit of the idea, not our position. If I present an idea and it gets discussed and then dismissed, that’s ok. If I present an idea and just get told that I should not do that and just focus on my current assignment, well then that is a clear signal that I’m not allowed to do anything but comply with orders like a grunt. When that happens I’ll basically be looking for the next job.”
That last one sums it up. Create an environment where your programmers can fully contribute, or else the best ones will leave.
Let’s get real. If you see this problem on your team, it’s not going to fix itself overnight. BUT, you can take huge steps toward reversing this problem.
Let’s change things.
Start Listening and Stop Telling
If you’ve got developers who just want to be left alone, today is a great day to turn things around.
Start in your next 1:1 with them. (Don’t have 1:1s? Use my guide to start today.)
Step 1: Be humble.
Have a reset conversation with each team member, where you honestly ask if you’ve been deaf to their ideas, treating them like “resources”, and frustrating them.
Regardless of what they say, tell them you don’t want to be that sort of boss, and that you’re sorry. (Yes, it is good to apologize to people you may have hurt. Yes, even if you’re the boss.)
Next, tell them you need their help. You rely on their feedback to improve. Give them permission to stop you the next time you do it, and to give you feedback in private about your behavior.
Finally, thank them for being there, and all their hard work. Thank them for listening, and helping you grow into the kind of manager they need.
Step 2: Listen more, tell less.
In all your interactions with the team, talk half as much. Then, half as much again.
This will probably catch them off guard, especially if you’ve been “leading from the front” and telling them what to do.
Instead, listen to how they talk to each other. How they talk about customers, bosses or other teams. Who controls the flow? Who’s still trying to put ideas out there. Who seems completely shut down?
See if you can get everyone to participate through open ended questions. Consider using a “talking stick” if some people suck all the air out of the room. Gently set expectations that you want to hear everyone’s contribution to solving problems.
Step 3: Ask more often than tell
Most engineering managers take the default approach to telling engineers how something should be done. This is probably because they used to be engineers, and they “see the answer clearly.”
Yet, telling doesn’t build the team up, it shuts them down.
So, start asking more questions. Lots of WHY? questions. Of course, you have to tap into your curiosity and lean in to hear the answer.
Truth be told, you depend on them to get the work done, and you depend on them to make a million small decisions. You should be very interested in what they think, and bringing their ideas to light.
The book Humble Inquiry by Ed Schein is a wonderful resource for learning to ask better questions.
Tech leaders, you’ve got work to do. You’d better start pulling all-nighters to fix things, before it’s too late.
(Want help? I answer your questions LIVE each Friday @ 10am PST on UNSTUCK: The Tech Leader Q&A Show.) | https://medium.com/coaching-notes/a-wake-up-call-for-tech-managers-d0415775efd0 | ['Marcus Blankenship'] | 2018-07-06 17:59:30.939000+00:00 | ['Software Development', 'Management', 'Work', 'Programming', 'Leadership'] |
Biased Media: Which Sources Are Reliable And Which Are Garbage | Biased media is everywhere. And I don’t mean CNN (though they are biased). I mean Newsmax, InfoWars, the Daily Beast, Mother Jones; sources that strongly appeal to a particular, charged base.
For many, biased media is a bigger hub of information than that of objective sources.
Biased media itself is not a problem — when it chooses to lie to push a narrative, however, it undeniably is.
An Analysis Of Different Sources
Ad Fontes Media is one of numerous existing fact checking websites.
It is based in Colorado and was founded in 2014.
They use an analytic team which consists of a diverse set of political views to assess both bias and accuracy in reporting from different sources and you can read more about them here.
It is important to note, however, that Ad Fontes Media is an amateur source for checking information. Though it is deemed as informed & useful by other credible reviewers, such as the Poynter Institute, the methodology for their scoring is not based in math or an algorithm, but rather scores given by an analytic team, and therefore is subject to bias.
However, the articles which it takes from sources to determine its scores are all readily linked to on their website, and Ad Fontes is open in how they assess news sources. It isn’t just numbers slapped on a site or an infographic meant to be shared, though it isn’t a perfect measure, either. Moreover, the team which analyzes the sources and articles are formally trained for that field of work.
The Breakdown
For context, let’s start with how their reliability scale works, how some of the most unbiased sources score, and how high “mainstream” networks score (the television giants like Fox, CNN, MSNBC). If you want to skip to the scores for the biased media sources, scroll down the page after reading how the Ad Fontes scale works.
How It Works: Outlets are scored on their reliability ranging from 0 to 64, where scores above 24 are “generally acceptable,” and scores above 32 are considered “generally good.”
Additionally, their bias is scored on a +/- scale of -42 to +42. The closer to 0, the less biased. The more negative a number, the more biased to the left. The higher a positive number, the more biased to the right.
How Unbiased Sources Scored: To start as a baseline, we will take four outlets with reputations for being as unbiased as media gets: AP, Reuters, BBC, and USA Today.
AP (Associated Press): Bias score is -2.28; it very, very slightly leans left, but is generally unbiased as news gets. Their score for reliability is 48.91: an exceptional score.
Reuters: Bias score is -1.97, even more unbiased than AP. Their score for reliability is 51.63, another top-tier score.
BBC: Bias score is -1.39, reliability score is 48.59.
USA Today: Bias is -4.83, still a relatively neutral score, though there is slight left bias. Reliability score is 46.64.
How The Big TV Networks Scored: For these, we will be assessing how the TV and their corresponding websites scored. The websites were scored separately from the cable networks, so each outlet will have two scores here.
CNN: For their cable TV, CNN scored a bias of -11.87, with a reliability score of 36. For their website, they scored a bias of -10.26 and a reliability of 43.87.
Fox News: For their cable TV, Fox scored a bias of 24.56, with a reliability score of 23.16. For their website, they scored 17.26, with a reliability score of 33.
MSNBC: MSNBC only received one uniform score for both their network and website. They scored a bias of -15.02, with a reliability score of 44.16.
How Biased Media Scored
We are going to compare various sources, heavily biased to the left or right. Each will be labeled as being left or right.
Breitbart (Right): Breitbart scored a bias of 19.60 with a reliability score of 27.45.
The Daily Beast (Left): Daily Beast scored a bias of -17.66 with a reliability score of 36.16.
Mother Jones (Left): Scored a bias of -15.86, with a reliability score of 40.08.
OAN/OANN (Right): Scored a bias of 23.10, with a reliability of 19.59.
Occupy Democrats (Left): Scored a bias of -25.31, with a reliability of 21.54.
Newsmax (Right): Scored a bias of 22.57, with a reliability of 20.81.
Palmer Report (Left): Scored a bias of -26.96, with a reliability of 16.63.
InfoWars (Right): Scored a bias of 27.23, with a reliability of 12.36.
The Daily Caller (Right): Scored a bias of 17.73, with a reliability of 25.09.
A Summary Of The Biased Scores:
All reliability scores below 24, the cutoff for acceptability, fall under some form of “unreliable.” Scores between 24–32 are semi-acceptable. Those scoring above 32 are still heavily biased, but are generally factual in their reporting.
Very Unreliable: Palmer Report & InfoWars
Generally Unreliable: OAN/OANN (One America News Network), Newsmax, Occupy Democrats
Somewhat Reliable: The Daily Caller, Breitbart
Reliable (But Still Biased): The Daily Beast, Mother Jones
The Takeaways
So, from the select sources we’ve looked at today, what have we learned?
Well, on the bright side, sources that are known for their unbiased reporting are, in fact, nearly fully unbiased.
Televised news sources are not very reliable compared to the unbiased sources, in a surprise to no one.
And, lastly, some biased sources are actually still journalism. But you should be equally wary of the fact that an equally large chunk of biased media is pure propaganda.
The biggest takeaway is that you should always research the credibility of a source before you make it a main source of information for yourself, mainstream, biased, or independent. | https://medium.com/@dlarkin2003/biased-media-which-sources-are-reliable-and-which-are-garbage-1ab714034e2a | ['Daniel Larkin'] | 2021-01-22 13:19:28.340000+00:00 | ['Bias', 'News', 'Facts', 'Fake News', 'Journalism'] |
38 | I write one of these every year. I read last year’s and was slightly amused how serious I sounded. But this is typical of me, I oscillate between thinking I take myself too seriously and not taking myself seriously enough.
Perhaps it is the consequence of reading too many psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and zen books – in recent times I have found myself observing myself in a third-party observer mode. Maybe it is the start of developing true empathy and compassion for myself. It is not the self-pity and outrage I am accustomed to, but a sort of sadness and acceptance in noticing my behavioural patterns and understanding why they are the way they are. At times there is confusion because I have become aware I was expressing an unhealthy pattern, but I still remained helpless to its unfolding. Sometimes, I feel like I’m watching a movie play out on the screen, knowing what is to come, and yet unable to change the script.
In therapy and zen they say true self-acceptance is the precursor to transforming ourselves. I have found that self-acceptance is not a linear journey, like most parts of life. Maybe it is more like a repetitive commitment akin to physical exercise, some days we get ourselves to do it, sometimes we sit there unable to move out of a stationary impasse.
I am a self-quantifier, for years I have believed that with enough data and well designed habits we can make healthy changes to our selves. It is still true to an extent, but it is not the complete picture. I think we as a human race is so obsessed with improvements that we fail to see that failures, mistakes and helplessness is very much part of being human and the human experience.
I like the taoist belief of yin and yang: that everything must co-exist in a healthy balance. Too much of anything is not healthy, even improvements. It is like the Buddhist idea that being attached to anything is not desirable, even grasping for goodness is still seen is a desire.
I now see that one of my major themes in life is demanding too much of everything, including myself. Even in learning to be less of a workaholic I demanded myself to be better at doing nothing. There is very little compassion for myself, that I needed time and practice to shift behavioural states, especially chronic patterns that have existed for most of my life. I have also realised compassion for ourselves in directly tied to true compassion for the other. All of us need space, time and practice, but the current reality doesn’t allow most of us that space.
If we study neuroscience just a little, even on a very superficial level, there is a mix of bad and good news. The bad news is that it is really, really hard to change fundamental human behaviour because a lot of it is hard wired into our brains. Some people believe our brains are simply designed that way so that we can survive (I guess traditionally it is easy to believe we have to kill our competitors so that we ourselves can live, which is depressing because it means genetically nature favours violence, so in a way we can never get rid of that predisposition since it is the thing that allows the human species to perpetuate), but there is a minority (myself included) who believes that we are a young species and hence our brain is still evolving.
The good news is we have recently discovered that our brains are actually plastic, with the right interventions that brain seems capable of learning a whole lot of previously unimaginable things. It is not impossible like we thought, but it is not that easy, and yet it is not that difficult.
But again, most of it requires time and practice. Most people don’t have time. I have more time than most people, but the practice is hard.
But above time and practice, there is a question of priority. We as a society don’t believe personal transformation is important, so we have designed society in the opposite direction, a society that oppresses everything based on competition. We are so competitive that we don’t see that we are slowly making ourselves go extinct while trying to compete each other to our deaths.
So why am I ruminating about society’s ills in my birthday post? Because there is an intrinsic relationship between my society and me. I am a consequence of the society I am raised in. To believe otherwise is hubris. From the moment we are capable of thought we are raised to believe we must be better than other people, we must constantly strive upwards, we must acquire power so we don’t suffer.
I have believed the opposite since I was capable of basic reasoning, but still I was not spared the unconscious conditioning. People judged me constantly, I judged myself constantly, I imagine people judging me constantly. I don’t know a single human being who doesn’t judge themselves based on some societal-defined value. The more obvious judgments are based on material wealth and status, the subtler and perhaps more insidious judgment is based on morals. Am I a good enough person?
Too much of anything is not healthy. Look what we have subjected people to because of our own moral beliefs. Even believing in a different God is wrong. Not believing in God is also wrong. Being suicidal is wrong. Believing in the right to die is wrong. Believing in the right to terminate our own pregnancy is wrong. Being depressed is wrong. Being gay is wrong. Being an artist is wrong. Not earning enough money is wrong. Mot wanting to be a 9–5 slave is wrong. Not being interested in capitalism is wrong. Believing in social welfare is wrong. In some places, being raped is also wrong.
I don’t know. Maybe if you were told your entire existence is wrong you would also be suicidal like me.
I am reading a book based on a twitter friend’s recommendation. In that book there is a monastery, and there is a belief that out of the monastery the food they eat raises the level of something in their blood that takes their true feelings away and keeps people happy and placated. The monastics don’t eat the same food, and hence they have to cope with a lot more mental and emotional disturbances. Some of them kill themselves, unable to cope with truth. But there is a promise that true happiness awaits.
Many times in my life I have wished for myself to be more “normal”. Why couldn’t I just be like other people (well, apart from being gay. I like being gay). There is this deep-rooted struggle within me: wanting to be authentically who I am versus what society expects out of me. I wish I can say that I love being myself and who cares about what people think, but that is not true. Most of my life I feel like I have no choice but to be myself and yet I hate myself for not being “normal”. There is this complex pride that I still chose to be myself regardless and also this deep shame.
But I think the thing with ageing is that if we are lucky enough, we start to find out that it is all a ruse, the things they say are important didn’t make our lives feel much better if not worse; that at some point, we really start to truly feel that people’s opinions matter less, and we start to think of what is the life we truly want to lead?
Turning 38 today, I write this with awareness that I am constantly evolving, that my views change. That is why it is interesting for me to do this as a ritual, to witness my own becoming. I also think it is funny to laugh at my old selves for being so serious. But this is where I am now: I don’t believe true happiness awaits nor do I believe it should be the goal of life. In fact maybe I don’t think there should be goals of life except the act of living itself. I think what is important is to figure out what works for ourselves – that everyone is different so don’t make the mistake of making someone else’s life our own. I mean, what sort of universe this is if every one is the same? So I believe there are people who loves life and thrives on it, there are some who are okay going through life like everyone else, and then there are grinches like me who often wonder if non-existence is a preferred mode of existence.
I am not like the people in the book who can be happy and placated eating their food (or soma in Brave New World). It is not like I didn’t try. Something inevitably rebels in me and feeling intensely suicidal is the response to trying to live like everyone else.
So I hope with time and practice, with enough self-compassion along the way, I can rise above my internal conditioning and live life as it is, not as some dysfunctional narrative repeating itself in my head. It is hard for me because I get upset with myself very easily and I go into spirals, but I want to be okay with that too, because I am human.
They say suffering is the disconnect between reality and what is expected. Perhaps to secret to living life is a combination of acceptance yet having the capacity to harbour hope, coupled with the empowerment to take small steps towards wherever we hope to be, or the courage to stay if that is what we want. The demand for too much is a form of violence and it creates violence. I can only hope to remember this as I grow older, to be a little less serious, to become a person capable of treating myself like I would treat a child when she stumbles: a bit of amusement, a dose of empathy, a pat on the back, and the willingness to pick myself back up, and to be brave enough to stumble again. And to be okay if all I want to do is to sit there and cry for a bit.
I feel like I am also more accepting of myself being a not-so-good person. That I can be self-centered, greedy and unkind. I think believing myself to be a good person has caused a lot of suffering in me, because I end up doing things I am not capable of doing and end up building resentment for them, in addition to all the guilt-tripping and admonishing to myself in the head.
I am who I am because of where I am. Personal growth is not a pretense, not simply an acting out of a narrative I want to believe in. I am okay with being not-so-good, because I am starting to meet myself where I am, so I can walk along with this person, instead of trying to make her bridge an unrealistic gap and then being upset at something that she was never set up to do in the first place.
Our relationship with ourselves is often a microcosm of our relationship with the world. When I recognised everyone is stumbling in their own ways, everyone is responding to their conditioning, what arose out of me isn’t disappointment or judgement, but a sense of compassion and relatedness. That’s where a true relationship can start.
I don’t embody this thought every minute of the day, half the time if not more I am angry with both the world and myself, but it is never easy to start learning to love something authentically. Not just loving the idea or the best parts of it, but the wholeness and complexity of it all. | https://medium.com/fragmented-musings/i-write-one-of-these-every-year-2e56e1b1b8c0 | ['Winnie Lim'] | 2019-04-06 04:26:29.389000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Compassion', 'Birthday', 'Life', 'Reflections'] |
Reader Survey 2020 | We celebrated our five year anniversary earlier this year, so it feels like a good time to take stock of Frame Rated and plan for the future.
But in order to do this, we need your help!
Running a website involves a lot of work and organisation, so it’s easy to get stuck in a routine that allows articles to flow in most days. But maybe there’s room for positive changes that we’re just not seeing?
If you’ve ever wanted to suggest an improvement or let us know what you’re not so keen on, now’s your chance!
Click into the form below to participate in our 2020 Reader Survey. It’s six sections of (mostly) multiple-choice questions. It should take you between 5–10 minutes to complete.
We’ll be using the results to decide what’s working, what isn’t popular, what needs improvement, and how we can evolve to meet expectations. | https://medium.com/framerated/reader-survey-2020-4b402eef894f | ['Frame Rated Staff'] | 2020-10-02 17:47:19.755000+00:00 | ['Feedback', 'Surveys', 'Features'] |
Sprint Notes #16 | Covering 28 October — 10 November 2020
Welcome back to our team sprint notes!
Join us for the C-19 Challenge Showcase Series
We’ve been busy preparing for a series of virtual showcase events to celebrate the work of our C-19 Challenge funded projects, which kicks off on the 19 November. Each showcase will focus on a different theme and feature presentations from our project teams, plus the chance to ask questions.
Showcase #1: ‘Guidance on new ways of working during the crisis: remote work and digital inclusion’
Thursday 19 November, 2:00pm-3:00pm
Featuring guest speakers from the Future Work Design and Digital Inclusion Toolkit projects. We’ll also have short presentations from the Community Engagement Playbook and Digital Planning Engagement Playbook projects.
Showcase #2: ‘Improving data sharing and insights for COVID-19 response’
Thursday 3 December, 10:30am-12pm.
Featuring guest speakers from the ‘Developing a crisis response model for neighbourhood teams’, ‘Data Exchange with Voluntary and Community Services organisations’ and ‘Modelling demand for post COVID-19 surge in children’s services’ projects. We’ll also have short presentations from the ‘Data and standards for a scalable approach to vulnerability (SAVVI)’ and ‘Risk Index: Measuring the impact of Covid and social vulnerability’ projects.
Showcase #3: ‘Tools to help residents make informed decisions about visiting popular locations’
Thursday 10 December, 11:00am-12pm.
Featuring guest speakers from the How Busy is Toon and Beach Check App projects.
Find out more and register for the C-19 Showcase Series
A tweet from the Local Digital Collaboration Unit
Training
We’re nearly ready to launch a new pilot training programme of online-based learning for local government. We’ll be sharing more on this soon!
Cyber
Cyber support for councils
The newly formed Cyber team has begun reviewing the results of the mitigating malware and ransomware survey from earlier this year, and planning how best to support councils to reduce their cyber risk.
Councils will be offered an initial briefing, followed by a workshop, during which the team will be looking to understand the context of each council and the best way of providing hands-on support. We are testing this engagement with selected alpha and beta test councils initially in order to shape and refine the process for the benefit of other councils.
The team is also on the lookout for common issues across councils, as there is potential funding available for requests where a robust cost-benefit business case might be made. If you would like to get in touch about this, please email [email protected].
Cyber Health framework
The submissions period has closed for tenders on the digital marketplace and the selection process is now underway.
Funded projects
Housing repairs
The project produced their final outputs and the report is now available on the project website and on the Local Digital website.
A preview of the Housing Repairs report
Digital planning projects
The Reducing Invalid Planning Applications (RIPA) and Back Office Planning System (BOPS) projects are progressing at speed. The projects held their final user story mapping session (part 3) to agree the user needs they’re going to meet with their Lawful Development Certificate MVP. This was shared during RIPA’s show and tell on 6 November.
The RIPA show and tell
Local Gov Drupal
The LocalGov Drupal project has launched a website — localgovdrupal.org — which is the first step towards a full blown ‘shop window’ for the shared codebase. The first iteration of the site contains documentation adapted from the information in the project’s Github repository, meaning that any council can begin working with the codebase and can join the group of councils who continue to develop it further.
Thanks for reading! For the daily download on all things #LocalDigital, be sure to follow us on Twitter. | https://medium.com/ldcu/sprint-notes-16-9ab6baacb017 | ['Local Digital Collaboration Unit'] | 2020-11-16 12:49:30.005000+00:00 | ['Sprint Notes', 'Local Government', 'Local Digital', 'Government', 'Digital Government'] |
GM Claims It’s On the Verge of Commercializing the Most Exotic Battery Chemistry of All | Buried in its big announcement, the legacy automaker says it will tame metallic lithium
GM has made the much-overlooked claim that by mid-decade, it expects to commercialize the most exotic of the stretch futuristic batteries currently on electric vehicle drawing boards.
In remarks yesterday at Barclay’s Automotive Conference, GM CEO Mary Barra announced an explicit campaign to capture the lead in EV development from Tesla and everyone else in the industry. That included a 35% bump in EV development investment to $27 billion by 2025 and the deployment of EVs that will go up to a whopping 450 miles on a charge, farther than any of its major competitors have discussed.
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Because of the gargantuan energy lift that metallic lithium can bring, it has been a holy grail of the battery world for almost a half-century.
Most coverage of the presentation focused on those announcements plus the accelerated release of the electric Cadillac Lyriq to the first quarter of 2022, nine months early. But the reports that focused on these developments missed the big news. Doug Parks, one of Barra’s executive vice presidents, said that GM’s next-generation EV battery, contained in its mid-decade EVs, will have a metallic lithium anode.
This is a huge deal: Because of the gargantuan energy lift that metallic lithium can bring, it has been a holy grail of the battery world for almost a half-century. But no one has managed to figure out how to get past an unfortunate side reaction, which is that metallic lithium catches fire, grows dangerous spikes that short circuit batteries, and is generally a difficult beast to tame.
In September, the high-spending Silicon Valley startup QuantumScape went public in a reverse merger solely on the strength of its claim to have solved metallic lithium. QuantumScape’s partner is VW, which has suggested it, too, will have metallic lithium anodes in its batteries by 2025.
But when QuantumScape failed to publicly release any data, leading independent battery experts withheld any cheering until they could see the goods. Likewise now with GM.
I asked for thoughts on GM’s announcement from a few of the battery experts. One emailed back to say, “That’s bullshit.” A second, on WhatsApp, said, “That’s just crazy.”
Parks said the anode would reduce the cost of GM’s batteries well below $100 per kWh, which has been another battery industry holy grail threshold.
The tenor of the battery race is driving companies to make big moves and big claims. Ford has said it is spending $11.5 billion on electric vehicles over a five-year period ending in 2022. VW says it will spend $54.5 billion on EV and hybrid technology by mid-decade. Tesla says it’s entirely reengineering its battery and cars.
“Tesla’s got a good jump, and they’ve done great things,” Parks told reporters in a pre-briefing Wednesday evening. “They’re formidable competitors … and there’s a lot of startups and everyone else invading this space. We’re not going to cede leadership there.”
What GM is saying specifically is that by the middle of the decade, it will produce a second generation of its new lithium-ion EV battery, which it calls the Ultium. This battery will include a lithium-metal anode. It has already taken these pretty far, it says — achieving an impressive 500 charge-and-discharge cycles. Usually, EV batteries are thought to be ready for showtime when they can reliably do 1,000 charge-and-discharge cycles while retaining more or less the same capacity. Getting hundreds means it’s not quite there but is seriously robust.
To questions yesterday from Barclays managing director Brian Johnson, Parks said the anode would reduce the cost of GM’s batteries well below $100 per kWh, which has been another battery industry holy grail threshold. Parks seemed in fact to say that the cost of the entire battery pack, including all the weight of the various filler and junk that surrounds the individual cells, would be well below $100 per kWh, which, if true, would be stunning.
In response to a question I asked in the pre-briefing about the battery’s composition, Parks said the battery’s energy density would be 1,200 watt-hours per liter, a feat that experts I later spoke with had a hard time believing.
The GM battery would differ from QuantumScape’s in that it is not solid state — it uses a liquid electrolyte. Parks said there is much work left to do scaling up the battery but that “we think we are at the leading edge of this curve.”
Parks did not give a precise year in the mid-decade when all this will happen nor how many vehicles will feature the anode. In a statement, a company spokesman said there would be a “phase-in of many new technology areas related to EVs, including battery chemistry.”
When I queried Jeff Sakamoto, a lithium-metal researcher at the University of Michigan, he said that using a liquid electrolyte with metallic lithium would make it “tough” to achieve any more than a few hundred charge-discharge cycles — “insufficient for EVs.” He said the rough 2025 time frame seemed optimistic. “To me, most of the underlying physics works out on paper, but there are still some knowledge gaps that must be bridged before any lithium solid-state battery can be considered a viable solution, especially for EVs.”
Paul Albertus, a professor at the University of Maryland, said that GM would need to start production slowly because it will probably have to change the process it’s using to manufacture its current lithium-ion chemistry. “I think there’s also an aspect of starting small to see if any surprise field failures or challenges arise — put out a small vehicle run and wait a year or two and make sure no surprises happen, that type of thing,” he said.
Albertus said he wouldn’t be surprised if GM totally misses the deadline and never produces a metallic lithium battery at all. But he added that he also wouldn’t be astonished if GM succeeds. “What makes me a little more optimistic is that we know there are some very large efforts working on this now,” he said. “… With automotive batteries growing so much in the coming 10 years, there’s now motivation to tackle something of the complexity of [metallic lithium]. There’s also been a lot of really good science finally getting done in the past few years, and that does help people innovate.” | https://medium.com/@fokir/gm-claims-its-on-the-verge-of-commercializing-the-most-exotic-battery-chemistry-of-all-33632c868a48 | [] | 2020-11-25 08:04:15.805000+00:00 | ['News', 'Battery', 'Electric Vehicles', 'Automobile', 'General Motors'] |
An Unspoken Truth about Teams | So now that we accept this reality, what changes?
Hopefully, how we approach building teams.
Teams reach a consistent and sustainable elevated performance only when leader(ship) clearly articulates, and adheres to the answers, of the following information for potential team members:
1. Vision
2. Core Values and Core Focus
3. Objectives & Key Results (how they measure the progress of the team
4. How feedback will shape the future direction of the team
Additionally, teams reaching a consistent and sustainable elevated performance have a team leader(ship) who: first seeks to understand what the motivators are for each team member to feel being a part of the team is a success for them; and second guides them on a path to achieve both their personal and team goals (or helps them see that they are not the leader and this is not the team for them).
Teams who outperform their ‘peers/competitors’ are not made up of more noble or talented people. Rather, they achieve at a higher level over time through transparent and honest dialogues about personal motivations and ambitions to find the right mixture of people who’s ambitions align with the needs and ways of this particular team.
Many describe this combination of aspirations, strategy and way of operating as their culture. Therefore, your culture’s formation should begin with an understanding, honest acknowledgment, and incorporation of the true motivations and aspirations of leadership and team members; not just from emphasizing the importance of good team attributes. | https://medium.com/@teamshep/an-unspoken-truth-about-teams-913130a5692c | ['Nathan Holm'] | 2020-11-12 12:07:51.132000+00:00 | ['Teams', 'Bias'] |
Top 10 Most protected People In The World, the last person will shock you . | 1. Vladimir Putin:
Russia President is the most protected person in the world with over 3000 bodyguards with armored cars and a dedicated security unit that collects info on perceived threats. You know what that means, they smell any intent, the rest is history🌎.
2. Donald trump:
The former USA President, Donald Trump is the most protected billionaire in the world with over a thousand bodyguards and a budget of $120M for protection yearly.
He also uses “The Beast”, the most secured car in the world, which is said to be bomb proof.
3. Kim Jong Un
Of course the North Korean Supreme leader Kim Jong Un has to make this list, why you ask? 🤔
His team comprises of 12 highly trained martial artists who jogs alongside his limo whenever he travels, he also have over 90,000 soldiers for his protection. Just imagine Cristiano Ronaldo has such kind of body guards, you dare not approach him to sign you a jerseys.
4. Queen Elizabeth II
The most protected sovereign (or should i say monarch🤔) in the world is Queen Elizabeth II, the first UK Monarch to celebrate a sapphire Jubilee (which marked her 65-year reign in 2017. I must admit, English body guards don’t scare me a bit, they look like traffic wardens. You didn’t here that from me🤐.
5. Pope Francis:
The most protected religious leader in the world who lives in probably one of the more heavily armored cities in the world, Vatican City, a city-state by Rome, Italy.
He’s under the protection of Swiss guard, the longest standing military in the whole world. Now you know what they meant when they said touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm😇.
6. Vladimir Lenin (The most protected corpse)😮.
You’d probably be shocked to find out that you don’t even have to be alive and well to be considered valuable and worth protecting.
A mausoleum that currently serves as the resting place for the former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin.
His body has been on 24/7 protection for over 95 years. It’s rumored that the soldiers are told that the body of Lenin is the most important thing that Russia has. Hmm, Some people say a man is free when he is dead, is he🤔.
7. Mark Zuckerberg:
Dubbed as a very prudent guy because he doesn't wear designers clothes and shoes, Zuckerberg has spent around $20 million on security with $7.3 M towards his bodyguards for his home and travels since 2015.
Rumored he even has an escape hatch in his office.
The white guard looks like FBI😎. But come to think of it, $20 million for 3 security guards! 🤔 I think I should leave school and join the military.
8. Jay Z and Beyonce:
Apart from the bodyguards, they want to build a security compound in their LA mansion that is estimated to cost $88M, their newborn child also has a security detail worth about $1M.
9. El Chapo(real name Hawkin Guzman):
The drug lord is under watch 24/7 by armed guards who also have armed guards watching over them.
He has to sleep in a different cell each night, and the dogs who help guard him also have to taste his food in case of poisonings.
Ok ok, enough with the military thing. I am going back to school. 🏃🏃🏃
10. A 12-year old girl in Addis Ababa Ethiopia,:
went missing for a week after she was abducted by seven men who tried to force her to marry one of them.
By the time she was found she was being guarded by three lions, which seemed to have chased off her abductors.
When she was found, it was said that the lions calmly left her side back into the forest with the zero confrontation.
It’s said to be a miracle considering the fact lions eat humans for fun/food often in this region.
Ok, let me clear the air here. If you ask me what’s my take on this🙄, I’ll say it’s witchcraft😁. | https://medium.com/@wizistuf22/top-10-most-protected-people-in-the-world-the-last-person-will-shock-you-ad5cc53bacea | ['Wisdom Elias'] | 2021-02-25 22:49:17.699000+00:00 | ['Shocking', 'Interesting', 'Short Read', 'Short Story', 'Trump'] |
Why People Are Overly Critical and How To Deal With Them | Why People Are Overly Critical and How To Deal With Them
They’re never impressed, constantly disappointed in others and sets unattainable expectations.
Photo by Les Anderson on Unsplash
Nothing is good enough
I am guilty of being overly critical. It’s an unfortunate behaviour of recovering perfectionists.
I’ve been that toxic asshole who was constantly ragging on others, pointing out their weaknesses and offering “solutions” to non-existent problems.
I was always comparing…apples to oranges to bananas to kiwis.
I looked for flaws before beauty. I looked for what went wrong before what went right. I’d complain and complain and complain about how horrible people were. There wasn’t any good left in the world and there was never enough for everyone. Scarcity dominated my paradigm. I believed good things only happened to people who paid a price.
When someone was successful, I’d assume they worked too hard and criticized them for having no life.
When someone was beautiful, I’d assume they were vacant and criticized them for being vain.
When someone was well off, I’d assume it was handed to them and criticized them for being entitled.
When someone was loved and has close relationships, I’d stalk and obsess about them to find flaws in their character to criticize.
During the most bitter time of my life, I wasn’t aware I was doing this. However, through a rocky journey of healing, learning to love myself and accepting who I am with compassion, I discovered an honest truth about humans:
Those who are hard on others are hardest on themselves.
The key to dealing with overly critical people
It’s hard to deal with people who are overly critical. We are our own worst critics already. We know our flaws better than anyone else. It can be incredibly toxic to be around someone who constantly points those out.
Even if you have a sheer amount of self-esteem, overly-critical people can still bring you down.
So if you can, I would limit contact and eventually end the relationship with them if their behaviour doesn’t improve.
However, there are situations where you can’t avoid them (like they’re your parents and you live with them or a troll on the Internet).
The key to dealing with overly critical people is to understand why they are the way they are. Imagine you had their voice in your head all day, every day. That’s how they live their life.
Projecting their insecurities
Overly critical people criticize others to validate their own insecurities and to reaffirm the negative perception they have of themselves (and the world).
It’s like the parent who picks on their kid’s physical appearance, constantly aware of how their child looks, barking at them to fix their glasses, to wipe their mouth, to comb their hair, to lose weight, to have better skin, to wear nice clothes…
Deep down inside, the parent is incredibly insecure with their own physical appearance and they are projecting their self-esteem issues onto their child.
Perhaps others made fun of their appearance when they were a child?
Perhaps physical appearance was highly valued when they were growing up and their parents put a lot of emphasis on that?
Perhaps they were severely disciplined every time they looked unkempt?
They continually do this even when the child is grown.
If the parent is unable to curb their criticism, the child suffers, raised in an environment that promotes self-criticism and poor self-esteem.
And if that grown child isn’t able to change their negative mindset and learn to treat themselves with love and compassion, they will become overly critical, putting themselves and others down as a way to justify and normalize their own self-doubt.
Rinse and repeat when they become parents.
Projecting their fears and bad decisions
Overly critical people have a “one size fits all” mindset. They have jade-coloured glasses one, judging the world solely based on their own life experiences. If this happened to me, it will happen to everyone else.
It’s like that “friend” or family member who talks down to you about your life decisions.
They criticize you because they’re projecting their greatest fears. They are too afraid to make a decision.
Or they criticize you because they’re projecting a bad decision they’ve made in the past.
They criticize your occupation. Think of their situation:
Maybe they hate their jobs and are too scared to quit?
Or they’ve worked their entire life in a job they despised and regret not leaving it.
Or they changed jobs once and they were let go. They’ve never been able to find a better job and develop the self-assurance that they can.
They criticize who you’re dating. Think of their situation:
Maybe they want to date but they’re too scared to put themselves out there?
Or they dated someone similar and had their heartbroken.
Or they’re unhappy in their current relationship and don’t want to leave them because they’re afraid of being alone.
They criticize how you parent. Think of their situation:
Maybe they had horrible parents and they’re deeply afraid of becoming them?
Or they think they’re horrible parents and are worried that you’ll make the same mistakes as them.
Bottom line: Empathize with your critics so you don’t take it personally
Empathy isn’t putting yourself in their situation and judging them based on your paradigm. It’s appreciating where they’ve come from, taking their context into consideration and thoroughly understanding why they say and do the things they say and do.
Empathizing with overly critical people depersonalizes their criticism (It’s not actually about you), defusing the tension you feel and redirecting your focus to the truth behind their words (It’s actually about them).
Remove yourself from their cynical influence. Build your self-esteem up and be confident in who you are. Toxicity can be contagious so don’t let their negative mindset affect how you see the world.
So Readers, do you know someone who is overly critical? How do you deal with them? Are you overly critical? How do you manage this behaviour? | https://medium.com/change-becomes-you/why-people-are-overly-critical-and-how-to-deal-with-them-a405eec988a4 | ['Katharine Chan', 'Msc', 'Bsc'] | 2020-12-18 19:17:23.328000+00:00 | ['Family', 'Human Behavior', 'Criticism', 'Relationships', 'Self Love'] |
Reframe Interview Questions to Assess Skills, Not Stories | Photo by Johanna Buguet on Unsplash
A recent interview experience with a large, online retailer with notoriously prickly culture made me reflect on which interview questions work and which don’t work. Some large companies that staunchly believe they know the best way to screen for great candidates are actually missing out or hiring the wrong kind of people. To start let’s talk about my experience with this company and what was wrong with the way they formulate all their interview questions. The role I was interviewing for was a mid-level general analytics manager which was a perfect match for my skill set and previous experience on paper. I also pride myself in bringing in a wide variety of external learning from my menagerie of hobbies including programming and electrical engineering; something that I believe adds to a person’s ability to think outside the box. After passing the initial screening call with the recruiter I was scheduled to talk with the hiring manager. Dialing into the phone service I was greeted by the hiring manager; we exchanged pleasantries and jumped right into the interview…
Question 1: Tell me about a time when you took a big risk in your career. Question 2: Tell me about a time when you made a decision with no supporting data. Question 3: Tell me about a time when you made a data-backed recommendation to a stakeholder that totally changed the direction of the business.
All of these questions start with “tell me about a time when” and ask you, as the interviewee, to talk about some personal experience you had. Put another way, each of these questions asks you to dig through your memory and find one that matches the narrow set of criteria the interviewer has laid out. There is a term for this type of memory in psychology, it’s called Episodic Memory. Most cognitive psychologists will tell you there are two distinct types of long-term conscious memory: episodic and semantic. Episodic memory is used when you try to recall circumstances and situations; it is very focused on telling a story and remembering what an experience was like overall. Semantic memory is focused on remembering the outcome and the lessons learned from an experience; the details of the experience that don’t matter are not stored, only the details pertinent to the outcome¹. Another way of thinking about this is that episodic memory gives you the “what” and semantic memory gives you the “how”.
Unfortunately for myself, and countless others, a great semantic memory has come at the cost of episodic memory which makes the “tell me about a time where” questions onerous to answer. The vast majority of my memories are stored as facts and information that have been abstracted away from the “what”. Imagine for a moment that the interviewer had said to me “tell me about a time where you learned something about woodworking”. I would not easily be able to come up with an example on the spot even though I have had many experiences with woodworking throughout my life. But, if you asked me “how would you build a table with X, Y, and Z properties” I would be able to give you a lengthy explanation of drafting a design, measuring twice in the real world, creating mortise & tenon joints, using appropriate clamping with glue, and much more. At one point all of this information was learned through experience but for whatever reason I couldn’t tell you when each process was learned or what I was doing when I learned it. Knowing how to build a table is semantic memory; knowing when you learned each important part of building one is the episodic memory. If you’re evaluating someone for job placement it should be clear that you want to know how they will perform the job not whether they recall the circumstances around the last time they performed it.
There are three types of people who excel at answering “tell me about a time when” questions: people who have the narrow but relevant experience and have a great memory for the events of their life, people who are self-absorbed (“Takers” as Adam Grant would say²), or worse a person who can spin a yarn that fulfills all of your requirements without a thread of truth (a “fleecer”). Takers are the people in organizations who quietly attribute all of the successes around them to their own actions and are far more likely to have intentionally filed these moments away as “personal wins” to later be used in an interview or promotion. According to Adam Grant, Takers are the employees that actually generate the least overall productivity in a company, though by themselves they may look like top performers. Furthermore, you probably don’t want to hire a fleecer unless you are hiring a magician’s assistant or a person for an improv troupe. Can these types be differentiated during an interview? Probably not. You’re already working with sparse information which makes it easier to be duped by a believable fiction. Many companies have a “no assholes rule” following the adage made popular by Bob Sutton³, but these questions give potential Takers a key competitive advantage in the interview process.
As a key business stakeholder or business owner, wouldn’t you rather find out if a person knows how to do a job rather than just finding out how well their episodic memory works? Circling back to the original questions the interviewer asked me, here they are using the format the they could have used:
Lead-in: Imagine for a moment you’ve just been promoted to the CEO at a tortilla chip factory whose profits have slowly been declining as more competitors enter the market. The board of the company has told you they expect sales to stabilize in the long run, but it’s your job to decide what to do with the company. Question 1: The company food chemist comes to you with a great idea for a new flavor they think will revolutionize chips. Unfortunately, your company doesn’t have the equipment to produce the flavor so there would be a sizable upfront investment and might put the company in financial trouble. Would you choose to pursue the new flavor or do something else? What questions would you need to answer in order to make your decision? Question 2: What would it take for you to consider funding the new chip flavor? As the CEO, you’re able to request any research required but it will take time. Question 3: Morale at the company is low leading to a higher churn rate. The new employees that fill the positions tend to be more junior and work less efficiently. What would be your strategy for improving morale and worker productivity?
The first question focuses on overall company direction and making a big decision for the company. Does the candidate opt to minimize costs in order to maximize profit or do they opt for the bold choice of investing in the new chip flavor? By getting them to answer this question you can find out whether they are more likely to take a bold action or go with a more conservative course of action, which is what the original version of this question was seeking to answer. The added benefit of this question format is you can glimpse their thought process and may even get a creative response you hadn’t thought of yourself.
The original intent of the second question was to assess whether the person would take a leap of faith based on their gut instinct. Depending on your company culture you’d be looking for wildly different answers, but you would be able to determine how much or how little information a person requires to feel confident making a decision. This question can also give you a glimpse into the types of data collection the person typically relies on. With so many options like social media scraping, in-person focus groups, website polls, landing page tracking, etc you may hear something new that surprises you.
The original third question honestly isn’t fair. During all my years in analytics the number of people I’ve known who had opportunities for this to happen was zero. Unless you’re working at a startup, where there is minimal friction between having a radical idea and pivoting the company toward it, you’re never likely to run into this situation. Instead, the newer question focuses on a very real and common pain point which is improving morale and training new employees. If you’re hiring someone to be a people manager you want to know whether they would have a plan of action for training up junior employees. Mentoring and making sure all the junior folks feel like they are engaged and growing is essential for a positive company culture.
If you’re trying to ask questions that illuminate a candidate’s qualification more directly, try re-framing the question. Rather than asking for the candidate to recall a specific memory matching narrow criteria put them into a virtual scenario instead. You should craft a narrative and ask the candidate how they would handle various parts of the situation. Some of the best situational questions can have elements drawn from disasters in your current company or previous companies. Even if the candidate doesn’t answer the question the way you expected their problem solving approach, intuition, or external knowledge may surprise you in ways you might not have imagined; you may also find out that the candidate doesn’t have enough knowledge on the subject to craft a fitting response. In either case, there are insights to be gained if you, as the interviewer, take a bit more time to create thoughtful and immersive questions. These insights will give you a clearer picture of the candidate’s core knowledge and instincts, and they will allow you to make better hiring decisions. | https://medium.com/@alex.schlee/reframe-interview-questions-to-assess-skills-not-stories-577bcde3cad9 | ['Alex Schlee'] | 2020-02-21 00:33:45.202000+00:00 | ['Interview', 'Interview Questions', 'Recruiting', 'Business'] |
Path to functional style: a TypeScript refactoring example | This article talks about how to refactor a function with imperative style into functional style. The function is refactored in a few passes and I will discuss the rationale of the changes.
Imperative vs Functional
Imperative code mutates the application state in a step by step control flow， in contrast to the Functional programming which emphasizes the use of pure functions and avoids data mutation. Functional programming is a form of declarative programming. The declarative approach can make the code more readable and maintainable.
Original code
The following Type Script function is in Imperative style. It take a query param string, and output a array of param key values pair. The function has a few issues:
Too many Temporary Fields which affect the readability and make it difficult to refactor. Loops, which can be replaced by map operator that can perform the same operations in a functional style. Long Method, it smells as we have a reason to expect a shorter version given it is a simple function. Inconsistent naming of variables.
First Pass
The first step is to breakdown the function to smaller functions using Extract Method.
Two functions are extracted
A new function “splitToPair” is extracted to separate the logic of split a single param keyvalue pair. A new arrow function replace the split code statement. This is the first step to move from imperative to functional style, more to come at the next pass.
Second Pass
Now it is the time to replace for loop with map operator, as you can see, the main function is smaller, easier to read and fluent.
Another new change is the splitToPair function, it has been further refactored by extracting the indexOfSeparator function.
Although it looks much better now, there is still room to improve. The main function still smells imperative, as it is step by step.
Final version
Now we chain the functions together in the main function, so it becomes one line. Not only the function becomes compact, but more importantly, it express the intent of the code in a more nature and fluent way.
splitToPair function is further simplified using Destructuring assignment to unpack the returned values from splitString function. If you are not familiar with Destructuring assignment, it is a cool feature come with ES6 which provides a concise way of unpack values from array or object, check it out.
Now compare the original code with the final version, the new code is 10 lines instead of 19.
Not only it is smaller method, but also we have removed most of the Temporary Fields, use map operator to replace Loop, and the name of variables are more consistent.
Final
This exercise breaks the one single functions into four much smaller functions, and the refactored functions are generic functions, so they can be reuse easily.
It is possible to further factor the function with High order functions, i.e., create a higher order function that take the map operator and return a function, so we can the nest the splitString and splitToPair together in a more concise format. But it looks a overkill for this simple method.
Special thanks to Hatem Hosny and Ryan Harrington for their valuable comments. Ryan has created a github repo with Unit test here.
Using Currying and data last approach
Thanks contribution from Tom Bessems
Hope you can pick one or two things from this article. Happy programming! | https://sunnysun-5694.medium.com/path-to-functional-style-a-typescript-refactoring-example-f5f052fe4d84 | ['Sunny Sun'] | 2019-01-07 11:08:52.329000+00:00 | ['Refactoring', 'JavaScript', 'Functional Programming'] |
Extreme But Effective Weight Loss Snacks | You, Will, Reach Your Dream Body
Sometimes to have a body like that takes a lot of effort as there are a lot of factors that keep you away from reaching your goals, but it’s all up to your hunger to reach your goal and how much money and effort you will spend on the process. (Remember that It’s always you VS you)
Factors and ways that may help you and why sometimes won’t help you to loss weight
1.Exercise
Exercise will help without a doubt and the truth is weight loss is basically 80% diet and 20% exercise. Exercise is just for shaping the body. So if you want the best results to exercise should be accompanied by diet. But if you want to lose weight without doing a diet, you can, but it’ll be a slow process
but sometimes it depends on the resistance of your body! Where it can feel impossible to drop even a single pound !
let me explain
Sometimes the real reason why fat seemed to be continuously migrating to your belly and your thighs, had nothing to do with your eating habits. Or even how much time you spent in the gym >It Is Your Hormones
2.Losing weight without exercise (Keto diet)
The Keto diet that I know someone who had started so promising (He had lost almost 3lbs in the first two weeks!), but then ended in disappointment as he quickly plateaued, became fatigued and moody then gained back all the weight back plus a little extra for good measure.
but it depends on your consistency and hunger to reach your goal, It’s not easy but you can do it
[ It needs consistency you can check this keto diet I think It may helps you ]
3.Eating habits that sometimes helps
Eat Healthy Carbohydrates Eat more protein Drink a lot of water Increase Vitamin D Get on with Probiotics Take a walk Reduce stress level and sleep well Reduce your sugar intake Take appropriate supplements Drink Wine — but Only a Little Mindfulness Meditation Eat more soluble fibers Avoid Smoking Cigarette Eat more whole grains Ensure the right posture Focus on eating right
click here And learn how to eat healthy without restrictions
Our goal (The Snacks ) and the HB5!
Ok, we know It’s hard, so how we could reach our goal?? There is something called HB5 stands for “Hormonal Balance 5”
let’s talk about them briefly
1.Thyroid
You’ve probably heard of your thyroid before, It’s a small, tiny gland located in the front of your neck, and your thyroid’s role is to take iodine, which is found in a variety of foods, and convert it into two thyroid hormones,which are known as T3 and T4.
These thyroid hormones are then released into the bloodstream, where they control your metabolism. When your metabolism is functioning normally, it turns calories and fat into energy, then sends this energy to your cells, where it’s used to perform all kinds of essential functions that keep you healthy.
But when your thyroid hormones are NOT functioning properly, It means that your metabolism doesn’t function properly either, and instead of burning calories like it should, your metabolism stores those calories as fat.
This is why, if you have issues with your thyroid hormones, you can starve yourself and workout all day, but you’re STILL going to encounter weight loss resistance and feel frustrated, because even though you’re doing activities that normally WOULD burn calories, when your thyroid hormones are out of whack, they tell your metabolism to keep storing those calories as fat.
2.Cortisol
3.Estrogen
Estrogen is what’s referred to as a “sex hormone”, and when estrogen levels are too high, or too low, and aren’t in balance with progesterone, which is another important female reproductive hormone, it can very easily lead to weight loss resistance.
One of the tell-tale signs of erratic estrogen levels, is that you’ll notice more fat getting stored in your belly and hips, and you’ll notice that this fat is visceral and clingy, to the point where it feels like it’s impossible to get rid of it, no matter how much dieting or exercising you do, for many women, Erratic estrogen problems start in their mid-thirties…
4.Insulin
Insulin is a hormone that’s produced in your pancreas, and you’ve almost certainly heard of insulin before, especially in in relation to diabetes.
The thing is though, you don’t need to be a diabetic to have insulin challenges, high insulin levels definitely are one of the major reasons behind your weight loss resistance.
AS Insulin helps your body convert the carbohydrates you eat into sugar (glucose)
5.Leptin
Leptin’s job is to tell your brain when you’ve had enough to eat.
This is why Leptin is often referred to as your “fullness hormone”, because when Leptin is functioning normally, you feel satisfied after each meal, you don’t overeat, and you don’t suffer from those gnawing cravings that can strike out of nowhere.
But when you start putting on excess weight, and you can’t burn fat no matter how hard you try (which both happen due to the other four hormonal blocks we’ve covered today), your fat cells start producing more-and-more leptin, and your brain becomes bombarded with leptin signals non-stop, until it starts to ignore these signals entirely, this is called leptin-resistance
NOW THE SOLUTION WITH 30-SECOND SNACKS FOR THE 5 HORMONES
You might have noticed that after you turn 35, it feels harder to lose weight on your thighs, face, and arms.
The reason for this Is that you likely have 5 hormone blocks that are found in women over 35, these 5 hormone blocks slow down your metabolism, they bring on sudden waves of anxiety, and they cause mood swings that hit you out of nowhere.
The frustrating part though, is the fluctuating weight gain… anywhere between 30–50lbs, it crushes your confidence and makes you visibly tense.If these 5 hormones are not unblocked, then it’s likely your body will keep storing fat 24/7, this means that as you age new layers of fat will appear too
Gravitating more to areas like your thighs, face, and arms Fortunately there’s a simple way to switch on your metabolism.
It’s a simple 30-second “fix” that unblocks all 5 hormones, so you can melt fat from your thighs, face, and the rest of your body, just the way butter would melt in a frying pan
Here’s the fix 30-second extreme snackes
Remember It’s always up to you when you are seeking to change your life, I hope this article helps you all, Thank you for reading ❤
You will find the Solution here for The Perfect Shape | https://medium.com/@alshabahabdo71/extreme-but-effective-weight-loss-snacks-7d13e1a63e0 | [] | 2021-12-20 08:34:49.365000+00:00 | ['Losing Weight', 'Weightloss Recipe', 'Weightloss Foods', 'Weight Loss Tips', 'Weight Loss Snacks'] |
Opinion: COVID-19 is telling us that it’s time for global systems change — starting with water | Opinion: COVID-19 is telling us that it’s time for global systems change — starting with water
To survive the coronavirus pandemic and minimize the adverse impacts of future shocks, we must address global water insecurity and inequality now.
Illustration by Kelsey King
By Claudia Sadoff and Mark Smith for Ensia| @ensiamedia | @IWMI_ | @DMSmifffy
COVID-19 has, like nothing before, exposed the fragility of the systems that underpin our globalized world, revealing just how quickly they can unravel with devastating and far-reaching impacts. As people around the world work to understand the implications of the pandemic, it’s clear that water is central not only to these systems, but also to our ability to respond to COVID-19, restore growth and build resilience in a post-pandemic world.
If humanity really is to “build back better” to prevent and preempt future shocks, then governments, companies and civil society must value and invest in water security worldwide.
Immediate Needs
Inadequate water supply and sanitation deprive communities of the most basic hygiene measure that helps prevent the spread of disease: handwashing. As a result, COVID-19 is shining an unforgiving spotlight on the inequalities, hardships and global health risks that stem from our failure to uphold the human right to water and sanitation worldwide.
In its 2019 report “Safer Water, Better Health,” the World Health Organization (WHO) states that improving water, sanitation and hygiene could reduce at least 4.6% of global disease rates and 3.3% of all deaths. But still, 4.2 billion people lack adequate sanitation and 3 billion do not have access to needed handwashing facilities.
Waterborne infections cause diarrheal diseases and poor hygiene blocks nutrient absorption, so even those with access to nutritious food may face malnutrition because of water inequality. In the current circumstances, where handwashing is limited and waterborne illness is already common, the lethality of COVID-19 could be amplified.
We should also be cognizant of gender implications. In many parts of the world, women and girls spend hours each day fetching water or waiting in crowded queues for water vendors, potentially getting exposed to the virus. If they struggle to bring water because they are ill or have to care for the sick, their health and food security could be further compromised. And, to compound the issue, restrictions on movement may lessen ability to access water at all.
In the short term, governments and international agencies should prioritize safe and reliable water supply and sanitation.
In the short term, governments and international agencies should prioritize safe and reliable water supply and sanitation. This includes emergency provision for underserved communities and protecting individuals responsible for fetching water from exposure to the virus. We also need to improve understanding of where and how municipal or rural water infrastructure is coping with spikes in demand because of the virus so that this can be properly managed to avoid shortages, likely to impact the most vulnerable.
Medium-Term Threats
In the pandemic recovery effort, among the most critical priorities will be securing irrigation water for farms that may have missed a planting season without undermining basic domestic water needs, while also mitigating the risks of droughts, floods and other weather extremes. This will require water management to reinforce the stability of food systems while also recognizing the prospect of overlapping shocks, both natural and human-made, placing added pressure on food production.
Floods and drought will not be put on hold for the pandemic.
Water risks to food systems and across economies lurk in locations where, to counter deficits in food supply, dry season cropping expands and water demand for irrigation spikes just as demand for water surges in reopening economies and cities.
Floods and drought will not be put on hold for the pandemic. When people are displaced by such natural disasters, authorities often establish densely populated camps or shelters, clearly not a viable option now. Fortunately, we can monitor and forecast water-related risks, and authorities can use the resulting data to help with recovery and initiate mechanisms like index-based weather insurance that can support poor and vulnerable people in times of such crises.
The prospect of broader coincident shocks is another concern. In January the World Economic Forum published its annual “Global Risks Report,” which ranked risks from water, infectious disease and food security issues. In 2020, there will likely be places where we see all three at once.
To ensure that water-related risks do not compound the challenge of pandemic recovery through crop failures, unmanaged competition for water, or unanticipated droughts or floods, countries will need to reinforce water governance. This will underpin reliable delivery of water for priority uses such as agriculture, public health and industry. They also will need to enhance water storage and irrigation capacity to compensate for disruptions to rain-fed agricultural cycles, and strengthen drought and flood risk management strategies to protect farmers, communities and economies from multiple concurrent food system shocks.
Building Back Better
In the post-pandemic era, we must use what we are learning about the dynamics of global, interconnected systems to “build back better.” Both the public and private sector must invest in water to create greater resilience to climate, health and food system shocks, and to improve management of water-related risks.
This means, among other things, calling for more circular water systems that secure supplies and better capture, clean and reuse resources in ways that protect human and ecosystem health. It means reimagining our waste streams as resource streams so that instead of releasing 80% of the world’s wastewater back into the environment untreated, we invest in treatment that will protect our communities and ecosystems against biological hazards and safely recycle water, energy and nutrients at the same time. While there is currently no evidence that COVID-19 can spread through water or wastewater, we do know that historical epidemics have been transmitted in this way and that untreated wastewater remains a health hazard in too many communities today.
We are already hearing calls for greater food self-sufficiency as people experience disruptions in food trade and transport. In some cases this may provide greater resilience, shortening supply chains and buffering nations against changes in the agricultural and food policies of trading partners.
From here on, we will need to be systems-minded, not single-minded.
But shorter supply chains could also increase vulnerabilities — for example, to droughts, floods and crop diseases. Food self-sufficiency, moreover, may drive unsustainable water use because food import strategies are often driven by inadequate water supplies for local production. If the “virtual water” embedded in food imports is replaced by unsustainable local water use, the availability of water for drinking, agriculture, ecosystems and a host of other urgent uses could be compromised.
Now, we must look to the future with a new and deeper appreciation of the value of resilience and the complex interconnected and interdependent systems that govern our lives and the economy. From here on, we will need to be systems-minded, not single-minded.
It is vital not to lose sight that water connects health, food systems, climate change, nature, energy and finance. The fabric of water security is created by weaving together effective governance, knowledge and skills, connectivity across systems, and investment in and application of infrastructure, technologies and services from ecosystems. If we are to thrive in the post-pandemic world, we must work now to strengthen each of these components and ensure they are used in concert to reinforce resilience.
Editor’s note: The views expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily of Ensia. We present them to further discussion around important topics.
Originally published at ensia.com on June 4, 2020. | https://ensiamedia.medium.com/opinion-covid-19-is-telling-us-that-its-time-for-global-systems-change-starting-with-water-d59dd2b839bf | [] | 2020-06-10 19:56:01+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Systems Thinking', 'Water', 'Change', 'Pandemic'] |
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Tulsi Gabbard: Woman in the Arena | Image by Kelly Bielfeldt — @kellybielfeldt
Being a voter is hard. First you have to decide what direction you think the country should take, which takes a good amount of thought. Then you have to find a candidate who has an authentic vision for the country based on what you direction you came up with. Given our usual slate of candidates and their unwillingness to deal in real vision and authenticity, our task gets even harder.
When faced with this dilemma, I turn to our forefathers for some perspective. The wisdom of the past is a powerful tool for making sense of the present.
Which takes me to Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, Governor of New York, combat veteran, statesman, conservationist, sportsman, boxer, and author. TR certainly has the resume to shed some light on our current candidates. In fact, two quotations from Roosevelt stand out to me as valuable filters for sifting through our current slate of Democratic candidates for president, and only one candidate seems to fit both: Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.
Vision
First, an admonition regarding foreign policy.
“Speak softly and carry a big stick”
Note Roosevelt did not say “swing a big stick”.
Roosevelt meant to extol the values of diplomacy over violence, knowing diplomacy is better served coming from a place of strength rather than weakness. The emphasis here is that our military should be at the service of our diplomatic efforts, and not the other way around. Military might wielded with restraint enhances our diplomatic efforts. Nobody trusts a bully. Pure strength only used in the rarest of cases is enough to prevent the weak from provocation.
Warfare is also more dangerous now than ever. Nuclear and biological weapons in the hands of many players makes the world very fragile to miscalculation. Other Democratic candidates are focusing their energies on climate change, economic inequality, or racial and sexual discrimination (all worthy causes). The problem is there may not be a climate to save, an economy to improve, or prejudice to combat in the event of nuclear war. That’s why it is crucial we take foreign policy with the utmost seriousness.
Gabbard is the only candidate who’s thinking resembles TR’s: focused on diplomacy and a realistic view of the costs of war. She has made foreign policy the centerpiece of campaign, as seen on Twitter, interviews, campaign speeches, and her voting record. Here are just a few examples:
“I will end long-standing regime change policy & lead with a foreign policy based on negotiations, diplomacy, & cooperation.”
Roosevelt himself was famous for brokering the Treaty of Portsmouth that ended the Russo-Japanese War, winning a Nobel Peace Prize in the the process.
While tensions flare with Iran, Gabbard understands the perils of regime-change wars. Estimates place the costs of our current Middle East wars anywhere between $1.3 to $6 trillion and around 500,000 deaths, and Iran is both larger and more populous than Iraq and Afghanistan. No one can predict what other nations might do either, which is especially dangerous given the several nuclear powers in the region.
Gabbard’s views on war may be better than Roosevelt’s in some respects. She understands the morality of not imposing our will on sovereign nations. Roosevelt presided over an imperialistic war with the Philippines that cost as many as 224,000 lives, something Gabbard would be vehemently opposed to.
Gabbard is not without her detractors. Some try to slam her for meeting with Bashar Al Assad of Syria and refusing to classify him as an “enemy” of the United States on the grounds that she is legitimizing a dictator. I invite the reader to consider a different line of thinking. The civil war in Syria is an extremely complicated issue with many foreign powers involved and millions of lives at stake. Intervention is not so simple. We don’t know who the “good” rebels are or how things will shake out in the aftermath of overthrowing Assad’s regime. Just look to Iraq and Libya as prime examples of what misguided intervention can lead to. Furthermore, U.S. officials from both parties meet with other dictators (i.e. Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Mohammed Bin Salman). I suspect such blatantly hypocritical attacks on Gabbard are more politically motivated than anything.
Gabbard is the only candidate with the sense to keep our ship clear of the storm in Syria. She’s also the only candidate displaying realist honesty. When asked why she met with Assad, Gabbard said:
“…because I think it’s important for us to have the courage to meet with leaders whether they be friends or adversaries, or potential adversaries, if our focus is on national security and on peace.”
In an age where most politicians would never meet with Assad because of the optics, Gabbard proves she’s willing to stare bad men in the eyes and represent the American people in the interests of peace.
Authenticity
We all know politicians spout bullsh*t; they’ve been doing it since TR’s time and long before that. Unfortunately, this tendency can make it difficult for us voters to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Cue Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena” speech — an excellent filter for judging character.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Gabbard has lived most of her life in the arena. She was elected to the Hawaii State House of Representatives at 21 years of age, the youngest woman elected to a state legislature in US history. After the terrorist attacks on 9/11, she joined the Army National Guard to answer the call of duty. Gabbard’s brigade was called up for duty in Iraq in 2004 in the midst of her reelection campaign for the Hawaii State House. While her name was not on the mandatory deployment roster, Gabbard volunteered to deploy anyway.
How many politicians you know would give up a win to put their life on the line for our country?
After serving two combat tours in Iraq and Kuwait, Gabbard was elected to the Honolulu city council (shout-out to localism!), followed by her election to represent Hawaii in the US House of Representatives in 2013 where she has served on the Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committees.
As a final note to her integrity, Gabbard took a risk with her own party in 2016 by resigning from her post as as Vice-Chair of the DNC to endorse Bernie Sanders for President, despite party officials supporting Hillary Clinton for the nomination.
Clearly Gabbard’s experience in the arena informs her preference for diplomacy over violence. She’s said as much in an interview with Politico:
“I served in a war in Iraq — a war that was launched based on lies, and a war that was launched without evidence. And so the American people were duped. So as a soldier, as an American, as a member of Congress, it is my duty and my responsibility to exercise skepticism any time anyone tries to send our service members into harm’s way or use our military to go in and start a new war.”
Don’t mistake her as a coward or one unwilling to use force if necessary; she volunteered to serve overseas in a combat zones. She was willing to use force, but she also understands the true costs of war, a combination of perspective lacking in many of the other candidates and players in the political sphere.
Who do you trust more?
It’s easy for the other Democrats to slam President Trump’s actions on Iran, or past administrations’ mistakes in Afghanistan and Iraq; they’re winning cheap political points.
Many of the candidates have foreign policy views similar to Gabbard’s, but without the same focus nor the willingness to upset the establishment on both sides of the aisle. We’re led to the following question:
Who do you trust more, someone with the right vision, or someone with the right vision and a record of authenticity behind the vision?
I’m not endorsing all of Gabbard’s views, but where in real life do you agree with someone on everything? The important thing is that a candidate has the right vision about the most important issues, and one thing is certain: she is absolutely spot-on with regards to foreign policy, has the record to back it, and our country is better off with Gabbard as a central part of the conversation for which direction our nation will take.
But don’t take my word for it. Take Teddy Roosevelt’s. | https://medium.com/discourse/https-medium-com-mikedeluvia-tulsigabbard-teddyroosevelt-candidate-39b282863a80 | ['Mike Deluvia'] | 2019-08-01 10:56:01.011000+00:00 | ['Presidential Debates', 'Politics', 'America', 'Democrats'] |
2.0: An Expedition to Success | 9 August 2024
Habits are not the constraint of time, but intention.
This is the story, more precisely a journey of a person who has proved his worth and made a huge impact.
The Present:
“Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.” — Alice Morse Earle
Sidhant Sharma, founder of one of the most innovative and unique music startup of the year 2024 “D-MIX (Digital-Mix)” is a successful entrepreneur who started thinking about it in the year 2020. Coming from a technical background and then switching to an MBA made up his mind to get into the business side of the world. While the whole world was stuck in the pandemic, he decided to join Digital Deepak Internship Program by Mr. Deepak Kanakraju, which was a life-changing moment, as those 3 months really transformed him into a person with visions and made him believe that anything is achievable, if we settle for that thing.
Talking about D-MIX, It is a music-based platform that integrates all the major music recording studios and event management based companies of India on a common platform. Artists can directly contact any music studio or event management team to provide quick assistance and manage all the requirements of the artist. This was designed to give all the artists a platform where they can easily maintain their profiles and engage on a common platform. Currently, there are 30 people in his team working directly under him. D-MIX has collaboration with 20 big banners in the country and there is huge potential for growth in the coming time.
Transformation is real…photo by pexels
Talking about hobbies, He has a passion for Singing, and his YouTube channel is just close to achieving a milestone of 1m subscribers. Also, he loves traveling, trying food from all the other cultures, and clicking pictures of the unexplored. Last but not the least, he also keeps a check on his daily routine and tracks the fitness level in a disciplined manner.
The Past:
“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” C.S.Lewis
Let’s go back into time and try to recollect the time when He was a nobody. During the school days, he used to stammer a lot which actually made him a laughing pot in front of his fellow mates. Also, he was body-shamed all the time because he wasn’t a so-called perfect kid at that time. Things really demotivated him and there was a complete lack of concentration in his mind.
The Sky is the limit…photo by pexels
But we all know, if we try to overcome anything by putting all our efforts, it just fades away.
Fighting with all the hardships, he was able to overcome his fears, and to make it more interesting, as a bonus he also started singing in front of many people where earlier he was made fun off. That was the time he got to discover the Singing talent in him, which never stopped later and became the greatest hobby of his life.
The Future:
You cannot change your future. But you can change your habits. And surely your habits will change your future.” A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
As we all know Sidhant Sharma is a person who never settles, He wants to expand his business worldwide and make tie-ups with leading brands of the world. He wants to motivate people through Social media and other means to let the world know how music can play a vital role and change the meaning of your life. Sidhant is a person with a lot of patience, which will make him grow more and reach a wider audience through his digital skills.
Dream Alert: Having a passion for singing, he wants to perform in front of a huge audience once in his lifetime and that time could be sooner or later :)
Sidhant Sharma, a Dreamer, a motivator, a performer, a deep thinker, a campaigner
Disclaimer: This article is a part of Digital Deepak Internship Program :) | https://medium.com/@sidhant63/2-0-an-expedition-to-success-6b79921e22cb | ['Sidhant Sharma'] | 2020-08-06 13:08:37.141000+00:00 | ['Corona', 'Future', 'Lifestyle'] |
Election day for in-person voting; extension for mail-in ballots | Philadelphia mail-in ballot. | Jeanette Woods for Gtown Info Hub
Today Philadelphia moves forward with voting and extends mail-in ballots by a week.
Registered voters can expect to vote at their polling locations, for Germantown: Mastery Pickett Charter School, Lingelbach School, Lonnie Young Recreation Center and Happy Hollow Recreation Center according to The Inquirer.
For mail-in ballots, Gov. Tom Wolf issued an executive order that will allow voters to return their ballots by 8 p.m.on June 9.
“I can’t do anything about the election day, but I am extending the time to actually get votes in,” Wolf said at a Philadelphia news conference. “So if you vote and the vote gets in by next Tuesday… it’ll count. An extra seven days.”
If Philadelphia should be put under curfew today, voters will not be affected. The polls will still close at 8p.m., and anyone in line by 8 p.m. will be allowed to cast their vote.
Initially the city postponed the primary election to today, June 2, due to the effects of the coronavirus COVID-19. Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and four other counties are the only PA areas to be allowed to submit mail-in ballots with the new deadline. | https://medium.com/germantown-info-hub/election-day-for-in-person-voting-extension-for-mail-in-ballots-6adce064be75 | ['Nichole Currie'] | 2020-06-02 17:25:44.014000+00:00 | ['Primary Election', 'George Floyd', 'Germantown', 'Mail In Ballots', 'Germantown Info Hub'] |
Cats | C
I was not hoping for much from “Cats.” I knew that the record-breaking, popular-for-decades Broadway musical did not have much of a plot, just songs with lyrics from the poetry of T.S. Eliot and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and spectacular dancing. So that’s all I hoped for — an all-star cast singing and dancing. Some of the singing is fine, and the dancing is great, when you can see it, but the whole thing is so badly misbegotten that it does its best to keep its most entertaining elements out of sight.
I mean that literally. There’s one simple rule, going back to the days of Fred Astaire, for dance in movies: get the camera out of the way and let the audience see the dance as fully as possible. We want to see the shapes the bodies make, we want to feel the way they interact with the rhythm and with each other, and we want to see their feet. There are dance numbers in “Cats” where the camera moves away from the feet or out of beat with the rhythm. Why? They also give “Memory,” one of the most iconic songs of the last 30 years to Jennifer Hudson, one of the greatest singers of the last 30 years and have her put most of her energy into emotion instead of singing.
The movie’s credits highlight ballerina Francesca Hayward in her first film appearance, playing the young ingenue cat, Victoria. She is thrown into the garbage inside a sack at the beginning of the film, and we learn about the world of the cats as it is explained to her. The various felines introduce themselves, including Jennyanydots (Rebel Wilson) the house cat, who teaches mice and even cockroaches to sing and dance, the magician Mr. Mistoffelees (Laurie Davidson), the down-at-the-paws Grizabella (Jennifer Hudson), filled with regret and self-doubt, “the tap-dancing railroad yard cat Skimbleshanks (Steven McRae), and the wicked Macavity (Idris Elba) “the Napoleon of crime.”
Presiding over everyone is the magisterial Old Deuteronomy (Dame Judi Dench), who has the power to select one “jellicle” cat (a term Eliot made up) for a second chance at life. As cats comes forward to introduce themselves, it’s like a feline “Chorus Line,” everyone auditioning for that one big chance.
All of that would be fine if there was some joyful energy behind it, but it is mostly just dreary. Some of the musical numbers, especially McRae’s tap dance, could could have provided that lift if the camera would have stopped long enough to let us see what he was doing. Taylor Swift brings all of her considerable Swiftian panache (though an uncertain hold on an English accent) as Bombalurina, but the movie then sinks back into its trudgey tempo, leaving us to wonder at the furry costumes with ears and tails constantly twitching, so skin-tight it only emphasizes the human and decidedly un-feline forms and movements. It’s a close call what we get more of, silly “cat got your tongue”-style references, the word “jellicle” or Hayward’s lovely face, even in fur and whiskers, which director Tom Hooper keeps cutting back to. Not to sound catty, but it just reminds us how much less enthralled we are than she is.
Parents should know that this film includes some mild sexual references, nuzzling, some disturbing dusting-style disappearances and death references, and sad songs.
Family discussion: What do you think “jellicle” means? Do you agree with Deuteronomy’s choice? Which was your favorite cat and why?
If you like this, try: “The Fantastcks” and “Nine”
Related Tags: | https://cranberries.medium.com/cats-baf119397994 | ['Nell Minow'] | 2019-12-20 02:24:59.271000+00:00 | ['Taylor Swift', 'Movies', 'Movie Reviews', 'Musicals', 'Cats'] |
How To Get COMFORTABLE in the SILENCE | Over the past few days, I’ve struggled with my writing. As I chronicled last week, when I took a break from my daily writing, good things happened. My mind was free and empty and the space allowed for calm and quietness. Eventually, new and inspired ideas emerged. It was fresh and unforced.
But this week, with the holidays upon us and a change in my usual routine, I had a new awareness. It was a need — an almost pressing need — to come up with Something Important to Say. Reflecting on my experience from last Friday through today, though I wasn’t sure how it happened, my freedom was gone. I wasn’t approaching writing with a willingness to be empty and see what would come. For whatever reason, perhaps it was the excitement of sharing my writing on Less Stress More Success, I had created pressure on myself to Come Up With Something Big.
If you’re wondering about the point of capitalizing phrases like Something Important to Say and Come Up With Something Big, there is one. Quite simply, those were my thoughts on overdrive creating a whirlwind of judgment. Me judging me. My thoughts had gone on a Writer’s Rampage. I was worried if whatever I wrote was Significant and Worthy enough for others to read.
This became a recognizable struggle through this morning when I started and ditched three different ideas for articles. One was about nonprofit work. Nope — not interesting enough. Then there was one about Success and why we deem it to be so important. I liked it but too light and not inspiring enough. I finally gave up after trying my hand at yet another Bye Bye 2020 article. I think we’ve all seen a few of those. Everyone gets it by now.
Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash
With a half-hour before a coaching session, I meditated for 15 minutes, something I hadn’t done since the previous week. While the meditation was focused on gratitude and I was appreciating it, suddenly I had the idea to write about this experience — exactly what you’re reading about now. I grabbed the piece of paper I had set aside for coaching notes and jotted all this down.
All of the sudden, there was no judgment. My thoughts about Significance were still there. Yet I became quite comfortable recognizing that it was a thought. It might pass and it might not. Either way, it was OK. All of a sudden I was comfortable in the silence. Rather, I was comfortable simply writing as a practice and as an exercise in creativity.
This isn’t a pitch for meditation though I do recommend it. Rather it’s a pitch to cut ourselves some slack. Nina Lockwood put it so well in “What If There’s Nothing Wrong With You?” when she stated that we’ll always come up short when we compare ourselves to others. It’s even worse when we compare ourselves to ourselves. Personally, my thoughts had created an arbitrary bar for Significance (whatever that is!) that my writing had to hurdle over. I had forgotten the joy of simply creating.
It would be extra dramatic and in fact, seem very Significant to say Never Again! I will never let my thoughts rob me of that joy! The truth is that probably won’t be the case. For the moment though, I’m comfortable in the silence of having nothing terribly significant to say today, just the sharing of my awareness. And I appreciate your being here till the near end of this little journey.
We’ll see what happens tomorrow… | https://medium.com/less-stress-more-success/how-to-get-comfortable-in-the-silence-52002b7bf960 | ['Robert Grabel'] | 2020-12-29 22:13:54.647000+00:00 | ['Coaching', 'Leadership', 'Writing', 'Nonprofit'] |
I believe “pretends” is the key word here, or, as if, maybe, but the US constantly and blatantly… | I believe “pretends” is the key word here, or, as if, maybe, but the US constantly and blatantly doesn't play the ‘pretends’ game at all; it simply does at it pleases. Or as Bush I said during the Gulf War, “what we say, goes”. They scream and holler about foreign this or that, but when the lens is turned around, the US is moral and squeaky clean. John, ‘the butcher’ Bolton is the perfect example of US morality at work. He’d kill his mother to justify another war or economic sanction to strangle a nation state into US submission and smile about it. Gadds he makes me ill.
So now the “new” narrative is that rascal Putin is paying mercenaries to kill our soldiers. It was on the news show this AM. I’m going, “who’s buying this horse hooey”? The morning news shows these days is like having a bad trip while watching the Disney network. It’s nuts. A few tidbits about the pandemic are factual, like deaths, but to state that the US govt totally fucked the whole response is heresy. And, of course, they did, and now we’re dying by the truckloads. So much for helping a failing economy. I’ll laugh when it totally and completely collapses because it’s now destiny. I hope to be dead by then because it will be very ugly. Peace, The Ol’ Hippy | https://medium.com/@jrallen1200/i-believe-pretends-is-the-key-word-here-or-as-if-maybe-but-the-us-constantly-and-blatantly-6a5ff27c418d | ['John Allen'] | 2020-07-01 20:50:21.430000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Propaganda', 'News', 'Russia', 'America'] |
My Therapist Says Being Too Sensitive Is a Superpower | In a time when we’re experiencing so much turmoil, divisiveness, and lack of empathy, sensitive people are necessary
Illustration: Kate Dehler
I’ll never forget the moment my son received vaccinations as an infant. He held onto me and my eyes welled up with tears as my husband innocently chuckled as he watched my reaction. All I could see was the fear in my baby boy’s eyes as he braced himself for the unknown. It didn’t matter that I knew the vaccine was protecting him. In that moment, I was living vicariously through my adorable little man and I felt his pain.
When the story was retold to others, my husband said, “You know how she gets.”
I hear those words often. Rarely is “how she gets” referred to a good thing. I heard those words when college friends were teasing me for being “feisty.” I’ve heard it when having an exchange with in-laws in regards to parenting my kids. In each situation, I was overwhelmed with emotion and on the brink of tears. And honestly it’s the norm for me.
My sensitivity got me teased as a child, and sometimes my sensitivity gets me taken advantage of. Being sensitive often means that I’m viewed as dramatic, weak, overreacting, and too much to handle. So it should come as no surprise that I spent a majority of my life attempting to hide my emotions. Even when things rightfully bothered me, I tried my best to conceal how I truly felt. I didn’t cry. I didn’t show disdain. I’d just hide the feelings as best I knew how, which didn’t usually go all that well. But I tried.
By what barometer are our sensitivities being measured to determine if they’re too much, and who gets to decide that?
When I explained that I’m too sensitive to my therapist, she stopped me in my tracks.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing. Being too sensitive is a quality not many people have. It’s your superpower,” she said.
I wasn’t sold right away. Signs of sensitivity are often met with eye rolls and frustration — I’ve experienced them firsthand. There’s still a large percentage of Americans who believe women can’t hold leadership positions because they’re too sensitive and emotional. So why would I accept anything but the belief that being too sensitive is a nuisance?
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As my therapist helped me realize, we have to ask ourselves: By what barometer are our sensitivities being measured to determine if they’re too much, and who gets to decide that? Is my view of sensitivity as a fault rooted in my being a Black woman — and the fact that time and again showing any emotion or vulnerability results in my generalization as the “angry Black woman”? Or does it have to do with the fact that I am a mom, a role society deems as akin to a superhero, making it hard to show any real feelings other than the desire to nag about chores? Perhaps it has to do with being born in mid-July, making me a Cancer, and by default overly emotional and a target for all the other zodiac signs. Or maybe those who labeled me as such were doing so to be manipulative as they attempted to silence me. Regardless of the roots of being too sensitive, it has always been made extremely clear to me that it is not a desirable trait.
Because I love hard, I hurt hard and deeply when someone wrongs me. Sometimes it’s frustrating and embarrassing. My therapist explained that it also means I experience joy for myself and others just as deeply. When I toured my good friend’s new house when they became first-time home owners, onlookers would have been convinced I had bought the house with them judging by my free-falling tears.
“Being able to feel positive experiences that strongly and genuinely is truly a gift,” she says.
Because I love hard, I hurt hard and deeply when someone wrongs me.
To my therapist’s point, being highly sensitive isn’t horrible if you recognize it in yourself and learn to manage your emotions in a way that feels healthy. There are many times when my sensitivity is a good thing.
My sensitivity makes it that much easier for me to relate to others when they struggle. Every experience, whether it’s happening to me or not, is decoded by my heart before it’s decoded by my brain. In a time when we’re experiencing so much turmoil, divisiveness, and lack of empathy, my therapist showed me that sensitive people are necessary. Being sensitive doesn’t mean I’m incapable of being rational. During a monumental election, my sensitivity allowed me to vote with my heart just as much as logic as I envisioned myself in the shoes of someone else as their lives were literally dependent on what was on the ballot, even if it didn’t benefit me. Being “too sensitive” has also been an asset in the past, as it allowed me to defuse contentious situations between family members.
Sure, I may take things a bit too personally at times, let strong feelings overwhelm me for days and sometimes cry, but I now know that strength, power, and a genuine heart are behind those tears. I’m choosing to believe that my ability to be sensitive is exactly what we need to make this world a little lighter. I am not too sensitive. I am just right. | https://medium.com/@bbylvr-z/my-therapist-says-being-too-sensitive-is-a-superpower-7c44d81059a7 | ['Bbylvr Z'] | 2020-12-18 20:07:20.242000+00:00 | ['Therapy', 'Psychology', 'Emotions', 'My Therapist Says', 'Brain'] |
Regression Feature Selection using the Kydavra LassoSelector | This image was created by public association “Sigmoid”
We all know the Occam’s Razor:
From a set of solutions took the one that is the simplest.
This principle is applied in the regularization of the linear models in Machine Learning. L1-regularisation (also known as LASSO) tend to shrink wights of the linear model to 0 while L2-regularisation (known as Ridge) tend to keep overall complexity as simple as possible, by minimizing the norm of vector weights of the model. One of Kydavra’s selectors uses Lasso for selecting the best features. So let’s see how to apply it.
Using Kydavra LassoSelector.
If you still haven’t installed Kydavra just type the following in the following in the command line.
pip install kydavra
Next, we need to import the model, create the selector, and apply it to our data:
from kydavra import LassoSelector selector = LassoSelector() selected_cols = selector.select(df, ‘target’)
The select function takes as parameters the panda's data frame and the name of the target column. Also, it has a default parameter ‘cv’ (by default it is set to 5) it represents the number of folds used in cross-validation. The LassoSelector() takes the next parameters:
alpha_start (float, default = 0) the starting value of alpha.
alpha_finish (float, default = 2) the final value of alpha. These two parameters define the search space of the algorithm.
n_alphas (int, default = 300) the number of alphas that will be tested during the search.
extend_step (int, default=20) if the algorithm will deduce that the most optimal value of alpha is alpha_start or alpha_finish it will extend the search range with extend_step, in such a way being sure that it will not stick and will find finally the optimal value.
power (int, default = 2) used in formula 10^-power, defines the maximal acceptable value to be taken as 0.
So the algorithm after finding the optimal value of alpha will just see which weights are higher than 10^-power.
Let’s take see an example:
To show its performance I chose the Avocado Prices dataset.
After a bit of cleaning and training it on the next features:
'Total Volume', '4046', '4225', '4770', 'Small Bags', 'Large Bags', 'XLarge Bags', 'type', 'year'
The LinearRegression has the mean absolute error equal to 0.2409683103736682.
When LassoSelector applied on this dataset it chooses the next features:
'type', 'year'
Using only these features we got an MAE = 0.24518692823037008
A quite good result (keep in mind, we are using only 2 features).
Note: Sometimes is recommended to apply the lasso on scaled data. In this case, applied to the data, the selector didn’t throw away any feature. You are invited to experiment and try with scaled and unscaled values.
Bonus.
This module also has a plotting function. After applying the select function you can see why the selector selected some features and others not. To plot just type:
selector.plot_process()
This is the plot created by Kydavra LassoSelector on Avocado Price Dataset
The dotted lines are features that were thrown away because their weights were too close to 0. The central-vertical dotted line is the optimal value of the alpha found by the algorithm.
The plot_process() function has the next parameters:
eps (float, default = 5e-3) the length of the path.
(float, default = 5e-3) the length of the path. title (string, default = ‘Lasso coef Plot’) — the title of the plot.
(string, default = ‘Lasso coef Plot’) — the title of the plot. save (boolean, default= False) if set to true it will try to save the plot.
(boolean, default= False) if set to true it will try to save the plot. file_path (string, default = None) if the save parameter was set to true it will save the plot using this path.
Conclusion
LassoSelector is a selector that usee the LASSO algorithm to select features the most useful features. Sometimes it will be useful to scale the features, we highly recommend you to try both.
Source tenor.com
If you tried kydavra we invite you to share your impression by filling out this form.
Made with ❤ by Sigmoid.
Useful links: | https://medium.com/towards-artificial-intelligence/regression-feature-selection-using-the-kydavra-lassoselector-81a95cdae570 | ['Vasile Păpăluță'] | 2020-09-18 12:01:03.179000+00:00 | ['Sigmoid', 'Feature Selection', 'Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Lasso Regression'] |
4 Common Dental Problems in Children and Teens | Preventive and proactive dental care plays an important role since the eruption of the first tooth in children. As parents, you want the best for your children and this applies to their dental health as well; however, some common dental problems require attention. Dentists in Rockport, TX says that when treated on time these dental problems can be nipped in the bud.
So, without further delay let’s take a look at the 4 most common dental problems in children and teens.
1. Tooth sensitivity
Tooth sensitivity can cause a lot of discomfort and hamper the quality of life. It could be a result of many factors such as enamel wear, acid erosion, teeth grinding at night, the eruption of permanent teeth, cavities, and orthodontic treatment to name a few. If your suspect that your child is suffering from tooth sensitivity, you must take him or her to a good dentist in Rockport. By getting this addressed on time, you can prevent the issue from getting worse.
2. Cavities
Accumulation of sticky plaque can be a major reason behind cavity formation and since kids fail to brush and floss properly, the chances of cavity formation increase. Cavities are pretty much on cards for those kids who love a sugar-heavy diet.
To prevent cavities, parents must make sure that their kids brush and floss properly. Routine dental care can help prevent cavity formation to a large extent; however, if your kid is suffering from cavities, you must immediately consult a professional dentist in Rockport, TX.
3. Gum diseases
If your kid has red, swollen, or bleeding gums, it might be an indication of gum disease. It is a misconception that gum disease occurs only in adults. Gingivitis and gum disease can occur in kids as well. You must also know that pediatric dental patients are most prone to gum disease.
Dentists recommend not taking the abovementioned symptoms lightly, as gingivitis is the precursor to gum disease, but visiting a dentist on time can help your child get rid of these problems.
4. Teeth chipping, cracking, and breaking
Dental emergencies are also common in kids. According to the best dentists in Rockport, TX; sports, roughhousing, bike-riding and accidents can cause dental emergencies such as teeth chipping, breaking, and cracking. In case your child’s permanent tooth has fallen out due to any of the scenarios mentioned above, you must preserve the broken tooth in clean water, milk, or saline solution. Your dentist might be able to reattach this tooth by using a retainer.
Dentists also suggest using a mouthguard while riding a bike or if your child is engaged in combat sports.
5. Thumb sucking
Infants, toddlers, and small children tend to suck their thumb; however, there are times when excessive thumb-sucking is used for soothing anxiety. Excessive thumb sucking can result in an open bite and give rise to many problems. When the upper front teeth do not come together with the lower front teeth, the condition is called an open bite. If your child is in a habit of excessive or chronic thumb sucking, you must consult a professional dentist as soon as possible.
If you need more information about the common dental problems in kids and teens, feel free to get in touch with our dentists in Rockport, TX. | https://medium.com/@allwyndentaltx/4-common-dental-problems-in-children-and-teens-efc59917bd45 | ['Allwyn Dental'] | 2021-11-12 06:58:33.506000+00:00 | ['Tx', 'Dentistry', 'Rockport', 'Dentist', 'Dentist In Rockport'] |
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Drugs do works | if onliiii stars could see us
Drugs Do Works
Drugs do works
In terms of myself, i’ve always had a very different view of drugs that my generation did. I did believed that drugs were for recreational use, but now i dont think so. I believed drugs were sacred. Yes, i do relate to the drug culture. I knew so many people that took them, and they looked like babbling idiots.
You may say drugs are evil, i’d say, take drugs responsibly. It should be you to take control, dont let drugs take control of yourself. You know, you look at somebody like Jim Morrison, he just drank thousand of bottles and it just totally messed up his body at 27. It’s not cool, it’s stupid. Jimmy Hendrix didnt want to die, he had millions of ideas, but he fucked up. He didnt commit suicide but he made a mistake.
To me you took a drug to expand your mind and learn something. Most people did so many drugs but weren’t learn anything. And a lot of people died for them, or they destroyed their brain, or their teeth. Me, i smoked pot, i hung around with pothead friends here and there time to time, but i took it seriously. Almost every pot i’ve taken, i’ve done something with it. I’d using it for something creative, or at least to stabilize my mood.
Mind the experienced, may the drugs be with you. | https://medium.com/@dodimustafaa/drugs-do-works-c64ddfd45057 | [] | 2021-02-04 13:26:44.211000+00:00 | ['Psychedelics', 'High', 'Cannabis'] |
A Lot of What You Know About North Korea Is Racist Nonsense | A Lot of What You Know About North Korea Is Racist Nonsense
Pyongyang is not crazy
by ANDREW DOBBS
Support critical analysis of US power? Support me on Patreon please.
Less than three months into Pres. Donald Trump’s reign we can already say that there is a non-trivial chance that the United States will soon be engaged in a nuclear war.
The threat is still remote, but all the pieces are in place. An aircraft carrier group en route to North Korea, anonymous sources threatening a preemptive strike against them, a recent unilateral attack on the Syrian government and the dropping of a 21,000 pound conventional bomb in Afghanistan — interpreted by many as a message for North Korea.
Any misjudgments or mistakes could easily spark a shooting war in which the North Koreans will face an existential threat they can only resist with their nuclear weapons. The United States would be likely to respond in kind.
The main thing standing between us and this scenario? The cooler heads and good judgement of Trump and Kim Jong-Un.
This is deeply concerning, but to hear the U.S. media tell it all of the irrationality and risk in this is on the North Korean side. NBC News, in the very article announcing the United States’ threat of unauthorized aggression against North Korea, called it “volatile and unpredictable.”
Australia’s defense industry minister called North Korea “the world’s greatest threat” less than a week after the United States escalated the major power conflict in Syria with little warning. And The New York Times spoke of China’s need to “rein in” the childish North Koreans, even if the United States is the one that’s killed at least 1,000 civilians in combat since the beginning of 2017.
Western propaganda draws from a deep well of racist “yellow peril” prejudice to stoke irrational fears against this tiny, poor, isolated country, and it amplifies this paranoia with long-standing stereotypes of East Asian “oddity” to dehumanize North Koreans and justify U.S. aggression against them.
In the hands of a war-horny bigot like Trump, this well-established, bipartisan narrative poses a fearsome threat of making nuclear war inevitable. It’s imperative that we answer these lies immediately if we are to minimize this risk.
There are three basic pieces to the West’s slander of North Korea — that the whole country is “crazy” and especially dangerous, and that North Koreans are treacherous and untrustworthy. They can’t be reasoned with, they won’t honor any diplomatic agreements, and any moment they could fly off the handle and kill millions of people for no reason whatsoever.
This demands extraordinary military pressure from the United States and allies and may, alas, require us to destroy them.
Each of these is a perverse misrepresentation. The claim that they are insane in particular is a terrific example of gaslighting — an abuse tactic where the perpetrator takes steps to make their victim act or feel crazy and then uses those responses as proof of the victim’s irrationality, a justification for further abuse.
North Korea, by way of context, is bordered on the north by China and the south by South Korea. South Korea hosts 28,500 U.S. soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen, many of them literally amassed at the border with the North. On their east is the Sea of Japan (known to Koreans as the East Sea), and across that is a nation which brutally occupied Korea for decades.
The North Koreans are surrounded on all sides by countries that have invaded or occupied them in living memory, and the world’s most powerful military is still technically at war with them and poised to invade at moment’s notice.
This is the sort of scenario that would make any country not merely paranoid, but legitimately insecure. In light of U.S. military aggression against countries that choose to resist our global order — see Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc. — North Korea can choose to capitulate or focus tremendous resources on building up their defensive capabilities. | https://medium.com/defiant/a-lot-of-what-you-know-about-north-korea-is-racist-nonsense-a625256b51cc | ['Andrew Dobbs'] | 2018-06-11 04:59:45.497000+00:00 | ['Nuclear', 'North Korea', 'Defiant Politics'] |
Innovations in AI: Visual Product Fingerprinting | Tracking, tracing, and product identification are important measures within the supply chain for most, if not all industries. From theft control to quality control, traceability solutions have typically been mechanical in function.
Now, with recent advances in AI development, visual inspection alone has been shown to be all that’s required to create a unique visual product fingerprint for many types of products.
Photo by hessam nabavi on Unsplash
Fingerprints have for a long time been used as a method of identification as each person has a unique pattern of whorls and lines on their fingertips.
The same concept applies to many types of agricultural products. To use apples as an example, the unique patterning found on the skin of an apple, in combination with its size, shape, and color can provide enough data to create a unique product fingerprint for the object.
What is a Product Fingerprint?
To the human eye, a basket of apples may look very similar to each other. To this AI engine, each apple is completely unique. Using only visual cues (color, size, shape, skin patterning) creates a multidimensional reference image, unique to that item — a Visual Product Fingerprint.
This product fingerprint can be compared with the actual product at any time during transit for identification and verification. Product fingerprinting can be used in addition to or independently of external product labeling (such as a QR code) and offers a truly visual identification and verification method.
Farm-to Table-Traceability
The application and use case for this technology can be vast. If a product fingerprint of the apple was taken at the time of harvesting and once again at the time of sale, a wealth of information can be made available to both the consumer and producer involved in the process.
This information can include (per-item), an assessment of freshness, condition/perished, in-transit damage, and overall health. Additionally, based on the granularity of data collected, the information collected from each apple could be aggregated to the basket, pallet, and container level.
Farm-to-Table traceability for applies is only one application of this technology. There are also non-agricultural applications.
Forestry Sector
Visual product fingerprinting can also be applied to the forestry sector. The unique patterning found in the cross-section of logs offer excellent use of this technology.
A product fingerprint of a log would include the unique patterning that exists within the rings of the individual log.
This visual fingerprint could be further analyzed to include an assessment of the age, species, health, and overall rating of the log.
Visual product fingerprinting allows for easy visual verification and authentication of unprocessed lumber throughout the supply chain and can be used independently or in combination with other tagging or tracing methods.
The Future of Digital Traceability
As technology continues to improve, new and improved traceability solutions will enter the market. One such example is the Product Fingerprint, developed by the team at Deeplai. Product Fingerprinting is a novel approach, intersecting AI technology with product traceability across many sectors.
As food security continues to be an important global issue and requirements for food traceability continue to increase, the intersection of AI and technology will continue to bring new and innovative solutions to the market. | https://medium.com/geekculture/innovations-in-ai-visual-product-fingerprinting-7cd7545f16f3 | ['Product Fingerprint'] | 2021-03-19 11:01:09.104000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Startup', 'Blockchain', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Deep Learning'] |
Birthday Party Decorators in Hyderabad | How to make your child’s birthday party a great celebration!!
We are the Birthday Party Decorators are eager to help you host a great and trouble-free party regardless of your budget. We are a one-stop destination for all kinds of children’s birthday party theme supplies. From invitations and tableware to our irresistible range of decorations and return gifts, we have everything you need for a fabulous celebration.
Our team uses a unique couture design, a seamless organization to produce the most beautiful wedding/reception/birthday/events or functions you have ever seen. We can help you plan each step and guide you to make that special day even more awesome.
We arrange various events in Hyderabad, we provide our children with birthday parties, engagement events or wedding ceremonies and other types of activities to decorate at very affordable prices, we serve our clients best. Being able to handle all types of events, we offer our help for small and large events.
Kids 1st Birthday Party Decorators are in the upper class and are always working to the satisfaction of our clients and trying to provide the best for them without exceeding their budgets. For birthday parties and other events, we offer a variety of theme options. We can make your events more likely.
Birthday parties
Reception parties
New year parties
Christmas parties
The party has the theme of raising any age and having fun with it. You need to have the right kind of ideas and plans that will make any theme party fun for both the guests and the host. Get ready for your guests ’blessing in hosting a fun-filled party. We offer you the best services in the market. We, birthday party decorators, never disappoint their clients. Our lead is given to the client’s happiness. Our main purpose is to offer clients some special services. Birthday is a special day for any person’s life, making it even more special.
We have birthday party organizers in Telangana. You can contact us at any place, anytime, if you need party decoration. We have already done a lot of celebrations with many colorful decorating ideas. You can find it on our website, Facebook, etc. To see how we enjoy your stay. You will only know about us after seeing it.
The birthday party is not just about cutting cakes and inviting some relatives and friends. It has now become a status symbol for anyone. Many of our friends and relatives are talking about the events that happened. It is now important to organize birthday parties and make events more memorable for you. | https://medium.com/@aksharaentertainments/birthday-party-decorators-in-hyderabad-f19dce7222ef | ['Deepthi Raga'] | 2020-01-03 06:51:41.732000+00:00 | ['Birthday Party', 'Birthday', 'Birthday Party Organisers', 'Birthday Party Planners', 'Birthday Party Decoration'] |
How I Became A Writer | How I Became A Writer
My story of how it all began
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
My first attempt at writing happened when I was in sixth grade. I wrote those four lines in my mother tongue, Malayalam. It was about the words — mom and dad. I showed it to my parents and my dad was impressed. My mom didn’t say much about it. Of course, it wasn’t a great piece of poetry. That day, I wrote six more couplets. And that concluded my poetic attempts for a while.
I don’t remember when the dream to become a writer sprouted in me. I do remember though, that I admired writers, especially poets more than storytellers, though I loved reading stories also, a lot. I believe it was in my ninth grade that we had a lesson in English, a poem by Emily Dickinson and I fell in love with her words from that moment onwards. The poem was called ‘Success’. I was blown over by how deep and meaningful words could be depending on how one chooses to use it.
Then there were other poems, most of them were in my native language, Malayalam, that took my breath away. The famous poet G Shankara Kurup’s ‘Ente Veli’ was another such piece that left me amazed. It was a tragic poem equating the feelings of an old person nearing his death taking his last breath to the one of a young girl who was being married off to an older man without her approval (not that anybody asked for her approval!). The parallels drawn between the two lives made me realize the eloquent way of thinking and the evocative way of using words to convey those thoughts. It never occurred to me to attempt anything like that. But I did in my own limited way. Of course, those were mere attempts, but those attempts gave me the courage to put my thoughts on to the paper.
In my tenth grade, I wrote a longish poem, again in Malayalam. It was a great accomplishment for me as I wrote about the evening sky that always soothed me with its appearance every day. But it took a long time for that poem to gain some new readers other than myself as I was so unsure about showing it to anybody.
The last pages of my notebooks were filled with one-liners that you could call a poem, or prose, or simply nonsense.
I continued to write poems when my mind couldn’t bear it inside any longer. Pen and paper were my rescuers. I scribbled the nonsensical thoughts that ruled my head in my notebook when I had to, not because I wanted to.
I never thought of this act of scribbling down random musings as my writing. It never crossed my mind that I was writing.
I never thought of myself as a writer. It was more of a fluke than anything else — that’s what I thought! The verses I penned happened because a few vagrant musings refused to stay in its assigned path and spilled across mine. I couldn’t take credit for those musings. I couldn’t count on those irregular thoughts and call myself a writer!
Somewhere around those days, I started to dream of becoming a writer. But then, I never knew this dream growing slowly inside me. All I did was write when I couldn’t keep it under the wraps.
A few of my poems found its place in our college magazine. Not that I thought of them as worthy of getting published! The editor who was a friend, when got the wind of my poetic attempts coaxed me into writing some for the magazine, and I, after a lot of resistance on my behalf and with great reluctance, obliged. The journey which began then, continued. In 2008 October, I created my first blog as a means to document my poems. I wasn’t a blogger. I wrote and published poems in my blog when I felt the urge to write. I had a couple of readers, one of them being my husband.
Then in 2014, I created another blog to write down my parenting adventures. I explored and met with a world full of bloggers. Meeting up with like-minded people was a turning point in my life. I started to blog regularly since then. And before I knew, I became a blogger, one who write random thoughts, lessons from life, parenting mishaps, along with the poems that couldn’t stay away from my head.
All these while, I hesitated to say out loud that I was a blogger or a writer. When I did talk about my blogging adventures, I was extremely modest and was careful not to let the other person think that it was a big deal. So what if a few stray words conquered my head occasionally and made me write words that I called poems! Of course, it was a pleasure to write about the giggles of my little bundle of joy and share it with the world. But how did it make me a writer!
Then one day — a lot of days, months, and years later — in the recent past, I started introducing myself as a writer. It took courage to own up to who I was. My reasoning was, I was writing a lot — more in my journal than on my blogs. The dream of becoming a writer has since then stepped out from the shadows and reared its ugly head at me, wide and clear. I had nowhere else to go. I knew then that this was it.
Then I revived my medium account and started to write a lot more.
You become a writer when you write as if there is nothing else you would rather do.
Now I write daily from the time I wake up at 5:30 in the morning till the time I take a break in the evening. I sit at my desk and type whatever comes to my mind. I step into the kitchen and cook and come back and type again. I answer my kids' needs and questions and everything in between and get right back to my desk and write again. If musings do wander into my head after hours I make sure to pick up my journal or phone’s note app and note it down, pronto.
I am a writer.
Writing is my work.
I write from dawn to dusk.
I am a writer. | https://medium.com/literary-impulse/how-i-became-a-writer-33ebc1c7c8ab | ['Vinitha Dileep'] | 2020-06-19 08:10:01.845000+00:00 | ['Literary Impulse', 'Becoming A Writer', 'Self', 'Creativity', 'Non Fiction Story'] |
My plan to tackle the climate crisis | Our oceans are warming. Sea levels are rising. Pollution is threatening our air and water. Droughts are hurting our crops. Fires are burning our forests. Extreme weather is destroying our communities.
We are poisoning the planet.
If we stay on this path, our children and our children’s children will be left to face the catastrophic and life-threatening consequences of climate change. This election is our final straw — our last, best chance to elect a leader who will address climate change before it’s too late.
That’s why I’m releasing our campaign’s official plan to tackle the climate crisis. Climate change is an imminent threat to our planet — and our future. It’s within our power to do something about it.
During tonight’s climate town hall on CNN, I’ll share my plan with the American people and talk about how our movement is ready to fight for our planet.
My new plan will:
Invest $10 trillion to achieve a clean economy by 2045 and create millions of jobs;
Pursue justice for communities across America shattered by climate change;
Protect our natural resources by stopping drilling on public lands and investing in renewable energy;
Hold corporations accountable that pollute our air, land, and water;
And reassert the United States’ global leadership on climate by rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement.
Many will say this is “too bold.” That this approach is impossible. That our movement won’t be able to bring Republicans and Democrats together.
Nothing is too bold or impossible when our planet — our home — is at risk. This crisis requires bold action. There is no other option — no planet B, no do-overs. Rapid climate change is happening right now and it’s everyone’s responsibility to fight it. Read the full plan here.
Thanks for all you do for our future and our planet.
For The People,
— Kamala Harris | https://medium.com/@kamalaharris/my-plan-to-tackle-the-climate-crisis-4847e5088a05 | ['Kamala Harris'] | 2019-09-04 14:32:37.897000+00:00 | ['Climate Change', '2020 Presidential Race', 'Climate', 'Kamala Harris'] |
Engineering For Failure | Not so long ago, our systems were simple: we had one machine, with one process, probably no more than one external datastore, and the entire request lifecycle was processed and handled within this simple world.
Our users were also accustomed to a certain SLA standard — a 2-second page load time could have been acceptable a few years ago, but waiting more than a second for an Instagram post is unthinkable nowadays.
(Warning: buzzwords ahead)
When systems get more complex, with strict latency requirements and a distributed infrastructure, an uninvited guest crawls up our systems — request failure.
With each additional request to an external service within the lifecycle of a user request, we’re adding another chance for failure. With every additional datastore, we’re open to an increased risk of failure. With every feature we add, we risk increasing our latency long-tail, resulting in a degraded user experience in some portion of the requests.
In this article, I’ll cover some of the basic ways we at Riskified handle failures in order to provide maximal uptime and optimal service to our customers.
Failure by example
Every external service, no matter how good and reliable, will fail at some point. We at Riskified learned this the hard way when we experienced short failures with a managed, highly available service that almost resulted in data loss. That incident taught us the hard lesson that request failures should be handled gracefully.
In Google’s superbly written Site Reliability Engineering Book, they describe The Global Chubby Planned Outage, in which a service was so reliable, that its customers were using it without taking into account the possibility of failure, and even using it without a real essential need, just because it was so reliable.
As a result, Chubby, Google’s distributed locking system, was set a Service Level Objective (SLO) for service uptime, and for each quarter this SLO is met, the team responsible for the service intentionally takes it down. Their goal is to educate users that the service is not fail-safe and that they need to account for external service failures in their products.
So how should engineers handle request failures? Let’s cover some comment patterns:
Retrying
Retrying a failed request can, in many cases, solve the problem. This is the obvious solution, assuming network failures are sporadic and unpredictable. Just set a reasonable timeout for each request you send out to an external resource, and the number of retries you want, and you’re done! Your system is now more reliable.
Something to consider, however, is that additional retries can cause additional load on the system you’re calling, and make an already failing system fail harder.
Implementing and configuring short-circuiting mechanisms might be a thing to consider. You can read more about it in this interesting Shopify engineering blog post.
Prefetching — Fail outside of the main flow
One of the best ways to avoid failure while calling an external service is to avoid calling this service at all.
Let’s say we’re implementing an online store — we have a user service and an order service, and the order service needs the current user’s email address in order to send them an invoice for their last purchase.
The fact that we need the email address, doesn’t mean we have to query the user service while the user is logged in and waiting for order confirmation. It just means that an email address should be available.
In cases of fairly static data, we can easily pre-fetch all (or some) user details from the user service in a background process. This way, the email is already available during order processing, and we don’t need to call the external service. In the event the service fails to fetch user details, that failure remains outside of the main processing flow and is “hidden” from the user.
In his talk, Jimmy Bogard explains it better than I do (the link starts from his explanation about prefetching, although the whole talk is great!)
Best efforting
In some cases, we should just embrace failure, and continue processing without the data we were trying to get. You’re probably wondering — if we don’t need the data, why are we querying it at all?
The best example we have for this in Riskified is a Redis-based distributed locking mechanism that we use to block concurrent transactions in some cases. Since we’re a low-latency oriented service, we didn’t want a latency surge in lock acquiring to cause us to exceed the SLA requirements of our customers. We set a very strict timeout on lock acquiring so that when the timeout is reached, we continue unlocked — i.e we prefer race conditions over the increase in latency for our customers. In other words, the locking feature is a “nice to have” feature in our process.
Falling back to previous or estimated results
In some cases, you may be able to use previous results or sub-optimal estimations to handle a request while other services are unavailable.
Let’s say we’re implementing a navigation system, and one of the features we want is traffic jam predictions.
We’d probably have a JammingService (not to be confused with the Bob Marley song), that we’d call with our route to estimate the probability of traffic jams. When this service is failing, we might choose a sub-optimal course of action, while still serving the request:
Using previous results: we might cache some “common” jam predictions and serve them, we might even pre-fetch the jam estimation for the most commonly used routes of some of our users. Estimate a result: Our service can hold a mapping of mean jam estimation per region and serve that estimation for all requests for routes in the region.
In both examples, the solution is obviously not optimal, but probably be better than failing a request. The general idea here is to make a simple estimation of the result we’re trying to get from the external resource.
Delaying a response
If the business of the product allows it, it’s possible to delay the processing of the request until the problem with the external resource is solved.
As an example, let’s take the JammingService from the previous solution — when it fails we can decide to queue all requests in some internal queue, return a response to the user that the request cannot be processed at the moment, but a response will be available as soon as possible via push notification to the user’s phone, or via webhook for example.
This is possible mostly in asynchronous services, where we can separate between the request and the response. (If you can design the service to be asynchronous to begin with, that’s even better!)
Implement simplified fallback logic
On some mission-critical features, a more complex solution is needed. In some cases, the external service is so critical to our services, that we’d have to fail a request if the external service fails.
One of the solutions we devised for such critical external resources, is to use “simplified” in-process versions of them. In other words, we’re re-implementing a simplified version of the external service as a fallback within our service, so that in the event the external service fails, we still have some data to work with, and can successfully process the request.
As an example, let’s go back to our navigation system. It might be such an important feature of our system, that we want each request to have a fairly good traffic jam estimation, even if our JammingService is down.
Our JammingService probably uses various complex machine learning algorithms and external data sources. In our simplified fallback version of it, we might choose, for example, to implement it using a simple greedy best-first algorithm, with simple optimizations.
In this case, even if there’s a failure of the JammingService, some fairly good traffic jam estimation is available within our navigation system.
This isn’t optimal since now we need to maintain two versions of the same feature, but when the feature is critical enough, and may be unstable enough — it could be worth it.
Closing thoughts — Failing as a way of life
At school, I was quite a bad student, so failing is not new to me. This taught me that as an engineer, anything I lay my hands on might fail, and simply catching the exception is not enough — we need to do something when we catch it, we still need to provide some level of service.
I encourage you to dedicate a big part of your time to failure handling, and to make it a habit to announce your systems are production-ready only when you handle your failures in a safe and business-oriented way.
As always, you’re welcome to find me at my Twitter handle: @cherkaskyb | https://medium.com/riskified-technology/engineering-for-failure-f73bc8bc2e87 | ['Boris Cherkasky'] | 2020-09-24 11:59:52.253000+00:00 | ['Scale', 'Backend', 'Programming', 'Software Engineering', 'Cloud'] |
I Threw Away My Bike For A Brompton And Loved It! So Why Am I Ditching That Bike Now Too? | I Threw Away My Bike For A Brompton And Loved It! So Why Am I Ditching That Bike Now Too?
To everything Tern, Tern, Tern…
by Ren Willis
Over two years ago, way back in 2016, I, a long time cyclist and lover of bikes, famously threw away my commuter, sold my road bike, and fell in love with a Brompton Bicycle. It was a different time, Obama was still president. The world seemed to be moving in the right direction. Facebook only seemed slightly evil.
Ah, we were so innocent then….
But here in NYC, for over 2 years of commuting and riding my Brompton, up the bridges, over hills, around parks, aggressively, in all seasons and all weather conditions, on grit, in grime, salt, gravel, dodging potholes, cars, pedestrians, and shitty cyclists, and yes, even riding (and coming in 6th out of 80+ people) in the Brompton World Championships in Harlem, much like the state of the U.S.A., not everything was awesome.
The Tale Of The Brompton
Dorkus Malorkus kicking ass, taking names, & waving to Megs!
You see, I ride hard. I’m an aggressive rider who likes to go fast. In any other environment, you’d probably see me in spandex on a carbon bike chasing Strava trophies. This isn’t a brag or humble-brag or whatever. I’m not the fastest rider by any means. I’m sure plenty of people can beat me in a crit or a drag race on a two-block segment on Strava, but compared to most people scooching around on their bikes in the city, I’m more likely to pass you than be passed. I’m an ex-roadie, a “fred” in disguise if you will, who likes to use my bike rides to “push it”. I tell my legs & lungs to shut the fuck up and go.
Yeah. I’m one of “them”.
And as an ex-roadie who commutes in NYC and hates leaving their bike outside to be pissed & rained on, I absolutely loved my Brompton, I really did. It’s an easy & fun bike that folds up so teeny tiny nom nom nom nom nom….
But to be straight up honest, I was running into a real problem. I was just wearing down the bike too quickly. In two years I had stretched out a couple chains, burned through gears, brake pads (so many brake pads), and THREE rims!
Basically, I was racking up too much cost and way too much downtime fixing my bike. And well, I just want to ride.
Is this Brompton’s fault? Absolutely not. I just don’t think their bikes are made for hard riding without serious modifications. They are made for tweed coat London commutes where one is like to mix a train ride in with their morning shuffle to work.
The reason the gears wore down and the chains stretched was simply from pedal mashing in lower cadences. Stopping often, “revving” back up, smashing up hills, bridges chasing down other roadies, it just wears down the gears and stretches out the chain.
Braking though…. well, a couple things. Little wheels generate about twice as much heat as their big wheeled counterparts. For example, braking 10 feet means a big wheel only rotates X number of times, where a 16in wheel will break around twice as much! And no, I’m not doing the math. That means that those little brake pads are rubbing the same spots that much more, generating heat, wearing down the pads, wearing down the rims. This gets exponentially worse in bad weather when grit and salt are involved.
I am not a fair-weather “chill” rider. I tried different brake pads, different brake techniques, “pumping” and alternating, whatever, but one nasty day would just wipe out the pad. Before you know it, the rim would wear down to nothing and bust through.
After the 3rd wheel busted through on a lovely mid-spring ride home from work, I knew something had to change…
It was time to, ahem, Tern the page — HA!
Breaking all the bike photo laws
With the Brompton back in the shop waiting for a new wheel to be delivered and installed, I did a bit of research and found a Tern Verge P10 to test ride as a potential new ride.
Okay, stop…. Why the Tern Verge P10?
Two Things My Friend: Gears & Disc Brakes
If you go to the Tern site and read all the bullet points about the Verge P10, they give you great reasons to consider the bike if you are shopping for a folding bike. That’s all well and good, but for me, it came down to two very simple things… More gears and disc brakes. For my riding style and being on small wheels, these were the new deal breakers when searching for my next bike.
With the Tern Verge P10, you get a 10 speed cassette that covers the gamut. And you get a lovely pair of Shimano hydraulic disc brakes. I mean, look at all that bike shmexy! Unf!
The 1x10 gearing is really good. I think it’s normally used on mountain and cross bikes. Whatever. I’ve been eyeing a 1 x something since before the Brompton. It’s nice to have the range. I have yet to need the big boy in the back and only on really good days when I’m “bombing” down the bridge do I wish I had maybe just onnnnnne morrrrrrre gear (maybe I’ll upgrade the front one day with a few more teeth). As opposed to the 2 speeds on the Brompton, I’m able to keep the high cadence these gams like that also keeps less torque and tension on the chain and gears at a good amount.
Brompton lovers, I know what you are thinking. What about the 3 and 6-speed Bromptons? Well, we have a 3 speed and yes, the extra gear is definitely appreciated. Doubling up would only be twice as nice, but three things: I’m not a huge fan of internal shifting (warning NSFL! see here), I don’t appreciate the weight penalty, and it doesn’t solve the brake/wheel issue.
So yeah, about the disc brakes, dear sweet baby jesus….. these things are amazing. Yes, they brake like brakes do, and like disc brakes do, they brake quickly and aggressively. But, more importantly, my wheels, my rims, stay fresh and new and heat free. 3 months in and through a weird mix of summer weather, braking has been consistent, never “squishy”, never feels worn down after a nasty day, and isn’t gummy. With nary a squeeze, I brake, I stop.
In hindsight, I think it’s a shame that Brompton hasn’t gone this route yet, leaving it to expensive 3rd party mods. Especially with the introduction of the new e-bike Brompton, which means more speed. There’s a reason why e-bikes have gone the route of disc brakes, you know? Those little wheels are in for a bruisin’.
Bromptons, made for texting.
Any Other Good Things About The Tern?
Yes. This has been my main ride for over three months now and as I’ve settled in, found my fit, dealt with a flat, tweaked a few things, there are some other perks to this bike.
The stem. With the Brompton, you are pretty much locked in with the stem. You pick the handle bars that work for you and that’s pretty much that. But with the Tern, they have their “Syntace VRO Stem” blah blah blah which is basically fully rotatable to be super aggressive (for me) or full upright for a casual ride, or something in between. I got mine in a pretty nice roadie position. The wheels are 451s, which I think measure out to about 20–21inches? The Brompton is at 16in and that extra bit on the Tern takes out some of the twitchiness. Feels more like a sweet spot between the Brompton ride and a full 700 road bike Amenities such as a water bottle cage holder in the frame, better ergonomic handlebar grips stock, nice traditional integrated real shifter, and clever ways to remove and store the protruding pedal when folded (though, I put in clipless pedals and my own saddle that first night).
Beyond this, the bike just feels very nice, tight, and premium. It folds easily and becomes second nature after a week (had to kill that Brompton muscle memory). When unfolded and ready to ride, the bike feels good, locked in, and secure. I have no concerns about any failures. I carry the bike downstairs, a few seconds later I’m unfolded and ready to ride.
NYCeWheels video of the bike to see it in action.
The ride is good. Not too twitchy, but not quite as fluid as a full-sized road bike. The aluminum frame seems to absorb some of the road bumps but the lack of a bit of suspension in the back did make for an achy back for a week as I adjusted to the new bike and found my fit.
Also, the bike is fast. The extra gears in all the right gear ratios, along with the bigger and more “aero” wheels, the nice weight (11.7 kg / 25.8 lb, similar to a Brompton, though I wouldn’t complain if it was lighter), the roadie-style tires, and the ability to get in a more aggressive riding position means I’m cruising, putting all my Fredly adversaries quickly behind me in our unspoken cat-6 crit races around NYC.
Certainly There’s Some Drawbacks, Right?
No bike is perfect, no matter how much one wants to justify their purchase. Everything has a little give in take.
The number one “con” to the Tern is the fold. See this little diagram from their website:
So cute. So tidy. Well, it actually looks like this.
The main negative is that you lose that elegant, clever, and tiny fold the Brompton is famous for. The Tern fold is fine, but it’s clumsy, awkward, and bigger… but I adapted to it and it’s still much much smaller than a full bike in my little NYC apartment and I can still take it up into (and not leave it locked up outside). But I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you carrying the bike around the office is awkward.
Another weird fold feature is the rubbery strap that is housed under the frame that you use to grab the front wheel to try to keep the fold from unfolding when carrying, that and the little magnets do help, but not always. And you still have to “tuck” the little strap when it’s time to ride.
I mean, you adjust and soon it’s just second nature and all, but there’s no sugar coating it, Brompton is THE fold to beat.
Beside the fold, the only other issue is pulling the seat post up and “dialing into” my fit. I’m trying to figure out a good way to mark the height and make sure the saddle is straight, but we are getting there. But this is a common issue with folding bikes. I was lucky on the Brompton that pulling the saddle all the way was my fit. On the Tern, I’m constantly working on finding that sweet spot and keep my saddle straight. Kind of feel like this could be something bike scienticians could’ve figured out by now.
Anything Else?
A couple more bits. I got the plastic fenders (NYC, weather, grit, snow, etc) and NYCeWheels installed them for me before I picked up the bike. They put the rear fender on too tight so it cracked after a few rocky roads. They put the front on too lose, so mid ride I lost the post that keeps them attacked to the wheel. I’ve ordered a new pair and will install them myself.
The bell that comes with the bike is a joke. Trashed that and the ridiculous front reflector as soon as I got home.
Also, I didn’t remove the pie plate at first, but after a solid catch on a pothole on a rainy ride, it got jostled lose, started rubbing, and got real noisy, so I got that removed.
Oh, and of course I removed the kickstand. Dead weight.
Speaking of… one little nice thing is that many of the key parts on the bike are not propriety. They are just bike parts. So you can get servicing done at any bike shop if you need too (such as removing a fucking pie plate).
via Tern Hungary
That’s It!
I really loved my Brompton, I really did. It is so much fun to ride, so easy to fold, so compact. We still have our 3 speed my partner rides that I’ll use for little local errands, but if you are an aggressive rider, it might not be the best bike for you.
But for me and my riding style (and location being NYC), the Tern Verge P10 has been the near perfect balance of folding bike and road bike. It’s a great bike and at about $1400 a pretty good deal. If you are a roadie and want a folder, this is the one. If you are a Brompton rider, but want a more aggressive ride and don’t mind the bigger fold, this is the one.
But no matter what bike you have, get out there and ride!
Ren Willis | https://medium.com/off-the-verge/i-threw-away-my-bike-for-a-brompton-and-loved-it-so-why-am-i-ditching-that-bike-now-too-dc501057755c | ['Ren Willis'] | 2021-07-10 00:43:28.855000+00:00 | ['Commuting', 'Bicycles', 'Brompton', 'Cycling', 'Bikes'] |
The Quality of Knowledge Is Best Measured by How Many People Accept It | The Quality of Knowledge Is Best Measured by How Many People Accept It
A Philosophical Analysis of This Statement
Photo by San Fermin Pamplona from Pexels
“History is written by the victors” — Sr. Winston Churchill
This euphemism is a well-known and much-disputed interpretation of history; however, as evidenced by real-world events, there is clearly some truth to it.
For example, in 1953 the North Korean government, although not exactly being the victors of the Korean War, did manage to stop the reunification effort with South Korea by the United Nations and secure the totalitarian regime in their country for the Kim dynasty who continues to deny that they started the war and also claims that they won it.
Although they are not able to convince the rest of the world of their stance, they were able to completely indoctrinate their own people.
These facts led me to realize that the fundamental statement this quote truly declares is that power defines knowledge; power from controlling a country after “winning” a war, and knowledge from the history that those with power write.
In the North Korean case, knowledge is completely dependant on how many people accept it, regardless of if what is known is true. So I began questioning:
Is knowledge dependant on truth? Is truth dependant on knowledge? What is truth? What makes something true? Is truth controllable?
Another interesting nuance of this quote is that it was not actually said by Winston Churchill; that is, there is no known record of him being the first to coin the phrase.
The notion probably began as some misinterpretation of one of his prolific statements, was then connected to this quote which has an unknown origin, and then spread about until the two, man and maxim, were combined.
The interesting part of this confusion is the general acceptance of it as being straightforward; the belief spread until it became fact, truth, knowledge, a consensus.
Does consensus control what is known? What constitutes a consensus? How reliable is knowledge?
These thoughts stemmed from the above Title and eventually led to one primary Question which will be the topic of the remainder of this exploratory essay and will be examined through the lenses of two areas of knowledge, history and ethics.
Question:
Can and should consensus control truth?
History:
Can consensus control truth?
The North Korean example proves that, on a small scale, controlling what is known to a population and thereby controlling their truth is possible. However, that truth was not developed through a consensus, a majority agreement, it was developed through the power of a minority suppressing knowledge and thereby preventing the possibility of a different consensus.
But, what is a consensus if not power? Why would the majority belief, that the North started and lost the war, come into conflict with the minority belief if it didn’t pose a threat to their power?
Transitively, it would seem that “Churchill’s” quote also agrees with the statement that consensus defines knowledge, and therefore truth.
History itself is a strong candidate for proving that a consensus can control truth. As a consequence of history being completely dependant on human records, there is a large potential for error brought about by a historian’s subjectivity, personal agendas, and simple interpretive mistakes, and the only way around this problem is a consensus of historians on what happened.
After the consensus, this new agreed-upon information seeps into the general public and is accepted through the appeal to authority fallacy, then continues its spread even further with the use of the argumentum ad populum fallacy.
These fallacies are inevitable, as in any instance of mass knowledge sharing, and actually contribute to the potential for consensus control of truth in history; authority is power after all and the acceptance of knowledge as truth simply because others do is the answer to the very Question itself.
A real-world example of large scale consensus control of truth is the history of Christopher Columbus. I remember when the consensus was that Columbus was the heroic explorer who discovered America. Recently, that narrative has been replaced by one stating he was actually a mass murderer who stumbled upon the continent by accident. The truth changed.
There is, of course, no way to go back in time and determine what the objective truth is, so, we are left with two options, research to gain knowledge and determine our own truth, or accept the most reliable and pleasing truth, the consensus.
In this case, the consensus shifted and so now the truth is also uncertain, which proves that not only does consensus control truth, but it is also the only thing that really does. George Orwell’s 1984 offers an example of this fact in the extreme; he writes:
“if all records told the same tale — then the lie passed into history and became truth.”
There is an obvious counter to all this talk of consensus: the truth is the truth, and mass opinion can’t change it.
In fact, the consensus theory of truth is described by Wikipedia as “taking statements to be true simply because people generally agree upon them,” which, because of the word “simply,” gives this explanation a rather disapproving tone.
But I wonder, if we do away with the term “generally” and replace it with “universally,” is it still a theory to be dismissed?
In a world where every single conscious being believes in a fact, does it matter at all whether or not that fact is in alignment with reality? Furthermore, would that universally agreed-upon fact not then become reality, become truth?
Without consciousness, there is no possible way to prove reality’s existence; as René Descartes postulated, “Cogito, ergo sum”, “I think, therefore I am.”
In fact, this possibility is so very possible that it could be occurring at this moment, or at any moment, and no one would have any way of knowing it because everyone would know that they know the truth, whether or not it is the truth, thereby making it the truth.
To use another quote, this one from the 2013 film Her:
“the past is just a story we tell ourselves.”
What if truth is just another story too? | https://medium.com/the-philosophers-stone/the-quality-of-knowledge-is-best-measured-by-how-many-people-accept-it-8fe6679a8270 | ['Tyler Piteo-Tarpy'] | 2020-05-13 20:19:38.901000+00:00 | ['Philosophy', 'History', 'Education', 'Knowledge', 'Ethics'] |
Dying | We publish stories, articles, and poetry that are edgy, even uncomfortable to read, that stimulate the heart, mind, and occasionally the colon.
Follow | https://medium.com/genius-in-a-bottle/dying-5e6e6c6562a2 | ['Mark C Watney'] | 2020-12-17 00:44:25.009000+00:00 | ['Death', 'Dementia', 'Piano', 'Poetry', 'Old Age'] |
Practical Marketing Advice to Make Meaningful Connections During COVID | In speaking with a client yesterday, we talked about how during COVID we are still able to connect with one another, but we’re not able to make connections. What’s the distinction? To connect with each other, we use technology to make that happen. But to make an authentic connection with one another often takes years to really get to know them. Know how it is when you have a friend who you haven’t spoken to in a year and you simply pick up the relationship where you last left off — that’s having a true connection.
What is clearly an issue that needs attention, is that it is too easy to hide behind digital tools when engaging with people online. Here are the best actions to take for closer and more effective connections with your clients and colleagues.
1. Communicate often.
2. Communicate when you have doubts.
3. Communicate when you have questions.
4. Communicate when you have concerns.
5. Communicate when you have feedback.
6. Communicate when you have results or successes.
7. Communicate your schedule.
8. Communicate your updates.
9. Communicate eloquently.
10. Communicate clearly.
Because relationship building is a primary focus in business, it’s more critical now than ever before to let clients know that you’re an essential resource for them. Here are some key ideas to keep yourself in their line of vision and to keep communication flowing.
Create a Content-Rich Newsletter
If you don’t already have a company email newsletter, start working on one today. Not everyone on your mailing list may read it, but if there’s ever a time for folks to check their inbox, it’s now. The average open rate is between 20 and 25%. If your list is around 500 email addresses, that’s a minimum of 100 to 125 individuals who are interested and will take the time read about your company.
These statistics tell a true tale of the effectiveness of email newsletters.
1. Email is the third most influential source of information for B2B audiences.
2. 86% of business professionals prefer to use email when communicating for business purposes.
3. Click-through-rate (CTR) is 47% higher for B2B email campaigns than B2C.
4. The best day of the week to send out your newsletter is on a Tuesday.
5. 73% of millennials identify email as their preferred means of business communication.
6. Segmented email campaigns have an open rate that is 14.32% higher than non-segmented campaigns.
To get started, consider these content ideas:
Gear the content to support your business development initiatives. Are you targeting a particular vertical market, geographic area or marketing a new service? What specific clients are you trying to engage with? Connect with them on LinkedIn, get their email and begin the relationship through your campaigns.
Most importantly, clients and prospects want to know the value your service provides to them. Tell them exactly what that is. Do you have a unique process to get the job done more quickly, more effectively and with less errors? Merely stating that you provide quality with integrity is not enough.
Talk with your colleagues about what’s going on in your company — new projects and hires, awards or significant client collaborations.
Conduct client interviews with your key staff members. This produces valuable client relations and positions your company as thought leaders.
Visit a job site and/or have the project manager provide information about a project’s progress and supply photos or video. It’s always best to show rather than tell.
What update do you have regarding COVID? Clients appreciate the transparency. Keep the tone positive and encouraging.
Virtual Togetherness is the Present Reality
We are all experts at Zoom, be it for internal meetings, with clients or staying in touch with family and friends. Nowadays, there are a plethora of ways to stay virtually connected — from Zoom, Slack, monday.com to Skype (remember that). Microsoft® Teams is also used at lot, with the capability to share multiple screens at the same time.
For internal team building, we use Zoom for our internal stand-ups everyday, which keeps projects moving smoothing and helps us troubleshoot issues we may be having. Slack gives us quick answers to questions, for file sharing and to make internal calls.
For client Zoom meetings, we have found it is optimal to prepare an agenda and outline the meeting’s objectives. This keeps conversations on track and participants accountable.
What’s Coming…the Vaccine!
It may be hard to imagine what’s to come, but some groundwork can be laid in anticipation of a return to normalcy. Contact customers who have had to put their projects on hold and ask how they are doing. Work on an email list of customers to contact when the situation improves and offer added value for future services, but be careful to only offer what can be honored down the road. Investing a lot of effort into coming out on the other side of COVID-19 by showing flexibility and growth will give your business a much needed advantage, and we all know that we need something to look forward to.
Interested in Developing a More Robust Email Marketing Strategy?
We can help. As an important part of your overall email marketing strategy, we know that email marketing can help set you up for success. If you’re interested in learning more, visit our website https://seattlewebdesigns.co/ to contact us and one of our Social Media Strategists will reach out! | https://medium.com/@elitestart/practical-marketing-advice-to-make-meaningful-connections-during-covid-c7e15a8dce13 | [] | 2021-12-27 00:43:45.121000+00:00 | ['Digital Marketing', 'Email Marketing Tips', 'Email Marketing', 'Digital Marketing Service', 'Digital Marketing Agency'] |
Redis Nedir Nerelerde Kullanılır. | Introduction to Redis - Redis
Redis is an open source (BSD licensed), in-memory data structure store, used as a database, cache and message broker… | https://medium.com/kodcular/redis-nedir-b9f4dad5ce69 | ['Metin Ağaoğlu'] | 2020-12-27 16:13:21.584000+00:00 | ['Redis Nedir', 'Queues', 'Redis', 'NoSQL', 'Türkçe'] |
The struggles of having strict parents | Pathetic a word that I believe in because of their ridiculous parenting.
It’s tiring to even think about my scenario, but that’s the sad truth of having strict parents. Living under their roof is hard and tough because you get constant pressure to do your best in school works not only that but you are not allowed to do things that they don’t want.
It’s sad to even think that living under their roof means no freedom at all. I feel so helpless and pressured to be with them, isolated with my emotions because of their selfish way of not considering my side of defense on what I want to do in life.
I can possibly say that they are controlling, on how they act towards me is sick and tiring, to be honest. You must do what they want and they must be followed every time and if you disobeyed them a bunch load of punishments will come to your way. All my life I have been living in a prison considering my parents are strict and let me add the school that I attend to is also strict so I rebel against their hysterical rules to escape the sense of them controlling me.
“Control .”
a word that I hate.
We live in the 21st century where people have the rights, all genders, all ages and the universality of everyone, of every living thing we have rights to do what we desire and what we want to achieve. And I believe in that. I believe that I have my rights but considering my state I lose hope but I continue to strive and fight for my freedom even tho it is hard and impossible. But I know too well that giving up is not the answer.
Social media, school and my parent's way of showing their love really have affected my mental state. Anxiety kicks in whenever and wherever.
I’m just a girl who seeks freedom and happiness.
I sometimes think that maybe this is only a phase in my life and that gives me hope that someday I’m free from them. That one day I’ll live my life as I please.
And I can’t wait for that day. | https://medium.com/@mikkioctavo23/the-struggles-of-having-strict-parents-be7f9b3ce10e | ['Just Mikki'] | 2019-10-19 07:23:03.502000+00:00 | ['Struggles In Life', 'Lifestyle', 'Teens', 'Life', 'Parents'] |
2013_03_30— “U.S. public sector debt deleveraging conflicts” | U.S. public sector debt deleveraging conflicts with hopes of strong 2012–13 demand growth, and political leadership appears risk-averse in the run-up to next November’s elections. Meanwhile, European “leaders” continue to:
Try and hold together Euroland membership
Reject the notion that the euro is fundamentally flawed
Resist the intra-European subsidy implications of a European superstate
Deny the impossibility of adjusting grossly excessive Greek, Italian and Spanish labor costs down to a competitive level
Thus, the euro-crisis has plenty of scope to worsen. Additionally, Europe’s dominant power, Germany, is forcing the entire continent into a non-solution — that will make the debt problem worse — by embarking on major fiscal deflation. Therefore, the bottom line is not just disappointing growth in the US, with tepid year-on-year growth this year and another, even larger, deflationary dose in 2013, but also recession, in Europe for years.
European governments’ policies are obsessed with preserving the current euro structure by violent deflation of debtor countries. But the only hope for that structure to preserve without a deep and prolonged depression in the PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain) is acceptance by Germany of a combination of above-target inflation and sustained subsidies to the PIIGS for a decade or more. Meanwhile, French policy is torn apart by conflicting motives, as well as being paralyzed by general elections: the loss of its AAA rating makes it align with German austerity; but the need to keep the PIIGS in the euro, to hold down the euro’s exchange rate and preserve French cost competitiveness, argues for doing “whatever it takes” to subsidize the PIIGS. So Euroland staggers from crisis to crisis as it bounces between the opposite tactics of fiscal austerity versus monetary subsidies. In the short run, the result has been to flood the market with liquidity; but to little avail. The euro has weakened a little, but with the US sluggish, QE3 (a third bout quantitative easing by the U.S. Fed) may emerge to weaken the dollar too. And China is not about to let its yuan appreciate in these conditions. Thus, slowing and competitively depreciating Chinese and US markets will not be an offset for German exports. Nor will consumers rally to spend more. With savers’ interest income even more clearly to be negligible for a long while, they are more likely to spend less in response to a European Central Bank (ECB) liquidity flood. It may well help sustain the PIIGS government bonds for a while, but with little effect on aggregate economic demand.
Greece … Portugal … Spain … Italy — a possible exit queue. An extreme though possible outcome is Greek failure to come anywhere near achieving its fiscal targets, followed by no adequate recovery plan, and then later expulsion, or voluntary negotiated exit, from the euro. Austerity is damaging the finances, as the destruction of the economy outpaces any benefits of higher tax rates and spending cuts. Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, needs to get the euro crisis out of the headlines in time for a decent run up to the big German elections in autumn 2013. Financial pressures could then lead to the exit of Portugal, and later Spain and Italy (in roughly that order). Between now and any such outcome, the weakness of China and potentially slow U.S. 2012 demand — as well as improved US cost-competitiveness — mean Euroland is likely to remain in or close to recession. So while European markets look cheap on a price/earnings basis, that is only appropriate, and their declines could be larger than the S&P’s as their earnings slide.
We expect housing numbers, as well as news out of Europe and China will add volatility to CEFs and the markets over the next few months.
Michael Ashley Schulman, CFA
Managing Director
Hollencrest Capital Management | https://medium.com/@rbtrage/2013-03-31-u-s-public-sector-debt-deleveraging-conflicts-3653535a6ea0 | ['Michael Ashley Schulman'] | 2013-03-31 00:00:00 | ['Liquidity', 'Stock Market', 'Debt', 'Closed End Fund', 'European Union'] |
Stop Making These 5 Javascript Style Mistakes | Using Array Destructuring For Functions With Multiple Return Values
Suppose we have a function that returns multiple values. One possible implementation is to use array destructuring as follows:
const func = () => {
const a = 1;
const b = 2;
const c = 3;
const d = 4;
return [a,b,c,d];
}
const [a,b,c,d] = func();
console.log(a,b,c,d); // Outputs: 1,2,3,4
While the above approach works fine, it does introduce some complexities.
When we call the function and assign the values to a,b,c,d we need to be attentive to the order that the data is returned in. A small mistake here may become a nightmare to debug down the road.
Additionally, it is not possible to specify exactly which values we would like from the function. What if we only needed c and d ?
Instead, we can use object destructuring.
const func = () => {
const a = 1;
const b = 2;
const c = 3;
const d = 4;
return {a,b,c,d};
} const {c,d} = func();
Now we can easily select the data we require from the function.
This also future-proofs our code by allowing us to add additional return-variables over time without breaking things. | https://medium.com/the-dev-caf%C3%A9/stop-making-these-5-javascript-style-mistakes-7b352e1b47e3 | [] | 2020-06-22 16:56:56.165000+00:00 | ['Javascript Tips', 'Programming', 'JavaScript', 'Software Development', 'Web Development'] |
Dance Nation: A Guide | Everything you need to know about Clare Barron’s Dance Nation, a State Theatre Company South Australia co-production with Belvoir for Adelaide Festival and the first show of State Theatre Company South Australia’s 2020 season.
What is this show about?
In Middle America, a dance team of adolescent girls (and one boy) are preparing for the most important moment of their young lives - a national dance final. Under the guidance of a ferocious dance teacher, we see the teens (all played by adults) collectively fight for glory while dealing with their own talents, inadequacies and experiences. Some are naturally skilled, some just want to have fun, some have overbearing stage mothers, and all are discovering their power in a world that threatens to take it away.
But a straight-laced, coming-of-age tale this is not. Dance Nation is a blur of reality and fantasy; a dream and a nightmare. It flips from the mundane to the surreal in a heartbeat, taking the audience on a turbulent ride through adolescence.
Also — it’s really funny.
Fusing high energy dance numbers, quietly poignant moments and fantastical bursts of surrealism, Dance Nation is one of the most extraordinary pieces of form-bending theatre to emerge in the past five years.
The success of Dance Nation
Dance Nation had its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons, New York, in May 2018 and its UK premiere at the Almeida Theatre in London.
It won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2017 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize — Drama in 2019. It was also a shared recipient of the inaugural Relentless Award, established in honour of Philip Seymour Hoffman in 2015.
The New York Times called Dance Nation one of the best plays of 2018, stating:
“[The play] conjures the passionate ambivalence of early adolescence with such being-there sharpness and poignancy that you’re not sure whether to cringe, cry or roar with happiness. Blazingly original and unsettlingly familiar.”
The writer
Clare Barron is a Washington-born playwright who originally set out to become an actor, but discovered a love for playwriting after penning her own monologues.
Dance Nation playwright Clare Barron.
Her other plays include You Got Older, which received its world premiere with Page 73 and later appeared at Steppenwolf (Obie Award for Playwriting, Drama Desk Nomination for Outstanding Play, Kilroys List, and Susan Smith Blackburn finalist), I’ll Never Love Again (The Bushwick Starr, NYTimes & Time Out Critics’ Picks), and Baby Screams Miracle (Woolly Mammoth, Clubbed Thumb).
In an interview with The Guardian, the 33-year-old speaks about her passion for telling women’s stories that concentrate on bodies and sex. The article states that “she grew up in a conservative Christian community in Washington state and has tasked herself with undoing the shame she learned there.”
Dance Nation, Barron says, is a play about women, ambition, and desire.
“I wanted to write this play because I wanted to present a different picture of teenage girls onstage. One where trauma wasn’t the central narrative. One where “being the best” was.”
The director
The incredible Imara Savage (who directed Mr Burns: a post-electric play for State Theatre Company South Australia and Belvoir in 2017) takes the helm once again for Dance Nation. Clara Solly-Slade, recipient of the inaugural Emerging Director Fellowship through the support of The James and Diana Ramsay Foundation and the Helpmann Academy, is also on board as Assistant Director.
Dance Nation director Imara Savage
Imara says Dance Nation is “in part a reclamation of narratives, of language and the female body and asks serious questions about what it means to win, to be the best and to burn the brightest.”
Under Imara’s direction, designer Jonathon Oxlade has created a singular, psychological dance studio surrounded by mirrors. As he writes in his Designer’s Note, it becomes the training ground and the battleground — a space that transforms and shifts between the past and the future, a space that is less literal and one that sits inside a feeling and intuitive space.
Jonathon worked with Imara and lighting designer Alexander Berlage to create an aesthetic that drew inspiration from pop culture references, including the high school in the film Carrie, American pop video clips with a cheerleader edge and the television series Dance Moms.
The vision board. Photo by Sia Duff
Composer Luke Smiles and sound designer Andrew Howard then worked with Larissa McGowan’s choreography to create an electric soundtrack that worked with the dance moves, rather than the other way around. Rather incredible.
The cast
Dance Nation has a star cast featuring Elena Carapetis, Emma Harvie, Chika Ikogwe, Yvette Lee, Rebecca Massey, Amber McMahon, Tara Morice, Tim Overton and State Theatre Company South Australia’s very own Artistic Director and Helpmann Award-winning actor, Mitchell Butel. Only Mitchell, as Dance Teacher Pat, and Elena, as an array of dance mothers, play adults. The rest of the cast, ranging in age from 20s to 50s, all play the teenage dancers.
This doesn’t mean the actors become teenage caricatures — the intention here is to ensure the audience views these characters both as teenagers and the adults they’ll become.
It aims to illustrate that what happens to us at 13 is carried throughout our lives.
In turn, it becomes a ‘memory play’.
As Imara Savage quotes in her Director’s Note:
“Memory offers up its gifts only when jogged by something in the present. It isn’t a storehouse of fixed images and words, but a dynamic associative network in the brain that is never quiet and is subject to revision each time we retrieve an old picture or old words.”
― Siri Hustvedt, The Sorrows of an American
Actors Emma Harvie and Yvette Lee in rehearsal. Photo by Sia Duff
The characters of Dance Nation. Top row from L to R: Zuzu (Chika Ikogwe), Tim Overton (Luke), Rebecca Massey (Maeve). Second row: Elena Carapetis (Dance Moms), Tara Morice (Sofia), Mitchell Butel (Dance Teacher Pat). Bottom row: Amina (Yvette Lee), Ashlee (Amber McMahon), Connie (Emma Harvie).
OK. Let’s go deeper
Beneath the pomp and pageantry of Dance Nation is an intense examination of ambition, adolescence, womanhood, sexuality and gender roles.
As Dance Nation literary assistant Lizzie Stern writes, the play “asks the scariest questions about who we are, how we became that person, and who we will become next” and insists we think about these questions in terms of gender.
“And there’s really no other way to do it — because, before we even start preschool, we’re assigned and participating in gender roles.”
“As Judith Butler puts it, in her 1990 book Gender Trouble, ‘Does being female constitute a “natural fact” or a cultural performance?’ The rules and borders of this performance are constraining for all, and unbearably excruciating for some. And what’s so spectacular about Dance Nation is that its characters can’t be boxed in-at least not entirely, not yet. None of them is a ‘type.’ They’re all the smart one, the funny one, the competitive one, the supportive one, they’re all driven in part by an animalistic id, they’re all self-possessed and vulnerable and messy and shifting and opening. Or, in a word, human.” — Lizzie Stern
In short?
Dance Nation will make you laugh, maybe even make you cry, and bring some of the best dance moves to ever grace the Scott Theatre stage. It’s poignant, shocking, funny, tender, empowering, beautiful and just a little bit daggy.
Get out your leotards.
Dance Nation’s Adelaide season plays at Scott Theatre, 21 Feb — 7 Mar, for Adelaide Festival. Tickets at statetheatrecompany.com.au/shows/dance-nation Dance Nation’s Sydney season plays at Upstairs Theatre from 14 Mar — 12 Apr, tickets at https://belvoir.com.au/productions/dance-nation/ | https://medium.com/behind-the-curtain/dance-nation-a-guide-e9f7a2ffe352 | ['State Theatre Company South Australia'] | 2020-02-24 06:18:16.338000+00:00 | ['Theatre', 'Gender', 'Dance', 'Feminism', 'Adolescence'] |
Four Things to Do Before You Publish That Will Help Your Book Sell | 1. Get a good cover
This is the single most important selling tool your book is going to have. If you can only afford to pay for one thing to market your book, get a good cover.
So what is a good cover?
A good cover is genre-specific. I get it, you don’t want your book-baby to look like all the other books in the store. Your work needs to stand out. It’s a piece of art, right? Wrong. Your book cover is packaging, not art. Your book cover has one job — get the attention of your reader.
Readers of all genres know what they like, and they know what that looks like. Remember, you’re trying to sell your book in an online store with literally millions of other books. If a reader happens upon your book, all they will see in the first instance is a tiny thumbnail image of your cover. That cover has to catch their eye, which is scanning for something their brain already has pre-programmed — what their favorite books look like. If yours is too different their eye will skip right past.
You have about two seconds to catch a potential reader’s eye with your cover. Don’t waste those two seconds. I learned this the hard way. My first books went through three cover iterations before I finally got covers that sell. And the difference in sales was amazing.
If you want to sell books, a good cover is essential. I highly recommend enlisting the services of a professional cover designer for this step. | https://writingcooperative.com/four-things-to-do-before-you-publish-that-will-help-your-book-sell-9ce349eea683 | ['Catherine Lee'] | 2020-12-24 18:03:56.363000+00:00 | ['Writing Tips', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Writing', 'Self Publishing', 'Authors'] |
The Surprising Traits of Successful Sales Leaders & Their Explosive Wealth | Courtesy: The greatest salesman in the world, readingraphics
Movies such as “the wolf of wall street” have made us to believe that Sales is a dirty word. That, sales folks are persuasive and focus solely on making a fortune by selling us products through mesmerizing language. But I believe that sales is about rallying people to buy your product, vision, or a cause. Not everyone can be in successful in Sales role. To be in Sales requires being at the top end of the money & risk pyramid. It is daunting, risky and tough.
And very unfairly so and for the reason that they make big money selling, the world hates sales people. Salesmen are considered as greedy, money mongering, selling customers stuff they do not need, superficially sweet talking, loud and pompous, evil daemons. Even now, when we say someone is in Sales, we think “Oh that guy who made his way into millions”. There is half jealousy and half suspicion.
But I set out to investigate if that could really be true. Could it be really possible that Sales people rake millions of dollars by bluffing their way through customers? Even if they did, was it sustainable? You can fool others once or twice but can you, for long? In our current times where customers are well equipped with information?
And so I went about interviewing a 30 odd really successful sales guys across various professions. Some really rich and very successful ones. I read and re-read the book “The greatest salesman of the world” and many other books on sales published for the modern times.
And the perspective and the learning that came out of this exercise was the complete opposite of what I had imagined about sales guys earlier. Unlike what we all imagine, a sales job is not just about wining and dining and having fun. That is what it seems on the surface. But behind all that loud talk and laughter lies a secret code. Sales guys that crack that secret code alone survive in the long run.
What are those traits?
a) They are patient as a Saint
“Sales guys can never lose patience”, I am told.
“If you are short tempered, and do not have the ability to live through hours of repeating the same product pitch to hundreds and thousands of restless, impatient, some time rude, different types of customers, don’t consider sales.”
And to be patient with people, one needs to love & be empathetic with people. With all their flaws and warts and all. A highly judgmental person that expects people to behave in a certain way, and cannot stand resistance wont be patient with people or successful in selling.
And sales usually takes excruciatingly long cycles. Customers debate, analyze, procrastinate and then walk away after a long conversation. In spite of all of these, a success rate of just 15% out of total prospecting, a sales guy needs to maintain patience. Patience is tolerance and kindness exhibited to people that think you are selfish.
The first test of eligibility to do a sales job is to have patience. Patience through countless hours of brutal days — of waiting, rejection, loss and insults. And persisting.
If the front end sales guy is a snob and restless, the business stands to lose.
b) They are masters in psychology
In a good way. Sales guys need to change themselves with every customer they meet.
“One of the greatest proven human strategy to influence the other to agree with you is this : People like people that like them & People like people that ARE like them. With every sale that is successfully made, you have made the buyer believe that you are trust worthy, one among them, their guide that has understood their need and empathizes with them”.
A sale is always based on trust. In a situation where there is an element of doubt, no sale happens. And how to build trust? By using a little imitation, flattery and completely shedding self perspectives and getting into a customer’s shoes & mind. Almost like a chameleon, a sales guy needs to shed his skin and adopt his customer’s behavior, mindset and body language.
Good sales people research and understand their target customers very well. They often ask questions to themselves that a customer would ask. How would i like to be treated? What are the features i am looking for in the product? What is the price point? How do i make buying decisions?
By always putting customer first, understanding and shifting to a customer’s mindset, successful sales people sell through trust. Hence they don’t start with a pitch, they probe by asking empathetic questions & completely mapping the product to a customer’s mindset. And then framing the pitch and product for the customer’s needs.
c) They are happy by practicing emotionally intelligence
“Grumpiness, being sad, loathing etc are the privileges of the back end team — — engineering/manufacturing, designing team. People in the field, mainly the sales folks cannot be grumpy. There are moments where I want to have “ME time” after an overwhelming event. But we don’t have that luxury. Imagine doing business with a dull sales guy. A lifeless, brooding person that sits across the counter. Emotions are contagious and you need to be happy and radiate optimism in spite of what happens in their internal world”
And no one can fake happiness for long. Happiness is an inward thing and the most adept sales people are happy because they are also light hearted and keep emotions at check. Learning to stay the course amid the noise, and to perform to the customers through day and night requires a different level of emotional intelligence.
Warren buffet said “If you cannot handle your emotions, you cannot handle money”.
How does one build emotional intelligence? By constantly observing and being watchful of oneself, through several years of practicing to handle resistance in life, resisting impulsive behavior and by taking total responsibility for one’s actions in life.
But more than all that, sales people are born people pleasers too. They love people, they love making people happy. They light up on seeing customers.
d) They are big thinkers and focus on acceleration
We are used to believing that Sales guys focus on extracting money out of everyone walks their path. What I observed was quite the opposite.
“Successful sales people focus on strong prospects. A select set of prospects that can build 10X the momentum as compared to a whole bunch of prospects that that give 1X the momentum. You need to understand the difference between catching a whale and a bucket of jelly fishes.
The focus is therefore to create a big impact and large enough return from the best prospect(s) rather than try to extract a sale out of every customer. For instance, I do not let my team spend their energy on prospects that not fall in line with our acceleration journey”
Yet, they make it a point to refer the prospect to where their demands will be met — thus serving as a guide to help customers achieve their needs rather than serving every customer.
A tight control on focus and straight line execution, keeping focussed value prospects is what gives the successful sales guys edge over the less successful ones.
e) They have extraordinary creativity
The last one. Somehow, creativity is called out only when it is in some art form. Such as a painting, drawing or a sculpture. And hence sales folks have always been type cast as empty talkers with no substance.
Nothing can be far from truth than this. Creativity is anything built new to create something better than what was before.
“Sales people need spontaneous, creative thinking as they are thrust into a world of unknowns and objections every day. Prospecting requires creativity in getting the prospect interested and to speak up. Interrogative questioning requires creativity to get the desired answers. Objections require smart responses to overcome them at the moment without referring to a playbook of questions and answers. Every minute of the sales life requires creativity in selling and bringing home deals
The creativity of sales people may not be found in museums but in the greatest businesses that has been built all over the world.”
Businesses, products, institutions run because of the biggest risks and intelligence brought by the sales teams. Trashing sales team because of few poor business practices does not make sense anymore.
Courtesy: DREAMSTIME — “BUSINESS WARRIOR”
Only the tough warriors are cut out for long lasting success in sales. Imagine being on the war field every day, day after day in your life for the next 30–40 years and helping your teams win. Do you have what it takes?
Write to me : [email protected] | https://medium.com/swlh/the-surprising-traits-of-successful-sales-leaders-their-explosive-wealth-f32fafe63730 | ['Subha Shrinivasan'] | 2020-11-18 12:14:57.546000+00:00 | ['Growth', 'Sales', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Business', 'Money'] |
Robinhood shat the bed, so the band of Merrymen has taken over! | Robinhood shat the bed, so the band of Merrymen has taken over!
Merrymen is a brand new community focused DEX that will launch with a special offer for all Robinhood investors. Merrymen Jul 15·2 min read
Robinhood is no longer in charge.
When Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev decided to freeze trading on the Robinhood app in January 2021, he showed the world why centralized exchanges should have no part to play in the world of retail investing.
Retails investors had trusted the Robinhood app, having no idea how easily it could be manipulated. When CNBC reported that Robinhood had to “tap credit lines, raise new funds and throttle back trading” and “the central Wall Street clearinghouse mandated a ten-fold increase in the firm’s deposit requirements” it was clear that retail investors were trapped in a centralized controlled exchange, that was totally out of their control.
Robinhood messaged its investors at the time of the trading freeze saying:
We stand in support of our customers and the freedom of retail investors to shape their own financial future. Democratizing finance has been our guiding star since our earliest days.
But as Coindesk reported, Robinhood could not even decide its own course of action as most of the control was in the hands of a single centralized custodian: the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and its subsidiary, the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC). Both of these centralized corporations telling Robinhood to stop trading.
Merrymen, a brand new DAO based DEX on the Ethereum network is launching to demonstrate how important decentralized finance and decentralized exchanges are to the retail investor after the Robinhood GameStop fiasco. It will launch with a unique offering:
Merrymen will airdrop tokens for free to Robinhood investors who lost money in the GameStop fiasco.
Merrymen will also airdrop tokens for no charge to all the communities of projects that provide initial liquidity on their DEX platform. Both these offers will give as many retail investors as possible the opportunity to become seed investors for free in a real decentralized exchange.
Merrymen will never stop any investor trading, will never be under the control of a centralized organization like the DTCC or NSCC and it will never cite ‘market volatility’ for closing their accounts.
Merrymen will launch in early Q4 and is currently working with a number of DeFi launchpads to open its IDO to as many investors as possible.
For further information please visit Merrymen’s website and follow its Twitter and Telegram channels. | https://medium.com/@MerrymenDex/robinhood-shat-the-bed-so-the-band-of-merrymen-has-taken-over-726766febf40 | [] | 2021-07-15 10:10:11.329000+00:00 | ['Decentralized Finance', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Decentralized Exchange', 'Bitcoin News'] |
Learn How To Manifest Your Personal Dreams in 2021 And How To Get Success in Your Personal Dreams! | Learn How To Manifest Your Personal Dreams in 2021 And How To Get Success in Your Personal Dreams! Adeem tahir Mar 16·2 min read
Actions are more useful than words. Dreams are useless if people do not move to make their imaginary goals achievable and more realistic.
Dreams have a strong impact on the ability of a person to achieve more success in this world. Success lies on the ability of a person to make correct decisions at all times, especially while pursuing a career or managing a business. Actually, there are so many things that can help a person to become more successful in life.
One such things is a high quality education. Different instances of things that can assist an individual with being more fruitful incorporate difficult work, assurance and practice. But the simplest yet most effective way to achieve success in this world is to analyze or understand dreams more effectively.
Personal Dreams need to be manifested
There’s nothing wrong with the process of dreaming. But people should always remember the fact that success will never be achievable for them without hard work and determination. With these you will be sure to accomplish your goals, and sooner than you think.
Take Credit for Your Successes in Personal Dreams
Numerous individuals on the planet know about the way that dreams epitomize the yearnings and wants of life.Dreams have various meanings and lessons to share. People should learn how to analyze their dreams correctly to make sure that success is possible for them to achieve in the future.As expressed in the past sections of this eBook, dreams are equivalent to motion pictures and short stories where virtues and exercises are accessible to direct individuals in comprehension the real meaning of success.
Personal dreams will always be the best partner for people in the world when it comes to the process of determining what the right path toward success is. With legitimate examination and acknowledgment, personal dreams can direct individuals in improving the nature of their lives all the more effectively even without the help of a specialist psychotherapist.
Click Here To Read Full Article:
https://spiritualaims.blogspot.com/2021/03/learn-how-to-manifest-your-personal.html | https://medium.com/@adeemtahir55/learn-how-to-manifest-your-personal-dreams-in-2021-and-how-to-get-success-in-your-personal-dreams-c3219aa91aac | ['Adeem Tahir'] | 2021-09-14 00:00:00 | ['Dreams', 'Money Mindset', 'Manifestation', 'Success', 'Spirituality'] |
LeetCode problem #27 — Remove Element (JavaScript) | In this LeetCode problem, we’re asked to remove an element from a provided array, and to do so in-place. This is very similar to the previous challenge, and indeed the solution is very similar too.
Solution #1: Loop
In this solution, we loop through the numbers contained within the provided array, whilst checking each to see if it matches the number being removed. Whilst doing this, we also maintain a counter ( j in the code), which tells us where in the original array we should place the next value.
The way this works is that if we start with an array of [1, 2, 3] and want to remove all occurrences of 2 , we will look at 1 , see that it is not being removed, and thus place it at the counter’s current value (which will be 0 to start with), leaving the array unchanged. We’ll then look at 2 , which we see does need to be removed, and so we move onto the next number without incrementing the counter. Finally when we reach 3 , we see that it is not being removed, and so we place it at the counter’s position in the array (the counter is still set to 1 at this point), and increment the counter, giving us an array of [1, 3, 3] and a counter value of 2 . This then allows us to chop the array at the counter’s position, giving us a final array of [1, 3] .
Like with the previous exercise, LeetCode doesn’t require us to chop off the surplus data, so I have left the line to do so in, but commented it out. In addition, LeetCode ask that we return the length of the new array, rather than the array itself, as it is being edited by reference.
Solution #2: .filter() | https://medium.com/@duncan-mcardle/leetcode-problem-27-remove-element-javascript-caaf2aeda108 | ['Duncan Mcardle'] | 2020-12-17 19:02:46.176000+00:00 | ['Leetcode Solution', 'Leetcode Easy', 'Javascript Development', 'Leetcode', 'JavaScript'] |
What does quality mean for Business Design? 7 lessons from Monzo | From clarity of purpose to inspiring storytelling, key learnings from the self-proclaimed “bank of the future”.
At Fjord London, we’ve spent quite a bit of time discussing quality recently, and a few months ago set ourselves a challenge to define and illustrate what it means for each of our design crafts.
~We wanted to consider: What does quality in Business Design look and feel like?
Business Design at Fjord means ensuring design has impact, that it is viable and sustainable in a business context, and that humans are at the heart of the way we approach business problems. The answer to the opening question was always going to be a bit more nuanced than just “a well-designed business makes money.”
When exploring the topic within the Business Design group and looking for examples of quality, we found ourselves continuing to come back to companies that appear to have a strong human-centred philosophy, while being impactful. The one that came up most frequently was Monzo.
If you’re a young professional from the UK, or just follow tech news, chances are you’re already familiar with Monzo — the fast-growing challenger bank startup that at one stage was apparently so cool it became a chat-up line in London bars.
It’s since become a little more mainstream (and has probably lost some of its chat-up line potential), but they’ve kept hold of one of the key things that has helped propel their growth: their human-centred ethos. At the same time, they’re making an impact by becoming a major part of the challenger bank movement that has got much of the banking establishment genuinely worried.
In this post, we’ll introduce seven of the key aspects of Business Design and share our thoughts on why we believe Monzo embodies what we consider to be quality in these areas.
The key aspects are:
· Purpose and mission
· Storytelling
· Value proposition
· Ecosystem
· Business model
· Scaling
· Roadmapping
Clarity of purpose
An obvious place to start is with Monzo’s purpose and mission.
As Business Designers, our work often involves relating how design is impacting the organisation’s overall direction, whether that’s tracking how design efforts are contributing towards the mission, diagnosing when the direction needs to be clearer or, if we’re lucky, working with Service Designers and colleagues from other crafts to develop the ‘North Star’ vision from scratch.
There is now increasing recognition that being purpose-driven and being profit-driven are not mutually exclusive; on the contrary, purpose has been found to be directly linked to business success. This Forbes article argues how purpose-driven companies have employees that are more motivated and energised, customers that are more loyal, and business outcomes that are more positive than those of their counterparts.
In Monzo’s case, the idea of making the world a better place by giving people more control over their money is an idea that’s easy to get behind, particularly for those who’ve grown frustrated at the experience provided by the traditional high-street banks.
For example, a quick glance at the company’s reviews on Glassdoor provides a sneak peek into what it’s like to work at Monzo, and this clarity of purpose comes through in many of the testimonials from current and former employees, who rave about working on a product they believe in. As one reviewer effuses, “Everyone I’ve met believes they are building something that could change the world. After a short while, I do too.”
It has also arguably helped them to break crowd-funding records. The startup’s initial Crowdcube funding round in 2016 saw them raise £1m in just 96 seconds, making it the fastest crowdfunding raise in history at more than £10,000/second. Its more recent round in 2017 again broke records, this time for the number of investors, as it generated £2.5m from more than 6,500 backers — almost doubling Crowdcube’s previous record.
The clarity of purpose that the challenger bank has had from the outset is likely to be one of the foundations of Monzo’s success in terms of its ability to differentiate itself from the ‘banking establishment’, appeal to early adopters within its target demographic, and get people on board.
Inspiring storytelling
The ability to tell a compelling story goes hand-in-hand with having clarity of purpose. Stories help to convey one’s purpose and can inspire and motivate people in a way that engaging on a purely rational level cannot. Stories reach our hearts, as well as our heads. As such, they can be a powerful business tool to help build a lasting brand and gain trust and buy-in from customers, employees, investors and other stakeholders.
By extension, storytelling is an important part of Business Design. We’ve already mentioned how placing humans at the heart is key, and the art of storytelling has helped humans to relate to each other for more than 20,000 years — since the days when cave drawings were the dominant medium. Business Designers have been described as ‘navigators’ who can speak the language of business as well as the user, and they often bridge the gap between the two. Stories are a proven way of carrying a narrative throughout the creation and delivery of a product or service, and bringing people along on the journey.
Monzo frequently shares its story with its stakeholders through the company’s blog and regular emails, and, like many successful brands, its story is deeply tied to its CEO and co-founder Tom Blomfield. It is a story of a relentless quest to improve people’s lives by helping them to manage their money better while almost waging war on the banking establishment, which he frequently reiterates in his interviews with the press.
It’s a classic tactic of creating a ‘David and Goliath’ mentality that has helped to build a human connection with Monzo’s customers by creating a sense that Monzo is on their side, and fighting on their behalf. It’s easy to see how the business has managed to build such a strong following by offering a great customer experience built on top of this type of narrative, which has succeeded in putting a human face on an industry that has traditionally been perceived as faceless and mercenary.
CEO and co-founder Tom Blomfield. Photo: Monzo
Evolving the value proposition
Along with clarity of message, a successful business needs to be clear about the unique value it offers to its target audience and why it is different from the alternatives — in other words, the value proposition. And as Business Designers, we love getting stuck into creating new value propositions, which means we’re always on the look out for best practices.
Monzo is a great example of a company that has been very clear about the specific needs it’s addressing within its target market: the smartphone generation. What’s particularly interesting here is that, although the business has grown and evolved, the proposition at any given point has always stood up on its own and been valuable in its own right.
When it launched in 2015 without a banking licence, the unique selling point was essentially a money manager app that gave users better visibility of their spending. Yes, the functionality was limited, but it was enough to get people on board because Monzo had identified a genuine need and found a way to solve it that worked from a business perspective.
Monzo is now a fully licensed bank, and people have started switching over to it as their main bank (known as going #FullMonzo).
In the future, Monzo wants to become a hub for all parts of people’s lives that impact on their finances. The point here is that they could never have launched on day one with their planned future offering, as this takes time to build, but they’re evolving in the right way by finding a way to offer something compelling at each stage along the journey, with each proposition serving as a stepping stone to the next.
Embracing the ecosystem
Although Monzo is evolving, no business can do that effectively by operating in a vacuum. It’s increasingly critical for the business to have a holistic understanding of the ecosystem that surrounds it, and what the various roles and opportunities are within it. It has been said that the ecosystem is the new warehouse, as well as the new supply chain.
As Business Designers, we often like to map out an ecosystem as a way of identifying opportunities, to take advantage of resources that the business has access to but doesn’t necessarily own, and to find new ways of generating value through these resources.
Monzo is clearly a company that is embracing the ecosystem and acting like a platform. They built an API for their service right from the start and have held hackathons where they’ve invited developers in to come up with new ways to make the service work better for customers.
A lot of the ideas revolve around integrating with other services. A recent example is the integration with IFTTT, which lets customers set up rules to automate certain actions on their account and connect to other services.
For example, there’s one that allows account holders to automatically transfer money into a ‘fast-food punishment pot’ every time they use their card at McDonald’s, while another allows students to set up a weekly allowance to be transferred from their Student Loan pot.
Meanwhile, Monzo is trialing a Marketplace feature that will involve leveraging the ecosystem in a more fundamental way — we’ll come back to this one shortly.
Monzo’s integration with IFTTT
A business model for the digital age
Embracing the ecosystem is key to developing a strong business model in the digital age. As Sangeet Paul Choudary — author of Platform Scale– puts it, “we are in the midst of a transformative shift in business design as business models move from pipes to platforms.”
As Business Designers, we focus particularly on the viability of design, and sometimes that means identifying new revenue streams or business models, which may be different to traditional ways of doing business.
Monzo’s CEO and co-founder Tom Blomfield is adamant that the traditional banking model is broken and that if he and his team do their jobs right, they will make some of the high-street banks extinct.
On one hand, a traditional bank locks in customers from a young age by cross-selling them the bank’s own credit cards, loans, mortgages and so on, and then charges high fees for using those products. By comparison, Monzo’s approach is far more human-centred and involves building a modern customer experience that people genuinely want to use; their former head of marketing described how the company was “building a mobile experience for banking that you could compare to the way Whatsapp, Spotify or Uber feel to use.” Having established a loyal customer base, Monzo now charges fees for overdrafts, albeit at more reasonable rates than the bigger players.
Monzo is not profitable yet, but in the long-term, the plan is to make the majority of revenue by becoming a marketplace. Having access to a wealth of data on their customers will allow the bank to offer them relevant products and services from third-parties — think savings accounts, insurance energy tariffs, etc.— then charge those companies a commission.
They’re still testing the marketplace concept, but it could turn out to be a model that’s more sustainable in the digital age, and it highlights just one way in which a business’s ecosystem can be harnessed in order to rethink its revenue model.
Dealing with growing pains
There comes a time in a successful business’s life when it needs to grow up and make its way in the big wide world — it needs to scale-up.
Scale puts pressure on a business, and the customer experience, infrastructure, culture, operating model and business model can all begin to feel strained. As Business Designers, we’re often involved in the process of helping businesses achieve scale without losing the essence of what makes them successful.
The team at Monzo have hit a few bumps along the way as they’ve had to scale. Perhaps the most well-known is the change they made in 2017 to the cost of withdrawing cash when outside of the UK. From launch, the bank offered unlimited free overseas ATM withdrawals, absorbing the 1–2% fees that are payable to the ATM owner themselves. However, this became unsustainable as their customer base grew, with the ATM cost per customer more than doubling over the course of a year.
Their solution was in line with one of their core principles, which is “Transparency by default” — they blogged about the challenge these rising costs posed to the sustainability of the business, and proposed three pricing options from which the community was allowed to choose by way of a vote.
By being open about their decision-making process and ‘co-creating’ the solution by allowing their customers to have their say, they have managed to achieve a compromise in their service that has enabled them to ensure they can cover their costs without hindering their growth.
Plotting the right course
Finally, a key tool as a business scales is the roadmap that guides the organisation towards their vision.
Business Designers are often the map makers on design projects, working out where to go next from a business perspective, as well as how and why. Doing so inevitably means making trade-offs, which is where we find ourselves frequently calling on one of our favourite guilty pleasures, the Prioritisation Framework. It’s a model that helps a business to consider the desirability, feasibility and viability of ideas in order to build a roadmap of which ones should be built and in what order.
Monzo goes one step further, however, and has made its roadmap transparent, opening up what the company is working on now and next and inviting feedback from the community. Another example of their principle of transparency, this roadmap used to be in the form of an open Trello board, and has recently moved to a ‘Making Monzo’ area on their own site.
When the roadmap lived on Trello, customers were able to vote for their favourite feature ideas directly on the Trello board, allowing Monzo to get real-time feedback on which ideas would prove the most popular with customers. The team was very open about the fact that these votes were a factor when deciding what to work on next (the ‘desirability’ aspect of the prioritisation framework), but that their engineering time (feasibility) and internal priorities (viability) would generally take precedence.
The Takeaway
We’ve explored seven ways in which Monzo exhibits the hallmarks of quality in terms of the design of the business.
By aspiring to a greater purpose and focusing on people, the company has built a loyal and engaged workforce and customer base. By having a clear and evolving value proposition, they’ve identified how their offering can stand out in a changing market, and form the basis of a business model that challenges how banking traditionally works. And by involving their customers in key decisions, they are managing to achieve increasing scale in a way that is viable, while avoiding alienating their existing customers.
Achieving quality in these areas is a proven way of maximising a business’s chance of success on the bottom line, and while Monzo hasn’t reached profitability yet, it continues to move closer. In the meantime, they remain a great example of original Business Design thinking.
Are you a current or budding Business Designer, interested in working with some of the most talented folks in design to help create impactful businesses? Please get in touch! | https://medium.com/design-voices/what-does-quality-mean-for-business-design-7-lessons-from-monzo-c50415d721e2 | ['Neal Bingham'] | 2019-04-05 07:47:55.608000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Strategy', 'Business', 'Fintech'] |
Lessons In Risk Management: Unity Is Strength | I recently attended a procurement event, and, over lunch, I had an interesting discussion with other procurement practitioners about supply chain risk management (SCRM). One of the people at the table stated that his organization was not looking into increasing its SCRM capabilities because technology cannot help in preventing issues to happen. To reinforce his theory, he told us what had recently happened to his company. The factory of one of his key suppliers was reduced to ashes by fire. That incident led to disruptions that, according to him, technology could not have helped preventing or mitigating the impact.
Even if it is true that SCRM technology cannot have a direct impact on the cause of incidents, it is not a reason to ignore potential threats and behave like an ostrich, sticking its head in the sand. The story above is one of the many examples demonstrating that organizations don’t learn and reproduce the same mistakes, again and again.
“Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results.” Albert Einstein
SCRM technology together with SRM and Category Management can have an impact on reducing exposure by, for example, highlighting sensitive areas (single sourcing of critical components, suppliers in dangerous zones…). They also can help in reacting faster than the competition when problems occur. And there are many examples of that. However, there is more to it…
Being the customer of choice helps
During that same conversation, I mentioned another story I had read about as it was to some extent similar but with a very different outcome.
A buying organization using a SCRM solution had received a notification that an incident had happened at one of their supplier’s factory. Therefore, the buyer in charge was able to
immediately contact the supplier to discuss with him
build a business continuity plan.
The immediate action was to have the supplier produce the component in one of his other factory that had some free capacity.
In addition to the speed advantage that technology provided, the buying organization benefited from the good relationship he had built with the supplier. Because they were considered as a customer of choice, the supplier gave them access to possibilities that less preferential customers probably would never have had.
Get help from bigger than you
The story above reminded me of another one, with a different twist. I heard it a few months ago at a procurement conference in the Czech Republic. A buyer (I will call him John) had in his portfolio a certain raw material. He was buying modest quantities of it but the material was nevertheless critical. Also, only a handful of suppliers were selling it. John knew that, in case of a peak in demand, he would never be the one served first. In order to prevent shortages, he developed a clever alliance strategy.
John attended a fair where he knew that the major sellers and buyers of that raw material would be. Using the research he had done before the event and his observation skills, he connected with the big players on the buy-side of the market because he knew they would have better contracts and conditions that his. Conditions that would most probably integrate capacity agreements.
Months later, when demand peaked John did not contact his supplier to try to convince him to deliver to him; he knew it would be a vain effort. Instead, John reached out to a buyer (Bill) who he had met at the fair and with whom he had built a good relationship. He explained his situation to Bill. After listening, Bill explained that he could help because he had a contract that stipulates that the supplier must cover his needs as long as they vary within a certain range. As John’s needs were small in comparison to his, adding them to his would remain in the contract’s terms. After agreeing on the condition of this deal, Bill called his supplier to inform him that he would need larger deliveries. The supplier agreed and delivered the requested quantities to Bill who then forwarded what John needed.
In a digital future, relationships will continue to matter
John’s story has a particular resonance for me as I had lived a relatively similar situation when I was a buyer. But, I hadn’t done my homework like John, so I could not seek the help of a larger customer to help me. It took months and lots of efforts to recover.
These stories illustrate that Procurement professionals have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. The fact that black swans exist is no excuse for not being ready! It also means that having the people, process, technology, and data to:
identify weaknesses and risks
build contingency and mitigation plans
constantly monitor risk sources
These are the conditions for being proactive and not passive with regards to risks. Also, they should not forget the importance of nurturing relationships as business is human-to-human, H2H, (and no more B2B or B2C). At the end of the day, organizations having a competitive advantage are the ones that get the best out of their relationships with technology AND people; augmenting/enhancing each other. | https://medium.com/procurement-tidbits/lessons-in-risk-management-unity-is-strength-6d4b2c75e252 | ['Bertrand Maltaverne'] | 2019-07-15 14:51:02.573000+00:00 | ['Business Strategy', 'Supply Chain', 'Risk', 'Procurement', 'Risk Management'] |
Got (non-dairy) milk? What to think about when choosing a plant-based milk | Got (non-dairy) milk? What to think about when choosing a plant-based milk
When deciding whether to stop drinking dairy milk, there are more things to consider than just the well-being of cows.
Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash
I was never a big milk person. Growing up, I could stomach it just enough to prevent my cereal from becoming a chocking hazard. The thought of a tall, cold glass of milk would make me gag as a child, and I never really saw the appeal in ruining a perfectly good cookie by dunking it into beverage that could supposedly leave a ‘milk mustache’ above one’s top lip.
Although my tolerance for milk has improved with age, our society’s attachment to cow’s milk has began to wane. Thanks to more information on our environment and our bodies, many people have decided to turn away from dairy to find milk alternatives. Over the past few years, non-dairy milks have become more popular and choosing oat milk over semi-skimmed for your morning coffee is the new norm.
Why the switch?
People switch from dairy to plant milk for various reasons, which are often individual to them: lactose intolerance, veganism, health concerns etc. Despite several claims on the health benefits of cow’s milk, more research suggests that consuming dairy might not be as beneficial to one’s health as previously thought.
I’m sure that many of us have been told that milk has the calcium we need for strong bones. However, it turns out that dairy might not be the best source of calcium — if it was the countries in the world with the highest dairy consumption would not also be world leaders in rates of osteoporosis.
Dairy consumption has also been linked to increased rates of acne and hormones that are also believed to increase the risk of certain cancers — particularly prostate cancer.
A few years ago, if you decided to move away from cow’s milk for diet, health or simply taste reasons, you may have been limited in options. More recently, however, a wider selection of non-dairy milks are available at your local grocery stores and cafes. Research shows that spending on these alternative milks has risen while consumption of cow’s milk has dropped. Popular alternatives include soy, almond, oat and coconut, which all have pros and cons depending on their use and what your nutritional needs are.
Photo by Jo-Anne McArthur on Unsplash
There are of course big ethical reasons to make the switch as well. Animal rights activists, sustainability experts, and the public have become increasingly vocal of their concerns regarding the industrialization of dairy farms; citing poor animal welfare and the environmental impact of dairy farming including air pollution, and water usage and contamination. Thanks to their lower impact on the environment and the lack of animals to potentially exploit, plant milks have seemingly become an ideal alternative option.
What to consider when choosing a non-dairy milk
Plant-based milks are not made equal and there are a lot of things to consider when finding the right one for you. Depending on the flavor, nutrition, cost, allergies, and availability, your individual preferences and needs will determine which milk will work best. But there’s more to making milk than soaking some nuts in water. Non-dairy milk is a billion dollar industry and like all big industries it has an impact on the communities and eco-systems that sustains it.
When finding the right milk, you might want to consider some of the following:
Look into the company behind the brand. Depending on your reasonings for going non-dairy, you might want to do a bit of research into the company making the plant-based milk. Some also make dairy products, and if you’re vegan or don’t want to support the production of dairy, then you may not want to support them. There are also some brands who have been found to have questionable practices (like forcing monkeys to pick coconuts) and poor conditions for workers.
In 2011, a Human Rights Watch report exposed the severe conditions of the cashew processing industry in Vietnam. Some patients within the country’s drug therapy camps were forced to be laborers, processing cashews by hand and being subject to electroshock and solitary confinement if they refused.
Due to the the nuts’ uneven and awkward shape, shelling was done by hand which made the work hazardous as cashew resins and dust can burn the skin, and can also irritate the lungs. Human Rights Watch found that protective gear was often not provided and workers were even charged for gloves and masks.
Thanks to this report and media attention, backlash ensued. Human rights groups and the large retailers that were purchasing these cashews (most located in Europe and North America) demanded the inhumane practices come to an end. Unfortunately, due to a lack in transparency and traceability within the supply chain, it’s difficult to know for sure whether your cashew milk (or another nut milk) is the result of humane and fair working conditions. Doing your research and demanding accountability from companies is one step towards ensuring that questionable and unsafe practices are eliminated.
Consider water consumption in the production process. It takes a lot of water to make dairy milk and factoring in the amount needed to feed and raise cows, it takes 976 gallons of water to produce one gallon of milk. Surprisingly, almond milk not too far behind at 920 gallons of water to make one gallon.
Currently, 82 percent of the world’s almonds come from California — the only state in the US that produces almonds commercially. California is also known for its water crisis. While demand for water is high and wildfires are sweeping across the northern part of the state, almond trees account for almost 10 percent of California’s annual agricultural water use — which is more than what the entire population of Los Angeles and San Francisco use in a year.
While drinking almond milk means that calves won’t be separated from their mothers within days of being born, it’s also important to consider the impact of large-scale agriculture on the local environment. If an industry has grown to the point of being unsustainable, should we not prioritize restoring balance to the local environment over making a profit? Water is essential not only for growing almonds but also to sustain communities, and during a crisis people should always be prioritized over a glass of milk.
Find out if farmers are being compensated fairly and whether there are any fair trade options. Depending on the milk, the people farming the product may not be earning a fair wage. Just because a product is popular and prices increase in the retail sector, does not necessarily equate to a higher wage for farmers.
In countries like Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and the Philippines, coconut farmers often grow mono-crops, making them susceptible to environmental change. It’s common for farmers to sell their product to middlemen, who then resell them for 50 percent more to processing factories. According to Fair Trade USA, farmers receive about $0.12 — $0.25 per nut, while the average serving of coconut water from one nut sells for $1.50 in the U.S.
The Asian Pacific Coconut Community reports that coconut farms across Asia are experiencing very little growth and, in some cases, are getting smaller as farmers are forced to sell off land in order to switch to more profitable crops like palm. By ensuring your preferred brand of non-dairy milk subscribes to a fair trade ethos (even if the fair trade label isn’t on the packaging), you can be assured that everyone in the supply chain is benefiting from a more equitable and sustainable business. | https://sholapowell.medium.com/got-non-dairy-milk-fd45ec15ab16 | ['Shola Powell'] | 2020-12-21 14:02:28.397000+00:00 | ['Plant Based', 'Ethical Consumerism', 'Sustainability', 'Milk', 'Environmental Impact'] |
VCU Imagineers Use Spore Stickers to Recycle Cardboard | Earth Hacks Recap
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university located in Richmond, Virginia and on Jan. 26–27, VCU Earth Hacks happened.
Experimental Civics was immediately on-board with being a sponsor, hosting a design thinking workshop during the event, and providing additional support and intros! Kudos to the whole team for running an amazing event!
Start of VCU Earth Hacks
I caught up with Sanjana Paul, one of the co-founders, to ask her why she has supported this event:
Sanjana Paul
“I started Earth Hacks when I noticed that the rate at which environmental problems are increasing is exponential and the rate at which solutions to these problems are progressing is linear. Having attended hackathons in the past, I know that during these events, rapid innovation takes place and projects that would normally take months to implement have working prototypes ready in 24 hours. Attending hackathons, I saw that the types of problems presented for participants to solve are often very limited in scope and don’t seem to address pressing needs. This led my team and I to realize that nobody has really applied the hackathon model of innovation to environmental problems, and we did so, creating Earth Hacks.”
Hackathon 2019 Themes
The 3 broad themes this year were:
Corporate Sustainability
2. Public Health, Biotechnology, and Medical Waste
3. Energy Efficiency
Here is a link to the DevPost for access to the 22 submitted projects!
Who Attended?
147 registered participants were at this year’s Earth Hacks.
12 different universities were represented, with the highest attendance numbers coming from VCU, George Mason University, and the University of Virginia.
Of the 125 participants who chose to respond to the question asking for their gender, 45 were female and 80 were male.
The breakdown of majors who attended Earth Hacks as shown in the image below:
The breakdown of year in college of those who attended Earth Hacks as shown in the image below: | https://medium.com/hackernoon/vcu-imagineers-use-spore-stickers-to-recycle-cardboard-earth-hacks-recap-623d1fa56b74 | ['Experimental Civics'] | 2019-02-11 21:28:50.573000+00:00 | ['Environment', 'Sustainability', 'Technology', 'Hacking', 'Hackathons'] |
Web-Scraping and Sentimental Analysis on Amazon Reviews | Scraping reviews of an infamous product of Amazon: The Instapot and performing Sentimental Analysis on the reviews
The tools used for this implementation were:
Python: v3.8
IDE: PyCharm
Website : Amazon.com
Natural Language Processing
Natural Language Processing, also known as NLP, is an interesting branch of Artificial Intelligence.It allows processing of text, unlike other mainstream Machine Learning algorithms, and makes it machine understandable.
Web Scraping
Web scraping is used to extract data from the website and store it either locally or in a database like SQLite, MongoDB, etc.
L et’s dive into the implementation then-
First and foremost, import all the modules:
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import nltk
import string
import re
from sklearn.ensemble import RandomForestClassifier
from sklearn.metrics import confusion_matrix, accuracy_score, classification_report
from sklearn.neighbors import KNeighborsClassifier
from xgboost import XGBClassifier
from sklearn.linear_model import LogisticRegression
from sklearn.naive_bayes import MultinomialNB
from sklearn.feature_extraction.text import CountVectorizer
from nltk.tokenize import word_tokenizeThen moving ahead to the first step, i.e., the web scraping part:
Web scraping was done using Scrapy, which is a framework famously used for web-crawling and extracting the data.
Below is the items.py file which is used to declare the field that will be used later
import scrapy class ReviewsItem(scrapy.Item):
stars = scrapy.Field()
comments = scrapy.Field()
pass
Next, we create the spider file that will contain all the details and which will actually perform the scraping of the data.
First we save the name of the spider and set the URL that is to be scraped
import scrapy
class Reviews(scrapy.Spider):
# Spider name
name: str = 'amazon'
myBaseUrl = "https://www.amazon.com/product- reviews/B00FLYWNYQ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_viewopt_sr?pageNumber="
As you can see, there is no page number defined at the end of the url. That is because there are more than one pages that contain the data that we have to scrape. Therefore, we will write a loop that creates the urls and stores in a list so that all of the pages can be scraped.
urls = []
# Creating list of urls to be scraped by appending page number at the end of base url
for i in range(1, 501):
urls.append(myBaseUrl + str(i))
Next, we write the parse function that defines scrapes the data using the css selectors
def parse(self, response):
# Get the Review List
data = response.css('#cm_cr-review_list')
# Get the Ratings
stars = data.css('.review-rating')
# Get the users Comments
comments = data.css('.review-text')
The data is then returned and stored in a dictionary format
count = 0
# combining the results
for review in stars:
yield {
'Rating': ''.join(review.xpath('.//text()').extract()),
'Comment': ''.join(comments[count].xpath(".//text()").extract()).strip()
}
count = count + 1
This data can be stored in a csv file by using the command:
scrapy crawl amazon -o reviews.csv
This command runs the spider ‘amazon’ and yields the data scraped by the spider and stores the collected data into a ‘reviews.csv’ file. The ‘-o’ is to indicate that we want an ‘output’ in the form of ‘reviews.csv’.
Amazon.com is a very extensive website with millions of pages and the content like reviews is public. But it stores confidential information like the customers personal data etc. So it may not allow to scrape the data if scraping is performed multiple times. To get over that problem, we can write a simple code in the settings.py file which will allow the scraping of the comments over and over again without throwing any error.
DOWNLOADER_MIDDLEWARES = {
'scrapy.downloadermiddlewares.useragent.UserAgentMiddleware': None,
'scrapy_user_agents.middlewares.RandomUserAgentMiddleware': 400,
}
This code let’s one overcome the above problem by creating a false image for amazon.com that there are multiple user agents scraping the data so it does not block the scraping.
By performing the above, we are done with the scraping part and now we have a .csv file containing all the data.
Now, we will analyse the file and evaluate it.
Let’s begin the analysis part!
Load the dataset and check its contents.
# Load the dataset
dataset = pd.read_csv('reviews.csv')
# Checking the contents of the dataset
print('Dataset size:', dataset.shape)
print('Columns are:', dataset.columns)
print(dataset.head())
DATA PREPROCESSING
Now we will start with the data pre processing part that makes it ready to be fed in a model.
The below code splits the Rating column into a column containing the ratings of the customers and excluding the rest of the words.
# Removing extra content from the rating column and keeping only the relevant part - rating
print('Splitting the Ratings column to remove the extra content')
dataset[["Rating", "out", "of", "5", "stars"]] = dataset["Rating"].str.split(" ", expand = True)
print('Columns are:', dataset.columns)
dataset = dataset.drop(dataset.columns[[2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]], axis=1)
dataset['Rating'] = pd.to_numeric(dataset['Rating'])
Next, we can check the polarity, subjectivity using the TextBlob module.
Polarity: Polarity is float which lies in the range of [-1,1] where 1 means positive statement and -1 means a negative statement.
Subjectivity: Subjective sentences generally refer to personal opinion, emotion or judgment whereas objective refers to factual information. Subjectivity is also a float which lies in the range of [0,1].
dataset['polarity'] = [TextBlob(sentence).sentiment.polarity for sentence in dataset['Comment']]
dataset['subjectivity'] = [TextBlob(sentence).sentiment.subjectivity for sentence in dataset['Comment']]
dataset['word_list'] = [TextBlob(sentence).words.lemmatize() for sentence in dataset['Comment']]
The most popular techniques for pre processing the textual data are as follows:
· Lowercase: Convert everything to lowercase for uniformity and avoid duplication of the words in capital and lower case form
# Converting all text to lowercase
print('Convert text to lower case')
dataset['Comment'] = dataset['Comment'].str.lower()
print(dataset.head())
· Remove punctuation: Removal of punctuation marks as they are not words
# Removing the punctuation marks
print('Remove Punctuation')
print(string.punctuation)
def remove_punc(text):
text = "".join([char for char in text if char not in string.punctuation])
text = re.sub('[0-9]+', '', text)
return text
dataset['Comment'] = dataset['Comment'].apply(lambda x: remove_punc(x))
· Remove numbers: as the name suggests, it is done to remove the numbers from the text
# Removing the numbers from the text
print('Removing Numbers from the text')
dataset['Comment'] = dataset['Comment'].str.replace('\d+', '')
print(dataset.head())
·Tokenizing: Separating words from a sentence and storing them as separate entities
# Tokenizing the words (Separating words from a sentence)
print('Tokenization of words')
comments = dataset['Comment']
dataset['Comment'] = comments.apply(word_tokenize)
print(dataset.head())
· Remove stopwords: Stopwords are words that do not add any meaning to the sentiments, for eg. A, the, that, there etc.
# Removing unnecessary words - stopwords
print('Removing stopwords')
stopword = nltk.corpus.stopwords.words('english')
print(stopword)
def remove_stopwords(text):
text = [word for word in text if word not in stopword]
return text
dataset['Comment'] = dataset['Comment'].apply(lambda x: remove_stopwords(x))
· Stemming: This is done to convert the words to their root form
# Performing Stemming
print('Performing Stemming')
st = nltk.PorterStemmer()
def stemming(text):
text = [st.stem(word) for word in text]
return text
dataset['Comment'] = dataset['Comment'].apply(lambda x: stemming(x))
·A better form of stemming is called lemmatization. It converts the words to its root form and in such a way that the sentiment can be understood from them
print('Performing Lemmatization')
wn = nltk.WordNetLemmatizer()
def lemmatizer(text):
text = [wn.lemmatize(word) for word in text]
return text
dataset['Comment'] = dataset['Comment'].apply(lambda x: lemmatizer(x))
·Next, we join the remaining words to form a sentence and call it a corpus
# Forming a sentence from the remaining words
print('Joining the words to form a string/sentence')
corpus = []
for i in range(0, 5000):
review = ' '.join(dataset['Comment'][i])
corpus.append(review)
print("Corpus", corpus)
·Next, we classify the reviews as positive/negative/neutral based on ratings
# Classifying Reviews as positive/negative/neutral based on ratings
print("Classifying Reviews as positive/negative/neutral based on ratings")
classify = []
for i in range(0, 5000):
if dataset['Rating'][i] > 3.0: # Posiitve reviews
classify.append(1)
elif dataset['Rating'][i] < 3.0: # Negative reviews
classify.append(-1)
else:
classify.append(0) # Neutral reviews
print(classify)
dataset['Classify'] = classify
·Applying CountVectorizer
# Vectorizing the words and counting the frequency for each
# Extracting the features
cv = CountVectorizer(max_features=1500)
X = cv.fit_transform(corpus).toarray()
y = dataset.iloc[:, 2].values
print(cv.vocabulary_)
Splitting the data into training set, testing set and validation set for feeding them to the models that we are going to build.
X is an array of 0s and 1s indicating the absence and presence of the word in the review from the corpus.
Y is an array that contains [-1, 0, 1] indicating the negative, neutral or positive review.
X_train = X[0:3001, :]
print("X_train: ", X_train)
X_test = X[3001:4501, :]
print("X_test: ", X_test)
y_train = y[0:3001]
print("y_train", y_train)
y_test = y[3001:4501]
print("y_test", y_test)
X_val = X[4501:5001, :]
print("X_val", X_val)
y_val = y[4501:5001]
print("y_val", y_val)
Implementing Logistic Regression algorithm now and calculating the accuracy score and getting the classification report:
lr = LogisticRegression(max_iter=5000) # Keeping it 5000 as there are 5000 rows
lr.fit(X_train, y_train)
y_pred_lr = lr.predict(X_test)
cm = confusion_matrix(y_test, y_pred_lr)
print(cm)
acc_lr = accuracy_score(y_test, y_pred_lr)*100
print('Accuracy from Logistic Regression classifier:', acc_lr)
print(classification_report(y_test, y_pred_lr))
Implementing algorithm now and calculating the accuracy score and getting the classification report:
xgb = XGBClassifier()
xgb.fit(X_train, y_train)
y_pred_xg = xgb.predict(X_test)
cm = confusion_matrix(y_test, y_pred_xg)
print(cm)
acc_xgb = accuracy_score(y_test, y_pred_xg)*100
print('Accuracy from XGBoost:', acc_xgb)
print(classification_report(y_test, y_pred_xg))
Implementing Random Forest algorithm now and calculating the accuracy score:
rf = RandomForestClassifier(n_estimators=50, random_state=42)
rf.fit(X_train, y_train)
y_pred_rf = rf.predict(X_test)
cm = confusion_matrix(y_test, y_pred_rf)
print(cm)
acc_rf = accuracy_score(y_test, y_pred_rf)*100
print('Accuracy from RandomForestClassifier:', acc_rf)
Implementing the KNN Classifier algorithm now and calculating the accuracy score and getting the classification report:
For KNN, we try to get the appropriate number of neighbours so there is least error possible. It is done below as shown:
for i in range(1, 11):
knn = KNeighborsClassifier(n_neighbors=i)
knn.fit(X_train, y_train)
err = knn.score(X_test, y_test)
error.append(err)
print("For " + str(i) + " Neighbours, error is: " + str(err))
i = error.index(min(error))
i += 1
print("Minimum error is for " + str(i) + " Neighbours")
Then developing the model and fitting the training set and predicting for the testing set for the i number of neighbours:
classifier = KNeighborsClassifier(n_neighbors = i)classifier.fit(X_train,y_train)
y_pred_knn = classifier.predict(X_test)
cm = confusion_matrix(y_test, y_pred_knn)
print(cm)
acc_knn = accuracy_score(y_test, y_pred_knn)*100
print('Accuracy from KNN:', acc_knn)
print(classification_report(y_test, y_pred_knn))
Implementing the Multinomial Naive Bayes algorithm now and calculating the accuracy score and getting the classification report:
mnb = MultinomialNB()
mnb.fit(X_train, y_train)
y_pred_mnb = mnb.predict(X_test)
cm = confusion_matrix(y_test, y_pred_mnb)
print(cm)
acc_mnb = accuracy_score(y_test, y_pred_mnb)*100
print('Accuracy from Naive Bayes:', acc_mnb)
print(classification_report(y_test, y_pred_mnb))
Below are the accuracy scores for the above implemented models, for the test set:
Below are the accuracy scores for the above implemented models, for the validation set:
As we can see, the accuracy score is better for validation set for the given models.
Conclusion: After analysing the above models, we come to a conclusion that XGBoost model gives the best accuracy when compared with the other models at 89.00%. Followed by Random Forest at 88.13%, Multinomial NB at 87.93% and Logistic Regression at 86.47%. The least accuracy is given by KNN at 63.53%. But for the validation set, Multinomial NB given the highest accuracy at 89.57% followed by XGBoost at 87.97%. Random Forest Classifier and Logistic Regression is almost same at 86.96% and 86.77% respectively. The lowest accuracy for the validation set is given by KNN at 81.96%. This could be possible as there are only 500 rows in the validation set and there are 1500 rows in the testing set. Hence, the difference in the accuracy. It could be improved by implementing hyperparameter tuning for the algorithms or giving user input to check accuracy of prediction.
For complete code reference: https://github.com/rajavi812/ADS_Assigments/tree/main/ADS_MP2 | https://medium.com/@rajavimehta/web-scraping-and-sentimental-analysis-on-amazon-reviews-76130bc21463 | ['Rajavi Mehta'] | 2020-11-28 23:48:45.269000+00:00 | ['Pre Processing', 'Scraping Amazon', 'Classification', 'NLP', 'Sentiment Analysis'] |
What do globally competent students look like? | This post is part of a blog series written by Participate(@participate) on global education and equitable preparation in the classroom originally published on Getting Smart (@Getting_Smart.) Join the conversation on Twitter using #globaled.
All of our futures are increasingly linked to the challenges of the global community. The world’s population is predicted to grow from our current 7.3 billion to 8.5 billion in 2030 and to nearly 10 billion by 2050. Such population growth will affect a host of global issues including pollution, disease management, and depletion of energy, food and water resources.
For students to participate effectively in this changing world, they must understand it. The 21st century student will sell to the world, buy from the world, work for international companies, compete with people from other countries, manage employees from other cultures, collaborate with people all over the world, and solve global problems.
9 in 10 students recognize that jobs are becoming increasingly international in nature and believe they would be stronger employees with a better understanding of different cultures.
The mission of the United States Department of Education is “to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.” Few would disagree that achievement, preparation, competitiveness, excellence and equal access are worthy aspirations for the educational systems serving students today. While specific definitions for those terms vary and strategies to achieve them are vast, there is a sustained expectation in the U.S. for elementary and secondary education to effectively prepare students to make their way through successive grade levels, college, jobs and the world in general.
For students to participate effectively in this changing world, they must understand it.
In education, global competitiveness can be characterized as the set of skills and factors that support individuals’ personal and professional productivity in their communities and in the world. Being globally competitive today requires developing global competence. Equipping students with specific hard skills to compete in a global job market is important, but cultivating their abilities to effectively share ideas and communicate across cultures in appropriate and respectful ways is critical.
Existing and emerging K–12 educational efforts — including 1:1 technology initiatives and language, International Baccalaureate, STEAM, and cross-cultural exchange programs — promote students’ global competence. But, while these efforts are growing in popularity, they are still not available to a majority of students.
All students — regardless of where they live or their socioeconomic status and cultural backgrounds — are equally deserving of educational experiences that prepare them to be globally competent. So how do we as educators continuously create opportunities and deliver instruction that ensures global competence for all? One option is to provide students with instructional practices that consistently engage global content, multicultural perspectives and problem solving across subject areas.
A simple term for this is global education.
The most successful global education approaches recognize the attitudes, skills and knowledge students need to navigate, contribute to and flourish in the world — and they integrate activities that purposefully resolve opportunity gaps among students on a daily basis. In the following weeks, we will look closely at the characteristics of globally competent students and address how our K-12 education institutions can utilize global education practices to equitably prepare all students for success.
While the definition of global competence is dynamic, these soft skills and characteristics are widely seen as what students need to be globally competent today. | https://medium.com/global-perspectives/what-do-globally-competent-students-look-like-b21c30a46b5d | ['Participate Learning'] | 2017-04-06 16:57:13.447000+00:00 | ['Education Reform', 'Teaching', 'Education', 'Global Education'] |
The Bots Boosting QAnon | Graphic by Samantha Weslin
Maybe you heard about QAnon when those alleging voter fraud started throwing around the Dominion conspiracy theory. Or maybe you heard about it during lockdown protests. But what is QAnon? And how has it proliferated across social media so quickly?
What is QAnon?
QAnon is a baseless conspiracy theory claiming that a Satan-worshipping cabal of blood-drinking pedophiles runs the world. In the mythos of the theory, Donald Trump is portrayed as a messianic figure who has come to save the world from the ‘deep state.’ Followers of the conspiracy theory interpret ‘Q drops,’ or posts from Q, who is a shadowy figure purporting to be a high ranking US government official. The conspiracy theory has spread to over 70 countries and is particularly popular in Germany, Brazil, and the United Kingdom.
Though the theory centers on the supposed sex-trafficking cabal, it encompasses a variety of other conspiracy theories. Many QAnon followers believe that JFK Jr. is still alive, that the furniture company Wayfair is trafficking children in overpriced cabinets, or that Joe Biden’s recent foot injury is simply a cover for an ankle monitor.
While these theories seem (and are) far-fetched and ludicrous, the online movement has had very real effects in the offline world. Followers of Q have doxxed politicians and activists, launching online harassment campaigns that include death threats and publicization of sensitive information, like home addresses and phone numbers. Supporters have been amplifying the debunked Dominion voter fraud conspiracy, spreading disinformation that undermines democracy and faith in elections.
Q believers have even committed acts of violence. The murder of a mob boss and a legal theorist, several kidnappings, and cases of property damage have been linked to individuals with ties to the conspiracy theory.
How did QAnon spread so quickly?
While QAnon conspiracies are created and spread by real human beings, bots have played a significant role in amplifying the reach of the conspiracy.
A study of over 240 million tweets related to the recent US presidential election found that two QAnon hashtags (“WW1WGA” and “qanon”) were among the top 15 hashtags used in tweets by bot accounts. Tweets that included QAnon and other conspiracy theory-related hashtags were more likely to have come from bots compared to other election-related hashtags. An estimated 13% of the analyzed accounts using a conspiracy-related hashtag were run by bots.
Bots didn’t just amplify QAnon hashtags, though. Bot accounts played a role in spreading news stories by far-right media networks that promote conspiracy narratives, such as OANN or Breitbart. These platforms get a significant boost from bots — over 20% of the accounts that shared their content were run by bots.
Why do these bots matter?
When bots amplify conspiratorial hashtags, they broaden the audience that is susceptible to falling down the rabbit hole of QAnon. Whether or not a Twitter user is drawn into the conspiracy theory by a bot or a real account, the very presence of bots increases the chance that a user will stumble across QAnon. Sharing a story from an established website adds a layer of credibility to the bots’ tweets, increasing the likelihood that users will take QAnon’s claims seriously.
The amplification of QAnon on Twitter artificially inflates mainstream perceptions of the scale of the movement, even outside of Twitter. Being seen as a mass movement, rather than a tiny minority lends legitimacy to theory within the mainstream — 56% of Republicans think that QAnon is mostly or partly true.
So why are these bot armies being deployed to aid QAnon? A recent takedown of over 400 troll accounts operated by Internet Research Agency, a Russian troll farm implicated in election interference in the 2016 election, found that the accounts frequently used #QAnon and related hashtags. This disinformation campaign spread dangerous lies; promoting falsehoods about the dangers of COVID-19, and encouraging distrust in democratic institutions to further Russia’s political interests.
How do we stop bots from amplifying QAnon?
Although deplatforming efforts by Twitter have been somewhat effective in removing the largest QAnon influencers, influencers and bots alike are able to return to the platform fairly quickly. Bot armies are cheap to launch, leaving platforms playing whack-a-mole.
With technology like humanID, platforms can ensure that each user has a single digital account tied to their phone number, while keeping the user anonymous. Thus, bot armies become cost-prohibitive, preventing spamming and disinformation efforts.
However, it’s important to note that the majority of accounts promoting Q are run by real people who believe in the conspiracy theory. QAnon is a symptom of the larger problems of distrust in the media and a climate of uncertainty.
Tech alone won’t be able to deradicalize the thousands of people who believe in QAnon, and it won’t be able to stop the conspiracy theory. But it can prevent it from rapidly proliferating across the web, stopping radicalization before it begins.
What’s humanID?
humanID is a new anonymous online identity that blocks bots and social media manipulation. If you care about privacy and protecting free speech, consider supporting humanID at www.human-id.org, and follow us on Twitter & LinkedIn.
All opinions and views expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of humanID. | https://medium.com/humanid/the-bots-boosting-qanon-e1bfc20340c3 | ['Jessa Mellea'] | 2020-12-22 21:12:55.386000+00:00 | ['Conspiracy Theories', 'Twitter', 'Bots', 'Technology'] |
AWS Cost and Usage Governance — A Beginner’s Guide | Amazon’s platform is huge, and the AWS initiate to can be overwhelmed with getting to learn and build with as many services as possible. Sounds like fun, right? It is! Trust me, but before all the building commences make sure you know the cost.
Whether you have started using Amazon’s Free Tier or you are past your free year of use make sure you have notifications in place to let you know when the bill is getting near your pain threshold.
This hands-on lab will guide you through the steps to implement cost and usage governance in order to control your cost and to align them with your personal or business requirements.
1. Log into AWS using a root or administrative account.
2. Access the Billing Console, and Select Budgets.
3. Select Create A Budget.
4. Select Cost Budget and then Set Your Budget.
5. Create your budget by updating the highlighted fields. Note the “Last month’s cost” message next to the Budgeted amount field. The budgeted amount should be less than the previous month. In this instance, the last month’s cost was $0.26 so the budgeted amount notification is set for $0.25.
6. Select Configure Alerts.
7. Update the following fields.
8. Select Confirm Budget.
9. Select Create.
10. A success message will be returned.
11. A verification email will be sent to your account.
We will create a monthly EC2 actual cost budget, which will notify if the actual costs of EC2 instances exceeds the specified amount.
Access the Billing Console, and Select Budgets.
2. Select Create A Budget.
3. Set your budget using the following fields.
4. Click on Service.
5. In the search field, type Elastic then select eC2-Instances (Elastic Compute Cloud — Compute).
Select Apply filters.
6. Uncheck Upfront reservation fees.
7. Select Confirm budget then Create.
8. The new budget will appear under the All Budgets tab.
We will create a monthly savings plan coverage budget which will notify if the coverage of Savings Plan for EC2 is below the specified amount.
Access the Billing Console, and Select Budgets.
Select Create A Budget.
2. Select Savings Plans budget then select Set your budget.
3. Update the following fields as specified.
4. Select Configure alerts.
5. Update the email field then select Confirm budget.
6. Select Create.
7. A verification email will be sent to the email address provided.
AWS Budgets Reports allow you to create and send daily, weekly, or monthly reports to monitor the performance of your AWS Budgets.
Access the Billing Console, and Select Budgets.
2. Select Create Budget Report.
3. Update the following fields, select all reports and then select Configure Delivery Settings.
4. Update the following fields and then select Confirm Budget Report.
5. Select Create.
6. A verification email will be sent to the email address provided. | https://medium.com/@cwoodruff/aws-cost-and-usage-governance-a-beginners-guide-d6ac307dd8d3 | ['Charles Woodruff'] | 2020-12-13 20:09:56.282000+00:00 | ['Governance', 'AWS', 'Amazon', 'Usage', 'Cost'] |
A Perfect Sleep… | Falling asleep between your arms with my cheek against your chest,
Enveloped in the warmth of your love,
Perfect dreamless sleep… | https://medium.com/3-lines-story/a-perfect-sleep-2ec019988ab3 | [] | 2017-09-01 14:06:56.208000+00:00 | ['Storytelling', 'Relationships', 'Love', 'Poetry', 'Dating'] |
Sites that you’ll like | Hello there
I’m Ayush rathva,…. founder of 4 blogging websites
1.Team order
https://teamorder.blogspot.com/?m=1
This website is created to Give and collect all information about remaining 3 sites, you’ll find all the content links and overview of other 3 websites here,check it out
2.Deal’s cook
https://dealscook.blogspot.com/?m=1
Deal’s cook: Here you’ll find latest Offers and discounted products,we Update Daily with Amazing deals comes in online Stores you must have to Checkout once,go for it
3.Anime point
https://animegyane.blogspot.com/?m=1
Anime point : This Site is specially created for Fans, Especially for Pokemon fans,Here you’ll get updates about Anime and Games, you’ll get Reviews about official games and Fan-made games,if you are fan you must have to visit once
4.Fashion point
https://fashion-point45.blogspot.com/?m=1
Fashion point: if you are interested in online Fashion shoping,You’ll definitely like this site,here you’ll get all the Fashion wear and design,if you wants to see you can go ahead,
Shipping all over India contact us if you like
Here you have seen Our 4 sites,If you like than you can Go ahead | https://medium.com/@ayushrathva210/sites-that-youll-like-430fca6847db | [] | 2021-05-21 14:37:40.810000+00:00 | ['Blogging', 'Online', 'Deals', 'Website', 'Shopping'] |
What 4,300 hours of meditation has taught me | I started meditating consistently in the summer of 2001. I had just finished developing the first Microsoft Xbox, and I literally sat with my feet on my desk. I should have felt proud and satisfied. I had a beautiful, big, brand-new house in Silicon Valley, and an Audi and a Porsche. I was a multi-millionaire and had more money than I knew what to do with.
Sitting there in my office, I noticed that I couldn’t relax. I felt dissatisfied and anxious, and I had no idea why. Shortly afterwards, at my 27th birthday party, I drunkenly walked from guest to guest asking people what the meaning of life was. One response that stands out in my memory was from a friend named Jing; I’m proud to tell you that Jing created gmail. Jing said, “Never own a house that’s too big to hold all of your friends.” (see note at end)
Finally, I turned the camera on myself, and somewhere there is a DV tape-recording of me slurring the words, “The purpose of life is to become enlightened. There are fourteen steps to enlightenment. The first step is to realize that you want to be enlightened, and the last steps is to become enlightened.”
A random bumper sticker I saw somewhere. I love how scratched and damaged it is.
I have been interested in introspection since I was a kid. I remember at about age seven picking up a ragged book on meditation that was in the stack of books next to our toilet. The book was about Transcendental Meditation. As I read it, I remember thinking that it seemed too complicated. I had the impression that meditation was supposed to be simple, but this book was filled with a very complex philosophy. One of the key points that the book stressed was that the one needed a guru. So I went to my mum and asked her where I could find a guru. She suggested looking in the Yellow Pages under “G for guru.” I went and looked, but of course I found nothing.
At around age eight, I had the idea that if I could make one eye look directly into the other eye, and that if I did that for a while, the recursive cycle would cause me to enter an ecstatic state. I searched around the house for pieces of mirror and lenses that I could use to create such a device. I kept stopping and questioning myself: part of me believed that it would work, and another part of me was skeptical and thought that it was a silly idea. Not surprisingly, I didn’t find the materials, and I didn’t have the tools or knowledge to make the device. In various different contexts, the tension between these two parts of myself — the visionary and the skeptic — has resurfaced repeatedly in my life.
During my undergraduate degree, I trained in Tae Kwon Do, and I now understand that the training contained elements that were meditative, including focusing of the mind, and increased embodied awareness. I also learned to juggle, which requires a high level of mental focus and control.
When I graduated and started working, I was clearly searching for spiritual meaning, and I read the Bible from cover to cover while on a business trip to California. I remember forcing myself to read every mind-numbing word about who begat who in the Book of Genesis. I particularly enjoyed the Book of Proverbs, which is a book of wisdom, and parts of the Book of Psalms, which is a book of poetic devotion. I also forced myself to read a thick book on Tibetan Buddhism, which I found to be strangely complex and cognitive. I didn’t find what I was looking for — a practical technique — in either contemporary Christianity or in Tibetan Buddhism.
Nevertheless, I seem to have been meditating. I remember going running at lunchtime in Bristol in the UK. I learned to proactively control my breath by taking long, slow, deep breaths, which prevented me from getting out of breath and needing to pant. In hindsight, I realize that this was a form of breath control meditation, known as pranayama in Sanskrit. “Prana” means energy and “yama” means to control.
I also believe — although I don’t think that there is objective evidence for this yet— that running tends to help integrate trauma, leading to increased balance of the mind. It does this by activating and completing the flight response to traumatic experiences, and also by alternately stimulating the two sides of the thalamus (as in EMDR therapy), which helps to thoroughly integrate and finally store traumatic experiences as memories. Before integration, these traumatic experiences are captured as mostly disjoint neural configurations in different areas of the brain.
After running, I used to sit and meditate on the grass — with the ducks and geese — next to a lake in the business park where I worked. I witnessed the breath in my nostrils for fifteen minutes per day. I don’t understand how I knew to do that, because it’s something I learned later in life. This practice is called ānāpānasati in Pali. “Sati” means mindfulness and “ānāpāna” means inhalation and exhalation.
The meditation room at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. I have spent many hours meditating here.
Now let’s travel forward again to 2001, to the completion of Xbox, and to my feet on my desk and anxiety in my mind. Shortly after my the birthday party where I drunkenly realized my need for enlightenment, I was at the gym where I worked-out when I saw an advert for a meditation seminar, a seminar which I attended. The seminar was taught be a man-woman couple. The woman taught a breath witnessing technique called hong-sau, which is similar to ānāpānasati except that you mentally say “hong” on the inhalation and “sau” on the exhalation. I found that this immediately calmed my mind. The man talked philosophy, and told us that stress is caused by the difference between the way things are and the way we want them to be. He said that we can reduce stress either by changing the way things are (externally) or by changing ourselves (internally). This made a lot of sense to me.
I started practicing this hong-sau meditation technique for fifteen minutes in the morning and fifteen minutes in the evening. My anxiety decreased and my contentment increased. I was promoted to management at work. My personality changed and I became more authentic and better able to advocate for myself, including becoming aware of when I felt hurt, and becoming more able to express that. This ultimately led to the relationship with my wife breaking down, and to divorce: I changed, and so we became incompatible.
After four months of practicing hong-sau, around Christmas of 2001, I had some life-changing experiences in meditation. My awareness became so focussed that it was able to temporarily pierce the veil of delusion and directly experience the fundamental nature of reality. I’ve tried to write about this before, and it’s very hard to explain with words. In a nutshell, there is truly only one thing that exists. This is sometimes called non-duality, and also what some mystics call God. Everything that is experienced is actually an expression of this underlying non-dual reality, except that in our normal experience of duality opposites appear to be separate and contrasting; opposites appear to be in conflict with each other. In reality, everything cancels through time and space into an indescribable perfection, which can always be experienced here and now. This is the experience that my eight-year-old self was anticipating as he dreamed of making the eye-gazing contraption. It may be that the device was a metaphor for the process of awareness becoming aware of itself in a recursive loop.
After these experiences, I discovered that I had a profound and alternative understanding of many scriptural texts, because they often reference this non-dual reality, a reality that can only truly be understood through direct experience. I also found myself confused and trapped in this body, in this reality, unable to return at-will to the direct experience of our true nature. I have been going through a process of integration of these experiences over the past sixteen years.
I discovered the spiritual group that the seminar teachers were part of. They were devotees of Paramahansa Yogananda, one of the main teachers who, in the 1920s, brought meditation to the USA from India. I learned the technique of Kriya Yoga as taught by Yogananda, and I practiced it for up to four hours per day.
I had many intense experiences, which some people might consider spiritual. One time, I was driving home in my Porsche (I think it’s funny that I was driving a Porsche), while witnessing my natural breath. I looked to the side, and saw a piece of litter by the side of the road. Usually, seeing litter would bother me; I would internally fret about the inconsiderate nature of people. Instead, in this instance, I became overwhelmed by the perfection of not just this piece of litter, its qualities and its placement, but by the perfection of everything in the universe. I was instantly not only aware of the whole of reality but also perceiving it all as perfect.
Another time, I woke up inside a dream. In the dream, I was witnessing a galaxy when I realized that I was dreaming and became aware that the galaxy was inside of me. There was an overwhelming sense of enormousness and power. I was in awe of what it means to contain galaxies. To be such a small creature, yet to be made of everything; to contain countless universes. The power of the energy flowing through my spine felt so great that it could rip me to pieces, like I was being flossed by a galactic-sized pipe-cleaner. Reflecting on this now, this experience shares a quality with the fundamental nature of reality: that too is infinitely large, yet is contained within these small beings. Note that it’s one thing for the cognitive mind to try to conceive of infinity, and it’s another thing entirely to experience infinity directly by knowing it inside yourself.
I have a very complex and unusual life-story, which you can read about in other articles, articles already written, and articles that will be written. For now, I’m going to jump to 2011. At this point I had been practicing Kriya Yoga for ten years, and accrued at least 2,000 hours of meditation experience. I had been hearing about the 10-day Vipassana retreats taught by S. N. Goenka, and finally went to my first one.
My wife’s Facebook profile picture while she was on retreat.
Before going to my first 10-day, I thought that I was special, that I was some kind of mystic or guru. I thought that I had some great purpose in this life. Somewhere in the depth of my mind, I thought that I was some kind of messiah, and that my purpose was to somehow help other people. What I discovered on this first 10-day retreat was the depth and breath of my suffering. I came to understand what it really means to be a human, and I understood experientially how and why I am trapped inside this body. I got a relatively clear perception of the moment-to-moment suffering that my mind inflicted upon itself in its struggle to have reality be other than it is. It was overwhelming to become conscious of the intensity, depth, and persistence of my unconscious mind’s arduous struggle with reality, it’s rejection of things evaluated as unfavorable and it’s grasping after things evaluated as favorable. Who am I to think I can help anyone when I am so totally lost in delusion and suffering?
I discovered that I’m just a regular human, and a pretty broken one at that. Like all humans, my mind is broken, but I’ve gradually come to appreciate how beautifully broken it is. This is actually part of the path: to increase equanimity not just for the favorable and unfavorable circumstances by increasing equanimity for the sensations that they invoke in the mind-body, but also to increase equanimity for the non-adaptive nature of the unconditioned mind and how adorably it struggles with reality.
So, by practicing what Buddha taught, I came to understand his first noble truth: that life is suffering. More specifically, the nature of the untrained mind is suffering, and suffering begets more suffering, creating an endless loop of experiencing the delusion of being, from moment-to-moment, in this life, and perpetuating it from life-to-life. Paradoxically, the way out of this trap is to develop equanimity not only for the trap itself, but for our foolishness in staying trapped. Also, paradoxically, freedom from this trap is annihilation of the very entity that seeks freedom.
The reality is that my wife Cindy and I are gurus (teachers), but we’re only gurus to the extent that we embrace our normal humanity, and dedicate our lives to the process of being regular humans and supporting others in doing the same. We are only teachers to the extent that we meditate and practice what we advocate. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of thinking that I’m some kind of perfected guru and then use that as a defense against further learning, growth, integration, and truth. We know of so many so-called teachers or gurus who are, in reality and secretly, far less functional than the average person; it’s the guru defense, and most gurus suffer from it.
I just got back from my fourth ten-day Vipassana retreat. For the first nine days of the retreat, you don’t talk with anyone, acting as if you are there alone, making no eye contact, and not even gesturing to others. On the tenth day, you can talk to others; and a lot of talking happens on day ten. The daily schedule looks like this (I now know this schedule by heart):
4:00 Wake
4:30–6:30 Meditate (2 hours)
6:30–8:00 Breakfast
8:00–11:00 Meditate (3 hours)
11:00–1:00 Lunch
1:00–5:00 Meditate (4 hours)
5:00–6:00 Break (no food for old students)
6:00–9:00 Meditate and discourse from teacher (1.5 hours of meditation)
9:30 Sleep
So you meditate for about 10.5 hours per day, which amounts to over 100 hours during the ten-day retreat. This is industrial-strength meditation training, and is apparently the format that Buddha used to teach Vipassana, and the format that has been used for thousands of years to teach Vipassana. The process needs to be this intense in order to overcome the enormous amount of momentum we have in our everyday lives. It takes this much effort to become skilled and practiced enough in the technique to be able to bring it home and use it, day-to-day, in everyday life.
I’ve been practicing Vipassana since late 2011, and meditating at home for between one and two hours per day since late 2015. I estimate that I’ve practiced Vipassana for over 2,300 hours. Overall I estimate that I’ve now meditated for over 4,300 hours in my lifetime. Here are some additional things that I have learned from all that meditation:
The only thing we can control is our attention
We can’t control the external circumstances of the world. We can’t control our bodies. We can’t control our thoughts. We can’t control our emotions. Everything that happens to us, and that we do, is the result of our unconscious mind reacting, and to circumstances arising in order to invoke reactions from our unconscious mind. The only thing we have control over is where we place our attention. This is because the only thing that really exists is our attention, and it’s what we are. By directing our attention to the core of our delusion, we can use it to untie the knots of delusion which bind us, and free ourselves from this self-imposed prison of suffering.
We are 100% responsible for our contentment
Whether we are happy or unhappy, content or discontent, is the result of a process inside our minds. The default program that our unconscious mind is running is designed to cause us to suffer. It does this by continually reacting to reality, to the sensations that reality invokes inside our bodies. Not only that, but our unconscious patterning tells us that we are unhappy and suffering, or needing to acquire something, because of external circumstances. There is in fact absolutely zero necessity for suffering, under any circumstances.
We are 100% responsible for our circumstances
Everything we experience is created by our past thoughts. To experience different circumstances, we must think different thoughts. Our thoughts are a result of the purity of our mind, which is a function of how we direct our attention. By skillful direction of attention, we can purify the mind, which will lead to more adaptive thinking, and therefore more favorable circumstances. Meanwhile, paradoxically, as the mind is purified — and retrained to not react to reality — whatever circumstances we find ourselves in are increasingly experienced as optimal.
Everyone else is suffering too
As we come to experientially understand our true nature, and the real cause of our suffering, it becomes very clear what drives people to behave the way they do. This leads to dysfunctional behavior from others being seen not as a personal attack but as an expression of delusion. They don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t yet understand how their actions are harmful to themselves. They’re choosing the best item on their menu of behavioral options.
It becomes much easier to feel compassion for even the most heinous of perpetrators. This doesn’t lead to allowing abuse; in fact, one is able to more powerfully prevent harm coming to the innocent, because the real issues can be faced head-on.
In situations where there is an abuser and a victim, compassion naturally arises for both the abuser and the victim, and sometimes even more so for the abuser; they are unwittingly harming both themselves and the victim. This change in perspective leads to the cycle of victim-perpetrator-savior being broken because we don’t automatically take on the role of savior, just as we don’t automatically take on the role of either the victim or the perpetrator.
Meditation is the most effective use of time
I have experienced many revelations during or after meditation sessions that led to massive reductions in effort in achieving goals. It’s one thing to drive to achieve something, but it’s a whole other level of effectiveness to spend that energy striving for the right thing. Effective and right use of effort is something that requires time for incubation and disconnection. Not only that, but the purification of the mind that comes from Vipassana practice, and the development of the ability to see things from multiple perspectives, leads to a clarity of vision that is an unparalleled asset in decision-making.
Relationships are extremely valuable to me
In my drive to be productive and effective, I often forget about the value of my social and family connections. Because meditation brings my awareness back to the reality of my human being, I become acutely aware of the true value of the people that I love. I am reminded of how important these “soft” assets are to me: the people and the relationships. I often reach out to and connect with many people following ten-day retreats, and the amount of time that I socialize seems to be correlated with the amount of time that I meditate.
My suffering is not what it seems to be
At this last retreat, I realized that there is a very similar pattern to my experiences at retreats. I have always gone through a period of feeling down, regretful, and anxious. This is in contrast to what many others experience: bouts of anger. At least until now, I don’t seem to have struggled with a large number of mental impurities related to anger. I realized that the water I swim in is colored with sadness, regret, and anxiety. I didn’t used to even think of those states as mental impurities. Like most people, I thought that my modes of suffering where ways that I was a victim to life, that these were externally imposed by my circumstances and history. This past retreat, I understood, even more deeply than before, that these are just non-adaptive mental habits that I have unconsciously perpetuated. By returning to the Vipassana technique, I was able to release these layers of impurities and come through into more clarity.
Conclusion
This article should have given you a glimpse into the mind of a long-term meditator. If you meditate a lot yourself, perhaps what I have written is validating or comforting, or perhaps even challenging. Thanks for reading, and please remember to give this article some claps, and to subscribe to my profile here on Medium, if you have not already done so. | https://medium.com/gethealthy/what-4-300-hours-of-meditation-has-taught-me-51ad3440149e | ['Duncan Riach'] | 2020-10-20 11:52:29.438000+00:00 | ['Happiness', 'Mindfulness', 'Vipassana', 'Productivity', 'Meditation'] |
Signs of Crypto Spring: What do Binance, Bitfinex, and Consensus Conference Have in Common? | It’s been a hell of a week. Literally. With Binance losing over 7K BTC and the Bitfinex/Tether debacle keeps getting more and more complicated, it seems like everyone should be running away from crypto. But they are not. We are not. BTC price is (as of this writing) at a 6-months ATH after breaking the $6K barrier just yesterday. Why do you think that is? Does it have anything to do with NY Blockchain Week and Consensus Conference that is due next week? In this week’s analysis, we’ll dive into the leading narratives of the week and see if the “Consensus Pump Narrative” still holds water.
Bitfinex to issue a token (again) to cover its $850M lost
We’ve covered the Bitfinex/Tether debacle in-depth last week, but there have been new developments this week, mainly the official announcement of a $1B token sale by the exchange, following a more recent statement by Dong Zhao (a Bitfinex shareholder) claiming that the company already line up $1B in both hard and soft commitments.
As the technical details around the token and the sale itself are still fuzzy, it seems that the tokens will be repurchased using 27% of Bitfinex’s monthly profit and in case the lost funds are “unfrozen”, at least 95% of the “unfrozen” funds will be used to redeem and burn the LEO tokens issued in the upcoming sale. In addition, LEO will also offer discounts on trading feeds including a 15% discount of taker fees for crypto-to-crypto trading, discounted lending rate, and discounted withdrawal fees.
Market effects: It seems that the market has taken the entire event rather lightly. After dropping over 8% following the original announcement by the NYAG, the market quickly recuperated and has risen to levels higher than before the announcement. On a side note, Bitfinex did open a rather wide BTC premium gap compared to the rest of the market (peaking at ~$400, which are a little over 6% of BTC price at the time), showing the market is pricing the risk in trading with Bitfinex due to the latest events. Since then, probably due to the official announcement of the sale and supposed commitments, the gap has narrowed down to less than $140 (which are less than 3% of BTC price), an even lower premium than the one that existed before the recent debacle. This premium exists mainly due to the Bitfinex’s 3% withdrawal fees which are significantly higher than the rest of the market.
Binance hacked, Looses over 7K BTC.
Chinese crypto exchange Binance suffered a significant hack on Tuesday. The company formally notified the public that the hackers had employed a diverse range of tactics to gain access to sensitive information and performed a single transaction sapping 7,000 bitcoins from Binance’s hot wallet, roughly 2 percent of the company’s entire BTC holdings. Binance will use reserves from its Secure Assets Fund for Users (SAFU fund) to compensate clients. Post-hack, it seems that the hackers are moving their stolen BTC into smaller and smaller wallets in an effort to hide their tracks. But the hack, which isn’t a first for Binance, wasn’t the real topic of discussion. In the announcement about the hack, Binance CEO, CZ, said he was considering a rollback of the Bitcoin blockchain to recover the funds. While he quickly withdrew the idea, after contemplating its potential impact on public perception of Bitcoin, the debate around whether such a play would be good, bad and even possible, let alone its effects on the industry has taken center stage.
Market effects: While in Bitfinex’s case, it took the market nearly a week to bounce back to previous levels, in Binance’s case, it took less than 24 hours for Bitcoin’s price to return to prior highs and even break them soon after. Whether it was the fact that it was “only” $40M and not $850, or the fact that CZ promised that all the money would be returned with Binance’s SAFU insurance fund, it seems that the market has learned to price such events at face value, instead of the usual FUD we got used to in previous years.
The debate on the whether CZ really does have the power to push a re-org on the Bitcoin Blockchain is a bigger and more important one to have, as it speaks volumes on Bitcoin’s actual decentralization and the ability of one person to control the blockchain if “he chooses to.”
Are you ready for the “Consensus Pump”?
Consensus conference has become one of the most critical events in the crypto space since it was the first event in 2015. While only four events were held until this year, the hype around the conference and the announcements during the event, always had some kind of flare that sent the crypto market to new highs. But last year things went sideways. Not only was the entire market going bear, but it seemed that the infamous “Consensus Pump” has lost its mojo and even the largest crypto event in recorded history can’t stand the big bear.
With the fifth annual Consensus just days away, and knowing that the conference can have a powerful impact on the growth of the market and industry, we wanted to remind you how things looked in the last four years before and after the event.
Even though it doesn’t mean anything, if you look at the average of the past four years of post-Consensus data, it seems like Bitcoin price rose on average 77%, while altcoins rose an average of 160%. If Bitcoin can keep its bullish momentum from the last few weeks, we just might see it at $10K in the next few months. But the world doesn’t work on average, so we probably won’t.
Clearing Out Crypto Winter, Hello Crypto Spring!
It seems like Bitcoin has aligned itself with the actual seasons of the year. Since early April we’ve been seeing an increase in both price and fundamentals of Bitcoin, as well as a chain of events that indicate market sentiment is changing. Just like natural spring, it doesn’t mean it can’t rain anymore, but it seems that the snow days are over. The market’s reaction (or lack thereof) to both Bitfinex and Binance’s latest news is another proof that the winter as gone. In bull markets, even significant events that should have a negative effect on the market seem to have a minor one (if any). In our case, the market didn’t ignore the events completely, it just learned to price them at face value rather quickly and narrowed the actual effects into the relevant places (Bitfinex premium, Tether, and BNB) instead of throwing FUD on the entire market. Getting ready for consensus next week, it would be interesting to see how the market would react, and I recommend to follow carefully for interesting announcements and see how the market reacts. A return of the Consensus Pump might be the breaking point we are all waiting for to take us back to bull territory. | https://medium.com/@yaniv.feldman/signs-of-crypto-spring-what-do-binance-bitfinex-and-consensus-conference-have-in-common-e2c601ca706c | ['Yaniv Feldman'] | 2019-05-09 23:12:05.696000+00:00 | ['Binance', 'Consensus 2019', 'Bitcoin', 'Bitfinex', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Check Out the Most Demanding Hospital Jobs for College Students | It is needless to say that getting hospital jobs for college students is a difficult task. When you start looking for a professional medical job just after completing college, it becomes very difficult to show your skills and experience. But if you gain hands-on experience in this field, it will add some value to your resume. By doing so, you can grab the attention of the employer at once.
Benefits for College Students of Doing Hospital Jobs
In today’s age, college students get a lot of opportunities of hospital internship jobs. These hospital jobs for college students with no experience add great value to a freshers resume. When you complete a part-time hospital job and gain a certificate, you can show your employer that you have gained hands-on experience in this field. Thus, it will gradually increase the chances of getting a medical professional job.
Moreover, college students’ hospital jobs are not only for gaining hands-on experience but also allowing you to earn some money while studying in college. Here, in this blog, you will come to know about some lucrative part-time hospital jobs for college students. These part-time hospital jobs will allow you to gain experience in the healthcare industry and pave the path to establish a promising career in this field.
So, now without wasting much time, let’s have a look at some entry-level part-time hospital jobs which prove beneficial for college students.
What jobs can a College Student get at a Hospital?
Here we are discussing a list of part-time hospital jobs for college students
1. Summer camp nursing assistant job
This is said to be one of the best part-time jobs for college students who want to do something in their summer break. As an assistant, you will become the right-hand helper of the camp nurse. This nursing assistant job is a great choice, especially for those who are interested in pursuing a career in the pediatric sector.
As an assistant, your job responsibilities will be distributing daily medicine to the campers, dressing the wounds under the guidance and supervision of the professional nurse. You may also take part in various medical education-related activities with the camping staff.
Most of the nursing assistants are college students. One can do this part-time job easily as per their convenience. You really don’t need a degree to obtain this position. But once you complete this part-time internship, you will get a valid certificate, which you can use for your future career prospect.
2. Transporter
Before you complete your graduation degree, you can take your first in the field of the healthcare industry as a transporter. This is an excellent option for assisted living. As a transporter, you can observe all hospital activities closely from the inside. You can also establish communication with various patients to develop your interpersonal skills. If you are social and love interacting with people, then this is one of the best hospital jobs for college students you can opt for.
As a transporter, you will coordinate with the doctors and nurses. You will transport patients from one ward to another on stretchers, wheelchairs, hospital beds. You will bring a patient to the X-ray room, CT scan room, and Operation Theater as well.
To grab a part-time transporter job, you don’t need a valid certificate or degree. By doing this job, students can gain hands-on experience in the medical field.
3. Dietary Aide
As a dietary aide, you can start your journey in the healthcare field by preparing meals for patients that strictly adhere to doctors’ dietary restrictions. This may include specialized forms of diets such as renal diet, 2-gram sodium diet, cardiac diet, etc. Being a dietary aide, you can start working from anywhere, right from the hospital to an assisted living family, where you will be hired to provide support to the outpatients.
Basically, a dietary aide position does not require any certificate and education except a high school diploma. By joining this profession, you can gain hands-on training experience.
4. Monitor Technician
As a monitor technician, you will get to work directly in an intensive care unit and constantly monitor the patient’s heart-rate. You will be responsible for observing whether there is any abnormality in the heart rate or the condition of the patient. If you notice any abnormality, it is your duty to inform the head nurse or the doctor.
It is a great option for those who are interested in cardiac care mainly. If you really desire to work in an intensive care unit or want to be a cardiac care nurse, this is one of the best part-time hospital jobs for college students.
You don’t need any diploma, degree, or medical records other than a high school diploma to acquire this position.
5. Personal Care Aide
If you would like to sharpen up your caregiving abilities, you can surely opt for this service. As a personal care aide, you will get to work with the patients having mental illness and impairment. You have to provide support and companionship to your patients in accomplishing their daily tasks such as shopping, dressing, preparing meals, paying bills, and so on.
By opting for this part-time job, you can spend a large amount of time interacting with the patients. This experience will gradually help you to improve your emotional intelligence. Your communication skill will improve a lot while communicating with the patients who are in deep pain or facing impairment.
To become a personal aide, you don’t need any particular educational qualification. By opting for this part-time job, you can gain hands-on experience in first aid and CPR, respectively.
6. Orderly
This is an excellent hospital job for college students. Students who joined in this field get the chance to know what goes on behind the scenes in a hospital. By taking up this job, you have to answer call signals, sanitize the patients’ rooms and various hospital equipment, determining the patients’ requirements, etc.
Not only this, but you will also escort patients to the operation theater, the X-ray room, CT scan room. By working as an orderly, you will gain experience in the hospital’s operation. Also, you will get a chance to interact with a wide range of patients.
For more, check here👉👉👉https://bit.ly/2WIQYv1 | https://medium.com/dev-genius/check-out-the-most-demanding-hospital-jobs-for-college-students-c98d2c940d35 | ['Online Tutors Helpline'] | 2020-12-25 10:05:28.034000+00:00 | ['Hospital', 'Jobs', 'College', 'Careers', 'Students'] |
COSS.IO October 24th 2018 updates | On the 14th of October, an incident was reported to us. One of our users was targeted by a third party, and his funds were reported stolen.
We take the security of our exchange and users very seriously, and an immediate and thorough investigation was launched.
For security reasons, we cannot go into detail on our methods, but the results of the investigation shows that the user’s password was compromised outside of COSS; at no time was any user password breached on our systems.
We urge all users to use a password that is exclusive to the platform you use.
Additional security measures have been implemented to prevent the stolen funds from crashing the order books.
To our community, we would like to seek your cooperation to monitor any transactions from this address which we believe to be the wallet containing the stolen funds:
To the perpetrator(s) of this incident, if you are reading this; we will not pursue this case any further if you return the 9.8 million COSS tokens as seen in the linked address above to the ERC address below:
0x8bdfCC2C644Ef0bd226dfccbBDaa7553930560a0
Upon receipt of the funds, we will undertake the appropriate actions to make sure that the funds are returned to the rightful owner. | https://medium.com/coss-official/coss-io-october-24th-2018-updates-180ca2bb003b | ['Coss Team'] | 2018-10-24 05:21:18.620000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Exchange', 'Coss', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Ugly Feet | Picture taken by author.
The rats are singing again, they mimic our whispers, and make the bed-sheets cover up in shame.
The silence explodes, it erases the words our fingers drew in the air. The regrets won’t stop mocking me.
The bachata dances in solitude. The red tulips curl up their dry arms. The floor mourns the absence of your ugly feet.
The world spins again. The yellow sun slaps my face. Do you miss how the white moon washed our thick hair?
You know all of this, don’t you, mi amor? Your kisses, your besos, remain my fable. | https://medium.com/@ausubelpichardo/ugly-feet-f8a8e3ca3ad1 | ['Ausubel Pichardo'] | 2020-12-04 16:54:08.709000+00:00 | ['Poem', 'Breakups', 'Poetry', 'Love', 'Sadness'] |
System Usability Scale (SUS) explained | Here is what you need to know about System Usability Scale commonly known as the SUS with 5 easy steps to follow.
How and why it works?
You will find a lot of plagiarized information on this subject on the internet and wonder if anyone has actually given it any thought of their own. Barring a couple of original sites, most sites have the same information.
Hence, I have tried to demystify this scale and how it works.
Yes, there are 10 “standard” questions in a likert scale that goes from Strongly Disagree to Strongly agree.
Most sites have published these standard questions which often don’t suit the project that your are working on.
Here are the standard set of 10 questions.
I think that I would like to use this system frequently. I found the system unnecessarily complex. I thought the system was easy to use. I think that I would need the support of a technical person to be able to use this system. I found the various functions in this system were well integrated. I thought there was too much inconsistency in this system. I would imagine that most people would learn to use this system very quickly. I found the system very cumbersome to use. I felt very confident using the system. I needed to learn a lot of things before I could get going with this system.
Step 1
You will need to change some of this language to suit your needs.
But STOP.
Before you change the language, understand what this set is trying to achieve.
Each group of 2 is measuring a similar “thing”. Lets take the first 2 questions for example:
I think that I would like to use this system frequently. I found the system unnecessarily complex.
One might say that this set measures usefulness of the system/software/website/app.
If you split the above 10 questions into groups of 2, you may notice the following 5 categories emerge (more or less).
(The language in the original questions doesn’t work well.) 1. Usefulness
2. Ease of use
3. Efficiency
4. Learnability
5. Satisfaction
However, you can come up with your own set of questions that (more or less) fit in these 5 categories.
Then under each category craft 2 questions — One in a positive tone and the other in a negative tone.
Even numbered questions are always in a negative tone.
Once you have this down. The rest is easy and has been said on several different sites. If you know how it works after this, you may not read further. If you don’t please continue.
Step 2
Your likert scale should look something like this (with a total of 10 questions):
Likert scale sample
Step 3
Once you get your data in a spreadsheet, replace all in the following way:
Strongly Disagree: 1 point
Disagree: 2 points
Neutral: 3 points
Agree: 4 points
Strongly Agree: 5 points
Your spreadsheet should look something like this:
SUS spreadsheet — words replaced with numbers
Step 4
The column after the last question should contain the following formula with appropriate cell numbers, like so:
=((F2–1)+(5-G2)+(H2–1)+(5-I2)+(J2–1)+(5-K2)+(L2–1)+(5-M2)+(N2–1)+(5-O2))*2.5
Step 5
Take the average of the column (in this case column P) with the above formula, like so:
What does it all mean?
The hypothesis for modifying the questions based on categories above, is that the adjective rating below, will still hold true, because the original questions organically fall into these categories.
It has been brought to my attention by John Brooke, the creator of SUS, that the categories I am suggesting above are an unintentional coincidence.
However, to me the organic conincidence is a result of the very nature of usability. In other words… it had to be so.
It will be interesting to study the SUS scores based on the above suggestion and see if the adjective rating or the benchmarking suggested below still holds true.
> 80.3 = A Best imaginable/Excellent
68–80.3 = B Good
68 = C Okay
51–68 = D Poor
< 51 = F Worst Imaginable /Awful
Hope this helps some of you who are a little bit unsure of the SUS works, like I was not a long time ago! :) | https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/system-usability-scale-explained-5f98dcf4a740 | ['Swapnali Thakar'] | 2021-09-13 15:40:55.686000+00:00 | ['System Usability Scale', 'Usability', 'Measuring Usability', 'UX', 'Sus'] |
Part 2, Work Faster and Better | Photo by Hal Gatewood on Unsplash
First off, working fast does not mean sloppily stuff code into file, then stuff file into production. No that is not what I mean at all. What I am talking about is different from the harried quick deploys that a lot teams unfortunately undertake.
So in my early days, I was not invited to anything but stand ups. I got 3 minutes of fame daily and that is all the time I got to be heard. The rest of the time was for Seniors and Leads to discuss things out. With time and commits merged into master, I started getting invited to meetings where “new” features were being discussed and I started realizing a couple senior engineers respond in two ways ( for the most part ) to such requests.
Engineer Response 1
The-NO-Response, I call this one “start with NO”. Have the product folks work hard to convince you to spend your precious and time working on this feature. The product person was met with nothing but resistance and the final scope of the feature would be about 10% of what the product person requested.
Now there is some value in doing this and some of you will recognize this as a valid path to at MVP ( Minimal Viable Product). This practice essentially took a big idea and whittled it down into something that can fit into a sprint. The process was painful to watch, especially when the receiver does not understand that a MVP is what is being scoped out from a larger vision.
Thing is I think the engineer was not really trying to get a MVP out of feature, a lot of the time I think what was happening is that the engineer was trying to talk the feature off the table entirely. The individual usually wanted to spend time pursuing technical endeavors such as improving tests, or upgrading a needed library or improving the infrastructure. All good and valid concerns such as paying back technical debt. From this vantage point an unproven, uninitiated features are a waste of his/her time. I was surprised by the push back and a lot of times I would wonder how the business teams are putting up with such resistance. The technical debt vs new functionality debate rages on, this post is not about that issue.
Engineer Response 2
Endless bickering and arguing. This would be especially pronounced if multiple senior engineers were involved. Arguments that stretch for days about infrastructure choice, design choice, algorithm choice it would take a lot of time to reach a conclusion or get something productive to happen. This would be even worse if time pressure was added. The time stress would cause flare outs and even weirder responses. The entire time I would sit there thinking….wow we are arguing about arcane tech details no one cares about. In the last ten years this has improved in a huge way, implementation details are kept hidden. Discussions happen on a higher level, however arguments regarding philosophy are common place. I was happy to be invited and I would use these situation to listen and observe. I would ask questions once in a while in order to move the ball forward but in general I knew my place and I would remain out of the fray.
No more talk, time to code.
Most meaningful feature walk throughs or introductions would follow this now very familiar pattern. It would be Response 1 or 2 or some combination of both. I wondered in my mind at times, “hey some of what they are asking is easy” . One out of the 5 things they wanted is hard and engineering is pushing back on the entire thing because of that 1 hard thing. The situation was untenable, but I have found myself on teams that arrive here. I don’t think this happens intentionally, some of this is simply how engineers communicate. Back in the early 2010's codes of conduct were not as common place as they are now. Burnout was common, macho bravado ruled the earth. Feature grooming was likely an aggressive activity, with a lot of push back and complaints lodged at the junior product manager sent over to get “buy in” from the engineers.
Now that I was part of this new forum I began building relationships with the business folks ( product, marketing, account executives). I never wanted to break ranks outrightly with engineering so I would probe my leads on why the push back was so strong in private. Why are we calling out requirements ( we know will never be complete and detailed enough ) ? I never received a satisfactory answer for the most part. What I imagine is a lot of Senior Engineers/Leads have been trained by circumstance to guard themselves and their teams from burn out and over commitment. No one every told me this outrightly, now that I am in a leadership position it is something I notice myself engaging in behavior to keep my team from being thrown under the bus.
The Plan (Minimal Maybe Viable Product)
At some point I got tired of the bickering, the endless jargon, the constant back and forth. The problem I began understanding is that we were making tons of assumptions based on thin requirements or light mock ups. I decided I would quickly build a prototype that the business folks wanted and use that to explore and understand future behaviors and configurations. I spun up a very quick version of what folks were asking for. When I say quick I mean super/duper quick. I used Rails Scaffolds where I could, links did not work , buttons were broken ( but something displayed ) I had url paths added so that I can fake navigate. Although we have better tooling today with things like inVision and/or sketch not all companies invest in such tools. Product folks would build out mock ups and watch them bite the dust on first contact with engineering. To solve for this I created flimsy prototypes in order to explore the problem space and understand requirements a bit better. When I first told a colleague about this approach, he told me to be careful because the prototype might become the actual production code. To guard against this the prototypes only sort of worked…they were Minimal Not Viable Products. With time and other engineers getting involved, this practice evolved.
Benefits of the approach
First off, this “light weight experimentation” or “spikes” (as they are lovingly called) caught on in a big way. Doing these little mock features had all kinds of benefits:
It got the engineer thinking about what will be needed if we really build this out for real. This was an immense value. Estimates became way more accurate. While doing a little fun hacking around you get to understand what the tricky bits will be and that paid off right away in “better” judgements around time and complexity. Whoever did the prototype came up to speed quickly on the details and could now serve as the domain expert. There was less reliance on a lead hashing details out, this made the process scalable compared to what we had before. Engineers liked coding ( no surprise ) more than imagining how something will work on paper or in tools or in Photoshop and so it was a win from that point of view.
On any team where I introduced this, it sort of brought some positive mojo back into the team. I have thought about this a lot and maybe doing this kind of work brings engineers back into “tinkering” mode which is a great feeling.
Eventually with time as the team got better and better at this practice, we began making small changes to our prototyping practice so that we can pivot to production readiness faster. Some examples:
Engineers started practicing TDD, although when I first started I skipped this overhead. Including TDD made a big difference in time-to-market when we decided to productionalize. In hindsight, I should have never stopped doing TDD for this, but that is the journey. Engineers started adding small flags and config switches to the code so that we can release parts of the code into production without exposing the softer bits which still needed to be hardened in development. Previous to this practice the scrum master would assign tasks in a ad-hoc fashion. Having deeper insight into how the work breaks down into tasks allowed for much better task breakdown and assignment.
Refine and Refine some more
Today one of the first things that happens on my team when we decide to build a big new feature. Is that we create a “spike” ticket or a “research ticket” ( for those of you in a buttoned up environment ). Here is the workflow that has proved to be successful at multiple companies:
Create a research ticket with a strict time box around it. 2 to 3 days tops. The time upfront pays huge dividends in terms of accuracy of estimates and scope of work. The deliverable from the ticket should be a small simple prototype with some of the mainline behaviors requested. The code should be chockfull of notes // documentation ( Not Helpful Code Comments ). None of these notes make it into production. These are notes to self that will be used during the real build out. Funny side note: If you ask an engineer to hand in some documentation you will likely never see it, but if you ask them to write some code and put some notes in a file and commit to git…that happens by EOD ( total magic ). Present findings to the rest of the team. Communicating the hard bits, the integration points, third-party dependencies, unknown complexity that was unearthed all has to brought up and put in front of everyone. Generally once the discussions above happen, the features is broken down and ticketed for real to be built for production.
This is a rough cut of the process that I proved to work well for me, I encourage you to take some version of it….refine it…then refine it some more.
Next Episode:
It’s the manager stupid!
This post is part of series:
Start of the series
Part 1: Learn you something | https://medium.com/@ridingwithrails/part-2-work-faster-and-better-9ffbddd45efa | ['Rails Rider'] | 2020-06-14 00:56:11.224000+00:00 | ['Efficiency', 'Process', 'Rapid Prototyping', 'Bootcamp', 'Software Development'] |
How personalized design is different from traditional design | What is personalization?
According to Blom (2000), personalization is defined as
“a process that changes the functionality, interface, information content, or distinctiveness of a system to increase its personal relevance to an individual. ”
This definition is from HCI background. So if we translate it to product design, it means:
“a process that defines or changes the appearance or functionality of a product to increase its personal relevance to an individual.” - From Mugge, Schoormans, & Schifferstein (2009,p.468)
Personalization was highlighted as production paradigms changed: Mass production, Mass customization, and Personalization. To understand personalization, comparing it with ‘mass customization’ is the easiest way.
Goals of the manufacturing paradigms from Hu(2013)
Key differences between mass production, mass customization and personalized production from Hu(2013)
Mass Customization is a production paradigm that emerged in the late 1980s, which aims to produce goods and services to satisfy the customers’ individual requirements with mass production efficiency (Pine Ⅱ, 1994). In mass customization, mass production efficiency was achieved by product family architectures and a modular system. While mass customization discusses how to provide various products based on reasonable production costs, personalization focuses on personal relevance to consumers that services and products should have (Mugge, Schoormans, & Schifferstein, 2009). In this regard, personalization is a concept that further developed to customer-orientation perspective than mass customization. Customers perform a more active role in personalization to provide the most customer-relevant product. They are not just choosing given module parts, but involved in the design process as co-creators.
Here I briefly explained. But if you want to read more about the production paradigm evolution, I recommend the article of Hu(2013) — It’s open access!
Why personalization is important: the era of creative consumers
Personalization is not about a result but a process and experience.
Various studies emphasized personalization as a process which diverse interactions with customers and emotions occur (Blom & Monk, 2003; Mugge, Schoormans, & Schifferstein, 2009; Tseng, Jiao,& Wang, 2010). Tseng, Jiao, & Wang (2010) explains : | https://uxdesign.cc/how-personalized-design-is-different-from-traditional-design-430e9f8df753 | ['Hyoyon Paik'] | 2019-07-14 19:35:07.689000+00:00 | ['Personalization', 'Visual Design', 'UX', 'Design Process', 'Data Visualization'] |
How to invest in one of the biggest opportunities — Platform (infrastructure) Coins | There are roughly 2000 cryptocurrencies, and the majority of the Top 100 (in terms of market capitalization) are platform or infrastructure projects. In 2017 platforms like Ethereum, EOS and Icon captured the markets with not only massive market appreciation, but with the potential of what kind of technology can be built on top of these.
Why invest in Platform Tokens ?
If there is a consistently high percentage of platform coins in the top market caps, this would indicate their popularity as an investment. Considering in 2017 most of the 221 ICOs were built on Ethereum — erc20 tokens, we can begin to understand the potential of platform (infrastructure) tokens.
Primarily Developers can build dApps and other technologies on top of these platforms, thus making the potential much more than just a single use case.
In the face of market volatility, we can focus on the fundamentals. As already listed, the fundamentals and potential of platform coins, outweigh many others.
Let’s package crypto platforms into a basket — If you’re not aware of crypto baskets, please see our introduction here.
WHAT WOULD A CRYPTO PLATFORM BASKET LOOK LIKE?
Top platform coins to add in your crypto basket
ETHEREUM
Ethereum is the second largest cryptocurrency, behind Bitcoin.
A platform that allows developers to build decentralized apps (dApps) and technologies. With each new innovation on the platform, this has increased the adoption rate of Ethereum and hence creating a network effect, increasing its value. Ethereum appreciated 3000% in 2017. Currently, there are 1749 dApps operating on Ethereum — explore some of them here.
EOS
EOS, Ethereum Operating System, is a network and platform for applications built on Ethereum that performs many of the same functions, with much greater capacity — up to millions of transactions per second. The purpose of EOS is to enable highly-scalable applications that can interact with the Ethereum blockchain. By defining new governance method in blockchain and $4 billion in funding, EOS hails at 5th position in the market. To read more about EOS read the article
NEO
NEO cryptocurrency, initially AntShares (ANS), was launched in 2014. It is a platform to make decentralized applications and is treated as China’s answer to Ethereum. Both cryptocurrencies use smart contracts but NEO takes advantage of its unique blockchain in order to improve on Ethereum’s network.
Palettes gives you the option of investing in intelligently weighted crypto portfolios, from the comfort of your own trusted exchange account. Palettes are developed from baskets — like the platform basket listed in this article. You can be a part of the Palettes Alpha and even have a say in what sort of Palettes you would like to see available — join the conversation in the Palettes Telegram community. | https://medium.com/palettes/how-to-invest-in-one-of-the-biggest-opportunities-platform-infrastructure-coins-5445438c6c5b | [] | 2018-08-08 06:16:07.462000+00:00 | ['Crypto', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency Investment', 'Investing', 'Palettes'] |
You never knew the Indian RAW and Israeli Mossad were this close! | The relationship of RAW and Mossad reached a greater height when Ajit Doval was appointed as the National Security Advisor for India.
If you have closely watched the Facebook live video of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu during Modi’s visit to Israel, when Bibi introduced Yossi Cohen, their NSA who is also the current chief of Mossad, I remember PM Modi telling “Doval is in close contact with your NSA”.
While going through the news, I read the 7 agreements India and Israel singed during Modi’s visit and one among them was Intelligence Sharing.
The RAW and Mossad have same motto that is zero tolerance towards terrorism and the Indian intelligence promised to share any kind of threat to Israel from Asia and Mossad promised the same from Middle East.
The bromance of Mossad and RAW started in early 70’s when India was under Operation Kahuta where it spied the Pakistani Nuclear base but all thanks to Morarji Desai, a retard PM who destroyed the game which eventually resulted in assassination of all undercover agents in Pak.
It is also a well know news that during PM Modi’s G20 summit visit in Turkey, the RAW had gathered intelligence of a probable attack on Modi and many other world leaders. The Indian intelligence agency RAW managed to gain help from British intelligence MI6 and Mossad for the complete security of Narendra Modi till he landed back in India.
Ajit Doval and Yossi Cohen. Real life James Bonds :)
Footnotes,
Mossad, MI5 roped in to shield Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Turkey?
India-Israel intelligence co-operation | https://medium.com/@vikyathrten/you-never-knew-indian-raw-and-israeli-mossad-were-this-close-d8d85fd941ad | ['Vikyath Kumar'] | 2020-12-09 12:29:01.002000+00:00 | ['Mossad', 'India', 'Research And Analysis', 'Israel'] |
Fundamentals of Supervised Sentiment Analysis | Model Evaluation
Evaluation
Typically our data will have a high class-imbalance problem as people are more likely to write about neutral or positive tweets than negative tweets in most cases. But for most business problems, our model must detect these negative tweets. So we will keep an eye out for these by looking at the macro-averaged f1-score as well as the precision-recall curve. Below function will plot the ROC curve and precision-recall curve and print the key evaluation metrics.
Baseline Model
We can use a scikit-learn’s DummyClassifier to first see what our baseline measure would be if we were to just classify it based on how frequently each class occurs.
from sklearn.dummy import DummyClassifier
dummy_classifier = DummyClassifier()
dummy_classifier.fit(tweets_train, labels_train) y_pred_p = dummy_classifier.predict_proba(tweets_validation)
y_pred = dummy_classifier.predict(tweets_validation)
Bag-of-Words Model (Count Vectors)
One of the simplest way to quantify text data is to just count the frequency of each word. The scikit-learn’s CountVectorizer can do that job easily.
from sklearn.feature_extraction.text import CountVectorizer
countvec = CountVectorizer(ngram_range = (1, 2), min_df = 2)
count_vectors = countvec.fit_transform(tweets_train)
This returns the count vectors of single vocabularies and bigrams that occurs at least twice. Then we can use thes count vectors to train different classification algorithms.
TF-IDF Vectors
A problem with the count vector is that it only looks at the frequency of individual word and it does not care about the context in which the word occurs. There’s no way to assess whether how important specific word in a tweet is. This is where the term frequency — inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) score comes in. TF-IDF score weighs words that are more uniquely frequent in one tweet more than words that tend to be frequent across all tweets.
from sklearn.feature_extraction.text import TfidfVectorizer
tfvec = TfidfVectorizer(ngram_range = (1, 2), min_df = 2)
tf_vectors = tfvec.fit_transform(tweets_train)
Now that we have two vectorized texts, we can test different classifiers for each of these vectors.
Naive-Bayes
Naive-Bayes is one of the more popular choices for text classification. It’s a simple application of Bayes Theorem on each class and the predictors, and it assumes that each individual features (words in our case) are independent of each other.
So let’s say, we have a tweet that reads… “I love my new phone. It’s really fast, reliable and well-designed!”. This tweet clearly has a positive sentiment. In this case, the Naive-Bayes model assumes that the individual words like ‘love’, ‘new’, ‘really’, ‘fast’, ‘reliable’, all contribute independently to its positive class. In other words, likelihood of the tweet being positive when it uses the word ‘reliable’ does not change by other words. This does not mean that these words are independent in their appearances. Some words may tend to appear together more often than not, but that does not mean how much each word contributes to its class is dependent.
Naive-Bayes algorithm is simple to use and reliable when the above assumption holds. Since testing on our model requires vectorization, we can get the pipeline built into our model.
from sklearn.naive_bayes import MultinomialNB
from sklearn.pipeline import Pipeline mn_nb = MultinomialNB() # change countvec to tfvec for tf-idf
model = Pipeline([('vectorize', countvec), ('classify', mn_nb)]) # fitting training count vectors (change to tf_vectors for tf-idf)
model['classify'].fit(count_vectors, labels_train) y_pred_p = model.predict_proba(tweets_validation)
y_pred = model.predict(tweets_validation)
evaluating(labels_validation, y_pred, y_pred_p)
Because of its assumption of independence between features, Naive Bayes overestimates confidence of how much each feature contributes to the label, making it a bad estimator. So take the probability of predictions with a grain of salt.
Support Vector Machine (SVM)
Another popular choice of the text classification algorithm is the support vector machine (SVM). Simply put, SVM finds the hyperplane that divides the classes with a maximum margin between them. The main reason SVM is preferred in text classification is that we tend to end up with a lot of features. If we were to work in such a high dimensional space that takes all our features, it would have caused a problem known as the curse of dimensionality. Basically, our space is too big that our observations start to lose their meanings. But SVM is more robust when dealing with a large number of features because it uses the kernel trick. SVM does not actually work in the high dimensions, it just looks at the pairwise distances between observations as if they are in the high dimensions. It does take a long time to do the job, but it is robust.
from sklearn.svm import SVC svm_classifier = SVC(class_weight = 'balanced', probability= True)
# don't forget to adjust the hyperparameters! # change countvec to tfvec for tf-idf
svm_model = Pipeline([('vectorize', countvec), ('classify', svm_classifier)]) # fitting training count vectors (change to tf_vectors for tf-idf)
svm_model['classify'].fit(count_vectors, labels_train) y_pred_p = svm_model.predict_proba(tweets_validation)
y_pred = svm_model.predict(tweets_validation)
evaluating(labels_validation, y_pred, y_pred_p)
SHAP Evaluation
When the SVM uses the kernel trick, things get into a bit of grey area, in terms of interpretability. But we can use the Shapley value to decipher how individual features are contributing to the classification. We’ll use SHAP’s friendly interface to visualize the Shapley values. For a detailed tutorial on this, I recommend reading the documentation on SHAP.
import shap
shap.initjs()
sample = shap.kmeans(count_vectors, 10)
e = shap.KernelExplainer(svm_model.predict_proba, sample, link = 'logit')
shap_vals = e.shap_values(X_val_tf, nsamples = 100)
shap.summary_plot(shap_vals,
feature_names = countvec.get_feature_names(),
class_names = svm_model.classes_)
Phew, that was a lot. Let’s take a breather. Photo by freestocks on Unsplash
LSTM
Let’s dive a little bit deeper (literally). So far we worked with two different frequency measures to quantify our text data. But the frequency of each word tells only little bit of the story. Understanding language and its meaning requires understanding of syntax, or at the very least, the sequence of words. So we will look at a deep learning architecture that cares about the sequence of vocabularies: the long short-term memory (LSTM) architecture.
For the LSTM, we need to feed in texts as a sequence. Below steps outline the steps to run and evaluate the LSTM classifier. I explained each step in the code.
Word Embedding (GloVe)
One downside of our LSTM model is that it only contains information that’s present within our training data, while vocabularies have semantic meanings outside of the tweets. Knowing how each vocabulary relates to each other in terms of semantic similarity may help our model. We can apply weights to our vocabularies based on the pre-trained word embedding algorithm.
For this, we will use GloVe, the vector representations obtained by a team at Stanford. I’m using their 200 dimensions word vectors trained on 2 Billion tweets. You will need to download the vectors from their website.
Then you can add the obtained vector matrix as embedding weights to the Embedding layer of our LSTM architecture.
# adding the bolded part
model.add(Embedding(num_vocab, 200, weights = [vector_matrix],
input_length = max_len))
By using the word embedding and LSTM, my model showed 20% increase in overall accuracy and 16% increase in the macro-averaged F1-score. | https://towardsdatascience.com/fundamentals-of-supervised-sentiment-analysis-1975b5b54108 | ['Eunjoo Byeon'] | 2020-12-09 16:26:51.903000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Sentiment Analysis', 'NLP', 'Python', 'Data Science'] |
Blinking Cursor | I’m a romance author with two published series who enjoys the creative freedom that Medium’s platform allows. If you enjoyed Blinking Cursor, you might also like my other poems:
© Tarrant Smith 2020 | https://medium.com/literally-literary/blinking-cursor-df27691d2959 | ['Tarrant Smith'] | 2020-07-10 12:06:30.207000+00:00 | ['Writing Life', 'Poetry On Medium', 'Poetry', 'Writing', 'Writers Block'] |
Common Graph Theory Problems | Common Graph Theory Problems
A lot of problems we encounter every day could be paraphrased to a graph problem or a near similar subproblem. So it’s required to have some familiarity with different graph variations and their applications. If you want to brush up the basics of Graph Theory - once again, you should definitely visit this. The latter will give you a brief idea about different types of Graphs and their representations.
Shortest Path Problem
One of the most common Graph problems is none other than the Shortest Path Problem. Given a weighted graph, we have to figure out the shorted path from node A to G. The shorted path out of all possible paths would definitely the one which optimizes a cost function.
Photo by Author
For instance, consider the nodes of the above given graph are different cities around the world. If you closely observe the figure, we could see a cost associated with each edge. So it’s a directed - weighted graph. Coming back to our intuition, the weights associated with each pair of cities are considered as the costs to travel between cities. To make it more convenient, let’s multiply each cost with 100$ to get a real world figure. So, the cost to travel between cities A and B is 300$, the cost between B and F is 600$ and so on. If we want to plan a cost efficient journey between two cities, we should consult this graph to estimate the overall cost. There might be multiple paths between two cities, the path we seek the most would be the one which reduces the cost to the lowest. This is a really basic but understandable example of a shortest path problem.
Luckily there exists a couple of algorithms which may lead us from node A to B with minimal cost. Breadth First Search, Dijksra’s, Bellman - Ford, Floyd - Warshall, A* and many more algorithms are available to solve shortest path problems.
Connectivity
As simple as the name suggests, connectivity is a big issue in Graph Theory which indicates does there a path exist from node A to B. One thing to be noted is, we don’t care about the minimum cost but only a path.
Photo by Author
The most basic approach to solve this problem is to do either a Breadth First Search or a Depth First Search.
Negative Cycles
Sometimes our graph would have negative edges which can rip off the entire flow of the graph. I would say a negative cycle is a never ending trap. So we examine, whether there exist a negative weighted edge between any pair of nodes and if so how does it form a cycle.
Photo by Author
There is a negative edge residing in the given graph. Obviously, it makes a contribution to the formation of negative cycles. One such cycle is (B, C, D). If we cycle through these edges, we would go endless having minimum cost, forever. Still, there are some contexts where negative cycles play an angel role. For example, if we run a money exchange game from one currency to another currency and to another, we could employ such a negative graph which in turn might produce some cost benefits. This is just a hypothesis and may or may not become true, because currency rates would not stay the same for so long. There are certain algorithms such as Bellman - Ford and Floyd - Warshall to detect negative cycles.
Strongly Connected Components
These are self contained cycles with in a directed graph, so that - each node in the cycle can reach all other nodes in the same cycle.
Photo by Author
It’s important to see whether there are strongly connected components or not. The cycles enclosed within the red boxes are the examples of such components. Different algorithms used to detect these components are Tarjan’s and Kosaraju’s algorithms.
Traveling Salesman Problem
Nobody would have completed their CS degree without hearing this term. I’m so sorry about if you didn’t. But it’s completely easy to understand and have lots of real world applications.
Photo from Essay Corp Blog
The problem is structured as given a list of cities and costs or distance between every possible pair of cities. Then a salesman has to start and finish at the same node, but have to visit each and every city exactly once in the trajectory with minimum cost or distance - depending upon the target function. The problem looks really straightforward and has got wide attention in path estimation and cost optimization problems. Several algorithms such as branch and bound and Held - Karp are available to solve this problem. This is still a computationally challenging but research continuing problem.
Bridges
Bridges are edges in a graph whose removal could increase the number of connected components in the graph. Bridges are really important because they represent the vulnerabilities and bottlenecks with in the graph.
Photo by onion-router.net
Removing the edge that connects the nodes G and N would result in two individual components which are connected. If that’s a real bridge, demolishing it would result in two isolated cities. So, a bridge is always a weak point because it’s disconnection would make additional pain points.
Similarly, an articulation point is a node whose removal causes an increase in the total number of connected components.
Minimum Spanning Tree
A minimum spanning tree is a subset of the edges which connect all the vertices together to form a tree of minimum cost.
As you can see the given graph is weighted and undirected. The bolder edges show the minimum cost spanning tree which connects all the vertices, but in a minimum cost. We formulate different problems such as route planning, circuit designing and a lot more as a Minimum Spanning Tree which could be solved by Kruskal’s and Prim’s algorithms.
Maximum Network Flow
As the name shows, these problems can be used to estimate the maximum volume (depending on the problem) a graph can accommodate. For example, if we consider the electricity network as our graph and the utility poles as the different nodes in the graph. We can have assumptions on how much electricity could be sent over the network without affecting the power grid. Another example is a mobile network where each user acts as a node in the graph. As in the former example, we can figure out the maximum number of users who can stay online without network traffic.
Photo by Author
This formulation can answer the maximum of all and predict potential bottlenecks. Different algorithms used are Ford-Fulkerson and Edmonds Karp & Dinic’s algorithms.
We have covered almost every problem in graph theory. We will discuss each and every algorithm mentioned here in the coming posts. I’m super excited to share all of them with you. Until then, see ya! | https://towardsdatascience.com/common-graph-theory-problems-ca990c6865f1 | ['Kelvin Jose'] | 2020-05-27 06:03:19.178000+00:00 | ['Graph Theory', 'Mathematical Modeling', 'Graph Theory Simplified', 'Machine Learning', 'Graph'] |
Decentralised Satellite Infrastructure | Over the past decade we have witnessed a paradigm shift in the commercialisation of space with a vast array of companies entering the space industry. It is now possible to find service providers for every stage of a space mission, from chip designers and microsatellite vendors to launch providers and ground stations services. Companies from all over the globe are now ready to service space missions. However, the way each mission is designed and executed has not seen the same transformation. Most missions are still single vendor, single purpose, and not networked to other spacecraft, resulting in an inefficient allocation of resources. To get to the next stage of the space industry spacecraft need to have the ability to network together to create collaborative satellite constellations, but there are some technical challenges:
A platform-based environment needs to be constructed with trust among various participating parties.
Communication among satellites needs to follow a unified standard to enable a flexible and efficient information routing.
SpaceChain Foundation aims to target these challenges, building an alliance consortium towards the creation of a Decentralised Satellite Infrastructure (DSI), a mesh-network of heterogeneous spacecraft owned and operated in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) by multiple parties in multiple jurisdictions. Spacecraft may join or depart the constellation at any time via a blockchain registry, as long as the crafts meet minimal economic, technical and regulatory requirements sufficient to ensure the long term health and resilience of the constellation.
Blockchain Registry of DSI
Blockchain technology supports the backbone of the DSI architecture via a Blockchain Registry. During the registry phase a satellite would certify that it met the minimum operational standards to be added to the network. Once approved the satellite would be assigned a private key and the ability to route and allocate DSI assignments via a smart-contract based blockchain bidding environment, ensuring transparency and trust.
Satellite Mesh-network Routing
With DSI, participating satellites will be able to support secure information transmission between distant parties, served as relays via a new Optical Link routing protocol. The routing protocol development focuses on how relay nodes are chosen for efficient information transmission between two distant satellites, as well as how a robust relay network could be established for the entire DSI network.
Current inter-satellite communication is based mostly on RF signals. RF transmission requires a simple hardware setup but offers slow data transmission rates. Optical links, on the other hand, provide high communication speed but also require complicated hardware including source APT (acquisition, pointing and tracking) systems and detection modules. However, for long distance communication in space, optical links have outstanding performance compared with RF, making it a necessary component for future development of satellite technology. Thus, we aim to develop an effective optical inter-satellite link model which is easy for adaptation to a traditional satellite company.
Hardware and Software Standards
SpaceChain Foundation will collaborate with partners and manufacturers to enable satellites to participate in DSI freely by developing standards related to:
Processing power: Minimum processing requirements will be applied to the participating satellites to enable activities under the Blockchain registry, smart contract ‘bidding’, mesh-network support and routing protocol for the DSI.
Data storage and encryption: Minimum storage capacity will be established for storing and synchronising DSI assignments, as well as uniform encryption standards.
Optical link bandwidth and APT systems: Minimum bandwidth for optical links and minimum hardware for APT systems will be established to maintain robust connectivity and throughput.
To enable high-speed communication, DSI would introduce optical communication links between participating satellites in addition to traditional RF communication, supported by an acquisition, pointing and tracking (APT) system. Mesh-network and routing protocols would support valid communication between satellites with RF and optical links via certain relay nodes.
Collaboration with Geosynchronous Satellites and Deep Space Research
Interoperability with geosynchronous satellites (GEO) as well as external constellations is one of the core development focuses for DSI. Although the majority of DSI satellites will be participating members of the LEO mesh-network, connections with GEO satellites and other unaffiliated external constellations would make a more robust network, as well as providing a relay for spacecraft operating in High Earth orbit or deep space.
With improved communication speed among various nodes, DSI satellites could serve as receivers for information transmitted back from satellites in deep space. A potential collaboration could be established by sending deep space exploration satellites with optical communication modules, sending back information to DSI satellites or relay the information from other deep-space satellites received by its RF module. | https://medium.com/blogspacechain/decentralised-satellite-infrastructure-5f6396c63fd3 | ['Spacechain Foundation'] | 2020-07-27 02:27:02.762000+00:00 | ['Research', 'Space', 'Articles', 'Blockchain', 'Satellite Technology'] |
The Best Startups Defy Reality | Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash
As we reach into a new era for my tech startup, SEO Turbo Booster, I had an interesting experience talking with a potential customer, partner, advisor. He gave me the talk, that I was doing something not viable, not even possible, and not something he would consider. But I told him he was not my customer, so don’t sweat it. I told him whatever we do, it’s because customers want it and pay for it, and that’s that. I had no reason to argue with him. I told him in some ways I agree, but overall I don’t. But I thanked profusely because my philosophy on this is if they disagree, it may actually be a good thing!
For the last 3 years, I have been building a tech startup, bootstrapping, finding out what customers want, need and have to have. Dozens of customers later, with a product-market fit, we are selling virtual products, every week! It happens to be in a very crowded, fragmented field, yet the future is bright. I work in niche marketing automation software for SEO. And we are just getting started.
What I loved about my conversation with this guy is he just wanted to talk with me to basically refute what I do and why what I do makes no sense. And if I was in his shoes I may have agreed. But I am not. I told him that he can be completely correct for himself, for his market. This guy is a black belt in SEO. He is not in the SEO field but like many entrepreneurs and marketers and business owners he has studied to become a guru in SEO, mainly to save on hiring one! I get it. My answer is people pay for our software because they are not black belts, they are white or green belts and they will never be black belts. We help them get to the next level without all the expertise or hiring expertise through automation software.
My failure over years to really understand what is a serious startup opportunity and what is not has not changed. I don’t know anything really. I am not a magician or can see the future. But one thing that I can gladly tell you is if there are many saying what you are doing is not possible, or not feasible, or not realistic, while it may actually all be true, there is a larger truth. That larger truth is everything that appears to be difficult, or not possible, may actually be a better opportunity than one that is a clear path. Clear paths like understanding how to sell a product on Amazon or to build an e-commerce site to mimic Amazon, Shopify, or WordPress is easy to construct philosophically. But it will ultimately fail if you just mimic. I can attest to this truth since I have consulted on dozens of startups. What you need to do as a tech startup is a search for startup areas that seem like crap; that nobody wants to do, especially if the end results are valuable. The more difficult, the more arcane, the nuttier level of understanding by competition, the more room for growth and getting sh_t done without the competition around you. That’s how I see it. Not every opportunity is visible to the naked eye. Not every opportunity is on the front page of Techcrunch.
If you think AirBNB or Uber were clearly great ideas from the beginning, you’d be wrong. If you read their early history, like many startups, they are questionable if they will get where they want to go, and questionable if the market really is there. And even more so, they may have pivoted a few times.
I was reading through a book by Warren Struhl (not a guy you all would know unless you live and work in Boca Raton!); actually I was sitting in Warren’s office years ago when I picked up Warren’s book (how else would I have read it) and he admitted he sat with Tony Hsieh of Zappos in the beginning when Tony was looking for seed capital and told Tony nobody would sell shoes on the web. My buddy Adam Kravitz, working on Jdate, told me an early investor said that people would never want to meet dates on the web and give up now it won’t work!
If you were to take everything people think about what you are going to try to do in your tech startup and actually listened to what they think about the way the world works today, you would never get anywhere. It’s all about will somebody pay for it. If they will and its legal, it’s viable!
And that’s the issue. You don’t know till you know.
I have been wrong myself about 100 startup ideas, starting right at the very beginning of the web. I never thought people would pay enough for building a website so I did not become a web developer early on. (The year was 1995). I ignored guys starting hosting companies in 1996. I remember my MBA teacher telling us people were creating hosting companies. I did not get it. I never got it. Take this missed opportunity list and times it by 100. I am a 100X loser! But I did get involved in a speed dating startup because of my partner in 2001. But not something I knew would be big. When I didn’t know, it actually happened. That is how the world works sometimes!
I ended up a web developer by 1999. I slaved as a worker, manager, corporate director. I can tell you life in a startup is so much mentally better for me than a real corporate job. But we don't know what we don't know. Sadly corporate life seems to be the problem. It made me ignorant and blind. We don’t know what is next. I never thought people in the entire world would be turned upside down by this pandemic. It happened. There are so many unknowns in this world. The only thing you can do, if you run a tech startup is to make a decision and stick with your vision if you believe in it.
The truth is people fail all the time, but often not because of their vision, but rather cash flow, misuse of funds, mismanagement, a bad idea, or just bad luck. Yes, many ways to fail or learn if you look at it that way. In the startup world, we have a saying, “You just have to be successful one time”.
There may be many ways to fail, but there are many ways to succeed. Look for the thing that nobody wants to do, and then do it well and find a way to scale!
Our website is https://www.seoturbobooster.com. We make Saas solutions that enable digital agencies and value-added resellers to automate their web landing page generation. We are looking for digital agencies to join our partner program and we are looking for VARS or companies that market to or sell to 10s, 100s, 1000s+ websites in niche industries. Think specialized Godaddy. If that is you, get in touch. One way is [email protected]!
Have a great holiday season, lay low during the pandemic, live long, and prosper! If you follow me on Medium.com I will send you a free code for my new nonfiction book coming out soon. | https://medium.com/@dgudema/the-best-startups-defy-reality-5a29c7ae303d | ['Dan Gudema'] | 2020-12-23 00:01:43.159000+00:00 | ['Digital Marketing Agency', 'SEO', 'Startup', 'Online Marketing', 'Entrepreneurship'] |
Crypto Job Openings Are Booming 🔥💰 | If AngelList traffic is any indication, people are keenly interested in bitcoin job openings today. 350+ crypto startups hiring on AngelList, including Coinbase. Work at Coinbase. Coinbase needs all the help they can get to keep up with demand. Also, CoinList is hiring as well.
If you’re interested in the space regardless of your skill set, read our guide: How to Get a Job at a Crypto Startup.
If you’re an engineer or designer and want to work at a crypto startup, join A-List. P.S. In October’s AngelList Weekly we talked about how Blockchains are the biggest technological breakthrough since the Internet. | https://medium.com/angellist-blog/crypto-job-openings-are-booming-897d529780b1 | [] | 2017-12-08 17:30:45.280000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Startup', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'Tech'] |
(HD)▷ Sváteční Rande Celý film (2020-CZ”film) | prázdninová data (2020) — [Film-online] Prázdninová data (2020) Cz Dabing. sledujte filmy o svátcích online v kvalitě HD! Prázdninové seznamovací filmy, které lze zdarma sledovat na televizi, počítači, počítači, tabletech, mobilních telefonech a Android.
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Sledování filmů:➠│ https://t.co/3uWA5BW4vj?Sledujtefilmy
Vydáno: 2020–10–27
Runtime: 104 minut
Žánr: Komedie, Romantický
Režisér: Mary Vernieu, McG, Emma E. Hickox, Shane Hurlbut, John.
Hrají: Emma Roberts, Luke Bracey, Kristin Chenoweth, Frances Fisher, Andrew Bachelor, Jessica Capshaw, Manish Dayal, Alex Moffat, Cynthy Wu, Jake Manley, Julien Marlon Samani, Nicola Peltz, Dan Lauria, Aimee Carrero, Meeghan Holaway, Carlos Lacámara, Mikaela Hoover, Carl McDowell, Jessejames Locorriere, Kurt Yue, Monib Abhat, Billy Slaughter, Briana Starks.
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In 1889, on November 1 in Gotha, Germany Anna Therese Johanne Hoch, who later would be known as Hannah Hoch was born. Being the eldest of five children, the girl was brought up in a comfortable and quiet environment of the small town. Her parents, a supervisor in an insurance company and an amateur painter sent her to Girl’s High school. However, at the age of 15 Hannah had to quit studying for the long six years to take care of her newborn sister. Only in 1912 she continued her education with Harold Bengen in School of Applied Arts, mastering glass design. As the World War I broke up Hannah returned to the native town to work in the Red Cross.
The first years after war the young woman recommenced her studying, getting to know graphic arts. 1915 was highlighted by an acquaintance with an Austrian artist Raoul Hausmann, which grew into the long-lasting romantic relationship and involvement in Berlin Dada movement. For ten years till 1926 Hoch worked in Berlin’s major publisher of newspapers and magazines. Her task was to design embroidering, knitting and crocheting patterns for the booklets.
Being on vacation with her beloved in 1918, Hannah discovered ‘the principle of photomontage in cut-and-paste images that soldiers sent to their families’ (National gallery of Art). This find affected greatly on her artistic production, and she created mass-media photographs comprising the elements of photomontage and handwork patterns, thus combining traditional and modern culture. Her prior preoccupation was to represent the ‘new woman’ of the Weimar Republic with new social role and given freedoms.
Hoch was the only woman in Berlin Dada, who took part in all kinds of events and exhibitions showcasing her socially critical works of art. Till 1931 she participated in exhibitions but with the rise of National Social regime was forbidden to present her creative work. Till her last breath in 1978 Hannah Hoch lived and worked in the outskirts of Berlin-Heiligensee.
The piece of art which is going to be analyzed in this research is ‘The beautiful girl’ designed in 1919–1920. It combines the elements of technology and females. In the middle of the picture one can clearly see a woman dressed in a modern bathing suit with a light bulb on her head which probably serves as a sun umbrella. In the background a large advertisement with a woman’s hair-do on top is presented. Maud Lavin describes strange human as ‘she is part human, part machine, part commodity’ (Lavin). The woman is surrounded by the images of industrialization as tires, gears, signals and BMW logos. A woman’s profile with the cat eyes, untrusting and skeptical, in the upper right corner is eye-catching as well. This unusually large eye symbolizes DADA movement — a monocle, which is present in almost every Hoch’s work. The colour scheme does not offer rich palette of tints, including mostly black, white, orange and red pieces. The photo is surrounded by the BMW circles which add the spots of blue.
An apt description of the piece is given in the book ‘Cut with the Kitchen Knife’ and states that it is ‘a portrait of a modern woman defined by signs of femininity, technology, media and advertising’ (Lavin). In other words Hannah Hoch focused on the woman of the new age, free and keeping up with the fast-moving world. The artist promoted feministic ideas and from her point of view urbanization and modern technologies were meant to give hope to woman to gain equality of genders. With this photomontage she commented on how the woman was expected to combine the role of a wife and mother with the role of a worker in the industrialized world. The light bulb instead of a face shows that women were perceived as unthinking machines which do not question their position and can be turned on or off at any time at man’s will. But at the same time they were to remain attractive to satisfy men’s needs. The watch is viewed as the representation of how quickly women are to adapt to the changes.
In a nutshell, Hoch concentrated on two opposite visions of the modern woman: the one from the television screens — smoking, working, wearing sexy clothes, voting and the real one who remained being a housewife.
The beautiful girl’ is an example of the art within the DADA movement. An artistic and literal current began in 1916 as the reaction to World War I and spread throughout Northern America and Europe. Every single convention was challenged and bourgeois society was scandalized. The Dadaists stated that over-valuing conformity, classism and nationalism among modern cultures led to horrors of the World War I. In other words, they rejected logic and reason and turned to irrationality, chaos and nonsense. The first DADA international Fair was organized in Berlin in 1920 exposing a shocking discontentment with military and German nationalism (Dada. A five minute history).
Hannah Hoch was introduced to the world of DADA by Raoul Hausman who together with Kurt Schwitters, Piet Mondrian and Hans Richter was one of the influential artists in the movement. Hoch became the only German woman who referred to DADA. She managed to follow the general Dadaist aesthetic, but at the same time she surely and steadily incorporated a feminist philosophy. Her aim was to submit female equality within the canvass of other DADA’s conceptions.
Though Hannah Hoch officially was a member of the movement, she never became the true one, because men saw her only as ‘a charming and gifted amateur artist’ (Lavin). Hans Richter, an unofficial spokesperson shared his opinion about the only woman in their community in the following words: ‘the girl who produced sandwiches, beer and coffee on a limited budget’ forgetting that she was among the few members with stable income.
In spite of the gender oppressions, Hannah’s desire to convey her idea was never weakened. Difficulties only strengthened her and made her an outstanding artist. A note with these return words was found among her possessions: ‘None of these men were satisfied with just an ordinary woman. But neither were they included to abandon the (conventional) male/masculine morality toward the woman. Enlightened by Freud, in protest against the older generation. . . they all desired this ‘New Woman’ and her groundbreaking will to freedom. But — they more or less brutally rejected the notion that they, too, had to adopt new attitudes. . . This led to these truly Strinbergian dramas that typified the private lives of these men’ (Maloney).
Hoch’s technique was characterized by fusing male and female parts of the body or bodies of females from different epochs — a ‘traditional’ woman and ‘modern’, liberated and free of sexual stereotypes one. What’s more, combining male and female parts, the female ones were always more distinctive and vibrant, while the male ones took their place in the background. Hannah created unique works of art experimenting with paintings, collages, graphic and photography. Her women were made from bits and pieces from dolls, mannequins of brides or children as these members of the society were not considered as valuable.
Today Hannah Hoch is most associated with her famous photomontage ‘Cut with the kitchen knife DADA through the last Weimer Beer-Belly Cultural epoch of Germany’ (1919–1920). This piece of art highlights social confusion during the era of Weimar Republic, oppositionists and government radicals (Grabner). In spite of never being truly accepted by the rest of her society, this woman with a quiet voice managed to speak out loud her feministic message.
Looking at Hannah Hoch’s art for the first time I found it confusing, because couldn’t comprehend the meaning. It was quite obvious that every single piece and structure is a symbol of the era, its ideas and beliefs. However, after having learned about her life and constant endeavors to declare about female’s right, little by little I started to realize what’s what. As an object for research I chose ‘The beautiful girl’ as, to my mind, its theme and message intersects with the modern tendency: a successful, clever, beautiful and free woman has to become one in no time, cause the world is moving faster and faster. I enjoyed working with this artist as her example is inspiring and is worth following. | https://medium.com/@bundaayah010903/hd-sv%C3%A1te%C4%8Dn%C3%AD-rande-cel%C3%BD-film-2020-cz-film-8c8d66dc1b00 | [] | 2020-12-27 20:49:00.596000+00:00 | ['Sváteční Rande', '2020', 'Celý Film', 'Online Cz Dabing', 'Sledujte Zdarma'] |
Apple vs Google in 10 honest graphics | Apple vs Google in 10 honest graphics
Apple and Google are both tech giants who take pride in UX and design but why are the products created by one so different from the other (besides the times when they actually copied from each other)? While I don’t work for either company, as a hybrid Apple and Google user who happens to be in the design industry, I decided to illustrate the different design approaches observed between Google and Apple.
Google: create what users think they want
Apple: create what they think users want
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Google: consistency focused on visual consistency
Apple: consistency focused on user experience
Google: press releases and teasers
Apple: none
Google: redesigns and new trends
Apple: evergreen, long-lasting design
Google: simulated privacy
Apple: true privacy
Google: extensive coverage
Apple: limited coverage
Google: flat structure with distributed power
Apple: hierarchical structure with centralized power
Google: open-source
Apple: proprietary
Google: spotlight and promotions
Apple: retain existing structure
Apple in a nutshell
When the first iPhone came out and a reporter complained about how it was too hard to type on a touchscreen, Steve Jobs replied: “Your thumbs will learn”.
That’s Apple.
Apple often knows the users more than the users know themselves. They do this by lengthy and careful research and focusing on providing good and consistent UX and evergreen solutions. They also have a hierarchical structure where a few elite designers control the quality of the final deliverables. While it is great for crafting perfect products, it often requires more time and effort upfront. This “we know what you want” approach can also sometimes be seen as less friendly to many which limit its userbase and could offend users in the niche market who, for example, look for a physical keyboard on phones.
Google in a nutshell
Google, on the other hand, tends to get validation from its users. They often open-source their work when possible and appreciate contribution and feedback from the communities. This helps them create a diverse product portfolio efficiently and bring in a massive userbase (where Google collects its data from). Just think about all the things an Android phone can do that an iPhone can’t. However, users don’t always know what they want. Remember the modular phone Kickstarter concept that went viral in 2013 and then got took over by Google? It was a beautiful concept but it failed. Heavily relying on users has its pros, and certainly its cons.
While users’ voices should be heard, designing for users doesn’t mean making them the designers. It means to observe the users to learn what they want. Though Google tends to be used to agile development and can make quick adjustments when mistakes are made.
So which side are you on? Leave a comment and subscr…….oh wait. I don’t care. Just enjoy this article and share it if you like! | https://medium.com/@odvd29009x/apple-vs-google-in-10-honest-graphics-560010f43b31 | [] | 2020-12-20 10:19:16.100000+00:00 | ['Babies', 'Health', 'Education', 'Life', 'Coronavirus'] |
Judgment | Have you ever found yourself sitting in a cloud of judgment?
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Judgment is a tool the Ego uses to maintain our own internal separation issues and to keep our wounds intact. Judgment comes from a place within us that is incomplete. In order to feel right inside, it has to make others wrong.
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If something really bothers us about someone else, it’s a reflection of something inside of us that we might be holding ourselves in judgment for, or something that needs our own attention. When we judge others, we lock our own issues into place, halting our personal growth. The person we are judging doesn’t pay the price…we do!
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Learning what to do with judgment when it comes up inside is a game-changer. Judgment, when really understood, can show us what needs to be healed within ourselves. If we learn how to properly handle our judgment instead of buying into it, then it can be used as a powerful tool for our own healing.
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This is a core foundation for my book, “Being Called to Change.” It all begins with courageously confronting what needs to be healed from within so that we can make real and lasting changes in our lives and step into our true, authentic power!
Get a FREE sample of the book here: www.DaleHalaway.com/book | https://medium.com/@dalehalaway/judgment-1ad5f0f09377 | ['Dale Halaway'] | 2019-07-01 22:53:37.543000+00:00 | ['Authenticity', 'Author', 'Awakening'] |
How to Simplify Your Finances: Saving | When I was aggressively paying down $50,000 of student loans, I was a budget devotee. I tracked my spending, made a meticulous list of my expenses, and constantly looked for ways I could save more. On the positive side, I was able to pay off my debt in a little over two-and-a-half years. On the downside, my obsession with saving as much as possible led to an unhealthy mindset when it came to my relationship with money.
After I became debt-free, I picked up Shannon Lee Simmon’s Worry-Free Money, in which she sets out another path to our savings goals: not having a budget. Completely blown away, I experimented with incorporating this concept into my own life.
Not Having a Budget
At first, it felt a little weird. I don’t need to write down every purchase? I don’t need to constantly check to see if I’m near my entertainment expense limit? It was liberating and terrifying at the same time. While it was much easier to spend money, it made me realize that imposing overly restrictive rules on my spending caused me to develop a scarcity mindset. I always worried about not having enough money even when the opposite was true.
Shannon’s approach is to work backwards. When you get paid, immediately allocate your money to the following 3 buckets:
Fixed Expenses
Meaningful Savings
Short-Term Savings
Whatever’s leftover is your spending money, and you can do with that what you’d like; you can spend $100 on groceries, $100 on restaurants, $200 on a pair of shoes — whatever! This money is flexible but you have to be cognizant that it should cover all your variable expenses, including the less-fun items like dish soap and toothpaste.
The Process
This is how I follow Shannon’s process:.
I get paid every two weeks via direct deposit into my account marked “Bills and Savings,” which is actually a chequing account rather than a savings account. The reason I use a chequing account is two-fold: (1) This just happened to be the account I used when I set-up direct deposit at work, and (2) I can only pay bills online with money in chequing accounts (rather than savings accounts) so it’s one less step (i.e. I don’t have to transfer money from a savings account to a chequing account and then pay a bill).
During the same day, a portion of the money in my “Bills and Savings” Account, which amounts to 18% of my gross income, is automatically transferred to my brokerage account.
I then manually transfer a pre-determined amount of money to my “Short-Term Savings” Account, which is just a regular savings account in the credit union that I use for daily banking. That number tends to fluctuate each money, so I work it out at the beginning of each month.
Once all of the money earmarked for savings has made its way to the right spot, whatever money is leftover is my spending money. I then manually transfer that amount to another chequing account, aptly titled, “Spending Money,” which is connected to my debit card. For the next two weeks, I can spend that amount on whatever I want, but once it runs out, it cannot be replenished from another account.
Save First, Spend Later
There are three major benefits to this system that give me peace of mind.
I never have to worry that I’m not looking out for my present and future self. I will always save enough because the monies are deducted on the day that I get paid. The system is very simple to maintain. In total, I have about four accounts (2 chequing; 2 saving) and an optional account at an online bank that deals with my writing/side-hustle income. I have permission to spend as much of my remaining spending money as I want on things that I love. If I spend $200 on books in one month, it doesn’t bother me. There are no rules; only to live well.
If you are earning a living wage but are stressed about saving, it means that you haven’t perfected your savings system yet. The right savings system for you involves incorporating both the right amount of friction and convenience that your personality necessitates. If you know you struggle with investing, set-up automatic transfers. If you know you get tempted to dip into your savings, move them to an entirely different financial institution that you check once every couple of months.
You’ll know when you’ve perfected your savings system because you’ll be able to sit back, relax, and watch your money flow through the process. Then, it’s on to the next step: making a living through an ethical and sustainable career. | https://medium.com/simple-not-easy/how-to-simplify-your-finances-saving-part-1-of-5-9bb227be1141 | ['Jennifer Taylor Chan'] | 2018-11-29 22:39:49.776000+00:00 | ['Personal Finance', 'Life Lessons', 'Minimalism', 'Self Improvement', 'Life'] |
The Cracks | Acknowledge the beauty
Acknowledge the beauty
The rain is falling
Acknowledge the beauty
The pain is galling
Acknowledge the beauty
The cracks in the road
The cracks in others
Acknowledge the beauty
The cracks in yourself
Acknowledge the beauty
The asymmetric
The unexpected
The sick and infected
The down and dejected
The ones misdirected
The things disconnected
The wrong and rejected
The different perspectives
Acknowledge the beauty
The frenzied collective
Acknowledge the beauty
Acknowledge the beauty
Acknowledge the beauty
The beauty of chaos
The beauty of life | https://medium.com/a-cornered-gurl/the-cracks-51a7429e9e59 | ['Adam Millett'] | 2020-11-06 11:17:21.675000+00:00 | ['Beauty', 'Life', 'Gratitude', 'A Cornered Gurl', 'Poetry'] |
How I TRAINed to learn Rails | ruby on rails
How I TRAINed to learn Rails
A Guide to Learning Rails in 2 months
Although I learned a few programming languages in the past, I had absolutely no experience with them except for Visual Basic, which is barely considered a language. I learned rails the hard way: 18 hours every day for 2 months. No sleep, no partying just pure hard coding. I forbade myself to watch TV, movies or even youtube videos if it wasn’t related to coding. Everything I was doing or reading was for that only purpose: “Becoming a senior developer ASAP”. I was rusty and although I had played with Html/Css before, I felt that I needed to review everything. So I started by reviewing the basics (HTML5, CSS3) and playing with it. You’ll need these basic skills to learn rails.
NO! Don’t Learn Rails before Ruby
When you decide to learn a language there are always mistakes that you make and realize later on as you are getting more experienced. Knowing what those mistakes are can allow you to save a considerable amount of time.
When I first decided to learn Ruby on Rails. I read a few articles by different bloggers that were saying that you don’t need Ruby to learn Rails. I now totally disagree with them! Take it from someone who initially took that path. I realized a bit later what was wrong with that approach. The first sentence about rails on Wikipedia says “Ruby on Rails, often simply Rails, is an open-source web application framework which runs on the Ruby programming language”. This simple sentence explains why knowing ruby will become a key factor in mastering rails: The code you type on the Rails framework is Ruby. The only difference is that the system of that framework is arranged in a way that makes it more organized and convenient for you to build applications.
If you take the time to fully understand Ruby before you learn Rails; then learning Rails will become a piece of cake. Whether you build controller, action or else, it will all come down to Ruby. Understanding ruby will also allow you to be more agile with rails and being able to go directly to the source to understand any methods or class. The greatest assets you’ll get once you’ll learn Ruby before Rails is understanding gems or the ruby and rails documentation better.
What Didn’t Help?
I read a lot of books in a short period of time, watched hours of tutorials and courses but not everything was helpful. Some of the things I learned actually confused me more than I already was. I broke down a list for you.
Blogs can confuse you
Unless you are reading a blog post such as “How to learn rails”. As a newbie, blogs that teach you rails won’t help but confuse you. There is one simple reason for that: Ruby/Rails have different practices depending on the versions. For instance; the asset pipeline was introduced in Rails 3 and a lot of blogs won’t tell you that but assume that you already know.
Ruby and Rails Versions
Ruby is a growing language and there are hardworking people that are still improving it. Same thing with Rails. As the language and framework improve; a few things will change. For someone that has absolutely no experience with ruby/rails noticing a change is like looking for a needle on the grass. A good thing to avoid confusion between ruby or rails version is to first figure out what’s the difference between them. Read the release notes; they contain useful information that will avoid you hours of debugging. To give you an idea of how the release notes look like: Here a link to the release note for Rails 4.
Asking Question About Everything on IRC
I’ve been using IRC for 14 years and until I decided to learn Rails it was always one of my favourite spots to learn. But people on the ruby/rails channel were very impatient and rude. I think they’ve forgotten something as important as “how it feels to be a newbie”. People on IRC were rude but they weren’t stupid and some of them gave me the best advice that put me on my way to learn Rails “Everything you need to learn are in books”, “Figure things out on your own! You’ll become a better problem solver”, “Don’t expect people to build the code for you, figure it out on your own” and my favourite one “Google!”. IRC is only useful when you face some really obscure bug.
What Was Useful?
Reading Books* over Blogs.
This was by far the best introduction to Ruby. When I read Chris Pine's book I had already read other tutorials on the web and read a few books but it made me realized that this was The Book I was looking for when I decided to learn Ruby on Rails. Chris Pine has a great way to explain the general concept of Ruby and put you in the mindset of a ruby developer. Available for Free.
People have different ways to learn; personally I love challenges. Going through this book forced me to face problems and find ways to solve them. It also gave me a good grasp and practice of the ruby language. I went through every single chapter and exercise in about 2weeks and when I was done I felt that I had a good understanding of Ruby.
The Rails Way by Obie Fernandez ( Get this Book )
Anything by Obie Fernandez is great. He is an amazing developer that writes great learning books.
Most people in the community always recommend to start with this book; I would never recommend this book to someone that is just starting to learn rails. Do the rails tutorial after you’ve read basic books about rails and once you’re familiar with ruby. This book is available for Free. The great thing about this tutorial is that it teaches you multiple skills in one: Git, CSS, HTML and Rails.
Interactive Courses
Rubymonk introduced me to Metaprogramming and helped me get familiar with some of the most common ruby methods. It’s a great source to improve your understanding of Ruby before moving to Rails.
Codeschool can be difficult to understand if you don’t have some basis, this is why I always recommend Codeschool to people that have already started reading about ruby or rails. What I love about code school is their approach of “learning by doing”. They have really good instructors. When you will watch and do the different Codeschool video. Make sure that you download the PDF of each course and use the PDF while you’re doing the homework. Codeschool is not free but most of their lesson 1 episode 1 tutorials are free. The cost of a membership is about $25/mo.
I started following various skills on Coderwall and read posts by people from the community and I started learning little tricks like the pluck method in ruby and else. Some developers will have better ways to do certain things, it’s always good to be curious and eager to improve what you already know. In the end, good code comes from better refactoring.
I am now proud to say that I’ve watched almost every single episode on Railscast. When I was learning Rails, I built at least 35 different apps that were using various gems. Railscast was the best place for me to get familiar with those gems and to learn how to use them quickly. Railscast also teaches me little things that became extremely useful overall. Always read the comments, people will add explanations or questions that will allow you to broaden your view on each course.
Blogs :)
Blogs don’t help if you’re just a newbie, but once you start to grasp a better understanding of Ruby or Rails. Blog starts to be useful. Especially when it comes to resolve bugs or grow your knowledge of rails. You will find articles that will give you the skills you need for better practices, tricks or tips.
NOT Copying/Pasting Code
Even today I still type code line per line. It helps you to remember codes and it’s a good practice to have when learning a new language. Typing every single line of code you read has a tremendous effect on your memory. Just do it, You will remember.
Not getting tired of Google-ing
One skill that every developer needs to master is “Googling”. Whenever you find a bug or you are blocked building something: Google like it’s a present tense. Never get tired of Googling. The web is vast enough and the chances are that you will find something out here that could solve your issue. One of my favourite website I always stumble upon while googling is Stackoverflow but I often always ended up on Google Groups and Forum or Blogs. There will always be things that you can’t remember or that you would like to verify or double-check and it will all come to your googling skills. The faster you’ll be able to find something on google or StackOverflow, the faster you will be able to resolve issues you’ve never seen before that other people have already experienced.
Reading Documentation and Source Codes
If you are stuck and nothing online can resolve your issue: Go back to reading, because the chances are that there must be something that you didn’t quite understand. When that happens it’s a good time for you to go to the source code and explore how things work. Reading the Rails Source Code is extremely useful. It allows you to learn how the entire system work.
The Ruby on Rails Guide is underrated. Most people skim it and to be honest, the first time I read it I actually skimmed it too. Never skim the rails guide, read it in its entire form. Always come back to the Rails guide and never assume that you’ve mastered rails enough to avoid it. Coming back to the rails guide doesn’t mean that you’re stupid. It smart to go back to the source to better understand something. Read as long as it takes but try to grasp the concepts that confuse you. | https://medium.com/how-i-learned-ruby-rails/how-i-trained-to-learn-rails-e08c94e2a51e | ['Richardson Dackam'] | 2020-03-23 21:22:36.841000+00:00 | ['How To Learn Rails', 'Ruby', 'Ruby on Rails', 'How To Learn Ruby'] |
Ping Pong and Devilman Crybaby Are Basically the Same | Above, not to hit you over the head with it too hard, but: There’s Smile, smiling (and crying) as a child, smiling (and crying) during his match with Peco, and then smiling casually as an adult. And there’s Ryo, crying, thereby proving that sorrow exists, and (by his own logic) that love also exists. Both stories have, if in unexpected ways, been resolved.
So. It’s been established that both Devilman Crybaby and Ping Pong are about newly surfacing tensions between two boys who have been close since childhood, one of whom is capable of expressing emotions and one of whom is not, who must face off in a climactic battle before the series is over though in the end, the results of the battle are overshadowed by the fact that the emotive half of each pair has finally taught the non-emotive half how to feel and express their emotions. Phew! But, why should it matter that Masaaki Yuasa seems to have a penchant for telling almost identical stories about… what I just said?
At the beginning of this post, I said that the similarities between DMCB and Ping Pong had implications for understanding implicit queerness in anime generally, and that DMCB made me way firmer in my belief that Ping Pong is an intentionally queer work. And if you follow my logic above, it’s pretty clear that DMCB and Ping Pong have an overarching roadmap in common — the only substantive difference is that DMCB’s roadmap is explicitly queer. Though Ryo doesn’t say the magic words (“I love you”) directly, his evolution into a person who can cry explicitly tells us that he’s in love with Akira. There’s a big gay X at the end of the DMCB treasure map. But what can that tell us about Ping Pong, which (I haven’t forgotten) came out several years earlier?
My cousin and AniGay/Icebergs colleague Rebecca Black has said (no seriously, I swear she has, and someday she will write about it!) that an implicitly queer narrative is like a mystery story with the final reveal missing: The clues are laid out for you along the way, and just because you lost the last ten pages or whatever and didn’t get to read the author’s words telling you directly Who Did It, that doesn’t mean the clues weren’t there to lead you to the missing conclusion. Though Ping Pong stops short of using the word “love” in reference to Smile and Peco’s relationship, the fact is that the emotional and plot beats leading to Smile’s transformation are nearly identical to those that tell us that Ryo loves Akira. The final queer reveal may be missing from Ping Pong, but the clues are all there. And because of DMCB, we know where those clues lead.
Yuasa’s two most recent series are an easy way to explore this analogy because they do have so much in common, not least of all their director; it doesn’t feel like a stretch to say that Yuasa might have been hiding queerness in plain sight before he went all in on a new interpretation of a franchise that has been exuberantly queer since the 1970s. But implicitly queer narratives that feel like mystery stories missing their last ten pages are common throughout anime and media in general. The societal increase in acceptance for explicitly queer narratives is, of course, beneficial in itself. But it also has the potential to provide us with the keys we need to untangle and decode implicitly queer stories, a vastly larger category that, while no less valuable than its more direct counterpart, does tend to need some legwork before it’s clear that queerness is, in fact, what’s really going on.
After all, I believe it’s in the spirit of almost-but-not-quite revealing the queer truth that adult Smile, when asked by a side character if he has a girlfriend, declines to answer. Instead, he leaves both the questioner and the viewer with the enigmatic: “Wouldn’t you like to know?” And as viewers, at least, I think we already have all the information we need for that. | https://medium.com/anigay/ping-pong-and-devilman-crybaby-are-basically-the-same-42eda9df2f5f | ['Elizabeth Simins'] | 2019-08-12 15:03:50.438000+00:00 | ['Ping Pong', 'Anime', 'Anigay Summer Issue', 'Devilman Crybaby', 'LGBTQ'] |
Subsets and Splits