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How to Ask Smart Questions | I’ve done it. You’ve done it. We’ve all done it at some time in the past. We’ve asked a stupid question. It happens in both individual and group meetings at work. Hopefully, the employee that we ask is nice and patient, so they answer your question. But, if not, the employee will clearly show you how much disdain your question causes them.
I have to be honest. I’ve been at my current company for a few years now. I went from the newbie engineer who asks a ton of questions to the one who is the receiver of the questions. So I’ve seen all sides of the spectrum. And if you were to ask me which one of the engineers I am from the first paragraph, I will unfortunately say the second.
But I don’t mind questions… when they’re smart. A good question will bring about a good answer that will propel you forward in your project, and maybe even lead to a solution that’s even better than one I could come up with myself. A good question may lead to a recognizing a potential weakness in the team or the project. I love smart questions. So here are my tips that I use to make sure that my questions are smart.
Be Specific
One thing that always irks people is when they are asked a vague question or given a vague problem. To be more specific, these are questions that could only be responded to with giant answers.
“I don’t understand anything about this spreadsheet.”
“How exactly do we write a requirements document?”
“I think this table is broken.”
A rule of thumb is if it takes more than 30 seconds to answer the question, then it’s too big and vague. Focus your question to something more specific.
“What is this spreadsheet trying to show?
“Are there examples of requirements documents I can look at?
“The value in Cell F4 of the table seems higher than it should be. Is there something wrong?”
With this one step, you will immediately look more intelligent. Instead of looking completely lost, you’ll like a competent employee who is just missing one piece of vital information.
Avoid asking the first question that pops into your head. Examine the problem more and look for a bite size question that you can ask a coworker.
But what if you’re completely lost? My advice is: break up your question into smaller bite questions and distribute it among several engineers in your team. That way, no one person knows how much you’re completely lost.
State What You Already Know
Engineers will be happier to answer your question if they know that you’ve already put some leg work yourself. What have you done already to try to figure this out yourself? Even if you’re completely wrong, you still look better if you try. Just make sure you provide your justification.
“Tab XYZ has a lot of financial data in it. It looks like this spreadsheet may be the team budget.”
“I looked up a template of a requirements document online, but I want to make sure that I’m matching the format used in this company.”
“I looked at the formula in Cell F4, but it looks like the same formula found in all of the cells in the column. So I’m not sure what could be wrong.”
When I first started at my company, there was a coworker of mine that I asked coding questions to constantly. Every time something in the code would break, I would immediately send him a message to help me. Eventually, he started delaying his responses back to me. The reason why, he said, was because he felt that often times, people end up figuring out the problem on their own.
Even if I didn’t figure it out, I used that time during his delayed responses to get a better understanding of the problem. I could try different solutions to try to fix something or start on the project even when I didn’t feel fully comfortable. That way, when he actually did respond, we had a much more fruitful conversation about the problem.
Keep It Simple
Engineers are busy. Some are antisocial.
This means that no one wants to hear you rambling. Keep your questions short and to the point. I once had a new employee send me a bunch of questions via email about the company and the program we were working on. I didn’t mind this list of 15 questions because they were short, and required short responses.
There is no need to have more than 1–2 sentences max to explain your question.
“Hi John. I was looking at the schematics for the hydraulics system we’re working on. Could you tell me what this portion is supposed to represent?”
See, it’s a quick question necessitating a quick answer.
Be Polite
Your coworkers are doing you a favor by stopping their work and answering your question. You should be polite when you come to them. In fact, the more that they like you, the more they’ll be willing to answer your question in the future. So make sure you’re polite and respectful of your coworkers’ time and effort.
Be Confident
Last, in everything that you do at work, always be confident. You’re at this job because someone saw drive and intelligence in you. We all have questions. That doesn’t make us worse engineers. In fact, what makes a good engineer is being able to ask the right type of questions. You got this.
Are there any tips that you use to make your questions smarter? Leave your answers in the comments. | https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-ask-smart-questions-d02f053a02ac | ['Chelsie Librun'] | 2019-09-12 19:00:09.332000+00:00 | ['Coworking', 'Collaboration', 'Work', 'Questions', 'Meetings'] |
NIKE: The story behind the brand | Whether or not you own a pair of Nike sneakers, the brand is one of the most valuable in the world.
This is its story.
NIKE was co-founded by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman in 1964
Phil (left) and Bill (right)/image source: https://nikephblog.wordpress.com/about/
Now a billionaire businessman, at the beginning of his career Phil Knight worked as a sports reporter and accountant.
At university, he earned awards for his track performances as a middle-distance runner in the late 1950s. His track-and-field coach was Bill Bowerman.
Two years before launching Nike, Phil graduated with a master’s degree in business administration from Stanford.
Combining his love for running and his newly acquired business skills, Phil launched his shoe company called Blue Ribbon Sports with the objective of importing high-quality and low-cost running shoes from Japan into the American market.
Seven years later, in 1971, the company had grown to fifty employees. The collaboration with the Japanese shoe supplier had ended and Phil chose a shoe factory in Mexico that had been endorsed by Adidas to manufacture his shoes.
Phil and Bill in the early 70s/image source: Pinterest
He also needed a new name for his first order of leather soccer shoes which he would sell as football shoes. Looking for the best name, he ran a poll of his employees and came up with a name himself, Dimension Six which was rejected by everyone for being “unspeakably bad”.
The rest of the suggestions were not great also. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the time to come up with new names as he was on a deadline from the factory, the advertising department and the U.S. Patent Office where he needed to file paperwork with for his new shoe.
In the last minute, he received one more suggestion from Jeff Johnson, the company’s first employee. He said this particular name came to him in a dream the night before: Nike. It was the name of the Greek winged goddess of victory, it was short and had a strong sound thanks to the K letter. It had all the attributes of a good brand name that sticks in the mind of customers. With only a few seconds to make his decision, Phil chose Nike and the rest is history.
The company changed its name from Blue Ribbon Sport to Nike in 1978.
The surprising story behind Just do it, NIKE’s iconic tagline
In 1987, Nike was preparing to launch its first major television campaign, which included commercials for running, walking, cross-training, basketball and women’s fitness.
Creative agency Wieden+Kennedy had been hired to create and run the campaign. Each spot was developed by a different creative team and Dan Wieden, founder of the agency felt the campaign needed a tagline that would bring everything together.
In a 2009 documentary about advertising, Dan confessed that he took inspiration from a convicted murderer’s last words to the firing squad before his execution: “Let’s do it!” Nike didn’t feel like the campaign needed the tagline but allowed it nonetheless.
Just do it is among the most popular taglines in the world. In just three words this simple tagline empowers athletes everywhere to stop overthinking and just take the first step. That’s all there is to it. Why? Because if you have a body, you are an athlete.
image source: nike.com
NIKE & Michael Jordan — the collaboration that gave NIKE a boost to global success and brand awareness
Young Michael Jordan and the first pair of Air Jordans/image source: sneakernews.com
In 1983, Adidas was a billion-dollar company with a multinational operation leading the athletic footwear industry. Nike was already a strong competitor, gnawing at the company’s lead and was looking for a way to overtake it.
In 1984, Michael Jordan was the undisputed star of the basketball. He wanted to sign with Adidas, but Nike made him a better offer namely $500,000-a-year for five years and the opportunity to design his own line of shoes.
Listening to his parents’ advice, Michael Jordan said yes to Nike’s offer. The next year, Nike launched the first pair of Air Jordans onto the market.
The new shoe was insanely successful. The company sold $126 million worth of Air Jordans in the first year of the deal. A new edition of the shoe dropped every year of Jordan’s playing career.
Michael Jordan, considered by many to be the Greatest Of All Time in the history of the NBA made $1.3 billion from his thirty-six-year partnership with Nike.
His long-time collaboration with Nike helped the brand become the leading athletic shoe manufacturer in the world.
The company maintained its celebrity design collaborations as part of its business strategy. Over the years, the brand has collaborated with rapper and record producer Kanye West, singer and songwriter Drake, fashion house Dior, jewellery brand Swarovski, Louis Vuitton artistic director Virgil Abloh and founder and head designer of cult Japanese label Undercover Jun Takahashi.
NIKE has contributed to the rise of the sneakerhead culture
The sneakerhead culture began in the 1970s but Nike’s deal with Michael Jordan contributed to its global development.
Last year, Financial Times estimated the sneaker resale market close to US$2billion. The Jordan brand, a subsidiary of Nike, continues to largely drive sneaker sales, generating $US3.14 billion in revenue between May 2018 and May 2019. The Air Jordan 1 is widely credited as the shoe that began sneaker culture.
This year, the brand has also become one of the most valuable brands in the world. Michael Jordon’s game-worn autographed Nike Air Jordan 1S from 1985 sneakers sold for $560,000 at a Sotheby’s auction making them the most expensive sneakers ever sold.
Michael Jordon’s game-worn autographed Nike Air Jordan 1S from 1985 sneakers sold for $560,000 at a Sotheby’s auction (source: Sotheby’s)
The rarest and the most desirable sneaker ever made is the Nike MAG, the sneakers worn by Marty McFly when he time-travelled to 2015 in Back to the Future II 1989 movie. Although disintegrating, the sneakers have sold for $92,100 in 2018. The money raised went to Michael Fox’s foundation for Parkinson’s research.
Actor Michael J. Fox and the NIKE Mag
NEW YORK, NY — AUGUST 04:A general view of the audience members Nike “Back to the Future” sneakers 106 & Park at BET studio on August 4, 2014, in New York City. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/BET/Getty Images for BET)
Who is the biggest sneakerhead? The biggest sneakerhead is entrepreneur Miles Nadal, who spent more than US$1.2 million on a collection of rare sneakers in a sale managed by Sotheby’s in 2019. The collection included a pair of 1972 Nike Waffle Racing Flat “Moon Shoes”, one of the most significant artefacts in Nike’s long history.
The 1972 Nike Waffle Racing Flat “Moon Shoes”
NIKE today
Today Nike operates a total of 1,096 retail stores throughout the entire world.
The fifty-six-year-old company is the world’s largest athletic shoe manufacturer with an estimated market share of 28% and EURO35 billion in revenue for 2019, followed by Adidas with EURO24 billion (Statista).
One of the brand’s core values is supporting and giving back to the community. To achieve this goal, Nike has created various funds:
Nike Community Impact Fund supports grassroots organizations in communities within the United States and Europe.
Nike School Innovation Fun partners with school leaders in Oregon to increase the number of students who graduate and to prepare students for college and careers.
Nike N7 creates positive change for the next generation of Native American and Aboriginal youth by getting kids active.
Through Nike Community Ambassadors more than 5,700 employees make a positive impact in communities around the world by providing quality coaching for kids in sport and play.
The brand isn’t afraid of creating controversy while standing up for its beliefs. After the 2018 Dream Crazy ad was launched, some people set their Nike sneakers on fire while others praised the brand for doing the right thing.
Combining innovation, great online and offline customer experiences, community engagement and fresh designs, Nike is one of the world’s forward-thinking brands that will stand the test of time.
This article was originally published at brandminds.live
Join the Conversation
We’d love to hear what you have to say.
Get in touch with us on our LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or TikTok. | https://medium.com/@brand-minds/nike-the-story-behind-the-brand-f3d8e5d9d725 | ['Brand Minds'] | 2021-01-09 09:25:54.648000+00:00 | ['Brands', 'Success Story', 'Nike', 'Brand Stories'] |
Ending the Occupation of 38th and Chicago, and Beginning the Path Forward for My Neighborhood | Ending the Occupation of 38th and Chicago, and Beginning the Path Forward for My Neighborhood Eric S. Fought Jun 8·3 min read
AP Photo
Ask those who live in the neighborhood surrounding the occupation of four city blocks including the intersection of 38th and Chicago in Minneapolis how they feel about the situation and you will undoubtedly get varying opinions. There are yard signs supporting the occupation. But that doesn’t tell the full story of the impact on the community in which I’ve lived for more than five years.
So, in February, the City of Minneapolis asked residents in the immediate vicinity what should happen next. 81% supported reopening with a permanent memorial. 81%.
Now, those occupying the four-block radius, most of whom do not live here or have any connection to this neighborhood, will tell you that the survey was “a sham.” That should indicate the concern shown to those who actually do make up this community — a diverse community of people from all walks of life who simply want to keep Bancroft and the surrounding neighborhoods safe, accessible to public transit, and connected to the rest of the city we all love.
There should be a permanent memorial to George Floyd and other victims of police violence and it should be at 38th and Chicago. However, the streets need to be reopened fully, businesses (many owned by BIPOC entrepreneurs) operating and supported by customer traffic and city initiatives, and the “no-go zone” eliminated once and for all.
We can continue to properly memorialize what happened, push for necessary reform and greater accountability, and end the occupation at the same time. And we must.
This is an ongoing failure of leadership of unfathomable proportions. That failure of course is rooted at City Hall, with a Mayor and City Council focused on ideology rather than governance, appeasing radical fringe activists rather than leading a representative democracy. That failure of leadership goes beyond the Mayor’s Office and Council Chambers. It also extends to city departments and their heads, including Public Works, MPD and MFD.
However, what has been called the progressive movement, a movement which I spent many years a part of, working with, and leading, has also failed. It’s time for leaders of that movement to step up and step in and end this occupation, which is endangering lives, livelihoods, and the shared life of one of Minneapolis’ most diverse and civic-minded neighborhood communities.
City crews, working with community leaders, have attempted to reopen the streets involved twice in the last week. That strategy has clearly failed. Those occupying the area are breaking the law and it is time for the law to be enforced.
Those of us who live in the neighborhood surrounding 38th and Chicago didn’t kill George Floyd, Derek Chauvin did. And he’s been convicted of the hideous offense he committed. It’s time for us to move forward in creating a permanent memorial while ensuring a safe and equitable place to live for those who actually live here. | https://medium.com/@ericfought/ending-the-occupation-of-38th-and-chicago-and-beginning-the-path-forward-for-my-neighborhood-c3d7f43cf58a | ['Eric S. Fought'] | 2021-06-09 02:52:00.053000+00:00 | ['George Floyd', 'Jacob Frey', '38th And Chicago', 'Minneapolis', 'Minneapolis Police'] |
Access to exclusive markets with the Classic Car Coin | The Classic Car Coin opens the market for historic vehicles
To own a classic car is the dream of many car enthusiasts. Unfortunately, there are many reasons against it: Purchase price, maintenance, parking space, spare parts — the car dream quickly turns into a nightmare. At least that is how it was up to now. But times have changed. This is made possible by tokenization. Never heard of it? Then it’s time to get to grips with this digital form of investment, which offers great opportunities even for small sums of money. The Classic Car Coin, or CCC for short, is the world’s first security token for investors who want to effectively combine high investment security and returns with the dream of classic cars.
Do you know that? When walking through a parking garage, your heart suddenly beats faster, because between all the SUVs, vans and station wagons there is a classic car. As if conjured into the dreary crowd of faceless mass vehicles. Childhood memories are awakened, film legends suddenly drive through your mind: James Dean in a Porsche, Magnum in a Ferrari, James Bond in an Aston Martin. What would it be like to own such a classic automobile yourself…?
The Classic Car Coin opens a new market
But the short dream in the parking garage is usually gone quickly. Because a classic car does not only cost a pretty penny in the purchase. A well-ventilated parking space and maintenance — the list of cost factors is long.There are clearly cheaper hobbies than a classic car. Do you prefer to leave your fingers off and dream on in a parking garage or on the street the next time you meet a classic car?
Index published by the German Association of the Automotive Industry
A classic car is a good investment. The German Association of the Automotive Industry regularly publishes the “Oldtimer Index”. It is calculated by the classic car experts from classic-analytics in Bochum, who compare the prices of 88 models representative of the German car market in their database. And the value development is impressive: Gold, antiques, art and even diamonds have a significantly lower return, not to mention ordinary financial investments.
The prices are rising
Interesting for investors: The prices for luxury cars and everyday vehicles are rising equally: For the famous W 114/115 from Mercedes, a popular everyday classic car, market prices rose by 186 percent between 2010 and 2015 and are now in the high five-digit range for very good examples.
Lucrative investment: The Mercedes W 114/115
And in the luxury class, the Ferrari Testarossa, for example, performs excellently: While an average of 55,000 euros had to be budgeted for a 1986 vehicle eight years ago, the market value has more than doubled today to well over 150,000 euros — an increase of 136 percent. But regardless of whether it’s a Ferrari, Porsche 911, BMW or even the Citroen 2CV: the increases in value are enormous for a large number of vehicles. But there is also a dark side: the market requires a lot of background knowledge and experience.
The Ferrari Testarossa increases in value by around 136 %
No wonder that the decision is difficult. And yet it is possible to have them all — or at least a piece of them: Digitization is paving the way for new approaches. What in the analog world was reserved for only a few wealthy people has become a high-yield investment even for small investors with the Classic Car Coin. This is made possible by tokenization. This process creates digital securities for all classic car enthusiasts — even those with small wallets. The distribution over many vehicles simultaneously reduces the risk: The possible weak performance of a single classic car is compensated by the strong increase in value of the others in the portfolio.
Classic Car Coin: The ideal combination of safety and profitability
Tokenization is very simple: The value of a classic car is divided into several shares. This is done via the blockchain. Blockchains are secure directories in which digital transactions are documented. These shares are then made available to investors who can buy them in the shape of tokens.In this way, it is possible not only for a handful of rich people, but for many people to enter the attractive market. Piece by piece, coin by coin, investors can thus participate in classic automobiles with CCC — and so the dream of a classic car comes true after all!
This combination of the high value of classic cars with a digital security is a small revolution. Here, the high returns of classic cars are combined with the attractiveness of small investment sums. It is possible to start with as little as 250 euros at CCC, a sum that can deliver top performance over the appropriate investment horizon. The investors’ valuable vehicles are safely stored and maintained. | https://medium.com/@farsight-automotive/access-to-exclusive-markets-with-the-classic-car-coin-6a575d185fec | ['Farsight Automotive B.V.'] | 2020-12-08 16:47:23.958000+00:00 | ['Investing', 'Classic Cars', 'Tokenization', 'Blockchain', 'Token Sale'] |
What is a MySQL Database? What is it used for? | Photo by Luke Chesser on Unsplash
According to Wikipedia, “ MySQL is an open-source relational database management system. Its name is a combination of “My”, the name of co-founder Michael Widenius’s daughter, and “SQL”, the abbreviation for Structured Query Language. “ To put that in laymen’s terms, that means it is a system to store information so that you can grab and display it on your website.
These databases are not only used for websites, you can use them for Discord Bots, Applications, offline storage and more. You can think of databases as “the cloud”. The same place where you store your files like Google Drive, iCloud Drive, etc. Those are run by a version of database that stores your files so computers can read it. It is very complicated but to keep it simple, that’s what a database is and used for.
If you want to know more about MySQL you can go to their website here: https://www.mysql.com/ | https://medium.com/@dudethatserin/what-is-a-mysql-database-what-is-it-used-for-258b8e927ad7 | ['Erin Skidds'] | 2020-12-19 17:45:45.232000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'MySQL', 'Wikipedia', 'Learning', 'Learning To Code'] |
Clubhouse, reviewed by a product manager | Clubhouse, reviewed by a product manager
It has a lot of hype and as with every product, it could use a lot of help Phyllis Dec 12, 2020·5 min read
WHAT IS CLUBHOUSE
I asked that question every day when I continued to see people on Slack requesting invites.
I describe it as ‘interactive podcasts’ where you get to be a fly on the wall as people speak about topics you care about. Others I know called it ‘an app for chat rooms’ but my Gen Z self didn’t comprehend that analogy.
You have the ability to raise your hand (which some rooms disable for the audience) from the audience so the moderator can bring you up on stage to ask a question or speak on the topic in a room.
Rooms show up in your homepage feed (which is called a hallway?) and you can tap to listen in on a room if the topic you see as the room name is of interest to you.
Had to have this explained to me (as with many aspects of Clubhouse)but the party emoji denotes someone who recently joined the app. I guess they are ‘new to the party’?
So what’s the big deal?
I see three sets of value from Clubhouse.
FOMO from not being on the app
Clubhouse is invite only and every person who gets in only gets one invite (use it wisely) which creates a buzz about this cool app that only certain people can get into. Android users are missing out until Clubhouse builds an app for that platform. I’ve even heard an Android user say they’ll switch to iOS just to get this app (is that a brand partnership coming?).
2. Exclusive access
I love being able to listen in (and maybe even participate) on live conversations between people I’d never have the chance to meet in real life. Thought leaders in different spaces, celebrities, entertainers, investors, and more all just talking much less formally than a webinar or conference keynote. With less formal conversation comes more opportunity to ramble and change topic. With opportunity to change topic, comes fluidity, spontaneity, and excitement. You never know what you’ll get when you open the app or even when you enter a room. Every day is an addicting adventure.
It’s a great networking space and could not have come at a better time as people try to network without large conventions to attend and as people in places valued for the network (like Silicon Valley) start an exodus.
3. FREE GAME
This is the biggest value prop for me: learning from those I admire for free. You know how many courses, paid webinars, subscription newsletters, and costly coaching programs there are out there. The beauty of Clubhouse is getting access to the very same people who own those paid information services and learn from them randomly on a Thursday night for free.
hype today, gone tomorrow?
I think Clubhouse is here to stay. The FOMO hype may have helped make it popular but there is actually value to the platform that will allow it to retain its user base after attracting them from invite-only buzz. My favorite, Gary Vee, is on the app and he also believes voice is the future so if you don’t believe me, maybe hear him out.
PRODUCT IMPROVEMENTS
comment emoji should be a mic emoji
I kept searching for a comments section because I thought the bubble was saying how many comments there are on the room only to realize it’s telling you the number of moderators. I think that a mic emoji to indicate the speakers makes more sense especially if down the road a comments section does get added.
live reactions
Like Instagram and LinkedIn live, the audience can react to comments live with emojis like clapping, heart, wow, the notetaking hand, etc since they don’t have microphone capabilities.
queue badge
People make their mics look like they're glitching out by toggling the mute button feverishly. Instead of this, add a feature to raise hand. However not just raising hand since the other side of this issue is moderators keeping track of who was next to say something. To address that, you can have a badge that shows up next to a speaker's photo after they’ve indicated that they’d like to speak.
So the first person to raise hand as a speaker gets a 1 by their photo, the next with a 2, etc. If someone would no longer like to be in the queue, they can tap the raise hand again to remove themselves from the queue and the next in the queue will move up. When removing themselves from the line, a confirmation modal should ask them to confirm that they would like to be removed so that they don’t get bumped out from the slip of a hand.
muted by default
People bring on a lot of speakers. Beyond the 2nd speaker, have people be on mute by default when they come to the stage to prevent extra background noise from people who don’t even realize that their mic is on.
clarify notification schedule
You can edit your notification settings by frequency by it’s unclear what “frequent” vs “less frequent” really means. A quantitative measure such as x notifications per day may serve as a better calibration standard. | https://medium.com/@phyllisnjoroge/clubhouse-reviewed-by-a-product-manager-70e70b6d89f3 | [] | 2020-12-13 17:52:31.908000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Clubhouse', 'Networking', 'Product', 'Silicon Valley'] |
Investors’ Risk Appetite Is at an All-Time High. That Could Be a Problem. | July 22, 2021
Two months. That’s how long the pandemic-triggered recession lasted, from February to April 2020, making it the shortest economic downturn in U.S. history, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research’s (NBER) Business Cycle Dating Committee.
For those scratching their heads, the NBER makes clear that this does not mean the economy “has returned to operating at normal capacity,” only that the expansion got off to a (very) slow start soon after the whole world came to a screeching halt in early 2020.
Indeed, the shockwaves of those two months are still being felt: Initial jobless claims remain at elevated levels. Commercial air travel, especially business travel, hasn’t quite fully recovered, though it’s showing signs of improvement.
And then there’s unprecedented government spending and money-printing, which continue to this day. Due mainly to stimulus measures, the U.S. deficit is expected to hit $3 trillion this year; meanwhile, total assets held by the Federal Reserve are on their way to $9 trillion.
Risky Business
A lot of this money has flowed into stocks and other risk assets. According to Morningstar, mutual funds and ETFs saw net inflows of $722 billion in the first six months of the year, the largest semiannual amount going back to 1993. As of the end of 2020, a record $5.4 trillion sat in funds that passively track the S&P 500, Axios reports.
Take a look at the chart below. Investors’ appetite for risk is at an all-time high. Stocks as a percent of households’ financial assets are above 40% for the first time ever. What’s more, Americans are trading on margin like never before. At the end of June, margin accounts totaled an unheard-of $882 billion, up 50% from just a year earlier.
A big part of this story is who is doing the investing. Thanks in large part to $1,200 stimmy checks, there’s been an explosion in the number of retail investors. Ahead of its initial public offering (IPO), Robinhood reports that it now has as many as 18 million users, up almost double from 2019.
As many of you know, Robinhood is favored by younger, less experienced investors because trades are free, and it does a good job making investing fun. The average age of users is 31 years old. Many of them are first-time investors.
Another Taper Tantrum?
Obviously there’s nothing inherently wrong about anything I’ve said up to this point. There’s no reward without taking on some risk. I’m thrilled that more Americans are participating in the stock market, which has done very well since cratering in March 2020. Many young Robinhooders have made some incredibly profitable investments in recent months, including airline stocks.
At the same time, the rate of money-printing we’ve been seeing since the pandemic struck is unsustainable, and if investors aren’t cautious, I’m afraid tears may be shed when policymakers take away the punchbowl.
Remember the 2013 “taper tantrum”? In May of that year, then-Fed Chair Ben Bernanke hinted at a reduction in the pace of the bank’s bond purchases. Treasury yields immediately spiked and stocks fell. And that was when the Fed’s balance sheet stood at a little over $3 trillion, or two and a half times less than what it is today.
For now, current-Chair Jerome Powell says tapering is still “a ways off” as the economy continues to recover. But I urge investors to be prepared for when the party comes to an end, whether that means buying real estate, increasing your exposure to gold and precious metals, investing in Bitcoin and other cryptos or something else.
Remember the 10% Golden Rule
As you’ve heard me say many times, I recommend a 10% weighting in gold, with half of that in physical gold (bars, coins and jewelry) and the other half in high-quality gold stocks, mutual funds and ETFs. I also think it could be prudent to have between 1% and 2% in Bitcoin and Ether, including crypto mining stocks. Remember to rebalance regularly, at least once a year, but you could see additional benefits by rebalancing every quarter.
Speaking of Gold and Bitcoin…
On Wednesday, August 18, I will be participating in a webcast on gold and Bitcoin, and I will be joined by none other than Bitcoin evangelist Michael Saylor, founder and CEO of MicroStrategy. This is one webcast you do not want to miss! To get the link to book your spot for this exclusive conservation, email me at [email protected] with subject line “Michael Saylor webcast.” Enthusiasm has already been very high.
Hope you can join us!
All opinions expressed and data provided are subject to change without notice. Some of these opinions may not be appropriate to every investor. By clicking the link(s) above, you will be directed to a third-party website(s). U.S. Global Investors does not endorse all information supplied by this/these website(s) and is not responsible for its/their content.
The S&P 500 Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index of the 500 largest U.S. publicly traded companies. | https://medium.com/@bulldogholmes/investors-risk-appetite-is-at-an-all-time-high-that-could-be-a-problem-154d9393fdd4 | ['Frank Holmes'] | 2021-07-22 17:54:38.132000+00:00 | ['Gold', 'Bitcoin', 'Economy', 'Risk', 'Inflation'] |
Where Have You Been and Where Are You Going? | Long Way From Home by Will Gragido
Where Have You Been and Where Are You Going?
A few years ago (2018, I believe), I decided to take a hiatus from public speaking, writing (books, etc.), and podcasting for personal reasons. I felt it was essential to do so as a lot was going on in life that required me to be present. Literally and figuratively, and the distractions associated with doing public speaking events, appearing on shows and podcasts, and even writing (something I enjoy very much) didn’t seem worth the cost when I looked at the cost-benefit analysis. There was work to be done in other areas of life, and that work — professionally and personally, took precedent. I am happy to say that this work is ongoing (as all good results ought to be) and that through it, many wonderful things have come into being and transpired (and I am sure many more are to come). Through the years that followed that decision, I did some blogging professionally and some podcasting but no works of authorship that I pursued with publishers or shared publicly. It was a time to reflect, reexamine, interrogate, challenge, and affirm much in my life.
I am pleased to say that I believe it is time to re-enter the ‘public’ world in speaking, lecturing, writing, podcasting, etc., professionally in and through the opportunities presented to me via my day job and those that are not. Journeys are funny things. Beyond the normative, standard definitions related to traveling from one physical place to another, there’s a more critical; personal meaning associated with and ascribed to journeys. For me, it was rediscovering who I am, in addition to what I believe (and why), who I value(d), and love (and how best to honor them in all the ways one should). And last but not least, the most efficient way to model an example for my children which reflects the beliefs I subscribe to without confusing the journey — in its entirety — peaks and values alike, with vain pursuits. So, all this to say that I am back and will be writing more. Blogging, journaling (for public consumption my thoughts, opinions, question wonderment regarding all that I am willing to share publicly), podcasting, and yes, working on books (related to intelligence and cybersecurity and not related — more on that to come!).
The journey is afoot. And in the immortal words of J.R.R. Tolkien, “…not all those who wander are lost.”. Be well, friends. Yours in Him.
Will Gragido | https://medium.com/@w-e-gragido/where-have-you-been-and-where-are-you-going-a2aca46f8396 | ['Will Gragido'] | 2021-04-27 22:11:24.645000+00:00 | ['Leading', 'Beliefs', 'Values', 'The Road Ahead', 'Life'] |
Recommended update v0.13.4.0 | Recommended update v0.13.4.0
We are pleased to announce the release of Crown v0.13.4.0. This is a recommended update.
Although you can continue to run v0.13.2, unless you have already taken steps to mitigate the increased RAM and CPU usage, you almost certainly will hit problems further down the line. We recommend everyone update at their earliest convenience.
v0.13.4.0 is a recommended update for all users
What does it include?
It was originally planned to include three fixes but actually includes four and some enhancements:
The long awaited fix to the v0.13 sync problem.
Following the v0.13 update, a number of users experienced very severe performance problems with syncing the blockchain. A number of workarounds were published, which successfully circumvented the problem for most of those users. Others continued to experience unacceptably slow syncing. Ashot and presstab have worked hard to identify and resolve the issue.
With the new update, everyone with a part-way decent internet connection should be able to complete a full sync in less than 4 hours. Incorrect display of rewards on the wallet summary screen.
Rewards were showing as mature (available to spend and stake) before they actually were.
Fresh masternode and systemnode rewards, and staking rewards now show as “Immature” in the wallet summary screen until they receive the required 100 confirmations. Address labels.
Ashot has worked his magic in the wallet and old labels display correctly with no intervention from the user. CPU and memory usage.
It became apparent during development that there was a bigger and more pressing problem than any of the preceding three. Nodes and wallets were using much more RAM and CPU than in v0.12.5.3. Depending on the hardware they were running on, nodes could exhaust the available RAM and crash themselves or even the VPS after a couple of days. Painstaking research showed the increase to be related to code hardening against one of the PoS attack vectors. Presstab reworked the code so that it still provides the same protection but at much lower resource cost. Installer enhancements.
While waiting for the code fixes in v0.13.4 a number of workarounds for the sync and resource usage were deployed. Although they should no longer be required it was thought beneficial to provide easy access to them through the installation/update script. So the script now includes options to add the watchdog script to a new or existing node, to sync a node or wallet using the bootstrap, and to install a pipeline build.
I’m sold, how do I upgrade?
As always, the new release is a drop-in replacement. Essentially, make a backup of your wallet.dat, shutdown your wallet and node(s), replace the executables and restart. The details vary from platform to platform and environment.
Hosted node
If you use a hosted masternode/systemnode service they should take care of the node update for you. Since this is not a mandatory update you might need to ask them, but given the resource savings to be made by upgrading it’s likely they’ll be way ahead of you! You can update your node(s) before or after your wallet; the order is unimportant.
QT wallet
Restart the wallet and it should prompt you to download the update.
Self hosted node (linux) or a wallet
If you are already using the watchdog script you should disable it before upgrading (otherwise it could restart the node at an inopportune moment). See below.
If you’re not interested in the watchdog and bootstrap simply use the one-liner to update a masternode or systemnode. Log on to your server and run
sudo apt-get install curl -y && curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Crowndev/crowncoin/master/scripts/crown-server-install.sh | bash -s
All environments
The network protocol version has not changed so it isn’t necessary to issue start-alias commands for masternodes or systemnodes if you have already upgraded to v0.13.2.0
What about the watchdog and bootstrap thingies?
The installation/update script has new options which could still be useful in certain circumstances. If you want to take advantage of them, we recommend you download the latest version of the script and run it directly (doing so gives you the most flexibility, but if that sounds too complicated see below).
Download the installer
You can use curl or wget. The following example uses curl. Put the installer somewhere in your path (/usr/local/bin is recommended) and make sure it is executable.
sudo curl -o /usr/local/bin/crown-server-install.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Crowndev/crowncoin/master/scripts/crown-server-install.sh sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/crown-server-install.sh
watchdog
The watchdog as originally published ran every 15 minutes and did two things:
Check if crownd is running, start if it is isn’t. Check free memory and restart crownd if it is “too low”.
If you are already using the watchdog it won’t do any harm to continue running it after the upgrade, but you should disable the cron entry for the duration of the upgrade. Use the command
crontab -e
and comment out the watchdog entry by putting a hash sign (#) at the start of the line. Uncomment the line (by removing the hash sign) after upgrading.
The watchdog could still be useful after the upgrade. It is very unlikely you would need the memory checking. However, making sure your node is running every 15 minutes isn’t a bad thing (but don’t use the watchdog in conjunction with systemd or any other automatic process starter/monitoring system).
The installer has a new option, -w followed by a number 1 or 2 which corresponds exactly with the two actions described above. If you want to add the watchdog to an existing instance at the same time as upgrading then the command to use is
crown-server-install.sh -w 1
or, if you want to use the free memory checking as well
crown-server-install.sh -w 2
bootstrap
Syncing performance in the v0.13.4 update is vastly improved. Pretty much everyone should be able to sync a new node across the network, from scratch, in less than four hours. With a good internet connection, we saw several such syncs complete in less than two hours during testing.
There may still be times when syncing with the bootstrap is useful so the installer now has the option to use it. Most VPSs have a good internet connection but your local connection may not be as fast or reliable. We anticipate some wallet installations might benefit from syncing with the bootstrap, which can be done using the -b option. For example
crown-server-install.sh -c -b
The -c option indicates this is a new wallet installation (-w is already used for the watchdog). This example will ensure your system is updated, download the release package and the latest bootstrap, create swap space if you don’t have any, write a new crown.conf, update your firewall, install the release package, unzip the bootstrap into the datadir and start the daemon.
wait, there’s more!
Unless told otherwise the installer will fetch the latest release package from our Github mirror. There may be times when you want to use some other version, specifically a test version from a Gitlab pipeline build. A number of community members helped test this version before release and we’re grateful for their assistance. If you’d like to get involved and help with testing in future please get in touch via the #contributor-general channel in Discord.
Use the -j option to specify a pipeline build to install or update to. For example
crown-server-install.sh -j 6114
The installer has a number of other options. They are mostly additive although there are some mutually exclusive combinations (for instance you can’t specify both -m for a masternode and -s for a systemnode in a single invocation). You could combine all the options we’ve seen so far here, like
crown-server-install.sh -j 6114 -c -b -w 1
to install a pipeline build as a wallet, sync with the bootstrap and enable the watchdog (level 1).
We plan to publish another article soon describing the installer in more detail.
Wrapping up
Thank you to everyone who has upgraded to v0.13.2 for your patience while we dealt with the glitches and performance issues. We recommend you update at your earliest convenience.
There are still a number of v0.12.5.x nodes and wallets which have not upgraded. Although the node count is down about 20% the network hasn’t really missed them but they have been missing out on both node rewards and staking rewards. We hope these fixes will encourage their owners to upgrade those nodes and rejoin the network.
If you have any questions or issues with the upgrade or want to know more or even just chat about Crown, please contact us in Discord or Telegram. | https://medium.com/crownplatform/recommended-update-v0-13-4-0-6791cb0599a8 | [] | 2019-05-13 14:38:37.281000+00:00 | ['Update', 'Wallet', 'Crown v0.13.4.0.'] |
“Very Long Vector Path” issues… and where to find them. | Well, that was not it. By the time I opened my Pull Request and our automated Static Analysis task finished running one of our tools, Sonar, left a comment on one of the vector Drawables lines… Android Lint was saying the path of the icon was too long :(
At that point, my first thought was: ”That’s unfortunate, I just downloaded the icon from the official website, I thought they are optimised already :(”.
My second thought was: “I will check with my team, probably it is not the first time this happens”.
The first approach, Vector Drawable optimiser.
After checking and running a few searches on StackOverflow I found a Vector Drawable optimiser called Avocado which was used quite heavily for optimising the Vector Drawable so I decided to go for it.
$ avocado ic_settings.xml -o ic_settings.xml
Output:
ic_settings.xml:
Done in 10 ms!
1.961 Kb — 9.1% = 1.782 Kb
Great! It did optimise it, How long is it now?
We went down from 1746 chars to 1589… that’s a good improvement, but it seems it is not enough.
The second approach, SVG Optimiser
My assumption that the SVG was optimised already had to be wrong. So I decided to try another option a team member shared, SVGO the SVG optimiser.
$ svgo settings-24px.svg -o settings-24px.svg
Output:
settings-24px.svg:
Done in 16 ms!
1.409 KiB — 5.4% = 1.333 KiB
Run avocado again:
$ avocado ic_settings.xml -o ic_settings.xml
Output:
ic_settings.xml:
Done in 16 ms!
1.881 Kb — 8.9% = 1.714 Kb
Import it to Android Studio:
The size of the Vector Drawable went down a bit… is that enough? F**** I'm getting a bit hopeless here and I start to blame the Material icon I downloaded again… why couldn’t it be optimised already? U_U
The third approach, What about precision?
Again during our endless chat about this in the team, the point about “tweaking precision” on the SVG optimiser comes up. Hum… that’s interesting. Let me try and see what’s the result.
I use this time and online SVG Optimiser using svgo underneath and the result looks quite promising. If I tweak the precision to 1, the file size reduction is 61%, down it to 886 bytes.
And If I optimise it with Avocado (will skip showing the output this time) and import it to Android Studio…
Damn it! Still not enough… why?
The forth approach, Understand how far do I need to go optimising it? And why is that long?
I like to believe it is never too late to do something… but this probably should have been the first approach of all… however I didn’t think of it cause I was too optimistic thinking the tools would solve the problem quickly for me :D
One of my teammates (thanks Paul Blundell) mentioned that it would be nice to understand what’s the max length that LINT allows (Why didn’t I think of that myself? :/)… that and also suggested inspecting visually the vector points, to identify any redundant bits we can reduce using a Vector Path editor.
First question, how long is an acceptable vector path for LINT?
This one was easy to answer. According to the VectorPathDetector declared inside Lint (thanks Xavi Rigau for giving us a talk about custom Lint rules a few days before this), the max length should be 800 chars. Great, last optimisation showed a length of 926…
Second question, can I reduce the Vector path points to achieve 800 chars?
I copy-pasted the vector path from Android Studio to the Vector Path Editor I started to look at it in detail…
Before optimising manually.
As you can see there are some weird points not aligned properly, and I also noticed some corners with redundant points placed together. Those seemed not necessary so I decided to remove those. Good.
I realised that the inner line of the dents, had super subtle curved lines with 4 points each and I changed it by straight lines instead. Great.
I spent like 1h to apply manual tweaks while I was squeezing my eyes super hard to avoid messing up with the icon appearance or miss a potential improvement.
After optimising the points manually.
And after removing points placed together, removing middle points in “almost” straight lines and … I ended up having a quite optimised icon path and I decided to stop there.
When I pasted the Vector path to the Vector Drawable xml on Android Studio, I ran avocado and wait for LINT to complain again…
Wait… what? No complaints? Yay! I checked the path length and it was 786 chars, just below the 800 chars threshold. So happy :D
Conclusion
In the end, the icon was optimised and it didn’t compromise the appearance… but it took more than I ever expected it would.
So… lesson learnt, my takeaways from that day (which I hope to remember more often from now on with the help of this article) are: | https://medium.com/@claucookie/very-long-vector-path-issues-and-where-to-find-them-6db0f801503c | ['Claudia Luque Fernández'] | 2020-12-15 12:02:49.163000+00:00 | ['AndroidDev', 'Vectordrawable', 'Android'] |
How to Tell Stories with Sentiment Analysis | How to Tell Stories with Sentiment Analysis
Last week, I published “The QAnon Timeline: Four Years, 5,000 Drops and Countless Failed Prophecies. This investigation was a collaboration with Bellingcat — a newsroom reinventing investigative journalism with innovative open source and data driven reporting, recently featured on the NYT, WSJ, Financial Times, Washington Post, etc.
I’ve received an incredible amount of feedback, from colleagues in the open source community, and from data scientists and journalists alike.
By far the most popular question and point of interest has been on the methodology — where I used sentiment analysis to derive both quantitative and qualitative insights into the story of Qanon’s growth.
Today on Towards Data Science, I’m going to reveal my methodology. I’ll also explain in depth how to apply this innovative new approach in storytelling, that will hopefully be a valuable asset for anyone interested in distilling meaningful stories from data.
Getting started with the data 🍕
The QAnon investigation was centered on a dataset containing 4,952 so-called “Q drops,” the cryptic messages that are at the heart of the conspiracy theory. These were posted by an anonymous person known simply as “Q” — whom followers believe to be a source of insider knowledge about US politics. Whenever a Q drop appears, believers around the world eagerly try to interpret its hidden meaning, connecting them to real world events.
The Q drop dataset was found on the image board 8kun, which was used by Q followers as a location to comment on Q drops. It contains posts dating back to October 2017, a time when QAnon theories were a fringe online hobby, and continues until October 2020 — by which time they were taken all too seriously.
Methodology
This goal of the investigation was to illustrate key developments and discussions in the QAnon conspiracy theory over time. To do this, we split the data into multiple subsets, each with one to three month long intervals. For each subset, we ran a clustering algorithm that grouped sentences with a similar sentiment together. Using the results of the clustering, we then summarized major topics and notable developments for each time period. “Sentiment” was evaluated using the Universal Sentence Encoder, an academically recognized text classification model that converted each Q drop into an array of numbers — a vector — based on its meaning. Q drops with similar meanings have similar vectors. The closeness of two vectors can be calculated by taking their dot product. Thus we were able to evaluate the “closeness” in sentiment between sentences in order to categorize the text of each Q drop.
In summary, here are the three major steps. We’ll go over each of them individually, while the section above can be referenced as a high level overview of how the steps fits together.
Splitting Data into Sections Sentiment Analysis Algorithmic Clustering
1) Splitting the Data 🐼🐍
First, we want to split the data, over smaller time intervals, into multiple subsets, and perform any needed cleaning of the data. This is just data analysis 101, so I’m not going to go into too much detail, but will recommend some additional resources in case you’re interested in reading more!
My favorite data analysis tools are the Python + Pandas dynamic duo. You’re welcome to use any programming language here, but if you’re taking a first dive into data analysis, would strongly recommend this technology stack.
🐍 For running the Python programming language, PyCharm is my preferred developing environment, but many data scientists also prefer using Jupyter Notebook.
🐼 Pandas is a widely popular and super powerful data analysis library for Python.
If you’re interested in an intro to Pandas tutorial that goes over importing a dataset and cleaning the data, here’s a good resource from Towards Data Science. Otherwise, another reason why I recommend Pandas for any data analysis task is because of its incredibly powerful “Groupby” feature.
The Pandas Groupby function allows us to take a dataframe (a dataset in Pandas) and easily split it into subsets based on an attribute.
In this use case, we can “groupby” months to divide the dataset over time intervals. The specific code snippet for grouping by months is available on this stack overflow article and an amazing guide for iterating through “grouped” data in Pandas is available here.
2) Sentiment Analysis
Words are hard to work with — we’d much prefer numbers! (said no other journalist ever, but very true for the purposes of sentiment analysis.)
The ideal goal is to convert every Q drop into an array of numbers that represent its meaning, so that our dataset of drops looks more like this:
So … how do we do this?
The answer is word embeddings, a learned representation of text where words with similar meanings have similar representation. As word embeddings are a technique in natural language processing, and a subset of machine learning, there’s basically two ways to do this:
a) train our own word embedding model from Qanon related data.
b) borrow someone else’s word embedding model to convert text into numbers.
As the former requires many many months of work, we are going to go with the latter. In this example, I went with an academically acclaimed word embeddings model published by Google, that was trained with a variety of data including political texts, and optimized for sentences and short paragraphs. A tutorial for this model, the “Universal Sentence Encoder,” is available here.
🦜 Guide to using the Universal Sentence Encoder
from absl import logging
import tensorflow as tf
import tensorflow_hub as hub
import numpy as np tf.compat.v1.disable_eager_execution()
embed = hub.Module("https://tfhub.dev/google/universal-sentence-encoder/1")
paragraph1 = (
"I am a sentence for which I would like to get its embedding."
"Universal Sentence Encoder embeddings also support short paragraphs. "
"There is no hard limit on how long the paragraph is. Roughly, the longer "
"the more 'diluted' the embedding will be.")
paragraph2 = "There are Puppets. There are Puppet Masters. Which is MUELLER?"
messages = [paragraph1, paragraph2]
with tf.Session() as session:
session.run([tf.global_variables_initializer(), tf.tables_initializer()])
message_embeddings = session.run(embed(messages))
for i, message_embedding in enumerate(np.array(message_embeddings).tolist()):
print("Message: {}".format(messages[i]))
print("Embedding size: {}".format(len(message_embedding)))
message_embedding_snippet = ", ".join(
(str(x) for x in message_embedding[:3]))
print("Embedding: [{},...]
".format(message_embedding_snippet))
In the above snippet, we first import TensorFlow, a popular Python machine learning library developed by Google.
The ensuing section of code is all from the Universal Sentence Encoder guide, where on line 8 we download the “embed” module from the internet, which takes our input text and converts the text into a vector, a list of 512 numbers. The output data is contained in the “message_embeddings” variable which we can use to analyze and export the data into an excel sheet.
3) Clustering Things Together
Before we cluster similar drops together, we need to know how to evaluate that two drops are similar. Fortunately, we’ve already converted the Q drops into vectors (basically arrays of numbers). Recalling from high school math, the “similarity” of two vectors is proportional to their dot product, with parallel vectors having a dot product equal to 1.
Finding the dot product of two vectors is super easy in Python:
import numpy as np print(np.dot(a, b))
Turning up the Heat [Map]
Let’s see an example of all of this in action! Below we have 10 sentences from Q drops. Five of them are related to Robert Mueller and five of them are related to Facebook.
List of 10 sentences: Mueller1: “There are Puppets. There are Puppet Masters. Which is [MUELLER]?”,
Mueller2: “Attempt to replace [JC] as FBI Dir FAILED [attempt to regain FBI control].”,
Mueller3: “[MUELLER] [Epstein bury & cover-up].”,
Mueller4: “[MUELLER] [plot to remove duly elected POTUS].”,
Mueller5: “BIGGEST SCANDAL IN AMERICAN HISTORY. TREASON.”,
Facebook1: “What is FB?”,
Facebook2: “Spying tool?”,
Facebook3: “Who created it?”,
Facebook4: “Who really created it?”,
Facebook5: “Nothing is what it seems.”
Using a heat-map, made with the Seaborn library in Python, we can visualize the dot product of each pair of sentences on a scale from 0 to 1. The diagonal is all dark red because each drop is identical to itself. Notice how the upper left corner is mostly orange, as the Mueller sentences are more correlated with each other, while the Facebook sentences are scarcely related except FB3 (“Who created it”) and FB4 (“Who really created it”), which are highly similar and colored in red.
For the final step, we can run a clustering algorithm on the Q drops to classify similar drops together. In this example, we used Agglomerate Clustering, although there are numerous other clustering algorithms out there.
Here’s a tutorial for applying agglomerate clustering in Python. It’s able to group vectors / lists of numbers based on their similarity, while taking into account the math from our quick review of vectors.
from sklearn.cluster import AgglomerativeClustering
import pandas as pd
import os
CSV_Path = os.path.join('data.csv')
df = pd.read_csv(CSV_Path)
arr = df.iloc[:,1].to_numpy()
vector = df.iloc[:,3].to_numpy()
dates = df.iloc[:,0].to_numpy()
dates = dates.tolist()[0:200]
sentences = arr.tolist()[0:200]
vector = vector.tolist()[0:200]
for i in range (len(vector)):
vector[i] = vector[i][1:-1].split()
clustering = AgglomerativeClustering(n_clusters=3).fit(vector)
print(clustering.labels_)
We simplify specify the number of clusters we want and run the algorithm on a subset of Q drops. I generally like to modify the number of clusters based on the number drops in the subset. This is one limitation of this algorithm, where another clustering algorithm like KD means might be able to better predict the best number of clusters for a dataset.
Lastly, after performing the algorithm on the dataset, we can read through the drops in each cluster for the most common trends — and then write about them — the qualitative/journalistic part of the investigation that computers could never automate.
Here’s the link to the final product, the outcome of this methodology in investigating Q drops:🍕 The Qanon Timeline: Four Years, 5,000 Drops and Countless Failed Prophecies. | https://towardsdatascience.com/how-to-tell-stories-with-sentiment-analysis-f94cf9f8ca71 | ['Edward Tian'] | 2021-02-09 15:22:33.563000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Machine Learning', 'Sentiment Analysis', 'Data Journalism', 'Editors Pick'] |
How to Block or disable Whatsapp unknown number calls | Image Source by Canva
Block or disable Whatsapp unknown number calls|Quit obtaining unknown get in touch with whatsapp (No Root) Many WhatsApp individuals are wondering if it’s feasible to immediately obstruct unidentified numbers. Expect you don’t want to obtain inappropriate web content or spam messages from details calls or numbers. Because case, you can tweak your WhatsApp personal privacy setups. Spammers often utilize arbitrary numbers to send out their messages. However, things are a little bit much more made complex when it pertains to instantly obstructing unidentified numbers.
How Do I Block Unknown Numbers Automatically on WhatsApp?
WhatsApp and whatsapp group does not immediately obstruct unknown numbers. There’s no option to instantly block messages from unknown numbers. The solution does not provide any kind of function similar to this.
When you get a message from an unidentified number, Whatsapp will certainly inform you the sender is not in your list of contacts. You have three options at hand: Block, Record, and also Block, or Contribute to contacts.
How to Block Unknown Numbers on WhatsApp
When you get a message from an unidentified number, you can simply select the corresponding chat as well as faucet Block.
Initially, open the chat, and then select the particular telephone number. Select Block Call, as well as tap Block or Report Call. Select Record and also Block to report as well as obstruct that number.
By the way, if you wish to obstruct a particular get in touch with, most likely to WhatsApp Settings, choose Account, and also faucet Privacy. Then select Blocked, faucet Include New, and also pick the contact you intend to obstruct.
What Happens When You Block a Number on WhatsApp?
Obstructed numbers and calls can no more contact you. They won’t be able to send you messages, include you to groups, or call you. At the same time, they won’t be able to access profile-related info such as status updates or adjustments to your account pictures.
Bear in mind that obstructing a number or contact on WhatsApp does not immediately eliminate them from your get in touches with. You require to visit your phone’s calls list and manually delete the respective get in touch with. | https://medium.com/@technicaljoy/how-to-block-or-disable-whatsapp-unknown-number-calls-bcd5d8cd4e57 | ['Joy Biswas'] | 2021-12-31 08:12:58.502000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Tips And Tricks', 'Tips', 'Whatsapp Tips And Tricks', 'WhatsApp'] |
Confused (and Happy) | Confused (and Happy)
A snapshot of how Italians feel today
An individualistic and polarized society, seeking comfort in social ties. They are happy with their “Italianity”. At the same time, they are unsure of their capacity to change what they don’t like. Gaia van der Esch MPA 2020 toured Italy interviewing dozens of people: this is what she found….
MPA 2020 Gaia van der Esch traveled 2500 kilometers across Italy, conducting 60 interviews in 14 regions of the country to better understand Italian’s views on politics (Photos courtesy of Gaia van der Esch)
Written by: Gaia van der Esch MPA 2020 and originally published on the Corriere della Sera
Looking at it from the outside, it seems easy. Once you leave the Italian borders, people can repeat — in one breath, and with unsettling certainty — all the (alleged) characteristics of Italian identity: lovers of the “dolce vita”; distracted about our economy; always creative, even in circumventing rules; incorrigible on politics. When you look at it closely, however, the issue becomes complicated. And it becomes fascinating.
As a country every day, Italy unconsciously composes a mosaic. With the hope of better understanding the faces that constitute this mosaic, I decided to travel — 2500 kilometers in my grandma’s FIAT 600, conducting 60 interviews in 14 regions of the country while administering a 46-question survey. My grandma Gianna, 97, was very envious about this trip! Each interview began with an introduction, mine: Gaia, currently studying at the Harvard Kennedy School with a Dutch surname, an Italian passport, and having lived abroad for 11 years because of my job and studies. And each interview ended with a photo (of the interviewee), accompanied by what appeared to be the most delicate topic to discuss, today, in my country: politics.
Yes, politics.
Before leaving for this trip, observing Italy through social media, I was certain to find a polarized, upset country. I was worried that perhaps people would even be unwilling to respond to my questions on such heated issues. Instead, every single person I asked to interview — in bars, beaches, parks, train stations, alpine refuges, restaurants, a regional council, mayors’ offices (Palermo and Milan), fishing boats (on the Delta del Po) — accepted with pleasure and curiosity (after realizing that, despite my folder with notes, I was not trying to sell them something). In fact, they welcomed me, provided me with suggestions for my trip, gave me unique insights for my research. They opened up about their fears and hopes.
A disillusioned society
This is, perhaps, the most profound contradiction that defines Italians today. They are disillusioned: at every step of my trip, without exception, people affirmed that today we are not doing well, worse than yesterday, let alone the day before yesterday. But to the question “what is your mood today?” the answer was always optimistic: good, almost excellent, on average 8.3 out of 10. Coupled with this (unproven) certainty that the country and the people are not doing well, I found a lot of fear: for the ever more evanescent human relationships, for a State that is not close to its citizens, for the socio-economic fragility. Despite this, respondents were proud of being Italian (average 8/10), with a strong connection to the regional dimension of Italian identity, from the North to the South of Italy. This pride is defined, though, by the past, by the history and culture we inherited from our ancestors: apart from the food and the beauty of our landscape, nobody referred to contemporary elements that define us as Italians. Italian perceive themselves as individualistic people, with a weak civic sense, destined to increasingly destroy the hyper-Italian values of family and solidarity. When asked to prioritize some set values, loyalty emerged as the most important, authority as the least important.
What divides us?
Italians all agree on one thing: it’s a divided country. By what? By a historical gap, North-South, and by an economic one: inequality, instability, fear for the future generations. What about the ideological and political divide that fill-up newspapers and talk shows? Secondary, at least according to the responses. And polarizing issues such as immigration? The most repeated premise during the interviews was “I’m not a racist, but …”, followed by statements on the need to stop migratory flows or the impossibility of “welcoming everyone”. But when I asked interviewees to clarify such statements, often they came to realize they were repeating slogans. Their conclusion was often that the fear of migrants reaching our shores is, in reality, a symptom: a way to protect ourselves from other uncertainties.
“I realize however that very often we Italians give more importance
to stereotypes, to a model life that does not necessarily make us happy, without pausing to think about
the actual content of life — what really matters …” - David Finotti, Fisherman, 29, Po Delta
The hope for change
When we take a look at the situation outside of Italy, Italians seem to appreciate Europe and perceive the EU as a necessary part of their future. But they would like it to be more united and, above all, more equal: right now, they feel treated as marginal and irrelevant by those who govern the EU. Italians envy the civic sense of other European countries, their respect for the rules and efficiency (of their bureaucracy and of their employment sector). However, when I asked interviewees if, given the opportunity, they would leave Italy, most of them declined the offer for themselves but hoped their children or grandchildren would leave. “They are better off outside of Italy, just like you,” they repeated, “unless there are major changes in our country, they should leave to find a better future”.
Of course, the hope that politics will improve the situation is gone. Most respondents feel governed by ineffective leaders which, combined with the Italian mentality, constitute one of the greatest obstacles for change. Thus, with few certainties about the future and without a sense of belonging to a modern version of our identity, we cling to certainties (or illusions) of the past: the “Italian blood”, the sacredness of our territory. This is why, today, the right-wing appears to be more meaningful than the left-wing: “it’s more rooted, it brings us back to our traditions and to the times when we were doing better,” many say. But most interviewees recognize that political ideologies are outmoded concepts nowadays, with little meaning left for the right/left axis.
”Today Italians are angry with everyone and with no one. We incubate anger instead of fighting for
our country. We are a vital, warm country — we cannot lose this characteristic or our ability to be
hopeful. Let’s solve this!” -Veronica Di Leonardo, owner of Bar Centrale, 34,
Anguillara Sabazia
What can Italians do
What took the interviewees by surprise was my last question, which is the motto of my school — inspired by J.F. Kennedy: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”. So, what were they doing? At this point, the look in their eyes suddenly shifted. Some admitted not being engaged in civil society, most of them tried to avoid politics: too little time and interest, little hope and lots of disillusions. Others preferred replying that they were actively engaged in building a better country: “by paying taxes”, or “behaving correctly”. One thing was crystal clear in their eyes: each of them can and must do more for their country, overcoming the disillusion and passivity — there is no more time to find excuses!
This is what surprised me at the end of each day of my trip. I met, day after day, a country that wants to reflect on itself; a country that wants to show solidarity among Italians and towards other people, but that has an urgent need to find comfort and to reactivate social bonds in order to do so. Italy is the country of squares, cafes, churches, and chit-chats on benches in the parks. In these communal spaces, Italians have confronted and redefined themselves for hundreds of years. It is in these squares and on these benches that, at the end of each interview and after having renewed social ties, I witnessed a renewed desire in the people I met to change things, to get engaged. By losing these social ties, which constitute the fabric of the Italian territory, and by always taking more shortcuts, the cell phone instead of the bar, a social media post instead of an encounter, what do Italians really lose? Perhaps the most important thing of all: the “Italianity”, the ability and desire to (re)define themselves collectively and get back in the game, which is the only way they can create the future and the country they all want to live in. | https://medium.com/challenges-to-democracy/confused-and-happy-38c6a45b3923 | ['Harvard Ash Center'] | 2019-11-04 18:15:31.558000+00:00 | ['Harvard', 'Italy', 'Democracy', 'Identity', 'Politics'] |
What is Generics in Java? | Photo by RetroSupply on Unsplash
As we know, java is a strongly typed class. It expects every single object instance or class it runs into to be specified a type.
And that’s fine if your application works as a single standalone application that does not interact with any third part source codes. Reality is, it doesn’t really work that way and most likely you might be interacting with other external sources.
Let’s say we have the following code:
We are assuming this function will return the string in all scenarios. Totally fine but if we are working with third party code, this function can be returning something different.
Enters generic.
Generic allow users to parameterize classes, methods or interfaces to support one or more types. This can be one of any class type, any child class of a specified generic type, or a parent class of a specified generic type.
Here is a basic example of a generic class:
What makes it a generic class? First of all, it supports a wildcard which means GenericsClass can be instantiated with any object type. For example:
See how generics give us the option to instantiate the instances on different object types? Generally, if a class is strongly typed and there was an issue with the type of the instance that was instantiated, a runtime error will occur. With generics, if there are any issues with the type parameters, it will be captured in compile time which is easier to detect and understand what the problem is.
Well…what is a generic method then?
Let’s take a look at the following example:
Imagine we want to build a functionality to print an array without generics. Because Java is a strongly typed language, we would literally have to build a printArray function for every type of object that we want to print the value for.
Ouch! That sounds horrible from maintenance point of view is it? What if we want to print values from the array for class 1, class 2, class 3, …class n? We will have to replicate the same method just because there are different classes.
That’s the magical part about generics. It doesn’t care about the type and it focuses on the functionality of printing out the value.
How about a generic interface? how does that look like?
Over we can implement the interface with any generic type we can support, such as a String or an Integer. And with each class that supports the generic type, it gives us further flexibility as to how we design the classes to support the generic type, with each class implementing their set of characteristics with the interface methods.
So far we have talked about generic wildcards, also known as unbounded wildcards. What if we want to define boundary for a list of classes our generic class or method want to support?
In reality, we have two type of bounded wildcards:
Upper bound wildcards (For example, <? extends List>)
Lower bound wildcards(For example, <? supers ArrayList>)
Upper bound wildcards sets a boundary, defining the list of child classes the generic allows while lower bound wildcards set a boundary for what parent/grandparent classes the generic supports.
Let’s take a look at the following example:
Over here, for arr and arrTwo, any subclasses of Number(such as Long) and the Number class itself is supported via the upper bound wildcard.
for arrThree, if you try to support an object class that is not a child class of Number, a compile time error will result, similar to what you will see with the following message:
Error java: incompatible types: java.util.ArrayList<Session_1.Department> cannot be converted to java.util.List<? extends java.lang.Number>
For arrFour, a list of type of number or a type of Object List, a parent class of Object, can be used to instantiate it. If we try to instantiate arrFour with a class that is not a parent class of Number, it will result into a compile type error.
Here are a few more things to remember about generics:
type inference: java’s compiler has the ability to look at each method invocation and corresponding declaration to determine the type argument. For example:
type erasure: refers to java’s compiler to enforce type constraints at compile time only and discard generic element types at runtime. Let’s say we have the following:
If we declare a GenericCard that is of type string, it will change the declaration for the GenericCard class in the following way:
That’s it! That pretty much covers everything with generic in java. | https://medium.com/dev-genius/what-is-generics-in-java-dc691f12b8a3 | ['Michael Tong'] | 2020-10-20 07:32:30.665000+00:00 | ['Java', 'Core Java', 'Java8'] |
Agency selection process learnings and framework | Agency selection process learnings and framework
This post wants to address an agency selection process of any kind, and how to make it fast, effortless and fair to make the best choice for you or your company Esteve Castells Feb 22·3 min read
I was doing this document for internal purposes at Adevinta and thought it would be nice to open source it. This is the learnings of working for a year at a media agency, hiring agencies in-house and working as a consultant/agency for big brands and startups.
You may want to read this in Spanish
Briefing
Keep it short (max 2 pages) unless completely necessary. Add annexes at the end but try to keep the main messages short and clear.
Same information for all providers, look for symmetry of information to not have biased proposals.
Be clear on your goals, your needs and how you will evaluate them.
If you have budget limits, be clear before-hand.
Use Loom to send the brief, this can save you easily 5–10h work of calls with providers.
Picking providers
Picking the providers that will be in the pitch process is equally important or even more important that the entire framework and process. If you want to cook a nice meal with shit food, the food will taste like shit anyway.
Do your own research about the best providers in town. Google them, reach out in your network and ask colleagues. Don’t hesitate to reach out to providers that look too expensive, sometimes they want to work with you for less money as we are a cool brand.
Try to not have too many providers in the pitch process. Generally the recommendation is between 2 and 4. More than that becomes unmanageable.
Trim providers before the pitch process. Pricing, background and previous work might be worth checking in a quick call.
Ask for references and previous work as a good indicator of quality.
Pitch / Get to know time
Keep the committee small unless completely necessary
Schedule pitches in different days so that people are not tired of listening to pitches
Give same amount of presentation time to each provider
Don’t take calls from providers to ask for too much detail, provide it as systematically symmetric information or they have an advantage.
Always save time for Q&A
Value the proposition, framework and approach more than the actual content (mockups or stuff). The process > the content in a pitch, as it defines the way of working
Value deep knowledge and expertise
Value the team that will execute, not the one presenting. Ask for detail around it
Decision-making
Simplified example template
Build a shared document with matrix style so that everyone can express their opinions
Not too many people on decision-making, keep it to relevant people
Add people that will be working on the operations of the project, don’t make it a high level decision only
Agree on the process beforehand with all stakeholders
Base it in pro’s and con’s about each provider
See if there are any blockers or red flags for a provider in the matrix
Don’t decide based on friendship or favours
Don’t be biased by that, and if you can’t be unbiased, don’t vote
Make the final decision over a call, some things can’t be expressed in a document
Onboarding process
A good provider without a good onboarding process is a wasted provider. This is key to a fruitful collaboration
Be aware of contracts, and clauses that we want to include, trial period or notice period if it doesn’t work.
Create shared Slack channel and facilitate communication between team members
Create a plan to onboard the provider, stakeholders, relevant information, etc.
Don’t share too many information from previous provider if any, unless necessary, to not be biased
Let internal people know about the provider and what to expect from them in short and long term (integration, deliverables, etc).
Ramp up period is expected to be 1–3 months depending on the type
Picking an agency is more of an art than a science. Good luck! | https://medium.com/@estevecastells/agency-selection-process-learnings-and-framework-15fd74f748c4 | ['Esteve Castells'] | 2021-02-23 20:52:10.800000+00:00 | ['Framework', 'Agency', 'Pitching'] |
Penny Stocks Definition & Frequently Asked Questions | What Is A Penny Stock? Are Penny Stocks Worth It? Penny Stocks & Day Trading Why Are Penny Stocks Risky? When Does The Stock Market Open? When Does The Stock Market Close?
What Is A Penny Stock?
A penny stock is a stock of a company that trades for less than $5 a share. While most some expect these to be smaller companies, there are many that have market caps in the billions of dollars. Many are also traded on major exchanges like the NASDAQ and New York Stock Exchange.
This is a welcome sign to clients of penny stock brokers like Robinhood & Webull, which limit their users to only main listings (for the most part). The general understanding for many novice traders is that penny stocks only trade Over The Counter or “on the OTC”. This just isn’t true and when you think of the definition of penny stocks, you should focus on the price, not on the exchange.
Are Penny Stocks Worth It?
To understand if penny stocks are worth it, you need to analyze your own approach to the stock market. Do you like higher risk trading? Furthermore, can you handle higher-risk situations? If you’re more of the school of thought to buy and hold, or invest in stocks, then penny stocks might be a bit intimidating.
The fact that traders can make money or lose money in the blink of an eye is what has polarized the investing public for decades. The difference here is that there are plenty of ways to make money with penny stocks. But it’s important to understand that treating penny stocks (or any stocks) as a lottery ticket is a surefire way to lose money in the market.
So before you ask yourself, “Are penny stocks worth it,” it might be best to ask yourself if you understand how to day trade in the first place. There are plenty of tools to use that can help you understand a number of strategies to utilize for consistent profitability in the market. At the end of the day, penny stocks are a great way to leverage small sums of money to benefit from volatility in the stock market. It just comes down to learning how to day trade in order to become consistently profitable.
Penny Stocks & Day Trading
This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t consider the exchange when it comes to day trading penny stocks or even investing in them. All exchanges have certain requirements of companies in order to remain listed on them. Sometimes it has to do with a minimum share price and other times it has to do with publicly available information. When it comes to OTC penny stocks, in particular, the listing requirements are less strict in comparison to those of NASDAQ and the NYSE.
Learn More
Let’s face it, day trading penny stocks is a simple task but not an easy one. Just simply thinking you’re going to buy at one price and sell at another overly simplifies everything going into the trade itself. Analyzing technical levels, dissecting news, reading filings, etc. It all goes into a trading thesis even before pressing “buy”. Aside from the listing requirements, those looking to day trade penny stocks should also be aware of the liquidity of certain penny stocks. This refers to how many shares are traded in a given session and how frequently the stock trades.
Generally speaking, the average penny stocks that day traders seek out are relatively thinly traded. This means that they aren’t actively traded every day. Some days there might be high levels of activity while other days there could be lower levels. Why is liquidity important? The simple fact is that less liquid stocks an be harder to exit when it comes time to taking a profit from your trade.
As a result of this lower liquidity, you might also be looking at wider spreads. What are spreads in stocks? This refers to the difference in price between the highest bid (the “bid” price) and the lowest offer (the “ask” price). An example of a “wide spread” is a stock that has a bid of $0.05 and an ask of $0.10. This is a 100% difference in price. If a trader buys penny stocks with a spread like this, the risk is that immediately after purchasing at the Ask, someone sells at the Bid, thus cutting your position value in half.
Why Are Penny Stocks Risky?
We talked about price risk, liquidity risk, and market exchange risk. But there are plenty of other risks involved in penny stocks. A lot has to do with things like valid, recent information as well as who’s involved in many of these companies. Insiders can many times be a reason penny stocks plummet.
When you’re talking about small companies like these, as well as ones with lower liquidity, it makes it hard to raise money. Many times we’ll see these companies raising millions of dollars to sustain operations. But the money may be “expensive.
This might include hefty discounts and certain conversion rights. When you’re talking about OTC penny stocks, for example, some companies might raise funds at as much as a 50% discount to the current market price. In cases like this we’ll see the price of a given penny stock drop dramatically. This is simply due to the fact that traders see where the company values its stock based on the current offering amount.
Furthermore, due to lax reporting requirements, the OTC is usually where you see pump and dump activity. These companies don’t need to disclose nearly the same amount of information as NASDAQ and NYSE companies. Also, since these are usually thinly traded, they fall prey to market manipulation. If you, as a trader, are on the dump-side of a pump and dump, it can result in unimaginable losses. There are instances of fraud on other exchanges as well. No matter what, it’s just another reason to do your research before placing any trades.
When Does The Stock Market Open?
If you’ve got a good hold of the risks and understand how to make money with penny stocks, it’s time to hit the market. But what time does the stock market open? The stock market opens at 9:30 AM Eastern Standard Time, every day that the market is open.
This signals the formal opening of the “regular market hours.” However, there are extended hours trading. Depending on your broker, you may be able to access pre-market trading of some stocks as early as 4 AM EST. You’ll want to consult your broker to gain specific information on accessing premarket trading options.
When Does The Stock Market Close?
Obviously, the other side of this is when does the stock market close? The stock market closes at 4:00 PM EST. That signals the end of the regular session. Just like premarket trading, there is also post-market trading. Again, this is something to ask your own broker about. But, generally speaking, post-market trading ends at 8 PM EST.
Summary | https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/penny-stocks-definition-frequently-asked-questions-f8c8b377f317 | ['Joe Sirianni'] | 2020-12-26 04:42:33.659000+00:00 | ['How To', 'Stocks', 'Day Trading', 'Investing', 'Finance'] |
I swear by small & medium businesses … I want them to make a comeback | Emilia, 38, runs a small store in Oxford. She is putting up a brave face. We salute her spirit.
I love(d) to buy my cake from Saldhana Bakery.
It is a small hole in the wall in the neighborhood where I grew up. Apart from childhood memories they have been making great cakes for the past 130 years. I particularly loved their almond cake. With a lovely whiff of vanilla and crunchy almonds this was something that I always craved for. Now that I am away from Mumbai, I make it a point to visit the store every time I come home. People from far and wide come to buy their cakes.
The store is no more. The pandemic was too much for them to keep the store running. Also, the younger generation did not find it too profitable to keep our memories alive. Did they have an option???
It is interesting to note that small and medium businesses constitute 99% of all businesses in any part of the world. Now that’s a big number.
What I love about them is their passion for the business, the employment that they generate and the communities that they serve. They also have an indomitable spirit for taking risks. Small & medium business owners are my heroes.
Small businesses have been hit hard. Lisa, 55 who runs a boutique shoe store in Paris has seen 80% of her sales evaporate. The boutique was everything she had in her life. She had to lay off people who had worked with her for the past 20 years. She is under tremendous stress. In fact 62% of small and mid-size businesses saw a decrease in revenue this year and 52% said they would change their mode of business.
I am against big businesses (By choice).
Big businesses are founded with the sole motive of profitability where the CEO’s are the garlanded heroes of the company. We all have to favor them in some way or the other because they are convenient and affordable. That’s why we love a burger from Mc Donald or something to wear from Zara. True … we can’t run away from them. Most often we have no choice.
Small businesses are aware that there is a very large market waiting for them. Yes. More so with the pandemic. They have realized that the way to survive is to take the business online. With E-Commerce. Its now or never.
I will say that E-Commerce has democratized business. It has created a level playing field for all. Agreed that E-commerce is not easy. But with start up costs being low a large number of small and mid size businesses have already taken the plunge. But most of them are failing. Why???
The benefits of e-commerce are well known.
Managing working capital is a breeze as you need to hold just the right amount of inventory. You can manage your entire business with 2–3 employees and save costs on real estate. There are no rentals and the cost for holding inventory is <1% with third party logistics providers. You can also keep your marketing costs at <5% with smart marketing with influencers and growing your brand with Organic channels (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube).
There is also a comfort of working from home. Spending more time with your family and loved ones.
Going digital has been a trend for some time for small and mid size businesses. But most fail because they do not know how to go about it. Going online requires a lot of knowledge and strategizing. For most small and mid size companies it is often their first experience with building an online brand and developing a new base for customers. It is extremely exciting for them which is why they take the plunge without consulting an expert. Probably because experts are too expensive.
What if there were pro bono experts to guide them???
Lets face it. Money is/was never an issue in business. It is about the right use of this money to find the right customers. Business is about passion, determination and a dream coming true.
I am committed to enable these small and medium businesses take off. I want to build a community where they can come and discuss their problems and find a solution for it. Have spent 17 years building large brands with marketing, advertising and E-commerce. I will be their guide and help them pivot online.
It’s my passion to see a small enterprise grow. But when they become big they may start behaving like the big ones. Like kids who become very difficult to manage when they grow up.
But that is life. | https://medium.com/@bjbasu/i-swear-by-small-medium-businesses-i-want-them-to-make-a-comeback-3f00be8da5b2 | ['Raja Basu'] | 2020-12-27 08:24:11.915000+00:00 | ['Small Business', 'Consulting', 'Digital Marketing', 'Ecommerce'] |
One More Day | Sign up for Just Sharing Some Love - of Poetry and Fiction
By Share The Love
A short newsletter to let all our subscribers know just how their publication is doing and highlights of our week. Take a look | https://medium.com/share-the-love/one-more-day-79a877eb2518 | ['Ivette Cruz'] | 2020-11-30 08:50:08.550000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Relationships', 'Positive Thinking', 'Love', 'Parenting'] |
How NOT to talk about fixing climate change | Too often people in the Green is Good movement curl up in a defensive crouch when discussing jobs and climate change with conservatives. Seems the conservative line whenever any kind of change is suggested, is that it will cost money and jobs and the poor workers and tax payers are the ones who will be adversely affected. They say, let’s not do that, let’s save money and jobs but what they’re admitting is that they’re on the hook for funding as well as writing down their obsolete infrastructures.
In the recent Australian elections, the winning conservative candidate Prime Minister Scott Morrison,made mincemeat of his opponent, a green candidate from the Labor Party, Bill Shorten. Morrison made the contest a choice of jobs and a healthy economy vs. doing reasonable things about climate. All this despite the fact that, as an article in the New York Timesreported happened, “…in a country devastated by drought, heat waves, brush fires and the loss of its magnificent Great Barrier Reef to warming seas.”
How did this happen? How could it happen? Simply put the Greens thought they had a logical argument what with all the climate chaos around them. They didn’t think of arming themselves with information or consider the emotional side of losing a home to fire or the Great Barrier Reef. It was a big mistake and sadly, it is a recurrent theme. But it doesn’t have to be. The Green movement could start by educating itself rather than drafting behind catchy slogans, including the Green New Deal, whatever that is.
I’d like to convince you that the choice of jobs and a healthy economy or doing reasonable things about climate is a false dichotomy. It’s not an OR situation, it’s an AND. Economic change often forces the situation from OR to AND. Economic changes induced by disruptive innovations often require construction which creates jobs both in the actual construction of new infrastructure and later in operating the new systems. But constructing a new infrastructure costs money and surprise(!) it’s the capitalists whose finances are stressed by change, not the working man or woman.
Building Infrastructure
Consider this. In 2016, China added 64 GW of clean power generation capacity, about four times the US contribution, but then again, China’s population is about four times the size of the US. The European Union added 21 GW and India 13 GW.Unfortunately, not all of this capacity was added to a grid.
China is not adding transmission lines as fast as it adds generating capacity, for the simple reason that grids are bigger and more expensive construction projects than constructing a solar or wind farm. This results in stranded resources and curtailment meaning some existing generating resources can’t get their power to market. China’s attention is now focused more on building transmission lines to hook up those curtailed assets. According to Justin Wu, head of APAC at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, “China is facing slowing power demand and growing wind and solar curtailment. The government is now focused on investing in grids and reforming the power market so that the renewables in place can generate to their full potential.”
Jobs, jobs, jobs
Closer to home it’s much the same story. When I wrote “The Age of Sustainability” I was struck by some data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) that still haunts me. According to a front-page article in April 2017 in The New York Times, jobs in solar energy already outpace those in coal (at the time) by a lopsided margin 373,807 to 160,119.But the same article also notes 398,235 jobs in natural gas and 515,518 in oil, so there’s work to do. But then again, we’re not talking about closing down the oil and gas industries. Also, bioenergy and wind support 130,677 and 101,738 jobs respectively.
Coal employment has been declining for generations.
As you can see in the graph above, jobs in coal have been declining for generations. Part of the decline is due to automation and a shift from tunneling in the earth to blowing up mountain tops and strip mining. In fact, there are more jobs now in solar than there are in coal, oil, and gas extraction in the US (see graphic below). Part of the reason for the shift is that solar and other renewables have crossed over and are now or becoming cost competitive with fossil fuels. That’s a paradigm shift and such things don’t go backwards so the idea of re-energizing the coal industry is a pipedream.
It’s not just the numbers but the direction of the graphs that’s important too. Fossil fuels are in decline.
A simple BLS table lists the top two, and fastest growing jobs from 2016 to 2026 as solar photovoltaic installers (105-percent increase) and wind turbine service technicians (96-percent increase) — and neither one even requires a college education. So the Greening of America is well under way and you can see it in the shifts in employment. That’s the free market acting.
My two bits
The Green movement has a story to tell and it’s a good one. The technology is here today and capable of replacing fossil fuels. The economics are favorable because green solutions generate jobs and deliver power better and cheaper than corporate fossil fuel generators can.
We’re in a transition state where both fossil fuels and green solutions will coexist for a while. But given that earth is running out of fossil fuels as well as the state of the environment, there’s no reason to be timid about supporting the new energy paradigm. Be vocal but respectful when conservatives say we can’t do anything about the problem. There’s lots we can do and it’s being done by conservatives’ favorite mechanism, the free market. It all starts with educating yourself so that you don’t end up in a fetal position while some conservatives spew nonsense about your interest in preserving the planet for yourself and for them. | https://denispombriant.medium.com/how-not-to-talk-about-fixing-climate-change-9d05a9efe9d9 | ['Denis Pombriant'] | 2019-05-21 14:29:18.679000+00:00 | ['Environment', 'Climate Change', 'Democratic Socialism', 'Green New Deal', 'Jobs'] |
What About a 6-Week Machine Learning Project? Beginners Friendly Cat vs Dog Classification Problem.(Week 6) | What About a 6-Week Machine Learning Project? Beginners Friendly Cat vs Dog Classification Problem.(Week 6) Rohith Vazhathody Follow Sep 2 · 6 min read
Prediction
It’s been 6 long weeks since I started working on my Cat Vs Dog Classification Project. I was able to learn a lot of new things, in the course of this project’s completion. It made me go through the documentation for several times, ask many questions, search for the answers and even rerun the code that put me in doubt, during various stages.
All of this began from searching for the data set which I got from Kaggle.com. My next step was uploading it into google drive and mounting the data on google colab. After all of it was done, I was ready to code and work with the data set.
All the given operations were performed:
Finding the image labels. Creation of a validation set. Turning data into batches. Selecting and building a model. Creating Callbacks. Training our model on the subsets of data. Predicting and evaluating the model. Training the model on the full data set. Saving and Loading the model. ( Link to Previous Article ).
Once all these operations were catered to, I was left with the task of making predictions on the test data set and making custom image prediction.
Predictions on Test Data
After training the model on the full data set and loading the saved model, we were ready to test the model with the test data.
In order to make predictions on the test data set, we needed a few things:
Get the test image filenames.
Convert the filenames into data batches using create_data_batches() and also set the parameter into true since we are using test data set and there won’t be any labels.
and also set the parameter into true since we are using test data set and there won’t be any labels. Make a predictions array by passing the test batches to predict() method on our model.
method on our model. Get the test image filenames
We can directly access the file path by just copying the path of the file and then adding it into a list. This had to be done for both cat and dog..
Cat
# Loading the test cat image filenames
test_cat_path = 'drive/My Drive/CatVsDog/test_set/test_set/cats/'
test_cat_filenames = [test_cat_path + fname for fname in os.listdir(test_cat_path)]
test_cat_filenames[:5] ['drive/My Drive/CatVsDog/test_set/test_set/cats/cat.4585.jpg',
'drive/My Drive/CatVsDog/test_set/test_set/cats/cat.4592.jpg',
'drive/My Drive/CatVsDog/test_set/test_set/cats/cat.4632.jpg',
'drive/My Drive/CatVsDog/test_set/test_set/cats/cat.4580.jpg',
'drive/My Drive/CatVsDog/test_set/test_set/cats/cat.4575.jpg']
Dog
# Loading the test dog image filenames
test_dog_path = 'drive/My Drive/CatVsDog/test_set/test_set/dogs/'
test_dog_filenames = [test_dog_path + fname for fname in os.listdir(test_dog_path)]
test_dog_filenames[:5] ['drive/My Drive/CatVsDog/test_set/test_set/dogs/dog.4651.jpg',
'drive/My Drive/CatVsDog/test_set/test_set/dogs/dog.4158.jpg',
'drive/My Drive/CatVsDog/test_set/test_set/dogs/dog.4426.jpg',
'drive/My Drive/CatVsDog/test_set/test_set/dogs/dog.4462.jpg',
'drive/My Drive/CatVsDog/test_set/test_set/dogs/dog.4434.jpg']
Making use of create_data_batches()
Here, we converted both cat data and dog data into data batches and set the parameter test_data = True as we are actually dealing with test data and there are no labels associated with these data.
Cat
# Create test cat data batches
test_cat_data = create_data_batches(test_cat_filenames, test_data=True) creating test data batches.....
Dog
# Create test dog data batches
test_dog_data = create_data_batches(test_dog_filenames, test_data=True) creating test data batches.....
Make predictions on the test data
Now we are all ready to make use of the predict() method to make predictions on the test data of cat and dog. After making predictions, we save all of the predicted values in a .csv file which can be used later.
Cat
# Make predictions on test cat data batch using the loaded full model
test_cat_predictions = loaded_full_cat_model.predict(test_cat_data, verbose=1) 32/32 [==============================] - 21s 671ms/step np.savetxt("drive/My Drive/CatVsDog/pred_cat_array.csv", test_cat_predictions, delimiter=",")
Dog
# Make predictions on test dog data batch using the loaded full model
test_dog_predictions = loaded_full_dog_model.predict(test_dog_data, verbose=1) 32/32 [==============================] - 909s 28s/step np.savetxt("drive/My Drive/CatVsDog/pred_dog_array.csv", test_dog_predictions, delimiter=",")
Now we have the prediction array for both cat and dog with all the prediction values. Next thing left in this project was to actually test our model on custom images and see how good our model was?
Custom Image Prediction
For making the prediction on some random images, we can download the image from the internet or just individually take a photo of a dog or cat nearby and upload it into google drive.
After uploading images into google drive, we need to do the following-as we had done earlier with the test data:
Getting the file paths
As discussed earlier, it can be easily obtained by just copying the path of the image.
# Get the custom path
import os
custom_path = "drive/My Drive/CatVsDog/CustomCatAndDogImage/"
custom_image_path = [custom_path + fname for fname in os.listdir(custom_path)]
custom_image_path
custom_image_path_length = len(custom_image_path)
Here I saved the length of the list as it will be needed later when we plot the custom images with prediction probability and label.
Create data batches
Here our handy function create_data_batch is used and set the test_data parameter into True.
# Turn the file paths into data batches.
custom_data = create_data_batches(custom_image_path, test_data=True)
custom_data creating test data batches..... <BatchDataset shapes: (None, 224, 224, 3), types: tf.float32>
Make Predictions on both cat and dog model
Here all the custom test images are predicted on both the cat and dog model as our model need to actually understand which is cat and dog without actually feeding only cat images into cat model and dog images into dog model. So all the images get predicted using both models.
custom_prediction_1 = loaded_full_cat_model.predict(custom_data)
custom_prediction_2 = loaded_full_dog_model.predict(custom_data)
Plot the image, label, prediction probability
For the first time, while plotting the image using labels and probability, I got tricked as I only got cat label even for a dog image with lesser probability that it will be a cat. So I printed out the maximum probability and figured out how I could correctly show the image. I just used an if() statement that if an image has a higher prediction probability on cat model, then it will be cat and otherwise we can say it will be dog .
So while running this code, I got the labels correctly as expected with more than 90 % of prediction probabilities for each image.
Then I tried to make prediction on another image with both cat and dog in that single image. This time I only got either cat or dog based on the comparison I used before. So I again figured out what was the probability that the image was showing and observed that both of the models predict images with prediction probability greater than 75%.
So I again used another if() statement that if both the models predict the images with a probability greater than 75 %, then in that particular image there will be both cat and dog and we can easily print the label cat and dog with their respective prediction probabilities.
custom_images = []
for image in custom_data.unbatch().as_numpy_iterator():
custom_images.append(image) import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.figure(figsize=(20, 20))
for i, image in enumerate(custom_images):
plt.subplot(1, custom_image_path_length, i+1)
plt.xticks([])
plt.yticks([])
if np.max(custom_prediction_1[i]) > 0.75 and np.max(custom_prediction_2[i]) > 0.75:
plt.title("{} {:2.0f}% {:2.0f}% {}".format("cat",
np.max(custom_prediction_1[i])*100,
np.max(custom_prediction_2[i])*100,
"dog"), color="green") elif np.max(custom_prediction_1[i]) > np.max(custom_prediction_2[i]):
plt.title("{} {:2.0f}% {}".format("cat",
np.max(custom_prediction_1[i])*100,
"cat"), color="green") else:
plt.title("{} {:2.0f}% {}".format("dog",
np.max(custom_prediction_2[i])*100,
"dog"), color="green")
plt.imshow(image)
Prediction result.
My Github Repo: Link.
Here , 9 out of 10 images were predicted correctly and only one went wrong as there was both cat and dog in it, and the cat was somewhat hidden within the hands of the dog-so it only predicted dog. So this can be taken as a follow up for this project and we can further train the model with more such images.
Now, I have completed all the work that I had planned to achieve and am very much happy that I was able to complete the whole project in time. I like to thank my Machine Learning Instructor from Udemy Daniel Bourke, for helping me out with such an idea which not only enhanced my knowlede, but also gave me the confidence that I could get this job done. Now, I will be looking for some other type of project to do, since I can learn new things from it likewise and there is no pause button to learning new things! | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/what-about-a-6-week-machine-learning-project-be0e7f205888 | ['Rohith Vazhathody'] | 2020-09-03 12:12:45.539000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Transfer Learning', 'Colab', 'TensorFlow', 'Deep Learning'] |
An egret | This morning,
my mind is a
limpid lake of blue waters
reflecting the yawning sky
with its countless clouds
and
on its banks
grass in different shades of green
and egrets
all the same shade of white.
The grass in different shades of green
don’t rustle even in the strongest of winds.
But one egret stalks the bank in a measured gait.
Another stretches out its wind to receive all the sun.
The egret next to it takes flight into the
tenebrous forest shimmering with my fears and guilt
and never returns.
Then,
even as I sit and watch helplessly
one egret soars into the monsoon sky;
A lone streak of white
against the infinite grey. | https://medium.com/@abhaiku/an-egret-345266b4cac6 | ['Agni Barathi', 'Aka'] | 2020-12-03 17:56:10.863000+00:00 | ['Poetry On Medium', 'Poetry', 'Free Verse', 'Birds', 'Poem'] |
7 Ways The Richest of the Rich Make (And Spend) Their Money | Have you ever thought about how many zeroes are at the ending of a million dollars? $1,000,000 — that’s six zeroes. That’s 100,000 $10 bills stacked on top of each other, which is pretty crazy when you think about it. According to ABC News, there are about 46.8 million millionaires in the world, in addition to the 2,153 billionaires reported by Forbes Magazine.
The question is, how does an average Joe/Josephine become one?
Let’s face it, we all want to know how to get 100,000 $10 bills stacked on top of each other — particularly when we can’t seem to keep just a few lodged in our wallet or savings account without spending it.
“It’s simple arithmetic: Your income can grow only to the extent that you do.” — T. Harv Eker
The Law of Attraction, money gurus, and the inspirational dude you’re following on Instagram are all telling you that making money is easy. And while that might be the case, making money, making lots of money, and keeping money turn out to be quite a difficult pursuit. I don’t want you to listen to me tell you how to do it, though — let’s look at what the experts do, and learn from the practicing of what they preach. Let’s look at how they make their money first.
1 || Start a company
I used to think this method of making money was unattainable and impossible to achieve great success with. It wasn’t until I began listening to NPR’s How I Built This podcast that it dawned on me how every great company has humble beginnings.
“A big business starts small.” (Richard Branson)
Some of my favorite episodes of the show include Video Artist: Casey Neistat, The Life Is Good Company: Bert and John Jacobs, and LÄRABAR: Lara Merriken. These are all companies and individuals that had no idea they were going to have crazy successful companies. According to CNBC, The Life Is Good Company is a “$100 million ad-free global success story”.
Find a passion, go at it, and turn it into a multi-million dollar business. It’s simple, really.
LÄRABAR sold for $55 million in 2009 after being started at a kitchen table by a woman who simply wanted a better bar. Casey Neistat has an estimated net worth of $16 million. Want to make a ton of money? Find a passion, go at it, and turn it into a multi-million dollar business. It’s simple, really.
Read more here: 4 Methods You Should Steal From GoogleX For Your Next Business
2 || Design an app
It occurred to me just today, researching for this piece, that I didn’t know how founded/created the latest social media application TikTok. Turns out, it was Zhang Yiming, a man we don’t hear too much about. He’s a 35-year-old software engineer who’s made billions from this app. He’s apart of the richest startup in the world.
“If you’ve got an idea, start today. There’s no better time than now to get going. That doesn’t mean quit your job and jump into your idea 100% from day one, but there’s always small progress that can be made to start the movement.” (Kevin Systrom, founder of Instagram)
While the app came from apps before and in no way was a revolutionary idea, it was the next step taken by an innovative creator and business owner. He saw an opportunity and a market, and capitalized on it — just look at the teenage girls doing the TikTok dances in the park. They’re making this man millions.
“I think a simple rule of business is, if you do the things that are easier first, then you can actually make a lot of progress.” (Mark Zuckerberg)
You can also follow in the footsteps of other apps, improving on their capabilities, or find a need that you can fill with an application with your own design. Listening to NPR’s How I Built This episode on apps is always fascinating because it’s never as complicated as it seems. It’s hard, sure, but never too complicated to be replicated by everyday people.
3 || Become an eccentric life coach
This category is where I’d put Tony Robbins, no doubt. He became famous by approaching life in a different way and getting paid to show other people to do the same. We’re talking Brian Tracy, Louise Hay, Seth Godin, and Stephen Covey. These are the people who just sat and thought long enough before discovering the secret to some part of making life better.
“There is no finish line. There are only mile markers.”
(Michael Ventura)
Then, they made bank sharing it with the world in creative, clever, and inspiring ways. While this is certainly not an overnight get rich quick scheme, it’s something you could dedicate your life to — and make a lot of money doing it. (To learn more about what made Tony successful, I’d go and check out this amazing Business Insider article about where he started.)
4 || Have a popular and brand-leading blog
A Huffington Post level blog is probably a bit of a stretch goal — but aiming to have an amazingly popular blog is definitely doable. I’m thinking about Seth Godin, Leo Babauta, and Tim Ferriss. They all have made a significant amount of money by writing, selling products, and marketing their ideas.
The goal here is to have an audience — to grow an audience that is truly interested in what you’re saying. What’s incredible about becoming a great writer/popular influencer, is that you don’t have to force anyone to follow you. You don’t have to convince anyone, because you’re already great and people are naturally interested in the work that you’re doing.
“You can buy attention (advertising). You can beg for attention from the media (PR). You can bug people one at a time to get attention (sales). Or you can earn attention by creating something interesting and valuable and then publishing it online for free.” — David Meerman Scott
This is essentially the idea behind the book 1,000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly. Think about it. If you have 5,000 followers on Instagram, and 1,000 of them give you $5 a month on Patreon, then you have $5,000 a month in income already. Multiply that by 12, and you’ve got a $60,000 annual income. Then, think about if you wrote a book — a book that sold 1,000 copies. If you were making $3 from each book, then you’ve made $3,000 more.
“I always point people to the article ‘1,000 True Fans’ by Kevin Kelly. If you choose your thousand ideal customers or readers properly and find the single author blog that targets that audience, you never have to do any more marketing. You’re done. That is a lesson that very few product developers and marketers have learned, and it’s unfortunate.” — Tim Ferriss
Then, maybe you get a few more followers on Instagram and then you launch an online course, coaching program, or public speaking business. That could be $10,000 more a year — and that’s with a small group of Instagram followers and just a blog/product.
Read more here: 4 Ways to Actually Implement a Four Hour Work Week Into Your Life
Entrepreneurs take this concept and multiply it by 10, if not more. They get 10,000s of individuals to commit a significant portion of their money every year to what they’re creating. In the past two years, I’ve contributed hundreds of dollars to different authors, creators, coaches, and more. Why? Because they made me want to and it was worth the money I was spending.
5 || Write an amazing book (or books!)
This is basically the same point as above, just a little more specific. Real creators make a lot of money writing. According to insanegrowth.com, Tony Robbins has sold more than 50 million copies of his books. (Think about how much income that’s created for him, both in royalties, additional coaching and speaking clients, and large book advances.)
If you want to learn more about writing an amazing book, I’d recommend reading my article “10 Rules For Writing Your Bestselling and Brand=leading Book” and Tim Ferriss’ “How To Make A Perennial Bestseller”. Writing a best-selling book takes work, and it isn’t something you’re likely to do on the first try, but it’s something to work towards and can pay off in the end if you’ve created a committed and intrigued audience base.
6 || Smart investing
Warren Buffett is the poster child for investing and making a whole lot of money doing it. I’m not going to try and summarize his advice here, but reading up on what he’s done, as well as the investing actions of people like Dave Ramsey and Ramit Sethi is definitely something I’d recommend. Nothing makes better passive income than an investment account with a lot of money in it, high returns, and outside management.
“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” (Warren Buffett)
Investing in a way that you’re setting aside significant amounts of money for later is a genius idea that I’m surprised more people don’t take advantage of. Gather up whatever money you have, and do a butt-ton of research finding out where to put it. Be smart, and you’ll be happy you invested now. The rich know this and invest their money in a way most of us don’t even think to do. Learn from them — they certainly seem to know what they’re doing.
7 || Create a life-changing product
This is usually a step above an app or tied closely to it. But before I get into details and examples, I want to put kind of a crazy idea into your head. You don’t need as much marketing to launch a product as you think you do. Many of us believe that in order to have a product launch and be successful, we have to have YouTube ads, billboards, sponsors, and more.
While those help, the two biggest things that can impact your ability to sell and make significant amounts of money from a product is your audience and the quality of your product. The reason I say marketing isn’t always the right fish to fry is because
“Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” (Jack Welch)
Read more here: 10 Ways To Guarantee Better Sleep
But the real question is: How do they SPEND their hard-earned money?
Although I will say, this question is more pointed when you specifically ask where they put their money. In fact, if you look at the numbers, most millionaires and billionaires only spend a small fraction of their number, living rather frugal lives, giving quite a bit of their money away in addition to lofty investments.
1 || Modest homes they enjoy
Something that fascinates me is that the vast majority of rich people, happy rich people, is that they don’t buy things for the sake of buying things. They buy homes, and devices/appliances/decorations/cars for those homes based on their tastes, needs, and what makes them truly happy.
I think about Tony Robbins and the ice baths he has at all of his homes. I think about Tim Ferriss, who lives in Austin, Texas. Warren Buffett still lives in his first home — despite having the capacity to buy something much grander. Tim Cook lives in a $1 million home, which is modest for the CEO of one of the greatest companies in the world.
2 || More investments
Good investors don’t stop at their first payout. Good investors know that it’s better to let the money sit and grow in strategic places than get rich quick and become poor even quicker. Warren Buffett, again, is a great example of this. He’s always recommended long-term investments, those that are going to be good in the end, even if they have to go through some valleys.
“After all, you only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.” (Warren Buffett)
Ramit Sethi, author of I Will Teach You To Be Rich, offers some similar advice — be sure and play the long game in certain investment areas and categories. You’ll need money to spend later, when you go into what will be your final retirement. (After all of your Tim Ferriss styled mini-vacations, of course.)
When you’re on a rewarding track, you can only keep going farther. Keep finding better investments, keep refining your strategy, and keep putting money in places where it can yield high returns for you.
3 || Health products
It’s actually quite shocking how much rich people spend on staying healthy. I’ve read books and articles and watched countless YouTubers from various millionaires who speak frequently about the resources that they expend trying to stay as healthy and energized as possible.
Read more here: 10 Mindset Shifts To Steal From The World’s Greatest Creators
Stefan James, for example, uses fancy water filters to keep at the top of his game. People like Jocko Willink spent money upfront to have nice home gyms.
There are also individuals who hire personal chefs to prepare great, healthy meals for them. Wealthy people know how vital their health is — and so they spend a significant amount of money on keeping it up.
4 || Travel and adventure
Maybe this is more of the “fun” category, but I believe that mindful and intentional travel can contribute not only to someone’s well-being but their view of the world. Travel and adventure give people hope, a sense of beauty, creativity, new relationships, and more.
“Live with no excuses and travel with no regrets” — Oscar Wilde
The richest in the world have money to spend on travel that can expand both their minds and their hearts, taking them to new heights — sometimes literally, depending on where you like to travel to.
If you’re looking to spend your money like the rich, consider getting outside and going somewhere new. Even if you can’t go to Mount Everest, the Baja peninsula, or the Alaskan mountains right now, you can still find someone new to travel to and adventure in.
5 || Philanthropy
The greatest rich people in our world are those who spend a massive amount of their wealth helping other people. This can be by growing communities, donating to causes they believe in, starting non-profits, and more.
“You don’t build a business, you build people, then people build the business.” (Zig Ziglar)
No matter how they do it, rich, wealthy, happy people tend to give a lot of their income back to their communities and things that are important to them. According to his Wikipedia page, Tim Ferriss has contributed to the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, as well as the Center for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London.
Bill Gates and his wife Melinda created the Gates Foundation, which is doing important work all over the world. The wealthy know how important giving back is — we should too. Even if you don’t have significant amounts of money to give away right now, you can give away your energy, your thoughts, your prayers, and your voice. Giving back is vital to living a rich life.
6 || Their family
The adorable story of a recent millionaire buying a house for their aging mother is actually a common thread amongst rich people. Rich people give to those that they love, making sure that they can carry on the rich life both in terms of finances and lifestyle.
Rich people buy homes for their parents, pay for their kids’ educations and travels, and make sure that the people closest to them are well taken care of. This should come as a given, but it’s nice to mention. When you’re on your way to becoming a millionaire, don’t forget to set aside some money for your parent’s retirement. After all, they took care of you for eighteen+ years.
7 || Learning and personal growth
I was looking at Bob Goff’s website earlier today and was admittedly surprised by one of the questions on his coaching questionnaire. I wasn’t filling it out, simply taking a quick peek, but this one point still caught my attention.
“Income seldom exceeds personal development.” ―Jim Rohn
He (and his team) ask you what your budget is for personal growth and coaching is this year. It hadn’t occurred to me until I saw that I realized that all of the richest people in our world, give or take, commit time to grow themselves.
Think not just the people that make a lot of money, but the ones that people admire and want to learn from. These are the likes of Bob Goff, Gary V, Tim Ferriss, Tony Robbins, Oprah, and more.
These are individuals that commit money every year to being coached, to reading, to growing, to retreats, and any and all means of growing themselves.
They set aside money, time, and energy to make sure they’re constantly growing, becoming better, and being the literal best that they can be. They also invest in personal training for fitness goals — making sure that their body is in its peak state.
“Every moment of one’s existence, one is growing into more or retreating into less.” ―Norman Mailer
It’s like they always say, you have to invest in yourself. Make sure to take some of your money and pay yourself. Keep growing. Keep expanding your heart and mind. That’s the only way your wealth can sustainably expand, and that your life can grow along with it. | https://medium.com/live-your-life-on-purpose/7-ways-the-richest-of-the-rich-make-and-spend-their-money-61b4c8a499ba | ['Katie E. Lawrence'] | 2020-12-07 15:01:13.476000+00:00 | ['Finance', 'Technology', 'Business', 'Startup', 'Self Improvement'] |
Running End-to-End Tests for ML Features | Carrying an AI model into production is, of course, not the same as getting traditional software into production (you’ve probably read what Google has to say about it but just in case…). In ML pipelines, the entire infrastructure is different: there are many teams involved in the process, the data is central, performance is measured with ML-specific KPI’s, and debugging does not involve ‘if/else’ code, etc.
The result of the unique nature of AI and the challenges it presents causes Data Science teams to believe they should rethink production readiness — if not reinvent the readiness wheel from scratch. In reality, however, they could benefit from a closer look at some of the strong traditional software delivery methodologies which have evolved over the past decade.
In this post, we’ll discuss Testing For Reliability, one such classic method, and see how it can be adopted effectively for quality assurance for one of the primary AI building blocks, the features.
The Prediction Cross-Sell Challenge
Let’s borrow this health insurance example from kaggle to illustrate our points in this post. An insurance company that provided health insurance to its clients is now looking into offering them vehicle insurance as well.
This classic cross-sell opportunity requires a new model to predict business results. As we can see, this is a binary classification model (a good fit for vehicle insurance or not) and we are depending on the following tabular data. Fortunately, the raw data provides several good features that we can use.
As we can see, the data consists of diverse types (categorical, numerical, binary, etc..), thus, the features will need to be tested separately, in different ways.
Is Success in the Eye of the Beholder?
Before starting to define tests and success criteria, it’s worth considering the different data perspectives of your stakeholders. More often than not, data is measured differently across the organization, so the need to align success criteria shouldn’t be overlooked.
In our insurance example, the data scientist is certain that outliers should be treated in a specific manner. The product manager, however, might have a different view due to her familiarity with specific segments representing different pillars of customers’ profiles. She would expect the model to reflect this ‘business reality’. The engineering team transforms the features into production code almost blindly, implementing transformations according to the baseline defined by the data science department. The potential misalignment go on and on.
So the first action the insurance Data science team should take — before planning any tests — is to collect input from all the relevant functions in the organization. It’s good practice to understand what each stakeholder expects of the data and apply a few quick tests just to make sure that everyone’s KPIs are covered and that the data is guardrail to ensure that coverage.
What Are We Testing?
Once expectations of the data have been clarified, it’s time to prepare the data so you can dive into test implementation. Let’s have a look at one such data example which can drive many related tests. Hopefully, you will find it relatable for your own models.
In the case of our insurance company, there was an unusual correlation between the age of health insurance customers and their driver’s license status:
According to the CRM, potential vehicle insurance buyers should be 18–85 years old Most of the company’s health insurance customers were young
3. Younger customers were more likely to hold a driver’s license than older ones
0+ Tolerance
With so many tests available to implement, you want to be careful to apply the ones which provide the best coverage. Data, unlike traditional code, should be treated with tolerance to slight changes and differences. Choosing the right tests will eliminate all-too-common false-negative test runs.
Here are a few examples of tests that are likely to be productive:
Validating that missing values are imputed as expected (mean / default value) Testing the correlation between features and target variables (covariance) Ascertaining whether the value range is between x — y with z% error tolerance Validating that feature values are not null and/or are within an acceptable range Testing whether each value meets a specific regex Outliers are scaled/clipped Numeric features are scaled correctly Standard deviation / Mean / Median should be between x and y Expected distributions of curated features These tests are relatively basic but constitute a decent head start for making testing an integral part of your process.
For the Age feature example, you can try to implement a few tests to support stakeholder expectations:
Age value range test — age must be between 18–85. 50% of the data points are in the 24–36 age range. With a 6% tolerance. Age & driver’s license — 95% of customers aged 20–40 have a driver’s license. 50% of people aged 40–60 have a driver’s license, and 70% of people aged 60–85 do not have a driving license. With a 7% tolerance.
It’s Time to Test
Instead of building each test from scratch, a few great tools can come to your aid. Start warming up with Tesnsorflow data validation and great expectations. In my next post, I will elaborate on how these tools can be used to maximum benefit. Follow me for more ML testing & monitoring inspiration and assistance. | https://zohar-31341.medium.com/running-end-to-end-tests-for-ml-features-b3b4ae114a0c | ['Zohar Einy'] | 2020-11-30 08:27:19.759000+00:00 | ['Testing', 'Machine Learning', 'Great Expectations', 'TensorFlow', 'Ai Model'] |
Facebook F8: Οι 5 ανακοινώσεις που κάθε Social Media Marketer πρέπει να γνωρίζει | in In Fitness And In Health | https://medium.com/antonis-spyridakis/facebook-f8-%CE%BF%CE%B9-5-%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%B1%CE%BA%CE%BF%CE%B9%CE%BD%CF%8E%CF%83%CE%B5%CE%B9%CF%82-%CF%80%CE%BF%CF%85-%CE%BA%CE%AC%CE%B8%CE%B5-social-media-marketer-%CF%80%CF%81%CE%AD%CF%80%CE%B5%CE%B9-%CE%BD%CE%B1-%CE%B3%CE%BD%CF%89%CF%81%CE%AF%CE%B6%CE%B5%CE%B9-f3d2c7d97981 | ['Antonis Spyridakis'] | 2018-06-04 14:34:08.910000+00:00 | ['Facebook Marketing', 'Greek', 'Social Media Management', 'Social Media'] |
Pink Funeral | I don’t remember how I found out that Mavis died but it was probably through Facebook, cause that’s where everyone my age hears about important things these days. I’m an older Millennial, so I’m on Facebook. I have an Instagram and a Snapchat but I don’t use them like the younger Millennials do.
I decided to ask Ralph to come with me to the funeral because he was with me when I found out and he never has anything better to do anyway.
I met Mavis when she was Mark, when we worked at Toys R Us together the summer after I graduated high school. I thought he looked like the guy from Harvey Danger and that made me like him. We worked in the back storage areas together, scanning boxes and sorting boxes and doing various other things with boxes. He was a wry, sarcastic, nerd dude and I liked him.
I got moved to cashier after only about a week and he got moved to the video game section. I hated that job so I didn’t stay long but he stayed there for some time afterward.
We kept in touch, and I friended him on Facebook a few years later when it came out, and we kept in touch that way.
Then he came out as trans about two years ago and changed his name to Mavis. So, you know, a lot of shit must’ve happened, but because I didn’t see him a lot, I had no idea it was coming.
I don’t remember when I heard he died, but I knew that he’d posted he was sick. I felt like I’d known him well enough to go to the funeral so once I saw that someone posted an event and invited all 320 of Mavis’s friends, I told Ralph about it cause he was over and he said he’d come with.
The next Saturday rolled around and Ralph and I went to Northville.
The funeral was held in what looked like a lecture hall at a community college. It was this modern-looking, really clean theater with a movie screen and everything. Not in a church — Mavis was an atheist.
I got in and the second row was completely full of people. The first and third rows were sparsely filled. About thirty people were there.
The room was way longer than it was deep, a big rectangle of a room with a long long set of seats running like fifty yards down. There was a really long dry-erase board.
There was a movie screen set up showing pictures of Mavis when she was a kid and throughout her life. Mark went through a lot before he became Mavis. He was in improv comedy. Did some stand-up, too. He moved around a lot working for landscaping, all over the country — Michigan, Texas, Iowa, Colorado. He did a lot of invasive species studies. He worked at Toys R Us before quitting and going to college in his mid-twenties.
He got married to this horribly abusive whale of a woman and lived with her for a few years. Soon after the divorce he came out as trans and started dying his hair pink and growing it out and taking hormone treatments. He announced it on Facebook and Instagram and I liked both of the statuses cause good for him, you know? I remember both statuses only got like 10 likes apiece.
He was one of those guys that did not look feminine at all but he started taking the estrogen and and taking pictures of himself sideways in mirrors. Soon, he started looking different. He had always been a paunchy dude, and he was going bald at the age of 32, and his face was wide and his nose pointed but he started to soften up and lose weight. He grew tits and started wearing make-up. It was really fucking weird, cause he still just looked like Mark only with tits and make-up.
We hung out sporadically over the years. I hadn’t talked to Mark in nearly 6 years when I found out he was gone. The last time we got together we went to this old greasy spoon called The Rusty Nail. I used to go there after rehearsals with my first band and and we’d call it The Busty Nail because of this one waitress that worked there.
Our conversations were always play catch-up and see what we were up to, we’d talk about ourselves and our homies and endeavors and politics.
Mavis had apparently been sick recently, like I said before. I don’t know what she had and I did’t know anyone in the audience that I could’ve asked. I didn’t know if the illness was related to her transition, but I did know that she wasn’t fully transitioned yet. She had that soft glow that happens when guys start taking estrogen; her skin seemed to get softer and whiter but other than that everything else was the same. Her facial hair did look like it was starting to go away, though.
Still, recently, when I happened to notice Mavis’s profile whenever it came across in my Facebook feed, I saw Mavis and not Matt. I saw a “she” and not a “he”.
I walked into the lecture hall-turned-church and took a seat with Ralph way down in the third row at the far right end. I looked at the screen for awhile with all the pictures of Mavis’s life. They were playing “See You Again” by Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa on a loop.
I looked down the rows.
There was a huge cluster of people in the center of the three rows and I see the casket in front of them and yes there was Mavis inside it. Her hair was still pink and she looked peaceful and pale.
The casket looked really out of place in this room that looked like it was a Silicon Valley presentation space where a new app would be announced. The casket was wooden and carved and hot pink, and there were pink flowers on it. It was the only thing in the room that looked remotely religious. Everything else was sterile and modern and that neutral blue-grey color, including the podium up front which looked like it was from Ikea. It even smelled like a meeting room, a place where guys shuffle paper and open briefcases and use boring terms like “quarterly review” and “quarterly profit” and show charts and stuff.
“Did you ever know him, or her?” I asked Ralph.
“No,” said Ralph. “I ran into him at church that one time but that was years ago. And we didn’t talk then. I just saw him.”
“Thanks for being here,” I said.
I was so shocked by Mavis’s announcement about her transition. She’d been someone I’d gone to advice for — I remember soon after I quit Toys R Us, I met Mark at Denny’s after my first break-up and him shrugging his big shoulders and saying, “Yeah, it’s hard, man.”
Then all of a sudden this revelation. She must have carried it for years. I knew that her divorce really took a toll on her self-esteem. It was so bad she realized she’d rather live as a woman than a man. I can’t say I blame her. Sometimes I feel like just throwing away my penis. Sometimes I think that women have it way easier than men in our society, even if they don’t realize it.
I was swallowing sadness and looking at the casket, thinking of how I should really go down there and pay my respects like everyone else, look Mavis’s corpse in the face so to speak, but then she sat up.
I mean, she sat up in the casket. Like a normal, alive person. Her peaceful-looking embalmed body just sat up like someone lying in bed who’s forgot something important they have to do.
She was smiling ear-to-ear when she did it and for a second I didn’t know what was what.
“What the fuck?” I heard several people say.
There weren’t any screams. Everyone just kind of looked at her. Her curly hair was pink and floppy on her balding head. She had it combed over. Her glasses were on. She was dressed in a t-shirt and comfy-looking jeans. The t-shirt was red and said “Bazinga!”
She climbed down out of the casket.
Everyone was staring. A few people had been crying and now they were looking at her like she was, well, a zombie or something.
She stood there in front of us with this huge, shit-eating smile on her face and held her arms out like Christ crucified. Then she started applauding really enthusiastically like a parent at an unpopular kid’s birthday party and a few people even joined in.
“Mavis, what the hell is going on?” someone from the cluster of people in the second row finally asked.
“I’m here to announce that I’m getting married again,” said Mavis. “To the woman of my dreams. She couldn’t be here today, but I can’t wait for you all to meet her.”
I stared in disbelief with everyone else. There was a smattering of applause. Mavis didn’t seem to realize the commotion she’d caused. The room was full of either anger or tension, but then, a lot of people just started laughing.
Mavis was laughing, too.
“I‘m so happy,” she was saying. “I’m so happy and I wanted as many people as possible to come to meet the real me.”
I joined in on the laughter. I was laughing so hard I fell out of my chair into the aisle. From down here, the backs of the front row seats look like cartoon teeth.
Ralph was looking around slowly and he was kind of smiling like he does when he gets confused, and he looked down at me and was like, “Is this a set-up? Did you do this to play a prank on me?”
I can’t answer him. I’m laughing too hard.
I have to admit, the first sensation I felt when Mavis sat up wasn’t dread but a palpable relief. Seeing my old friend in the casket, motionless (she really had me fooled), and letting the finality of it all sink in was really getting to me. Replaying all those memories and letting the knowledge that they’re all you’ll experience of this person close in. Now, I felt like the universe had granted me a second chance with good ole Mavis. I was shocked, but I wasn’t even mad.
I was laughing on the floor so hard my face was hurting and I could hear Mavis start to explain herself to a few people who are now yelling at her, like really yelling, and she’s telling them to calm down, calm down, weren’t they happy for her? | https://medium.com/the-junction/pink-funeral-8c166dbfbbf1 | ['Adrien Carver'] | 2018-03-07 00:52:55.944000+00:00 | ['Transgender', 'Friendship', 'Fiction', 'Short Story', 'Funerals'] |
An Open Letter from Liv Mokai Wheeler | Greetings,
For those that I have not met already, my name is Liv Mokai Wheeler. I’d love to share some of my story with you to give some context to what’s recently arisen. Please take your time reading. It’s a long story; or a short one, depending on the lens that you view it through.
In this past year in my learning on my spiritual journey, I’ve been guided to study “reality” more closely. What is it that creates reality? Who determines what is valid “reality?” I find it fascinating to study the nuances of existence. I feel that these questions are particularly relevant in what seems to be evolving in our human family in 2020 as we’ve been seemingly squeezed into a collective global experience.
I’m deeply grateful that my journey in this lifetime has blessed me with the ability to travel to various countries, for having the soul-expanding experience of getting to know people from different cultures. I’ve learned so much from experiencing the various beautiful qualities of human beings. The contrasts have also helped me to understand some of what shapes and creates reality for people. Reality seems to me, oftentimes, to be made of group agreements whether spoken or made psychically.
I experience “reality” differently than many, perhaps. I’m a woman with my extra senses active. Which, for me, this means that I’m hearing the spirit world, sensing the different dimensions of beings. I could be referred to as a bridge because I am a bridge to other dimensions. This influences my existence. I’ve spoken quite openly about what I experience with Spirit through the years. Those that know some of my journey will know that it’s taken quite a long time to feel like I could be in my voice without it quivering. I’m a deeply sensitive soul who like many deeply sensitive souls has needed to work through a great deal of trauma to feel safe to be who I truly am in the world.
The beings that I primarily work with are referred to as Kontomble. They are, I feel, extraordinary beings with the amazing capacity to understand far beyond this moment in space and time. Fifteen years ago I was very serendipitously led to my long-time teacher, Elder Malidoma Patrice Somé. I studied and apprenticed with Elder Malidoma for eight years. I’ve journeyed to Burkina Faso, West Africa five times, spending about a month there each time, immersing in my deepening of my learning with the Kontomble. The true medicine that I experienced there that ignited a profound healing in my heart, was the love that lived in the people of Burkina. I am forever grateful.
It was with Elder Malidoma’s guidance through the years that I came into the authentic expression of my purpose here on Earth. He has blessed the world, I do believe, in so many ways with his medicine. I will continue to find ways to honor Malidoma. It is with his blessing that I have remembered who I truly am and with his encouragement that I stepped into my role with the Kontomble.
During my visits to Burkina, when sitting with the various diviners in the villages, I would have the experience where they would tell me each time about these Kontomble that are with me. The first diviner I sat with on my first journey was seemingly quite confused about how they were with me, this American woman of European descent in her lineage, a woman who had not been to Burkina yet in this lifetime.
These Kontomble that are with me are my dear friends. They are also my teachers. They are also incredibly intense teachers.
I am a Kontomble voice diviner. I’ve been through very difficult spiritual initiations which have enabled me to speak the tongue of the Kontomble. This means that their language streams through me and I translate it into English.
Through the years, my experience of ritual has primarily been with Elder Malidoma. It’s also been through my ritual initiations in Burkina. In a sense, I consider the yoga teacher training that I experienced many years ago in Rishikesh, India to have been a ritual intensive as well. I’ve also experienced plant dietas with incredible ayahuasceros in Peru. Each of these ceremonial experiences has been incredibly intense and also life-altering.
In many of these ritual experiences, I stretched myself seemingly beyond my capacity. In hindsight, I see this was almost the steady thread that wove through these life-changing experiences. They were intensive in the sense that we’d do rituals or practices long hours into the day and night. We were tired, even exhausted. We were physically stretched in some cases through fasting. I can remember many moments in the yoga teacher training intensive in Rishikesh where I wondered if I could keep going. It seemed to take me to my edge. Or seen differently, it brought up more pain than I knew how to be with. It seemed others were having a similar experience. I learned that this is also the process of the clarification of the soul. We were working through old karmas, as I understand it, in order to bring about growth and positive transformation in our lives.
These are some of the ancient ways that I was blessed to be steeped in. I honor the many tenders of the ancient ways on the Earth. I feel these ways are actually much of what is tending to the collective pulse.
I’ve learned from many healers from various traditions through the years. It’s essentially my passion, healing. What brings about healing? What has surprised the western condition in me is that oftentimes incredibly intense rituals can bring about radical transformation. How we be with the process makes all the difference, I do believe. I can remember being in dieta in the Amazon and wondering what in the world I was thinking that led me to sign up for going into that kind of extremely challenging shadow healing. Had I not been essentially in isolation in the Amazon — we had arrived at a remote village by boat — there’s a chance I would have stopped my dieta early. We agreed to keep our phones off during the entire dieta in order for the wisdom and intelligence of the medicine to work. Internally, I had moments of wondering if I could actually continue. Once those energies burned through my system, I had more vitality of being. These ancient beings that work through the medicine have much to teach us modern folk, I do believe.
I am immensely grateful for the incredible experience I’ve had to study and receive healing from these exceptional healers.
What I’ve learned about ritual and Spirit through the years is that the ways that they guide us is not necessarily the same as how a Western-trained mind would think or choose to do things. I’ve learned through my own process of steady de-conditioning that conditioning creates a particular frame work or even blinder until it’s been sufficiently worked through.
I’ve known for years that the rituals that I’m guiding people in are intense and that they stretch people. I’ve done my best to prepare them for entering that space. I’ve noticed that one of the challenges that occurs is that I’m practicing ancient ways that are natural to my being in a culture that pretends as if Spirit doesn’t exist. It’s a hurdle people have to cross, if they are in fact choosing to believe in Spirit. This hurdle is not a small one.
I’ve found that there is seemingly naturally a clash of ways which can happen with the modern mind meeting the ancient. These ancient beings don’t fit into the current paradigm that’s been constructed, the paradigm much of humanity has been living in for generations upon generations. Additionally, my way of being with this work is what I would consider deeply feminine. Which means, to me, that the way that I am working is highly intuitive. The ways that I get guided by Spirit in facilitation is so different person to person or moment to moment.
With Elder Malidoma’s permission, I’ve shared the ritual of Ancestralization through the years. The rituals that I generally facilitate are taught to me and guided directly by the Kontomble. It is very common for bridge people to be taught directly by the spirits. The Kontomble guide me at gatherings in very radical ways. When I’m facilitating ritual with the Kontomble, they often guide me to begin with a communication with the Otherworld, also known as a divination. This, more often than not, is emotionally intense. They have the capacity to move energies through people and they do quite intentionally say things in activating ways to draw up energies ultimately for the purpose of healing. It is a way that I think many would find challenging. This is why we have a thorough application and preparation process.
Many of these practices are quite intense. I find it intense to clear entities and demons from people. It is also oftentimes necessary in order to create a space conducive to deeper soul level healing. In my experience, spaces that people qualify as safe and maybe even feel very safe don’t feel safe to me. They don’t feel safe to me when I sense entities on people that are seeking to find a way to internally disrupt harmony. I recognize my spiritual methods could feel jolting to a person. Many shamanic extractions that I’ve been present for in various cultures are physically jolting because the practitioner is essentially quickly removing an intruder who is seeking to bring harm to a ceremony or a person’s life. It is quite common for cultures that still have understanding of the spiritual dimensions to have methods for extraction.
Here is a potential disconnect: what I experience as reality may be different than what another experiences. This goes back to what I mentioned at the beginning- whose reality are we speaking of? My sense is that it’s a matter of which senses are open in a person. However, even among Spirit based practitioners, we could sense different phenomena present. Generally at a gathering, there are at least two or three of us that can be in a dialogue about what we’re sensing present spiritually. We’re doing our best to keep the space safe for people.
I’ve been in many ritual experiences where people are nestled closely and experience the good energy of connecting with each other. Meanwhile, there are other beings wanting to influence the space negatively. This is where a fair amount of our focus is a lot of times. It’s what’s referred to as beyond the veil or the so-called ‘unseen’ dimensions. This is what my life is devoted to studying and being with. Through the years, I’ve had moments of people experiencing me in the human realm as quite intense because I’m watching a demon, the way it’s moving through a space and where and in what way it may intend to do harm. From the human experience, I could seem like an unpleasant and sometimes fierce person. That strong energy is also helpful with some of these more intense aspects that influence the physical dimension. As I experience it, the energetic and spiritual happens first and then we experience it in the physical dimension next.
Something that I’ve learned through the years is that it’s not a given that people who are drawn to experience ritual or to connect with Spirit have necessarily done personal healing work. I’ve done my best with applications and preparing people for working together. Our application speaks about the intensity and the unpredictability of the Kontomble. It also speaks about the physical endurance needed in ritual and essentially how trying it can be. On the application we also speak about entities. There’s a question that says, “Are you comfortable speaking openly about entities?” There are also questions about triggers. We are essentially doing our best to prepare for what could be a potentially activating environment.
I’ve learned so much about triggers throughout the years. I’ve learned about my own personal triggers as well as witnessing trigger activations in others. At this point, my understanding is that our triggers can be seen as invitations into deeper discovery of our own being in addition to hints at the traumas that we’ve experienced. I encourage people that I work with to have practices of working with their triggers. In my own triggers through the years I’ve learned that they can really flood and overwhelm an experience. At ritual gatherings, we’ve worked with clearing circles typically in order to try to clear what can arise for people and also how people can get activated interpersonally in community.
As long as I’ve been on my journey with Spirit, I’ve also been on my journey with healing. My approach to showing up as a teacher is to be very transparent that I’m a work in progress. I work with healers regularly to continue to heal and integrate my blind spots. And, I’m human, I can always grow.
To clarify my feelings about practicing ritual in various lands, I feel that it is incredibly complex. This is how Spirit has guided me thus far and I’ve been finding ways to seek counsel with people about this to try to move through the world respectfully while also being true to my calling from Spirit. At times, I haven’t understood why I was being called to particular lands when the initial calling happened but I’ve trusted the Kontomble. Nevertheless, thank you for the invitation to find ways to come into deeper integrity. I am listening.
In general, what I teach about is largely from my direct experience through the years and it’s also from the ways the spirit-beings teach and guide me. It is true that I’ve heard many nature spirits around the Earth upset that humans seek to control them. I would not be doing my Sacred job if I didn’t say that. My commitment to the Otherworld is to share the messages that they ask me to share. I understand their messages can be upsetting to humans. I can both be delivering their messages and simultaneously feeling deeply in my heart that the message will likely be difficult for the person to receive. I can feel empathy. It’s a space of tension, in a sense, to be a bridge between the worlds.
By now, I’ve had the experience multiple times of connecting with indigenous Shamans, Priests, and Elders in different parts of the world where I’ve been called by Spirit. They let me know that the spirits of the mountains and nature call me there. The Kontomble that I move with are connected to the mountains and they’re Earth guardians. Part of our work around the Earth has been to pay respect to the Little People of the Earth who are Earth guardians, to honor their realness as well as their contributions to humanity that have largely been forgotten. In this, my work with Spirit is actually quite connected with the Earth in a particular way. This is what my expression of saying yes to my medicine looks like thus far, while also being with the inherent complexity. I’ve essentially been quietly living in the question, listening with my whole being. Much of my process is quiet.
Many times, when we enter a new culture, the Kontomble have us do rituals of bringing gifts to people that we’re meeting with. For example, when we went to Iceland and connected with an extraordinary soul who is deeply connected with the Elves, the Huldufólk, they asked us to bring gifts. This is their way of weaving with the Little People of the Earth to restore humanity.
I feel that I live in the tension of complexity by nature of the ancestry that I was born in while being who I am at the soul level as well. I recognize that I was born in a land currently referred to as America that was not where my ancestors came from. My ancestors have come from many different lands. I’ve been doing healing with my ancestors for close to fifteen years now and have been supporting others in ancestral healing as well. I live in this complexity. I’m so sorry for any actions that my ancestors have taken that have hurt others’ lives or others’ ancestors. I’m so sorry for any actions that I’ve taken, consciously or unconsciously, throughout my life and my lifetimes that have hurt others. In my heart, I know that I don’t wish to harm anyone. I’m also human and I make mistakes.
What people sometimes refer to as ‘being in right relationship’ is actually something I strive for quietly. It’s a value of mine. Giving back is actually part of my spiritual practice. I am guided by Spirit in how I do that and I trust the ways that they’re guiding me. At times, it’s been through giving to an organization that supports clean water in Burkina. At other times, it’s been supporting families in Burkina. Each month, I give to an organization that supports the planting of trees around the Earth. Spirit guides me in ways to creatively give steadily. It is very much a part of the Kontomble energy and how they’ve guided me through the years.
I also believe that a form of giving that can be overlooked by modern humans is giving to the spirits of the Otherworld. To the modern mind, this can be seen as illogical because the Western mind has been conditioned to believe there’s nothing there. I am a strong believer in making offerings to our ancestors as well as to the Earth. I have a daily practice of giving to the Earth. I listen to her daily.
My feeling in general — any time and especially now — is that it’s helpful for us to all humanize each other a bit more.
Stevie, you spoke about me crying and what I experienced when we were together. That has happened at gatherings before. I’ve cried. I’ve grieved. Many times, Spirit has grieved through me and many times I’ve also grieved from my lived human experience. It is true that the pains that I’ve experienced have spilled over. I’m sorry for that. As I mentioned before, I’m quite diligent with working with healers and personal healing and I’m also deeply sensitive. I’m sorry for any ways that this has spilled over onto anyone’s experience negatively.
Thank you, Stevie, for your recent article. Thank you for sharing of your experience and what others have experienced who have worked with me. I have taken it into my heart and will work to make changes to deepen in my understanding of the complexity of trauma. I will work to find more ways to support people in feeling safe to speak their voice and what’s coming up for them.
I’ve taken in what you’ve spoken about in your article. I will find ways to do better. Thank you.
With care,
Liv Mokai Wheeler | https://medium.com/an-open-letter-from-liv-mokai-wheeler/an-open-letter-from-liv-mokai-wheeler-c514c8e94ad9 | ['Ancestor Bridge'] | 2020-08-05 21:28:50.936000+00:00 | ['Spirituality', 'Ancestry', 'Heart', 'Shamanism', 'Community'] |
Social Media Can Have Mixed Results For Your Mental Health | Our brains crave stimulants throughout the day — especially in people who struggle with ADHD and depression. The stimulants increase dopamine in the brain.
We need that little dose of stimulation in the morning to wake up the brain. It is addicting because the brain loves it.
“According to an article by Harvard University researcher Trevor Haynes, when you get a social media notification, your brain sends a chemical messenger called dopamine along a reward pathway, which makes you feel good”
We can find ourselves in bed for hours just scrolling through social media. You would think that wasting time in bed mindlessly scrolling is bad for your mental health right? I would say in some cases, yes.
Some people are born with an addictive personality. I know this because I have family members who have that trait. These are the alcoholics of my family. There is a lot of controversy surrounding addiction as if it should be considered a mental illness.
Some may say that the drugs alter the brain circuits which characterizes under mental illness and some may say that no one was forced to pick up a needle and that drug addiction was considered a choice. In my opinion, addiction should be considered a mental illness and one of the most dangerous if you are asking me. If someone is in the severe stages of alcohol addiction, they can die if they stop drinking alcohol — this is the same for other drugs such as heroin.
My point is — people who have an addictive personality should be more cautious when it comes to social media because it can affect other parts of their lives, such as having difficulty with human communication in real life. | https://medium.com/invisible-illness/social-media-can-have-mixed-results-for-your-mental-health-d27e9c8583a3 | ['Justine Elizabeth'] | 2020-07-15 00:18:55.507000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Health', 'Social Media', 'Addiction', 'Media'] |
Redux in React | Want cool Future Vision Merch? Check out our store here
React is all about moving parts that pass information to each other. You will notice sometimes you have really long chains that go through several containers and several components. This can be a hassle if the data got messed up in one of the steps and you have to slowly backtrack and look through each part to find the error. there is where Redux comes into play! Redux stores all of your state information in a separate object, and any component can get the information it needs from this object. So instead of going home => container1 => component1=> component2, it will go home => Redux Object => component2. Lets see how this all works!
First is the reducer function.
You have two objects that are separate from everything else, the state and the action. The state contains, well, the state of your page, and the action contains the instructions to update that state.
let state = {name: "abc"}
let action = {type: "JOE-IFY"}
To allow action to modify state, you need a function.
function changeState(state, action) {
if (action.type === 'JOE-IFY') {
return {name: 'Joe'}
}
}
If the action type is ‘JOE-IFY’, change the state of name to be “Joe”. There can be many different commands to change names, typically a switch case it used. However, to make sure a null or undefined is never returned a default case is added that returns the previous state.
function changeState(state, action) {
switch (action.type) {
case 'JOE-IFY':
return {name: 'Joe'}
default:
return: state
}
}
Now if you ran the changeState function with the state and “JOE-IFY” you would get {name: “Joe”}.
If you had another action type, for example to change the name to “Bob” it would look like:
function changeState(state, action) {
switch (action.type) {
case 'JOE-IFY':
return {name: 'Joe'}
case 'BOB-IFY':
return {name: 'Bob'}
default:
return: state
}
}
Now if you instead ran it with the function “BOB-IFY” you would get {name: “Bob”}. This changeState function is called the “reducer”, as it reduces the state and action into a new state.
You can make it more complicated as well, since an action can have multiple attributes.
let state = {name: "abc"}
let action = {type: "CHANGE_NAME",
newName: "Spooderman"}
You will have to change the function such that it changes the state of name to that of newName. Something like:
function changeState(state, action) {
switch (action.type) {
case 'CHANGE_NAME':
return {name: action.newName}
default:
return: state
}
}
This is the gist of how a reducer function works. | https://medium.com/future-vision/redux-in-react-7f1776f2443d | ['Nicky Liu'] | 2020-07-29 03:40:55.536000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Programming', 'Reactjs', 'Redux', 'Developer'] |
Weekly Dose of Data Analyst#7 — Who are the top political donors in each state of Australian and overall | This post is about finding out who/which company make the largest political donation from FY 1998 to FY 2019 in Australia.
Notice:
In the disclosed political donation records, there are donations which are not registered with any states. In this dataset, they named as “NOT REGISTERED”.
Summary
Overall, in Australia, from 1998 to 2019, Mineralogy Pty Ltd takes the top position in the political donation chart. It has donated almost 100 million Australian dollars. Queensland Nickel Pty Ltd came in second, it has donated around 22.5 million. Combining these two donation amount together (since these two companies are owned by the same person Clive Palmer), his companies has made more than 10 times of donation made by the company in the third place (Cormack Foundation Pty Ltd). Although, whether he has spent all these money is unclear, as most likely these donation has gone to his own party.
Not surprisingly, QLD, ACT,NSW and VIC are the states received the most political donation.
For ACT,
These are the top three companies/individual made the most political donation.
Pratt Holdings P/L ($7 million) ANZ Banking Group Limited ($3.5 million) Sugolena Pty Limited ($3.4 million)
For QLD,
Other than the top three companies owned by Clive Palmer, these are the top three companies/individual made the most political donation
JJ Richards & Sons Pty Ltd ($0.76 million) Springfield Land Corporation ($0.64 million) Palmer, Clive Frederick as Individual (0.52 million)
For NSW,
These are the top three companies/individual made the most political donation
Clubs NSW ($2.2 million) Manildra Group ($1.6 million) Australian Hotels Association (N.S.W.) ($1.58 million)
For VIC,
These are the top three companies/individual made the most political donation
Cormack Foundation Pty Ltd ($9.37 million) Australian Hotels & Hospitality Association Inc. ($2.86 million) Electrical Trades Union of Australia — Victorian Branch ($2.79 million)
As always, I have made an interactive Tableau workbook for you to play with. Please click this link to access it. You can change states and financial year to find out which company/individual has made the most political donation in the state and time you are interested.
Data Source:
https://transparency.aec.gov.au/Download | https://medium.com/@common-man2077/weekly-dose-of-data-analyst-7-who-are-the-top-political-donors-in-each-state-of-australian-and-5a129516631 | ['Common Man'] | 2020-11-16 10:57:36.385000+00:00 | ['Data Visualization', 'Tableau', 'Political Donations', 'Australian Politics', 'Data Analysis'] |
There is no friend as loyal as a book | There is no friend as loyal as a book
To what extent are Children’s books on grief proving beneficial to those experiencing loss? Katie Nicoll Follow Feb 9 · 4 min read
A few weeks ago, The Independent released an article providing parents and carers with a short list of books to help teach their children about the difficult and sensetive topic of pet bereavment.
Bereavement is a topic which is ever-present in our daily lives but is simultaneously readily avoided by parents until it is no longer inescapable. Bologna (2020) states that ‘death and grief are natural parts of the human experience, but addressing such heavy topics with kids can seem daunting.’ Similarly, the unspoken challenge of educating someone on grief — especially a child, is not an easy matter.
Despite this, many children’s books are now being used as tools to help console and combat children who have experienced this difficult emotional state. Yet, what benefit are these books actually having on children? Are they simply there to fill a gap in the market or do they actually have the power of a friend?
1. Subtle development of coping skills
Nathan (2019) states that when children are grieving it is paramount that ‘they come to you rather than you seeking them out.’ As a child begins to process the obtrusive notion of loss it essential that they do so in their own time. Children’s books can embody the role of a gatekeeper between a child and others during this time, it is an object which doesn’t force an individual to open up to anyone but themselves.
Similarly, it has been noted that ‘books are subtle enough to help your child learn coping skills without them feeling like they are being forced upon them.’ Therefore, reinforcing the idea that the independent reading of a story can be a gentle push for children to understand their current situation.
2. Making sense of the inexplicable
Writers can use words and images to help children understand emotions and feelings. The bereavement charity Winston’s Wish said ‘stories played an important role in helping children make sense of death.’ As loss is such a difficult topic to explain, stories are given the ideal role of describing it in a careful manner. Therefore, reiterating the notion that ‘there are many ways to dive into this conversation, and one powerful approach is through books.’
Where is Uncle Al? (2020, Hibbs & Harrison) is a children’s story that specifically tackles this idea of death and the inexplicable. One reviewer states, ‘we learn how to talk to children about death and how to help them find a place in their imaginations for someone they’ve never had the chance to meet.’ Perhaps books can do what a parent has struggled to do before.
3. Escapism and relief
Finally, much like a needed friend, books on grief appear to help in our time of need. Months after her mother passing away, Buxbaum (2016) states ‘soon I stumbled upon my own secret prescription, one I’ve returned to during the innumerable times I’ve struggled since: books.’ She furthers this and explains that bibliotherapy and escapism is what she needed to help her distance the hard hitting truth of loss. Consequently, signifying the important role that books have as our nearest and dearest. It appears that reading ‘gives us hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that we can learn to live with our sorrow.’ | https://medium.com/digital-publishing-strategy/there-is-no-friend-as-loyal-as-a-book-a5f9edeb0640 | ['Katie Nicoll'] | 2021-03-02 11:04:03.709000+00:00 | ['Childrens Publishing', 'Publishing', 'Childrens Stories', 'Childrens Books', 'Grief And Loss'] |
Why There’s a Secret Tiny Wire Above Manhattan | Why There’s a Secret Tiny Wire Above Manhattan
Photo by Monika Kozub on Unsplash
I’ve lived outside New York City for 20 years. I had my first kiss in the city, my first beer, and many eidetic memories I’ll never forget.
All that time, however, I never knew an 18-mile translucent wire hung above my head and encircled the entire Manhattan isle. If you squint really really hard, you won’t find it. But if you know the right places to look — you probably still won’t find it.
It’s called an eruv (ay-roov) and it’s that secretive.
The Manhattan eruv costs $100,000 a year to maintain and without it, thousands of Jews wouldn’t be able to live in the city.
Let’s Talk a Little Bit About Jewish Law
In order to understand the importance of the eruv, you need to know a little bit about Jewish law.
Friday night into Saturday is considered the Sabbath by Jewish people. The Sabbath is a day of rest and means observant Jewish people can not do “Melachah” which means work.
This rule is listed in the Jewish code of law, called the Talmud, but stems all the way back from when Moses received the Ten Commandments:
“Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD; whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He ceased from work and rested.”— Exodus 31:12–17
Breaking the rule doesn’t lead to death, anymore, thankfully, but it can get you kicked out of your synagogue. Furthermore, following these rules is what makes the Jewish community so tight-knit in the first place.
When I was working as a reporter I’d never seen anything like the comradery of Jewish communities in New Jersey. Once when a fire broke out in a densely populated Jewish area, the whole town converged to support the family whose house burnt down and gave firefighters snacks and water bottles.
It was awesome stuff to watch. But this leads us to an important question regarding the Sabbath:
What Constitutes Work?
Good question. Interestingly enough, many things constitute work that might not seem obvious to non-Jewish people.
According to the Talmud, here are a few of the 39 things you cannot do:
Planting flowers;
Filtering undrinkable water to make it drinkable;
Picking small bones from fish;
Cooking or baking;
Carrying anything, including groceries, books, keys, and even children.
If that last rule seems impossible it’s because it is. Jewish law, however, allows you to bypass this part of the rule by allowing Jewish people to carry items inside of private places like their homes.
This amendment would later extend to small towns as well. It was agreed upon that building a wall around a town — called an eruv — would transform it into a private sector.
The Evolution of the Eruv
Walls aren’t easy things to manage. Just ask Pink Floyd or Berlin.
So the head Rabbis in the Jewish community decided it was time to evolve the eruv. They decided a symbolic wall was good enough to turn an area into a private domain. A symbol as simple as a translucent wire.
The largest and most expensive eruv in the world is in New York City. It’s been in place since 1999 and is hotly debated in the Jewish community.
Many argue that considering the entire island of Manhattan as a private area is ridiculous. It’s possible for more than 600,000 people to pass through certain roads in New York City in a single day. Any NYC native will tell you Manhattan is a nightmare to navigate if you hate crowds.
But the eruv stands regardless, making the Sabbath much easier to adhere to for the hundreds of thousands of Jewish people that live there.
Meanwhile, every Thursday before dawn a Rabbi drives the entire island of Manhattan inspecting the eruv. The eruv has survived Macy Day’s Thanksgiving Parades and even 2012’s hurricane Sandy. But there are times when it breaks.
Most notably, in 2011 a wire broke near the United Nations building, which caused a problem when repair crews couldn’t get past security to fix it. It was eventually resolved, but not before a load of panic set in.
Final Thoughts
New York isn’t the only metropolis with an eruv. You can find them in New Jersey, Atlanta, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Dallas, and numerous other cities and suburbs across the U.S. In fact, there are more than 200 across North America.
In Manhattan, there’s even a community-run website with a status indicator that displays if the eruv is intact. As of this article, the eruv was last checked on May 13 and is up and roaring.
For six days of the week, the eruv is pretty much useless. But during the Sabbath, it’s a symbol for one of the most important rules in Judaism. And this respect for tradition is one of the reasons why the Jewish community excels so much today. | https://historyofyesterday.com/why-theres-a-secret-tiny-wire-above-manhattan-4dc3f364330e | ['Isaiah Mccall'] | 2021-05-19 15:03:07.190000+00:00 | ['New York', 'Israel', 'History', 'Jewish', 'Politics'] |
Everything You Need to Know about 3D Wall Tiles for Your Home Improvement | Everything You Need to Know about 3D Wall Tiles for Your Home Improvement Jack Du Jul 15·5 min read
Do you want a fresh and innovative design for your interior? A design that is completely customizable and can prove to be one-of-a-kind? That too simply and easily? If so, no need to look any further!
With 3D tiles at hand, you can personalize any room with breathtaking and eye-catching 3D designs! The modern design calls for organic and creativity, which 3D tiles provide!
Each type of tile provides a different texture and has an overall unique impact on the entire interior. Yes, that is right!
3D tiles come in all sorts of shapes and forms. Hence, let your imagination loose when it comes to using them!
Ranging from ripple-like ridges to protruding bricks to rustic wooden rows, it is no surprise that 3D tiles can change up the entire impression of a room! 3D tiles come in all sorts of materials, including the following:
Ceramic
Porcelain
Wood
Metal
No matter the material, the varying designs are available for all sorts. Some are unique, like abstract bubbled glass tiles.
Best Places to Use 3D Wall Tiles
3D tiles can be used at any location! Be it an office or a shop, they can create spellbinding interiors with the available variety!
Places including the following can all be fitted with these gorgeous pieces of art!
Hotels
Hospitals
Galleries
Cinemas
Auditoriums
Offices
Restaurants
And so many more!
Additionally, you can decorate any room in your entire house with them! Yes, you read that right! Any room can be enhanced with this multipurpose yet affordable wall decor.
Bedroom
The bedroom is your haven where you can be you. In simple terms, you can say that it is a place where you are shielded from the stress of work and school. It surely deserves unique interior decor.
It is your room; you are the boss here. Choose the design that you like best. You can use 3D tiles to tie in the look of the entire furniture in the room. Contrasting colors can also be used to highlight certain parts of the room.
Kitchen
Your kitchen is one of the most regularly used rooms of your house, and a well-designed interior is sure to boost its appeal. You can use adhesive tiles or 3D wallpaper tiles to decorate the kitchen walls.
Additionally, DIY-ing the walls with innovative and fresh backsplash stick-on tiles is also a creative option. The entire design becomes unique, and this method is an effective way to showcase your talent!
Bathroom
Did you know that some wall tiles tend to mesh well with other types of tiles to create a more detailed and profound effect? For example, you can use bathroom wall stickers and bathroom wall decal for a stylish finish.
Another recommendation would be to search for bathroom wall decor ideas. List them down, and then proceed to combine the ones you like best to personalize your bathroom decor for walls!
Living Room
The living room is where you spend time with your family. It is also where you sit with the guests. Thus, it is a given that it must be outfitted nicely to provide a good impression.
You can make an indoor gallery by housing a gorgeous series of 3D artwork for walls. Or perhaps you’d go for a more cottage-like rustic appearance with 3D brick wall sticker tiles.
Benefits of 3D Wall Tiles
The benefits of 3D tiles prove to be the deciding factor of their immense popularity. You will be surprised to know how many benefits they offer! Some of them are listed below:
Aesthetically Pleasing
You cannot deny the hypnotic allure of 3D tiles! Designed with vibrant colors and gorgeous sheens, 3D tiles are impossible to ignore! Moreover, a truly creative mind can also use them cleverly to build beautiful murals!
Tiles with Geometric shapes are beautiful with their simplistic design. And the best part about 3D tiles, in general, is that the colors and designs are long-lasting and can even last you an entire decade!
High Durability
Did you know that 3D tiles are manufactured from the very foundation to be very durable? Yes, that is correct!
With proper regular maintenance, these tiles will provide the same look for years to come!
Plus, the colors, prints, and shapes of these tiles are also very durable. Hence, you are saved from the cost of refurbishing them.
Environment Friendly
One of the critical aspects of 3D tiles is that they are entirely environment-friendly. No toxic or harmful chemicals are used in their manufacturing process. Their installation process is also clean and organic.
So, these tiles are sure to prove very popular for environmental activists as well!
Simple Maintenance
Despite their complicated aesthetics, taking care of 3D tiles is easy! They are water-resistant. Hence a good scrubbing can do them no harm!
You can wipe them with a cloth dipped in soapy water. A little elbow grease can remove any persistent stains as well.
You see, they function similar to traditional walls, just with an added touch of glamour!
Conclusion
There you have it! An A-to-Z guide on 3D wall tiles! The variety of choices available guarantees that you will find a perfect fit!
Will you choose to add 3D tile-adorned accent walls in each room? Or will you go for the easy-to-install adhesive wall decor for your kitchen walls? Or maybe you’d want to dabble in peel and stick wall tiles?
No matter what you want for your interior, you are guaranteed to find it at Commony! A chic stick tiles guide is also available on this blog. You can also check out this article on how you can add impact with 3D tiles.And you can get more information from Wiki Home Improvement.
No matter what you choose for your interior, the 3-dimensional tiles will add a flair of wicked drama, hands down! | https://medium.com/@jackdu2021/everything-you-need-to-know-about-3d-wall-tiles-for-your-home-improvement-194492bd3577 | ['Jack Du'] | 2021-07-15 05:03:45.869000+00:00 | ['Home Decor', 'Home Improvement', 'Wall Decor'] |
Blockimmo Security Audit | General Discussion
The Blockimmo AG smart contract platform implements a broad range of functionality through multiple interacting smart contracts. The smart contracts implement custom logic to support token creation, token sales, shareholder voting mechanisms, and a blockchain-to-real world linked property registry. The smart contract is based on nearly 700 lines of custom code including comments and incorporates code from the open-source OpenZeppelin project. This section discusses the general context around the specific findings elaborated in subsequent sections with an aim to better understand the current findings and prevent future instances.
New Alchemy identified one moderate and one minor vulnerability. The vulnerabilities could be classified as not following best practices and Blockimmo AG should implement fixes to strengthen the smart contract security posture.
The contracts have a fee feature which allows Blockimmo AG to collect a fee for running the token and real estate sale infrastructure. The fee mechanism utilizes integer division which always rounds down in the Solidity language. Due to the rounding down characteristic, Blockimmo AG will not be able to collect the full fee amount when calculating fee’s from token and property sales.
The minor security issue deals with missing clarity regarding specific contract constants.
The code implements and uses the OpenZeppelin SafeMath contract, which defines functions for safe math operations that will throw errors in the cases of integer overflow or underflows. While this functionality was used in multiple places, the auditors could not identify a valid attack and exploit scenario.
Additionally, the contracts make use of specialized functionality to open voting for specific real estate property decisions among the shareholders, which are defined as owners of the token associated with the property.
The current reuse of standard open-source components allows the platform to greatly reduce risk through leveraging well-reviewed, well-tested and usage-proven functionality.
New Alchemy strongly recommends staying current on compilers, (multiple) linters, formal methods and test coverage frameworks. The development team should integrate these procedures and tools into normal workflow. To maximize the leverage these tools provide, utilize their most conservative settings and aim to eliminate as many errors and warnings as possible early in the development process.
Contract / Whitepaper Token Coherence
This section examines and describes the number of issued tokens for each individual property sale. Due to Blockimmo AG planning to use the same token sale contracts for their own ICO these token amounts and distributions hold true for the Blockimmo AG ICO as well.
The whitepaper did not go into detail about the specific token amounts as such the values in this discussion were pulled directly from the smart contract source.
The TokenizedProperty.sol creates and sets the number of tokens. Line 55 and 56 set the decimal count and number of tokens:
uint8 public constant decimals = 18;
uint256 public constant NUM_TOKENS = 1000000;
The TokenizedProperty.sol constructor starting on line 76 sets the total supply and adds the balance to the contract creator. This amount will be distributed to the investors during the crowdsale period.
totalSupply_ = NUM_TOKENS * (uint256(10) ** decimals);
balances[msg.sender] = totalSupply_;
The DividendDistributingToken.sol smart contract is used to deposit and collect tokens. The code on line 26 sets the POINTS_PER_WEI . This variable is used to divide the tokens into smaller amounts.
uint256 public constant POINTS_PER_WEI = uint256(10) ** 32;
The POINTS_PER_WEI variable can be observed being used along with the totalSupply variable in the deposit() function on line 52.
function deposit(uint256 value) internal {
pointsPerToken = pointsPerToken.add(value.mul(POINTS_PER_WEI) / totalSupply_);
emit DividendsDeposited(msg.sender, value);
}
New Alchemy derived the amounts of the tokens directly from the smart contracts. We recommend amending the whitepaper to directly list the specific figures for clarity among investors. Parties interested in purchasing tokens should be able to clearly read the figures rather than having to locate them in the source code. | https://medium.com/new-alchemy/blockimmo-security-audit-b09232370e06 | ['New Alchemy'] | 2018-07-20 16:51:40.169000+00:00 | ['Solidity', 'Smart Contracts', 'Ethereum', 'Token Sale', 'Security'] |
The Tale of the Secret Menu in a Chinese Restaurant | The Tale of the Secret Menu in a Chinese Restaurant
Your “Chinese-ness” can be judged immediately by which menu you order from in a Chinese Restaurant
Illustration: Jensen Lo
It was the restaurant I would go to when I was lazy to cook. It was the place I would go to when I was sick. It was the place I would go with my friends if we were celebrating. End of finals, Chinese New Years, handing in our dissertations.
It was the Chinese restaurant right beside my apartment, 88 Chinese Restaurant. Life wouldn’t be complete without an adopted Chinese family when you’re living abroad. And, mine was in the Chinese restaurant which was five minutes away from where I lived. What’s more Chinese than the name of the restaurant — Double 8?
When I went to 88 for the first time, it looked like it was just another Chinese takeout place to grab the westernised Sweet and Sour chicken — where sweetness is derived from canned pineapples and sugar and sourness is derived from pure vinegar. While the white-cloth-covered tables indicated that 88 wasn’t a cheap student takeout restaurant, the menu still consisted of mainly “white-washed” Chinese food. Sweet and sour chicken, kung po chicken, keong chung (in Cantonese) or jiang chung (in Mandarin) chicken, beef and broccoli, chicken chow mien. It was just a bunch of generic Chinese dishes in which you would probably find in Gordon Ramsay’s Asian food menu.
It was only till after a few short visits for a takeout, I finally went there with a few Malaysian and Singaporean friends who would later enlighten me with their order.
“Fo Lam Mien, Hoi Sin Yee Mien, Mapo Tofu,…” my friends made the order while I was still perplexed by the menu that was written in Chinese.
Looking over the counter, I saw the regular English menu.
“I didn’t know they even have all of these dishes,” I told my friends while discerning the two different menus.
While my friends had a good laugh at my confused self, I realised I had been ordering food from the white menu all along. I realised that the menu we were ordering from was the secret menu or the “Chinese” menu.
At the moment when the fo lam mien (braised pork belly with noodles) and hoi sin yee mien (seafood braised yee fu noodles) were served in front of us, I knew 88 was a legit Chinese restaurant. How these dishes looked was sufficient to convince me of the Chinese-ness of the place as it is impossible for generic white Chinese restaurant- goer to order fried noodles topped with the corn starchy egg gravy. It would look — in their words — “unappetising”.
Tasting these dishes and noodles with my subpar adeptness in the art of chopsticks, any skepticism in my head disappeared immediately. This was the day 88 became one of my most regular visited restaurants throughout my stay in Southampton. Almost every week, I would at least go there and order a takeout (from the “Chinese” menu).
The lou pan leong (lady boss) of the restaurant talked to us for a bit on that night and we became acquainted since then. More often than not, when we visit a Chinese restaurant, the waiters, waitress or the owners would always have at least a tiny bit of curiosity about our nationality. While we might be able to speak Mandarin or Cantonese, our accents always sound foreign to Chinese or Hong Kong native. And, from the dishes we would order, they could immediately discern us from the regular Chinese and Hong Kongers. And, that’s how she started recognising us as the Malaysian and Singaporean group.
“This is for guai lou!”
From that point onwards, the lou pan leong would never allow me to order from the “white-washed” menu again. There was once, when I was craving for the westernised version of jiang chung chicken (ginger and scallion chicken), I was going there to order a takeout. Being a Chinese food purist most of the time, it took me quite a long time to admit that I craved for the “white-washed”version of Chinese food at times. The less intricate Chinese dishes — jiang chung chicken, sweet and sour chicken and salt and pepper fried chicken.
I took the “white-washed” menu from the counter. When I was about to order the simplified made-for-white-people jiang chung chicken, a hand came in and intercepted me from pointing “ginger and spring onion chicken” on the menu.
“This is for guai lou!” the lou pan leong said as she was stopping me from committing the crime of ordering “white-washed” dishes in a Chinese restaurant as a Chinese.
She proceeded to pass the authentic Chinese menu to me and asked me to pick an item from that menu.
“It’s winter, it’s cold outside, you should eat more.”
After a year of advocacy, the entire restaurant crew became my adoptive Chinese family in the UK. She basically took care of me with Chinese food, exactly how a Chinese grandma would. When I didn’t meet the rice consumption standards of a typical Chinese person, she would instead top up my bowl with a surfeit of rice. As most Chinese restaurants in the UK offer bottomless rice, I was bewildered with the extraordinary amount of rice a typical Chinese student would usually have. However, in a Chinese restaurant, I was the outcast who who wouldn’t eat more than a bowl of rice. Therefore, as how our Chinese grandma would keep reminding us to have more rice, the lady boss would top up my rice bowl whenever it’s empty.
“It’s winter, it’s cold outside, you should eat more.” she would say to me a lot during winter.
When the horrendous English weather came during winter, in addition to topping me up with more rice, she would serve a bowl of hot soup on the house. There have also been a few instances where she gave us a few plates of dim sum on the house. Though she told us that they are leftovers from the morning, they were still top notch dim sum. Siu mai, char siew pork buns and wu gok (yam tart). And when I wasn’t feeling well, she would ask her chef to cook pei tan chuk (thousand year old egg porridge) for me. There’s no better comfort food than Chinese porridge when you have a cold.
My family meets my adoptive family
All great things about 88 eventually came to an end. As my uni years in Southampton were coming to an end, I knew the restaurant was going to become an essential part of the epoch of my university life in Southampton. Recounting the final few visits to the restaurant, the most memorable trip happened during my graduation week. When I brought my family to my most visited Chinese restaurant in Southampton.
As I was aware of my dad’s distinctive palate for Chinese food, I thought it’d be a great idea to bring my family to a place where I was most familiar with. As careful as I was with my choice of order — as I had the prescience of him complaining about the food is different from what we had in Malaysia — I knew which dishes from the Chinese menu were the best and even which dishes from the “white-washed” menu would taste great. Not much could go wrong, so I thought…
Ma Po Tofu. Illustration: Jensen Lo
“ Let’s go for Chinese tonight. I’m craving for steamed chicken,” I said with exuberance.
My dad was ecstatic as he was growing impatient after a week of Mediterranean food in Greece prior to my graduation.
“Me too! I don’t want to have another burger or pizza!” he replied without hesitation.
“The chicken is different from the Hainanese Chicken!”
When we walked into the restaurant, my adopted Chinese family greeted us with a distinctive warmth and hospitality — something you shouldn’t expect if you’re a “rookie” in any Chinese restaurant. The lou pan leong sat us down and served us a pot of tea as she waited for our order. It didn’t take long the order as I was ready to impress my parents with these dishes.
“Steamed chicken, ma po tofu, sweet and sour spare ribs and stir fried kailan.”
Stir Fried Kailan. Illustration: Jensen Lo
I thought these dishes would never go wrong.
“The chicken is different from the Hainanese Chicken!” he harrumphed at the chicken to insinuate his dissatisfaction. Although he didn’t express it verbally, I knew his expostulation of the steamed chicken started when the steamed chicken was served with ginger scallion oil instead of chilli sauce. As Hainanese chicken rice would usually be served with a tangy and vinegary chilli sauce in Malaysia, it is insatiable to satisfy a purist like my dad without a saucer full of chilli sauce.
Chinese Steamed Chicken with Ginger Scallion Oil (instead of Chilli Sauce). Illustration: Jensen Lo
The capricious event delineated my struggles in carrying out the onus of picking a restaurant that could satisfy my dad’s palette, especially in a foreign land.
Bidding farewell to my most visited restaurant in Southampton
“Came here to say goodbye. And I would like to have a steamed chicken before heading to the airport.” I said to the lou pan leong.
It was my final day in Southampton. I went to 88 Chinese restaurant for the last time to bid farewell to my adoptive Chinese family. Ironically, I ordered the same dish which exasperated my dad a couple months ago. However, the rustic steamed chicken with ginger scallion oil, as unsophisticated as the dish is, was a fulfilling final lunch in Southampton. Unsurprisingly, the lou pan leong insisted that I shouldn’t pay.
“Do visit us if you ever come back. Yat lou son fung!” she said as I was leaving the restaurant.
P.S. Unfortunately, according to Google, the restaurant is now permanently closed. | https://eyesaintlo.medium.com/the-tale-of-the-secret-menu-in-a-chinese-restaurant-8197d47b71c9 | ['Jensen Lo'] | 2020-07-24 13:09:32.195000+00:00 | ['University', 'Chinese Culture', 'Food', 'Southampton'] |
“Beauty, my son, is in the eye of beholder,” she said, “where you’ll also find eye gunk.” | has a bad habit of referring to himself in third person point of view...and he just did it again...
Follow | https://medium.com/cracked-pieces/beauty-my-son-is-in-the-eye-of-beholder-she-said-where-youll-also-find-eye-gunk-d61ac0aad176 | ['Tien Skye'] | 2017-03-27 13:08:15.937000+00:00 | ['One Lined Poem', 'Poetry', 'Humor', 'Beauty'] |
How I Achieved the Best Orgasm of My Life. | Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
I recall a conversation that I had with my now partner on one of our first dates. While discussing sexual boundaries, I swore against backdoor entry and was disgusted by the thought of it…
I was recently out of a seven-year, very emotionally abusive, controlling, and may I say boring relationship with a narcissistic sociopath. I left that relationship crippled with trust issues and insecurities that I’m still fighting to this day. However, that is a story for another day. To say our sex life was lifeless should not come as a surprise. I had not had crazy sexual experiences nor may adventurous life experiences by the age of 30. I’m very much an “up for anything” type person. Still, my ex-husband seemed to put a damper on anything labeled fun and exciting.
About six months after moving out on my own, I meet lovingly coined “Dr. Guy”…
Dr. Guy was the most accomplished, adventurous, charismatic (and humble) person I had ever met, and he still holds that title to this day. Over a year later, I could go on and on with admiration about how incredible a human he is, but I won’t because this story is about sex, and that is why you’re still reading.
So back to the sexual boundaries discussion. I told him that I was pretty much “up for anything” except anal. Truth be told, I did think it was gross, and I was honestly terrified of the idea of anything entering that area. Of course, Dr. Guy respected my wishes and only brought it up in a joking way as time went on. We explored each other and new things, most of which made me blush, but we learned to trust each other in the process. I began to realize that I loved trying new things, and as the trust with my partner deepened, the easier it was for me to let go of my sexual boundaries.
NYE 2020 we were drinking at his place…like drinking a lot. I don’t rememeber a ton from the night’s conversations, but what I do recall is mid-fuck asking him if he wanted to “do anal”. He, of course, was down to clown. The first time was, as probably most anal rookies, pretty straight forward if you will. I remember that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and I could see the potential for pleasure…
Months down the line and countless orgasms later, we found ourselves again drunk, mid-fuck, and freaky as ever. I went from being timid and shy to telling him what I wanted without hesitation. This time, I asked him if he wanted to “put it in my ass” while I use my toy (Enrique), which is a clitoral sucking, g-spot vibrator he gifted me (link in bio…jk). Again, down to clown. He just finished going down on me, so I was extra primed and ready to go. After getting Enrique into position, he lubed up. While laying on my side with him behind me, I gently pushed back until he was (mostly) inside. I turned on the vibrator, which has different settings, and we began to move slowly together. I remember saying, “I’m going to cum so hard,” shortly after we started. Then, I almost blacked out with pleasure. My eyes rolled into the back of my skull, and I screamed through the most intense orgasm of my entire life. It felt like it lasted forever, and I didn’t want it to stop. Once I came down from what must have been heaven, we started moving together again until the second orgasm came more intense than before. I was out of breath and starry-eyed.
The moral of the story is never say never. While I can sit here and say, get this vibrator and use it during anal and you’ll achieve the best orgasm ever, I believe it was only amplified by the trust and ease I have with Dr. Guy. So, I’ll sit here and say, create a space of sexual intimacy without boundaries with a partner you trust. It doesn’t happen overnight, but when everything clicks… | https://medium.com/@gemhemingway/how-i-achieved-the-best-orgasm-of-my-life-70baa59b14db | ['Gem Hemingway'] | 2020-12-10 02:23:18.968000+00:00 | ['Sex', 'Relationships', 'Trust'] |
Q#13: Students in a class | In a class of 120 students numbered 1 to 120, all even numbered students opt for Physics, those whose numbers are divisible by 5 opt for Chemistry and those whose numbers are divisible by 7 opt for Math.
Given this information, how many opt for none of the three subjects?
TRY IT YOURSELF
ANSWER:
This question tests your understanding of statistics, specifically set theory. Recall from set theory, A U B U C = A + B + C - (A n B + B n C + C n A) + (A n B n C) where U is union and n for intersection. For the purpose of this question:
- A = students in Physics (120 /2 = 60)
- B = students in Chemistry (120/5 = 24)
- C = students in Math (120/7 *round down* = 17)
Now to find the intersection values, use the LCM (least common multiple) between the divisors, ie 2 and 5 is 10, 5 and 7 is 35:
- A n B = 120/10 = 12
- B n C = 120/35 *round down* = 3
- C n A = 120/14 *round down* = 8
Finally find A n B n C is the same method finding LCM between all three divisors in this case it is only the number 70:
- A n B n C = 120/70 *round down*= 1
Thus A U B U C = 60 + 24 + 17 — (12+3+14) + 1 = 79
Now the question asks us to find those in none of the classes:
So, 120–79 = 41 students in no classes. | https://medium.com/foundational-data-science-interview-questions/q-13-students-in-a-class-2e2bae22653b | ['Abish Pius'] | 2020-12-23 15:50:15.946000+00:00 | ['Set Theory', 'Data Science', 'Beginner', 'Interview Questions', 'Statistics'] |
Some pointers on code reviews — Part 1 | Don’t look for mistakes, search for oportunities
As many other young developers out there, I started my journey with the non-coding aspects of my job ( including code reviews ) on the wrong note. The fact that I was under the mentorship of a coding wizard with a short fuse didn’t help either.
However, moving from simply writing code to fully embracing code reviews was not an easy step for me. As any other starting developer I thought the whole process just a waste of time.
I no longer think that.
During the last couple of years, I have learned a number of good lessons regarding code reviews. I do believe the context or the specifics of my lessons are not relevant to anyone but me. To that end, I will spare you the entire story and move straight to the point.
Here are some things I have learned regarding code reviews.
Consider accountability
I believe a lot of young developers these days take a rather personal approach to coding and code reviews, in general. It’s not hard to see why, really: The project manager assigns me a task to do, I figure out the scope, I do my research, I look at the impact and I make sure I find the best possible approach. So why then, do you get to just come in and “review” something that is clearly well-though and almost perfect ?
Let me ask you this: What if your perfect piece of code fails to perform on a production environment ? What if the 0.001% happens and leads to massive losses both financial as well as in terms of the user’s trust in the system ?
Do you stand solely responsible for that loss ?
That is simply not how this business works. Truth is, (most of the time) the company you work for is accountable. As a general rule of thumb, you should always remember: You are solely responsible for the code you have locally, however, once that reaches a code review, the responsibility shifts to the entire team. Finally, when that amazing piece of code reaches the live environment, it falls under the responsibility of the company itself.
Knowing this, I think it gets a little bit easier to understand why many seasoned developers or team leaders put a lot of emphasis on this process. In many ways, approving a code review is acknowledging the responsibility and accountability for the code being submitted.
Prioritize but don’t overlook
I think we’ve all been there. The team goes through an exceptionally productive sprint and the code reviews keep piling up. The day of the reckoning eventually comes when you have ten, twenty such code reviews to take in. What now ?
Well, first, take a deep breath and strap in. You okay ? Good !
It’s time to prioritize. I know a lot of us tend to give our own code reviews top priority. Well, let’s take a step back, have a look at the bigger picture and start asking some questions.
What seems to be the thing that’s most important for the team ?
What seems to be the highest priority for the project manager ?
What about the customer ?
Keep in mind that it is always a good idea to ask if you’re not certain where to start.
Priority, however, is only half the story here. The other half speaks to overlooking. Overlooking happens when some code reviews are always stuck in the low priority queue. I won’t get into why postponing a code review too much is a bad practice but I will say that nobody wants that. If nothing else, remember this: Low priority doesn’t mean unnecessary !
Look at the code, not at the person
If the title wasn’t clear enough, let me unpack it this quicky. You are part of a team, regardless of being an intern or a senior developer. As part of said team, you and your colleagues are working towards the same goal. We all just really want to write clean code, efficient code and high quality code. However, I think it’s fair to assume that nobody does that all the time.
This is when comments start popping up in your code reviews or, shifting perspective, this is when you start writing feedback on code reviews. Please keep in mind that the emphasis here is placed on “feedback” and “code”.
It’s important to understand the two aspects above. You should not review or evaluate the code based on the person who submitted it. All code must be treated fairly, regardless of it being written by an intern or a senior developer. Try to briefly detach these two entities (the code, the person) and I guarantee you the whole experience will get better.
By doing this, you will manage to avoid two common issues with code reviews. First, we tend to automatically trust the code submitted by our colleagues who seem to have more experience than us — not good. Second, we tend to treat more harshly the code submitted by our colleagues who have less experience than us — also not good.
Self review
Say you just finished a task, tested it one last time and finally opened a code review. It’s time to move on, get a cup of coffee and move to the next feature. Right ? Ehm, hold on for just a second there.
I believe we all noticed that the code inside a code review is slightly different from the one you worked on. First, all of these pretty colors, the carefully arranged indentation and the quick navigation options are not there. Secondly, most of the context of the files, all the stuff that’s around your feature, is not highlighted inside the code review. Lastly, you don’t remember writing so much, do you ?
Well, this is where self review comes into play.
I’m not against coffee breaks, don’t get me wrong. In fact, I think you deserve it. However, when that’s over, let’s have another look at the code and see how it looks like outside your local environment. Does it still make sense ? Do you think the scope is clear to everyone ? Are you sure that going through it won’t give your colleagues a headache ?
There will be code reviews where the answer to all of these questions is “Yes”. How about the other ones, though ?
For all the other ones, there are some steps we can take.
First, don’t be shy to add comments or clarifications on your own code review. You can provide some insights on the scope, ask for special attention to some parts, explain some complex lines and even describe your decision process. It may take you a little bit of time but I assure you, it is well worth it.
Second, attach screenshots or relevant files. This is most useful if you’re working on some UI or frontend features. I think it’s fair to say, most developers don’t have a css or html interpreter embedded in their brain. Having a visual aid to help them nagivate your styling choices can save everyone a lot of time.
Third, make sure you indicate that some files can be omitted from the review process. Most modern programming languages have a lot of stuff pregenerated for you. It could be the actual migration code or a snapshot of the context. It can be the package list or even some csv reports. The code you write should be the target of the review, not the stuff that’s generated from it. Make sure you indicate that clearly as sometimes, it may not be obvious for everyone.
That wasn’t so hard, now, was it ?
Thank you for your time. Part two will be out soon.
Until then, happy coding ! | https://medium.com/@tarpescu-marian/some-pointers-on-code-reviews-part-1-4828ea40eb97 | ['Marian V. T.'] | 2021-06-17 12:24:36.428000+00:00 | ['Development', 'Programming', 'Developer Tools', 'Advice', 'Code Review'] |
A 3-Min Intro to AI Ethics | A Brief Background
Without sticking our noses down too many philosophical rabbit holes, the basic argument of the story runs like this:
Us humans parse information from our natural sensor array (sight, touch, etc.) and our memories, then we make decisions based on the patterns we recognise. We do this all the time, often non-consciously. Machines too are trained to make decisions based on available information, from sensors, data input or memory. No human decision is value-free, each one carries consequences and considerations. Thus, automated decision-making also engenders ethical values. As automated decision-making increasingly influences our lives, we need to train our machines in ethics. But first, we probably need to work out our own, since we still can’t agree on them.
Our original pitch for the video was to cover a wide range of ethical frameworks, philosophical thought exercises and geeky cultural references via a frenetic, machine-gun narrative. But we toned it down once we stared to see what it was looking like. In the end, we settled on just two main motifs: the Trolley Problem and the Paperclip Factory. They both do a good job of illustrating not just how ethical values can be loaded into systems and run like algorithms, but also how they can spin out of control when they are played repeatedly or reframed with conflicting parameters.
We bookending the story with real-world scenes, in which a person engages in a very mundane, quotidian instance of AI-enabled human-machine interaction: asking their mobile for directions. In the brief moments that their mapping app takes to settle on a response, we could have gone into hours of discourse on the different ethical considerations that even a “simple” decision like that brings with it. But we tried to keep it punchy, hopefully you think we did okay.
I’m proud to say that our wee team made the whole thing – script, filming, acting, animation, music… This was one of the most enjoyable projects I can remember working on, despite huge pressure to build it in our nonexistent free time. Doing creative work with my best mates on a subject that matters, well, it’s a blessing. So we’re happy to explore new topics if you have any you think we should attack…
And if you want to read on, here’s the full script. | https://medium.com/@ben-bland/a-3-min-intro-to-ai-ethics-a30cb1e15b55 | ['Ben Bland'] | 2020-12-17 09:47:45.803000+00:00 | ['Videos', 'AI', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Ethics', 'Ai Ethics'] |
Feeling like it ain’t Christmas?. Many fond Christmas memories hail from… | Many fond Christmas memories hail from my childhood- which seems a million years ago, yet at the same time not all that far away. Well even into my late teen years, when I thought I knew oh-so-much more than any veteran adult, I adored my Mom’s effort exercised in making our house look like the North Pole had puked all over the damn place and my Dad’s bringing out every single one of his favorite artists’ Christmas albums to spin repetitiously on the Hi-Fi. Yes, I’m that old, but just stuff your stocking, won’t you? I’m waxing nostalgia here, so cut me some fruitcake slack, please. And Christmas with Buck Owens and the Buckeroos always spun on that turntable, so hearing any of those tracks from that vinyl automatically smacks of a reminiscence that’s second to none.
Except when it doesn’t. Like when it’s a holiday season that’s been peppered with unsavory Covid commotion and family court related kerfuffle, it just doesn’t. Especially when track 3 came through the aforementioned Buck Owens playlist: “Christmas Ain’t Christmas.” I paused and I listened.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkfxwmSEKXQ
So there I was… motionless, perplexed, paralyzed. And then I had myself a mini-pity-party. As expected, yet sadly, it wasn’t pretty. See, I’ve not seen my teen daughter since mid-July, even then only for nine whole minutes. Of course I’ve tried to phone and FaceTime; I’ve sent emails and video recordings; I have texted religiously with happy thoughts, fond-photo memories, and general good cheer.
Since the second session with the court-appointed mediator in October was stopped in its tracks by opposing side, a guardian ad litem (GAL) is investigating our family court case. I had a Covid-safe phone conference with said GAL on December 10th, pleading for meaningful intervention on behalf of the court to help my child. My ex had his scheduled GAL conference two days ago. I had hoped — between those sessions — that some modicum of common-sense and holiday happiness would avail opportunity to see my daughter during my designated holiday parenting time, especially since I haven’t had one iota of my regular parenting time since early March.
Alas, no such luck. Despite my kind inquiries and requests to see my girl, she continues to respond in short, stabbing replies that she will not spend any time with me. I use the term “stabbing” on purpose, cuz that’s what feels like has happened to my fucking heart and soul. I’ve been gutted, cored, cut down to a sad remnant of my former self. It hurts and it hurts bad- even more so during the holidays. To say every day is painful is not hyperbole.
But yet, I don’t like feeling bad. I mean, c’mon, who does? So after the mini-pity party brought on by Buck Owens, I shook off the Woe-Is-Me melancholia and did what I needed to do: get busy, and get busy fast! I shopped, I cleaned, I prepped all the stuff for tomorrow’s Christmas Dinner. I also poured an old-fashioned (or two). We are supposed to eat, drink, and be merry, after all, yes?
And then I prayed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8DGuvab_Lc
I asked God to send His Love and His Light to my daughter, for I miss her more than I’m capable of expressing (and that’s saying something, cuz I never shut up). I asked God for a miracle, that she’d find it in her heart to reconsider her decision about spending time with her family — her family who loves her, who adores her, who misses her — not only tomorrow but all the other days that follow. Yet I know I should not question God’s Will, and I know I must remain faithful. So I’ll just give thanks for all the wonderful goodness I do have, right in front of me, during Christmas and always.
And I’ll embrace the promise God delivered to me, to all of us: He loved us so much He gave us His only begotten Son. And *that* truly is gift and miracle enough for me. It should be for you, too.
So despite any difficulties you may be facing, just embrace the Reason for the Season and you’ll have no problem putting your head on the pillow tonight or any night. You know you can rest easy at the close of this and all days for doing the right things for the right reasons. And you can give thanks that God gives you grace to face another day, another obstacle, another opportunity to operate with integrity, and above all else, to be the best possible you that you can be. I know I’ll never quit trying…
Merry Christmas and Joy to the World! | https://medium.com/best-trio-for-lasting-alliances/feeling-like-it-aint-christmas-pray-4e028ef75334 | ['Margaret Shear'] | 2021-02-02 23:22:59.149000+00:00 | ['Christmas', 'Daughters', 'Prayer', 'Faith'] |
The GOP’s ‘deprivation’ fetish is making it impossible to make policy, even in a total disaster | By Linette Lopez
It’s taken forever to get a second round of coronavirus aid to Americans, and now that Congress is inching closer to what seems like maybe-could-possibly-be-here’s-hoping-will-be a deal, the sticking points are coming down to the GOP’s deprivation fetish. Republicans still want to parse out which Americans are and are not worthy for aid based on who they think is deserving, not who is in need.
If you want evidence of this, just look at which parts of aid negotiations were most contentious — aid to state and local governments and a COVID-19 liability shield for businesses. Republicans have no interest in helping states that elect opposition governments, and they have no interest in giving workers recourse to hold their employers accountable if they are harmed at work. Never mind that 8 million Americans have sunk into poverty since this summer, or that our unemployment crisis is ramping up as the virus takes hold once again.
The rest of the aid is in flux, but as of Wednesday afternoon a bipartisan group of Senators has managed to hammer out a deal that, for now, would include a $300 unemployment aid supplement, a short-term extension of other unemployment programs, aid for businesses, schools, and a round of $600 to $700 stimulus checks.
Those checks, though, might come with a shortening of the unemployment programs because Republicans want to keep the bill under $1 trillion (yes, that number is arbitrary). So instead of extending these critical programs for out of work Americans by four months, the extension is being cut back to three months so that other Americans can get some aid too. Could we do both? Yes. Would it be better for the economy and mean a faster recovery if we did? Economists say yes. Will the GOP allow it? Seems not. To them writing fiscal aid is not about fulfilling a need, it’s about making a point.
That is why, right now, Republicans are still being miserly about who gets unemployment benefits and for how long. Can’t reward laziness, even in an economy that is 10 million jobs in the hole.
Discussions about aid sent directly to state and local governments has been pushed to a separate bill entirely because the GOP wants to punish states that have different budget priorities — states run by people who don’t agree with them. For many Republicans, helping blue states would be akin to affirming the lifestyle choices of those states, their values, their morality. Can’t do that either.
As GOP Sen. Rick Scott of Florida put it in a column for the National Review:
What Democrats really want is for Congress to just send money to liberal politicians who have already shown they can’t be trusted with it. If these politicians have budget shortfalls, it’s because they did not prioritize their struggling constituents in the first place, and instead wasted money on other things. New York and California are of course free to burn tax dollars for fun. But they shouldn’t expect Florida and the rest of the country to pay when the bill comes due.
This is utter nonsense. California projected a $6 billion budget surplus in 2020 before the pandemic hit. And liberals are tired of reiterating that states like New York put more in the federal pot than many GOP-dominated states.
The thing is, I hate even mentioning that in a disaster because it’s irrelevant. Every American in need should get help and not have to worry if their state is going to cut the services they rely on. This pandemic is not their fault. If there was ever a time to put moralizing aside and use good old common sense, it’s now, but some Republicans can’t do that.
You can’t make sense out of nonsense
Like I said, this the GOP is using this bill to exercise a judgement kink. Scott doesn’t want to help states that don’t share his values because values, he thinks, are what make Americans worthy of help. It doesn’t matter that sticking it to blue states by withholding aid would stick it to red states too. This both stupid and cruel.
As his GOP colleague Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio pointed out in support of direct state and local aid: “The economy is not getting better in most of our states.”
We should have already learned this lesson about fiscal moralizing in the pandemic months ago, with unemployment benefits. After the first aid bill passed back in April there was a ton of bellyaching from the business community about how extended benefits would deplete their workforce because people wouldn’t want to go back on the job if they were making enough money to live comfortably. Can’t reward laziness, remember.
But a slew of studies show that the COVID unemployment policies have done nothing to discourage people from looking for work.
Even business lobbyists are coming around to see that you can’t push people to go back to jobs that don’t exist by forcing them to suffer hardship, according to the Washington Post.
“You don’t want people to think they have to rush back to work because unemployment insurance is not able to provide enough income,” Glenn Spencer, the executive vice president of employment policy at the US Chamber of Commerce, told WaPo’s Tory Newmyer. “Some of the jobs that people would be able to get back to in a normal recession aren’t going to be there. So it’s going to take workers longer to adjust to the economy that we’ve got.”
You don’t say, Glenn. It would be better for millions of Americans if Republicans and the business community had come to this conclusion by reading my column back in April — or by setting the deprivation fetish aside and using common sense. That is to say, it didn’t take a genius to see that jobs would scarce for throughout the pandemic.
But shout out to the nameless lobbyist who admitted that the “rhetoric” around the danger of extended unemployment benefits from the business community was “a bit much.” Thanks, really.
People like this lobbyist have come around to support more supplemental unemployment aid for another way-too-obvious-reason as well — because they have had the revelation that if Americans are broke they can’t spend money on the things businesses are selling. This point still seems lost on the GOP lawmakers though, and so fights over unemployment aid persist. Right now they’re trying to make sure people who get direct $600 checks don’t also get a $300 unemployment supplement. Experts are calling this complication “unworkable” just to be polite. It’s buffoonish and barbaric.
The sticking point of state and local governments doesn’t make sense either. First of all, starving state and local government budgets results in unemployment, which these fiscal moralists purport to hate. And as my colleague Josh Barro pointed out in a recent column, giving aid to state and local governments to ride out this period of the pandemic makes more sense than forcing them to raise taxes while people are broke or cut services at a time when people need them. That would make a recovery slower and risk more longterm damage to the economy.
These are the facts but Republicans don’t like fiscal facts, they like fiscal feelings. Even during a once-a-century disaster they can’t help but fetishize the act of choosing which Americans deserve to be taken care of, and which do not. You can try to reason with them, but what’s the point?
This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author(s).
For more great stories, visit Business Insider’s homepage. | https://medium.com/business-insider/the-gops-deprivation-fetish-is-making-it-impossible-to-make-policy-even-in-a-total-disaster-b84e198eb0bf | ['Business Insider'] | 2020-12-18 18:18:31.445000+00:00 | ['Republican Party', 'Covid 19', 'Unemployment', 'Policy', 'Mitch Mcconnell'] |
You can please some of the people all of the time | So back to the effort of documenting the journey. The “gurus”, experts, wanna-be experts, and so on all seem to agree that this diary thing will contribute to success, so I am pushing on with it.
Someone said something like: you can please all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time. Regardless of who said it and if it is 100% true or not, it is pretty obvious that the sentiment is that no matter what you do everyone won’t approve, Jimi Hendrix said it this way:
“I’m the one who’s got to die when it’s time for me to die, so let me live my life, the way I want to”
So I won’t mention the T-word as that is just too disruptive even for normally rational people. But some people like Pepsi and some people like Coke, and while objectively it has been proven it can be hard to tell the difference, people make their choices. Sports teams, sneaker brands, car manufacturers political parties and religions.
Is Islam measurably, demonstratively better than Christianity?
See? If you are still reading I have already offended many of you simply stating that from any empirical objective viewpoint, ‘which is better’ can not really be proven. Sure a Mercdies IS better than a Yogo from a comfort, stability, prestige and resale value perspective, but from an affordability perspective, the Yogo wins. Statistics can show who has more sales or more votes (maybe) or adherents, but “better” can really only be determined by the individual making the choice in terms of what is “better” for them. We could say also that what is “better” for them is really another unmeasurable factor as it depends on what the measure is. Is it “better” for their health? Is it better for their long-term financial position or is it “better” for their short term mood enhancement possibilities? So from there, we get to simply; what does any individual decides is “better” for them or simply the best choice for them at the time of the decision.
And how do people actually make decisions? Is it on facts or feelings or both? Well, we do know the answer to that one. Or at least the advertising and marketing industry knows the answer to that one. Do you?
The indisputable fact is that an overwhelming majority of people make an overwhelming majority of their decisions, on feelings rather than facts.
This is true all the way through every facet of our lives and unquestionably true in any purchase you have made that involved advertising.
But really I digress, or I really digress. I am supposed to be documenting the journey, yes these insights about marketing and decision making are being further seared into my brain from spending 3 months relearning sales and marketing concepts and techniques, and specifically online marketing, which covers a lot. So here are some of the on-line marketing venues or platforms I have recently studied or taken courses on:
Twitter, Facebook organic, Facebook Groups, Facebook paid advertising, ClickFunnels, Kartra Funnels, Groovefunnels, Google Search Organic, Google search paid (AdWords), AdSense, TikTok, Instagram organic and Instagram paid, Lead magnet pages, Affiliate Marketing, and I have probably forgotten some.
Yesterday I posted my first link for Legendary Marketers and posted my first TikTok post. So far I have posted affiliate links for Legendary (very high value) GooveFunnels (also high value), some Ukelele company (yes a Ukelele lesson), AdSense ads (I have made $37 so far with that), and I have gotten approved to sell CBD products. Some companies have flimsy offerings, some companies like Legendary and Groove have AMAZING offerings. But each one leaves some breadcrumb of learning, even the flimsy ones. Even if it is just to see the difference between quality and schlock. Ultimately, or at least eventually my vision is to offer my own consulting/coaching services online. But the rate at which I can learn the “online marketing game” will be accelerated by about 10 times by promoting other people's products (OPP). As well as learning how to package, present and market my own products. So the old dog is learning new tricks. woof woof. | https://medium.com/@donwinchell/you-can-please-some-of-the-people-all-of-the-time-e1be39655863 | ['Don Winchell'] | 2020-12-27 15:06:39.065000+00:00 | ['Old Age', 'Business', 'Online Business'] |
Housing and Wealth Inequality in Azerbaijan: A Statistical Analysis of Real Estate Prices in Baku | Housing affordability is viewed by many as a way of assessing the socioeconomic stability of a country. Housing being one of, if not the largest expense for most households, the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored its importance as many households lost part of their income, leading to unpaid rent and unstable living conditions in many countries. This situation further highlights the need for policymakers to discuss housing affordability.
However, there is another reason housing affordability is an issue not to ignore. As put forward by Thomas Piketty (2014), the return rates on capital (e.g. real estate) are higher than the rate of return on labor, reproducing a cycle of wealth inequalities. While many researchers have assessed housing wealth’s effects on inequality in Western cities, none have discussed Baku’s case.
In this study, we assess housing affordability for first-time apartment buyers corrected for the average household’s savings rate. Results show that in the current situation, the average household cannot afford to buy an apartment during the course of their life as their monthly expenditures surpass their monthly net income by 514 AZN, and thus any real estate price is unattainable. After computing a simulation of increased wages, it has been assessed that even after a 250 AZN increase, most first-time buyers still could not afford housing.
Findings
1/ Low salaries, low savings rate
Table 4 shows the average monthly and yearly expenditures per person and household in Baku as of 2020. Per person, the average monthly expenditures are 897 AZN, while per household, these expenditures are 1,893.9 AZN.
At the current average salary of 326.1 AZN per capita, the average household of four, no matter the number of working individuals, cannot afford the average monthly consumption expenditures of 332.4 AZN per person. This is without considering non-consumption expenditures, such as rent, which averages 564 AZN in Baku, according to our August 2020 data.
Average expenditures. Based on 2019 official statistics and 2020 collected data.
Depending on the number of working individuals, the average household salary ranges from 326.1 to 1,304.4 AZN per month. However, the household consumption expenditure and average rent being 1,329.6 and 564 AZN, respectively, all household compositions suffer from a shortage of financial funds at the end of the month.
Average monthly salary and savings per household composition
The average household is thus 1,079 AZN short every month, making it impossible to save to buy housing later in life, be it with financing options or without. Even before rent payment, the average household is short 514 AZN.
As an experiment, we decided to compare savings rates at two different salary levels: at 476 and 576 AZN per person. As shown in table 5, the average household can still not afford all its expenditures and save at a salary level of 476 AZN, with an average savings level at –704 AZN.
Savings rate at salary of 476 AZN per person
Savings rate at salary of 576 AZN per person
As can be seen from the previous table, only after a 76% increase in salary at 576 AZN does one type of household with all four persons working start saving 4% of their monthly salary. Based on this analysis, results show that Baku’s average household salary does not account for all monthly expenditures, including rent, even after an increase of 250 AZN in salary.
It also follows that this situation might affect petty corruption levels. As the salaries are too low compared to the expenditures, the moral costs of corruption decrease as these acts serve a compensatory role aiming at the increase of household financial funds.
It must be noted that the official average salary statistics might not be the closest to reality, as the shadow economy of Azerbaijan represented over 65% of GDP in 2010 (Bayramov 2012). This shadow economy includes informal employment that goes undeclared and informal payments such as small bribes paid to government officials in exchange for standard public services (Guliyev, 2015). As a result, official salary levels might be lower than the real financial funds that households receive monthly.
2/ No access to financing
Based on these findings, we analyzed the official statistics on mortgage and credit in Azerbaijan (MCGF, 2019). As of 2019, only 3% of mortgage borrowers had a salary of under 500 AZN, while 42% have a salary between 501 and 1000 AZN (inclusive), and over 53% had a salary of over 1001 AZN.
When calculating the largest amount borrowable by a household at the average salary via the MCGF website, it appears that neither ordinary nor social mortgages can be taken out by the household, even when the mortgage is joint. In all cases, because of the lack of savings, the average borrower cannot pay an initial down payment of 10% or 15% for an ordinary or social mortgage, respectively.
Options to finance housing are thus not only limited but also not accessible to the average household. Even when assessing the possibility of a “soft” mortgage intended for the poorer population, these social loans remain inaccessible for the low- to average-income households.
3/ Lack of housing affordability
Based on our collected data, the average housing sales price is 148,907 AZN, with a price per meter of 1,515 AZN. The following table estimates that the average sales price is 450 times the average salary per person.
Average sales price per size of apartment
Average price per district
As shown in the previous table, the highest housing price is in Nasimi district, with Yasamal following close behind at 185,174 and 152,562 AZN, respectively. The lowest real estate prices are recorded in the Garadagh and Pirallahi districts.
Building from these numbers, we compute the price-to-income ratio for the overall average real estate price before going ahead to the assessment of housing affordability:
Average price-to-income ratio with rating
Housing affordability rating
Results show that for all household compositions at the current savings level and price-to-income ratio, housing is, as expected, unaffordable.
As an experiment, we compute housing affordability, where the average salary per person would be 576 AZN.
Housing affordability rating at salary level of 576 AZN
It follows that even at a salary increase of 250 AZN per working person, the average household can still not afford real estate in Baku.
Discussion
1/ Housing affordability and wealth inequalities
Housing is the most basic of human needs (shelter); its affordability is an essential factor in assessing a population’s livelihood. Housing affordability has become problematic worldwide, putting the lower and lower-middle-income households further under strain. This lack of affordability has even been linked to poorer health as households tend to spend less on their health when housing costs represent a higher percentage of their income (Stud 2000). In a 2020 study, links between the deprivation of stable shelter and household health were assessed in Hong Kong, which has been suffering from housing unaffordability for many years. Due to the low disposable income post-housing costs, households suffer from increased stress levels, leading to overall poor physical and mental health (Chung et al. 2020).
The analysis done for this paper supports the hypothesis that housing inequality is related to wealth inequalities in Azerbaijan’s capital city, Baku. The traditional way of explaining inequalities is the struggle between capital and labor, or the distribution of income between capital and labor. Piketty, in his work Capital in the Twenty-First Century (2014), shows how it is no longer possible for an individual to increase their income through their labor as capital’s growth rate has exceeded that of labor. This means that labor returns have decreased while returns on capital, including real estate, have increased. A situation that further supports the idea that housing capital helps perpetuate social segregation and wealth inequalities.
The declining labor share of income has been documented worldwide (e.g., Karabarbounis, Neiman 2014; Chi Dao et al. 2017), further emphasizing the need for housing affordability policies. In Baku’s case, despite the average household’s housing costs being more than half of their monthly income, there are no policies targeted at creating more social housing. The data shows that housing is not affordable regardless of the size of the apartment or the district, but most households also cannot save since their total expenditures surpass their income. Even more surprising in our findings is that even after a hypothetical 250 AZN increase in individual income, the average household can still not afford to buy housing.
Access to housing finance is virtually non-existent for these households. Mortgage plans do not seem to have successfully penetrated the market. Social mortgages have only made housing purchases more affordable for households with higher salaries. This is just as much an issue in Baku as it is in London (UK). A 2017 London School of Economics report showed that despite the government targeting poorer households with its low-cost homeownership opportunities, the average person to benefit from this type of help already earned 1.5 times the median wage (LSE, 2017). [U1] Instead of promoting homeownership for average-income households, these schemes made housing purchases more affordable for households that could have bought without governmental help.
It is worth noting that despite having poor access to housing finance, microfinance is well established and offered by all banks. Although microfinancing was first introduced in the late 70s to alleviate poverty and promote social development via small loans, especially in parts of the world where the average person does not have access to banking, it has since become one of the main reasons for increased indebtedness in lower-income segments of the population. This tool became so popular that its creator, Muhammad Yunus, received the Nobel Peace prize in 2006. Nevertheless, concerns around its negative consequences are not new. For instance, in one of the more extreme cases, the microfinance market in the Indian region of Andhra Pradesh completely collapsed in 2010 (Gallarati, 2018) [U2] after a series of suicides by microfinance debtors.
The impact of microfinancing on household debt in Azerbaijan has not been thoroughly investigated. However, incidences of parallel borrowing from different institutions have been documented in earlier research (Pytkowska 2012). Given the lack of access to standard banking solutions such as mortgage and credit, the average household turns increasingly towards microfinancing, making housing purchase unaffordable.
In the lack of strategic targeting and redistribution in the form of, for example, housing capital taxation, the wealthier households continue buying more housing and continue receiving passive income from rents. This situation perpetuates the already existing social inequalities as the average household continues struggling with high rents and, thus, unstable housing.
Homeownership rates’ and wealth inequalities’ negative relationship has been analyzed by many researchers (Bezrukovs 2013; Mathä, Porpiglia, and Ziegelmeyer, 2017; Kass, Kocharkov, and Preugschat 2019). The general consensus is that the lower ownership rates, the higher wealth inequalities. This is especially true for populations’ poorer segments as the savings rate increases together with the homeownership rate, leading to higher wealth distribution and accumulation.
It is recommended that policymakers in ever-growing Baku prioritize reducing asset-based inequality by implementing housing affordability programs that target first-time buyer average and low-income households. To curb wealth inequalities, policymakers should also consider better-targeted mortgage plans that are accessible to lower-income families. Such policies should also consider increasing the affordable housing supply for rent and sale to boost social mobility. The results from homeownership and rental policies will have spillover effects on the economic and social development of the population by, for example, increasing the ability of parents to support their children during their secondary and higher education, which in turn leads to higher wages.
Such spillover effects might also be linked to petty corruption levels. Usually, when discussing corruption, we tend to focus on high-level corruption schemes, such as the Hajiyev scandal or the Panama Papers involving many Azerbaijani ruling elite members. Nevertheless, low-level corruption is just as widespread.
It must be stated that the wage increase targeting policies suggested here are not the only way of addressing housing affordability issues in Baku. As researched by the World Bank (2015), the real estate market is heavily affected by the bureaucracy around construction permits. These fees in turn inflate housing prices.
2/ Wealth inequalities and petty corruption
In 2018, in just one year, Azerbaijan fell from 122nd to 152ndin terms of corruption levels, to then bounce back to 126th in 2019 out of the 180 countries surveyed by Transparency International. It is not surprising considering the links between wealth inequalities and corruption. As of now, the average income is so low that most households cannot afford their basic needs, and some must turn towards several microfinancing options to afford their expenditures. As discussed before, this is not a sustainable solution as the risks of indebtedness for the most vulnerable households are increased. This is where petty corruption comes into play, from a bribe for a civil servant to do their job correctly, to making a deal with a kindergarten director or doctor.
Our analysis contributes to a better understanding of the motivations to be corrupt for the Azerbaijani population’s low- and average-income individuals. Given that most households do not earn enough to live comfortably, be it a public servant or a private sector worker, the working individual chooses to be corrupt to earn the fair wage they expect for their work. This fair wage-effort hypothesis first theorized by Akerlof and Yellen (1990) can be very well applied in Baku’s case. The income inequalities are so high that the average worker is motivated to accept corruption opportunities to achieve their desired income, which covers all their household expenditures.
This does not mean that once the real wage equals the one expected by the worker corruption is wholly eradicated. Instead, it is a matter of using wage-increasing policies to reduce the motivation to compensate for the lack of desired reasonable income with corruption. Corruption will not disappear even with very high incomes if the bribe is appropriately high and the penalties low. Increasing the current salaries to this “fair” wage would not eradicate corruption but reduce its opportunities (Mahmood 2005). Once the “fair” wage is achieved, a civil servant would still be motivated to participate in corrupt acts as their income stays low, albeit sufficient to cover most life expenditures (Van Rijckeghem and Weder 1997).
In the case of housing, the bribery of government officials by developers for construction permits is a situation that could benefit from policies targeting the attainment of a “fair wage.” By reducing the motivational incentives to act corruptly, one could decrease the transaction costs surrounding the acquisition of construction permits, which could in turn reduce the final sales price of real estate.
Wage policies targeting underpaid workers could positively affect both the population’s living standards and corruption levels. It is not measurable at which level of income corruption would be eradicated, nor is it required. Other policies can reduce corruption by increasing the penalties for higher-level corruption, decreasing corruption opportunities with fully automated processes for certain government agencies.
One of the more successful attempts in Azerbaijan is the Azerbaijani Service and Assessment Network (ASAN), in place since 2012. To some extent, ASAN did fulfill its promises as it promoted better transparency for state agencies and helped with the heavy bureaucracy by simplifying specific government procedures (Oxford, Blavatnik School of Government, [U3] [FN4] [FN5] 2017). However, ASAN did not help reduce petty corruption, which is not surprising given the low wages level.
It is worth noting that an increase in penalties for low-level corruption, such as those discussed previously in low-income segments of the population, will not amount to the expected results. A zero-tolerance policy, such as the one implemented in Singapore, would not address low wages’ underlying issue. Instead, a more proactive solution would be to increase social welfare to decrease the motivation of lower-income workers to be corrupt.
Furthermore, after a certain threshold, increased wages do not have the intended effects on petty corruption. Such was the case for the Ghanaian government in its 2010 attempts at decreasing low-level corruption on its roads by increasing the salaries of the police officers. The incidence of corruption was not reduced despite the increase. Instead, the police officers put more effort into taking bribes, thus reducing the number of bribes but increasing the average amount of money taken per bribe (Foltz and Opoku-Agyemang 2015).
This does not invalidate other research that shows the negative relation between high-level political corruption and civil service salaries. The factors motivating the corruption differ, but as in the case of political corruption, those who offer bribes can adjust their offer to a higher price once they are notified of the salary increase of the public servant.
Conclusion
As a result, the average household cannot afford its monthly expenditures and is unable to save towards a future housing purchase. Given the current household budget statistics, the average household does not have access to housing finances, be it credit or mortgage.
As of now, the government’s priorities are turned towards the resettlement of the IDPs, so why are we publishing this today? The inequalities discussed here are even more prevalent for these vulnerable groups which is why it makes it an even more important issue to take care of.
Full version of paper with methodology here. | https://medium.com/kertenkele-press/housing-and-wealth-inequality-in-azerbaijan-a-statistical-analysis-of-real-estate-prices-in-baku-a1ed0c48b449 | ['Kertenkele Press'] | 2020-11-24 23:57:58.550000+00:00 | ['Research', 'Housing', 'World', 'Azerbaijan', 'Inequality'] |
Forgiveness | Humans are bound to make countless mistakes throughout their lives, and one must learn to forgive for the sake of his own mental peace. But what happens when we don’t forgive a person for something they did?
The thing keeps eating us up and keeps us occupied unnecessarily is what happens. It consumes so much of our time and energy that could‘ve used somewhere else and as result would have produced a better outcome.
Forgiveness must come naturally, however, keeping in touch with that person depends on the type of mistake they made. A simple example for the same can be a vase broken by mistake or a vase broken intentionally to hurt someone because it had sentimental value for them.
Giving chances to a person who made a mistake being well aware of the outcome is the biggest mistake you’ll make. If one can make an intentional mistake once, they can or most probably will do it again. You must remove yourself from the company of such people right away.
Photo by Gus Moretta on Unsplash
I’ve known people who don’t know forgiveness and I’ve seen them suffering a great deal because of it. When you forgive a person you’re letting the thing go, as well as the negativity that comes with holding on to the person and the thing they did wrong.
Forgiving can be comparatively easy, forgetting however can be extremely challenging. Forgiving easily can give the impression that one is easy to manipulate and people often mistake kindness as stupidity and in that situation, nobody is more stupid than themselves.
It’s all about knowing the difference and balancing forgiving and forgetting to lead a peaceful life. Let all the things go that don’t serve you, forgive people and set yourself free, because it’s about you and not them. They’re probably not even sorry and you’re wasting your time thinking about it when you could be doing something productive.
Photo by Elisa Stone on Unsplash
Share your thoughts in the comments! | https://medium.com/@meenakshiberwal/forgiveness-74ff4375af7f | ['Ptato Pot-Aa-To'] | 2020-12-27 06:09:50.015000+00:00 | ['Peace Of Mind', 'Content Writer', 'Forgiveness', 'Letting Go', 'Freedom'] |
UK Real Estate Market: Are we or are we not making progress? | Recent news headlines regarding the United Kingdom housing markets seem contradictory: some claim that UK housing expansion has been stopped due to lack of skilled labour, others present how foreign investors pour money into building more houses and some have taken the banner of a ‘housing bubble’ as their litany. So what is actually happening?
House building in the UK
Firstly, according to a recent article published by the Financial Times, the UK Government is committed to boosting house building across the UK: they are looking to build 200,000 homes a year as there is a consensus of a shortfall of housing available. Additionally, the Autumn Statement mentioned the Government’s aim to construct 400,000 affordable houses — will they deliver this?
Developing the construction sector
Skill and money are needed at the most basic level. According to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, there is a shortage of skilled labour in the construction sector — a shortage that is deemed to be ‘the worst for almost 20 years’ (1st January 2016 Financial Times.com). The main reason behind this shortage seems to be larger costs that have resulted partly from the business cycle of the construction sector and partly because fewer young people are attracted to becoming construction workers.
Nevertheless, there are incentives to oil the wheels of the construction sector. For example, apprenticeships are becoming a high-profile (and cheap) way to train young people as they can learn on the job — they gain qualifications, work experience, build a network of professionals and develop their careers. The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) is optimistic about construction companies investing in the future by training the young generation.
On the commercial side, the investors are allocating capital in a wide range of real estate projects. For example, Birmingham is building offices at the fastest rate in 13 years. Moreover, Middle Eastern investors are buying London property as a source of secure income: Qatari, Emirati and Kuwaiti investors bought at least GBP 5.9bn of UK property in 2015, according to Real Capital Analytics.
Will this development continue in 2016?
It is impossible to see into the future. However, as the UK real estate market stands at the moment, it seems that the ‘bubble story’ is fuelled by investors’ optimism which in short-term can drive prices far too high above the actual value of the property purchased. In this case, specifically in the situation of home ownership markets, house prices have increased due to the lack of skilled labour mentioned above — a spark that can turn into a wild fire if left uncared for.
However, prices are likely to fall amid fears of Brexit. You see, the economy reflects human emotion: fear and greed more than anything. When enough investors are fearful and pull out their money by selling their assets, in this case property, prices will be driven down and the economy will revert towards reflecting a more accurate picture of what the UK property market is worth.
Therefore, to answer the question in the title, progress is made — it just depends from which angle you choose to see things. | https://medium.com/commercial-real-estate-daily/uk-real-estate-market-are-we-or-are-we-not-making-progress-801b17c2284a | ['The Typewriter'] | 2017-09-22 02:47:42.636000+00:00 | ['Real Estate', 'Economy', 'Construction Sector', 'Progress'] |
Decrypting the BitCoin CryptoCurrency Black Box | Is BitCoin becoming a shining beacon of safety or your next financial black hole?
BITCOIN AS EMERGING SAFE HARBOR
Professional money managers have something in common with good physicians; first do no harm. To accomplish this specific goal: not losing money, they often move their investments in and out of various equity markets as profit opportunities and risk dictate. This produces a clear and traceable indication of how these professionals view various market opportunities and how those attitudes are changing based on news, volatility and market conditions. Just fellow the volume as it does represent their money. The goal is to move out of something risky, but was highly profitable, into a safe storage of value until whatever market churning gyrations you were escaping have passed. You repeat this process; make money, preserve money, as often as necessary.
Opportunities that allow you to make less or no profits, but are vault safe holders of monetary value include bonds, treasury notes, gold and interest-bearing certificates. Some large cap stocks have this status as well.
Bitcoin has never been on this safe haven list, but that may now be changing.
There is an excellent Medium article that describes the illusions of the inherent value of money including the US dollar. “You Don’t Understand Bitcoin Because You Think Money Is Real,” by Maria Bustillos. Bitcoin is an investment vehicle, a transactional device and most importantly a place holder of value. It is now emerging as a value holding destination to park at-risk funds. As Bitcoin becomes better understood, the benefits of this option will become more widely accepted and adopted. The advantages of high liquidity, worldwide acceptance, frictionless transactions and maturing creditability will transform this cryptocurrency into a mature financial investment vehicle.
The concept of “going to Bitcoin,” has already been utilized in areas of the world that have experienced severe financial crisis including Cyprus and Turkey. Individuals in these situations have experienced very high inflation, wild currency devaluations, or astronomical increases in taxes. These individuals were out of options, but successfully resorted to fleeing to Bitcoin to retain value. Yes, they did it as a last result, but any port in a storm when your financial life is on the line. To underscore this concept, Grayscale just published a study advocating that Bitcoin is becoming a hedge against a global liquidity crisis.
Bitcoin, the internet of money has experience rollercoaster-like volatility. The result is trading Bitcoin or any cryptocurrency still carries a higher level of risk than many other publicly traded equities. This high volatility seems to be waning as the realization of its benefits emerge.
Extreme Volatility in Early Bitcoin Trading
Bitcoin dropped at least 25% on two occasions in 2017 and 58% in just one jaw-dropping six-day plunge last December. It also lost 84.29% of its value during 2018 declining from $19,891.00 on Dec 18th 2017 to $3,124.00 on Dec 15th 2018. (See chart above) Since its low on Dec 15, 2018 to June 18, 2019 it has increased $6,076.
Looking for Correlates of Bitcoin Market Movements
The following series of charts compares various equities, indicators and markets against Bitcoin looking for leading or lagging correlations. These charts demonstrated the emerging, changing attitudes surrounding bitcoin.
The strongest leading indicator of a surge in Bitcoin price is the number of times the term “Bitcoin,” has been incorporated as a search term on Google. (White line in chart above.) Google Trends provides this data. Each white dot to the right of the 2018 price peak indicates a spike in the number of searches conducted for that term. Each spike is strongly associated with a corresponding spike in price for the equity BTCUSD. Currently the most recent Google trends for the term “Bitcoin,” occurred on May 12–18 2019. The corresponding increase in price from each trend spike is approximately 10 trading days or two weeks.
The Nasdaq index IXIC was less insightful. With a vivid imagination you could still make a case that Bitcoin is a leading indicator to market direction for the Nasdaq. You could also make a case that as Bitcoin becomes more stable and accepted as a viable financial instrument, that a stronger correlation is growing between the two as evidenced by the far-right hand side of this chart.
The VIX provides a good example of a divergent correlation. As the volatility of the markets increase, the price of equities declines, as the volatility decreases the price of equities increases.
If Bitcoin is maturing and becoming more trusted as a parking place for money during high volatility, then we should start seeing a strong correlation between the VIX and increases in Bitcoin. This correlation is evident at the extreme right of this chart. As there is no correlation preceding this last event, utilizing volatility as a leading indicator for Bitcoin will require more time and data. A corrolation appears to be emerging, but it still too early to make any definitive declaration.
Gold, another recognized safe harbor (Gold line in chart above) is also starting to move in tandem, mirroring Bitcoin in trading patterns. Again, Bitcoin seems to be a leading indicator of Golds future price direction. This is another indication that Bitcoin is maturing and becoming a place holder for value.
Effective Cryptocurrency Technical Analysis
As a high-tech addition to the monetary infrastructure of the world, technical analysis has been applied to the trading of Bitcoins since they first appeared. Effective indicators to trade crypto coins are the same as for stocks, options, futures and currency pairs. Volume can be a very important secondary indication of the strength of any directional change in any equity. Bitcoin suffers from a very decentralized reporting system that could be perceived to be detrimental to accurate interpretation of real-time volume. This is actually not the case as a recent in-depth examination by Bitwise Asset Management disclosed. “Economic and Non-Economic Trading In Bitcoin: Exploring the Real Spot Market For The World’s First Digital Commodity,” by Matthew Hougan, Hong Kim, and Micah Lerner. This 104 page decertation details the accuracy and low price lag between exchanges.
Sudden drops, such as the one illustrated in the chart below, can have a devastating effect on all traders, but impact small individual investors disproportionately.
Moving average cross overs will alert you to this reversal, but with a significant lag or delay. Below is my trading setup incorporating multiple algorithmic filters and an advanced reversal alert system; the early warning system. The EWS does not provide trade signals. It is an attempt to generate effective warnings that your surveillance should become constant and intense until the reversal occurs or a conformation that a price continuation is occurring.
Bitcoins are still an emerging equity opportunity, both for technicians, long and short-term investors as well as professional money managers. It’s an evolving story and this investigation is a cursory attempt at finding order in what is still a somewhat chaotic picture.
Bitcoin is demonstrating all of the classic problems experienced by growing children. Terrible tantrums transitioning into stable, mature, adulthood. As we all know this process takes time. The chart above is again conforming that this process is ocuring and Bitcoins are becoming a more rational and consistent investment vehicle emerging into the realm of safe haven.
By contributing your observations and ideas we can build on these preliminary observations and hopefully start to build a meaningful and insightful model of effective leading, technical or trading pair indicators.
Thanks for reading and good luck with your trading. | https://touche.medium.com/decrypting-the-bitcoin-cryptocurrency-black-box-5c721e364284 | ['Michael Slattery'] | 2019-06-18 22:34:25.805000+00:00 | ['Technical Analysis', 'Finance', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency News'] |
Israel starting to vaccinate but Palestinian will be delayed | Israel will start with 4 million doses of vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech, to begin inject up to 60,000 residents per day. They plan to issue “green passports” that will allow the vaccinated greater freedom of movement, now they finally see hope in Israel that the pandemic is going to end.
But, Palestinian leaders say they can’t afford either of the first blockbuster vaccines to hit the market. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine costs about $20 a dose, and another made by Moderna that was endorsed Thursday by an FDA panel will run between $25 to $35 a shot, according to a WHO review. | https://medium.com/@joiecooper2/israel-starting-to-vaccinate-but-palestinian-will-be-delayed-d273307d9011 | ['Joie Cooper'] | 2020-12-18 14:42:29.794000+00:00 | ['Biotechnology', 'Palestine', 'Pfizer Vaccine', 'Israel', 'Who'] |
What I Learned in Seven Years of Blogging | Articles with sniff-of-curiosity drug titles such as this one are tricky. They not only give the readers a false sense of expectations, typical of a Blogging Guru, doling out expert advice to his enthusiastic followers to build rock-star careers, get dream jobs and earn millions. They also do disservice to the act of blogging -an intensely personal activity of mental hygiene, necessary to clear the cobwebs off your thinking head.
I don’t mean to deride the Blogging Gurudom here. Careers, jobs and money — these are noble pursuits and blogging leads the pack of marketing tools available in the Internet to help you achieve them. However, to appropriate blogging as a means to achieve these pursuits alone is limiting.
So dear readers, if you have come here so far expecting some tips to increase your blog followers, let me redirect you to this excellent guide by Amit Agarwal. I will totally understand if you close the window now and read the hyper-linked post containing 20 valuable blogging tips.
With the electrons of the Internet already exploding with “how-to-”’s of blogging everywhere, I have no interest in adding to the clutter. I am more interested in “Why” rather than “How”, because, you see, when the “why” is clear, tackling “how” is simply a matter of diligence.
Please note. This is going to be a really long post spanning more than 2000 words, and I sincerely hope, amidst frenetic distractions desperate for your attention, you would join me in this journey. Grab your coffee, or better, green tea, if you want. I’ll wait for you, before we get started.
1. You are not the content you publish.
In an age where brands are turning into humans and humans are turning into brands, pundits can be seen rallying around social networks exhorting everyone with their clarion call: Publish or Perish! Yet, there can be nothing more uplifting than discovering our intimate space amidst the mad rush to participate in the Procrustean branding exercise which works by chopping off our human selves to snuggle under a catchy brand title — Social Media Guru, Career Coach,and, the latest one, Digital Transformation Consultant.
How do you discover that space of intimacy? At first, alleviate your anxiety by circling over the edges between who you are and what you want to write about. Be generous enough to accommodate the ragged edges of your personality in your writing. As you start respecting the space between you and your writings, your audience would value them immensely.
2. Ideas come and go, but stories stay forever.
We are living in the golden age of storytelling. Living in the digital age, marketers very well aware that stories are the surfboards which help us wade comfortably in the tempestuous ocean of information which surrounds us. But, how does the whole damn thing work?
This is how I understand the story process.
We humans, engage with life through our sense organs and live through a wide palette of experiences. Our human brains reconcile these experiences through the faculties of reasoning and churn out the inner response in the form of facts. By facts, I refer to them, not in the scientific sense, but in the experiential realm. Now, these facts are imbued with various emotions, depending on the feelings we associate with the experiences. Gradually, with the passing of time, the emotional reactions fade away, as the context of our experience changes. Facts recede into memories and fade away in oblivion.
What happens when you start telling stories to your self and others? You start creating a heady narrative cocktail of fictional facts, charged by the electrical impulse of emotions. The brain releases enough dopamine to make the audience remember these emotionally charged facts and re-construct the context through their own ideas and experiences (by a process called as neural coupling). When this happens, the audience lives through the experiences vicariously along with the storyteller.
Haven’t you observed in your own experience how often you tend to forget the plot of the movie you watched, but you can never forget that emotion which was churned by the movie? There is a reason why we never get tired of hearing the great stories of Shakespeare and back home, the epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata. We continuously recreate the context of these stories with the experience of our own lives.
When Vishal Bharadwaj narrated the contemporary politics of Kashmir through the seventeenth century writings of Shakespeare in the blockbuster Hindi movie Haider, our hearts bled in grief as Vishal, in a stroke of genius, brought back the searing agony of the Kashmiri Muslim, weaving the 200 year old “Bhand Pather” Kashmiri storytelling tradition inside the mouse-trap plot-point of Hamlet.
3. Try telling stories wearing a good looking mask
Inspired by the transcendence of stories, as you start narrating them, the first thing you would realize is that you have to find a listener. Listening happens only when the listener is willing to suspend his belief and convince himself that the person telling the story is “not me”. This otherness is crucial, a social contract to let storytelling work its magic upon.
What I’ve learned the hard way in all these years of blogging is that you can create good looking masks, ( Yes, I am talking in plural terms. Who said you could only wear one?) and consciously play around without any fear of them eating your face. What you get in bonus, is that you get to figure out many things about yourself in the whole process. Some people prefer to call this mask, personal branding, but I prefer the term mask, as it reminds me of the conscious choice I make in wearing them, not just in the world of bits, but also in the world of atoms.
I’ve closely observed two people who did this incredibly well, in their unique journeys of self-discovery. One of them later turned out to be a good friend of mine. Long before the age of twitter, he created a fictional character called “Mark Zorro” as a thought experiment to see what will happen if he inhabits this fictional character and explore his inner world. He could voice his thoughts freely, and, in his own words,
..experience the vulnerability of placing my thinking alongside the thoughts of others, but ,to also see if I could construct a way of life for myself that I couldn’t find in a textbook.
The essence of his character was captured in the byline he had created. “Mark Twain wasn’t Mark Twain. Mark Zorro isn’t Mark Zorro”.
Another person who ran this experiment with a wonderful sense of humour was FakeGrimLock. Annoyed by the high authoritarian world of tech blogging, he decided to have some fun and created a minimum viable personality to prove a theory, in his own words…
. .. [that] who you are doesn’t matter. In fact, truth requires that you aren’t anyone, because if you’re someone, whatever you say is always biased. It’s influenced by what you know about that person…It’s the words…not the person that matters
4. Writing is a lot like cooking. And blogging ? Slow-cooking.
You would know what I mean, if you’ve tried your hands in cooking. Sometimes, the dosa doesn’t come in proper shape, no matter what you do and every now and again, the dosa blooms and tastes like the perfect sun-kissed tribute to humanity.
Traditional wisdom treats blogging as an ersatz cousin of writing, and there is a germ of truth in that. When words can disappear into nowhere like foam in the digital ether, you tend to get lazy with words. However, if you approach blogging as a perpetual work-in-progress, it brings in the discipline necessary to bridge the deep chasm between the fluidity of the thought and the solidity of word.
Blogging is an invitation to be a lively raconteur of stories which are born this moment, right now, captured through the rainbow of media available in the palm of your hand.
The real fun begins when these blips-of-consciousness stories, mature and slowly attune themselves with the staccato rhythms of the facts, opinions and reactions which gather around the stories like termites creeping out of wood works. If you feel strongly convinced about the taste, you can package this slow-cooked output for publishing, Or, if you aren’t, you can let your stories simmer more to make it more delicious with time.
5. It doesn’t matter which narrative God you worship
Some time back, Seth Godin wrote a short, insightful post about Clarity Vs Impact. Seth argued that in the longer run, impact is far more important than clarity because, in Seth’s words, “humans don’t use explanations to make change happen. They change, and then try to explain it”
In Seth’s bias for action and impact, I think he has chosen to ignore a lot more happening beneath the surface. Let me share my backstory.
Back in 2007, when I was wet behind the ears in the emerging world of blogging, I devoutly worshiped the narrative Gods of clarity. Enchanted by how the blogging medium mirrored the fluid nature of human perceptions, my blog served two functions, firstly as a chronicle of my perceptions and thoughts as they found expression and secondly as a witness to the kinesis, the movement that unfolds the shift in perceptions over time.
I didn’t care a hoot about who read it ( mostly my friends anyways), how many page-views my blog attracted, and what the audience felt. My blog was my personal expression, and strictly remained so. In my hermetic insulation from the outer world, I never realized that my communication would slowly get afflicted by the curse of knowledge.
Curse of knowledge is the painful realization of the truth that what seems obvious to you isn’t always so, especially when your audience gets lost like Hansel in the woods, unable to follow the trail of bread-crumbs you’ve left for their journey to arrive at where you are currently anchored in your stream-of-thought.
When I clearly understood the nature of my curse, in my futile attempt to reach the middle path (the sweet-spot which manages to create an impact without fogging clarity) , I succumbed to the familiar human habit — jump from one pole to its opposite. I began to embrace the antithesis - the narrative Gods of Impact.
I read everything I could gather to follow the rituals observed to please the Gods of impact, be it priceless advice on writing from the masters, nuggets of tips from the SEO Experts, and ready-made templates of bait-clicking headlines from pros, in my earnest attempt to share and amplify the message.
As I got more enthusiastic to share my message for a widely growing audience, I didn’t notice that I was unconsciously becoming a con-artist, narrating stories deceitfully like Ponzi schemes for the gullible minds. My writing became contaminated with narrative bias.
Image Credits: Sketchplanations Blog
In my attempt to absolve my writing (and thereby thinking) from the curse of knowledge and narrative bias, I’ve begun to focus closely on narratives whose span of influence deeply affected not just my writing, but also my consulting engagements.
Today, I enjoy the irony of zooming in my lens on narratives only after Taleb took enough pains to argue against the perils of narrative thinking with all its biases. Rather than getting cynical about them, I reason to myself, it would be more wiser to leverage the power afforded by them responsibly.
Guess what? When you focus your attention on narratives, it really doesn’t matter which narrative Gods you worship.
6. Are you kicking up dust?
I love Whatsapp. Its no-fluff, ascetic approach to customer experience deeply resonates with me. During 2011, when Whatsapp stood tall among the Top 20 apps in US, during a dimsum lunch with the staff, someone had asked Jan Koum, founder of Whatsapp, why he wasn’t crowing to the press about it. Koum replied,
“Marketing and press kicks up dust. It gets in your eye, and then you’re not focusing on the product.”
Every content marketer worth his salt in the Internet today is waiting to feed you with popcorn content — Looks good, tastes good, atrociously expensive to do, and no nutritional value.
Before you set out to write, it is always valuable to ask yourself honestly, are you kicking up dust?
7. Rumours about the death of blogging are greatly exaggerated.
Blogging in the Internet can sometimes look like playing a game of musical chairs. The Internet keeps arranging the chairs every time differently, and you are always running around them, to the tune of the music (some might say, cacophony and they are right as well) played by the elite band at the top. Every time, when the music stops, and the tune changes, the chairs evolve, and the ones who were caught up with their old ones, fail to move on.
Marketers, and the content cottage industry at large is busy preaching the message — Blogging is dead, tied with their old religious belief that the medium would influence the message, and the slow death of the medium would thereby ring the death knell of the message itself.
No, they are wrong in multiple levels. In the new world, where the message is the medium, bloggers have become the modern day pied pipers, playing in the town square, luring the audience away to their private mountains where they become writers through the shared rituals practiced with them.
The mediums are going to change, every now and then, as the message liquefies further to adapt with the breathtaking diversity of online creative expressions sprawling in the Web. So, in short, you are left with only one choice.
Keep blogging and have fun with everything else, as long as you have the energy to play your own tune, jamming in unison with the music played by the bands out there. | https://medium.com/building-context-and-crafting-narratives/7-learnings-in-7-years-of-blogging-bc5dd8d4dddb | ['Venky Ramachandran'] | 2015-08-07 05:39:42.091000+00:00 | ['Blogging', 'Social Media', 'Storytelling'] |
Top 10 reasons for developing your e-commerce app on Flutter | Any platform which conducts commerce of products or services online needs to be hyper-accessible. To be accessible, the platform needs to be available for all devices. Along with a website, this means mobile applications.
For a user, it means searching for an app on an app store and installing it. However, from a business standpoint, it is a path laden with tricky choices, with different outcomes.
The question arises, whether to develop the app natively or by using a cross-platform solution? If, it is crucial to have top-notch performance and scores of features, along with a hefty budget, native app development (iOS, Android), is the answer. However, if it is desirable to develop the app with better cost-efficiency and less time-to-market, with a tad bit less performance, then cross-platform is the choice.
Flutter, React-Native, Xamarin, Adobe PhoneGap, etc. are the cross-platform solutions available in the market. Again, the dilemma plagues a decision-maker, which one of the above is best for you? From our experience, we’d say it is Flutter.
Why though?
1) Backed by Google: Flutter is a project fully supported by Google, which builds confidence in it. Microsoft’s Xamarin and Facebook’s React-Native are in the same league too. If these three organizations are investing in cross-platform solutions, then at least it gives away the direction in which app-development is heading.
2) High productivity: Stateful-hot-reload, makes it possible to quickly reload the apps while in development. This feature is only available in Flutter and React-Native. Compared to all other app development methods, this gives a boost to the productivity of the developers. It also makes designers happy because they can see their changes instantly while the developers are developing the app.
3) Fast Development: With the use of Dart, a new language that is easy to use whether a developer is comfortable with static language or a dynamic one. It was chosen carefully and has made things effortless with powerful features like AOT and JIT. No need for XML, XIB, etc. Dart is capable of making a lag-free UI on its own.
4) Smooth UI: Flutter uses a 2D rendering engine called Skia, which has the speed of C++ under the hood. The result is that transitions and animations occur at a 60–120 fps lag-free pace. UI components feel rich, smooth, and their portrayal is flawless. This is better than others as it doesn’t use wrappers (Xamarin), or JS bridges (React-Native) to render the UI.
5) Third-party plugins: It is easy to extend Flutter with third-party plugins to add additional UI components or to add features currently absent from the built-in classes. The features range from video/ audio and augmented reality, to machine learning and monetization.
6) Access to native features: On different platforms, some features like camera or geolocation can only be accessed using their specific programming language. Flutter allows the developer to use/ reuse, platform-specific languages like Swift for iOS, and Java or Kotlin for Android to access certain features optimally.
7) Testing support: Testing and QA for Flutter apps is a breeze, as the codebase is a lot less than in native or other cross-platform solutions. Along with that, Continuous Integration (CI) services make the process of testing easier due to automated testing. When pushing new code, these services help to prevent the introduction of bugs.
8) Open source and community support: Unlike many others, the entire Flutter project is open-source, it contains the programming language Dart, Material Design, Cupertino widgets, and much more. This allows a developer to study and get to know it on a deeper level, which may ultimately help them while developing apps. The community support of Flutter is active and grows continuously. Along, with fellow developers, people involved in the project themselves, try to help others and as a result, the project evolves rapidly.
9) Documentation: Flutter has extensive documentation, which is greatly praised by its users. Along with that, soon, more sample code snippets will be added. Also, learning widgets will be made easier through API references. Overall, the users are pretty satisfied with the quality and content of the documentation.
10) Strong future: Google had covertly started working on a project name Fuchsia some time ago. It is an Operating System that can run on almost all platforms ranging from embedded systems, TVs and tablets to smartphones, and PCs. It is great news that Google has decided to work on an OS which can run on any platform. Now, guess how will the apps, and the UI of this OS be developed? By using Flutter and Dart. No app development tool has this much potential brewing up. So, it definitely will be a good idea to invest in Flutter early on, rather than realizing the obvious too late.
Conclusion:
Flutter is a UI toolkit, which has been developed carefully to include things which make it simple, yet incredibly powerful. It has attempted and has certainly gotten the closest to achieving cross-platform development. However, it is new and thus, its popularity in the industry is relatively low. It despite that, is rapidly growing and catching up to the rest of them. Soon, it may be the dominant one amongst all the cross-platform solutions in the market.
The choice to compete in the market with Flutter should be made carefully though. All the requirements must be checked for availability in Flutter before simply committing to it. If it fulfills them all, the process is bound to be satisfactory. | https://medium.com/citrusleaf/top-10-reasons-for-developing-your-e-commerce-app-on-flutter-afaec71ac389 | ['Rahul S.'] | 2019-09-11 11:26:40.812000+00:00 | ['Flutter', 'Mobile App Development', 'Cross Platform', 'Flutter App Development'] |
Picking Peaches With Python in Animal Crossing New Horizons | Getting Started
Before running ACNH Automator, you will need to input some information about your tree grid and where Nook’s Cranny is located in your town. In a future release this information will be entered into a command line prompt when running joycontrol, but for the current release you must edit the run_controller_cli.py file.
On line 63 of run_controller_cli.py you will find tree_pick_data being defined as an instance of the TreePickLogic class. It is populated with sample data that you will have to change. There are also secondary defaults that are defined, which can be updated as necessary. I’ve included a full explanation of each value you will have change in the Readme, but I’ve also included some reference images to clarify how the grid system is set up.
Grid Information
ACNH Automator v1.0 assumes that your trees are spaced exactly one grid space apart from each other in the x and y direction. Options for updating this will be available in a future release. Grid space is measured in [x,y] and assumes that [0,0] is the space directly to the left of the top-left tree. The nook_grid value should be exactly 2 spaces below Nook’s Cranny to avoid running into the building by accident.
Other recommendations
You MUST make sure that your inventory selector (the hand icon when you’re in your inventory) is located on the first inventory space, or the selling process will not work properly.
I also recommend clearing out your inventory of anything you don’t want to accidentally sell until you are very comfortable with this toolset.
It’s important to have Nook’s Cranny located as close as possible to your tree grid in order to make traveling to sell your fruit easier.
I recommend separating your tree grid from the rest of the town to avoid the possibility of villagers getting in your way, I solved this by building on a cliff that is inaccessible to villagers.
Try to only have one space available on either side of your tree grid, this will help your character “get back on track” if the automation goes awry.
Once you’ve entered your town’s data into run_controller_cli.py you can navigate your character to grid space [0,0] and move on to the next step.
Emulating the controller and running “pick_trees”
ACNH Automator relies on joycontrol to run, so you’ll need to first navigate to the Change Grip/Order menu on your Nintendo Switch, run joycontrol to begin emulating a controller, and then navigate back to Animal Crossing before running the pick_trees command.
To start this process, cd into the main joycontrol directory and run the following command:
sudo python3 run_controller_cli.py PRO_CONTROLLER
Here is an example of what running joycontrol will look like. You might have to hit CTRL-C once or twice if it doesn’t connect to your Switch within a few seconds.
Once joycontrol is up and running and your character is at [0,0] facing the first tree, you can simply run the following command:
pick_trees
Running pick_trees should look something like this.
Based on the information you entered about your town, your character will:
Navigate through the grid, harvesting fruit from each tree in the x direction until it reaches the last tree in the row.
Travel down two spaces in the y direction to proceed to the next row, and change direction accordingly.
Stop picking trees when a threshold is met for the amount of fruit that can be safely stored in your inventory.
Travel to Nook’s Cranny to sell all of the fruit, and travel back to the next tree that needs to be picked.
Repeat this process until all fruit is harvested and sold.
Here is an example of what this process looks like in action: | https://medium.com/swlh/picking-peaches-with-python-in-animal-crossing-new-horizons-75274706ee79 | ['Arthur Wilton'] | 2020-11-11 15:53:12.004000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Nintendo Switch', 'Animal Crossing Switch', 'Animal Crossing', 'Github'] |
Blog App-Flutter with Firebase Auth | Step 1: Create Firebase Project-App
I will show some sample pictures that i have completed in creating Firebase project.
https://youtu.be/6juww5Lmvgo. This link is how to create Firebase Project in Firebase Console.
Step 2: Enable Auth
In first view, you can see set of methods that are basically disabled by default so you may have to enable what kind of authentication you are going to use on your project.
In this step, I am gonna use Email/Password SignIn-SignUp Methods.
If you want to use google SignIn/SignUp method , you have to enable the Google SignIn.
The Default Page, where all the Sign-in methods are disabled.
Enabling the Sign-In method. If you want to use other methods, you have to enable that particular method based on your use.
Step 3: Integrate Auth(plugins-install)
First of all, you need to install this packages that i have mentioned below, in order to manage users and uploading blogs to your project.
firebase_auth is basically used to manage users signIn SignUp. shared_preferences is used to keep the user logging in to the app until he or she signed out. firebase_core and firebase_analytics are for our project to use Firebase as a backend. cloud_firestore is used to upload tasks or blogs in the firebase. uuid is used to name the particular blog tile in id and stored it into the blog cloud collections. modal_bottom_sheet is used for adding blog’s title and description in modern style.
dependencies:
flutter:
sdk: flutter
firebase_auth: ^0.18.0
shared_preferences: ^0.5.7
flutter_svg: ^0.19.0
firebase_core: ^0.5.0+1
firebase_analytics: ^6.0.2
cloud_firestore: ^0.14.1+3
uuid: ^2.2.2
modal_bottom_sheet: ^0.2.2
Step 4 : Navigation Flow
First thing is , I would like to show about my project flow.
Simple Flow
As you can see my project flow , first step is I have to check does the user is already signed in or not. Another step is: if he or she has signed already I have to put him stay logged to the app. And last step is uploading tasks.
class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
// This widget is the root of your application.
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return MaterialApp(
debugShowCheckedModeBanner: false,
title: "Blog-App",
theme: ThemeData(primaryColor: Colors.redAccent),
routes: <String, WidgetBuilder>{
'splashscreen': (BuildContext context) => SplashScreen(),
'login': (BuildContext context) => Login(),
'register':(BuildContext context) => Register(),
'forgotpassword': (BuildContext context) => ForgotPassword(),
'home': (BuildContext context) => Home(),
},
initialRoute: 'splashscreen',
);
}
}
I have set my project initial route to splash-screen as it is common on both sides(authorized and non-authorized).
#1: Splash-Screen-(Code)
import 'dart:async';
import 'package:flutter/cupertino.dart';
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:shared_preferences/shared_preferences.dart';
class SplashScreen extends StatefulWidget {
@override
SplashScreenState createState() => new SplashScreenState();
}
class SplashScreenState extends State<SplashScreen> with SingleTickerProviderStateMixin {
var _visible = true;
AnimationController animationController;
Animation<double> animation;
startTime() async {
var _duration = new Duration(seconds: 3);
return new Timer(_duration, navigationPage);
}
navigationPage() async {
SharedPreferences prefs = await SharedPreferences.getInstance();
String userId = prefs.getString('uid');
if (userId != null) {
Navigator.of(context).pushReplacementNamed('home');
}else{
Navigator.of(context).pushReplacementNamed('login');
}
}
@override
void initState() {
super.initState();
animationController = new AnimationController(vsync: this, duration: new Duration(seconds: 3));
animation = new CurvedAnimation(parent: animationController, curve: Curves.easeOut);
animation.addListener(() => this.setState(() {}));
animationController.forward();
setState(() {
_visible = !_visible;
});
startTime();
}
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Scaffold(
body: Stack(
fit: StackFit.expand,
children: <Widget>[
Column(
mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.center,
children: <Widget>[
Image.asset(
'assets/logo.png',
width: animation.value * 300,
height: animation.value * 300,
),
],
),
],
),
);
}
}
I have set my splash-screen duration for 3 secs. If you want to increase more time you can change it in the startTime() section. In this screen, I have to check the user has sign-in or not. If not we have to navigate him to the login screen.
if (userId != null) {
Navigator.of(context).pushReplacementNamed('home');
}
else{
Navigator.of(context).pushReplacementNamed('login');
}
#2: Login-Screen(Code)
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:firebase_auth/firebase_auth.dart';
import 'package:shared_preferences/shared_preferences.dart';
import 'package:uuid/uuid.dart';
class Login extends StatelessWidget {
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Scaffold(
body: LoginScreen(),
);
}
}
class LoginScreen extends StatefulWidget {
@override
_LoginScreenState createState() => _LoginScreenState();
}
class _LoginScreenState extends State<LoginScreen> {
double _height, _width;
String _email, _password;
String uid= Uuid().v4();
GlobalKey<FormState> _key = GlobalKey();
bool _showPassword = true, _load = false;
final auth = FirebaseAuth.instance;
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
_height = MediaQuery.of(context).size.height;
_width = MediaQuery.of(context).size.width;
return Scaffold(
appBar: AppBar(title: Text('Login'),),
body: Container(
height: _height,
width: _width,
padding: EdgeInsets.only(bottom: 5),
child: SingleChildScrollView(
child: Column(
children: <Widget>[
image(),
welcomeText(),
loginText(),
form(),
forgetPassText(),
SizedBox(height: _height / 12),
button(),
dontHaveAccount(),
],
),
),
),
);
}
Widget image(){
return Container(
margin: EdgeInsets.only(top: _height / 15.0),
height: 80.0,
width: 100.0,
decoration: new BoxDecoration(
shape: BoxShape.circle,
),
child: new Image.asset('assets/login.png'),
);
}
Widget welcomeText(){
return Container(
margin: EdgeInsets.only(left: _width / 20, top: _height / 100),
child: Row(
children: <Widget>[
Text(
"Welcome",
style: TextStyle(
fontWeight: FontWeight.bold,
fontSize: 30,
),
),
],
),
);
}
Widget loginText() {
return Container(
margin: EdgeInsets.only(left: _width / 15.0),
child: Row(
children: <Widget>[
Text(
"Sign in to your account",
style: TextStyle(
fontWeight: FontWeight.w200,
fontSize: 14,
),
),
],
),
);
}
Widget form() {
return Container(
margin: EdgeInsets.only(
left: _width / 15.0,
right: _width / 15.0,
top: _height / 25.0),
child: Form(
key: _key,
child: Column(
children: <Widget>[
emailBox(),
SizedBox(height: _height / 40.0),
passwordBox(),
],
),
),
);
}
Widget emailBox(){
return Material(
borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(10.0),
elevation: 10,
child:TextFormField(
onSaved: (input) => _email = input,
keyboardType: TextInputType.emailAddress,
cursorColor: Colors.redAccent,
obscureText: false,
decoration: InputDecoration(
prefixIcon: Icon(Icons.email, color: Colors.redAccent, size: 20),
hintText: "Email Id",
border: OutlineInputBorder(
borderSide: BorderSide.none),
),
),
);
}
Widget passwordBox(){
return Material(
borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(10.0),
elevation: 10,
child:TextFormField(
onSaved: (input) => _password = input,
keyboardType: TextInputType.visiblePassword,
cursorColor: Colors.redAccent,
obscureText: _showPassword,
decoration: InputDecoration(
prefixIcon: Icon(Icons.lock, color: Colors.redAccent, size: 20),
suffixIcon: IconButton(
icon: Icon(
Icons.remove_red_eye,
color: this._showPassword ? Colors.grey : Colors.redAccent,
),
onPressed: () {
setState(() => this._showPassword = !this._showPassword);
},
),
hintText: "Password",
border: OutlineInputBorder(
borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(30.0),
borderSide: BorderSide.none
),
),
),
);
}
Widget forgetPassText() {
return Container(
margin: EdgeInsets.only(top: _height / 40.0),
child: Row(
mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.center,
children: <Widget>[
Text(
"Forgot your password?",
style: TextStyle(fontWeight: FontWeight.w400,fontSize: 13),
),
SizedBox(
width: 5,
),
GestureDetector(
onTap: () {
print("Routing");
Navigator.of(context).pushNamed('forgotpassword');
},
child: Text(
"Recover",
style: TextStyle(
fontWeight: FontWeight.w600, color: Colors.redAccent),
),
)
],
),
);
}
Widget button() {
return !_load ? RaisedButton(
elevation: 0,
shape: RoundedRectangleBorder(borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(10.0)),
onPressed: () async {
RegExp regExp = new RegExp(r'^([a-zA-Z0-9_\-\.]+)@([a-zA-Z0-9_\-\.]+)\.([a-zA-Z]{2,5})$');
final formstate = _key.currentState;
formstate.save();
if(_email == null || _email.isEmpty){
Scaffold.of(context).showSnackBar(SnackBar(content: Text('Email Cannot be empty')));
}else if(_password == null || _password.length < 6){
Scaffold.of(context).showSnackBar(SnackBar(content: Text('Password needs to be atleast six characters')));
}else if(!regExp.hasMatch(_email)){
Scaffold.of(context).showSnackBar(SnackBar(content: Text('Enter a Valid Email')));
}
else{
setState(() {
_load = true;
});
signIn();
}
},
textColor: Colors.white,
padding: EdgeInsets.all(0.0),
child: Container(
alignment: Alignment.center,
width: _width/2,
decoration: BoxDecoration(
borderRadius: BorderRadius.all(Radius.circular(10.0)),
gradient: LinearGradient(
colors: <Color>[Colors.orange[200], Colors.pinkAccent],
),
),
padding: const EdgeInsets.all(12.0),
child: Text('SIGN IN',style: TextStyle(fontSize: 15,color: Colors.white)),
),
): Center(
child: CircularProgressIndicator(),
);
}
Widget dontHaveAccount() {
return Container(
margin: EdgeInsets.only(top: _height / 5.0),
child: Row(
mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.center,
children: <Widget>[
Text(
"Don't have an Account?",
style: TextStyle(fontWeight: FontWeight.w400,fontSize: 13),
),
SizedBox(
width: 5,
),
GestureDetector(
onTap: () {
print("Routing");
Navigator.of(context).pushReplacementNamed('register');
},
child: Text(
"Register",
style: TextStyle(
fontWeight: FontWeight.w600, color: Colors.redAccent),
),
)
],
),
);
}
Future<void>signIn()async{
try{
setState((){_load = true;});
await FirebaseAuth.instance.signInWithEmailAndPassword(email: _email, password: _password).then((_){
Navigator.of(context).pushReplacementNamed('home');
});
final SharedPreferences prefs = await SharedPreferences.getInstance();
prefs.setString('email', _email);
prefs.setString('uid', uid);
setState((){_load = false;});
}
catch(e){
setState((){_load = false;});
print(e.message);
Scaffold.of(context).showSnackBar(SnackBar(content: Text(e.message)));
}
}
}
In login-screen, I have partitioned sections for you to understand more easily and can find which part is appropriate for!
If you are not an authorized user, you may have to register first and then have to login again, to confirm that is that you or not. In Login Page, I have also add forget password function, for special cases, if the user forgot the password, I am sending a link where the user can change or reset his or her password again.
#3: Forget-Password(Code)
import 'package:firebase_auth/firebase_auth.dart';
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
class ForgotPassword extends StatelessWidget {
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Scaffold(
body: ForgotPasswordScreen(),
);
}
}
class ForgotPasswordScreen extends StatefulWidget {
@override
_ForgotPasswordScreenState createState() => _ForgotPasswordScreenState();
}
class _ForgotPasswordScreenState extends State<ForgotPasswordScreen> {
double _height, _width;
String _email = '';
bool _load = false;
GlobalKey<FormState> _key = GlobalKey();
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
_height = MediaQuery.of(context).size.height;
_width = MediaQuery.of(context).size.width;
return Scaffold(
appBar: AppBar(
title: Text('Forgot Password'),
),
body: Container(
height: _height,
width: _width,
padding: EdgeInsets.only(bottom: 5),
child: SingleChildScrollView(
child: Column(
children: <Widget>[
image(),
form(),
SizedBox(height: _height / 12),
button()
],
),
),
),
);
}
Widget image(){
return Container(
margin: EdgeInsets.only(top: _height / 15.0),
height: 100.0,
width: 100.0,
decoration: new BoxDecoration(
shape: BoxShape.circle,
),
child: new Image.asset('assets/login.png'),
);
}
Widget form() {
return Container(
margin: EdgeInsets.only(
left: _width / 12.0,
right: _width / 12.0,
top: _height / 15.0),
child: Form(
key: _key,
child: Column(
children: <Widget>[
emailBox(),
],
),
),
);
}
Widget emailBox(){
return Material(
borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(30.0),
elevation: 10,
child:TextFormField(
onSaved: (input) => _email = input,
keyboardType: TextInputType.emailAddress,
cursorColor: Colors.redAccent,
obscureText: false,
decoration: InputDecoration(
prefixIcon: Icon(Icons.email, color: Colors.redAccent, size: 20),
hintText: "Email Id",
border: OutlineInputBorder(
borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(30.0),
borderSide: BorderSide.none),
),
),
);
}
Widget button() {
return !_load ? RaisedButton(
elevation: 0,
shape: RoundedRectangleBorder(borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(30.0)),
onPressed: (){
RegExp regExp = new RegExp(r'^([a-zA-Z0-9_\-\.]+)@([a-zA-Z0-9_\-\.]+)\.([a-zA-Z]{2,5})$');
final formstate = _key.currentState;
formstate.save();
if(_email == null || _email.isEmpty){
Scaffold.of(context).showSnackBar(SnackBar(content: Text('Email Cannot be empty')));
}else if(!regExp.hasMatch(_email)){
Scaffold.of(context).showSnackBar(SnackBar(content: Text('Enter a Valid Email')));
}else{
setState((){_load = true;});
resetPassword();
}
},
textColor: Colors.white,
padding: EdgeInsets.all(0.0),
child: Container(
alignment: Alignment.center,
width: _width/2,
decoration: BoxDecoration(
borderRadius: BorderRadius.all(Radius.circular(20.0)),
gradient: LinearGradient(
colors: <Color>[Colors.orange[200], Colors.pinkAccent],
),
),
padding: const EdgeInsets.all(12.0),
child: Text('Reset Password',style: TextStyle(fontSize: 15)),
),
) : Center(
child: CircularProgressIndicator(),
);
}
Future<void> resetPassword() async {
try{
await FirebaseAuth.instance.sendPasswordResetEmail(email: _email);
setState((){_load = false;});
print("Sending email");
Scaffold.of(context).showSnackBar(SnackBar(content: Text('Reset password link sent to registered email')));
}catch(e){
setState((){_load = false;});
print(e.message);
Scaffold.of(context).showSnackBar(SnackBar(content: Text(e.message)));
}
}
}
#4: Register-Screen(Code)
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:firebase_auth/firebase_auth.dart';
import 'package:shared_preferences/shared_preferences.dart';
import 'package:uuid/uuid.dart';
class Register extends StatelessWidget {
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Scaffold(
body: RegisterScreen(),
);
}
}
class RegisterScreen extends StatefulWidget {
@override
_RegisterScreenState createState() => _RegisterScreenState();
}
class _RegisterScreenState extends State<RegisterScreen> {
double _height, _width;
String _email, _password;
GlobalKey<FormState> _key = GlobalKey();
bool _showPassword = true, _load = false;
String uid= Uuid().v4();
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
_height = MediaQuery.of(context).size.height;
_width = MediaQuery.of(context).size.width;
return Scaffold(
appBar: AppBar(title: Text('Register'),),
body: Container(
height: _height,
width: _width,
padding: EdgeInsets.only(bottom: 5),
child: SingleChildScrollView(
child: Column(
children: <Widget>[
image(),
welcomeText(),
loginText(),
form(),
SizedBox(height: _height / 12),
button(),
dontHaveAccount(),
],
),
),
),
);
}
Widget image(){
return Container(
margin: EdgeInsets.only(top: _height / 15.0),
height: 80.0,
width: 100.0,
decoration: new BoxDecoration(
shape: BoxShape.circle,
),
child: new Image.asset('assets/images/login.png'),
);
}
Widget welcomeText(){
return Container(
margin: EdgeInsets.only(left: _width / 20, top: _height / 100),
child: Row(
children: <Widget>[
Text(
"Create An Account",
style: TextStyle(
fontWeight: FontWeight.bold,
fontSize: 30,
),
),
],
),
);
}
Widget loginText() {
return Container(
margin: EdgeInsets.only(left: _width / 15.0),
child: Row(
children: <Widget>[
Text(
"Sign up for free!",
style: TextStyle(
fontWeight: FontWeight.w200,
fontSize: 14,
),
),
],
),
);
}
Widget form() {
return Container(
margin: EdgeInsets.only(
left: _width / 15.0,
right: _width / 15.0,
top: _height / 25.0),
child: Form(
key: _key,
child: Column(
children: <Widget>[
emailBox(),
SizedBox(height: _height / 40.0),
passwordBox(),
],
),
),
);
}
Widget emailBox(){
return Material(
borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(10.0),
elevation: 10,
child:TextFormField(
onSaved: (input) => _email = input,
keyboardType: TextInputType.emailAddress,
cursorColor: Colors.redAccent,
obscureText: false,
decoration: InputDecoration(
prefixIcon: Icon(Icons.email, color: Colors.redAccent, size: 20),
hintText: "Email Id",
border: OutlineInputBorder(
borderSide: BorderSide.none),
),
),
);
}
Widget passwordBox(){
return Material(
borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(10.0),
elevation: 10,
child:TextFormField(
onSaved: (input) => _password = input,
keyboardType: TextInputType.visiblePassword,
cursorColor: Colors.redAccent,
obscureText: _showPassword,
decoration: InputDecoration(
prefixIcon: Icon(Icons.lock, color: Colors.redAccent, size: 20),
suffixIcon: IconButton(
icon: Icon(
Icons.remove_red_eye,
color: this._showPassword ? Colors.grey : Colors.redAccent,
),
onPressed: () {
setState(() => this._showPassword = !this._showPassword);
},
),
hintText: "Password",
border: OutlineInputBorder(
borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(30.0),
borderSide: BorderSide.none
),
),
),
);
}
Widget forgetPassText() {
return Container(
margin: EdgeInsets.only(top: _height / 40.0),
child: Row(
mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.center,
children: <Widget>[
Text(
"Forgot your password?",
style: TextStyle(fontWeight: FontWeight.w400,fontSize: 13),
),
SizedBox(
width: 5,
),
GestureDetector(
onTap: () {
print("Routing");
Navigator.of(context).pushNamed('forgotpassword');
},
child: Text(
"Recover",
style: TextStyle(
fontWeight: FontWeight.w600, color: Colors.redAccent),
),
)
],
),
);
}
Widget button() {
return !_load ? RaisedButton(
elevation: 0,
shape: RoundedRectangleBorder(borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(10.0)),
onPressed: () async {
RegExp regExp = new RegExp(r'^([a-zA-Z0-9_\-\.]+)@([a-zA-Z0-9_\-\.]+)\.([a-zA-Z]{2,5})$');
final formstate = _key.currentState;
formstate.save();
if(_email == null || _email.isEmpty){
Scaffold.of(context).showSnackBar(SnackBar(content: Text('Email Cannot be empty')));
}else if(_password == null || _password.length < 6){
Scaffold.of(context).showSnackBar(SnackBar(content: Text('Password needs to be atleast six characters')));
}else if(!regExp.hasMatch(_email)){
Scaffold.of(context).showSnackBar(SnackBar(content: Text('Enter a Valid Email')));
}
else{
setState((){_load = true;});
signUp();
}
},
textColor: Colors.white,
padding: EdgeInsets.all(0.0),
child: Container(
alignment: Alignment.center,
width: _width/2,
decoration: BoxDecoration(
borderRadius: BorderRadius.all(Radius.circular(10.0)),
gradient: LinearGradient(
colors: <Color>[Colors.orange[200], Colors.pinkAccent],
),
),
padding: const EdgeInsets.all(12.0),
child: Text('SIGN UP',style: TextStyle(fontSize: 15,color: Colors.white)),
),
): Center(
child: CircularProgressIndicator(),
);
}
Widget dontHaveAccount() {
return Container(
margin: EdgeInsets.only(top: _height / 5.0),
child: Row(
mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.center,
children: <Widget>[
Text(
"Already Registered?",
style: TextStyle(fontWeight: FontWeight.w400,fontSize: 13),
),
SizedBox(
width: 5,
),
GestureDetector(
onTap: () {
print("Routing");
Navigator.of(context).pushReplacementNamed('login');
},
child: Text(
"Login",
style: TextStyle(
fontWeight: FontWeight.w600, color: Colors.redAccent),
),
)
],
),
);
}
Future<void> signUp() async {
try{
setState((){_load = true;});
await FirebaseAuth.instance.createUserWithEmailAndPassword(email: _email, password: _password).then((_) async {
SharedPreferences prefs = await SharedPreferences.getInstance();
prefs.setString('email', _email);
prefs.setString('uid', uid);
setState((){_load = false;});
Navigator.of(context).pushReplacementNamed('login');
});
}
catch(e){
setState((){_load = false;});
print(e.message);
Scaffold.of(context).showSnackBar(SnackBar(content: Text(e.message)));
}
}
}
In register-screen, we have to register our mail and password in order to login to use the app. The email you be valid and the password length should be more than 6.
#5: Home_Screen(Code)
import 'package:cloud_firestore/cloud_firestore.dart';
import 'package:firebase_auth/firebase_auth.dart';
import 'package:firebase_blog/models/blogs.dart';
import 'package:flutter/cupertino.dart';
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:shared_preferences/shared_preferences.dart';
import 'package:uuid/uuid.dart';
class Home extends StatelessWidget {
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Scaffold(
body: HomeScreen(),
);
}
}
class HomeScreen extends StatefulWidget {
@override
_HomeScreenState createState() => _HomeScreenState();
}
class _HomeScreenState extends State<HomeScreen> {
String blogId= Uuid().v4();
String title;
String desc;
SharedPreferences prefs;
bool _load = false;
@override
void initState(){
super.initState();
try {
SharedPreferences.getInstance().then((sharedPrefs) {
setState(() {
prefs = sharedPrefs;
String _uid = prefs.getString('uid');
});
});
} catch (e) {
print(e.message);
Scaffold.of(context).showSnackBar(SnackBar(content: Text(e.message)));
}
}
Widget ModernBottomSheet(){
return Container(
padding: EdgeInsets.only(
bottom: MediaQuery.of(context).viewInsets.bottom),
child: SingleChildScrollView(
child: Padding(
padding: EdgeInsets.all(20.0),
child: Column(
crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.stretch,
children: <Widget>[
Container(alignment: Alignment.topLeft,child: Text('Brief Data',style: TextStyle(fontSize: 18.0,fontWeight: FontWeight.bold),)),
SizedBox(height: 10.0,),
TextFormField(
validator: (val) => val.isEmpty ? "Enter item name" : null,
decoration: InputDecoration(
hintText: "Blog Title",
prefixIcon: Icon(Icons.title,size: 25.0,),
border: OutlineInputBorder(),
),
onChanged: (val){
title= val;
},
),
SizedBox(height: 5.0,),
TextFormField(
keyboardType: TextInputType.name,
validator: (val) => val.isEmpty ? "Enter item price" : null,
decoration: InputDecoration(
hintText: "Blog Description",
prefixIcon: Icon(Icons.description,size: 25.0,),
border: OutlineInputBorder(),
),
onChanged: (val){
desc= val;
},
),
SizedBox(height: 5.0,),
GestureDetector(
onTap: (){
if (title == null ||
title.trim().length == 0) {
} else if (desc == null) {
} else {
Firestore.instance
.collection('blogs')
.document(blogId)
.setData({
'title': title,
'blogId': blogId,
'desc': desc,
});
setState(() {
blogId = Uuid().v4();
title = '';
desc = '';
});
Navigator.pop(context);
}
},
child: Container(
alignment: Alignment.center,
width: MediaQuery.of(context).size.width,
padding: EdgeInsets.all(20.0),
decoration: BoxDecoration(
color: Colors.redAccent,
borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(5.0)
),
child: Text(
"Add Blogs",
style: TextStyle(
fontSize: 16, color: Colors.white),
),
),
)
],
),
),
),
);
}
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Scaffold(
appBar: AppBar(
title: Text('Blog-App'),
actions: <Widget>[
IconButton(
icon: Icon(
Icons.exit_to_app,
color: Colors.white,
),
onPressed: (){
setState((){_load = true;});
logout();
},
)
],
),
body: Column(
children: [
Container(
margin: EdgeInsets.only(top: 10.0,left: 10.0,right: 10.0),
child: FlatButton(
height: 50.0,
color: Colors.redAccent,
onPressed: () {
showModalBottomSheet(
isScrollControlled: true,
shape: RoundedRectangleBorder(
borderRadius: BorderRadius.only(
topLeft: Radius.circular(20.0),
topRight: Radius.circular(20.0))),
context: context,
builder: (BuildContext context) {
return ModernBottomSheet();
});
},
child: Row(
mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.center,
children: [
Container(
width: 40.0,
height: 40.0,
decoration: BoxDecoration(
borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(50.0),
//color: Colors.white
),
child: Icon(
Icons.add,
size: 25.0,
color: Colors.white,
),
),
SizedBox(width: 10.0,),
Container(
child: Text('Add Clients',style: TextStyle(fontSize: 14.0,color: Colors.white),),
)
],
),
),
),
Expanded(
child: StreamBuilder<QuerySnapshot>(
stream: Firestore.instance.collection('blogs').snapshots(),
builder: (context,snapshot){
if (!snapshot.hasData) {
return Center(child: CircularProgressIndicator(
backgroundColor: Colors.redAccent,
),);
}
List<BlogTile> customerTiles = [];
snapshot.data.documents.forEach((doc){
BlogModel blogModel = BlogModel.fromDocument(doc);
customerTiles.add(BlogTile(blogModel));
});
if(customerTiles.length==0){
return Center(
child: Column(
children: [
SizedBox(height: 10.0,),
Icon(
Icons.info_outline_rounded
),
SizedBox(
height: 20.0,
),
Text('No Blogs')
],
),
);
}
return ListView(
children: customerTiles,
);
},
),
),
],
),
);
}
void logout() async {
try{
await FirebaseAuth.instance.signOut();
final SharedPreferences prefs = await SharedPreferences.getInstance();
prefs.setString('email', null);
prefs.setString('uid', null);
setState((){_load = false;});
Navigator.of(context).pushReplacementNamed('login');
}catch(e){
setState((){_load = false;});
print(e.message);
Scaffold.of(context).showSnackBar(SnackBar(content: Text(e.message)));
}
}
}
class BlogTile extends StatefulWidget {
final BlogModel blogModel;
const BlogTile(this.blogModel);
@override
_BlogTileState createState() => _BlogTileState();
}
class _BlogTileState extends State<BlogTile> {
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Container(
height: 80.0,
decoration: BoxDecoration(
borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(10.0),
boxShadow: [
BoxShadow(
offset: Offset(0,0),
color: Colors.redAccent.withOpacity(.5)
)
]
),
margin: EdgeInsets.all(10.0),
child: Column(
mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.spaceAround,
children: [
Container(
child: Text(
widget.blogModel.title,
style: TextStyle(
color: Colors.black,fontSize: 16.0,
fontWeight: FontWeight.w600
),
),
),
Container(
child: Text(
widget.blogModel.desc,
style: TextStyle(
color: Colors.black,fontSize: 14.0,
fontWeight: FontWeight.w400
),
),
)
],
),
);
}
}
In Home-Screen, We have a log-out button and a blog uploader to upload and save our blogs in the firebase firestore. | https://medium.com/@govinddev010/blog-app-flutter-with-firebase-auth-75b7efd72a6c | [] | 2020-12-07 05:35:14.317000+00:00 | ['Cloud Firestore', 'Firebase Flutter Auth', 'Flutter', 'Authentication', 'Firebaseauthentication'] |
“You Get On The Internet And Pretty Soon You’re Drunk”: The Orthodox At Citi Field | by Sean Patrick Cooper
While the ultra-Orthodox steadily streamed down the 7 train platform and onto the pavilion, a group of four teenagers sat around the big red New York Mets apple, waiting for their friends. This was last night, an hour or so before the Citi Field gates opened. Outside the stadium, a few hundred ultra-Orthodox Jewish men stood around, waiting for the masses to arrive to this rally about the dangers of the internet. The 40,000-stadium tickets had sold out the week before and the event organizers — The Union of Communities for the Purity of the Camp — had scrambled to rent nearby Arthur Ashe Stadium for the 10,000 or more attendee spillover. These boys were among the other early arrivals. One of them, tall and skinny, with his wide hat tilted up over his face, came over to speak to me, his words coming out in excited staccato bursts.
“You get on the internet and pretty soon you’re drunk,” he said, as he mimicked a person wobbling back and forth. “You’re drunk on distractions, and you can’t get back to focusing on your studies or to your work or to your family.”
One of the boys took a call on his cellphone from a friend who’d just arrived by bus. The group left to go find him in the parking lot.
“Well, now I don’t know what I’m going to do,” said the boy who stayed behind. “I guess I’ll just wait here for some action.” He wore a thick black coat and rimless glasses. Columns of curls framed his round face on either side like fly traps. He was 16, in his third year of what I would consider high school.
We chatted for a bit, and he explained to me how the internet affects his mind. “I had an iPod touch for a while and it was really bad. I’d go find a bench outside an apartment complex and get on someone’s wi-fi signal, and watch Youtube videos of car chases, cop chases, action movie scenes. Watch them for hours. Then I’d get some video games on there and go home and play them till 3:00 in the morning and be wrecked when I woke up. Just ruined the whole day, my mind all scattered. I couldn’t stop,” he said. “You know, it’s sort of like smoking cigarettes, and when someone asks you, ‘When are you going to quit?’ ‘Well, I’m going to quit when I have this last one.’ But there’s always one more after that last one, and another pack after that. You can’t really quit once you start because you’ll always have one more last one.”
He had bought his iPod Touch from Walmart and recently sold it to a classmate, but still goes with friends who have iPods to sit outside apartment buildings to watch clips on Youtube. Behind us, a barefooted man wearing a leopard-printed toga started jumping up and down. He raised a Fred Flintstone-style club at the passing crowds, and yelled something incomprehensible about not using electricity or cars. He was with a satirical protest group called Cavemen.
“I wish someone would put him back in his dog cage,” the teenage boy said, smiling. “I’m worried he might come over here and bite me.”
A few minutes later, a group of Orthodox men gathered around a pair of women protestors talking loudly with an older man with a neatly trimmed grey beard. Around them stood media people taking their picture. “Yes, but you don’t seem to understand the thrust of the protest,” the man said.
If the young woman was genuinely confused about the rally’s intent, so too were many of those in attendance. It was widely known the rally was to be about the dangers of the internet, and it was speculated that its speakers would use the rally to define what role the internet should play in the daily lives of the ultra-Orthodox community. But in the weeks leading up to the event, the message from the organizers was mixed. Some were saying that no proper Jewish home should have internet access, and probably not even a computer. Other interviews and statements implied that the internet was okay to use, but only if it were filtered with special software and being used for business.
In a letter to the parents of students enrolled in a Prospect Park Yeshiva, administrators wrote that “they demand that each and every parent attend this special gathering.” Similar letters from other schools floated around the internet in the days leading up to the event. For the women who weren’t allowed to attend — it has been decided shortly after the event was announced that it would be a male-only rally, it being deemed too complicated to divide the stadium into separate gender sections — live video streams were being broadcast to gatherings in Dallas, Chicago, and Detroit, Los Angeles, Cleveland, and Miami, Toronto, Mexico City and as far away as Brazil.
As afternoon closed in, the sky was blue and the sun was warm and there was little humidity in the air. Families, wandering over from Arthur Ashe Park with children in strollers, looked around in confusion and then headed back over the boardwalk bridge. Hundreds of buses were on their way to Citi Field, coming in from the ultra-Orthodox communities of Flatbush, Williamsburg, and Monsey; from Lakewood, New Square, and Kiryas Joel.
Down the street from the subway platform, the small group of Caveman protestors gathered about fifty feet away from a larger and better organized protest group called The Internet Is Not A Problem. The large group, maybe a hundred strong, was led by Ari Mandel, who had the idea to organize the group after speaking with his friend, Chanie Friedman, both of whom were frustrated at what they saw as a misdirected use of energy by ultra-Orthodox leadership. The greatest threat to the community wasn’t technological, Mandel told me, but rather how the community was addressing cases of sexual abuse of children. He pointed to a pair of recent New York Times articles that exposed a potentially massive problem within the tight-knit Jewish community, wherein victims and their families were being discouraged from, and sometimes even ostracized for, speaking to the police about instances of sexual and physical abuse against their children.
As cars and buses passed by into the parking lot, Mandel and his group held signs with messages like “The Internet Never Molested Me” and shouted sing-song slogans.
“There’s some back and forth here between us and the people in the cars, but there’s no serious dialogue yet,” said Mandel. “Just a few people who’ve come up to us and told us we’re embarrassing ourselves and the community.”
Friedman stood beside Mandel, holding a small sign as she leaned against the metal barricade separating the protestors from the crawling traffic. “They don’t want to understand the consequences of child sexual abuse, of what happens when you’re exposed to that,” she said. “I read on a Yiddish forum someone saying that the whole concept of sexual abuse is made up by the Goyim, the outside world.”
She continued: “There’s this attitude within the community that this is just something that happens. They’ll say, ‘It happened to my father, and to his father, and it’s just no big deal.’ But the focus on the internet is just a distraction from what’s really going on here.”
The police presence at the event was heavy but mostly confined to the background. Bomb-sniffing dogs were kept on short leashes around the perimeter of the parking lots. Getting closer to the stadium, you could feel the mood lighten to an almost jovial atmosphere. Some of the men were taking pictures together, posed underneath the glowing neon of the Citi Field signs. Near the left field gate, a man wearing a dark grey suit and a floral print tie handed out yellow flyers for his new product: An iPhone app designed to locate kosher delis and restaurants.
“I mean, it’s not practical. You can’t ignore the internet,” he said, as men in suits darker than his grabbed his flyers. To the passing event goers he said, “Free app here, not the internet. Find kosher minyanim and mikvahs.”
“I’m here to get the word out about this,” he told me. “I mean, look around, we’ve got, you know, 40,000 potential users here. Right now, we’re looking at 25,000 active app users. And I’m working on trying to find some advertisers. I need big advertisers who will pay a flat rate instead of this five cents an impression deal.”
A man in a black fur hat asked him what, exactly, was an app, and he explained it to him. The man grimaced and walked away.
By 7 p.m., the stadium was awash in an ocean of black suits with specs of white poly-cotton. It was an awesome sight, and bizarre, too, to see the empty baseball field surrounded by a capacity crowd of religion traditionalists. For whatever reason, the organizers decided to arrange the event speakers and esteemed guests on a purple dais behind the center field wall, instead of on the infield. High-ranking ultra-Orthodox clergymen took to the podium while above them a video feed zoomed in on their bearded faces. The speakers, ranging in age from forty to perhaps seventy and older, were a rhetorically gifted group. A few were even eloquent. A couple spoke only in Yiddish, but the rest delivered their speeches in strong English, peppered with Yiddish phrases. Inconsistent subtitles appeared sometimes in real time, and sometimes obviously delayed and incoherent, on the huge screen behind them. The phrasing varied from speech to speech, but the message, roughly speaking, was the same throughout: Modern technology poses pitfalls for a servant of God. There are serious questions about who needs the internet and who does not, since the internet does not belong in a Jewish home, even with a filter.
Social media, speakers argued, is a technological evil that is destroying the community’s sensibilities, sensitivities “and the way we think and live.” Many of the speakers made this point as well: Our way of life might appear to be intact on the outside, but on the inside, there are problems.
For hours the speeches went on, sometimes too loudly as they boomed over the PA system and echoed around the empty, manicured infield. In a general way, the ironies and contradictions of the event seemed almost too obvious to point out: the organizer’s use of modern technology to transmit each speaker’s critiques of modern technology to audiences around the world. The fact that in nearly every row of seats, there were men checking the screens of their Blackberries or iPhones. Less obvious but still lingering in the air was the uncertainty that the internet was really the corrosive evil the organizers made it out to be. Didn’t many men in the stadium make their living online? Wasn’t the event bankrolled, in part, by the owner of B&H; Photo, an electronic store with a strong online presence? Towards the end of the rally, many of the men in the crowd had the glazed gaze of the bored and obedient. Others were walking towards the door.
Near the end of the rally, a man in a dark black suit and tall hat asked me to take a photograph of him looking through a glass entrance door. “One with me holding the binoculars and one without,” he said, while he posed carefully against the glass. I snapped both photos while he looked on intently at a TV screen broadcasting the rally.
“Why do you want the photos of yourself?” I asked.
“I need proof that I was here, or else I’ll get in trouble. I got two pieces. This parking ticket stub,” which he pulled out of his pocket, as if to prove to me he was actually standing right there. “And now the photograph of me outside the building. It’s so people will believe that I came, so they know I was really here. Sometimes you gotta go the extra step to prove to people where you are.”
Sean Patrick Cooper’s writing has appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, The Millions, The Rumpus, and other places too. He’s currently studying literary reportage at NYU, and at work on many pieces that are almost done. | https://medium.com/the-awl/you-get-on-the-internet-and-pretty-soon-youre-drunk-the-orthodox-at-citi-field-7da4e4ee607c | ['The Awl'] | 2016-05-13 15:48:41.441000+00:00 | ['Columnists', 'Religion', 'The Internet'] |
Thinking of Becoming a “Sugar Baby,” Ladies? Here’s a Glimpse | Thinking of Becoming a “Sugar Baby,” Ladies? Here’s a Glimpse
Let me save you the effort of making a profile.
Photo by Garin Chadwick on Unsplash
After a recent breakup, spurred by the accusation that I was not fun to be around, I was bitter enough to sign up at SeekingArrangement.com as a “premium sugar baby” (the “premium” title came with verifying some aspects of my profile). I suppose I figured that if someone was willing to pay for my company, I’d feel vindicated.
The idea was fairly out of the blue, as this isn’t something which would normally occur to me to do with my time. I just happened to come across an article about this type of transactional relationship and recalled that I’d been interested in checking it out before, if only for a laugh. And the laughs do abound, let me tell you.
A message I received today from a 35-year-old Texas man:
“Hi! Would you be interested in a ‘foot’ arrangement? 👣 Foot worship and tickling, not photos. Fun and easy, get paid to laugh! If you’re interested, please reply with your shoe size and if your feet are ticklish. 😊 ”
Not all of the men seem to be using the site to satisfy their kinks. Although, arguably, being in a position of apparent financial control is a kink in itself.
Many of the “sugar daddy” members are seeking an arrangement that is NSA (no-strings-attached) or FWB (friends-with-benefits). Most list “discretion” and “open relationship” as what they are looking for, and I’d bet the majority are married, though only 20–30% seem to be up front about it. It’s basically Ashley Madison 2.0 but there are real women on the site (because they’re actually getting something out of an arrangement rather than just the title of potentially home-wrecking side chick).
There are several couples who have reached out to me, with messages like:
“So cute bby. Would you want to come hangout with me and my girl right now?”
and
“Hi … I loved reading your profile and I have a bit of an unusual idea that I wanted to suggest. I am wondering if you might be open to something with a man OR a woman? I ask because I am seeing a very cute girl of Asian heritage … and she is vvvvvery curious about being with another girl … would you have ANY interest in discussing this any further? Your profile description is EXACTLY the “type” she finds H-O-T HOT! I know this is entirely outside the boundary from what people may be considering here, but wanted to throw it out … you seemed to fit perfectly the “type” she finds attractive.”
The basic gist of the site can be found in messages that are a bit more straightforward about what you’re trading, which is in most cases of course, sex for money:
“Wow honey you are absolutely stunning 😘😍 how are you doing? I’m looking to find a somewhat regular SB to come see me and hang out about 1–3 times a month. Maybe more if we have fun. I’m pretty careful with who I meet up with so I’d just ask that you know you’re clean and I have done the same. Happy to provide recent test results if you’d like me to. I want to start out simple just spending a few hours together at my house or a hotel, but I’d really like to find someone I can get close with. At some point I’d like to be able to travel together if you’re interested. Let me know and we could text to set something up and maybe send some pictures 😘 ”
or
“Hello pretty lady. Love your look and am looking for a weekly encounter if something like that works for you.”
or
“If you’re the submissive type, I would certainly be interested in discussing your opportunity with me. Tell me a bit about yourself.”
That last one especially made my skin crawl. The whole thing is about what you’d expect, and for some women seems to be what they are looking for, at least temporarily. In my case, it was worth finding out that I wouldn’t be able to go through with it. I couldn’t actually prostitute myself, even if I would get some satisfaction out of knowing that I could.
Some of the messages were nice enough that a number of the men seemed normal, and even responded positively to a line in my profile about seeking something based on respect and equality, “even if our financial situations are different.”
A 55-year-old Los Angeles man said:
“Hi there. I liked the profile; it has a sense of authenticity. I hope your search is going ok. I am looking for a pretty traditional sort of arrangement, and if you have any interest, I hope you will say hello.”
Another 34-year-old Los Angeles man said:
“Any interest in a nice smart boyfriend that has his life together / normal dating?”
A 36-year-old Los Angeles man messaged:
“I saw your profile, and I immediately appreciated how straightforward and authentic it was — so I thought I’d say hello!”
Although I can’t see the profiles of other “sugar babies” many of the messages I’ve received imply that there are a lot of “fakes and time-wasters,” as I’ve seen them described by men. Interestingly, a couple of profiles I’ve seen from men included lines like, “If you’re looking for something platonic, you’re a bit too naive for me LOL.” A ton of profiles offer “mentorship” though, which you might not think necessitates a sexual relationship, but clearly the definition on an arrangement site implies physical reciprocation.
Almost immediately after I made the profile two weeks ago, I signed up for Bumble as well. Just a day on SeekingArrangement.com was enough to make up my mind that I have no actual interest in being a sugar baby. I did end up finding someone attractive and kind on Bumble, and we’ve been splitting the bills like people in normal, respectful relationships do. I don’t know how much money he has in the bank, and I don’t care. My point has been proven after several dates that I am, indeed, good company. Thankfully, he is too. | https://medium.com/candour/thinking-of-becoming-a-sugar-baby-ladies-heres-a-glimpse-4d7bc0cd05fb | ['Cassie M. Thompson'] | 2020-08-19 22:09:45.028000+00:00 | ['Sugar Daddy', 'Sex', 'Dating', 'Sugar Baby', 'Relationships'] |
Django : Finding ORM N+1 Problem in TestCode | Web Frameworks that use ORM may have the same N+1 Problem.
In this post, i will share how to find and fix it in testcode in advance
Refer to the link for explanation of N+1 Problem.
(https://medium.com/@hckcksrl/django-n-1-problem-d986b93f5d3e)
For each framework, packages that detect n+1 problems are already shared by great developers.
Django has the https://github.com/jmcarp/nplusone package, and we want to use it to solve the n+1 problem in the test code
First, install the package. For installation instructions, refer to the package readme.
The example code below is a sample code that writes a simple rest api based on resources.
There are two models, Article and Comment, which is a one-to-many relationship. There are multiple comments in one article.
Model
from django.db import models # Create your models here.
class Article(models.Model):
# user = models.ForeignKey(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
title = models.CharField(max_length=144)
subtitle = models.CharField(max_length=144, blank=True)
content = models.TextField()
created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True) def __str__(self):
return '[{}] {}'.format(self.title, self.subtitle)
class Comment(models.Model):
article = models.ForeignKey(to=Article, related_name="comments", on_delete=models.CASCADE)
content = models.TextField()
Article — Comment : one-to-many
View
from django.shortcuts import render # Create your views here.
from requests import Response
from rest_framework import viewsets
from .serializers import ArticleSerializer, CommentSerializer
from .models import Article, Comment
from rest_framework import permissions class ArticleView(viewsets.ModelViewSet):
queryset = Article.objects.all()
serializer_class = ArticleSerializer
permission_classes = () def list(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
return super().list(request, *args, **kwargs) def get_serializer(self, *args, **kwargs):
return super().get_serializer(*args, **kwargs) def get_serializer_context(self):
context = super(ArticleView, self).get_serializer_context() return context
class CommentView(viewsets.ModelViewSet): serializer_class = CommentSerializer
permission_classes = () def get_queryset(self):
return Comment.objects.filter(article=self.kwargs['article_pk']) def perform_create(self, serializer):
serializer.save()
It returns the resource in rest format.
Serializer
from rest_framework import serializers
from .models import Article, Comment
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
class CommentSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
class Meta:
model = Comment
fields = (
'id',
'article',
'content'
)
class ArticleSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
comments = CommentSerializer(many=True, read_only=True)
class Meta:
model = Article
fields = (
'id',
'title',
'subtitle',
'content',
'created_at',
'comments',
)
read_only_fields = ('created_at',)
ArticleSerializer brings multiple comments models (Important, it is not prefetched.)
Urls
from django.urls import path, include
from rest_framework_nested import routers from .views import ArticleView, CommentView router = routers.SimpleRouter()
router.register(r'articles', ArticleView, basename='articles') articles_router = routers.NestedSimpleRouter(router, r'articles', lookup='article')
articles_router.register(r'comments', CommentView, basename='article-comments')
urlpatterns = [ path('', include(router.urls)),
path('', include(articles_router.urls))
]
TestCode
from unittest import mock import pytest
from django.conf import settings
from django.test import Client from api.models import Article, Comment
@pytest.fixture
def logger(monkeypatch):
mock_logger = mock.Mock()
monkeypatch.setattr(settings, 'NPLUSONE_LOGGER', mock_logger)
return mock_logger def check_nplusone_problem(logger):
if len(logger.log.call_args_list) != 0: # include erros.
args = logger.log.call_args[0]
assert ("Potential n+1 query detected on" in args[1]) is False # if you need prefetch
assert ("Potential unnecessary eager load detected on" in args[1]) is False # if you not need prefetch assert not logger.log.called # In normal case, it should not be called def create_mock_article() -> Article:
"""
Make Article Mock Data.
:return:
"""
# Given
name: str = "TEST_title"
description: str = "description" # When
article: Article = Article()
article.title = name
article.subtitle = 'subtitle'
article.content = description
article.save() comment: Comment = Comment()
comment.content = "AAA"
comment.article = article
comment.save() return article
@pytest.mark.django_db
def test_route_article_GET(logger) -> None:
"""
You can test the url method GET of View
:return:
""" # Given
create_mock_article()
create_mock_article()
create_mock_article() client = Client()
# When
response = client.get('/api/articles/')
# Then
print(response.data)
check_nplusone_problem(logger)
assert response.status_code == 200
Test result -> Failed
-> The reason it fails is that ArticleSerializer() refers to multiple model comments, but it is not prefetching.
Correcting the failure case
Add Comment model to prefetch to ArticleView’s QuerySet
class ArticleView(viewsets.ModelViewSet):
queryset = Article.objects.prefetch('comments').all()
Test result -> Success
=================================================================================== 1 passed in 7.85s ===================================================================================
Evaluation
Even if the development team does not prefetch, there is no accumulated data, so performance issues are not immediately raised, but as data accumulates in operation, a bottleneck occurs in areas that require prefetching. This can be corrected and resolved in the test code stage in advance
PS : i am not good at English. Please tell me the wrong grammar and typo | https://medium.com/@kim6515516/django-finding-orm-n-1-problem-in-testcode-154e6be5ec36 | [] | 2020-12-09 06:30:39.916000+00:00 | ['Testcode', 'Django', 'Nplusone'] |
The Walls of Jericho | The McDonald Ranges Alice Springs
Arthur S. Firkins (Alice Springs 2010)
The walls surrounded the town of the red dust, like a fortress. To the East lay the vast plains of the Simpson Desert, to the West the Macdonald Ranges and to the South, Adelaide, from where the explorer Stuart had stumbled his way up north- trampling across the sacred land as did the nomads that followed him, the desert dwellers, who laid claim to the richness of the soil, as if God had led them there out of the bondage of Europe to this, their promised land. It was from Adelaide, that imperial city, that she came by Ghan and he was to meet her at the station in Alice that afternoon.
He stood on the platform clutching a rolled magazine in his left hand, sipping a coke, beads of sweet on his forehead, if not from the heat then from his nervousness, pondering the small pebbles that littered the platform, wiping the dust off his boots onto his trousers, cursing the lateness of the train, wondering how he should act when she finally arrived. Nerves that were once as tough as a stockman’s whip, now crumbling with stress and anticipation like the bits of white peeling paint on the wall of the station’s waiting room. He glaced at the clock, not a digital one, and contemplated what he should say, it had been so long. He was distracted by the looks of similarly concerned gentlemen hovering on the platform, children yelling, throwing balls, barking dogs, the scurry of families milling around looking for items that they may have forgotten, too distracted to notice that the train had been delayed by thirty minutes. He looked at the station spectacle, an old Aboriginal woman struggling with her luggage, a businessman in a tailored suit bound for Adelaide and young lads from the outlying cattle stations in stockman’s attire on their way to see their sweethearts, he thought about her, what she might be wearing, how she might smell, her hair, what she might say.
They were acquainted not by space but by time, and magnitudes of it had passed since they were children together at school in Surry Hills, an eternity of waiting. The passing of this time toned in his ears like the sound of the galahs and currawong and parrots that were flying in the afternoon sky against the crisp light. He could see the purple of the MacDonald Ranges slowly changing colour from raw red to a gentle pink back to purple. The walls contained the town and now bore marks of the life that had past and that had withstood centuries of assault only to sub come to the white man’s law. The ghosts, blackened by time stood in silent witness in the dry river beds to the battle.
Joshua was now a mining engineer, blasting the hills and the walls of coal and iron from the Isa, to Broken Hill, from Tenant to Whyalla, the pit, the open cut, he could bring it all down. He had left Sydney at fifteen, gone to make his fortune cutting cane in the fields of far North Queensland, the yelling of his mother and the stern warnings of his principal aside, he managed to make a bob or two and also trawling for prawns near Cairns, he netted a bit, not to mention a few nights behind a bar and in front of a bar. But his mother’s hard words drove him back to University, where he put the money to good use, drank hard, read Auden and studied engineering and met his first wife.
Those years seemed as distant to him as that blasted train, was now. He was alone his own daughter at university and his wife blown away by the cyclone of cancer. Complacency and loneliness hovered around the people of the city as the red dust but such inertia, never sat well with him. They had spent a weekend together in Melbourne, a coincidental meeting by the Yarra, a chanced recognition that brushed through her mind as she walked past him, that prompted her to blurt out “oh-my god, Joshua”, and they sat by that river, cold night aside, walked through the square opposite Flinders St Station. They strolled to the nearby small grungy cafes, a beer or two, a look in the window of a gallery, forage in a two dollar shop, and the climbing of stairs to a small wine bar. He fancied himself an artist of sorts, not a good one, but enough to keep his interest and snare hers. She had studied art in Surry Hills and this had taken her to Prague, Paris and to Jerusalem, to the king’s valley, Damascus, Bagdad, and to Jericho, the desert seemed to be in her blood and the finest of the sand, the stillness, the redness of the dunes spread across her canvasses that now hung in New York, London and Singapore.
Jericho
So much of her family’s youth had been gassed in Alchwich, that her parents came to Sydney and she had enjoyed a good life in the Eastern Suburbs, yet she yearned to travel and was compelled back to the desert of her people, drew inspiration from it, a songline back thousands of years to a time of dreaming, a time where Moses had led her people across the desert, the wind, the thirst and the redness and the stillness of the wine in her glass, she glanced at it swirled it a little and they clinked the glasses together, “too you Joshua” she said, a little smirk then a kiss.
The Ghan
She never married, but had many men and a son, older now who was drawn by the lights of the big city, away from her now. On that train she deliberated about her life in the Adelaide Hills, her studio and how she needed to pack things up, lawn sales, garage sales, and people sorting through her life. She thought about and how to rid herself of that rusting demon in the garage that was now costing her so much money. She was on the train now and it now sped along the rout of the explorers, cutting through time, through the centre of this ancient land. Small towns, gums, tiny pattern of sand, rivers that ornate the land that flowed through the dryness.
This was not her land, although she was born in it, and her family, poor from the destruction of the temple and the chaos of Europe had acquired much of it. Yet in this part it seemed that the land was absorbing all that was left of Europe, that the desert would flow across the top of it, absorb it beneath and preserve it for the next band of archaeologists.
Joshua waited at the station and kicked some stones with his boots. It seemed to him that the town was holding back the encroaching dessert. It seemed to him that the town never really had a grip on the land, everything he looked at from the station platform to the buildings on the other side of the road seemed so temporary, the ant trail on the ground, the insects the flies. Whitlam was giving it back piece by piece to the people of the land, yet Joshua could see that nature was already taking it back.
The town was small and the walls that surrounded it were like waves, frozen in a moment, as if that moment passed, the town would be washed away. He had driven up to ANZAC Hill, that morning coffee in hand and the vastness of the land around him, interrupted by the walls that surrounded him, vast ranges thousands of years old, made him think about how temporary the town seemed. The explorers had searched for an inland sea and they had stood on it, two had died so close to the water, water that had once flowed above like the waters of the Todd that flowed occasionally was underneath. This land was abundant, without end, timeless not meant to change, never to change like the old Arrenate women who sat under the same tree every morning, long into the afternoon, yarning, painting, dreaming.
Joshua contemplated how many explosives he would need to bring down the walls and to free the town, what wealth might lay underneath them, but momentarily lost in his need to flick another piece of peeling paint from the waiting room wall. This was his land, but he never felt part of it. He like much was taken out of it, extracted as a baby and grew up on the streets of Surry Hills, a young boy, dark haired and dark eyed and eager for tales of the old country, yet these were not his stories, not the stories of his country but he would lose himself in the stories of ancient lands, tales of Crazy Horse, and the battles of crusaders travelling through the dust of the holy land.
Joshua and Jessica became friends, she rescued him from the teasing of the primary yard and they both walked home together and played and loved to read fantastic tales of the world, that one day would draw them both, but in different directions. She loved him and he adored the beauty of her soul but her parents warned her about boys like him and they were lost in the chaos of adolescence. She left with her family to Jerusalem. Now she was on the train named for the rough camel traders, the Bedouin of the dessert that passed through crossing after crossing of the rusting expanse, town after town. She had just finished her cup of tea, lipstick on, covered her lips blending with the desert and the last few miles marked by the coolabahs and now the fences, the small houses and the purple walls, the gap was in sight.
Joshua had toppled the walls with a trumpet, but nothing less than 200 tons, to blast the open cut and take out the ore . They were after the iron, but it was if the dogs, the people, the town itself were coated in iron and rusting before his eyes. He had the weekend off and had come to town, but as the train approached he thought about the small mining town he had just driven all night through the heat to escape.
He had completed a job that morning and was pleased, the walls of rock had fallen so easily; well, easier than the last. The dust was part of him and it followed him everywhere, the stench of diesel, the noise of the tippers and tractors lurked about him. He had washed himself clean before leaving the mine but even still he looked down and the dust still faded his boots. He wiped them clean on his trouser legs. The bell started to ring, the red lights flashed and he could see the road barriers that blocked Alice Drive slowly drop, the traffic stopped as the Ghan rolled through. He peered through each window as the carriages passed slowly by, capturing the little gems of light, shards of colour, silhouettes, and at last stopping. He looked, it was her, Jessica. He smiled a little, they kissed, held hands and he put her bags in the back of his ute. The walls appeared purple in the gentle light as they drove down Larripinta Drive, together at last. | https://medium.com/@afirkins/the-walls-of-jericho-12ede3c66b73 | ['Arthur Stuart Firkins Ph.D'] | 2020-09-23 02:15:20.485000+00:00 | ['Love Story', 'Alice Springs', 'The Outback'] |
5 Home Security Systems That You Should Know Right Now | Considering the present unabated crime rate in the UK, it is only a matter of time that it arrives at your doorstep. For ages, electric alarms and security cameras have served as the ‘watchdog’ of many UK households. But, with technological advancement, traditional electric alarms and security cameras have been taken over by more advanced home security systems in the UK. So, if you are in the lookout for effective measures to safeguard your residence, here are some of the options you can consider:
Monitored alarm system
This is one of the sought-after safety measures found in most households. It connects the alerting device to a 24/7 monitoring service in a remote location. If it gets tipped, security personnel can immediately be deployed within short notice.
Plus, it also prompts one to identify. Therefore, it can identify break-ins from false alarm. In the case of the former, the concerned authorities are alerted immediately on the user’s behalf for maximum action.
Wireless alarm system
These mostly function as the monitored variant, the only difference is that it’s more high-tech. It uses a combination of CCTV cameras, motion detectors, and sensors to provide you with unmatched safety.
However, it is highly expensive and found in only the elite households. The advantages although overshadows its only drawback. These are easier to install and can also operate even under power-cuts.
Smart Security Camera
There are many ways you can improve the efficiency of your camera. The pan/tilt/zoom option helps you to cover the widest range of an incident that takes place. Wireless security cameras integrated with the Wide Dynamic Range can take a clear picture in the worst lighting conditions. Integrate an audio system to your camera and you can establish a two-way communication system to your camera. As Your Smart Home Guide points out, Arlo and Blink are two of the best outdoor security cameras with two-way communication.
Burglar notification system
It lies in the center of home security systems as it incorporates -
Window sensors
Door sensors
Pressure-sensitive panels
Motion detectors
Together, these alert systems function to deliver unparalleled service. Plus, all of these security features can be centrally controlled from a control panel. It even works remotely and can set-off deafening alarms in case of forced entry.
As these systems are automatically monitored, the police are also alerted in case of any rupture to your premises. The best part is you can even bag a rebate on your burglar insurance plan if your home sports this security measure!
Smoke alarm system
A renowned safety measure, it guards the inhabitants against fire breakouts and smoke in one’s residence. It can either be hardwired or wireless, depending on your preference and pocket. Smoke detectors along with strobe lights are installed to seamlessly work under threat.
If you want to ‘up’ your security game, you can install a combination of heat detectors, fire alerts, and sprinkler systems for maximum efficiency.
Medical alarm system
This provides indispensable if you have elderly people at your residence and you want them to be constantly monitored. It consists of an emergency button that is connected with the monitoring system that can be triggered in case of a medical emergency. Under such circumstances, if you are outside your home, you can immediately call for medical assistance to rush to the location.
Opt for any of these home security systems, and stay secured irrespective of whether you are inside or outside your residence. First, identify which one will best cater to your requirements and then, prepare your budget accordingly. Stay safe. Buy your peace of mind. | https://medium.com/@chrisjames_36701/5-home-security-systems-that-you-should-know-right-now-6e5e766f695c | ['Chris James'] | 2020-06-10 08:37:09.449000+00:00 | ['Home Security Systems', 'Security', 'Security Camera', 'Home Security Tips', 'Security Systems'] |
Last Train to Fast Recovery | The anticipated evolution of the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is playing out. While the resilience of the US economy has allowed for a bounce from the extreme lows of last spring, the core issues have not been addressed. For entire sectors the situation will get much worse and damage will become permanent unless the right kind of action is taken now!
Prior relief has been exhausted … without providing a structural solution
The near 3-trillion dollar relief package(s) passed since last spring has come and gone. It HAS provided relief but the form in which these relief resources have been given constrained its duration and effectiveness. Understandably, Congress is reluctant to pass another mammoth package — given how little bang has been provided by the huge buck.
The fact is that relief relying primarily on grants or loans is the WRONG kind of government intervention, as they fail to provide a structural solution to the mechanics of the crisis. Therefore, the amounts that can be provided under this form are insufficient to have lasting impact.
For example, the median household rent in the United States is $1,400; therefore a $1,200 check would not even cover rent for a month, forget the nine months that the crisis has claimed to date.
Similarly, the various loans or grants to businesses — while huge in the aggregate — are nevertheless too small to allow them to retain and pay their employees and stay in business in the face of collapsed revenues while still facing huge rental and financial obligations.
The situation is back to critical for many
Necessity and ingenuity have allowed businesses in many sectors to resume decent economic activity. However, as the medical emergency perdures and confinement measures are extended, households and entire important economic sectors will see the crisis reach breaking levels.
Households: lacking sufficient income, many households are struggling to make ends meet and are unable to fulfill their financial obligations, of which rent is the biggest at an average of 30% of monthly net income. The Aspen Institute estimated that almost 40 million Americans will face evictions in the coming months across the United States[i].
Businesses: Many have tried to hold on for months, cutting down expenses and letting go of employees (contributing to the plight of households). Yet, the structural issue of commercial rents has not been solved. Unable to make rent payments and spiraling deeper and deeper into debt, many businesses are in danger of bankruptcy or closure while some have already permanently closed. As an example, the Restaurants Act of 2020 summary provides details about the decimation of restaurants that is under way (and accelerating) and points out the enormous size, $1 trillion annually, of the boost that the restaurant industry contributes to the US economy.
Landlords and financial stakeholders are the next shoe to drop
So far, most residential and commercial landlords, and holders of financial capital have been only indirectly affected. Many may have hoped to emerge little scathed by the crisis — but reality is about to hit hard — as can be observed by the precipitous decline in commercial rents and the exploding volume of vacancies in the office real estate space.
With a lot of supply and depressed demand, it may be a year or more before new tenants can be found to move in and start paying rent. Even so, significant price reductions are all but assured and may last for several years.
In the worst cases, the landlords themselves and other financial intermediaries along the economic chain may be unable to meet their own financial obligations and suffer bankruptcy or a permanent capital loss.
The only hope to avoid such pain is for them — and everybody — to recognize because of their place in the economic chain, landlords and real capital asset holders are the largest part of the problem. Therefore any structural solution must involve them — if they want to keep “milking the cow and not kill it”.
Rent Relief — a one-legged solution
Rent relief programs that have been suggested take a stab to address the core issue:
Eviction moratoriums only prevent landlords from evicting tenants for not paying rents. This is extremely helpful in a short timeframe — but useless in a longer timeframe, as tenants are required to repay any missed rent payments at a later time: for most, bankruptcies or evictions will be simply moved forward.
Direct payment to landlords has been suggested, but doing it directly would be gargantuanly prohibitive for the government to do on its own.
In contrast, rent cancellation programs would cancel the accrual of rents during the crisis entirely. While this is essential to provide relief to households and tenants, it merely shifts the burden of these payments onto landlords, who still must repay financial intermediaries for their mortgages while facing no or much reduced rental revenues. This inability to pay financial obligations and consequent capital losses or bankruptcies will ricochet up the financial chain, drawing more and more people and businesses into the crisis.
“Time Suspended” — a comprehensive solution
Thus we see that a structural solution is needed to cover all the bases. It must provide rent and interest relief at the end of the chain; but it must also be smart about how the burden is partially shifted onto other economic agents. It can neither absolve landlords and financial agents from shouldering any of the burden, but it also cannot simply shift the burden onto just the next level. The burden needs to be widely shared so that each economic agent only bears the smallest possible fraction of it.
The Time Suspended framework sets ALL interest rates on ALL financial assets, ALL unproductive business real assets, and ALL personal mortgages to 0% on all pre-existing contracts while the crisis lasts; and concomitantly sets a grace period for any installment, and extends all contracts by the same amount of time, as appropriate. (Note that the government is already doing exactly that with student loans: 0% + deferment). The deferments and suspensions are modulated over time in proportion to business or household income contraction.
By making the solution ‘universal’, all economic agents down the chain that see a reduction in their income or revenues reduced, would benefit by a corresponding proportional reduction in their own financial obligations.
As a result, the burden of lost revenue is distributed across all agents in the economy rather than completely obliterating one level (businesses and households, or landlords, or financial intermediaries, or bondholders). The sharing of the burden would give businesses the resilience they need during an unprecedented economic standstill, without simply shifting it onto landlords and financial intermediaries.
While some might be concerned about the legal cost of implementing the Time Suspended solution, a moment of reflection makes it clear that it will in fact save $$$ in both legal litigation and program administration costs as relief flows automatically where it needs to go!
Luca Donà, PhD
mathematician: Economics, Finance, Game Theory, Risk
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucadona/ @LucaDonaV
Prof. Raphael Douady
research Professor at University of Paris I: Pantheon-Sorbonne; mathematician, statistician, extreme risk specialist
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael_Douady
Jeremy Dilbeck, MPP, Intl. Trade & Finance
[i] https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/the-covid-19-eviction-crisis-an-estimated-30-40-million-people-in-america-are-at-risk/ | https://luca-dv.medium.com/last-train-to-fast-recovery-902704bbbabe | ['Luca Donà'] | 2020-12-18 19:52:03.039000+00:00 | ['Economic Recovery', 'Stimulus Package', 'Restaurant Industry', 'Eviction Moratorium'] |
Cross-Site Cookies Will Now Be Rejected on localhost Because of SameSite=None; Secure in Chrome 80 | Cross-Site Cookies Will Now Be Rejected on localhost Because of SameSite=None; Secure in Chrome 80
If you’re looking to building a project in which you would be serving cross-site cookies, here’s what you need to know.
Photo by Rai Vidanes on Unsplash
At the time of writing, the Chrome browser stands at Version 85.0.4183.102 and the initially introduced security update in Chrome Version 80 for cross-site cookie policy is now almost available on all app distribution platforms.
The new rule demands that all cross-site cookies set in a browser have to be set with Secure attribute if they are to have None as their SameSite value. This is esoterically for cookies meant to be served in cross-site contexts only.
Third-party widgets and Oauth interfaces for authenticating with Google, Facebook and Twitter etc. fall in this category including Youtube embedded videos too.
These services use cookies set in your browser when you originally visit their site to give you less overhead when using their services on other websites.
Basically what it means is that when playing an embedded Youtube video in another site — say on a Facebook page, the facebook page is given access to cookies like your user Id which were set in your browser by the original Youtube site.
Photo by Emil Protalinski on VentureBeat
The Facebook page then uses these cookies to load your profile inside the embedded Youtube video, and when you click the Watch Later button in the Youtube embedded interface, the cookies exposed to Facebook are again used to add the particular video to your Watch Later videos on Youtube — which is originally what would happen if you were watching the video on Youtube.
Many web projects that do not have this sort of use case or requirements per se, may not be concerned about this so much. But, if you’re looking at building a project and you would be serving cross-site cookies (which is basically what the above use case does), here’s what you need to know. | https://medium.com/swlh/how-the-new-chrome-80-cookie-rule-samesite-none-secure-affects-web-development-c06380220ced | ['Andrews Kangah'] | 2020-10-07 21:42:01.667000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Software Development', 'Ssl', 'Chrome', 'Web Development'] |
Jack Mason, Group CEO of Inc & Co, and Making a Virtual Christmas Party | It’s the time of year when social calendars are typically filled with office Christmas parties. Donning festive clothes to unwind with coworkers over glasses of wine while anticipating the festive period is a time-honored tradition and one that jack Mason knows office workers look forward to each year. But this year, in the midst of a global pandemic, in-person parties are off the table. Does that mean your office should forget the Christmas party?
Jack Mason, founder of Inc & Co, said that with all the added stress, uncertainty, and upended routines this year has brought, the office Christmas party is more important than ever. Mason advises company leaders to plan a virtual Christmas party this year that encourages people to gather, celebrate, and unwind safely and to make sure that it still reflects the company’s culture and feels personal. The virtual Christmas party, he says, will serve to remind the team that this difficult stage is temporary, that traditions persist (even if they look a little different), and that there is still opportunity for fun and community at work.
Jack Mason’s core business, Inc & Co, brings together numerous digital companies and provides them with a suite of support services for their operational needs to help them grow — including marketing, HR, finance, and recruitment. Clients include the e-commerce apparel company Brass; venture fund Neon; Cuhu, a mobile app development company; on-demand laundry service Laundrapp and Skylab, a sports innovation agency that works with high-profile clients like FIFA, Manchester United, and Swim England.
When Jack was planning his company’s own virtual Christmas party this year, he wanted an event that would bring together these diverse startups and agencies, along with employees from Inc & Co and incspaces, in one blowout, virtual gala. Mason created a free virtual Christmas party — called the incparty — that included live music from prominent Manchester-based musicians, a DJ, and giveaways and discounts from local businesses.
“2020 has been a tough year for everyone, but there is still time to end on a high,” Mason said. “Our virtual Christmas party — the incparty — is for all of those businesses, freelancers, furloughed and individuals who are not attending a Christmas party this year and may be struggling with feelings of loneliness. We wanted to do something to bring everyone together but from the comfort and safety of their own home.”
Musical acts included dreamy, upbeat singer Ellysse Mason, and soulful singer-songwriters Tim Gallagher and Joe McAdam. DJ Clint Boon, one of the UK’s most sought-after club DJs, closed out the night. The event was designed not as a lesser version of the company’s typical Christmas affair, but as a memorable, one-of-a-kind experience that would be remembered and talked about long after.
Just because it’s virtual, said Mason, does not mean the company Christmas party should be less interesting or fun. Below are Mason’s top tips for designing a virtual Christmas party that leaves people talking. Get creative. Think about what you can offer virtually that wouldn’t be possible in a live setting, said Mason. Start with space. A typical office party needs a single location — a local restaurant or hall for a catered event. Online, there are no such restrictions. The event services company Hire Space, for instance, is offering virtual parties that includes various Christmas-themed rooms for guests to enjoy, including crafts, a DJ, a wine tasting (small bottles are delivered to each guest), and a baking tent.
Keep people engaged.
When everyone’s on Zoom together enjoying their beverage of choice, make sure to keep the mood interactive and fun through planned activities, Mason said. You can invite everyone to wear their favourite Christmas jumper or participate in an office-related quiz.
Take time for celebration.
This has been a difficult year for everyone and it’s important for company leadership to acknowledge those hardships and to take time to thank staff for their work and clients for their loyalty during tough times. These sentiments don’t have to be long — and it’s better if they aren’t — but make sure they are meaningful and sincere, said Mason. And since the medium is virtual, be sure to prepare something in advance with visuals that will leave an impression. And don’t forget to capture images of the night for sharing on social media.
Incorporate food.
It may seem counterintuitive, but with a little advanced planning, it is possible to connect the office team around a shared Christmas dinner. Work with a local restaurant or catering service to have meals delivered to teams so that everyone can log on and dig in together.
Include a special guest or two.
One of the advantages of a virtual event is the ability to attract performers, speakers, and entertainers from anywhere. Just as Jack Mason was able to bring together numerous musical acts for his incparty, develop a theme and find special guests that will really help to make the event memorable and meaningful, Mason says. Think about people whose words and performances will elevate the mood — music is always good, but you might also consider comedians and inspirational speakers, he says. Decide what impression you want people to be left with — hopeful, grateful, connected — he advises, and use that as your guide.
Give a gift.
Even a small token of appreciation can go a long way if it is thoughtful, Mason notes. A Christmas party is typically an occasion for delivering a little gift to let employees and clients know they are appreciated. Think about how you might best honour them this year. You can use this opportunity to support local businesses, making the gift extra meaningful. You might consider a branded hat or sweatshirt that everyone can wear to help them feel a connected part of the team. Or perhaps it’s an extra day or half day off to let your team know how much you value their time during these extraordinary times.
About Jack Mason
Jack Mason is the Group CEO of Manchester’s digital collective Inc & Co. He directs the group’s vision and meticulously plots business strategies for each acquisition, helping numerous teams to hone their operations and collaborative practices. Jack embraces entrepreneurial approaches to accelerate business success, harnessing cutting-edge technologies, and market approaches to achieve optimal results for Inc & Co’s acquisitions. | https://medium.com/@jackmasoninc/jack-mason-group-ceo-of-inc-co-and-making-a-virtual-christmas-party-35ab6a8dc94b | ['Jack Mason'] | 2021-02-10 18:02:13.872000+00:00 | ['Holiday Party Ideas', 'Party', 'Christmas', 'Company Culture'] |
Controversial Issues of the Church ~ Abortion | Controversial Issues of the Church ~ Abortion
. Because the Catholic church believes that all human beings are children of God, it is strictly against the act of abortion. committing the act of abortion violates the sixth commandment “You shall not murder” and the church condemns the act of destruction to any human being at any stage of its development from the point of conception to the point of death. The church affirms that induced abortion is an allowable option only when the life of the mother-to-be is threatened by the continuation of the pregnancy.
. The church expects believers to show Christian compassion and to offer support to those experiencing unwanted pregnancies as well as to those who have undergone abortions. It calls believers to speak out against the cruelty of abortion, to promote action that reflects the teaching of the Bible regarding the sacredness of human life, and to reject all violence against those who commit abortion.
. Personally, I am both pro-life and pro-choice. I believe that abortion is the mother’s decision, and I will respect whatever they decide however, I do disagree with abortion any time after about 8 weeks because anytime after that point, the baby starts to develop into a functioning human being. The mother is almost always responsible for her pregnancy and should be responsible for taking care of her child. But if she were sexually assaulted in some way or was terminally ill due to the pregnancy, I do think it is reasonable to terminate the pregnancy.
. The movie “Unplanned” did change my views in some way because before I had watched it, I agreed with abortion because it was the mothers choice to do whatever she wanted with her own body. This is still a valid point, however, my views changed when Cheryl admits that she had only been in the business and increased the expected abortion rates for the money she recieved. Abby was such an inspiration for standing up for what she knew was right even if that meant leaving her friends and career behind.
. Every life is sacred no matter the age, and should be treated with respect and equality. My heart goes out to anyone facing challenges in their lives related to abortion, and I will forever keep them in my thoughts and prayers. There is always another option and there are loads of services to guide expecting mothers throughout their journeys. | https://medium.com/@delaneycheyne/controversial-issues-of-the-church-abortion-6769e71ab591 | ['Delaney Cheyne'] | 2020-12-19 17:09:06.356000+00:00 | ['Church', 'Religious Freedom', 'Religion'] |
P-values are less diagnostic than we like to think | A significant p-value is less ground for confidence than we would like to think. The problem is that we spontaneously interpret p-values through a “Bayesian” lens, where they do not really fit.
First, many people think that a p-value tells you the probability that your hypothesis is false. But this is wrong, notably because p-values suffer from base rate neglect (they can lead you to accept even hypotheses that are abysmally implausible a priori).
This post is about a second, more subtle problem.
For a long time I thought that, in cases where base rates are not a problem, then surely p-values have a straightforward interpretation. Surely, if before collecting the data you think that H0 and H1 are equally plausible, and the data give you p < .05, then you should think that there is a more-than-95% chance that H1 is right.
But this is not correct. The reason is that the quantity expressed by the p-value is strangely irrelevant to statistical inference.
—
Your friend Mark has two coins in a box. One of them is perfectly fair, but the other coin has a bias: it lands Heads 61% of the time. Mark shuffles the box, and draws one coin randomly from the box.
Then he tosses the coin 100 times. It lands Heads 61 times. How confident can you be that the coin is the biased one?
Let’s see if p-values suggest an answer.
Here, a p-value gives the probability that we get a number of Heads as extreme, or more extreme, than 61, assuming that H0, the null hypothesis, is true (H0 is “the coin is fair”). To compute the p-value, I take a fair coin, toss it 100 times, and count the number of Heads. I repeat this a million times (using R), counting the number of Heads I get each time.
I get the following distribution:
Then I simply count the number of simulations where I get a value that is as extreme (or more extreme) than 61. That is, all simulations where the number of Heads is either lower than 40, or higher than 60. This is the blue area in this histogram:
I get such an extreme result in 3.5% of the simulations. So, p = .035.
Where do we go from there?
It feels natural to view the p-value as a measure of how well the data fits with the null hypothesis. To determine how much the data favors H1 over H0, we could compare the p-value with an analogous measure that tells us how well the data fits H1.
How well does the data fit with the hypothesis that the coin is biased? Given that the biased coin has a 61% bias toward Heads, then every possible outcome is “as extreme or more extreme” than actually observing 61 Heads in 100 tosses:
Therefore it feels natural to say that the likelihood of the data under H1 is 1.
Now we can try to quantify how much the data favors H1 over H0. We simply take the ratio of the likelihood of the data under H1 and under H0, and we obtain 1 / .035 = 28.6. I.e., we conclude that the data we obtained are 28.6 times more likely if the coin is biased than if the coin is fair. Both hypotheses were equally likely a priori, so we do not need to worry about base rates. Therefore we conclude that we are now 28.6 times more confident in H1 than H0.
But this is wrong. As we’re about to see, this calculation over-estimates the actual strength of the evidence by a factor of almost 2.5!
The correct computation
Bayes’ rule tells us how to get the correct answer. First we need to count how many times we got exactly 61 Heads, in the simulations where we used a fair coin. This corresponds to the red bar in this histogram:
Then we need to count how many times we got exactly 61 Heads, in the simulations where we used a biased coin:
The next thing Bayes’ rule tells us is very intuitive: the strength of evidence in favor of H1 is simply the number of times we got exactly 61 Heads with the biased coin, divided by the number of times we got exactly 61 Heads with the fair coin. I.e., it is the size of the large red bar, divided by the size of the small red bar.
Out of 1 million simulations with the biased coin, I got 61 Heads 82012 times. Out of 1 million simulations with the fair coin I got 61 Heads 7064 times. This means that the strength of the evidence is 82013/7064 = 11.6.
Quite less than the 28.6 we found before! What went wrong the first time?
The problem
The problem is that the p-value does not give us what we want.
Bayes’ rule tells us that what matters is P(d|h): the probability that, assuming hypothesis h is true, we would get the exact same data we actually observed. But the p-value does not give us P(d|h). Instead it gives us the probability of getting data that is as extreme (or more extreme) than the data we actually observed. And Bayes’ rule tells us that this quantity is irrelevant to statistical inference. There is no good normative reason we should care about how “extreme” the data is.
In pictures: the really interesting information is this:
But the p-value looks at this:
The p-value’s concern with extreme values unfairly disfavors H0. The quantity that is relevant to evaluating H0 is the probability of getting exactly 61 Heads. But in evaluating H0, the p-value also looks at the probability of getting 62, or 63, or 64 (and so forth up to 100) Heads. These irrelevant probabilities make H0 look bad, because they are very small.
Note that in our example, H1 (“the coin is 61% biased toward Heads”) is the hypothesis that is maximally compatible with the data. With any other H1, a p-value of .035 would be even less diagnostic. For example, if H1 is “the coin’s bias toward Heads is somewhere between 51 and 100%”, then observing 61 Heads in 100 tosses gives us p = .035, but makes us only 2.7 times more confident in H1 than H0.
Conclusion
Presumably, scientists collect data because they are interested in P(h|d), the probability that a hypothesis is true, given the data. So one might expect that p-values tell us something especially relevant to P(h|d).
But they don’t really do that. The formula that tells us how to compute P(h|d) is Bayes’ rule. You can squint as hard as you want at Bayes’ rule, you will not find anything like the p-value among its building blocks.
This is a problem because most people may spontaneously interpret p-values in Bayesian terms. Even people who have never heard about Bayes! It’s just that Bayesian interpretations of statistical values are intuitively very compelling. For instance many people think that the p-value gives 1-P(h1|d). Even if you know how to avoid that mistake, you may spontaneously and implicitly think that the p-value quantifies P(d|h0). But as we saw above, it doesn’t, and thinking it does may lead you to vastly overestimate how much the data favors one hypothesis over another.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that p-values tell us nothing about our hypotheses. My point is that what they do tell us is not straightforward.
The problems with p-values don’t mean we should necessarily stop using them — there might be good reasons why they work the way they do. But it is good to be aware of these problems, lest we put too much confidence in our statistical results.
References:
This post is inspired by pp. 63–64 in Chapter 3 in MacKay’s book Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms (2003, Cambridge University Press), available at https://www.inference.org.uk/itprnn/book.pdf.
Paul Smaldino’s Gene Clicker tutorial is a great introduction to the base rate neglect problem with p-values: http://xcelab.net/boffins/
Evidence for systematic misinterpretations of p-values can be found in (e.g.) Oakes (1986); Cassidy et al. (2019).
Appendix: explanation of the correct computation
Bayes’ rule says that the probability that a hypothesis h is correct, given the data we observed, is given by:
P(h|d) = P(d|h)P(h) / P(d)
So we have
P(h0|d) = P(d|h0)P(h0) / [P(d|h0)P(h0) + P(d|h1)P(h1)]
and
P(h1|d) = P(d|h1)P(h1) / [P(d|h0)P(h0) + P(d|h1)P(h1)]
To compute “How probable is H1, relative to H0”?, we compute P(h1|d)/P(h0|d)
Since P(h0) and P(h1) are equal to each other (before seeing the data we think that there is a 50% chance that the coin is biased), we have:
P(H1|d) / P(H0|d) = P(d|H1) / P(d|H0) | https://medium.com/@tadeg.quillien/p-values-are-less-diagnostic-than-we-like-to-think-430f1fceb363 | ['Tadeg Quillien'] | 2021-09-07 18:06:25.816000+00:00 | ['Probability', 'P Value', 'Bayes Theorem', 'Statistics'] |
Learn from Apple’s art of tech explanation | Before the introduction of the M1 chip, I was extremely curious about how Apple will communicate such a complex, technical topic to a wide audience — the majority of people are not engineers. We all should learn from Apple’s Team how to communicate difficult topics to people. I think they have done stunning work.
Now, grab the mug of your favorite coffee, and let’s reveal the secrets of a successful tech presentation!
Glanceable Charts
Charts are normally created to present detailed information — lots of points, lines, and numbers. However, you will not find them in Apple’s Keynote charts.
Simplicity of chart design. Source Apple.com
The chart does not have numbers or scales on the X & Y-axis. They would not mean anything to the majority of the keynote viewers. They have just labels — “Performance” and “Power Consumption.”
What’s more, Apple has also added an additional note to each position — “Performance — Higher is better,” “Power Consumption — Lower is better.” Thanks to this, everyone is able to see and compare the presented results.
What’s more, it is worth mentioning that the gradients used to visualize M1 Chip are also used to present it on a chart. This automatically binds the result with the analyzed object and creates a feeling of consistency — delightful micro branding! I am sure that everyone would intuitively know which line presented the Performance of the M1 CPU.
The final result is a clear and meaningful chart where you can compare new Apple’s CPU with others.
Technology Advancement
While the chip itself does not look very attractive, Apple made everything to make it look extremely modern. They added a glow effect with a gradient to create a foundation for the visual brand of this piece of technology.
M1 Chip was also animated in a way that shows that it is a future technology. You surely noticed that Star Wars and Star Trek movies inspired the motion that presents MacBook Pro’s assemble process. | https://uxdesign.cc/learn-from-apples-art-of-tech-explanation-11b22d616563 | [] | 2020-11-13 01:11:14.294000+00:00 | ['UX', 'Apple', 'Data Visualization', 'Marketing', 'Gadgets'] |
Why I Don’t Want to Talk to Your Kids | We live in interesting times. If a woman doesn’t want children, it’s offensive. If a woman has too many children, it’s offensive. If a woman has children with multiple men, it’s offensive. These days, there’s no right way to be a woman, especially when it comes to her reproductive choices.
I am childfree by choice. Yes, I said “childfree.” I’ve learned recently that some people object to that word. These people find it offensive and decree that it shouldn’t be used, which is ridiculous. I’ve worked very hard to remain childfree, and I’m not going to sugarcoat it to please anyone whose decisions have led to a different outcome.
Clearly, I didn’t remain childfree by choice out of a love of children. In fact, I’ve never really liked kids. Upon hearing this, some people have asked, “Do you realize you were once a kid yourself?”
Of course, I realize I was once a kid myself. That’s when I developed a distaste for children in general. As a shy, quiet child, I abhorred the noisier, more boisterous, less well-behaved children. In my public elementary school, that meant I abhorred all the children. As an adult, I still do.
When I was perhaps ten, a younger cousin asked whether I wanted children someday when I grew up. I was horrified at the question. “No,” I said. “Never.” I haven’t changed my mind, and I don’t see anything wrong with that. | https://medium.com/traceys-folly/i-dont-want-to-talk-to-your-kids-a3610c1b632e | ['Tracey Folly'] | 2019-10-04 14:22:50.896000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Advice', 'Life', 'Parenting', 'Culture'] |
How to Budget Your Way to Freedom From Debt | The first step
One way to better understand where your money is going is to create a personal budget. Although this is a great starting point for those of us caught under a mountain of debt, only 41 percent of Americans report keeping track of their finances. The truth is that you can’t fix something if you don’t know why it’s broken. But, once you understand what’s going on, any changes must be made intelligently and with forethought. Don’t overreact. Wholesale changes are not a recipe for sustainable success.
Aim for lasting improvements over time instead of trying to fix everything in one felled-swoop. You cannot shave your cost-of-living expenses down to the most bare-bones and assume your problems will immediately end. To do this the right way, you will have to assess your situation — without pulling punches — and make necessary but calculated changes. The best way to do that is to create a budget and stick to it like there is no tomorrow.
Put a stranglehold on your financial situation with the help of whatever medium makes you most comfortable. If you aren’t technologically savvy, write it all down. If you aren’t averse to using online programs, consider one of the many free and reputable, smart-phone friendly options on the Internet. With each item, no matter how small or embarrassing, add it to the ledger. They all helped get you into money trouble, and understanding that will help to fix things. | https://medium.com/illumination/how-to-budget-your-way-to-debt-freedom-68db01716eab | ['Matt Reicher'] | 2020-12-23 12:06:42.875000+00:00 | ['Budget', 'Money', 'Money Management', 'Finance', 'Budgeting'] |
How Culture Shapes Our Minds | How Culture Shapes Our Minds
The Fight Against Preconception
Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash
Do not get me wrong, I agree with multiculturalism in a society full of differences. Though what is undeniable is that culture has and does shape our minds, even without our consent. It is hard to believe how a simple thing like growing into a specific group, with a specific language and a particular way of communicating would eventually reflect who we are in life.
From colours to different shapes, from textures to exquisite patterns; your life is dogged by a simple robotic mode that either involuntarily or by a simple act of love as a child, on behalf of your parents, reflects your way of thinking as an adult — unless you change over time.
Homo Sapiens Could Have Not Survived Without Culture
Culture nonetheless is an important aspect of our history as human beings. From primordial times, culture kept us warm, provided food and shelter and also organised us as a collective to survive as the species that we see today.
“Culture has made the human species a spectacular ecological success”, according to Robert Boyd and Peter J. Richerson, whom wrote “The Origin and Evolution of Cultures”.
Modern times only exacerbate this fact, social media reveals the dark side of an evolutionary aspect of embedded intelligent animals in definite groups that unfortunately most of the time cannot relate to one another.
It is hard to understand why we are still dependent on learned habits sometimes rooted in a specific culture and absent of minor changes. Such a taboo subject that advocates further discussion to make it a plausible point of view as to why people think and act differently.
For the sake of living together and surviving due to geographical proximity, it does make sense to adopt certain traditions. Although if it is by force whilst trying to convert others concerning orthodox beliefs, it has clearly increased conflict around the world, promoting narrow-minded individuals in the end.
To grasp this concept further, can you remember when you were a baby? If not, ask your parents.
You were most probably put in a room and shown specific colours, listened to certain music, watched certain videos, read certain books and sometimes prayed to certain gods.
Your group as a teenager is directly related to what your parents had and continue to have, mostly with thoughts and ideas about the world. Have you ever thought about that for one second?
If so, I am afraid to say that your little bubble is no more than one suburb away, as soon as you leave the community and start exploring the world and investigate new cultures, furthermore sub-cultures. You might be one step ahead of seeing with different eyes what the world has to offer.
Our brain, as flexible as it is, can rewire itself slowly to accommodate the mind in the way you apply your new habit or adapt your old pattern to a specific location.
This is neuroplasticity at its peak. It is undeniably an auto-mode uncontrolled physically by us, which is nothing more than a way to adapt to the environment and thrive as a single organism — you — into a specific community.
Language and customs may be a turning page for adaptation, where cultural shock slips through unnoticed and sometimes makes you anxious of the unexpected. It is up to you to accept it or not.
If you do, it opens a new window of opportunity to debunk the preconceptions before your eyes. Common symptoms of a cultural shock are dreaming in different languages and accepting different protocols.
Or for instance, you may begin to undertake unusual behaviours and possibly stop judging others by appearance or just someone out of date with their clothes. Skin colours do not matter anymore; you have seen different and interacted enough to accept the differences because there was no way around it, unless you isolated yourself or became depressed, or simply ignored the fact that you were far away from the comfort of the parenting circle.
We, as humans, are dependent on social skills to maintain our mental health. Self-isolation can just crash our system and keep us alienated in a single world of denialism and unlimited suffering. See what happens during this pandemic. The rate of depression has grown considerably since it all started in March 2020, but that is when technology can work in our favour.
Your worldly experience can reveal who you are, breaking old taboos that could no longer have made you prosper as a globalised person and allow others to show you different ways of seeing things. As Sigmund Freud would say, not to quote him directly, people could find themselves perceived with one reality that invites other realities to be part of the one.
Now, imagine if everyone, as simple as it gets, could apply the humble ideas provided above. Would that not be of interest?
Photo by Nikita Kachanovsky on Unsplash
A Better Collective Future Ahead?
How will the world look in hundreds of years? Humans have a massive footprint thus other animals are just present and alive. Although our responsibility outreaches expectations for the future to change for the better, our species continue to thrive, even by harming one another. Some past cultures have shown us how to work in symbiosis with nature, but it is too far away from today’s world and for the majority of us living in cities.
If it is to progress for the better in hundreds of years’ time, I guess leaving nature alone would not be a bad idea. Let its natural cycle of life and death continue then. Even though, we can still be part of it as long as we understand how it works and comply with it.
And also, to be convinced that we are just animals like any other. We shall let greed alone disappear into the shadows, transforming this attitude into a new global culture.
Too much to ask I guess? But it is up to us, changing to an open-minded view of the world. Just then we could take the full benefit of sustaining different cultures and adopt a common one to live in peace. Is it really possible? | https://medium.com/the-innovation/how-culture-shapes-our-minds-794e554d44a9 | ['Tiago Miranda'] | 2020-12-11 16:03:03.256000+00:00 | ['Vision', 'Philosophy Of Mind', 'Human History', 'Culture', 'Neuroscience'] |
Implementing Aspect Based Sentiment Analysis using Python | Aspect Based Sentiment Analysis also known as Feature Based Sentiment Analysis is a technique to find out various features, attributes, or aspects from a given text and their respective sentiments.
In this article, we will look at how we can implement ABSA using Python and various NLP tools such as StanfordNLP and NLTK.
The paper that I have referenced for the implementation of the code is published by Nachiappan Chockalingam in which he had explained everything in very detail about ABSA. I highly recommend you to first read this amazing paper and then jump onto the code, as it will make it very clear of what’s happening in the code.
Paper: Simple and Effective Feature Based Sentiment Analysis on Product Reviews using Domain-Specific Sentiment Scores
Let’s Get Started
Installing Essential Libraries
Open up your terminal and install the following Libraries
pip install pandas
pip install numpy
pip install nltk
pip install stanfordnlp
For PyTorch installation go onto this PyTorch website.
Importing Libraries
Open up your Jupyter Notebook and import the following libraries,
Now download the Stanford English model and some nltk tools that will be later used for extracting the Dependency relation in the text and other text preprocessing tasks.
Create a sample text review on which we will perform ABSA.
txt = "The Sound Quality is great but the battery life is very bad."
LowerCase the text and tokenize the Sentence.
Now for each sentence in the <sentList> tokenize it and perform POS Tagging and store it into a Tagged List.
Now there are many instances where a feature is represented by multiple words so we need to handle that first by joining multiple words features into a one-word feature.
Tokenize and POS Tag the new sentence.
Now we will use the Stanford NLP Dependency Parser to get the relations between each word.
Now we will select only those sublists from the <dep_node> that could probably contain the features.
Now using the <dep_node> list and the <featureList> we will determine to which of the words these features in the feature list are related to.
So as you can see we have got the feature words and for each word a list of words it is related to.
Now select only the feature Nouns List from the <fcluster>.
So with this, we have got the list of the features and their respective sentiment words within a sentence, now all you have to do is to check whether the sentiment word is positive, negative or neutral.
Full Code
Conclusion
So with this, we have seen a basic implementation of Aspect Based Sentiment Analysis using various NLP tools and techniques.
The code explained here can be very much improved by adding various NLP preprocessing techniques like Coreference Resolution, Slang Words Removal, Negation Handling, Sarcasm Detection, etc.
If you found this article useful do Clap and Share and feel free to ask any doubts regarding the article. Always open to any suggestions or ways to improve the code :)
and feel free to ask any doubts regarding the article. Always open to any suggestions or ways to improve the code :) Connect with me on LinkedIn or GitHub.
References
Updates and Fixes
If anyone is facing the errors with StanfordNLP module, try using this alternative module called “stanza” as mentioned in the comments. | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/aspect-based-sentiment-analysis-a-practical-approach-8f51029bbc4a | ['Rohan Goel'] | 2020-12-29 07:10:17.299000+00:00 | ['Stanfordnlp', 'Python', 'NLP'] |
Obama’s 2013 Speech on Gun Violence at Hyde Park | Communication major and professional writing minor. Aspiring journalist with an interest in Anthropology as well. | https://medium.com/@jcasta35/obamas-2013-speech-on-gun-violence-at-hyde-park-84042bddc848 | ['Jennifer Castaneda'] | 2020-11-12 16:41:01.994000+00:00 | ['President', 'Obama', 'Violence', 'United States', 'Guns'] |
Find out if rental property is a scam | There are a lot of ways of screening a possible property manager before you sign the rent. Assuming the landowner is reluctant to share data, you can realize what you really want to know from different sources, like public workplaces and the Internet. At the point when you have accumulated as much data as is accessible, use it to settle on an educated choice with regards to leasing the property.
Some corrupt characters break into abandoned properties and lease them to clueless individuals. You can try not to turn into a casualty of this trick. The expense authority’s office tracks available properties in the province, and the records contain the names of the lawful proprietors. Scan the records for the location of the investment property to see whether the landowner is recorded as the proprietor. Assuming the names don’t coordinate, contact the lawful proprietor and inquire as to whether she realizes the individual implying to be the property manager. Some of the time, the plan is authentic, for instance, the individual you are managing is a specialist following up for the lawful proprietor’s sake.
Inquire as to whether the property is in dispossession or going into abandonment. A few states, including California, expect landowners to illuminate leaseholders when this occurs. Assuming you figure the landowner may be concealing something, you can really look at the current status of the property in the agent’s office at the region town hall. Assuming the property is in abandonment, you will observe records showing that a dispossession suit has been documented. A “notice of default” documentation demonstrates that the landowner has not been making installments and the property is near abandonment.
Check freely available reports for common or criminal suits brought against the property manager, particularly suits by occupants. You can check for this data in the region town hall or examination online by visiting the district court’s site for the province where the property is found. Search the internet based information base of criminal court records by composing in the property manager’s complete name. Check for different records that could give accommodating data about the property manager’s person.
Go to the site rental property is a scam | https://medium.com/@towhidulislam472/find-out-if-rental-property-is-a-scam-9bc5afc4629b | ['Towhid Jewel'] | 2021-12-24 10:52:55.830000+00:00 | ['Property', 'Scam', 'Rental', 'Find'] |
Contemplations on Design for 2020 | By: Vrishali Kekre Deshmukh
Recently, I returned from a visit to Anuga, the world’s largest trade fair for food and beverages. This was my first visit to the fair, which takes place every two years in Cologne, Germany. Spanning over eleven large halls and many sub-halls, Anuga was indeed enormous! Like any other trade fair of this magnitude, the trends here are a two-way street. While they are influenced by the journey of the industry so far, it also points to where the industry in heading in the future. In my opinion, these trends are sure to stay for a minimum of two years, if not more.
This year also marked the 100th year for Anuga, but with no previous year to compare it with, I will continue this blog for what I saw in this one.
With 2020 upon us, most blog pages will speak about a host of trending matters. Trends to look forward to, what design will look like this year and so many more! So, instead of a conventional piece on design predictions for India in the new year, it would be nice to take a moment instead and reflect on some global trends, which we would also like to see in India.
Here is my take on the seven very impressive global trends that would make complete sense in the Indian context too:
1. Keeping Up With Changing Food Habits and Allergies
In India, while manufacturers and marketers are indeed slowly waking up to the growing numbers of food allergies that afflict consumers, we probably need to now go beyond mere pack/ tag claims. With food and health trends changing rapidly especially amongst urban consumers, gluten allergies, diabetes and veganism too, are gradually changing the way people consume food. Alternatives such as gluten-free, sugar-free, meat-free have been ruling European culinary styles and supermarket shelves for some time now, with at least one in five products catering to these. Taking a cue, now may just be the time back home, we emphatically work towards creating packaging and claims that provide functional benefits to consumers!
2. Do We Feel Proud
Each exhibiting country at the Anuga had a beautiful, well designed pavilion, showcasing their roots. Except India sadly, which left much to be desired! Not just visual aesthetics, but the adequate representation of our rich Indian culinary culture was also completely missing. Perhaps because most significant Indian brands chose to stay away from the India Pavilion. While chicken tikka masala becomes the UK’s national dish and Curry Nights become a catchphrase, there seems to be little pride within Indian companies to identify with their roots.
3. Making Food Consumption Inclusive
Speaking about changing food habits, culinary traditions and dietary habits are also often influenced by geographical regions and culture. I believe, factoring in these influences while designing for food consumption would help consumers connect to products and brands better. It could be something as simple as certifying meat products as Halal, at restaurants as well as in packaging. Most international players at Anuga seemed to take cognizance of this food preference and displayed these claims up-front on their products; even the ones that are obviously meat-free such as ice-creams, butters, etc. This is a discussion that the world community needs to actively participate in, if we want to make food and the way it is served and consumed, more inclusive.
PS: Did u know vanilla and gelatin are non-halal products? I found that out on this trip!
4. What is Your Story
It has become evident that the world over, products are now becoming unified. Everywhere we see, each brand has the same range as the other, with an exception of a product or two. And if there is innovation in the products itself, technology has made it very possible for others to follow suite immediately. In a scenario like this, the only thing that remain own-able is the story! What is the promise that your brand makes, is a question to ask manufacturers. Because, what truly makes a brand unique, is its story. And that, no one can copy!
5. Embracing Technology in its True Sense
I see plenty of brands today adding a QR code to their packaging and believing that
that’s technology integration! But what next? Are the buyers’ needs as minimal as scanning a QR code that leads to a website? Here is some food for thought…at Anuga we saw technology creep into packaging design in the form of digital shelves, smart packs, colour changing labels, holographic labels, 3D printing, variable printing, RFID, accountability, traceability and much more. Can we not innovate on materials or can the scanning not lead to newer and innovative experiences that truly amaze the buyer?
6. Can We Think of the Earth
An argument we face time and again in India, ‘is food wastage a bigger problem or plastic’? When material gets questioned, it almost always presents a counter argument of food wastage due to shelf-life reduction, integrity of distribution networks, pilferage and counterfeit issues. Many of the exhibits at Anuga highlighted how globally people are beginning to embrace 100% recyclable materials, eco-friendly alternatives, starch-based/ plant-based substitutes for packaging. This not only alleviates the burden on our planet, but also builds a great brand story for the woke consumers to buy into. Traditionally, we Indians are no strangers to the concept of recycling; remember the stainless-steel lunch boxes we carried to school and work long before we began using plastic ones? Perhaps now is the time to return to our roots and incorporate this mindset not just in packaging, but also in our recycling and distribution networks, cold chains and in our fight against counterfeits!
7. Can We Commit
This one for sure struck me as clear thinking and targeting. Most global brands know EXACTLY who they are taking to and what they want to do! They target habits, life stages, and attitudes that transcend age and economic bracket. While this trend is catching up in India too, only time will tell, if micro-targeting is successful in the economics of our marketplace, as against a more conventional pattern of profiling a generic audience in the hope of appealing to a broader spectrum.
These are a few observations that struck a chord in me. They may not be design trends as we conventionally understand them, but they certainly have the potential to influence the way we do business in India. | https://medium.com/@thereforedesignpune/contemplations-on-design-for-2020-9e4688e0bda8 | ['Therefore Design'] | 2020-12-13 09:51:15.654000+00:00 | ['Foodforthought', 'Foodfair', 'Conference', 'Marketing', 'Tradefair'] |
How to Add Running Text In Blogger Layout [ HTML and CSS ] — Smartest Blogger | How to Add Running Text In Blogger Layout [ HTML and CSS ] — Smartest Blogger.
Hi Friends, I am Sumit Pratap Yadav from SMARTESTBLOGGER.COM and in this blog, I am going to tell you How to Add Running Text In Blogger Layout [ HTML and CSS ] — Smartest Blogger. So, before getting started on our main topic don’t forget to Subscribe to our Channel — Smartest Blogger.
It looks very nice and too professional that a Heading of our Blog is passing through the Blogger template. In this blog, I am going to tell you stepwise How to Add Running Text In Blogger Layout [ HTML and CSS ]. You can design it very well and you can add your links to it also…
How to Add Running Text In Blogger Layout [ HTML and CSS ] — Step 1:
Go to the Blogger Dashboard and create a new post.
How to Add Running Text In Blogger Layout [ HTML and CSS ] — Step 2:
Step 2 is to Type whatever you what to show on the running text and you may add links to it, you may bold it, you may change its style. You do whatever you want.
How to Add Running Text In Blogger Layout [ HTML and CSS ] — Step 3:
You will see the Pen Symbol in the left corner of the toolbar. Click on it and change the view to HTML vi…………………
For Continuous Reading Visit:
https://www.smartestblogger.com/2020/12/How-to-Add-Running-Text-In-Blogger-Layout-HTML-and-CSS-Smartest-Blogger.html | https://medium.com/@smartestblogger/smartest-blogger-662ee31f85d4 | ['Smartest Blogger'] | 2020-12-16 12:36:05.378000+00:00 | ['Blogging', 'Blogging Tips', 'Text', 'Google Adsense', 'Blogger'] |
We Need to Say This More … | This year has not been normal. Many people have been separated from families, worried about patients and colleagues and have lost loved ones.
One evening I was finishing up a lengthy call with a close friend on the East Coast. The call lasted for three hours. We ended the call with, “I love you” and then “Talk later.” I realized after the call that saying “I love you” doesn’t have to come with a hug or a kiss, but before that feeling of being alone or when you miss someone. It’s just a reminder to let that person know how much you care.
Saying “I love you” is one of the most important things that you can say to another person. It signifies how much the person means to you. It lets your loved one know how much you appreciate them. Think about it … when is the last time that you said “I love you” to the people that mean the most to you?
Life is hectic. Love and affection need not be relegated to just a thought in people’s minds. Saying “I love you” is not always easy because it brings up feelings of uncomfortability or awkwardness — likely because of the fear of embarrassment or rejection. Technology has also made us less communicative — at least face-to-face. But, saying these three little words is one of the most important things that you can say to another person. Here are the reasons why.
You Shouldn’t Assume That They Already Know
You might be fairly certain that your family members know that you love them. However, everyone worries from time to time about whether or not they are loved. It is natural to want reassurance — even if you already know the person loves you. Phrases that include appreciation and support are always important.
It’s Good For You
Saying “I love you” to someone is not only good for the person that hears these words, but it is good for the person saying them too. Showing love or appreciation for another person can make you feel genuinely happy. It can give you a sort of inner peace.
It Helps Mend Relationships
Every relationship has its ups and downs. There are bound to be conflicts and arguments. Saying “I love you” can help mend relationships. It lets the person know that you are thankful to have them in your life even if you don’t always agree.
You Might Not Get the Chance to Say It
People are not around forever. Tomorrow is never promised. You could wake up one day and lose the one person most important to you. If that happened, you might regret that you didn’t get the chance to say “I love you” one last time.
It’s Part of a Healthy Relationship
Saying “I love you” means being vulnerable. There is always a chance of rejection or scorn. Being vulnerable is important in any close relationship. When you are vulnerable around a person, you are allowing them to get to know the real you. It lets you open your heart to give and take fully. | https://medium.com/@sj-therapy/we-need-to-say-this-more-ab6962d13ec | ['Shemena Johnson'] | 2020-12-23 17:53:46.058000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Self Improvement', 'Vulnerability', 'Love', 'Self Help'] |
Stop Feeling Bad for Wanting Money | Casey Neistat is a balanced guy. He knows an out-of-context quip and an article in a tweet won’t yield thoughtful conversation. He knows most people overreacted based on just the headline, and yet, he also remembers what it was like to be poor — and admits he would have reacted the same way.
“Why did so many people on Twitter get so upset by misinterpreting this headline? The answer is that for most people who are broke money will literally solve every one of your problems. Money will solve your problems.”
“It feels so tone-deaf, when you have nothing, to hear this idea that money won’t solve your problems,” Casey adds. “This idea that money won’t solve problems is bullshit. When I was dirt poor, money would have solved every one of my problems.”
Casey has a theory. He says there are two kinds of problems: life problems and money problems.
Life problems are complex, intangible, and basically take your whole life to solve. They’re about finding happiness, love, fulfillment, and purpose.
Money problems are specific, tangible, and more money will solve them almost immediately. A functional, comfortable place to live, enough food, proper healthcare, getting around, clothes and everyday necessities — money gives you access to all of these.
Casey says that, while we all encounter life problems and money won’t solve them, “When you’re broke, on top of life problems — and I mean that literally and figuratively — you’ve got money problems.”
Image via Casey Neistat on Youtube
As long as you’ve got money problems, you don’t have any time or energy to spend on your life problems. They’re louder, more painful and immediate than the other — and that’s a problem in and of itself, Casey says:
“It’s hard to work on your happiness when you don’t know where you’re gonna sleep. It’s hard to dwell too much on a relationship when you don’t know where your next meal will come from, and you’re not exactly worried about fulfillment at your job when you have no way to get there, and you’ve got no clothes to wear.”
This distinction splits the world in two camps: You’re either busy getting out of poverty or working on higher-level issues. You’re at the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy or at the top.
Sure, it’s a gradual ascension, but few people are at the point where they are equally plagued by money and life problems. Various studies on the topic exist, but many put the barrier at around $75,000 per year, depending on where you live. If you make $40,000 in a place like LA, you’re probably struggling to make ends meet. If you make $100,000, you can live comfortably almost anywhere in the US except SF and New York.
That’s why Duhigg’s article might feel tone-deaf to some and relatable to others: There are two groups of people trying to solve two different sets of problems — and whichever one you’re in, the other will feel far away and hard to understand.
Casey says: “If you are struggling financially and someone tells you money won’t solve all of your problems, chances are, the person saying that is someone who’s never actually been broke.”
Duhigg’s friend says: “It’s just numbers on a screen to me. I’ve never met a retiree who enjoyed a vacation because of what I do. It’s so theoretical it hardly seems real.”
Which of these two camps are you in? Think about it. Beyond understanding our own situation, we also need to acknowledge the other as a real set of problems for a large group of people. Otherwise, all we’ll do is shout at each other when, actually, we should all be focused on the same, two-step solution:
Learn to make enough money. Find purpose in what we do.
This, Casey and Duhigg agree on: It’ll be a long, winding road to get there — but it’s a road worth traveling. | https://ngoeke.medium.com/stop-feeling-bad-for-wanting-money-6031af281a72 | ['Niklas Göke'] | 2020-08-07 13:22:51.496000+00:00 | ['Money', 'Life Lessons', 'Happiness', 'Work', 'Career Advice'] |
Happy Sunday .... | A day to do nothing :)
Here are some tips to get you started:
Morning
1. Take a deep breath (and repeat).
2. Think about the things you're grateful for.
3. Sleep in. :-)
4. Make yourself a yummy breakfast with coffee
5. Write down a goal and your dreams .
6. Reconnect with freinds and family
7. Read a book . | https://medium.com/@mentalhealthcollective96/happy-sunday-599c8f4cf2ee | ['Mental. Health .Collective'] | 2020-12-27 13:04:25.162000+00:00 | ['Coffee', 'Sleep', 'Reconnect', 'Mental Health', 'Happy Sunday'] |
Writing letters? Who has time for that? | The last hand-written letter I received was from a dear friend who lives in Thailand, having worked with me in the Middle East. When was the last time you wrote or received a hand-written letter? One in five children in the UK has never received a handwritten letter, according to a survey published in 2010 by children’s charity World Vision.
Johnny worked with me in the Middle East. A gourmet chef, keeping the troops fed and trying to keep everyone happy with their bespoke choice of food. It’s hard to please everyone, and then comes along an inexperienced Arab ‘manager’, Abdulkhaliq, and axed the budget. Hence started the mutiny! However, Johnny, an ex-private in the British Army did what he could and was a amiable chap indeed. We did forgive him for being from Wales — probably explains the breath of dishes he could make. Once we parted ways, he sent me a letter. Being a chef, his skills are with a knife and perhaps not a pen, so he decided to type a letter. The letter was quite long, but I still hold on to it, because of the novelty of receiving a letter in an era where a half-baked whatsapp message seems to be accepted as the modern form of communication.
When did you last write or receive a letter? How many children / young adults / adults even know how to address a letter? The format? And the ending? What is “Kind Regards?”…next time you write this nonsensical phrase, just have a think what is means and why you are writing it. Letters ended with Yours faithfully, Yours sincerely, Yours, and so on and so forth. Whichever ‘foreigner’ came up with ‘Kind regards” needs to go back to the USA and learn a different language, as obviously English is not their strength.
During the war, hand written letters were the mode of communication. Spouses would be glad to receive them, knowing their loved ones were alive. Of course, to avoid breach of confidentiality, letters were vetted and key information literally cut out before sending on to the recipient. I saw many of these war-time letters and they are lovely. Depth of feeling, emotionally charged and very personal. Johnny didn’t opt for such a romantic letter to me thank the Lord, but it was just as kind and thoughtful.
The handwriting in war time letters was so elegant, the ink from a fountain pen, and care was taken not to make a mistake. The current generation hold pens incorrectly, poor handwriting and wouldn’t be able to string a sentence together without making a spelling mistake. Fine handwriting has been a lost art for some time, and nowadays letter writing itself is a fading practice!
I read several global newspapers daily, and one of my favourites is Le Figaro. Le Figaro recently bemoaned that “many have lost their love for the pen, the scent of the ink and the softness of the paper”.
Here is a quote from 1858, from My Lady Ludlow by Elizabeth Gaskell. “I am an old woman now, and things are very different to what they were in my youth….Then letters came in but three times a week: indeed, in some places in Scotland where I have stayed when I was a girl, the post came in but once a month; — but letters were letters then; and we made great prizes of them, and read them and studied them like books. Now the post comes rattling in twice a day, bringing short jerky notes, some without beginning or end, but just a little sharp sentence, which well-bred folks would think too abrupt to be spoken.”
I grew up writing letters. They were a big part of making me an enthusiastic writer today, I think. As a child there were thank you letters, of course, ruining the long weeks after Christmases and birthdays. And postcards. Letters to Blue Peter, and — now tainted — letters to Jim’ll Fix It. (I wanted to visit a chocolate factory).
The introduction of the civic service, named the ‘Penny Post’ in 1840 enabled an affordable postal communication system, available for all classes and destinations for a penny stamp. This superseded the old postal system that was unregulated, the price was inconsistent and determined by the number of miles the letter travelled (not always by the quickest route) and the sheets of paper used.
The old postal system saw the burden of payment falling on the receiver and not the sender, it being seen as a social slur if a pre-paid letter was delivered to your door! If the recipient could not pay on receipt of the letter, it was returned. Therefore, only the select few had the privilege of written communication and it is easy to see how people lost touch who couldn’t afford the price of receiving a letter when living in different towns and villages. The Penny Post basically revolutionised the postal system as it allowed for all classes of people to send their mail, not just the social elite.
I kept many letters just like ladies keep shoes or children keep football stickers. I kept writing letters throughout my time at university and even when I was working overseas. I enjoyed writing them and receiving them. I remember at university, the advent of the e-mail. I had no clue how this worked and spent months never answering e-mail for the fear of how much I would be charged by the university (much like a stamp). When eventually I figured out that this was a free service, I couldn’t stop writing e-mail to everyone I knew and to people overseas. Alas! A cheap way to send letters, and coming and checking the e-mails a few times a week to find responses to my ‘letters’ was most satisfying.
Over time, the length of e-mails and the content has shrunk, into a few lines. I feel no-one has the time to write nice notes any longer. And with junk apps such as Whatsapp, the messages have been abbreviated codes. We sit with phones in our hands all day long, but don’t seem to have time to pen a letter to anyone on an e-mail. Strange.
Looking forward to the post is a non-event. It’s bills, Dominos pizzas on offer, or propaganda from the local young school drop-out who wants to be the local MP looking for support. Other bills, communication, Christmas wishes, birthday messages are all on e-mail, Facebook, Whatsapp or other online platforms.
My family used to get many Christmas cards every year. Now, Christmas cards can cost 5p each, stamps cost 15 times more; so what is the incentive. Hence, online wishes. The ridiculous cost of postage has not helped the cause. Delays in postage and recorded delivery becoming the norm has meant the trust in Royal Mail going down the pan. E-mail with attachments are quicker, and much more reliable. And I absolutely support this initiative as it has saved me alot of time and even more money, just as calls on Whatsapp has saved me a fortune. My bitterness maybe comes down to loss of what was a beautiful way to communicate with one another. Perhaps people wouldn’t cherish letters like we and older generations did. Now, unless there is a £20 note in a birthday card, children don’t even want it.
But these differences between letters and emails are just that: differences. One is not better or worse than the other. In many ways, the differences hold in microcosm the wider cultural shift away from reading in print to reading on screen. For some people, there will always be something more transient about the latter. There is an astonishing wealth of information on the devices we carry around with us — a wealth that should be celebrated — but it can be difficult to concentrate on one piece of information at a time; to read a single article or book with the kind of deep, measured concentration that seems to come more naturally with print. A printed book stays on your shelf, and can be bookmarked, annotated, flicked through, shared. I know, I know: these things are all possible with digital devices, and they may come naturally to some people. This might just be me. But you don’t have to be an ink-sniffing stationery fetishist to think that perhaps the technology of the printed book is more durable and user-friendly than some people have started to give it credit for.
Letters are written with such greater consideration and, I believe, come from a deeper consciousness. It is only when you create the opportunity of writing a letter that all the things you have to say reveal themselves, safe in the knowledge that the recipient won’t, and can’t, reply immediately but will also have time to reflect on what they want to say in return.
I worry that there are generations of people who will never know the thrill of seeing a letter on their mat, with their name written in the handwriting of someone they love, even a family member. They won’t have a biscuit tin or hat box under their bed full of letters that speak like ghosts of people they’ve been. We are so busy connecting digitally with as many people as possible that we’re forgetting how to communicate at all. When we shuffle off the mortal coil, will the transcript of our lives just rot on a memory stick somewhere?
Pick up a pen today and write to someone you love or have lost touch with, and I promise you won’t regret it. And if you write to me, I promise I’ll write back. To each and every one. | https://medium.com/@msduhra/writing-letters-who-has-time-for-that-6de7fb144bb5 | [] | 2020-12-25 22:05:14.502000+00:00 | ['Letters', 'Communication', 'Correspondence', 'Friends', 'Email'] |
MyHTSpace Login Portal For Harris Teeter Employees | Don’t be confused, read this article and know more about Harris Teeter employee login. From this article, you will come to know about the myhtspace login and myhtspace employee login and related information. After a long analysis, we are concerned about those workers who have faced difficulties in the time of myhtspace login, or there are different relevant issues for the Harris Teeter employee login. For That reason, this complete article will guide your every question for login as an employee in the Harris teeter. Just scroll down to the bottom of the page and be aware of all details.
Intro of Myhtspace
Harris Teeter in short of HT is an American based huge market-based in North Carolina. They maintain a personal Myhtspace login site for their staff and members. Harris Teeter manages 255 stores in the South Atlantic states, and it works like a store-chain. After login, these portal employees get several benefits, and Harris Teeter offers multiple types of food items like bakery, frozen product, dairy, pharmacy, poultry and stationery products too. There is also my ht space for myhtspace associate which directs you to a smooth login.
In the tough days of the employees, these login procedure supports them, and the workers are working in the company have problems related to the login process. This is the intro and some information on Harris Teeter. | https://medium.com/@danishlowes90/myhtspace-login-portal-for-harris-teeter-employees-3f3056cfa93e | ['Danish Lowes'] | 2021-06-17 06:35:16.857000+00:00 | ['Foodies', 'Pharmacy', 'Food', 'Myhtspace', 'Pharmaceutical'] |
Adjusting focus on logitech C270 HD Webcam | So I recently bought the logitech C270 HD Webcam like many others who have reviewed it very generously to say the least(making it the amazon’s choice amongst low cost webcams) .
I have a difference in opinion .What nobody mentioned in the reviews was that this webcam has a greater zoom ratio as compared to any internal webcam .Having mentioned that, I faced issues with the camera focusing on me at a distance at which my internal webcam faced no issues at all.
This is how I engineered my way out of it :
#1 DISMANTLING ( you’ll need a screwdriver for this )
->step 1: take the top off (by hand)
->step 2: After the top is off, a layer with 3 screws is revealed. Unscrew to reveal the motherboard.
->step 3: The motherboard is attached to the the back of the device by 2 screws. Unscrew for convenience.
#2 UNGLUING FOCUS RING (any small sharp material will do ,like a pen cap)
Like any other camera ,this one also has a focus ring in order to change the focus setting on this camera .The focus ring (see picture) is a ring like structure that surrounds the lens .In order to be able to rotate it,you will first need to unglue it. Ungluing is easy as the ring is glued to the lens at just one spot below the ring which is not very hard to find .
#SETTING FOCUS
Once the ring is unglued ,rotate the ring in order to change focus setting to whatever suits you .
Hope this helps :) | https://medium.com/@sharanharsh/adjusting-focus-on-logitech-c270-hd-webcam-c9dfed33c0a2 | ['Harsh Sharan'] | 2021-04-01 08:08:08.742000+00:00 | ['Focus', 'Logitech', 'Webcam', 'Zoom', 'Logitech C270 Hd Webcam'] |
An Interview with Thi Ho (Tableau Featured Author 2020 and Tableau Social Ambassador) | Feature Interview
Adam Mico (AM): You grew up in Vietnam, but left for university in Singapore (Nanyang University Infocom Engineering Bachelor’s Degree) and America (MBA, Wayne State University). This must have been a massive challenge. What did you wish you knew at that time and what did you learn about yourself when pursuing an education?
Thi Ho (TH): First of all, thank you so much Adam for this great opportunity to be interviewed on your blog. I have been a fan of your blog and find it a great resource and source of inspiration! Thanks to Priya as well for her questions! It’s an honor and a joy to be interviewed by two of my favorite people in the #datafam! (1)
After high school in Vietnam, I wanted to study overseas as I wanted to see the world. I was lucky that I had opportunities to study in both Singapore and America. As a student, I was mainly focused on overcoming the challenges in my studies and also living on a tight student budget. However, I had so much more time than I have now and wish that I spent more time traveling, seeing more of the world, making more local friends, and simply immersing myself in the local culture.
Pursuing an education overseas taught me to be independent and I learned more about myself. I realized that I could adapt quickly to the new environment. I also learned that I enjoyed making connections with friends but I also enjoyed some solitude through alone time studying in the library or the dorm. I also enjoyed the process of being creative. I learned HTML and made a basic website by Dreamweaver and I also learned Flash (when it was still a thing) to make some fun animations. I enjoyed it so much that I spent late nights tinkering (the same way I work on my data vizzes now). I also found out that I was not the type who easily gives up. Some subjects were totally new to me like Engineering, Accounting, and Finance, and I had a lot of difficulty at the beginning. However, I just kept pushing myself to learn until I got them. Education has opened my eyes and made me an open-minded person. The time being apart from my family also made me treasure them more.
AM: After your MBA, you returned to Singapore and began a career in project management. What was fulfilling about that work and what did it lack for you?
TH: When working in project management, I got the opportunity to plan for digital projects and work with various disciplines such as design, content, analytics, etc. The feeling when the team worked together towards a common goal and successfully delivered a final product that exceeded the client’s needs was very fulfilling to me. However, project management lacked an avenue for creativity.
AM: What was it about data analytics and data visualization that piqued your passion and did it hit you right away or was it a slow-building interest?
TH: During my time in project management, I had worked with some colleagues in data analytics and that piqued my interest as I found the value of analytics in helping other disciplines to make decisions. Therefore, when there was an opportunity to work in digital analytics, I jumped at it. I like to analyze numbers and am curious to find out what the numbers are telling me. I am also quite interested in understanding user behavior when they are using a website or mobile applications. While at this job, I got the opportunity to learn and use Tableau. I was amazed at how easy it was to analyze data and create impactful visualizations. Data visualization also gave me some leeway to express my love for creativity and design. My passion for data analytics was gradually built, but for data visualization using Tableau was kind of an instant impression. 😊
AM: At your current employer, four years after you began, you switched your career from project management to a data analyst. Was that a difficult decision and please explain what helped your career transition?
TH: As I have mentioned above, it was a natural career switch as along the way, with increasing exposure to analytics, I kind of knew that I wanted to work in data analytics. It was not an immediate jump from project management to analytics, however. After working in project management, I actually worked in digital strategy where I did a lot of research and proposed content and features to solve business problems. I also needed to analyze data to come up with such strategies. The more I worked with data, the more value I saw in it. I conveyed to my manager at that time my interest in working in analytics. My manager gave me the opportunity when it came along and let me take some analytics training and the rest was history. I am thankful to have had some very supportive managers who really cared about my career aspirations and gave me the opportunities to be where I am today. (2)
AM & Priya Padham (PP): What prompted you to join the analytics (social media) community & what are your tips for people starting in the community?
TH: I started to use Tableau at work in late 2017. I sporadically participated in #MakeoverMonday but after a while, I felt a bit lonely and had not progressed much. I found out about a Tableau User Group in Singapore, so I started to attend their events. There, I got to know more about the community and community projects. It was Meera Umasankar (@LosaniMeera) who connected me to the social media community. In 2020 I started to follow the other Tableau users on social media, started sharing my work, and was immediately welcomed to the community.
My tips for someone new to the community is to not be afraid to share your work, get feedback, follow people who you admire, and join conversations. That’s how I engaged with the community, learned from others, and improved my skills. The bonus is that in doing so, we also expand our professional connections and make amazing data friends all over the world!
AM: What resources helped you as you were working on designing visualizations?
TH: I follow design-related conversations in the community to learn about different design aspects. For example, I first learned about Figma from those conversations. It’s a great free design tool. I read blogs (3) from wonderful dataviz designers such as Judit Bekker (@juditbekker). I turn to Pinterest for design and color inspiration. I also pay close attention to design details when others share their vizzes. When a suitable concept for a new viz comes, I try to apply these techniques with my own touch. For example, in my IronQuest submission “Rice Bowls of the World”, which was featured in the virtual Viz Gallery during TC20, portions of it were inspired by Kevin Flerlage (@FlerlageKev). My IronViz’s black and white theme was inspired by Priya Padham’s IronViz submission. My recent Viz For Social Good viz was inspired by CJ Mayes (@_CJMayes) as I utilized his shape making method to form the word “VFSG” (each dot is an individual contribution by a volunteer). I am very happy that those vizzes have been well-received by the #datafam.
AM: I have noticed you are a welcoming/supporting section for newer people in our community. It’s great to see you in that role. How have new people in our community inspired you?
TH: I see myself in new people in our community as I was them just earlier this year. I still remember that I felt so amazed and appreciative of the kind people in the #datafam who welcomed me and made me feel like I was in a big family. I would like to continue to pay this forward and help new people feel that they are part of the family and that their efforts and their progress matter to the community.
AM: You have been a strong advocate for diversity in our community. What would you like to see our community get better at in the future and how can we be more inclusive?
TH: I am very lucky to be the first Vietnamese selected as Tableau Public Featured Author and one of the first two Vietnamese Tableau Ambassadors. However, I feel that I am representing not only Vietnamese but the community from the Asia Pacific in general. I feel that our #datafam in this part of the world (Asia Pacific) is a bit quieter than other parts. I would like to encourage the members in the Asia Pacific to participate more in community projects, share their amazing work, and join more data conversations and data events. I think Tableau has done an amazing job in setting up the diversity task force and increasing the diversity of Tableau Public Featured Authors and Tableau Ambassadors. It is important to have representation in different ethnicities and regions. Some other ways to be more inclusive might be featuring a more balanced number of work and faces from all regions through Tableau official channels and community blogs and even through the selection process for #VOTD.
AM: In 2020, you were named a Tableau Public Featured Author and Tableau Ambassador. What have those honors meant to you?
TH: These honors have meant so much to me. First of all, I felt that my efforts were recognized. Secondly, I felt so loved and supported by the community. My heart was full. These honors also led to me having more followers and connections on social media which enabled me to amplify new voices and continue to bring awareness to the amazing work done in this part of the world.
Priya Padham (PP): Are there any specific future Tableau goals and plans or any vizzes currently working on?
TH: My goal is to support the upcoming projects under Viz For Social Good as a volunteer and local chapter leader in Singapore. My co-leaders Hui (@hxchuaruns) and Meera and I have joined forces with Frederic Fery (@freddfery) from Australia to create frequent APAC events for volunteers to present their work in supporting non-profits through data storytelling. Besides that, I would like to find time to continue to participate in community projects such as #MakeoverMonday, #IronQuest, #ProjectHealthViz, etc. I also hope to participate as a speaker in a future data event. Public speaking is an area that I need to push myself further.
PP: What are your favorite all-time vizzes?
TH: In no particular order, I love “A Cheetah’s Race for Survival” — a collaboration work of Kevin Flerlage and Lindsay Betzendahl (@ZenDollData) — the visuals and design are so impactful and there are so many cool techniques. I also love “Safe Houses in Tanzania” by Priya Padham. You do such a great job of visualizing such a difficult topic, humanizing the data points, and still making it beautiful. Another one of my favorites is “Rainy Days of Tokyo” by Takafumi Shukuya (@O_Syringa_Z) in which he creatively used an inverted bar chart to create a nice visual impact for the viz. There are so many other vizzes from other authors that I love. The works from the #datafam are so inspiring!
PP: What music do you enjoy listening to when vizzing?
TH: I usually viz in late nights and I find silence helps me focus more. 😊 My music needs an update as my favorite band is still The Carpenters (4) and I don’t know any songs of 2020 — but you have suggested some new music to me!
AM: Please share a guilty pleasure or fun fact that many readers may not know about you?
TH: My guilty pleasure: binging Netflix until 3 am or enjoying a hot bowl of pho (Vietnamese beef noodles) (5) in some corner of Saigon. 😊
Fun fact: I used to play Đàn tranh, a Vietnamese musical instrument (the picture to the left) shows me wearing a Vietnamese costume playing Đàn tranh (back when I was a student). I don’t have it with me now but I hope one day I can play it again. 😊 | https://medium.com/@adammico/thi-2a380c82d15c | ['Adam Mico'] | 2020-12-06 17:50:37.097000+00:00 | ['Data Visualization', 'Tableau', 'Interview', 'Inspiration', 'Community'] |
Why You Should Step Out of Your Comfort Zone | Photo by Erlend Ekseth on Unsplash
“All progress takes place outside the comfort zone.” — Michael John Bobak
Earlier this year, I powered on my laptop and stared into the blank canvas on the Webflow site builder. It was an early Saturday morning, and I had only one task on my index card:
Design jasongutierrez.me in Webflow
I had been dreading that moment for months. For the previous 4 years, I had used WordPress as the engine for my website, blog, and central hub of my writing. During that time I learned it inside and out.
You could say we were best friends, or at least as close as a man and a series of web applications could be to best friends. I knew WordPress and WordPress knew me.
But all good things eventually come to an end. WordPress had grown too clunky for my “lean” business model. I wanted to re-brand from The Monk Life to my own name, and it just made so much more sense to start fresh on a newer, better application for building websites.
Webflow came struttin’ down the runway and caught my eye, and I knew sooner or later making the switch was inevitable.
So as I stared into the blank canvas, feelings of doubt, dread, and procrastination swirling about, I took a sip of my coffee, put some music on, and got to work.
Half a day later, the foundation for jasongutierrez.me had been laid, and I felt pretty darn satisfied at the work I had accomplished.
On more than a handful of moments throughout the day, I felt extremely frustrated, each time wanting to chuck my phone into the wall and go enjoy the fresh Spring sunshine.
That’s how it feels to step outside of your comfort zone. By definition, it’s uncomfortable. But as Michael John Bobak says, it’s the only place where progress occurs.
If you live inside your comfort zone your entire life, you never have the opportunity to grow, and though it certainly would be “comfortable” you’re extremely limited.
However, the more often you step outside of it, the more it grows along with you.
The obvious benefits of stepping outside of your comfort zone are things like progress, success, skills, knowledge, and self-confidence.
But, one overlooked benefit of growing your comfort zone is that you’re actually MORE comfortable retreating back into it. Your circle of comfort is bigger because you’ve experienced more things that you’re confident you can handle.
I knew next to nothing about Webflow going in, and now, I’ve used my newly learned skills to grow my audience at jasongutierrez.me and to develop a coffee website from scratch — the one that’s launching soon. Without powering through the frustration and discomfort, I’d be stuck in the past, missing out on all the amazing experiences that new horizons have to offer.
The only way to break out of the cycle of stagnancy is to step out of your bubble and just do the damn thing. | https://medium.com/dreamweaver-stories/why-you-should-step-out-of-your-comfort-zone-767a4b630e6a | ['Jason Gutierrez'] | 2020-09-30 01:26:43.699000+00:00 | ['Growth', 'Self', 'Life', 'Personal Development', 'Self Improvement'] |
Automate your WhatsApp Messages to be sent for greetings! | This article is going to be very exciting because we would be using python to automate our WhatsApp messages so that we can send birthday messages or any text message at any pre-defined time automatically!
I found this useful as usually I forget about my friend's birthdays and using this technique I can make sure that I (or the script :P ) can send the message automatically.
Image Credit: Twilio
Basic Requirements
Before we start scripting the automation code, we need to have installed few libraries and software.
First, we need to install Selenium. You can do it easily by going to your terminal/ command prompt and entering this
pip install selenium
2. Next, we need to install Chrome driver ! (very important step)
Download Chrome driver from here: Chromedriver download page(choose your specific version) Extract it in a known location, as we need the location later.
3. The last thing that you require to setup your own automatic whatsapp messages is the chromium web broser.
Again you can install it by going to the command prompt and running the command mentioned below :-
sudo apt-get install chromium-browser
Python script
Now comes the exciting part where the magic happens!
Note that by doing some alteration in the code below you can also:
Text Multiple Whatsapp Groups at once using Python Send the messages from a predefined list of messages randomly or Send a completely random text.
from selenium import webdriver from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By import time # Replace below path with the absolute path # to chromedriver in your computer driver = webdriver.Chrome('/home/saket/Downloads/chromedriver') driver.get(" https://web.whatsapp.com/ ") wait = WebDriverWait(driver, 600) # Replace 'Dhaval' with the name of your friend # or the name of a group target = '"Dhaval"' # Replace the below string with your own message string = "Happy Birthday Boss!!" x_arg = '//span[contains(@title,' + target + ')]' group_title = wait.until(EC.presence_of_element_located(( By.XPATH, x_arg))) group_title.click() inp_xpath = '//div[@class="_13NKt copyable-text selectable-text"][@data-tab="9"]' input_box = wait.until(EC.presence_of_element_located(( By.XPATH, inp_xpath))) for i in range(100): input_box.send_keys(string + Keys.ENTER) time.sleep(1)
Starting the automation! | https://towardsdev.com/automate-your-whatsapp-messages-to-be-sent-for-greetings-4be78091a196 | ['Dhaval Thakur'] | 2021-12-20 07:44:08.229000+00:00 | ['Automation', 'Selenium', 'WhatsApp', 'Python'] |
The Overrated Threat From Electromagnetic Pulses | The Overrated Threat From Electromagnetic Pulses
EMPS are scary, but not as scary as the nukes that precede them
by MATTHEW GAULT
Few weapons are as scary as those that exist only in our minds.
The Republican Party released its platform to the public in the run-up to its national convention. On page 54, at the tail end of a section titled “America Resurgent,” GOP leaders detailed what they felt is a looming threat of America — electromagnetic pulses.
“A single nuclear weapon detonated at high altitude over this country would collapse our electrical grid and other critical infrastructures and endanger the lives of millions,” the platform stated. “With North Korea in possession of nuclear missiles and Iran close to having them, an EMP is no longer a theoretical concern — it is a real threat.”
But it’s not.
The problem with fear over electromagnetic weapons is that it forgets two simple facts. First, generating enough juice to cause a significant amount of damage is really hard. Second, a country dealing with busted electronics after an EMP assault is a country fighting a nuclear war.
“EMP is the new test case of seriousness in national security,” cyber security expert Peter W. Singer tweeted after reading the platform. “But not in the way advocates not in on the joke think.”
I reached out to Singer and, after a brief pause to make sure I was serious, he pounced. “There’s this irony of the people who think it’s serious not realizing that they’re the joke,” he explained. “When you walk through the actual scenarios of use, it doesn’t pass the logic test.”
An electromagnetic pulse following a nuclear blast is a real thing. The problem is that the process of creating an EMP big enough without the devastation of a nuclear warhead is expensive, absurd and not worth the effort. That’s if it even works.
For that, we can’t recommend enough a 2010 series of articles in The Space Review by Yousaf M. Butt, a physicist currently serving as a foreign affairs officer in the State Department’s Space and Advanced Technology office.
“For a large device (greater than 100 kilotons) …. the whole region on the Earth’s surface which is within line-of-sight to the high-altitude explosion will experience the EMP pulse,” he wrote.
Which sounds scary, but there are several important caveats. The higher you detonate a nuclear device, the greater the blast radius. However, the effect of the EMP will be less. Likewise, the smaller the explosive yield, the smaller the EMP and the closer the blast will need to be to the ground to be effective.
Finding that detonation sweet-spot in the Earth’s atmosphere will take countless tests … which no one has done. | https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-overrated-threat-from-electromagnetic-pulses-46e92c3efeb9 | ['War Is Boring'] | 2016-07-24 17:40:11.565000+00:00 | ['Wib Politics', 'Science', 'Nuclear'] |
CLLCTVE Creators Demonstrate Diverse Creative Workflows | CLLCTVE is home to creatives with diverse talents across mediums and skillsets.
CLLCTVE is the premier talent marketplace connecting the nation’s top Gen Z creators with brands for paid work. Our beta platform currently houses 100 creators hand-selected from a waitlist of 2,000+ completing brand challenges, building diverse portfolios and gaining access to exclusive connections with industry leaders. This means we have a lot of really talented people consistently creating incredibly impressive content.
Our goal is to make that same content creation level accessible for Gen Z creators across the country — regardless of resources, connections or location. So we asked our top talent to showcase their creative workflows and give up-and-coming creators an idea of replicating it in their own content creation.
Here’s what we got back
Photography
Christina showed us how she completes her car shoots — part of which includes her shooting from a moving vehicle to capture the perfect action shot.
Axel moved home for the semester, but that didn’t stop him from completing shoots and catching his bag. Here, he demonstrates how he conducts Facetime photo shoots.
With just a camera, some flowers and a ladder, Saachi put together a professional-level portrait shoot right in her backyard. This is how she did it.
Graphic Design
Jewel showed us her design process when completing brand work, from her initial thought process to the final product.
Rachel highlighted the key aspects of finding beauty in the unexpected through a captivating illustration.
Catherine ironically captured her steps in unblocking her graphic design workflow in an illustration that most creators can relate to.
Mallory gave a step-by-step tutorial on how to create a sticker design using Adobe.
Writing
Tyler visualized her writing process for drafting a short script in a way that takes viewers through finding an idea, drafting it and editing it to produce a final deliverable.
Building the Future of Work
CLLCTVE imagines a future where every human — all creators by design — has access to the network, resources, and tools needed to create the life they want. By fostering a community built on mutual growth and knowledge sharing, we’re hoping to upskill Gen Z creators and democratize the future of work — making paid work opportunities accessible to all. | https://medium.com/cllctve/cllctve-creators-demonstrate-diverse-creative-workflows-d2d8e26f2b42 | ['Kaila Mathis'] | 2020-12-28 02:13:53.492000+00:00 | ['Gen Z', 'Workflow', 'Content', 'Creative', 'Creators'] |
How to Make Better Decisions a Habit | Hey Cinto, let’s go and pickup some food. I want you to drive
Shouted Jay.
We were at Jay’s place to celebrate his birthday. All of us were bachelors and these parties usually comprised of a lot of cigarettes and drinks. We customarily meet at Jay’s place since he lives alone and does not have any boring roommates, which in our language meant folks “who do not drink”.
Now, I am usually a big advocate of not driving under influence. But seeing so many folks look at me eagerly for an answer, I could not say no. Also, I did not want to look like a boring nerd. So, I said Yes. I assumed it would be OK.
It was not. It was late at night, and pretty dark outside. Trying to enter the freeway, I tried looking left to check for oncoming vehicles. But I could not see a thing. My severely impaired brain was not helping me either. I kept on looking left, without noticing that my car had deviated from the lane and was about to hit the right concrete barrier. Suddenly my friend sitting in the front seat shouted,
“Cinto !! Watch where you are going, man”.
I was just about to hit the concrete wall of the freeway. I steadied the car, took the next exit, and instantly came back home.
We all came back OK and alive, but anything could have happened that night.
I still imagine what could have happened if I was a couple of seconds late to steady the car, or if Dev had not shouted at the right time.
I made a very poor decision that day. Although Jay made the initial suggestion, I had control over what I choose, how I respond to a stimulus.
And, I promised myself never to do that again.
After spending a long time thinking about what I did and reading tons of books on decision making and healthy habits, I realized and concluded that decision making is a skill. It needs a lot of practice. We make decisions every day, every moment that we are alive, and we have the power to make better decisions. We just need to train our brains to do that. | https://medium.com/be-unique/how-to-make-better-decisions-a-habit-9783c73292b4 | [] | 2020-12-15 02:45:14.922000+00:00 | ['Psychology', 'Self-awareness', 'Decision Making', 'Reading', 'Self Improvement'] |
As the maintainer of the Clean Up Twitter initiative, I’m finding Medium’s new short-form posts… | As the maintainer of the Clean Up Twitter initiative, I’m finding Medium’s new short-form posts a very interesting development. The short-form posts are moving into Twitter’s territory. However, they are more carefully written than tweets. Writers in Medium’s Partner Program also get a direct monetary incentive to promote readership. Posts get more viewership when they are added to a Medium publication, and there is an approval process for getting one’s work into a publication. The more careful writing and the external vetting of Medium short-form posts might be able to reduce the hate and trolling that would occur in tweets.
Photo by Ravi Sharma on Unsplash | https://medium.com/illumination/as-the-maintainer-of-the-clean-up-twitter-initiative-im-finding-medium-s-new-short-form-posts-f5be0669205a | ['Rebecca Sealfon'] | 2020-12-06 19:36:38.374000+00:00 | ['Cyber Bullying', 'Ｍedium', 'Curation', 'Short Read', 'Twitter'] |
Are We Going to War with Iran?. Iran is being pushed into a corner… | Are We Going to War with Iran?
Iran is being pushed into a corner. What will this mean for the Biden administration?
(Photo: Photo: Leonhard Foeger/Reuters)
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh — long described by American and Israeli intelligence officials as Iran’s top nuclear scientist — was killed in a roadside ambush near Tehran on Friday. Iranian officials were quick to place blame on Israeli agents.
It is unclear exactly how involved the United States was in this targeted assassination. As of now, the White House has not commented on the matter, although Donald Trump has retweeted articles detailing the attack. That being said, the United States and Israel have shared intelligence on their common adversaries; Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu share a hostility toward Iran and its nuclear program. It is difficult to imagine that Trump did not provide at least tacit approval of the ambush.
Trump is — at least nominally — a lame-duck president. Why would he allow such bold action to go forward?
At his core, Trump is eager to oppose Iran. He pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — commonly referred to as the Iran nuclear deal — in 2018. He ordered a targeted strike against Qasem Soleimani — the commander of the Quds Force — while Soleimani was in Baghdad in January. Trump cited threats to American embassies to justify the strike, although then-Secretary Mark Esper contradicted that assertion. Trump’s critics are quick to point out that Trump may want to prevent the incoming Joe Biden administration from re-negotiating the Iran nuclear deal.
Trump is an agent of chaos. Peace is not his goal.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed “definitive punishment” for those responsible for the most recent assassination. Exactly how Iran will respond remains to be seen. Will Iran dispense that punishment to Israel? To Israeli embassies? To prominent Americans? Will Biden be able to re-negotiate the Iran nuclear deal as he campaigned that he would do?
There is reason to believe that Iran will respond to this targeted assassination harshly. To be fair, if two prominent American officials were killed by a foreign adversary in less than one year — and especially if one of them was killed on American soil — the American public would be demanding retribution. Only the most devoted peacenik would be able to maintain a non-interventionist stance in the face of such aggression. There is no reason to think that the same dynamic is not at play in Iran right now.
Iranian protestors burn images of Trump and Biden during a rally in Tehran on Sunday. (Photo: Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)
Perhaps most depressing is that Trump has not suffered any political capital in this major foreign policy move. The drone strike on Soleimani in January received quick scrutiny from the media and condemnation from Democrats, whereas Fakhrizadeh’s ambush has received considerably less attention. Perhaps timing plays a role in this discrepancy — Fakhrizadeh was killed the day after Thanksgiving, and the American public may be outrage-fatigued after recent election coverage.
In terms of foreign policy, Trump’s supporters fall into one of two categories: non-interventionists — such as Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) — and hawks — such as Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR). Trump has successfully been able to market himself to each camp depending on the audience. Paul has not yet commented on Fakhrizadeh’s assassination, even though Paul previously praised Trump for his so-called aversion to war in the Middle East. On the other side, Cotton expressed support for the attack on Soleimani and has previously downplayed the consequences of any possible conflict with Iran. Cotton was confident that a war against Iran would be, “two strikes, the first strike and the last strike.”
Cotton’s confidence is misplaced. The War in Iraq was similarly downplayed in 2003, though troops remain in Iraq to this day. Cotton’s assertion reveals how casually war is still perceived by American policymakers.
A potential war would be disastrous for Iran, but besides blasting a large hole in the federal budget, another Middle Eastern war might hardly be noticed by the American public. Americans have tolerated “forever wars” for the past nineteen years. Active duty military personnel — the Americans who are most affected by war — represent only 0.4 percent of the American population, and they are increasingly recruited from the same geographic areas and from military families. Few are asked to sacrifice. The burdens are not equally shared.
The world may not be safer following Fakhrizade’s ambush. Trump is unconcerned. | https://medium.com/discourse/is-the-us-going-to-war-with-iran-9a8e58487deb | ['Jacquie Devigne'] | 2020-11-29 21:04:22.631000+00:00 | ['USA', 'Politics', 'Iran', 'War', 'Donald Trump'] |
Transform Your Photos with Simple Compositing, Pt. 1 | We’ve teamed up with Adorama to bring you a series of photography tutorials called “Master Your Craft” to be featured on their YouTube Channel. Subscribe to see more of our videos on their channel that cover photography, lighting, posing, and editing education to help you hone your skills and master your craft. To watch the entire series, check out our playlist!
Video: Transform Your Photos with Simple Compositing, Pt. 1
In this tutorial, you’re going to learn from shoot to post how to create this final image, all while keeping your subject safe, using a technique I like to call “Simple Compositing.”
Be sure to download the exercise files so that you can work alongside me through this tutorial.
I’m going to divide this article into different parts to make it easier to follow along. This article/video is part one. Let’s go ahead and dive straight in.
Why Use the Simple Compositing Technique?
To start, we need to ask ourselves why we would want to use a technique like this. If you look at the two images above, we have a couple standing on the rocks with water rushing in. You might wonder, “Why not just shoot those in one photograph?” Easy enough, right? Well, we are going to use this simple compositing technique for a couple reasons.
First, in scenes and situations like this, it can be difficult or even impossible to get the shot that you want without wasting tons of your (and your clients’) time. When the waves come, the couple has to hold still in that spot with the right pose and expression, and that can be difficult. You don’t want to waste an hour of your clients’ time, trying to get one single photograph that may not be doable.
The biggest and most important reason, however, is safety. I shoot in this location often and I know that every 10 minutes or so, when a giant wave comes along, a significant amount of water actually splashes on to the rocks. Here, they’re not in a spot where they can get washed away, but it is enough water to give them a bad day.
Generally, it’s not safe to place our subjects in the middle of the street or have them stand where a wave is going to crash. Instead, quickly capture a shot and move your subjects out within a few seconds. Then, you can stay back and photograph the background that you want.
How to Shoot for the Simple Compositing Technique
Now, let’s talk about how to shoot the image and cover what you’re going to need. Knowing that we’re going to layer the images, we will want to have the camera up on a tripod. Any camera any tripod is going to work. For this shot, gear wise, I used a Canon 5D Mark IV with a 24–70mm lens.
Settings: 24mm, 1/2-second, f/4, ISO 200
Looking at the image above, you may wonder how we were able to dial in such a low shutter speed at f/4 and ISO 200 on such a bright day. This is usually not possible because if we try to slow down the shutter that much in bright daylight, the shot goes completely white. You may have also noticed a nasty green tint in the shot, which we’ll have to fix in post. If you’re thinking ND filter, you are correct. When I shot this a little more than five years ago, the ND filter I used was decent, but it had a pretty significant color graduation, which is no bueno. High-quality modern ND’s are not going to do that. If you’re interested, I recommend hopping onto Adorama and checking out the Tiffen Square Water White ND filter. A four or a five stop filter should serve you well.
What you may have noticed from previous tutorials is that I usually use a square ND filter and hold it over my lens. I do this because I’m lazy. I mean, that’s really the short of it. I’m simply trying to get in and out of locations as quick as possible and I don’t want to use a drop-in filter system. If I were shooting landscape images, then I would recommend getting a drop-in filter system. If you don’t get a square ND or a drop-in filter system, then you’ll have to get step-up and step-down rings to screw the filter onto lenses of different sizes, and they’re really annoying and obnoxious to use. I’d rather just get a square ND. If you’re shooting portraiture, holding a square filter over the lens is fine.
Rewind: [ Day vs Night: Full Length Behind the Scenes Photography Tutorial]
Once my camera is set up and ready on the tripod, I ask my subjects to step in for a quick shot and then they step out again. From there, I just have to wait for a good wave (in this case, I waited about two minutes). So, we get our shot of the couple and the wave separately. You’ll notice in the shot above that I also managed to capture some lovely bystanders; luckily, that’s an easy fix in post. That’s really it for the shooting portion.
How to Edit Using the Simple Compositing Technique
The first thing I want to do in post is color grading. We’re going to use Lightroom to do this, although you can use whatever software you would like. Once in Lightroom, jump into the Develop module. Go ahead and add your favorite preset. I’ve chosen Visual Flow ‘s Modern Pack.
White Balance & Exposure
In order to see proper colors, I like to start by taking a white balance reading (press “W” and click on her dress). Once we do this, we get to a much better white balance with a +65 tint adjustment. That’s how crazy that ND filter was. Next, I’ll just lower the exposure a bit. For this image, I’ve selected the HDR Natural preset (again, from Visual Flow’s Modern Pack). In case you don’t already know, Visual Flow presets are designed by lighting condition. As such, I’ve chosen HDR because this image has a lot of dynamic range and I want to bring as much of it out as possible. If you don’t have Visual Flow presets, just use your favorite preset to get it to a particular look that you like.
Radial Burn
I’ll start with a radial burn. I happen to have a brush for this, which you will have seen if you’ve watched my other tutorials. If you need to create your own brush, it is simply a pinned brush and it drops exposure by negative 0.5. I’m going to bring that over my couple. You can click and hold the cursor over your couple and then drag the pin to the left to increase the strength of the effect (or, in other words, to darken the radial burn).
Isolated White Balance Adjustment
Here’s another little handy dandy secret regarding color temperature. I want to pronounce the blue hues in the image (not over the couple), so I’m going to adjust the temperature by about negative 10 using the same radial burn brush. Another thing I can do here is to adjust the feathering effect so that as the color temperature shift feathers in towards the subjects. Otherwise, a little bit of blue can spill onto the subject’s feet. To avoid this, hold down “Alt/Option” and use the brush to remove the mask from the feet. If we wanted to only control the temperature, we would need to separate these two brushes. We’re good as is with this image. For more in-depth Lightroom tutorials and to become a pro at color grading check out our Mastering Lightroom course!
Synchronized Colors Between Images
Now, this next piece is important. You’re going to need to synchronize the colors between the images you plan to use for the composite. We refer to this second shot (without the couple) as our plate image. Copy the settings from the last shot and synchronize it over to the plate shot. If you capture the image in manual mode and used a tripod, then both these images should be virtually identical, with the exception of the waves and the couple being in either one or the other image. The colors and other compositional elements should be the same.
Layered Images in Photoshop
Select both images, right-click, and select “ Edit in Photoshop. “ You’re going to choose “Open as Layers in Photoshop.” We’ll finish out the edit in Photoshop. I refer to this as a simple composite because compositing can be absolutely crazy, meaning you can spend hours or even days with hundreds of layers inside a single Photoshop file. At that point, the edit becomes more graphic art than photography. We can save that conversation for later, but composites come in different levels of complexity, and this one is simple. For this edit, all I need to do is select the layer that has most everything that I want in the photograph (which in this case is the plate shot) and then click and drag it to the top layer position.
Next, select both layers (or all the layers that you’re going to edit as a composite) and auto align the layers. The auto alignment feature in Photoshop should automatically align the images. You might have a tiny bit of shift between the images, even when using a tripod. Auto align will fix any unwanted shifting.
Once the layers are aligned, add a layer mask. This mask is going to reveal the image below. Use a white brush to reveal and black to conceal the layer underneath. Set the black brush to 100 opacity & 100 flow. You can use a mouse or tablet or whatever you have. Another reason why this is called simple compositing. All I need to do is paint black where the couple is and I’m done.
When you’ve practiced this technique and you follow the steps presented here (using a tripod), it’s literally that easy. You can always take more time to refine smaller details if necessary, such as removing distracting elements like bystanders in the background and so on. Finally, save it, and our image is finished.
Final Image
Conclusion
And that’s it! You’ve gone from a basic shot with people in the background and unimpressive waves to the much improved final image. Remember, this composite technique helps in two ways. It simplifies the shoot itself and keeps the workflow moving in a timely fashion; you might spend a lot more time trying to pull this off in one shot when you could just use this technique and spend no more than five minutes editing it in post. More importantly, however, this technique helps keep you and your clients safe throughout the entire process of shooting. There’s nothing worse than waking up to a headline that says somebody was hurt or even killed during a photoshoot when it could’ve been easily avoided. Using simple compositing techniques, you never have to put your clients in danger.
If you enjoyed this content, be sure to check back as I’m going to build on this technique in part two, where we’re going to get a little bit more advanced and combine lighting techniques with compositing to blow your mind a little more.
Be sure to catch our next episode of Mastering Your Craft on Adorama’s YouTube channel next week! If you want to catch up on all the episodes, make sure you check out our playlist! | https://medium.com/slr-lounge/transform-your-photos-with-simple-compositing-pt-1-73c8458c9c86 | ['Slr Lounge Staff'] | 2020-12-31 21:09:53.164000+00:00 | ['Photoshop', 'Tips', 'Photography', 'Lightroom', 'Tutorial'] |
Eliminate Negative Thoughts And Lose Weight | You think thousands of thoughts each day. You talk to yourself more than anyone else. You are your most trusted advisor and confidant. Many of the conversations that you have with yourself you would never share with anyone else because to do so would expose the “real” you. The you that is filled with self doubt, worries, sadness, guilt, hurts and disappointments.
But this is not the “real you” at all. This is the you that your ego and belief systems have constructed. These negative beliefs have been constructed by you, and accepted by you as truth. The sad thing is that nothing can be further from the truth.
Where did these false ideas about you originate? They mostly came from others; parents, teachers, co-workers, and friends. They might have planted the seed by saying something like “she is fat” and you have cultivated those comments to the point that they have become your truth.
You are allowing your entire life to be controlled by some obscure comments made years ago. Nobody has the right or power to dictate who you are. Only you know who you truly are and what’s in your heart.
When you were born you entered this world without the burdens of you current negative belief system. You entered this world as a beautiful bundle of joy filled with unlimited potential and possibilities.
I’m here to tell you that you have not changed. You are still and will always be a beautiful bundle of joy with unlimited potential and possibilities.
The only difference is what you give your attention to. Let me ask you a question. If you stopped all the negative talk that you currently have with yourself such as;
– I’m too fat
– Why would anyone want to love me
– I will never be thin
– I always fail
And the list can go on and on… How would you feel ? Do you think that you would feel emotionally lighter ? Do you think that you would feel happier ? Do you think that you would feel more confident ?
Now how do you think your life would change if you were to go one step further and modify your self talk by only speaking positively about yourself. If you take some time and focus on what you like about yourself and focus on only that your emotional state will become positive to the point that you will be able to accomplish anything.
Once you begin looking for the positive things within you, you will be surprised to realize your magnificence has always been there just below the surface. You have never been anything other then that shining bundle of joy that entered the world years ago. It’s easy to uncover positive aspects of yourself by asking some questions.
– What am I good at?
– Who has benefited by me being in the world?
– Who am I, what is in my heart that only I know?
– What do I like about my body?
Your goal is to feel good now. How do you feel now? If you only observe what you feel is positive about you, you will feel good, you will be happy. Decide right here and right now how you want to feel. Decide that you will always look for the good within you and appreciate that goodness.
So what does all of this have to do with losing weight? Everything!!! Your emotional state is the control valve that determines what you draw into your experience. How you talk to yourself creates your beliefs and programs your subconscious. So you need to ask yourself do you want your beliefs and subconscious programming to be based on false negative thinking. Or do you want your beliefs to be based on the truth, that you are and always have been a perfect being.
Begin today to love and nurture yourself. Allow the joy, playfulness and enthusiasm that you naturally had as a child begin to flow into your everyday experiences. Allow yourself to celebrate each and every success no matter how small. Love and appreciate yourself every opportunity you have. Do this everyday and watch your weight begin to dissolve just as your old negative beliefs about yourself begin to dissolve. | https://medium.com/@akashpatil026/eliminate-negative-thoughts-and-lose-weight-ea41b0f960f4 | ['Akash Patil'] | 2021-04-25 07:48:55.241000+00:00 | ['Fitness Tips', 'Weight Loss Tips', 'Weight Loss', 'Fitness', 'Weightloss Foods'] |
Choosing Life | Choosing Life
I have been choosing life lately
The admiration I have for long drives.
The highway daydreams that carry me along my journey,
I have been choosing life lately.
Looking at the sky with a different perspective
Finding friends to join me
Ones to be grateful for everyday
I have been choosing life lately
There has been a blossom growing inside
Beneath the rubble of rock bottom
Its proven stronger than the weight of the past
I’ve been choosing life lately
Cherishing every moment that I reign in control
My demons at rest,
Because life is something beautiful | https://medium.com/@adriankopp2002/choosing-life-51885094c0a0 | ['Adrian Kopp'] | 2020-12-27 13:52:00.733000+00:00 | ['Poem', 'Mental Illness', 'Writer', 'Mental Health', 'Poetry'] |
“TFW NO GF” Is the Defining Documentary of a Generation | TFW NO GF is a movie named after a meme. The new documentary, which trended #1 on Amazon Prime last month, begins with ‘Wojak’-the grey, anguished avatar of the online underworld-and his favorite caption, “TFW NO GF”: “that feel when no girlfriend.”
But TFW NO GF isn’t just a documentary on Wojak, or the r9k board on 4chan that he inhabits; it isn’t an ‘incel movie,’ although it examines them; and it isn’t only about young, alienated men. It covers the gloom of an entire generation-a disaffection overlooked yet fanned by the hysteric social movements of the 2010s. TFW NO GF is the mainstream’s first hard look at this phenomenon, and for that reason, there is no more important documentary to watch today.
At the heart of TFW NO GF are the stories of four young men: Sean, Kyle, Charels, and Kantbot. At first, all we see is their misery-they are NEETs (not in education, employment, or training), with no future and few friends. As the film unravels, we realize that each character has been chosen for his online notoriety: Kyle made a video about the blackpill, the ideology that there is “no hope” for incels; Charels’ bitter tweets turned him into a media scapegoat as a ‘misogynistic jihadi’; Kantbot bizarrely related Donald Trump election to the raising of Atlantis in an interview.
What binds these characters is the hell that the mainstream media raised about them. Yet, as TFW NO GF shows, the juxtaposition between its subjects’ media portrayals and their corporeal forms is jarring. In reality, these men (with the exception of the impressive Kantbot) are lost, rabbit-eyed souls, drifting alone through the American wasteland, their only anchor the forums, image boards, and MMORPGS (online role-playing games) where they can commiserate with other men.
In a different era, these men might have been saved. Someone would hear about a friend’s younger brother playing video games all day, or a mother’s son who just wouldn’t leave his room. “Hey, why don’t you come down to the men’s club at the VFW. We meet Wednesday night. Chance to blow off some steam and talk about life.” “Me and the guys go out shooting every week-why don’t you come with us next time? Sure beats sitting around all day.” Gradually, a hikikomori would be eased out of his misery-he would be set up a with a job, a date, a reason to live.
In postmodern culture, there seems to be no desire to see such men climb out of their holes. Attending college in the first half of this decade, I noticed a peculiar, even evil satisfaction in the suffering of such young white men as getting their “just desserts.” Any complaint was a symptom of poisonous entitlement. It was their burden to simultaneously accept their privilege, their predicament, and their pain.
Just as perverse is the strange stigmatization of men’s self-improvement. In the last decade, whenever a men’s movement emerged that promoted some type of discipline or development, the mainstream media lunged over each other to see who could tie it to the alt-right (i.e. this ridiculous Rolling Stone article about NoFap or this Mel Magazine article about raw eggs). Jordan Peterson, whose primary message to young men is to “clean your room and sort yourself out,” is demonized as a Nazi by a whole swath of society, and his majority-male audience has been used as a line of attack against him, as if no one should be trying to target and help young men.
The males of TFW NO GF, while not all able to articulate as clearly as Kantbot, feel this demoralizing culture. “No one cares about you if you’re a guy,” says Charels. That’s not necessarily true; there are a few men that everyone cares about-who keep the gate and make the money and hold the power-and it is these ‘Chads’ (as incels call them) who run the world and get #MeToo’d.
Infinite more men are total nobodies. Their only recourse is to scrawl a message in a bottle and throw it into the digital abyss-”TFW NO GF.” | https://medium.com/countere/tfw-no-gf-is-the-defining-documentary-of-a-generation-5d4ad0065bb9 | ['Zachary Schwartz'] | 2020-05-12 00:15:40.268000+00:00 | ['Men', 'Memes', 'Documentary', 'Movies', 'Internet'] |
React Lifecycle | Overview
In react there are three phases in a component: Mounting, Updating and Unmounting. React life cycle diagram
Mounting
The mounting phase is when the component is being created and is inserted into the DOM. The methods that are called in order for this phase are:
The constructor() method is called before it is mounted. It is not necessary to define the constructor method. Typically the constructor method is used for initializing state or binding methods or both. If the component is taking in props it should be an argument when defining the method. Props should not be copied into state. Also the constructor should not call setState().
constructor(props) {
super(props); // Necessary to access props in constructor
this.state = { counter: 0 };
this.handleClick = this.handleClick.bind(this);
}
The render() method is the only required method for class components. Render methods look at the components state and props and returns one of the following:
React Elements — Typical html tags like <div> or react components <Component />
Arrays and Fragments — Rendering multiple elements
Portals — Render children in a different DOM subtree
String and Numbers — Typical text
Boolean or null — Rendering nothing. Ex: return boolean && <div/>
The componentDidMount() method is immediately called after the component is mounted. Initialization that requires DOM nodes or API calls should go in this method. You can setup subscriptions here but make sure you unsubscribe in componentWillUnmount(). While you can call setState() in this method it will trigger an extra render() method call.
Updating
The updating phase is when the props or state changes. The methods that are called in order for this phase are:
Same as the render() method in the mounting phase.
The componentDidMount() is called immediately if there are any changes in the component state or props. It is not called for the initial render. If you use this method make sure you have a conditional statement otherwise it will be stuck in an infinite loop.
componentDidUpdate(prevProps) {
// Usually compare props with previous props
if (this.props.id !== prevProps.id) {
this.getUser(this.props.userID);
}
}
Unmounting
The unmounting phase is when the the component is removed from the DOM. The only method called in this phase is:
The componentWillUnmount() method is called immediately before the component is unmounted. This is where any necessary clean up is done like invalidating timers, unsubscribing and cancelling network requests. You should not call setState() in this method because it will not be rendered after it gets to this point.
Conclusion
In older versions of React there were more lifecycles and methods that were called in each phase. The methods listed above are the ones that are the most commonly used. Any methods not listed are considered legacy or are not common lifecycles. | https://medium.com/dev-genius/react-lifecycle-a91848dfc0d0 | ['Daniel Liu'] | 2020-10-01 21:00:39.840000+00:00 | ['Reactjs', 'JavaScript', 'Front End Development', 'React Lifecycle', 'React'] |
It will be as if you’re not progressing but you’ll be progressing | Hey omorfe,
Most guys misunderstand how progress works.
They think it’s all about numbers.
So if they did 2 more reps or they lost 1 pound in 4 days, they progressed. And if they didn’t, they stagnated.
That’s myopic yo.
Take for example trainining for building muscle:
Your initial progress is mostly neural gains. So, your body gets used to the program, becomes efficient, expands less energy than before, and you can push your good looking self more.
But there are other progress indicators.
Do you “feel” the muscle working while permorfming reps? (many don’t)
Even better, can you feel the muscle, during the entire set? Most guys only feel the muscle during the concentric part, but not during the eccentric
Or what about losing weight?
Think that just cause you stagnated for 3 days that’s not progress?
Bah!
Did you stick to your diet, even though you were unhappy with the results? Then that’s mental progress, dummy. Most people throw in the smelly towel if they don’t see daily progress because they’re weak minded. If you stick to the plan long enough, your body rewards you by losing weight…and you also became mentally stronger.
That’s a win in my book.
In other words:
Even “stagnation” can be a sign of progress because, even if the metrics you’re keeping an eye on seem to no longer improve, there are other metrics, invisible to the naked eye that work in your favor.
You can’t see mind-muscle connection — you feel it during your training session
You don’t see the mental maturity increasing inside you when don’t behave like a spoiled kid, ready to throw a tantrum cause you didn’t lose the weight promised by the “Two Pounds Off Per Week” Feetnes Eggsperts — it is in your corner, growing stronger daily, just because you carry yourself like a high-value, mature guy.
So never again look at progress so myopically, omorfe.
For more tips and strategies, grab my one sentence muscle building plan at:
http://grecianman.com/
Your Greek buddy,
Fotis Chatzinicolaou | https://medium.com/@chatzifot/it-will-be-as-if-youre-not-progressing-but-you-ll-be-progressing-2f2b48f52353 | ['Fotis Chatzinicolaou'] | 2021-12-30 20:04:42.418000+00:00 | ['Muscle Building', 'Bodybuilding', 'Goal Setting', 'Mens Health', 'Fitness Tips'] |
Meet the CoProcure Team: Joe Huang | We’re excited to welcome Joe Huang to CoProcure! Joe is passionate about the intersection of technology and government. Previously, he worked at an urban data startup (his geospatial analysis of zoning in American cities was featured in the NYTimes) and with the Metro Government of Nashville and Davidson County. He’s an Oregon native and a proud Vanderbilt University graduate.
We asked Joe about himself and the experiences that brought him to CoProcure:
What led you to CoProcure?
From a young age, I discovered an enthusiasm for civics. In high school, I volunteered for my county’s Democratic Party. In college, I worked on a campaign promoting better transportation in Nashville. Later, I interned in the Nashville Mayor’s Office. Meanwhile, I’d been tinkering with computers since childhood, and I learned to derive an unusual amount of satisfaction from a hard session of debugging.
My political experiences convinced me that my software engineering skills were highly needed, so I’ve prioritized career opportunities that allow me to connect government and technology. While there are many govtech opportunities out there, I knew I wanted to join CoProcure when I met the team. During the interview process, they provided me with the most comprehensive FAQ I’ve ever read. From that document, and the overall interview process, I could tell that the people at CoProcure were passionate, diligent, and highly collaborative, and I wanted to be a part!
Who’s one person you admire, and why?
I really admire my university rowing coach Jon Miller. At the point that I met him, he was already a father of two, a high ranking executive at his day job, and a well-respected coach in the rowing community — and he was just in his early 30s! He could be harsh — the entire rowing team once had to do wall sits because I showed up late — but he was always fair. He constantly pushed me past what I thought were my limits. And he set an example: he held annual contests to row against him for an hour. No one ever beat him.
What’s a goal you have for the year ahead?
I want to be more multilingual. I’m working towards fluency in Esperanto. For those that don’t know: it’s a language that was created in the late 1800s for the specific purpose of uniting people across countries and cultures. It’s an intentionally easy language to learn. Beyond Esperanto, I’m also hoping to learn Scots, since it’s the most similar language to English.
What’s unexpected about you?
I like cold, windy beaches. They are less crowded and I enjoy the way overcast light scatters in seawater. I’ve spent quite a few Sundays netting crab from a Peninsula pier. | https://medium.com/coprocure/meet-the-coprocure-team-joe-huang-e390fc430353 | ['Mariel Reed'] | 2020-04-06 17:40:48.700000+00:00 | ['Team', 'Technology', 'Govtech', 'Startup', 'Careers'] |
America in Black and White | If Bernie accomplished anything sacrificing his self-respect to become the Democratic Party’s prison girlfriend, it was to elevate racism, the fate of the Rust Belt, and economic inequality to front-page stories. The problem is as long as racism, the fate of the Rust Belt, and economic inequality are separate topics talked about by different people in different ways nothing changes.
One of the reasons economic inequality has ramped up as high as it is has been the clever division of the people impacted. Poor people of color are victims of racism while poor white people are too lazy to lift themselves up by their bootstraps. Encourage the POC to feel jealous of the chances the dumb whites throw away like empty PBR cans. Get the white folks to believe POC live off handouts. Blacks vote for Dem candidates who say they’ll help but don’t, poor whites elect Trump who promises not to and doesn’t.
Poor whites make good copy. There’s a new book, Big White Ghetto: Dead Broke, Stone-Cold Stupid, and High on Rage in the Dank Woolly Wilds of the “Real America.” There’s also a new movie out of an old book, Hillbilly Elegy. The National Review has its own white trash story up and the MSM has made parachuting elite columnists into the Heartland to write thought pieces into a sub-genre that could sit aside Business and Sports on the masthead. Whatever all those writers think their point is, their point ends up being poor whites are very different than poor blacks.
The fascination with writing about white trash is because poor white people are a stand in for poor blacks. Kinda by proxy, the way the movie M*A*S*H* set in Korea was really criticism of America’s war in Vietnam. White liberals can say anything they want about Appalachians, stuff they can’t get away with saying about blacks. That avoids anyone seeing the story is all the same story, just whitewashed with claims of racism.
Nick Kristof of the New York Times, in his from the Heartland book, visited Jackson, Kentucky to be shocked by white parents taking their kids out of school because improved academic performance would threaten Social Security disability benefits. These benefits have accrued as various feel-good administration gestures to the point where they are are paid out for loosely defined learning disorders in eight-year-olds. Dumb hicks, throwing away their one chance, education, for a quick handout. But Kristof stumbles in accidental honesty: “This is painful for a liberal to admit, but conservatives have a point when they suggest that America’s safety net can sometimes entangle people in a soul-crushing dependency.” Um, make that white people.
Next up is Kevin Williamson, who in Big White Ghetto writes without controversy “welfare has made Appalachia into a big and sparsely populated housing project — too backward to thrive, but just comfortable enough to keep the underclass in place.” Now imagine the exact sentence with a little tweak — “welfare has made parts of Newark into a big and sparsely populated housing project — too backward to thrive, but just comfortable enough to keep the black underclass in place” and all hell breaking loose on Maddow. Imagine if Ta Nehisi Coates, instead of making a career out of cataloging black victimhood, saying “Stop getting pregnant and smoking weed. They hiring at KFC.”
Or try this one: “The government gives people checks, but nobody teaches them how to live,” says a former high school principal who spoke with Williamson in Kentucky.” Now imagine your favorite conservative talk radio host saying “the problem among blacks is the government gives them checks, but never teaches them how to live.” Shall we talk about single moms in Appalachia whose baby daddies cook meth or shall we talk about deadbeat black dads who cook meth in the South Bronx? Write a book about the former and you’ll vie for a Pulitzer. Try that with the latter without making it a how-to on victimhood and Oprah will skin you alive.
For another taste of the same, remember SNL’s Appalachian Emergency Room, featuring rednecks with comical injuries; one ongoing character came in with all sorts of things stuck up his anus. It was as if the Beverly Hillbillies image of rural people had never been updated. Imagine if Amos and Andy were still on, or maybe just a new series called Ghetto Emergency Room featuring hilarious episodes of gunshots and Fentanyl ODs. The Simpsons scored virtue points writing off Apu after concerns about racism but kept Cletus the Slack Jawed Yokel voiced by the same Jewish actor from Queens who did Apu. How about an “urban” Deliverance, with white adventurers stalked through the slums of Detroit?
The current pimp daddy of white trash stories is Hillbilly Elegy. A forced viewing showed it is to broad truth what hemorrhoids are to pleasant mornings. Just when you would think they had exhausted every “hick in the big city” cliche used since Midnight Cowboy the protagonist gets invited to a fancy dinner party and is intimidated by the multiple forks set out.
Figure a guy like the main character in Elegy who went through an undergrad education, the Marine Corps, and got into Yale could puzzle it all out. What to do with all the forks was even fully explained in the Titanic dinner scene, where the exact same scenario played out to illustrate hickdom. One wonders how many movies featuring POC would do the same. Even Eddie Murphy in Trading Places ultimately turned his street smart lack of White Manners into an advantage. Imagine the Elegy guy saving the day at Yale in a tobacco spitting contest!
Among the other terrible things about Elegy is a near total lack of empathy for its characters. They are all presented as terrible people, their problems their own fault and made worse by their own actions. They are not presented as victims of larger forces (such as racism or urban gentrification), as is common in stories about POC (think Boyzz in the Hood or Do the Right Thing.) There is no leavening poor white problems, even the shared drug problem. Blacks are victims of some white conspiracy, maybe even the CIA, flooding the ‘hood with narcotics. White trash? They have no self-restraint. Same as them using abortion as a cure for recreational sex. Victimhood versus self-sabotage.
We tend to forget the War on Poverty, first aimed at poor whites, failed to help them, as it later failed to help blacks. Too much welfare of the wrong kind without real jobs to back it just created generational dependencies. But we can only talk about one demographic group that way.
That seems to be mixed in to the take away from another new book, The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again. Author Robert Putnam concludes the many gaps between blacks and whites — education, health, employment, financial — narrowed between 1940 and 1970, driven by the Great Migration into northern industrial jobs. Then around 1970 black life fell into a decline which continues today.
Putnam misses the big picture to blame racism. From 1940 to 1970 the lives of lower class Americans of all races improved, especially up north where what became the Rust Belt was then the manufacturing center of the universe. Everyone rose, and fell, the same. Real, adjusted wages were never higher for all Americans then in 1972. But the The Upswing only follows part of the crowd back down. It misses Buchanan County, 99 percent white marooned in southwest Virginia, is among the nation’s most destitute places.
So today we are allowed to mock one failed group as dumb Trump rednecks and treat them like subjects of a nature documentary. Blacks, they’re victims with reparations due. Don’t expect much progress for either group until we are allowed to talk openly about both. Try saying all American lives matter and you risk a broken nose. Wake me when a book called Urban Elegy with its get-to-work ethic up front becomes a best seller.
And if you’ve read this far, please don’t think this is too original a thought. Lyndon Johnson pretty much issued the basic thesis statement in 1960 years before he kicked off the War on Poverty, in Appalachia, for the poor white people who were then the Democratic base. Johnson said “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket.”
Peter Van Buren is the author of We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People, Hooper’s War: A Novel of WWII Japan, and Ghosts of Tom Joad: A Story of the 99 Percent. | https://medium.com/@wemeantwell/america-in-black-and-white-67847228c00b | ['Peter Van Buren'] | 2020-12-19 14:38:17.452000+00:00 | ['Hillbilly Elegy', 'One Percent', 'Appalachia', 'Poverty', 'Economic Inequality'] |
Guiding you Door-to-Door via our Super App! | Guiding you Door-to-Door via our Super App!
Remember landing at an airport or going to your favourite mall and the hassle of finding the pickup spot when you booked a cab? When there are about a million entrances, it can get particularly annoying trying to find the right pickup location!
Rolling out across South East Asia is a brand new booking experience from Grab, designed to make it easier for you to make a booking at large venues like airports, shopping centers, and tourist destinations! With the new booking flow, it will not only be easier to select one of the pre-designated Grab pickup points, you can also find text and image directions to help you navigate your way through the venue for a smoother rendezvous with your driver!
Inspiration behind the work
Finding your pick-up point closest to you, let alone predicting it, is incredibly challenging, especially when you are inside huge buildings or in crowded areas. Neeraj Mishra, Product Owner for Places at Grab explains: “We rely on GPS-data to understand user’s location which can be tricky when you are indoors or surrounded by skyscrapers. Since the satellite signal has to go through layers of concrete and steel, it becomes weak which adds to the inaccuracy. Furthermore, ensuring that passengers and drivers have the same pick-up point in mind can be tricky, especially with venues that have multiple entrances. ”
Grab’s data analysis revealed that “rendezvous distance” (walking distance between the selected pick-up point and where the car is waiting) is more than twice the Grab average when the booking is made from large venues such as airports.
To solve this issue, Grab launched “Entrances” (the green dots on the map) last year, which lists the various pick-up points available at a particular building, and shows them on the map, allowing users to easily choose the one closest to them, and ensuring their drivers know exactly where they want to be picked up from. Since then, Grab has created more than 120,000 such entrances, and we are delighted to inform you that average of rendezvous distances across all countries have been steadily going down!
One problem remained
But there was still one common pain-point to be solved. Just because a passenger has selected the pick-up point closest to them, doesn’t mean it’s easy for them to find it. This is particularly challenging at very large venues like airports and shopping centres, and especially difficult if the passenger is unfamiliar with the venue, for example — a tourist landing at Jakarta Airport for the very first time. To deliver an even smoother booking and pick-up experience, Grab has rolled out a new feature called Venues — the first in the region — that will give passengers in-app photo and text directions to the pick-up point closest to them.
Let’s break it down! How does it work?
Whether you are a local or a foreigner on holiday or business trip, fret not if you are not too familiar with the place that you are in!
Let’s imagine that you are now at Singapore Changi Airport: your new booking experience will look something like this!
Step 1: Fire the Grab app and click on Transport. You will see a welcome screen showing you where you are!
Step 2: On booking screen, you will see a new pickup menu with a list of available pickup points. Confirm the pickup point you want and make the booking!
Step 3: Once you’ve been allocated a driver, tap on the bubble to get directions to your pick-up point!
Step 4: Follow the landmarks and walking instructions and you’ve arrived at your pick-up point!
Curious about how we got this done?
Data-Driven Decisions
Based on a thorough data analysis of historical bookings, Grab identified key venues across our markets in Southeast Asia. Then we dispatched our Operations team to the ground, to identify all pick up points and perform detailed on-ground survey of the venue.
Operations Team’s Leg Work
Nagur Hassan, Operations Manager at Grab, explains the process: “For the venue survey process, we send a team equipped with the tools required to capture the details, like cameras, wifi and bluetooth scanners etc. Once inside the venue, the team identifies strategic landmarks and clear direction signs that are related to drop-off and pick-up points. Team also captures turn-by-turn walking directions to make it easier for Grab users to navigate — For instance, walk towards Starbucks and take a left near H&M store. All the photos and documentations taken on the sites are then brought back to the office for further processing.”
Quality Assurance
Once the data is collected, our in-house team checks the quality of the images and data. We also mask people’s faces and number plates of the vehicles to hide any identity-related information. As of today, we have collected 3400+ images for 1900+ pick up points belonging to 600 key venues! This effort took more than 3000 man-hours in total! And we aim to cover more than 10,000 such venues across the region in the next few months.
This is only the beginning
We’re constantly striving to improve the location accuracy of our passengers by using advanced Machine Learning and constant feedback mechanism. We understand GPS may not always be the most accurate determination of your current location, especially in crowded areas and skyscraper districts. This is just the beginning and we’re planning to launch some very innovative features in the coming months! So stay tuned for more! | https://medium.com/@lara.pureum.yim/guiding-you-door-to-door-via-our-super-app-cf6cf9a9dbb4 | ['Lara Pureum Yim'] | 2019-04-14 09:22:20.136000+00:00 | ['Tech', 'Maps', 'Data Science', 'Apps', 'Grab'] |
Does Sex Sell In Music? | Or is it in fact love that really sells?
It has been argued that “sex sells”, and many have complained or celebrated the fact that modern pop music has become more sexualised, but to what extent would it be true to say that “sex sells in music”?
Hey wait a minute that’s not the right phrase you don’t fool me (Image by Nick Fewings on unsplash)
A study was undertaken by Superdrug on the prevalence of sex and love in pop music from 1960 to 2015 (specifically in lyrics, which is what this article will focus on).
11 year old me would be so stoked that I could say “sex” in my homework in ten years time
As you can see sex in popular music has had a huge spike since the 90s, while love has declined since the early 90s. Some may suggest that this means that sex really does sell, but it is worth noting that sex mentions peak at a little over 1,500, while love mentions peak at approximately 25,000. Okay cool, article over, sex doesn’t sell, it’s all about love dude… right?
Well no, but you’re free to leave if you want I guess. Please don’t though I swear things will stay/finally become interesting. While sex appears significantly less than love, the fact that such a significant increase has occurred is still not something that should be ignored, especially when looked at through the context of 21st century society and media. Occurrences of sexual content on television almost doubled between 1997 and 2001. It is therefore clear that the rise of sex in popular music is still significant enough to look into.
You may find yourself wondering why this increase in sexual music has happened. Either way, I’m going to tell you why and hope you read it. This increase is overall due to more ability to do so and more of a receptive audience to sex in pop music. The 80s were to some degree characterised by social conservatism hitting back against media overstepping boundaries that these conservatives had decided were too far. This led to a kickback culture of “sticking it to the man”, and the increase of drugs and partying as subjects of music in the 90s, largely thanks to gangster rap and R&B, and thanks to MTV as a new more free platform.
If you’re still reading this and you’re wondering why love is so prominent then I’ve completed the hat-trick of predicting what you’re wondering so give me claps please. Love has been the subject of pieces of music for a rather long time, to the point where it’s honestly surprising we haven’t gotten bored of it (unless you’re Ne-Yo in 2005, then you wrote an entire song about being fed up with them. PS Ne-Yo if you’re reading this, where did you go mate? You were great. Also how long are brackets allowed to go on for before it’s obnoxious?). Love in music dates back as long ago as the 8th century BC, with Homer’s poems the Iliad and Odyssey set to musical accompaniment (absolute banger by the way). As pop music continued evolving from Homer’s club classics, love didn’t go anywhere, it carried on being a dominant theme in many chart-topping hits. In the 2000s specifically, this can be partially attributed to country artists continued songs about love taking over the US charts.
Rascal Flatts, Toby Keith, Brooks & Dunn, and Kenny Chesney were four of the top five artists in the 2000s, and let’s be real Nickelback are country’s butt rock cousin so they may as well be included. Then between 2010 and 2015, Taylor Swift was at the top for more than 227 weeks (why? I’ll never know). Tay Tay has spent almost as much time on the charts in five years with songs about love as Journey did in an entire decade. Now you may be saying “Hey, Taylor Swift isn’t country, even that weird start bit wasn’t really country”. To that I say “yeah, you right. But if she is then it fits my narrative way better” so like there were acoustic guitars and a Southern accent on her old songs so she may as well have been country.
Okay, so I know I’ve really been riding my luck with guessing what you’re thinking, but how else do I link my points? Here’s to hoping you’re thinking DOES SEX REALLY “SELL” THEN?!?!?!? Interestingly, sex mentions follow a consistent up and down cycle, peaking for a year or two before falling dramatically, suggesting that sex sells until people get fed up with over-saturation. Additionally, artists who largely mentioned sex but did not mention love would have maximum 50 weeks on the charts, yet artists mentioning sex spent much longer on the charts if they also mentioned love. Also, many artists did well on the charts with many mentions of love with few or no mentions of sex. This once again reinforces the idea that sex itself doesn’t sell, but love definitely sells. One of the most telling examples from this study shows that the leader of sex use James Brown (nice title dude), tops the list with over 40 occurrences of sex in songs on the Hot 100. The leader for love (the Glee cast, remember them? If I had to remember their campaign to butcher as many songs as possible then so will you) has a ridiculous 500 mentions of love. What is worth asking is whether sex sells within specific genres however, since soul, R&B, and hip-hop artists are way ahead on the lists of overall “sex” mentions since 1960.
This would suggest that sex does sell in these areas, although love still does too. So yeah, nice counter point writer of this article, but love is still number one.
Sometimes you don’t need neither sex nor drugs to sell though, for example Michael Jackson isn’t in the top 10 of any of the lists in the study, and I heard he was a pretty big deal. Perhaps there’s more to music than just two words, and actual sonic output is pretty important. Those damn millennials not caring about the lyrics anymore making my article’s points weaker. This article would have banged in the 90s I swear… | https://medium.com/writing-in-the-media/does-sex-sell-in-music-2a5165fc0b47 | ['Riccardo Bresaola'] | 2018-02-25 00:23:49.962000+00:00 | ['University Of Kent', 'Sex', 'Writing In The Media', 'Music', 'Love'] |
Magical Snowman Suspected in a Series of Crimes | SEATTLE — Police say a snowman is responsible for breaking into local businesses, setting car fires, and threatening to stab passersby with a carrot. The mayhem started yesterday afternoon outside the Goodwill on Capitol Hill.
Karen Foray and a group of her friends were shopping at the Goodwill when they came across an old top hat. The 17-year-old and her friends purchased the garment. “I recently bought this emergency snowman kit that came with a corncob pipe, button, and three pieces of coal,” she said. “Best $25 I’ve ever spent.”
Foray and her two friends decided to build a snowman outside the Goodwill. “We may or may not have been higher than Santa’s sleigh on Christmas Eve,” she said.
The three set about building the snowman. “We gave him balls,” said a chuckling Paul Frees. “But then we thought it was super messed up to gender a snowperson so we opted for the classic design instead which itself is problematic.”
Something happened once Foray placed the old top hat atop the snowman’s head. “Dude came to life,” said Frees. “Said his name’s Frosty and that he wanted to have some fun before he melted away.”
Have you seen this snowman?
“Fun” in this case meant rampaging through a local Whole Foods. Witnesses say the snowman screamed at anyone who came down the produce aisle. “He kept saying the carrots were his, that he needed options for a planned nose job,” said Whitney Banks. Banks says an assistant manager came over and tried to intervene but the snowman threatened to “stab him in the brain” with the root vegetable.
From there the snowman made his way back outside where police say he smashed through a window at Target. “He saw this display featuring Olaf from Frozen and just went ballistic,” said Foray. “We told him to chill but I don’t think he could hear us. Frosty just kept muttering something about unrealistic body standards and Disney commodifying his culture.”
Foray said she and her two friends left at that point. Police allege the snowman managed to get his hands on a lighter and a box of premium La Vieille Ferme boxed wine. “We believe the snowman was intoxicated when he used the remnants of the boxed wine as a propellant in a series of car fires,” said Sergeant Nicholas Corneilus of the Seattle Police Department.
Not much is known about the snowman’s whereabouts following the incidents. Some speculate that the snowman melted under the intense heat of the vehicle fires. Indeed, multiple people in the area report hearing piercing screams of “I’m melting, I’m melting” and “Oh what a world” around the same time.
Police did recover an old top hat from the scene. Still, they’re not taking any chances. “We’re asking the public to be on the lookout for a snowman, white, about six feet tall, with a corncob pipe, a button nose, and two eyes made of coal,” said Cornelius.
When asked about a motive, Corneilus said, “there must have been some magic in that old top hat.” “We’re also not ruling out the possibility that ANTIFA or some other leftist organization was involved in some way.” | https://medium.com/@ericwilsonedge/magical-snowman-suspected-in-a-series-of-crimes-c982b0a8910a | [] | 2020-12-08 21:54:39.657000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Christmas', 'Satire', 'Humor', 'Fake News'] |
Imagery update: Explore your favorite places in Google Earth | By Christiaan Adams, Developer Relations, Google Earth & Earth Outreach
You often ask us about the age of our 3D and satellite imagery, and how often the map is updated. The short answer is, we’re updating the imagery you see in Google Earth and Google Maps all the time — but starting today here on Medium, we’ll be sharing periodic highlights of what’s new.
New 3D: Paris, Amsterdam, London and New York City
This year alone, we’ve added new high-resolution 3D imagery for more than 100 cities and metro areas — that covers almost 46 million people! Start in the coastal capital city of Lisbon, Portugal. Then head over to the eastern half of Nassau, The Bahamas, with its beautiful beaches. And finally, explore the natural harbor of Nagasaki, Japan.
Our 3D updates often include refreshes to existing cities with better, sharper imagery. Four recent updates we’re particularly excited about: New York City, London, Paris and Amsterdam. Like all cities, these four are constantly changing, so you can imagine keeping our 3D up to date in dynamic places like these can be tricky! Be sure to check out downtown Manhattan, where a lot of new construction is now reflected in the imagery:
New satellite imagery: PyeongChang, Mecca and Bangkok
Since the new year, we’ve added enough satellite imagery to cover more than 888 million people across the planet. We often plan those updates around major world events, including last month’s Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. Keep an eye out for more imagery updates in June when the World Cup kicks off in Russia.
Satellites capture images at different resolutions. Landsat, for example, images huge areas at a relatively low resolution of 30 meters — great for viewing large areas like the Amazon. Recently, we’ve been adding very high-resolution 30-centimeter images, captured by our friends at DigitalGlobe. Check it out now in places like Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia, just in time for Ramadan.
Behind the scenes
With Google Earth, we’re aiming to build the most photorealistic, digital version of our planet. We’re often asked how we do it. Where do the images come from? And how do you take those images and build that seamless globe? Here’s a helpful video we released last year, digging into the pixels and people that create Google Earth:
More highlights
Recently updated 3D imagery
Austria: Dornbirn, Klagenfurt; Bucharest, Romania
Canada: Moncton, Saint John, Sault Ste. Marie
France: Annecy, Bordeaux, Frejus, Monaco Ville, Valence
Germany: Berlin, Essen, Rosenheim, Stuttgart, Wilhelms
Greece: Heraklion
Italy: Bassano Del Grappa, Caserta, Cesena, Cosenza, Imola, Lecco, Messina, Ravenna, Reggio di Calabria, Reggio nell’Emilia, Savona, Udine
Japan: Asahikawa, Fuji, Fukuyama, Hakodate, Hanamaki, Kirishima, Miyazu, Natori, Ueda, Yamaguchi
Lisbon, Portugal
Nassau, The Bahamas
Netherlands: Almere, Amersfoort, Arnhem, Breda, Hengelo, Leeuwarden, Maastricht, Middelburg, Tilburg, Utrecht, Venlo
Pilsen, Czech Republic
Poland: Bydgoszcz, Częstochowa, Kalisz, Koszalin, Krakow, Lodz, Malbork, Rzeszów, Szczecin, Wroclaw, Zielona Góra
San Juan, Argentina
San Marino, San Marino
Spain: Avila, Cordoba, Lleida, Ourense, Santiago de Compostela, Toledo
Sweden: Lund, Stockholm, Uppsala, Västerås
Tunis, Tunisia
United Kingdom: Belfast, Bristol, Cambridge, Coventry, Glasgow, Manchester, Oxford, Southend-on-Sea, Stonehenge
USA: Ames, Bel Air, Corpus Christi, Elgin, Fenwick Island, Green Bay, Iowa City, Joliet, Monroe, Richland, Sandusky, Saratoga Springs, Williamsburg, Wisconsin Dells, York
Zurich, Switzerland
Recently updated Satellite imagery | https://medium.com/google-earth/imagery-update-explore-your-favorite-places-in-google-earth-5da3b28e4807 | ['Google Earth'] | 2018-04-12 19:44:02.136000+00:00 | ['3d', 'Google Maps', 'Satellite Imagery', 'Google Earth', 'Satellite Technology'] |
The Genius of Bill Nye Unmasked | Like many other people, I believe wearing a mask in public at this stage of the pandemic is an easy and effective action we can take to reduce the spread of Covid-19. In recent years, the practice of medicine has become increasingly evidence-based leaving behind much of the unproven anecdotal dogma of the past. For example, doctors used to order anti-arrhythmic drugs for abnormal heart rhythms seen in patients in the hours after a heart attack until studies showed that this practice was actually detrimental to recovery. In general, this paradigm shift towards evidence has been of great benefit to the medical field. However, there are occasions when the requirements of data-driven medicine can stand in the way of common sense.
At the moment, the medical evidence regarding the effectiveness of cloth masks in the pandemic remains fairly low-quality for a couple of reasons. It is difficult to ethically conduct prospective studies with a proper control (i.e. non-mask-wearing) group. Likewise, it is also challenging to isolate confounding variables in retrospective studies because additional elements of mitigation in certain populations have often been implemented alongside mask-wearing. This lack of quality data can be frustrating to public health leaders and medical providers who are usually hesitant to make recommendations without strong clinical evidence.
Enter Bill Nye. In his two short videos, Nye reviews in clear language why masks are important and provides a concrete visual demonstration that viewers can link to his verbal explanation. One doesn’t require a Ph.D. to understand this Science Guy. Nye uses science to explain the concept of masking as it applies to the broadest of audiences. His message is so powerful and important because society can’t receive maximum benefit from masking if only the scientifically inclined mask up. We need each and every one of us on board. Thank you, Bill Nye, for sharing your gift of science with the world. | https://medium.com/microbial-instincts/the-genius-of-bill-nye-unmasked-402a5a1feb72 | ['Bo Stapler'] | 2020-07-15 13:01:04.134000+00:00 | ['People', 'Masks', 'Covid 19', 'Science', 'Health'] |
Indecisive? or scared of my decisions? | Whenever I’ve tried to write something before I’ve been crippled by the fear that it will never be “good” or that I'm trying to hard to be “edgy” or “unique”. If I tried to write something on the internet about my situation or how I was feeling there was also that fear that there would be someone in my corner of the world who knew exactly who had written in at had discover every last embarrassing secret thought I had shared.
I still have that fear, right now I think I'm writing horribly and that I'm a disgrace but I also just want to write strangely enough? I mean hopefully someone will read this and I'm not just screaming at white, empty ,blankness. I’m aware of how flawed an individual I am and I'm also aware that not many people would enjoy reading such a mess, or would they? Either way i would like to place my incoherent thoughts down on figurative paper even if the sentences are weirdly strung together?
I am not really one for commitments, I many start something and never finish. Same goes for this writing gig haha. I don’t know if I will continue, This could be my first and last thing I ever write on here. But I hope not. | https://medium.com/@the17002595/indecisive-or-scared-of-my-decisions-904c77a18213 | [] | 2020-12-25 02:25:38.354000+00:00 | ['Diary', 'Thoughts And Feelings', 'Thoughts', 'Slice Of Life', 'Honest'] |
5 Reasons To Love Task Time Tracking With TMetric | There is little to no alternative to searching for absolutely impeccable software when it comes to managing projects with ease. Otherwise, alongside a lack of access to real-time monitoring of task performance, the companies run a risk of project budget overrun reaching a staggering 200% and schedule overrun of 70%.
The project management tools featured with the integration of task time tracking options that we list below enable teams to allocate project resources effectively, stay on the project budget and meet deadlines stress-free, which makes the overall process smooth and predictably successful.
Task time tracking as the crucial aspect of task performance facilitates this process further by providing metrics related to tasks within workflow regardless of their complexity. Thus, task time tracking contributes to:
more accurate business outcomes
increased productivity.
JIRA
Key characteristics📌: Agility, customization of workflow, diverse categorization of projects, automatic creation of project maps.
It is operating on features favoring flexibility of project management and gearing the task performance at the most effective way of goal achievement. Aside from showing a detailed time-oriented task hierarchy, integrating time tracking in JIRA brings insights into understanding the velocity of the project team: by comparing values, project managers get a clear overview of their projects' progress.
Time tracking is crucial for making the best out of JIRA sprint planning features and turns task distribution across your team algorithmically easy.
But there’s more🕑🔍 to it than that: Time tracking at the task level assists in creating accurate estimates and budgets for future projects of a similar kind. Tracking time (hours/minutes) per task (JIRA issues) with clicking TMetric start button prevents teams from feeling micromanaged. At the same time, managers can still keep track of project progress and see what tasks fall out of schedule.
Trello
Key characteristics📌: Easy editing and task cards moving, task cards archive, adding labels, tags, categories, due dates and providing options for commenting.
It is a powerful tool that brings project management to a level of highly effective collaboration and increased productivity. Trello boards became a synonym for perfect workflow: whether you are an individual or a part of the big team, performing tasks will get easier due to Trello core features.
But there’s more🕑🔍 to it than that: Adding TMetric time tracking on Trello tasks will help you stay organized at all the stages of the project with a simple yet most effective power-up to elevate your personal and business productivity. Integrated task time tracking means you don’t have to switch between tabs or be concerned about syncing data.
Asana
Key characteristics📌: unbroken task tracking suited individuals and any size teams, activity feed, automatic updates with notification to the inbox, customized calendars, reminders, adding followers.
It helps monitor the ‘health’ of a company not solely on one metric but rather a host of crucial criteria that will provide detailed information on how to set task priorities, organize team collaboration, keep track of task performance and allocate resources at best. Implementing Asana allows meeting deadlines within the set schedule stress-free.
But there’s more🕑🔍 to it than that: Integrating TMetric in Asana delivers accuracy in task tracking and presents calculations for task performance analysis as well as further generation of teamwork task-based reports for perfecting ways of workload distribution.
Task time tracking can make a widespread impact on project completion and, overall, business outcomes by equipping managers with instruments for building proper strategies aimed at equal task distribution and, in the long run, workers’ wellbeing under the conditions of a better adjustment to a new “normal”.
Click Up
Key characteristics📌: Setting priorities, creating portfolios and epic projects, options for task scheduling, wide team management functionality, task planning based on Critical Path method, Gantt charts, adding calendars, synchronization with Google Calendar.
It is a top leading project management application on the market favored by over 100000 teams worldwide that provides features for highly productive collaboration. Task time tracking in ClickUp is designed to help document the time utilization for optimizing the task performance and facilitating the routine.
But there’s more🕑🔍 to it than that: Task time tracking in ClickUp with TMetric feeds on data that can be further used for identifying the project bottlenecks or any weak organizational points in task planning.
Task time tracking assists in creating an efficient and productive workspace that is operating on precise time estimates and enables teams to have a dragonfly-eye vision of any scale project.
Key characteristics📌: full visibility of tasks dependency and task prioritization, adding subtasks, allocating time for tasks and subtasks, mention and assignment of team members, setting due dates and workload management capability, recurrent tasks, customized reports.
Wrike is a full-fledged project management platform offering the most comprehensive task management functionalities for effective task coordination within the collaboration of any size teams (both onsite and remote). Wrike task time tracking features allow users to monitor task performance in real-time and allocate resources according to current project needs.
Task time tracking with TMetric helps leverage Wrike diverse functionality to increase team productivity and provide consistency of performance across projects of any complexity.
But there’s more🕑🔍 to it than that: By enabling functionality that is fully integrated into Wrike software, TMetric delivers a task time tracking experience that truly matters in achieving project management purposes.
It brings a reduction of admin workload and saves time on transferring data between the systems. This way, managers can not only monitor team tasks progress in real time but make data driven decisions with confidence.
Takeaways
All the error-prone probabilities that make a negative impact on task management when taken together, might generate a time bomb for deadlines in particular and project success in general.
But with time tracking as the forethought of task planning, project managers mitigate risks and build foundations for efficient task performance. So if you do not want to miss the time management train, it is time you start tracking tasks for the sake of project success.
Task time tracking eliminates the ambiguity in the performance evaluation criteria and, thus, levels the project field at best. Furthermore, task time tracking may be an effective way of building productivity measurement within the performance.
TMetric time tracking is highly trusted. For users of the 5 top project management tools we listed above, it plays a key role in creating accountability, building trust, and enabling workers to balance work and life at best.
To focus on deliverables while staying agile and flexible is easily achievable when TMetric task tracking becomes an integral part of your project management.
How it works 📝Integrating TMetric task time tracking in the project management tools lets perform better when you need:
to plan and schedule tasks
to create task time estimates
to outsource tasks
to build in task dependencies in project management
to optimize administrative tasks.
By the original post here.
| https://medium.com/@lynxam22/5-reasons-to-love-task-time-tracking-with-tmetric-7a9e0859dcbd | [] | 2020-12-21 03:39:45.906000+00:00 | ['Time Tracking', 'Task Management', 'Tmetric', 'Time Management', 'Productivity'] |
Recommended book to people who are interested in learning about Islam | In every society, at every time, people who believe only in this temporary material life have argued against the existence of an afterlife. Many have used such arguments as an excuse for doing whatever they like. The Qur’an is full of references to such people: Those who disbelieve imagine that they will not be raised again. Say, [0 Muhammad] On the contrary, by my Lord! You shall be raised again, and then you will be informed of what you did. And that is easy for my Lord. (Qur’an 64:7)
The arguments of such people have no basis in logic, for God, who creates and destroys, can just as easily recreate. He can also change the attributes and forms of His creation as He wills.
―Suzanne Haneef, Islam: The Path of God, page 59-60.
Written by an American Muslim, this work presents a brief yet comprehensive survey of the basic teachings on the significance of Islam’s central concept, faith in and submission to God. It introduces the reader to how Muslims feel about various aspects of life, how they worship, and how Muslims living in the West practice their religion. Perhaps you have been hearing a lot about Islam and Muslims in the news and are interested in knowing, justifiably, just what this religion is all about. This is the classic English-language book for introducing Islam to non-Muslims in the West. It is a well-balanced book that does an excellent job of covering the basics of belief, practice, and culture, without overwhelming the reader in minutia. This is generally the first book that I recommend to people who are interested in learning about Islam.
To download: https://islamicbulletin.org/free_downloads/new_muslim/islam_the_path.pdf
To read online:
great book to read! | https://medium.com/@marytn/recommended-book-to-people-who-are-interested-in-learning-about-islam-88913110b03d | ['Fatima Karim'] | 2019-12-22 09:54:28.245000+00:00 | ['Philosophy', 'Reading', 'Writing', 'Islam', 'Sociology'] |
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