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The Pandemic Is Exposing More Partners to the Realities of New Motherhood — and It’s About Time | The Pandemic Is Exposing More Partners to the Realities of New Motherhood — and It’s About Time MD EASIN ALIF Feb 16·6 min read
Regardless of whether focusing on an infant on brief maternity leave or as a housewife as long as possible, the requests of new parenthood are colossal. Frequently, moms are let to confront them be, battling to sort out some way to focus on a minuscule human while still actually recuperating from labor.
That being said, ladies are educated to be grateful for the chance to invest energy with our infants — it is anything but an assurance, all things considered. Because of our country’s interwoven parental leave approaches, the capacity to take paid leave to focus on another infant relies upon an assortment of components like what state you live in and what organization you work for. Just 55 percent of U.S. organizations offer any paid parental leave whatsoever, and 1 out of 4 ladies get back to the labor force within 10 days of birthing a child.
The standpoint is considerably grimmer for fathers who wish to help their recuperating accomplices and invest energy with their young infants. Fewer organizations offer paid parental leave for men than for ladies, and those that do frequently offer them less time, as per the Society for Human Resource Management.
That implies that ladies who can remain at home with their infants are regularly doing it all alone, tossed into a universe of constant requests, at the same time expected to grin while doing it. Is anyone shocked that post-birth anxiety and tension are so normal?
Here’s the place where COVID-19 comes in: Thanks to more lenient work-from-home approaches to forestall the spread of the infection, numerous dads and accomplices who might somehow be out at the workplace all day are currently home. Also, for new moms, that implies that they frequently have a degree of help that they would never have longed for something else.
Having an infant during a worldwide pandemic is difficult, however, it’s surely presenting more accomplices to the staggering real factors of new parenthood — and for some, that is a significant beginning.
Kicking Out the Question of “What Do You Do All Day?”
As a mother of three myself — incorporating an infant brought into the world in August while case tallies of COVID-19 took off — I’ve encountered the exemplary flitting freeze when a life partner strolls in from a taxing day at the workplace to discover kids crying, pets woofing, everybody looking rumpled, and the house in an overall mess.
Like most mates, mine has consistently known not to say it, yet I used to contemplate whether he would think it: “What did you do the entire day?”
The appropriate response is one that, as veteran mothers know, is practically difficult to articulate. Occasionally it seems like everything and nothing, however, to put it plainly, it includes a lot of errands that are extraordinarily advantageous, staggeringly burdening, and regularly imperceptible to anybody that wasn’t there to see you doing them.
That is the reason it’s a particularly distinct advantage that such countless accomplices — including my own — are unexpectedly home practically the entire day to see precisely what’s happening when a mother is focusing on her infant.
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Contemplating whether it was simply me who at long last felt seen, I contacted different mothers of infants from my on the web and in-person towns. Their simultaneousness and eagerness about having an accomplice at home were overpowering, particularly for veteran mothers who had seen an unbelievable contrast, by the way, they felt when they were dealing with their youngsters alone contrasted and how they feel dealing with their “pandemic children” presently.
Liz Todd, a housewife from Texas, is one of those mothers: she has three kids ages 9, 6, and a half years. Todd says that in addition to the fact that she is psychologically well-being superior to it was back when her initial two kids were infants, yet she additionally feels like her better half at long last “gets it” because of the way that he’s telecommuting.
“He has a way better feeling of why ‘nothing’ at any point completes around the house,” Todd says. “He’s forbidden a great deal of the time, however, he hears the crying, the clothing blaring continually, the dishwasher ringing when it’s set, and the thumping and slamming around the house as I attempt to adjust Baby and tasks.”
It’s the kind of comprehension from an accomplice that may dispense with or bring down the need a mother feels to clarify her day (which is irritating yet besides semi-enraging). Or then again it very well may be sufficient to subdue the disdain that can work between two accomplices when one is home throughout the day and the other is all over town on the planet appears as though nothing in life has changed by any stretch of the imagination. The harmony under one family ostensibly assembles a bond on shared mindfulness and regard as opposed to feeling like an association is wavering in those early days.
Of her better half who telecommutes while she focuses on several’s half years old, Alexa Goodeve, a homemaker of four from Indiana, says: “The principle expression I hear now is, ‘I don’t have a clue how you do it.”
Transforming Understanding Into Action
However significant as it could be to be perceived, numerous mothers were particularly eager to take note of that their work-from-home accomplices had likewise interpreted that expanded comprehension right into it.
That was the situation for Colleen Noetzli, a housewife of a 4-year old and a 14-month-old living in Vienna, Austria. Noetzli noticed that once her significant other began telecommuting because of the pandemic, he had the option to see firsthand what it resembled to deal with an infant alongside a more seasoned kid.
While he’s presently back to working from the workplace a couple of days of the week, he’s inclined up his family unit commitments.
“He currently begins heaps of clothing before he heads into the workplace as an approach to assist. He generally takes our canine out in the first part of the day so I can get the additional rest. If he can detect that I’ve had a difficult day at home he offers to get supper on his walk home from the train. These little moves generally affect my emotional wellness,” she says.
Work-from-home accomplices are likewise getting more with regards to youngster care. Parker Russell, CEO of Black Ink Coffee, discusses a portion of the manners by which he’s gotten more engaged with his kid little girl’s life since he began telecommuting.
“Telecommuting permits me to stop how I’m doing proceed to get her when she awakens from her snooze, or to give her jug, even to take a little stroll in the pram outside. My significant other is very well ready to deal with this, yet I need and appreciate dynamic support in my little girl’s life,” Russell says.
Jonathan Wasserstrum, CEO of business land organization SquareFoot, says that he in some cases holds his 8-month-old while he takes Zoom gatherings and appreciates that his group doesn’t hesitate. “My standard since the very beginning has been ‘Infant and Mommy start things out,’” he says.
Having an accomplice working at home doesn’t generally compare to having an accomplice who will contribute to tasks or youngster care or joyfully skip a child on their lap during a Zoom call. Each family and each arrangement is extraordinary. Also, with numerous guardians unemployed, lashed monetarily, affected by sickness, or essentially attempting frantically to make a decent living, times are more distressing than any other time. (Also, on the off chance that one accomplice is utilized, it just bodes well for that task to take outright need even during the introduction of another child.)
Additionally, regardless of your point of view, being another parent is difficult. For accomplices, being another parent and attempting to hop once more into a work-from-home occupation half a month later is additionally hard. Also, not all guardians or accomplices can be relied upon to immediately venture up to the two gigs with 100% achievement. (That is not how nurturing, organization, or work-from-home positions with kids work, obviously.)
However, the change that is being seen here comes down to openness and essentially being encircled by the intricate details of infant life — something accomplices regularly pass up because of the arrangement of American work life.
Also, this openness alone can be sufficiently educated to move sympathy and comprehension — the two of which new moms are regularly in critical need of. | https://medium.com/@easinalif/the-pandemic-is-exposing-more-partners-to-the-realities-of-new-motherhood-and-its-about-time-cf348df76ab9 | ['Md Easin Alif'] | 2021-03-06 10:09:54.058000+00:00 | ['Babymoov', 'Motherhood', 'Baby'] |
New Project Done.Using Elementor Pro. | Hi, I am Abdullah Al Mamun. I am working the web design and development sector for a few past yeaonrs | https://medium.com/@codermamun/new-project-done-using-elementor-pro-936eabbe348a | ['Coder Mamun'] | 2020-12-27 15:31:59.005000+00:00 | ['WordPress', 'Elementor', 'Web Design', 'Website', 'Codermamun'] |
A pew full of squirrels. Do your children misbehave in church? | Image courtesy of Pixabay
Sometimes in church, I feel like I’m calling a square dance. “Sit down. Stand up. Turn around. Don’t touch your sister. Put that down. Pick it up. Kneel down. Get off the floor. Pay attention. Grab your partner, do-si-do.” ARGGG. Other people have told me that they think it’s cute, but it drives me crazy! Why won’t my children stop misbehaving in church?
What’s in a dream?
A couple of months back, I had a dream about it. Now, I don’t put much stock in dreams as a general rule. Most of my dreams are immediately forgotten the moment I wake up. But God did promise that when He poured out His Spirit, young men would see visions and old men would dream dreams. You see which category I fit in.
In the dream, my second son was climbing around some sort of contraption and fell into a basket. Suddenly, arcs of electricity started shooting through him, causing him to jerk and twist horribly. I raced forward and knocked him out of the basket, and he quickly recovered. Then I jerked awake.
My first thought as I awoke was that my son’s motions in church were similar to the motions that I saw him making in the dream while being electrocuted. My next thought was that maybe my son’s behavior was being affected by some outside force. I had the realization that misbehaving in church is a sin against the first commandment. Failing to show God proper respect is a sin, even for a child.
Looking for the devil’s footprints.
Where there’s sin, there’s demons. I know from past experience that demons don’t have any qualms attacking the smallest children. It dawned on me that perhaps part of the chaos that I was experiencing was due to the fact that my children were being severely tempted to act up in Mass.
In my spiritual life, I’ve come up against temptations that were incredibly intense. They took all the powers of my will and intellect, strengthened by the God’s grace, to resist them. After a temptation like that passed, I was exhausted and spiritually depleted.
My poor children might be facing this same kind of dramatically intensified temptation at Mass, but without the benefit of my understanding of spiritual warfare or my years of practice fighting the devil. In a way, the devil might be “electrocuting” them with severe temptation and sitting back and laughing at my frustration ho down.
The proof is in the pudding.
I decided to test this theory the following Sunday. God does occasionally wake me up in the middle of the night to tell me something, but I needed to test the truth of this ‘revelation’ by acting on it. Before Mass, I stopped my kids and had them say a simple prayer with me. “Jesus, please help me to behave at Mass.” Nothing more than that. No lectures or threats (which I’ve tried before with zero effect).
The results were amazing. I think it was the first time that I was able to pray quietly after communion in months. The kids weren’t perfect. They are still 7, 5, and 3. But now I was working with God’s grace rather than on my own strength.
After Mass, I praised the children for their behavior and pointed out that God answered their prayer for help. I told them that the devil tempts them to misbehave, but God gives them grace to be reverent. In the following weeks, we have continued this practice of asking Jesus for help before Mass, and the fruit has been overwhelmingly positive. Not perfection, mind you, but dramatic improvement. I still have to fight with distraction during Mass myself, so I know that this will be a lifelong battle for them.
A long term project.
I have continued to talk to my children about the temptation to misbehave in mass, and ass I’m much more likely to tell them that I think they’re being tempted during Mass than to threaten them with a spanking. I find it works better, because they really don’t want to do what the devil wants them to do. It helps them to engage their minds and wills to fight back against the temptation, which is a skill they’re going to need for the rest of their lives.
Originally published at https://demoniac.net on December 16, 2020. | https://medium.com/@nathankrupa/a-pew-full-of-squirrels-do-your-children-misbehave-in-church-31ed4d010b32 | ['Nathan John Krupa'] | 2020-12-16 21:47:13.014000+00:00 | ['Spiritual Warfare', 'Demonology', 'Temptation', 'Catholic'] |
My Sister, the Serial Killer. My Sister, the Serial Killer | Book Review
My Sister, the Serial Killer
Goodreads Image
“The most loving parents and relatives commit murder with smiles on their faces. They force us to destroy the person we really are: a subtle kind of murder.”
Synopsis
Korede, a nurse who dares to do anything for her family, struggles to protect her sister Ayoola — a serial killer. Ayoola has the obsession of making guys fall in love with her and end up killing them. The real problem arrives when Ayoola and Tade (Korede’s long-term love) starts dating. Korede has to decide between her love and her sister. Will she be able to save him? Did Ayoola get caught? What is her haunting past that drove her a serial killer?
Insights
This book is a short and fun read; could be completed in one sitting. The narrative is from Korede’s perspective, which did justice in capturing her unbalanced emotions and dilemma. She is the alpha, takes responsibility for her actions, protects her sister by any means necessary — that was the sole reason the readers view her as a protagonist, while actually, she is morally corrupt.
Ayoola in Korede’s view, the most annoying, yet beautiful girl — with a don’t care attitude. She kills, never remorse, and moves onto the next target. This book has done a neat job on how to establish a character from a person’s perspective. The story moves with short bursts of flashback and their abusive life with their father. The psychological touch to the story is elegant on how an abusive parent could affect a child’s life and society.
Not much character development apart from Korede. Most of the characters are imperfect, malfunctioned in Korede’s perspective, and we could relate from her narrative. No major twists, the climax is different but felt incomplete. This book had justice to the genre by keeping the plot short.
A neat psychological thriller with an open ending.
Pros: Brief plot, Well-defined main character, Psychological premise on child abuse.
Cons: Open ending climax arise mixed feelings. | https://medium.com/amateur-book-reviews/a-psychological-thriller-on-child-abuse-7c882f95d2d2 | ['Mr.M', 'Muthu Raja'] | 2020-12-20 03:42:24.615000+00:00 | ['Psychological Thriller', 'Book Recommendations', 'Books', 'Book Review', 'Fiction'] |
Interview with Bella French (March 2020) | Interview with Bella French (March 2020)
I was pleased to have a sit down with Bella French, CEO of the adult cam site ManyVids, when she was passing through London last week.
We had a long chat about the sex industry, performer welfare and emotional health, privacy and copyright, and - something I’m particularly interested in - the rise of super fans who spend tens of thousands of dollars supporting their favourite adult stars. Since it was so interesting (to me at least), I’m publishing the transcript here:
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RJ: One of the things I’ve noticed with clip sites is there’s often a lot of implied intimacy between performers and their audience — a sort of digital girlfriend experience. Is that what drives ManyFans?
BF: Yes, I think you’re right. One of the consequences of the dominance of the big ‘tube’ sites [PornHub and RedTube] over the past ten years is that porn has become very impersonal. The internet is oversaturated: you could have access to the tube sites for the rest of your life and you wouldn’t have time to watch everything that’s on there.
What clip sites/cam sites offer is exactly what you said: a virtual girlfriend who fans can connect with. The content is very different from the traditional porn websites. Most of our top models make content which is much softer than most porn. A lot of them don’t shoot content with other performers, so there’s less actual sex. It’s often just them using sex toys or masturbating.
Fans get interested in a certain performer and then, by buying her performer content, they can actually have a direct conversation with her.
But is there really any genuine connection there?
Yes, for sure. As a cam girl myself, I had really close relationships with my top fans and members. We would text on a daily basis. And when I wouldn’t hear back from them, I didn’t like it. I was like, “Hey, are you okay? Is everything okay?”. There’s definitely a relationship that happens between performers and fans, and I think that’s why ManyVids is so popular.
Keeping those relationships going must come with some psychological stress: to be communicating back and forth with your fans and maintaining that intimacy, whether it’s fake or otherwise. Don’t you find that draining?
Like everything in the adult industry, you’re very emotionally involved. I personally find it much less emotionally stressful than having sex on camera. It’s more enjoyable and not as difficult. Plus you don’t have the additional stress of having to work for a producer or whatever.
Obviously if a model gets into a situation where she doesn’t feel comfortable, she can just stop the whole thing. She doesn’t have to meet the person or anything like that. She can just be like “maybe it’s better if we stop this relationship”. Usually that’s what happens. If you’ve got someone who is being too eager or who is pushing for things you’re not comfortable with, like meeting in person, that’s when you have to push back and remind them of how it works — that it’s something you’re doing as a job and that they have to pay for.
But are new performers necessarily going to be able to negotiate those boundaries? I’ve spoken to very experienced people in the adult industry who constantly have to deal with obsessive or infatuated clients. It’s a lot to expect from someone.
That’s actually one of the reasons we created ManyVids: so that online sex workers can have that extra degree of safety.
I’ll give you an example: when I was a cam girl, I would sell my phone number to clients. They’d pay $50 for my number and we’d start texting. The idea was that it was a monthly fee and they’d pay again the next month. But because this wasn’t through a platform which automated the process, I had to negotiate that every time.
That’s when it becomes really exhausting — when you keep having to say to your clients “hey, I’m sorry to keep chasing but this is how I make a living and if you want to keep texting me, you need to keep paying me.” You’d get clients that would be like “but I thought we had something special, I thought you liked talking to me.” That’s a big emotional drain to go through. That’s why on ManyVids we try to make sure there are clearer boundaries and that as much of the process is automated as possible.
There’s another side to the emotional aspect too — for the camgirls. Sometimes as a cam girl you can be feeling really down, and then you have a member texting you or sending you a nice tip. It makes you feel better but it can also make it more difficult to uphold those boundaries: like what if you have one of your needy or demanding members reaching out to you at a time where you’re looking for emotional support yourself.
Is that something that happens a lot in the industry — performers seeking emotional validation from their work?
Oh definitely — you get hooked on the endorphins. I remembered when I stopped camming, I had like a six month detox period. It wasn’t easy — I was so used to logging on and checking my ranking against the top earners, seeing how I was doing compared to other models. It became my whole life. Camming was everything I did. And all the time you’re hearing from fans ‘“oh you’re beautiful, I adore you so much.” That kind of thing makes you feel like a superstar. And then all the sudden it’s gone. I kept saying “I have to go back. I’ll just cam a little bit.” That’s when I realised how addicted I was.
How about the members/buyers — do they get addicted too?
Well I don’t have the perspective from their end, but I know when I was a camgirl I had members who seemed super into it. They would be constantly messaging me — like all day. What’s interesting is that the super active guys are very valued by the rest of the community too. They become superstars as they’re the ones who are paying for the shows that others can watch for free. I used to use a platform which did free shows but through which members would tip. Usually out of 300 members, there would be maybe three or four who are giving you the money that keeps the show going. And they become the coolest guys in the room. I mean let’s say in the real world you’re shy or you don’t go out much, and then you go onto this virtual platform and you become a superstar.
You seem very aware of the psychological stress that can come with working in even the softer end of the sex industry. Does ManyVids do anything to address that?
It’s very hard to do anything about it. We constantly tell our models to only do what they feel comfortable doing. We had an event yesterday and one of the models told me she didn’t like doing live camming [as opposed to selling filmed content] and I was like “well don’t do it then!”. You should only do what you’re comfortable doing. Respect yourself.
At the end of the day though, they’re independent entrepreneurs. And if they want to reach a goal or work for a certain number of hours, we shouldn’t be telling them what to do or what not to do. But it is difficult. In general I find our work/life balance is disappearing. People are just working more and becoming more involved in whatever it is they’re doing.
One of the other things I’ve seen with these platforms is that they can often be quite difficult for performers to really quit. Yes you can delete your account, but you can still leave behind a massive digital footprint — something you can’t control. Is that something you’re addressing?
That’s what we tell our performers: that once you start doing it, it’s probably going to be there forever. One of the best things you can do is to do as few collaborations as possible and not to work with big studios. That way you will at least keep the copyright to your content.
I actually contacted a company I worked with as a model in the past and asked if I could buy the rights to the content I made with them. I think they’d paid me like a thousand dollars for a two day shoot. This was like seven years ago. They said it would cost me $20,000 to purchase the rights. I mean that’s ridiculous. So if you’re getting started as a model the best thing is to keep your content and only work with respectful companies that will take it down for you if it comes to that. That way you can leave a much smaller footprint.
The biggest problem again are the tube sites [where content can be uploaded and viewed for free]. Having said that, they are becoming more sensitive to these issues — largely because of the pressure they’ve been getting.
If things keep improving, perhaps it will get to the point where you can start an adult career and only have a specific number of people know about it — like only your true hardcore fans. But in reality it’s very, very difficult to keep control. When I was a cam girl, I didn’t want anyone to know. Initially, I really wanted to stay underground. And within the first month of camming, someone just recorded my show. That’s all someone has to do: record it on their phone and upload it to a tube site.
Is that something ManyVids can help with? Trying to get content taken down from other sites where it doesn’t belong?
Yes. We work with a third party company that does just that. And they remove like hundreds of thousands of illegal videos every month. And we have a system which fingerprints each and everyone video that’s uploaded to our platform, so that we can find if it’s been uploaded elsewhere on the internet and try to get it taken down. We try to collaborate with tube sites, but not all of them are responsive.
We offer those services to our models for free. It’s quite expensive to do but we think it’s really important to protect our models. And of course it’s also beneficial for us as if you can’t find this content elsewhere, you’re more likely to end up buying it on ManyVids. It’s a win-win situation.
How about protecting performers privacy — and safety — when it comes to things like stalking and obsessive fans?
We’ve created a whole safeguarding document to help models protect their privacy. We tell them everything — like to be careful when taking selfies, as people can recognise the streets and work out where you are. We also tell them about how to check the settings on your phone so that your photos aren’t giving away your location hidden in the data.
Then there are other things: obviously don’t tell anyone your real name. Sometimes you have cases where obsessive fans will find someone’s name and start trying to blackmail them. There’s like a whole thing about that.
There’s a very famous model that literally got a message from someone with a picture of her apartment. She contacted us and was obviously extremely nervous. We were actually able to find that the person that sent it — I think they were in Russia or somewhere; so at least we could assure her that he wasn’t outside of her home or anything.
What do you think drives that kind of behaviour?
I think sometimes men can think they’re in love with the model. They’re hoping for more than just a client relationship. And when they realise it’s not happening, they feel like they got duped or something.
And that’s when they start to become more angry — like “that’s why I gave you all the money”. It’s like “yeah, well I gave you the sexual stuff in return for that; that’s the exchange we had.” But sometimes they feel that the interaction was going to go further. And maybe during the communication, you’ve given them information about yourself. That’s when it can get dangerous.
That’s why we try to educate our models as much as possible to constantly be careful about this. These instances are extremely rare, but they do happen. I had a situation when I as a cam girl but it was partly my fault because I was such a rookie: I’d given him my real name.
I’m interested in the breakdown of fans of your website. Is your revenue evenly distributed across the members or is it largely driven by hardcore superfans?
We currently have around 3 million active fans. You know that business maxim that it’s 20 percent of your customers who make 80 percent of your sales? It’s not quite that steep in this case, but we definitely have some serious superfans. There are some guys who spend over $200,000 a year on the platform. Like often we’ll have contests as to which models can make the most money in a month and you see these super fans just tipping their favourite girl $20,000 just to make sure she wins the contest. We were super shocked when we first saw that.
Do you think these guys can afford to be giving away that kind of money? I talk to people in the gambling industry and they’ve brought in checks where platforms will ask people spending lots of money to prove they can actually afford to risk that cash. You’ve already said how emotionally involved these guys can be — do you ever worry they might be acting out of an addiction and making reckless decisions?
We don’t really get involved in that kind of stuff. From time to time, we will get involved in cases. We had one case where a mother called our office saying that her son had stolen her credit card and that now she had like $4,000 in charges on her card for adult content. We refunded that.
When I was camming I had one client who was giving me a lot of money and I said to him “are you sure you can afford to do this?” and he was like “oh it’s fine — I invested in Apple a long time ago; I don’t have a family or a wife, so this is what I like to do with my money.” He just liked to support cam girls. I mean, that’s a nice thing to do, right?
I’ve written for Vice about financial domination and these men who get off on handing over their money to women they don’t know. Have you encountered that?
Yeah, I had a fan that was really into that fetish. He would come to see me on the platform I was using and would offer to tip me like $500 if I logged on to Skype instead. Then he would request specific stuff on Skype. One time he wanted me to force him to drink alcohol live on webcam. He said the drunker he got, the more money he would give me — but I had to force him to do it. I did it twice but I was slightly uncomfortable because he was getting really drunk and I was actually a bit worried about his safety. He wanted me to be very mean to him. I think I ended up making like $3,000 in 40 minutes.
Have you come across blackmail fetishists? I’ve spoken to people in the industry who have said how difficult it is to know what’s really consensual in that kind of situation.
Oh yeah, the same guy was into blackmail too. Like he would give me phone numbers and say “if you text this number I’m going to be big trouble” — like saying his girlfriend would see it or whatever. He wanted me to start asking for more information so that I could start blackmailing him and asking him for more money. He was like “do you want to have the email of my boss?”. I was like “Yeah, sure, give me the email!”.
I know some of the guys into that fetish are very extreme. Like they actually want to have no money left. They want to live in like a shitty apartment and not have a car or anything. And every single dollar they make will be given to the domme so she can dress up and have fancy nails and clothes or whatever. It’s a very interesting fetish for sure. When I first encountered it I couldn’t believe it. I was like — this is the best thing that ever happened.
You spoke about getting compliments from your fans made you feel happier. Did doing those kind of more extreme things have any effect on your self image?
Initially I was really bad at it because I always felt guilty. When I would start humiliating someone I would be like “hey, is this okay? Is this too much?” and they’d say “actually you’re turning me off cause you’re being too nice about it”. So I learned pretty quickly I had to stop feeling bad about it.
After a while I worked out I was doing exactly what the person wanted — so I kind of felt good that I was providing someone what they liked. It didn’t affect me in a negative way. I mean, I was never primarily a fetish performer, so it wasn’t exactly the main thing I was doing. But yeah I would do it sometimes and I got better at doing it. | https://medium.com/@robertjackman_63900/interview-with-bella-french-march-2020-dc660b2139ad | ['Robert Jackman'] | 2020-03-16 17:37:04.501000+00:00 | ['Privacy', 'Sex Work', 'Adult Industry', 'Webcamming', 'Pornography'] |
5 Ways I’m Saving Money Over Christmas | 5 Ways I’m Saving Money Over Christmas
December does not need to be the notoriously expensive month that it tends to be
Christmas and December can cause people financial headaches from the beginning of the year. However, the festive period does not need to be as expensive as in the past; in fact, through embracing the magic of Christmas and all the festivities, it may even be possible to save money compared to months such as November.
By embracing the Christmas crafts, hitting outlets, and finding new ways to entertain yourself, Christmas and December can be equal parts magical and frugal.
Photo by Anna Tarazevich from Pexels
1. Going for festive walks with a reusable coffee cup
Going for walks this time of year is just some sort of magic. The lights and the frosty weather makes the outdoors so much more enticing than the soggy autumn we experience here in the UK.
A great joy in life is going for a walk and ending in a coffee shop with a coffee and a cake. Yet, with shops and restaurants being closed, it can be tempting to have coffee shops as the exclusive entertainment method.
To combat this, I have been driving to local nature spots for a walk, with a really effective thermos flask in the car. I made a hot chocolate in that thermos, and went for a 3 mile/hour-long walk, and was welcomed back into the car with a piping hot drink.
As a couple, this will easily save over £6, which may add up with the lack of other methods of entertainment.
2. Personal shopping ban
Most people do this in December, but it is an effective method to curb spending and not let December’s gift-giving send your savings out of whack.
By not allowing yourself to purchase anything for yourself, aside from essentials, you may find that you don’t need to budget year-round for gifts because you’re just channeling money from yourself to others.
It also serves to maintain some of the childhood magic at Christmas, which is receiving gifts.
Photo by freestocks.org from Pexels
3. Shop in outlets for gifts
You can gift the most magical presents by shopping in outlet stores and wrapping them beautifully.
There is no shame or problem in simply setting a budget for each recipient and sticking to it. You will give presents to these people every year at Christmas anyway, so this Christmas is not the only time you get to demonstrate your love for your friends and family.
Handmade or handwritten cards accompanied by a thoughtful present will always trump extravagant demonstrations of wealth in the form of impersonal gifts.
4. Christmas crafts as entertainment
You can, of course, do this all year round, but it is extra special at Christmas and during December.
You can buy cheap craft kits or just use what you have around your home. If traditional Christmas crafts aren’t your thing, there is always baking or making Christmas cards, which is both entertaining and practical.
For example, this December, I have made an advent calendar from a kit. I have also bought a fabric present sack from the supermarket and embellished it with beads and ribbon. It's incredibly entertaining to do in the evening in front of a Christmas movie and saves you money in the sense that you’re not out of the house spending money.
As I always like to think, whenever you leave the house, you spend money. Therefore, the more you can do to find entertainment at home, the less desire you will have to leave the house and subsequently spend money.
5. Not relying on bars and restaurants for festive entertainment
The national and local lockdowns here in the UK have most definitely done their part to reduce my personal reliance on drinking and eating out for entertainment.
I used to always suggest bars and restaurants as a go-to form of entertainment when socialising with friends and family. However, now that I have gone so long without them, and my bank balance reflects that I have decided to continue the trend and keep them for special occasions.
This means buying lots of good food from the supermarket and suggesting baked camembert and some wine, instead of an expensive meal. Delicious food with a movie or some good music is equally lovely.
Simple oven food ensures you’re not slaving away in the kitchen but that you’re also all well fed.
Keeping restaurants and bars for special occasions is saving me money this Christmas period. | https://medium.com/makingofamillionaire/5-ways-im-saving-money-over-christmas-47c41c594355 | ['Lu Mar'] | 2020-12-15 16:27:23.724000+00:00 | ['Ideas', 'Advice', 'Money Management', 'Life', 'Inspiration'] |
Learn How to Incorporate 3D Modeling Into ‘Minecraft’ | Learn How to Incorporate 3D Modeling Into ‘Minecraft’
by Melissa Ford
Image: Post-Apocalyptic Research via Flickr
Toyota is one of the world’s leading automakers, but they didn’t get there by chance. The process and principles that Toyota uses, known as the Toyota Production System (TPS), were developed…
With step-by-step instructions, you can learn how to incorporate 3D modeling into Minecraft. And why would you want to do that? Because it can help you make complex buildings in Minecraft much faster than if you do them brick by brick.
Let’s say you wanted to build a castle. In fact, you start the book learning how to build a castle. If you build it in MinecraftCreative Mode, you will need to place each individual block, which can take many hours. Whereas Kelly’s book teaches you how to use 3D modeling software such as Tinkercad to make the very same castle in a quarter of the time.
You’ll learn how to do 3D modeling and import those models into Minecraft, make mazes to bring into the game, and even take creations from your real world and incorporate them into the Minecraft world. Moreover, you’ll learn valuable 3D modeling skills that can be applied beyond Minecraft, so what begins as play ends up being practice towards building 3D objects on the computer.
My son loves the book because it’s very easy to follow the detailed instructions. He was able to hop on the computer, download a few additional programs, and get started immediately. He also loves this idea because if his world is ever “griefed,” he can store copies of his 3D generated buildings elsewhere on the computer and import them again into Minecraft: instant rebuild.
Kelly’s book moves kids from being Minecraft players into Minecraft engineers, and he teaches them how to stretch their imagination to look at the Minecraft landscape as a blank canvas on which to creatively problem-solve and build.
This book is a great tool for anyone looking to try their hand in 3D modeling; after all, having a specific project to do is the perfect way to learn. And Minecraft is an excellent springboard to get your started.
Get a copy now and you’ll be set for winter break: it’s the perfect project-based book that will keep kids learning even when they’re off from school.
Note: I was sent a review copy of the book, but all opinions on the book are my own.
About Melissa Ford
Melissa Ford writes women’s fiction, but she does it while wearing a Superman shirt. A geek to the core, she is also the author of the award-winning site, Stirrup Queens which the Wall Street Journalnamed one of the top ten motherhood blogs. You can find her in all sorts of places around the web including Facebook, Twitter, GoodReads, Google+, and Amazon. She completed her MFA at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She lives outside of Washington, D.C. with her writer husband, Joshua, and their twins. | https://medium.com/@geekdads/learn-how-to-incorporate-3d-modeling-into-minecraft-5f6900635376 | [] | 2015-10-19 14:31:58.348000+00:00 | ['3D Printing', 'Minecraft'] |
Difference between AI, ML ,DL and DS | What is Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deep Learning and Data Science and How are they different ?
Now-a-days, because of hype, these terms are being used interchangeably. In this blog, I would try to briefly distinguish between these terms.
Note : There are many different definitions available for these terms in the internet, which are also certainly true. So, the below explanation is not the only way to interpret these terms. However, I would try to explain these terms with help of demonstrating few applications as well as in simple terms.
In this blog, I would use AI for Artificial Intelligence, ML for Machine Learning and DL for Deep Learning interchangeably.
What is Artificial Intelligence ?
Humans can think and make decisions. If the implementation of decision is in appropriate way, then it becomes successful. If it is not implemented well, then it becomes a failure. In simple terms, this decision making and thinking process can be called as “Intelligence”.
In the same way, making Machines to learn the decision making process is called as Artificial Intelligence.
Artificial Intelligence is to teach computers to think, to solve a problem.
or
Artificial Intelligence is to make computers, to simulate the kind of things that humans can do (like playing chess or driving a car and many more), be able to solve such problems in ultimately better and faster way than people can do it.
Artificial Intelligence
Creating a better AI enabled machine is always dependent on Human (at the end, he is the one, who is using his brain to create it).
We as a “People make mistakes sometimes”, in the same way machines also generate incorrect result in few instances.
For instance: Driving in hilly areas where there are many steep curves
In such cases, sometimes people who aren’t much experienced in driving such hilly areas might not be able to notice the vehicle coming in the opposite direction because of curve, which leads to an accident.
In the same way, self driving car (which is AI enabled machine) would also fail, as it might not be trained to drive in such steep curves.
So, don’t assume Artificial Intelligence to be perfect.
What is Machine Learning ?
Machine Learning is a part of Artificial Intelligence and it is one of technique to create AI enabled machine.
Machine Learning is about using a bunch of Statistical tools to learn from data.
or
Machine Learning is to make computers programmed at some given task, which is expected to learn from its environment and improve its performance over time.
Machine learning is a part of AI
This technique became more and more successful to the extent that, which made a lot of people think both Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are synonymous.
What is Deep Learning ?
It is a kind of Machine Learning, that uses neural networks, which mimics the network of neurons connected in human brain.
Deep Learning is recent technique in AI, when compared to other two. There are few complicated tasks, which are difficult to be solved using statistical models with machine learning. Deep Learning can be used to solve such challenging tasks in much faster way with help of GPU’s.
Deep learning is a part of Machine Learning
Most of the advances in Artificial Intelligence in last 10 years is happening in this small sub area called Deep learning.
Example to understand AI, ML and DL
Let’s assume We are building a Self-driving car | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/difference-between-artificial-intelligence-machine-learning-and-deep-learning-and-data-science-2fb482efb2b8 | ['Chamanth Mvs'] | 2020-06-02 16:10:31.449000+00:00 | ['Deep Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Machine Learning', 'Data Science'] |
The #1 leadership skill every technology executive needs | Question: “What’s the most important leadership skill a technology executive needs to have and why? How does one acquire it?”
My answer:
The ability to influence.
Nearly every company is becoming a tech company. The tech companies are becoming platforms. Even if you’re ahead, innovation continues.
There are legacy environments to overcome, which can be rooted in both technology and culture.
With all this transformation, influence is critical. Gone are the days where technology leaders simply take orders from their counterparts and execute.
In order to drive change, technology leaders need to influence at a 360 degree level, from business leadership to technology peers to their own team members and colleagues.
The best way to acquire this skill?
Many technology executives wait for their career to be defined for them. They wait to be tapped for a role, internally or externally.
Mastering the art of influence takes practice and repetition. The best have mastered this skill in a variety of situations and cultures. They seek out opportunities to drive change.
Many have mentors. Ask for feedback and incorporate what you hear. Honing and improving this skill takes deliberate action, practice and reflection.
What’s your answer?
Join the conversation on LinkedIn. | https://medium.com/@thisissomer/the-1-leadership-skill-every-technology-executive-needs-24e23a8cd53e | ['Somer Hackley', 'Conley'] | 2020-11-23 15:24:07.274000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Recruiting', 'Careers', 'Influence', 'Leadership'] |
Domain Driven | Design | Thinking | Immediately sweet | Cooking for energy
Domain Driven | Design | Thinking
Where enterprise architecture and agile development meet
Size matters, when it comes to your companies’ digital presence. The bigger you become, the more you’ll have to split your solutions up into individual pieces you can allocate ownership for. Not the first time I reference Conway’s law ;-).
This big team / solution of individual pieces introduces new complexities that you won’t have when the scale is limited.
Complexity as an inhibitor for innovation
The bigger your application is, the more bombastic RFC’s might seem. Each change seems to make a tremendous impact.
Because a new subject easily touches a lot of the solution you already have.
Because everything seems relevant.
Because as soon as a project hits more than one team the communication overhead blows up and the time invested in alignment appears to be a hard to slay hydra.
But also because you might be stuck in a mindset, with tools, that worked in the past but perhaps not in this situation.
You need help to make things small, discover all aspects of the problem and apply validated learning over the most valuable parts of the hypothesis. You need to know which are the right things to build to get the biggest bang for your buck.
Lean methodology rightfully hovers around the place where the user interacts with the solution. Investing a truckload of time in solid architecture just doesn’t make sense if you didn’t validate if the user actually needed it.
Simplicity as an inhibitor for quality
The smaller you validate what works and what doesn’t, the more you risk becoming blind for the bigger picture. You can start implementing fixes on so many levels, not addressing the real issue behind it. I hope you will find a hobby in creating band-aid solutions, because that’s what you’ll end up doing if you don’t address the cause underneath.
We tend to skip this step. Thinking about the problem behind the problem. Why?
It’s hard to remember you’re draining the swamp when you’re up to your neck in alligators.
Fixing the issue, simply seems good enough since we have so many more issues. What’s often forgotten is that the stream of issues is endless unless you address the real causes. Simply put, the amount of issues will go down if you invest a bit deeper to fix what lies underneath. When the swamp is drained, there will be no more alligators.
The conundrum
So on the one hand you need to see an issue for what it is, and validate it as small as possible to progress into the most valuable direction, and on the other hand you have the urge to solve things structurally.
Those are two seemingly contradictory statements. Seemingly, because they are actually not mutually exclusive. It’s really simple. Let me explain why.
Thinking about where a business logic belongs, doesn’t say a thing about which logic you will develop first.
The equilibrium
This is a problem for bigger online solutions with more teams. So I take the liberty to assume that there is budget and manpower behind the solution. Bigger companies simply can afford the ‘luxury’ of splitting one-man-armies into very specific roles. There’s less need for jack-of-all-trades kind of people, than there is a requirement for deep knowledge of one specific field.
In order to establish an equilibrium you will need to have at least the following complementary skills on board.
UX Designer Leads
Solution Architects
Product Managers
Product Owners
Why complementary? Well, they aren’t the folks that actually build the end solution, but they are required to steer the solution into the right direction. Let me explain how.
The UX design Lead
The UX design lead guides the design process. Together with the UX designers, testers, some front-enders and even clients they can — by leveraging design thinking during a design spike — formulate
if there should be a solution at all
where we should start building
what the problem actually looks like
what probable future steps of implementation might be
The Solution Architect
The solution architect also guides a design process, but it’s an abstract one. He will assess which business areas the digital solution will touch and formulates a landscape in which these area’s can be recognised.
By leveraging Domain Driven Development practices, he makes sure that each problem and request can be solved in terms that business understands and can take ownership in. Each solution that teams come up with, can — and should — be mapped against this landscape.
This ensures that no matter the angle the end-user interacts with the system, the solution will always behave the same. Because business logic is encapsulated in the service architecture, rather than a fix on the frontend.
The Product Manager
The product manager should feel completely comfortable with the technical roadmap the solution architect drew. From his perspective this is a drawing which frogs he has, so he can understand how to keep them in the bucket and how to distribute the load on his team evenly.
Keep in mind that the drawing is nothing more than an abstract view on the capabilities the organisation already has. In that sense they should always feel familiar.
The input of the solution architect helps him to understand which team (which PO) should work on the subject, and how the domain interacts with other domains.
The Product Owner
In order to be able to do this, it’s crucial to understand the difference between the functional domain and the feature. The feature resembles the ticket or epic the team of the PO is working on. The domain is the area the PO is responsible for.
The domain outweighs the feature.
Whenever a feature harms the domain, it should be rejected. We own products, not problems. So the product is where the heart should be.
Domains deteriorate in time. The software gets outdated or the world around us changes. It’s the responsibility of the Product Owner to make sure his domains needs are catered for. Not only for at this moment but also for the future. In that sense, it’s the PO’s responsibility to invest in ironing out any short term solutions that where implemented as well as setting the domain up for future potential.
Opposite ends attract
Where we started out with two seemingly opposing ways of thinking, we ended up understanding that they are actually two sides of the exact same coin.
The one should not go without the other, and they both serve the same goal of structurally doing the right things at the right time.
So whenever you start your new project, please consider both ends.
Don’t build anything that you aren’t certain of it should be built to begin with (Certainty comes from validated learning, not your gut). Take a design thinking approach. Don’t implement features, but build capabilities for domains. Build an architecture that resonates with your business, and practice Domain Driven Development.
This story is a combined effort between me and Jelmar van Voorst. | https://medium.com/jumbo-tech-campus/domain-driven-design-thinking-47301c143865 | ['Tim Meeuwissen'] | 2020-04-08 13:35:34.665000+00:00 | ['Development', 'Technology', 'Domain Driven Design', 'Programming', 'Design Thinking'] |
Everything You Need to Know About the French Tax on Tech Giants Like Amazon | Everything You Need to Know About the French Tax on Tech Giants Like Amazon
This appeared in The Millennial Source
From a variety of tabled proposals in the European Union (EU) Parliament to the US Supreme Court’s 2018 Wayfair sales tax ruling, nations have been struggling for years to come up with equitable taxation rules for the digital age. Most recently, France has drawn international attention and criticism by levying a new tax aimed at big tech companies.
Most tax codes still primarily tax companies based on the location of their physical facilities, rather than on where a business actually generates revenue. Because digital transactions such as ad hosting or selling user data are not anchored to any specific place, tech giants can exploit loopholes in the current system.
After years of intense debate, it seems that several nations are determined to overhaul their tax laws to close the loopholes. And at least one country is willing to fight the battle alone.
In July of this year, France implemented the most aggressive tax crackdown to date on major digital companies, in the form of wide-ranging 3% tax on revenues. With that, President Emmanuel Macron stood by his 2017 vow to start making digital tech giants pay their fair share of taxes.
How digital commerce created a need to modernize the tax system
Companies don’t necessarily need a physical presence in a country in order to do business there. This reality has made it possible for multinational corporations of all types to sneak through tax code cracks for years. However, tech companies can operate outside of traditional taxation boundaries with far greater ease than traditional businesses.
By operating in virtual spaces, many tech companies are able to channel revenues generated by user activity in high-tax countries into lower-tax jurisdictions. According to 2018 figures from the European Commission, global tech giants pay a 9.5% average tax rate, compared with 23.2% for traditional firms.
To combat this inequity, the European Commission has proposed various taxation systems based on where a company’s users are. This approach would allow countries to tax businesses where they actually operate, rather than just where the companies are officially headquartered.
One tax law proposed by the European Commission also includes another key component: ensuring that there is a minimum tax rate across the union. By narrowing the tax gap between various jurisdictions, the law would reduce the incentive to transfer sales to a region with lower tax rates.
“Your click triggers a whole chain of commercial transactions and therefore generates substantial profits that most economies do not tax,” said Pierre Moscovici, the EU Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs. “This legal loophole is no longer acceptable.”
France leads the charge for reform
France has been pushing for tax reforms that force tech giants to pay more since at least May of 2017, when Macron took office. Macron pledged to pursue broader taxes on digital commerce as a centerpiece of his presidency. At the same time, he has also championed tax law changes favorable to French businesses and entrepreneurs, including dramatically cutting the nation’s wealth tax and replacing a progressive capital gains tax structure with a flat rate.
In 2018, Macron told a large crowd at the annual VivaTech conference that, “A lot of [France’s] startups are competing with large corporates, and [the startups] tell me, ‘I pay tax in France.’ We are decreasing taxes, fine. But it’s not fair with somebody else paying no tax… I will fight till the end for this European Digital Tax for big players. I think it’s fair.”
In an effort to achieve that fairness, the French government suggested an EU-wide 3% tax on digital revenues from activities like ad sales and the sale of user information. The proposed tax is novel in multiple ways — most notably, the 3% rate is applied to revenues (without expenses deducted), rather than to profits.
French officials characterized the proposed digital tax as an interim measure that would run until 2025, with the hope that by then, an equitable global tax system for tech giants would be put into effect.
Desiring a united front within the EU, France proposed this plan to all 28 European Council members and their finance ministers in early 2018. Under EU law, implementing the policy would have required unanimous agreement among all council members. Generating that agreement proved to be a hurdle that France could not surmount.
Resistance within the EU to the French tax plan
Smaller nations such as Ireland and Luxembourg had misgivings about the 3% levy from the outset. Both these nations are ranked among the world’s top tax havens. Ireland, for example, has a base corporate tax rate of 12.5%, 10% lower than the average rate in Europe. This disparity acts as an incentive for tech giants to channel revenues through the Irish economy.
As a result, Ireland serves as the European headquarters for several tech giants, including Google and Facebook. So far, landing these big fish has been well worth taxing companies at a lower rate overall — Facebook reportedly paid 38 million euros in taxes in Ireland last year.
However, increased government revenue is not the only factor that makes it attractive for a country to host a major tech company. Big companies bring a lot of jobs to any region where they set up shop, and governments often value job growth above almost all else. It is reported that Apple and Ireland struck a deal in the early 90s, under which Apple would maintain its operations in Ireland as long as the country only taxed a portion of the company’s earnings.
At the time the alleged agreement was reached, Apple had already hired 1,500 employees, contractors and subcontractors in the small Irish city of Cork. The situation is now being investigated by the European Commission, which alleges that the deal allowed Apple to receive 13 billion euros in illegal tax aid over two decades.
In their public opposition to the French tax proposal, Ireland and several other nations have warned that the tax would further escalate trade tensions between the US and EU. Those tensions have ramped up significantly since US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on European goods in June of 2018.
The Swedish, Danish and Finnish governments also questioned the fairness of taxing revenues. “A digital services tax deviates from fundamental principles of income taxation by applying the tax on gross income, i.e. without regard to whether the taxpayer is making a profit or not”, the nations said in a joint statement in mid 2018.
France issues an ultimatum, then unilaterally enacts digital tax
In response to the pushback from within the EU Council, France’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said in December 2018 that France would give the EU “…until March [of 2019] to reach a deal on a European tax on the digital giants.” Le Maire went on, “If the European states do not take their responsibilities on taxing the GAFA [Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon], we will do it at a national level in 2019.”
This aggressive push came around the same time as the Gilets Jaunes, or Yellow Vests mass demonstrations in France. The movement arose in protest to France’s high cost of living and the tax burden borne in the country by the working and middle classes.
Meanwhile, other nations around the world joined the push for tax reform for the digital age. Early in 2018, the G20 Finance Ministers requested that the OECD present an interim report on “the implications of digitalization for taxation” by mid 2018.
In July 2019, France’s Senate approved the 3% digital tax for companies that generate global digital service revenues of at least 750 million euros ($845 million US).
The tax will impact roughly 30 major companies, mostly based in the US.
“France is sovereign, and France decides its own tax rules. And this will continue to be the case,” Le Maire said in an official statement. However, the newly enacted law specifies that the tax is to act as only an interim measure until a unified taxation system is adopted by OECD members.
The US reaction — Trump threatens retaliation
Shortly after French Senate’s initial vote on the law, Trump ordered US trade representative Robert Lighthizer to investigate the French tax, claiming that it was “discriminatory” against the US and US companies. He also threatened to retaliate by imposing a tax on French goods, including wine. The US market accounts for 20% of French wine sales worldwide.
Alarmed by the threat of a tax on the country’s second-largest export, Le Maire responded by urging Trump to “…not mix the two issues.” Le Maire then told senators ahead of a final vote on the tax, “Between allies we can and should solve our disputes not by threats but through other ways.”
US-based Amazon “applauded” and “thanked” the Trump Administration, publicly stating that the French tax is “poorly constructed” and “discriminatory.” A company spokesperson added that it would lead to “significant harm to American and French consumers alike.” Amazon has recently come under heavy scrutiny within the US, after the public caught on that the $793-billion dollar company once again did not pay a single dollar in US corporate taxes in 2018.
Other tech giants such as Facebook, Airbnb, Google and Twitter publicly expressed their agreement that the levy is “discriminatory” and “retroactive” (since the tax applies from the beginning of 2019, despite being enacted midway through the year). In mid August, representatives from Google, Amazon, Facebook and other companies testified in a government hearing as part of the US investigation of the levy.
In the hearing, Alan Lee of Facebook stated that taxing companies for previous earnings is something they have “…never seen.” Google’s Nicholas Bramble claimed that the tax only applies to a handful of internet businesses, even though every economic sector is being digitized. In his view, only taxing one part of the digital economy “doesn’t make sense.”
Meanwhile, Austria, Spain, Italy and the UK have now announced plans to implement digital taxes.
The OECD report and the global picture for digital services taxes
In late March of 2018, the OECD released the interim report previously requested by the G20 on the various digital tax options available to members. The report was then agreed to by 110 members of the Inclusive Framework — a framework established in the hope of bringing together 130 countries and jurisdictions to reduce tax avoidance worldwide.
The central goal of the framework is to ensure that profits are taxed based on where business activity truly occurs, and thus where revenues are generated. Strategies outlined in the OECD report include implementing various standards and practices to mitigate the effects of existing gaps in tax rules.
However, the report also acknowledged that OECD members do not all agree on how to best combat tax loopholes, stating that “…at present, there are divergent views on how the issue should be approached.” Stressing the need for continuing research and negotiation, the report noted that it has been “… agreed that the Inclusive Framework would carry out this work with the goal of producing a final report in 2020, with an update to the G20 in 2019.”
The OECD also expressed reservations about the desire of France and other governments to adopt interim measures, stating that “There is no consensus on the need for, or merits of, interim measures.”
Earlier attempts by the European Commission for EU-wide tax reform
It is important to remember that France undertook unilateral action to tax large digital companies only after multiple failed attempts to enact a similar plan throughout the EU.
In early February 2018, Commissioner Moscovici of the EU announced his plan to “create a consensus and an electroshock” on taxing digital firms. As with the French measure later enacted, Moscovici’s interim plan would have placed a 3% tax on revenue generated from digital activity, including online advertising and the sale of user data. Also like France’s new law, the tax would have only applied to companies with a global revenue of €750 million ($920 million US at the time).
A second measure, described as the “preferred long-term solution“, was introduced into the EU debate in March 2018. This proposal involves taxing digital profits wherever they are generated, regardless of whether the company has a physical presence in that particular country.
In order for any such measure to be adopted, it must be approved by both Parliament and the EU Council. While members of the European Parliament (MEPs) agreed to these interim tax measures by an overwhelming majority, there was far less unity within the Council.
France, Italy and Spain remain in favor of implementing one or both EU-wide reforms, but other members such as Ireland, Finland, Sweden and Denmark still maintain their opposing stance.
Developments at the 2018 G20
At their Buenos Aires Summit on November 30-December 1, 2018, G20 leaders expressed their political support for adopting greater tax transparency standards. In a communiqué, they stated that they “will continue to work together to seek a consensus-based solution to address the impacts of the digitalisation of the economy on the international tax system, with an update in 2019 and a final report by 2020.”
The G20 met again in June of this year in Osaka, Japan, and as expected, one of the first items on the agenda was a more effective digital taxation system. The summit report stated that “Agreeing on a sustainable and workable solution will demand political engagement and compromise and the G20 leadership can be instrumental in this process. In order to meet the G20’s deadline of 2020, political agreement needs to be reached soon on the fundamentals of the solution.”
The report included several proposed initiatives to modernize the global taxation system through enhanced financial data sharing. Recommendations including automatic exchange of information (AEOI) and exchange of information on request (EOIR) are now awaiting member endorsement.
Macron announces a US-France compromise at the 2019 G7
After the Group of Seven Summit (G7) in late August 2019, Macron announced through a translator that he and Trump had arrived at a compromise regarding the controversial tax. The announcement came amidst tense trade negotiations, and only a week after Trump announced his confidence that the EU would give the US anything it wants, since all the US needs to do to force Europe’s submission is tax European cars.
It was not the first time that Trump has joked about or mentioned a tariff on automobiles imported from the EU.
Just prior to attending the G7, Trump also criticized the French tax once again, reiterating his intention to tax French wines.
The details of any Trump-Macron compromise remain unclear, but France is promising to terminate its big tech tax as soon as a more effective tax system is implemented by the OECD. Macron has also pledged that once the shift to an OECD-wide tax plan occurs, France will reimburse any company that has overpaid under the French system.
In other words, if Google ends up paying more under the current 3% French tax than it would have paid under whatever framework the OECD later puts in place, the French government will refund the difference to the company.
While Macron expressed his satisfaction with the agreement with Trump, Trump didn’t confirm that the US and France had reached any agreement at all. When replying to a CNN reporter’s question about the status of the French tax, Trump responded only by saying, “I can confirm that the first lady loved your French wine. She loved your French wine. So thank you very much. That’s fine.”
For now, France remains a lone wolf in the realm of digital-age tax reform, although a few other countries might join the movement soon. Both Spain and the UK are in the midst of adopting interim measures. However, most other countries appear content to wait for decisions to be made at the OECD level. | https://medium.com/swlh/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-french-tax-on-tech-giants-like-amazon-589085381464 | ['The Millennial Source'] | 2019-09-24 13:13:34.214000+00:00 | ['Government', 'USA', 'Politics', 'Policy', 'World'] |
Top 5 Bumble Android AMA | A few weeks ago, our Badoo and Bumble Android team hosted their first Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit. It was great!
Our Android apps are huge: they have over 1.3 million lines of code, over 210 million downloads on the Google Play store and an amazing team of 23 people who develop them. The AMA was a great opportunity for the community to find out more about how we develop.
Andrei, Anton, Arkadii, Ivan, Michael, Nick, Zsolt and I were very excited to have the chance to interact in such a way with external developers, and hope that the 163 answers we provided were helpful.
Over the three hours of live Q&A, the topics discussed were pretty varied. We covered architecture, tools, tips for the learners, approaches for delivering features and many more. It would be impossible to list them all, but here are the top 5 questions most voted by the Reddit community!
Top 5
Zhuinden asked about using Android Jetpack, Fragments and Activities, and what we are using instead.
Zsolt: Good question!
Limitations: some Jetpack approaches don’t scale well to a multi-app architecture domain. I realise this is a niche problem, but it’s actually a serious one for us.
LiveData: No. Instead of MVVM, we have MVI, and we’ve developed our own automatic scoping for it, a tool called the Binder. Right now it only exists as part of our library — MVICore, but it’s targeted for extraction to a separate lib. We find it to be more versatile than LiveData, as it can be used outside the context of Android too and it’s super easy to use (Kotlin one liners). You can read more about the concept here and here. It’s a really amazing tool. Check it out.
Navigation component: No. We have a Router pattern with our version of RIBs. Having to maintain global navigation in apps with shared components adds maintenance burden both on the app level as well as app-specific knowledge to the shared components. The latter, specifically, is a huge downside if you want to reuse a component in different apps. The component shouldn’t assume anything about the app it’s used in (e.g. what screens are available). In contrast, Routing is basically local navigation. It moves navigation down from a global concern to an implementation detail of a component, meaning you are free to plug them in anywhere without having to worry.
Fragments: No. We have something similar to a deeply nested Fragment tree with RIBs, but much better. We also solved the problem of constructor injection without hacks like FragmentFactory, in a compile-time safe way. The framework constructs your component for you, but you tell it how to do it.
As for why we’re going our own way instead of following mainstream, the answer is that the whole process started many years ago. Way before the Jetpack era there was a time when we tried following “the Google way”, and as a result, burnt ourselves with Fragments. We moved farther away, trying to figure out what alternative would be best for us. We have been among the first to adopt new tech on many occasions (we tried Clean architecture as early as 2016, RxJava 2016, Kotlin 2017, Redux-inspired MVI 2017), and such tooling/frameworks/libs were not that abundant either. By the time Jetpack was announced, we had already invested in our in-house tech stack. Overall, we’re quite satisfied with it compared to mainstream approaches.
Having said that, we are using Room and personally I’m super-excited about Jetpack Compose 🙂
It gives me great pleasure to say that Zsolt’s answer above got a Gold Award from the Reddit community ✌️ | https://medium.com/bumble-tech/top-5-bumble-android-ama-9921935ebb35 | ['Anatoliy Varyvonchyk'] | 2020-04-21 13:27:03.581000+00:00 | ['Reddit', 'Kotlin', 'Android', 'Programming', 'Architecture'] |
So Must I | So Must I
: a dust + diamond dichotomy
by Kate Skinner
soaring higher,
stretching wider,
tumbling upward,
momentarily glimpsed in columns of glory magnified.
as the dust dances, so can I.
no atom more or less,
than the besomer orchestrates,
oh see, neither floating nor wandering,
an airy agenda of ascension.
as the dust dances, so may I.
He who is the fire,
is He who dwells in the bush,
He who who awakens specks,
is He who exhales flight,
beckoning to luster.
as the dust dances, so shall I.
devastating beauty,
couples timelessness — today,
divine archaeology emboldened,
by passage not destination. | https://medium.com/prov-writers/so-must-i-49650a2f126d | [] | 2017-12-15 15:17:54.094000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Gospel', 'Imagery', 'Reflection'] |
WordPress.com VS WordPress.org — Which WordPress To Use | WordPress.com VS WordPress.org — Which WordPress To Use — What is the difference between wordpress.org and wordpress.com. There are two versions of WordPress, the difference between wordpress.com and wordpres.org. WordPress.com is a managed hosted provided on the same platform by wordpress.com respective to some plans it offers. All the website is managed by WordPress you just have to build your website and upload content. It has very limited flexibility and there are some paid features for unlocking more flexibility. WordPress.org is a downloadable, self-hosted and self-managed version of WordPress. You can download it accordingly. It has more features and is very flexible.
Now I am going to discuss the 13 key differences by which you will be able to differentiate and choose which WordPress to use. In this fight of WordPress vs WordPress, let’s see which one wins.
1. Hosting
In wordpress.com you just have to signup and run. Hosting is provided on different plans by WordPress monthly plans but they are expensive. On the other hand, wordpress.org being self-hosted you need to purchase a hosting and install WordPress on it. Then you can manage it accordingly. It is a cheaper and best self-hosted platform to build amazing websites.
2. Domain
WordPress.com provides you domain but they are expensive while using wordpress.org, you can get a cheap domain name of your choice and set it up accordingly.
3. Storage
WordPress.com has limited storage depending on what plan you choose while on wordpress.org you can get your desired storage space as per your requirements by exploring different hosting services. wordpress storage space limit depends on your hostings provider. You can explore different hosting providers like Bluehost, GoDaddy, Host Gator, Site Ground, Dream Host, etc. WordPress storage space limit refers to how much content you can upload and store on WordPress. The storage space should be according to the website you want to build.
4. Maintainance
WordPress.com manages your WordPress website by itself so you don’t have to worry about your website maintenance. On the other hand, using wordpress.org you have to keep your website maintained yourself.
5. Money Making Options
On wordpress.com you have very limited money-making options while on wordpress.org you can make money as you can place whatever on your website.
6. Theme Editing
WordPress.com has very limited functionality for theme editing while using wordpress.org you can edit your theme accordingly depending on the type of theme you have as you would be using a paid or free theme and with different types of layouts. WordPress.org themes are provided by various platforms, you can either buy or go for a free one. Just keep in mind the theme you choose should be SEO optimized and mobile-friendly.
7. Plugin Integration
WordPress.com has very limited plugins integrations. On the other hand, wordpress.org allows you to install as many plugins as you want and increase the functionality of your website.
8. Security
WordPress.com gives your website good security while using wordpress.org you need a good hosting service to manage your website security.
9. Backups
In wordpress.com you can make backups of your website. Same goes for wordpress.org but you would be needing plugins to set up your own backups.
10. Branding
In wordpress.com you are only allowed to do limited branding. While wordpress.org allows unlimited branding features.
11. Advertisement
WordPress.com allows limited advertisement. On the other hand, using wordpress.org allows you to display unlimited advertisement on your website.
12. SEO
WordPress.com gives very limited SEO features while wordpress.org gives you good SEO features that you can manage. Keep in mind that SEO is very crucial for every website as it plays a major role in bringing traffic to the website.
13. Price
WordPress.com is more costly respective to the plans it is offering while wordpress.org is cheaper and in my opinion, it is also worth the cost it may charge. WordPress.org is free and open-source. You have to pay some amount for the premium additional features ( Premium Plugins etc ), Theme, Domain and hosting The domain can be between $10 to $20 annually. The Hosting will cost you between $100 to $ 1000 annually. You can also purchase hosting for monthly payments if you do not want o pay annually. Monthly would cost between $10 to $20. While deciding Free WordPress vs paid WordPress, you can choose according to your needs.
Why WordPress.org Is The Best
WordPress.org gives unlimited functionalities and any kind of website can be created using this version of WordPress. It has all the necessary features that can bring any functionality to a website with the full freedom of access. Most importantly it is very easy to use as it is a CMS and you don’t need any coding skills to make brilliant websites on it. It has some paid features like premium plugins etc but you can also go for the unpaid ones as a beginner. It does not make a lot of difference.
Conclusion
Now you would be thinking should I use wordpress.com or wordpress.org? Keeping all these features and factors in mind, choose the WordPress version according to your requirements. I would suggest wordpress.org. Is wordpress.org free? of course, its free and open-source software that anyone can begin working on with. For further information, you may compare two websites for differences. One built on wordpress.com and the other on wordpress.org. You will be able to highlight the key factors yourself too.
For more interesting articles on WordPress, technology, online earning methods etc, explore our website FistFull Technology. We are adding new content daily.
You should Also Read:
What is WordPress? Simple Explanation
What Is WordPress For — Why Choose WordPress
14 Proven Ways To Make Money On WordPress | https://medium.com/@raobilal052/wordpress-com-vs-wordpress-org-which-wordpress-to-use-c8690af818d | ['Bilal Rao'] | 2019-09-03 10:35:41.980000+00:00 | ['Wordpress Web Development', 'Platform', 'WordPress', 'Difference', 'Website'] |
【職場英文】Email必備懶人包，13 種謝謝對方的情境 | Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more
Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore | https://medium.com/%E4%B8%AD%E8%8F%AF%E7%94%A2%E5%AD%B8%E8%81%B7%E8%83%BD%E7%99%BC%E5%B1%95/%E8%81%B7%E5%A0%B4%E8%8B%B1%E6%96%87-email%E5%BF%85%E5%82%99%E6%87%B6%E4%BA%BA%E5%8C%85-13-%E7%A8%AE%E8%AC%9D%E8%AC%9D%E5%B0%8D%E6%96%B9%E7%9A%84%E6%83%85%E5%A2%83-ed4591efc84f | ['胡家維 Hu Kenneth'] | 2020-12-23 08:26:37.189000+00:00 | ['Email', 'Office', 'Thank You'] |
Extreme Ownership for Software Engineering | 1. Own Everything in Your World
The world of software is a big one. With so many interconnected, moving, pieces that are orchestrated together to provide an application, service, or tool for millions of people are going to use, it’s very daunting to hear the words “own everything in your world.” It’s near impossible to ask one mobile engineer to maintain his codebase, develop the API that the mobile app depends on, and administer the database that the API depends on. Especially with other teams depending on those resources as well! However, it is much more realistic and productive to ask that mobile engineer to ensure that his code is the best it can be and that he accounts for, and mitigates, contingencies and risks while operating with the external dependencies. The phrase “own everything in your world” really means “assume responsibility.” For example: if the API that my mobile app depends on doesn’t return reliable data or accurate status codes, then it is my responsibility to validate the data and status code for errors and present a user-friendly view to give the best possible experience. Saying “well…the API team didn’t do their job” or “the API should be implemented differently” is not practicing Extreme Ownership. Extreme Ownership is looking inward and asking myself: “how could I, as the mobile engineer, mitigate the risk of faulty API data or an incorrect status code? Did I ensure that the API team fully understood my team’s needs and the overall mission of my team? Did I validate their work with them before integrating?” Perhaps if I would have done these things the end-user would have a better experience and my mission would have been accomplished? The onus is on me to ensure I have everything I need and that all my dependencies understand my mission and how I intend to use their system.
Owning everything in your world also correlates closely with software entropy (or “broken windows” for my Pragmatic Programmer fans.) If you see:
Compiler warnings
Absent unit tests
Janky user experiences
Outdated documentation
or other items that just aren’t acceptable, then it is on you, as a leader in your team, to remedy these things and ensure that they are minimal going forward. Chances are if the rest of your team sees you fixing these broken windows they will follow suit as well. | https://medium.com/swlh/extreme-ownership-for-software-engineering-96daf6a2a774 | ['Payne Miller'] | 2020-07-10 15:13:40.213000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Agile', 'Software Engineering', 'Leadership', 'Ownership'] |
KUBERNETES & HOW SPOTIFY IS BENEFITED FROM IT? | What is Kubernetes??🤓
Kubernetes, also known as K8s, is an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. It groups containers that make up an application into logical units for easy management and discovery. Kubernetes builds upon 15 years of experience of running production workloads at Google, combined with best-of-breed ideas and practices from the community. Kubernetes clusters can span hosts across on-premise, public, private, or hybrid clouds. For this reason, Kubernetes is an ideal platform for hosting cloud-native applications that require rapid scaling, like real-time data streaming through Apache Kafka.
Kubernetes was originally developed and designed by engineers at Google. Google generates more than 2 billion container deployments a week, all powered by its internal platform, Borg. Borg was the predecessor to Kubernetes, and the lessons learned from developing Borg over the years became the primary influence behind much of Kubernetes technology.
With Kubernetes you can:🤪
Orchestrate containers across multiple hosts.
Make better use of hardware to maximize resources needed to run your enterprise apps.
Control and automate application deployments and updates.
Mount and add storage to run stateful apps.
Scale containerized applications and their resources on the fly.
Declaratively manage services, which guarantees the deployed applications are always running the way you intended them to run.
Health-check and self-heal your apps with autoplacement, autorestart, autoreplication, and autoscaling.
“Kubernetes has the opportunity to be the new cloud platform. The amount of innovation that’s going to come from being able to standardize on Kubernetes as a platform is incredibly exciting — more exciting than anything I’ve seen in the last 10 years of working on the cloud. “
How does Kubernetes work?🤔
A working Kubernetes deployment is called a cluster. You can visualize a Kubernetes cluster as two parts: the control plane and the compute machines, or nodes. The control plane is responsible for maintaining the desired state of the cluster, such as which applications are running and which container images they use. Compute machines actually run the applications and workloads.
Kubernetes runs on top of an operating system (Red Hat® Enterprise Linux®, for example) and interacts with pods of containers running on the nodes. From an infrastructure point of view, there is little change to how you manage containers. Your control over containers just happens at a higher level, giving you better control without the need to micromanage each separate container or node. Your work involves configuring Kubernetes and defining nodes, pods, and the containers within them. Kubernetes handles orchestrating the containers.
Where you run Kubernetes is up to you. This can be on bare metal servers, virtual machines, public cloud providers, private clouds, and hybrid cloud environments. One of Kubernetes’ key advantages is it works on many different kinds of infrastructure.
Case Study Of Kubernetes: Spotify🤨
Spotify is well known worldwide for its music service. Not so well known is its path to Kubernetes deployment has been a road with many twists and turns. What also may be a surprise to many is that Spotify is a veteran user of Kubernetes and how it owes much of its product-delivery capabilities to its agile DevOps. Indeed, Spotify continues to increasingly rely on a container and microservices infrastructure and cloud native deployments to offer a number of advantages. This allows its DevOps teams to continually improve the overall streaming experience for millions of subscribers.🤓✨
“When we originally looked at Kubernetes, we were in an interesting situation, because we had already had an in-house orchestration solution we had built, and, anecdotally, launched the very same week an open source [alternative] when Kubernetes was launched,” said Haughwout. “So we did a lot of work to essentially make the transition to Kubernetes incredibly easy for developers, and to make it so that we could have hundreds of teams work across shared clusters securely and safely together.”
Challenge:😵
Launched in 2008, the audio-streaming platform has grown to over 200 million monthly active users across the world. “Our goal is to empower creators and enable a really immersive listening experience for all of the consumers that we have today — and hopefully the consumers we’ll have in the future,” says Jai Chakrabarti, Director of Engineering, Infrastructure and Operations. An early adopter of microservices and Docker, Spotify had containerized microservices running across its fleet of VMs with a homegrown container orchestration system called Helios. By late 2017, it became clear that “having a small team working on the features was just not as efficient as adopting something that was supported by a much bigger community,” he says.
Solution:🤪
“We saw the amazing community that had grown up around Kubernetes, and we wanted to be part of that,” says Chakrabarti. Kubernetes was more feature-rich than Helios. Plus, “we wanted to benefit from added velocity and reduced cost, and also align with the rest of the industry on best practices and tools.” At the same time, the team wanted to contribute its expertise and influence in the flourishing Kubernetes community. The migration, which would happen in parallel with Helios running, could go smoothly because “Kubernetes fit very nicely as a complement and now as a replacement to Helios,” says Chakrabarti.
Impact:✌
The team spent much of 2018 addressing the core technology issues required for a migration, which started late that year and is a big focus for 2019. “A small percentage of our fleet has been migrated to Kubernetes, and some of the things that we’ve heard from our internal teams are that they have less of a need to focus on manual capacity provisioning and more time to focus on delivering features for Spotify,” says Chakrabarti. The biggest service currently running on Kubernetes takes about 10 million requests per second as an aggregate service and benefits greatly from autoscaling, says Site Reliability Engineer James Wen. Plus, he adds, “Before, teams would have to wait for an hour to create a new service and get an operational host to run it in production, but with Kubernetes, they can do that on the order of seconds and minutes.” In addition, with Kubernetes’s bin-packing and multi-tenancy capabilities, CPU utilization has improved on average two- to threefold.
“Our goal is to empower creators and enable a really immersive listening experience for all of the consumers that we have today — and hopefully the consumers we’ll have in the future,” says Jai Chakrabarti, Director of Engineering, Infrastructure and Operations at Spotify. Since the audio-streaming platform launched in 2008, it has already grown to over 200 million monthly active users around the world, and for Chakrabarti’s team, the goal is solidifying Spotify’s infrastructure to support all those future consumers too.
Another plus: “Kubernetes fit very nicely as a complement and now as a replacement to Helios, so we could have it running alongside Helios to mitigate the risks,” says Chakrabarti. “During the migration, the services run on both, so we’re not having to put all of our eggs in one basket until we can validate Kubernetes under a variety of load circumstances and stress circumstances.” A small percentage of Spotify’s fleet, containing over 150 services, has been migrated to Kubernetes so far. “We’ve heard from our customers that they have less of a need to focus on manual capacity provisioning and more time to focus on delivering features for Spotify,” says Chakrabarti. The biggest service currently running on Kubernetes takes over 10 million requests per second as an aggregate service and benefits greatly from autoscaling, says Wen. Plus, Wen adds, “Before, teams would have to wait for an hour to create a new service and get an operational host to run it in production, but with Kubernetes, they can do that on the order of seconds and minutes.” In addition, with Kubernetes’s bin-packing and multi-tenancy capabilities, CPU utilization has improved on average two- to threefold.
Spotify has also started to use gRPC and Envoy, replacing existing homegrown solutions, just as it had with Kubernetes. “We created things because of the scale we were at, and there was no other solution existing,” says Dave Zolotusky, Software Engineer, Infrastructure and Operations. “But then the community kind of caught up and surpassed us, even for tools that work at that scale.”
As the team continues to fill out Spotify’s cloud native stack — tracing is up next — it is using the CNCF landscape as a helpful guide. “We look at things we need to solve, and if there are a bunch of projects, we evaluate them equivalently, but there is definitely value to the project being a CNCF project,” says Zolotusky.
Spotify’s experiences so far with Kubernetes bears this out. “The community has been extremely helpful in getting us to work through all the technology much faster and much easier,” Zolotusky says. “It’s been surprisingly easy to get in touch with anybody we wanted to, to get expertise on any of the things we’re working with. And it’s helped us validate all the things we’re doing.”
🌟 Therefore, we can say Spotify: An Early Adopter of Containers, Spotify Is Migrating from Homegrown Orchestration to Kubernetes 🌟
Hope you liked it…👌
Do like, comment and share!!!👍
✨✨Thank You!!!✨✨ | https://medium.com/@juhipanjwani04/kubernetes-how-spotify-is-benefited-from-it-f2f68ede814 | ['Jyoti Panjwani'] | 2020-12-26 17:17:34.294000+00:00 | ['Spotify', 'Docker', 'Kubernetes', 'Automation', 'Kubernetes Cluster'] |
Machine Learning Engineers Will Not Exist In 10 Years. | OPINION
Machine Learning Engineers Will Not Exist In 10 Years.
The landscape is evolving quickly.
When you can’t find a good title image for the life of you, just add a cat. Photo Creds: Unsplash
Note: this is an opinion piece, feel free to share your own opinion so we can continue to move our field in the right direction.
Machine Learning will transition to a commonplace part of every Software Engineer’s toolkit.
In every field we get specialized roles in the early days, replaced by the commonplace role over time. It seems like this is another case of just that.
Let’s unpack.
Machine Learning Engineer as a role is a consequence of the massive hype fueling buzzwords like AI and Data Science in the enterprise. In the early days of Machine Learning, it was a very necessary role. And it commanded a nice little pay bump for many! But Machine Learning Engineer has taken on many different personalities depending on who you ask.
The purists among us say a Machine Learning Engineer is someone who takes models out of the lab and into production. They scale Machine Learning systems, turn reference implementations into production-ready software, and oftentimes cross over into Data Engineering. They’re typically strong programmers who also have some fundamental knowledge of the models they work with.
But this sounds a lot like a normal software engineer.
Ask some of the top tech companies what Machine Learning Engineer means to them and you might get 10 different answers from 10 survey participants. This should be unsurprising. This is a relatively young role and the folks posting these jobs are managers, oftentimes of many decades who don’t have the time (or will) to understand the space.
Here are a few requirements from job listings from some of the top tech companies, notice how vastly they differ:
This first one is spicy. Are you sure this isn’t a researcher? How is this a Machine Learning Engineer?
PhD in Math, Stats, Operations Research. Knowledge of R, SQL, and modern Machine Learning techniques.
This next one’s more on-brand. And it comes from the top so it shouldn’t be a surprise.
BS or MS in Computer Science. 1–5 years work or academic experience in software development. Exposure to Computer Vision, NLP, etc a plus.
And finally drilling down on your stereotypical ML Engineer posting.
BS/MS in Computer Science. 3 or more years building production Machine Learning systems and efficient code. Experience with Big Data a plus.
Some companies have started a new approach and I think most will follow. The approach is to list a Software Engineering role with exposure to Machine Learning as a core requirement + a few years of experience as a preferred qualification. Employers will take a preference to engineers with experience building and scaling systems, regardless of whether it was based on Machine Learning or some other technology.
The Machine Learning Engineer is necessary as long as Machine Learning understanding is rare and has a high barrier to entry.
It’s my earnest belief that the role of Machine Learning Engineer will be taken over entirely by the common software engineer. It will transition to a standard engineering role where the engineer will get a spec or reference implementation from someone upstream, turn it into production code, and ship and scale applications.
For now, much of many Machine Learning roles exist in this weird space where we’re attacking problems with ML that just haven’t been attacked before. By consequence, ML Engineers are in many cases half researcher, half engineer. I’ve come across my fair share of Machine Learning Engineers who play across the entire stack. I’ve come across others who have a more narrow skillset but spend more time reading new research papers and turning them into usable code.
We’re at a weird crossroads where we’re defining where the members of our teams fit into the puzzle.
By consequence of the way we work, we tend to shove ourselves into discussions and sit in meetings regardless of whether it’s core to our expertise. We accept any and every meeting invite… It’s my opinion the Machine Learning Engineer belongs at the tail end of building a reference implementation and then owns turning any of that into production code.
Not long from now, most enterprises will have little need for research efforts to get their projects to the finish line. Only niche use-cases and deep technical efforts will require a special skillset. Engineers will consume APIs and the world will move on; Machine Learning becoming a commonplace tool in every new engineer’s toolkit. We’re already seeing this as more and more exposure to Machine Learning trickles into universities. Go to a Machine Learning course at a university and it’s packed to the brim. Almost every graduate will leave university with some exposure to the field.
We can draw an analogy to Blockchain where the Distributed Systems Engineer became hot. The vast majority of Blockchain projects since Nakamoto’s white paper have been spending their efforts on building the fundamental technology and infrastructure. To do so you had to have incredibly strong engineering skills, most-often described as a Distributed Systems Engineer. You’re finally seeing a shift where things are getting abstracted, enterprises are starting to find use-cases, and the everyday engineer can now build novel use-cases using blockchain. We’re seeing the same general shift in AI/ML.
Some Valid Counter Points
It’s possible that the Silicon Valley theme of “One API to rule them all” is a bunch of bogus and Machine Learning will always require some degree of customization at the infrastructure level. It’s my opinion that what HuggingFace is to NLP will happen to every other domain. We’ll be able to conquer the majority of use-cases with a simple API.
“It’s just a title dude. Machine Learning Engineer just means someone with a heavier background in Math and Stats than your average CS graduate.” Totally agree. It’s just a title. But if that role is no longer necessary will the title exist? But you’re right, it’s just a title.
“In my organization that’s not what Machine Learning Engineer means at all.” Let me know what it means to your organization so I can learn. I’m constantly surveying the field to understand where things are at and where they’re headed. I would love to hear your outlook.
“It’s just a title. Who cares?” You’re right, but it’s fun to consider anyways.
“Machine Learning is a nascent field with new use-cases and research being constantly realized; to think this will slow down in the next decade is naive.” Very possible!
One of my favorite responses to the article, from Varii on Twitter:
“Like you said, it’s a title. Most employers expect you to have overlapping skillsets. I feel like in the end it’s not about who gets wiped out, it’s about who is versatile enough to constantly adapt to the ever changing industry.”
Tons of great input from the broader community that I’m learning from. But my opinion will never shift on one thing: if you’re passionate about something it doesn’t matter what happens to a title, a field, or a trend, there will always be a place for you to pursue your passion and build cool things.
Stay safe and build on!
I started a (free) analytics group called Dataset Daily where we share a dataset every Monday and code throughout the week.
Let’s continue the conversation on Twitter. | https://towardsdatascience.com/machine-learning-engineers-will-not-exist-in-10-years-c9cbbf4472f3 | ['Luke Posey'] | 2020-05-03 20:57:26.142000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Software Development', 'Data Science', 'Programming'] |
The Nazi Who Succeeded Adolf Hitler | The Nazi Who Succeeded Adolf Hitler
Karl Donitz and Adolf Hitler (https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/nazi-germanys-leader-admiral-karl-donitz)
Hitler’s suicide in 1945 didn’t end Nazi rule in Germany at once. In fact, prior to his suicide, Hitler had appointed a successor, Karl Donitz, who temporarily served as the new leader. So as to preserve Hitler’s god-like legacy that was cultivated during his leadership, Donitz wasn’t appointed Führer, but instead President of Nazi Germany.
Karl Donitz
Admiral Donitz had served as Supreme Commander of the German Navy, leading the German U-Boat attacks against the Allies, ensuring they didn’t reach mainland Germany by sea. He had served in the navy during the First World War, and Hitler had chosen him to take charge of the Nazi German navy upon his rise to power. He was known as an impressive naval commander during the Second World War, using a technique called the ‘wolfpack’ that involved many U-Boats targeting, overwhelming, and destroying specific Allied ships.
For this, Donitz was held in high regard and gained the respect and trust of Hitler. Similarly, Donitz was a vehement supporter of the Führer and a dedicated and loyal Nazi.
Towards the end of the Second World War, however, the German Navy was showing a growing number of defeats, while the British Royal Air Force bombing raids on German harbours further weakened the navy’s power. Nonetheless, Donitz’s career in the Navy was still acknowledged as immensely impressive, so much so that Hitler decided to appoint him as the leader of Germany just prior to his death. It came as quite a surprise that Hitler’s two closest party officials, Himmler and Goring, were not chosen by Hitler to succeed him as the leader.
On April 30th, 1945, with Nazi defeat imminent as the British, French and Americans closed in on Germany from the West and the Soviets from the East, Adolf Hitler killed himself.
The New Nazi Government
In early May 1945, Donitz set up a new government in the small northern town of Flensburg, just north of Hamburg and on the border of Denmark, establishing a new cabinet to make decisions regarding the proposed post-war Nazi Germany. It was named the Flensburg Government. Academic Chris Madsen states that the Nazi Flensburg government was allowed by the allies to be implemented as a means for the British to allow an orderly transition from Nazi to post-war Germany, noting that Donitz was:
“…not recognised as the legitimate head of state, but was only used temporarily under the instructions of the Allied Commanders, to carry out duties with the feeding, disarmament and medical care of the German armed forces.”
The new Flensburg Government lasted a total of only three weeks, terminating on 23rd May 1945. Donitz’s rule as President of Nazi Germany was short-lived as the allied forces marched into the new government and dissolved it, while at the same time arresting its members for war crimes.
Nazi Germany was no more, the Allies had won, and the war, at least in Europe, was finally over after six long years. Like other Nazi party officials — well, those who hadn’t committed suicide by self-inflicted gunshot wounds or swallowed cyanide capsules — Donitz was tried at the Nuremberg Trials. Donitz got off lightly. He was sentenced to ten years in prison while the majority of his contemporaries were sentenced to death.
Following his release in 1956, Donitz moved to a town in West Germany, publishing two books on his life and experiences under Hitlers leadership, his time as Supreme Commander and his subsequent brief presidency. He died in 1980. | https://historyofyesterday.com/the-nazi-who-succeeded-adolf-hitler-65659c2d3374 | ['Jack Patrick'] | 2020-11-17 06:03:09.611000+00:00 | ['Nazis', 'Hitler', 'History', 'War', 'World War II'] |
How three women are changing the game in children’s books | Founders of Bharat Babies (left to right): Megan Boshuyzen, Sailaja Joshi, SriVani Ganti
Sailaja Joshi and her team are shaping a new landscape of children’s books with carefully woven stories focused on Indian culture. In the midst of a rapid social change in America, Bharat Babies seeks to share with children culture rich stories.
The idea of Bharat Babies was conceived as Sailaja prepared for her first baby shower back in 2013. She looked for books that reflected her Indian culture she could read to her child, only to be disappointed.
“Anything that had something to do with Indian culture was hard to find,” Sailaja explained.
“Stories that were there were meant for older children and were culturally inaccurate. Sometimes they were culturally insensitive, which was really problematic.”
While discussing this issue with a friend and the thoughts of her newborn’s arrival, she decided to start this company dedicated to sharing stories set in the Indian household. Her sister named it Bharat (Hindi for Indian) Babies.
Her conviction only grew stronger as she also began her PhD program in sociology.
“I realized that so much of the social inequality that was happening and the shifting of people’s perspectives could start from birth.”
After taking a few stabs at writing the first book herself, she recognized that it would take a more talented team to move it forward.
“There is a specific way in which great books are written. And those books put the child first. It was really important for me to have the perspective of teachers, parents, people who use these books on a daily basis.”
Bharat Babies is a talented team of authors who also serve as early childhood educators, advisors who offer key insights of the various Indian cultures, and illustrators with the ability to accurately paint the story.
They are passionate about providing the opportunity for children of color to see themselves in mainstream narratives.
“Our vision is to paint those universal themes that make us human beings and help articulate them through the stories of India’s culture of community and heritage,” she explains. “We’re always going to have these stories that focus on Hinduism, Islam; but also telling those rich, diverse stories in a universal way so that any parent can relate to them and use them as teaching tools in the household.”
Developing the first book was only one half the battle. Getting it to children across the world was a completely different beast. And with her second child on the way this time around, she didn’t have the luxury of time on her side.
“I remember getting the final print ship date for Hanuman and the Orange Sun and I think it was June 15th and my date with my son was June 16th. And I was like ‘cool, I’m possibly going to have 2 thousand books in my house and a newborn,’ she remembers.
Their first book to print.
“My parents were like ‘It’s fine, ship them to us!’ Because they have a much bigger house. And I said, ‘I think you guys are crazy. I don’t think this is possible.’ ”
On that timeline, yes, her situation was tight. She raised money for the company’s first book through Northeastern’s IDEA program and because her mentor at the university, she connected with Shotput who would quell her fears.
“I got an email from Greg, who’s part of IDEA, he’s one of the mentors. And he said, ‘I want to introduce you to this company. They offer fulfillment services.’ I talked to you guys [Shotput] and it was like a match made in heaven for me.”
We, at Shotput, certainly felt the same way as we wanted to help them grow. And the relationship between us certainly has become stronger as we continue to find the best ways to run their operation.
“And since then it’s been really phenomenal… we really appreciate that Shotput is so upfront and honest with us and so responsive to customer issues and provide us with the best customer service that we couldn’t get anywhere.”
“I think we have this relationship that we’re truly invested in each other’s future.”
Within its first year, Bharat Babies now has 7 children’s books in its lineup and authors clamoring to write for them everyday. This is only the beginning of a beautiful journey as they plan to expand their books to several more countries. | https://medium.com/the-chain/how-three-women-are-changing-the-game-in-childrens-books-6eaa7ffc4174 | ['Akin Shoyoye'] | 2016-08-07 22:08:43.205000+00:00 | ['Subscription Boxes', 'India', 'Startup', 'Fulfillment', 'Culture'] |
What is a Practice Management System? | A practice management system is software designed to assist hearing care professionals and administrators streamline daily tasks within their hearing centers, improving operational efficiency and customer care.
A practice management system (PMS), sometimes also referred to as an
office management system (OMS),
electronic medical record (EMR) or
customer relationship management (CRM) system.
It is a software system that supports your hearing center operations end-to-end. Keep in mind, there’s a difference between an electronic medical record and practice management system. The EMR is the software that clinical staff use to document patient care within the practice. The PMS software streamlines daily tasks (e.g., scheduling, invoicing) to support your practice. But why do you need this and how can it support your shops?
Picture this, you own a busy, multi-unit hearing care practice. You’re relying on manual scheduling systems, but it gets confusing when you try to manage calendars for multiple audiologists across your centers. Your front desk staff spends significant time trying to track appointments, fittings, and cancellations, but sometimes they make mistakes, or something gets lost.
They also struggle to keep up and with tracking follow up calls and emails to existing customers, as well as sending onboarding reminders to new clients who were just fitted with their first hearing aids. Your team understands the need for regular communications to customers at predetermined intervals, but they’re having difficulties keeping track of all these outreach efforts. And this is just their scheduling challenges — they’re also having a hard time manually managing customer records, invoicing, and data collection.
Lastly, since the data from the audiological equipment is not integrated into the system, the staff needs to enter the client data multiple times and the data is not clean. The staff thinks there must be a better way to streamline and simplify these tasks. There is! | https://medium.com/auditdata/what-is-a-practice-management-system-9ce6c531a1eb | [] | 2021-12-22 10:27:21.589000+00:00 | ['Pms Software', 'CRM', 'Crm Software', 'Oms', 'Emr Software'] |
The Night | Photo by Ihor Malytskyi on Unsplash
The Night
how does it matter,
how quiet is the night?
tonight my words won’t rhyme.
we write to awaken, the stars
buried under the moon, how does it matter
if the poem will be lost with time? | https://medium.com/blueinsight/the-night-180ec188e395 | ['Priyanka Srivastava'] | 2020-12-21 20:45:18.692000+00:00 | ['Writing Life', 'Blue Insights', 'Night', 'Writing', 'Poetry'] |
A Breakout of Bright | A Breakout of Bright
Part Thirteen: Breaking out in Bright
So we’ve made it to the final installment of this blog series. I hope you’ve enjoyed? I hope you’ve been both challenged and encouraged?
Now then, in the book of Ruth we meet Naomi—whose name means ‘Pleasant’ or ‘Beautiful’. We might allow ourselves to be reminded of the garden of Eden in Genesis. ‘Eden’ meaning delight. It’s an idyllic picture of beauty and serenity. A calm and restful place.
A place where God walks with mankind in the cool of the day.
But this picture of delight would soon be marred in that garden and also in Naomi’s life. Soon this happened.
“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter…” Ruth 1:20 NIV
A famine in the land had forced Naomi and her family to move to Moab.
Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. Ruth 1:3-5 NIV
Naomi went away full and is now preparing to return empty. She went away ‘with’ and is preparing to return ‘without’. She moves away in company and is now preparing to return home alone.
Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!” Ruth 1:11-13 NIV
When brightness fades and hope is nowhere to be found—bitterness starts to take hold. Bitterness is like a root. That once pleasant and delightful garden will soon be overtaken by weeds. We saw it awhile back in the elder brother and here it’s most definitely Naomi’s primary struggle.
In this state she pushes everyone away, including God. Ruth, however, has other ideas and she clings to Naomi inspite of everything.
At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. Ruth 1:14 NIV
A lot of people say goodbye at times like this. But when we’ve got nothing left to cling to, it only takes one willing person to cling on to us. It only takes one person to keep walking with us, even when others walk away. And there’s our lifeline. A chink of light in the darkness.
So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning. Ruth 1:22 NIV
I love the hope that this final verse of chapter one leaves us feeling. A sense of anticipation is in the air. We’ve already seen situations which required an inner brightness to breakout in the darkness round about. But sometimes it works the other way around. Like here. Sometimes we need to move into an atmosphere of hope in order for our brightness to return within.
To cut a long story short, from that moment on, that’s exactly what happens. In the last chapter of Ruth we read,
The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.” Ruth 4:14-15 NIV
Ruth and Boaz get married and they have a child.
Now there are a couple of intriguing verses within this story that connect us back to another story in Genesis.
Boaz has just asked for the elders of the town to witness him act as guardian redeemer in purchasing Naomi’s land.
Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.” Ruth 4:11-12 NIV
So, who is Perez?
Well, in Genesis chapter thirty-eight we find the answer in a fairly bizarre story. The story of another daughter-in-law. The story of Tamar and Judah.
Judah then said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s household until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He may die too, just like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s household…When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,” she took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.” Genesis 38:11, 13-16 NIV
And you can guess what happens. They sleep together and Tamar conceives.
It’s all pretty dark and messed up. Unpleasant, perhaps. Thorny, maybe. But eventually, after a series of cover ups and revelations, the truth emerges and now the time comes for Tamar to give birth.
When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, “This one came out first.” But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, “So this is how you have broken out!” And he was named Perez. Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out. And he was named Zerah. Genesis 38:27-30 NIV
Perez means ‘to breakout’. He was so named because of his daring ability to push through. Like a young flower pushing through a crack in the concrete. It may have looked like a lost cause but then Perez pushed through and emerged victorious. It’s never too late!
It’s this can do attitude that Ruth brings to the table.
But daring also has a twin brother called delight. And they come as a pair. They need one another. Zerah’s name means ‘scarlet’ or ‘brightness.’ Named after the thread that was tied around his wrist.
It was the briefest of appearances. But it was enough! A glimpse of brightness. That chink of light we talked about earlier.
A scarlet cord.
And it was from this tribe of Judah and through the line of David—that Jesus was to be born.
Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. Ruth 4:16-17 NIV
Breakout and brightness.
Daring and delight.
A picture of something truly amazing breaking out. It would take a while but it would arrive. Keep waiting. Keep looking for it. There’s a breakout of bright on its way.
When I began to see this picture and the connection between these stories my spirit leapt a little. There’s a lot of darkness in the world right now. You might be experiencing its weight in your own life too? But I believe there’s a breakout of brightness on its way.
I pray that you discover the joys of daring and delighting in God again?
Thanks for listening.
May God bless you and keep you, may his face shine upon you and be gracious to you, may God give you peace… | https://medium.com/@littlelugsdogcollar/a-breakout-of-bright-7c7d222f2aaf | ['Little Lugs', 'A Dog Collar'] | 2021-09-12 06:42:45.248000+00:00 | ['Bright', 'Pleasant', 'Bitter', 'Garden', 'Breakout'] |
Rules for the Modern Gentleman IV. | Image of a Gentleman by Yogendra Singh on Unsplash.com
Don’t enter the pool by the stairs.
Can be taken one of two ways. Number one, tackle obstacles headfirst by jumping into the pool and start swimming and learn to enjoy it. It’s the same as life, you dive into the deep end and start swimming. Number two, if you start with the steps and don’t like the temperature of the pool you’re more likely to never get in. The same with things in real life. If you don’t give something the proper time and effort. Youll never knows what could’ve been if you carried on.
The person at the BBQ Grill is the closest thing to a king or queen.
They are looking after your food first of all. But you have to take care of them when they are looking after your food. Whatever they need you to get for the meal, that’s what you get. They making sure the meal is good for you and you make sure they can do that.
Sit with the new person at lunch.
Whether you’re in a work, school or any other situation, make an effort with the new person. It will go a long way for them and make them feel way more comfortable. Have you ever been in a new situation and just having someone to talk to would make all the difference. So be that person. You can also potentially make a really good friend. | https://medium.com/@benjikings/rules-for-the-modern-gentleman-iv-9596c90803d3 | ['Benji Kings'] | 2020-11-08 08:35:31.455000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Gentleman', 'Rules', 'Series', 'Life'] |
Anatomy of a Power Call in Talko | The ability to flow between LIVE talking and messaging in Talko calls is one of the features our customers love most. It keeps the conversation together in one place. It allows key moments to be bookmarked for later reference and followup. It makes distributed, mobile teams more productive.
Of course, many Talko calls are simple — LIVE and fast. Get done, get back to work or home to see the family. We love those types of calls as much as anyone!
But others involve both LIVE and not-LIVE conversation that may extend over time. They often include photos and/or metadata (tags and flags), which are later searchable. Design reviews, project planning calls and account status calls are examples where this is common.
This screenshot is an example of what such a call looks like in practice. It’s from our own team’s use of the app. The topic is the technical design for a feature we’re adding to our Slack integration. The call has a subject — “#slack #bidirectional”. You can see how the conversation flowed:
Hemant rang Shir. They talked for 51 seconds. They realized they needed more clarification on the feature requirements. So they added Matt to the call as a guest. The three of them spoke LIVE for 40 minutes. During those 40 minutes Shir posted a text message (masked) and there were 3 bookmarks created. Those bookmarks are synchronized to the spot where the discussion on that topic happened. If anyone needs to recall how we agreed to “populate slack pairwise”, they needn’t listen to the 40 minutes of conversation (nor review meeting minutes). They just tap the bookmark to listen at that moment. This replay ability was especially helpful for Shir in this call because he’s new to the team and is coming up to speed on our technical designs. Later the same day — after Shir, Hemant and Matt had hung up — Shir had some more specific design ideas. Hemant wasn’t available at the time. Instead of waiting for him, Shir sent a voice message, enabling Hemant to listen on his own time. While listening to the message, Hemant bookmarked what Shir said about the “internal protocol buffer”. He knew he’d want to come back to that and follow up with Shir. Finally, Shir and Hemant re-connected LIVE for ~11 minutes. During this time, they solidified a final design.
This is one example of how Talko helps busy, on-the-go teams get important stuff done in a pain-free way. Plus it’s fun:-)
We’d love to hear what you think of these capabilities! | https://medium.com/talko-team-talk-share-do/anatomy-of-a-power-call-in-talko-19d7a737748 | ['Talko Team'] | 2015-09-25 14:13:51.213000+00:00 | ['Communication', 'Productivity', 'Mobile'] |
Radical Supreme Court Orals Today a Blow to LGBTQ People | Ever had one of those days when waking up felt dangerous? I was up an hour before my alarm this morning, too anxious to sleep, stomach clenching over the possibility that Donald Trump might win another term as president.
But as a gay man and a lifelong LGBTQ advocate, another huge matter occupied my mind. As I write this , I’ve been closely following Supreme Court oral arguments in Fulton v City of Philadelphia, a case that is genuinely frightening for LGBTQ and other marginalized people.
While the high court will not hand down its potentially landmark decision for some months, initial impressions are that justices are inclined to substantially ratchet back protections for LGBTQ people in a way that could also eliminate government protections for other minorities.
I’m not a lawyer and I’m not writing a legal analysis today, but if you’d like to see more details than I’m providing, please see Slate journalist Chase Stranglio’s real-time oral-argument commentary.
What the case is about and why it is so critical
In a nutshell, Catholic Social Services (CSS) is suing the City of Philadelphia for the right to provide city-contracted foster care services while excluding LGBTQ people as potential foster parents. They say their religious faith prevents them from following the terms of a city contract that requires them not to discriminate.
We dreamed of healing a judiciary that has taken a hard turn toward mean.
The United States in the person of Acting Solicitor General Jeff Wall has joined CSS in arguing that the City of Philadelphia is impermissibly discriminating against CSS by infringing their Constitutional right to practice religion.
Philadelphia cries foul, claiming they have a right to enforce religiously neutral contracting rules, citing their “compelling interest” in preventing discrimination against its residents on the basis of sexual orientation.
“Compelling interest” is a critical legal phrase that describes a situation in which courts must show great deference to a government body protecting such interests.
For example, the courts have long recognized preventing racial discrimination is a legitimate “compelling interest,” rooted in the 14th Amendment guarantee of “equal protection of the law.”
Last June’s Supreme Court decision in Bostock v Clayton County recognized such a compelling interest with respect to sexual orientation and gender identity, but now five justices look ready to entertain throwing most of that decision on the trash heap.
As Stranglio observes, two other critical court precedents are at stake:
Please be alarmed about the fact that the federal government (and much of the Court) seems to think that governments may not have a compelling interest in ending discrimination against LGBTQ people. An erosion of Obergefell and Masterpiece.
Today’s arguments were radically anti-LGBTQ
The Solicitor General argued explicitly that the government does not have a compelling interest in protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination. That’s pretty jaw dropping. More jaw dropping is that five justices expressed great sympathy to his argument: Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett.
That doesn’t mean they will eventually rule as such. Justices’ questions and comments during orals do not always line up with how they write their opinions or vote, but they DO often serve as warning signs.
Three possible decisions — one of them bad, one of them destructive
This case could be decided in any number of ways. On the surface, it’s a pretty simple matter. Should a religious organization be exempted from neutrally constructed and administered government regulations? Three possible answers present:
Best possibility: CSS must, as an agent of the City of Philadelphia spending taxpayer money to care for wards of the state, follow generally applicable laws and regulations, including honoring the terms of government contracts. Pretty bad possibility: For narrow reasons, the court finds the City of Philadelphia’s contract for foster care services is not neutral; it infringes on CSS’s religious practice rights and should be modified to accommodate CSS while continuing to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination. Genuinely awful outcome: The City of Philadelphia’s contract is moot because governments do not have a compelling interest in protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination.
Five justices this morning sounded VERY sympathetic towards the third outcome, although several of them also actively explored ideas that would work for the second.
The possibility that the court will choose the first option and rule that discriminating against LGBTQ people is impermissible in this case ranges from vanishingly small to nonexistent.
At this point wishing for a narrow loss seems all LGBTQ people have to hold onto. We have to wish the court will rule we can be discriminated against only for particular, limited reasons.
Legal analysts say that if a majority of justices go with option number 3, then civil rights protections for broad groups of marginalized people will be up for grabs. Look for more legal analysis in coming days to hone in on why, but for the moment let’s remember something.
Yesterday’s elections have ground-shifting consequences even if Biden ekes out a victory
Moderate, liberal, and progressive Americans all hoped that Trumpism would suffer a decisive defeat in yesterday’s election. It did not. Most of us counted on seeing the Senate turn Democratic so President Biden could work with Congress to undo toxic damage to our democracy. That didn’t happen.
Marginalized people dreamed of restructuring a system that has entrenched minority rule.
We dreamed of Supreme Court reform undoing civil liberties damage forced by reactionary justices whose views are antithetical to the majority.
We dreamed of healing a judiciary that has taken a hard turn toward mean.
Today, we dial back our hopes
I’m still watching the polls carefully, to the point of having a hard time focusing on writing this article. It seems Biden will probably become president, though the outcome is not certain. (I just heard Wisconsin went to Biden.)
But even assuming Biden wins, the Supreme Court showed us this morning that American civil liberties remain in grave peril. Marginalized people stand to become more marginalized. LGBTQ people stand to lose the legal presumption that government should protect us from discrimination.
It’s time to retrench and re-strategize
I’m still punch drunk from staying up most of last night, but I’m clear-headed enough to realize everything has changed. Equality goals and strategies as they existed yesterday are dead in the water.
LGBTQ activists, feminists, Black Lives Matter organizers — all of us — face a paradigm shift in our reality no matter who ends up in the Oval Office. I’m not going to speculate right now on where new strategies will take us, not before I get some sleep.
But we must not forget that times have been worse.
The courts have opposed us before, and we still won acceptance and equality. New strategies do not mean giving in to despair. It’s time to fight! | https://medium.com/james-finn/radical-supreme-court-orals-today-a-blow-to-lgbtq-people-e051358f19d5 | ['James Finn'] | 2020-11-05 16:14:45.289000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Social Justice', 'Justice', 'LGBTQ', 'Equality'] |
Improve your quality of life with cleaner indoor air | In the UK, we spend on average 90% of our time indoors, where air pollution is typically 2–5x worse than outdoors.
After you read this article, the first thing you should do is open a window.
The main reason air quality is worse indoors is poor ventilation. So, while air pollution is at its lowest level in a decade, you should make the most of it and get some good clean air flowing through your home.
Air pollution affects us all, slowly but surely degrading our respiratory system, and reducing our ability to fight infection and illness.
800,000 deaths per year in Europe are caused by air pollution — more than smoking.
In the short-term, poor air quality results in reduced energy levels, nasal congestion, headaches and dizziness and is the leading cause of the rapid rise in asthma rates.
Children’s bedrooms often have the poorest air quality
Children’s bedrooms often have the poorest air quality
Shockingly, research has shown the worst air quality in the home is usually found in children’s bedrooms.
A combination of cleaning products, new furniture, fresh paint and plastic toys, release potentially damaging toxins into the air, to be breathed in by the most vulnerable and precious members of our families.
Importantly, schools are also now trying to improve their indoor air. A central London school with poor air quality found that by painting a classroom with Airlite’s air purifying paint, it had a 95% lower NO2 concentration than the classroom next door.
Air purifying paint on your walls
Poor air quality will return after lockdown
As we emerge from lockdown, many of us will treasure memories of skies blissfully free from aeroplanes, the dawn chorus uninterrupted by the roar of cars and walks in noticeably fresher and cleaner air.
Sadly, as already seen in China, the high levels of air pollution will return.
Legislation and responsible corporations have begun the seismic shift needed to clean the atmosphere. Meanwhile, we must look at limiting indoor sources of air pollution and start employing ways of actively cleaning the air in our homes and workplaces.
Opening the windows will soon not be an attractive option so active air purification, especially for the most vulnerable, is critical.
NASA has published a list of the best air cleaning plants, there are a multitude of electric air purifiers on the market and now even the possibility of having air purifying paint on your walls.
Written by Tom Faggionato, Chief Operating Office, Airlite and published in the Respiratory Health campaign with Health Awareness: https://www.healthawareness.co.uk/respiratory/improve-your-quality-of-life-with-cleaner-indoor-air/?fbclid=IwAR2LpeDqf0kLWUxxjeXHlB3bVf2bGussa-0DVWbJRFtFs4XmZ9dczFD51FM
About Airlite
Airlite is an air purifying, anti-bacterial paint made with 100% natural materials. Airlite requires no electricity, makes no noise and works for as long as the paint is on the walls. Used by Grosvenor Estate, Bouygues, Mercedes-Benz and Kensington Palace, AirliteHome launches this summer.
Airlite: Cleaner Air, Safer Surfaces, Greener Planet. | https://medium.com/@airliteuk/improve-your-quality-of-life-with-cleaner-indoor-air-3e0a7d56f53d | ['Airlite Uk'] | 2020-07-06 12:12:21.431000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Indoor Air Quality', 'Health And Wellness', 'Baby Care', 'Interior Decorating'] |
The Spirtual Lesson Of Forgetting To Take Out The Trash | The Spirtual Lesson Of Forgetting To Take Out The Trash
Hearing God’s Word vs doing something with it.
Photo by Jilbert Ebrahimi on Unsplash
Forgetting to take out the trash.
I have one chore that I always forget to do, and that is I don’t always take out the trash. My mom growing up would get so incredibly frustrated with me when I was growing up because I would hear her telling me to take out the trash and then four hours would pass and the trash would still be overflowing. This would inevitably lead to my mother yelling at me and I’d get in trouble. I don’t think I’m the only person who has ever heard they are supposed to do something and then do the exact opposite, however. I believe this something that all of us struggle with. That deep down inside we know we are supposed to take out the trash but we just keep forgetting to.
Just like the silly things in life, like forgetting to take the trash out and do the dishes on a much more spirtual side we tend to do the same thing with God’s word. We’ve read God’s word, we have studied it and have even gone to church, but for the most part, we are walking around forgetting to do the things that he has actually called each one of us to. | https://medium.com/thestoryofcraft/the-spirtual-lesson-of-forgetting-to-take-out-the-trash-ae6cb6c58bb8 | ['Eric Craft'] | 2019-09-16 18:16:38.135000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Spirituality', 'Bible', 'Religion', 'Christianity'] |
Billie Eilish’s ‘No Time to Die’ Music Video Is the Most Outrageous Thing You’ll Watch Today | Source: Billie Eilish
The song will have supernatural powers to bend bullets away from Bond. I am pretty sure it will, else, why are there people across the Net defending Eilish’s “No Time To Die” music video like it is some religion that Bond needs to convert to?
We first got to hear Eilish’s song for Daniel Craig’s last outing as Bond back in February this year when she dropped the song, which bears a similar title to the film. Of course, back then, the marketing team was on full-throttle to prep No Time to Die for its widely anticipated premiere in April. Then came the coronavirus, which had triggered drastic nation lockdowns beginning with China — an emerging stronghold in box-office sales for the Bond franchise. Other than the UK, China was the highest grossing overseas market for Spectre (2015) — the latest installment within the franchise, just before No Time to Die.
Had China not been put under lockdown, Eilish’s music video for No Time to Die would have easily been unveiled back in March or early April this year. When I first tuned-in to “No Time to Die” in February, I thought that the song was truly befitting for a Bond film which leans itself towards a darker and moodier theme, such as Craig’s. The song does not deviate too much from Adele’s “Skyfall” and Sam Smith’s “Writing’s on the Wall”, preserving the qualities of being classy and dramatic from the previous two, though Eilish’s noises tend to cloud the overall music.
Now that the music video is released, the vocals coupled with the visuals in the video is starting to paint a picture in a different direction. Check out the newly released music video below: | https://thefilmaddict.medium.com/billie-eilishs-no-time-to-die-music-video-is-the-most-outrageous-thing-you-ll-watch-today-3a6095ea619d | ['The Film Addict'] | 2020-10-02 08:14:39.616000+00:00 | ['Daniel Craig', 'Film', 'Billie Eilish', 'Movies', 'James Bond'] |
Absolutely Incredible Jellyfish | Andy Blumenthal is a dynamic, award-winning leader with 30 years of experience delivering results across the public and private sectors. Views are his alone. | https://medium.com/@andyblumenthal/absolutely-incredible-jellyfish-46e0ba6bcb0 | ['Andrew', 'Avraham'] | 2020-12-15 00:19:31.135000+00:00 | ['Water', 'Ocean', 'Fish', 'Jellyfish', 'Nature'] |
He Was Supposed to Be the Next Stephen King. Then the Aliens Came. | Medium: You’re from Texas originally, right?
Whitley Strieber: I grew up in a neighborhood in San Antonio called Terrell Hills. My family was fairly wealthy and it was an extremely quiet family. It was very orderly. The only rule was to be home at 6 p.m. and at the dinner table, clean and dressed, or you would probably be better off dead. So mom and dad were very permissive. We played all kinds of games and went all kinds of places that we shouldn’t have gone, did any number of things that no child should have done. It was all wonderful fun.
Did you have any experiences during those years that could be considered paranormal?
There were occasional intrusions from a strange reality. One time when I was 11, my parents suddenly said, “We’re going up to the country house but you’re going to stay here in San Antonio.” They packed up my sister and my little brother, who was then a baby, and off they went.
Night fell and I watched television for a while, and it got quite dark in the house. I wanted to turn on lights. I went into the hall and then went up to my room and when I turned on the light in my room, I saw the window above the air conditioner — there was a window unit in the room — had been pulled down. That window was closed with insulation. It wasn’t meant to be opened.
I was scared because I hadn’t opened it. It hadn’t been open when my parents left. So I telephoned the country house and my mother said, “Well, if you think there’s somebody there, call the police.” It wasn’t like calling the police in some big city. So I called over there and said what I was seeing and he said, “Well, I’ll come right over.” And he stopped in the front of the house, came up the walk with his gun in his hand, and he was terrified. Terrified. And he went upstairs. I followed him and he shone his flashlight out on the roof and I thought I saw someone. But I was a little boy, I could have just been scared. He said, “Well, there’s nobody there,” and he literally ran down stairs and drove away.
The next thing I remember it was morning. My family came home at about 11 a.m. That’s the sort of thing that would happen. But I liked my life. There were moments that were very unpleasant but mostly it was wonderful.
Did you have a road map for becoming a novelist?
I was very interested in books and literature and I was writing like crazy when I was in college. Then I went to the film school in London called the London School of Film Technique. It’s now called the London Film School. England and I were made for each other. The English never expect anything unusual to happen but they’re also very tolerant of eccentricity. I ended up hanging out in Eric Clapton’s flat at the Pheasantry in London. I didn’t know him, but kids came and went in that flat all the time, and I happened to have mutual friends who hung out there. Eric would come and go. He didn’t care who was there. I heard a lot of cool music played live by some very famous people and I chatted one or twice with some big stars, but you know, I was just another kid hanging out.
The way you’re describing it almost makes it sound like the London version of Warhol’s Factory.
It wasn’t as intense as that. There were some drugs, obviously, but it was a milder scene than The Factory. I think I might have been at The Factory once or twice in the early 1970’s and it was very different, much more intense. When I moved to New York, I hung out at Max’s Kansas City. I was sort of peripheral to that scene. Very peripheral. I briefly met Lou Reed back then. Many years later, I got to know him through mutual friends. We used to have fabulous, completely paranoid conversations together at dinner.
What were you writing about at the time?
I’d written two novels by then. One called Ginger, then a novel called Little Paradise. Then I guess I must have been writing a book called Stranger in the Earth. These are all trunk novels. Any writer who says he doesn’t have trunk novels is lying.
What do you mean by “trunk novels?”
Novels that will remain forever in the trunk and will be perhaps destroyed when death impends.
The passage in “Communion” about how you were able to vividly recall your experience of the encounter through remembering the scent of one of their hands is really striking. It reminds me of Proust in a way.
Well, you know, odor is very powerful in the mind. I kept thinking to myself, “If I can just smell this, I would know if this a physical experience or not.” Then, because I put that in the book, all of the debunkers started saying, “Oh well, he has temporal lobe epilepsy,” because the sense of smell is often affected by that.
So I took all these tests for that and many other diseases. There was nothing wrong with me at all. The only thing is that the psychological tests showed a lot of stress, which is consistent with the experience I was having. But the physical tests were fine. There was no sign of neurosis or psychosis or anything in the psychological tests. But that didn’t matter. Those people were frantic to say it didn’t happen, and it wasn’t true, and I was making it up and everything.
As someone who wasn’t alive when the book came out, something that seems remarkable is that you must have known that people were going to claim you were making it up, or at least think you were crazy, but you stuck to your guns.
Well yeah, because something did happen. I was physically injured and roughed up. That doesn’t happen to you when you’re having a dream. When you have a dream, you wake up and you’re the same as you were before you dreamed, unless you fall out of bed or something, which is not what happened to me.
And then the book was adapted into a movie starring Christopher Walken not too long after.
There were a lot of things about it that could have been a good bit better. I think that they had financial problems, and the special effects aren’t very effective. I think that Christopher Walken played me like I was a complete jerk.
It must be a truly bizarre experience to be played by Christopher Walken.
Dan Aykroyd apparently wanted to play me. I think he would have been perfect.
When was the last time you had an experience with the visitors?
The visitors are still in my life. They returned in a big way after Annie passed away. When she was sick, they weren’t with us much, but after she passed away, two things began to happen. The first thing was, it was about an hour and a half after she died that the first indication that there might be an afterlife came. A friend telephoned and said, “Whitley, I just had the strangest thing happen. I heard Anne tell me to call you.” And I said, “Anne died an hour and a half ago.” Over the next few days, it kept happening with different friends. Some knew she had died, some didn’t.
Then I remembered back in the 1990s, one day Anne had come out of her office and said, “Whitley, this all has something to do with what we call death. The visitor experience and seeing and interacting with your dead are interrelated.” We made a pact that the first one of us to die, if possible, would try to reconnect with the other one, but not directly. We would do it through friends, because if Annie came back to me, I would assume it was my imagination, and she would definitely have done the same. The idea was, we would come back to friends, and we didn’t tell anybody about this. Not anyone, not even our son. Suffice to say, I learned a hell of a lot about life and death after my wife died.
What do you mean by that — that you’ve learned more about life and death?
I meditate twice a night, at 11 p.m. and 3 a.m., because if I don’t, the visitors will react. They’ll start doing things that will wake me up. They’re very insistent, but usually it’s very sweet. In any case, I hardly ever see them. In the past two weeks, I’d say they have tugged me on the ear, blown in my face, and kissed me to wake me up at 3 a.m. This happens routinely. I don’t know why it happens. I don’t know who “they” are. It could easily be Anne, for all I know. But I do know that this meditation that I do is a powerful, strong, good, healthy meditation, and it’s damned good for me, and I’m lucky to have them, whoever it is, is doing this, even if it’s just me, myself, in my own inner world. I don’t care whether people believe me or not.
In your book “The Key,” you write of meeting a man you call “The Master of the Key,” who warned you about an impending climate catastrophe, among lots of other seemingly prophetic stuff. What happened?
The doorbell in the room rang, and I thought it was room service. I hadn’t realized it was 2 a.m. So I answered the door, and this man walked in, and walked straight across the room, and turned around, standing in front of the window where the air conditioning was. And, I thought, “Holy shit, it’s a fan.” There is no such thing as a fan you want to meet after midnight.
Especially one who comes into your hotel room unannounced, I’d assume.
Oh yeah. My alarm bells were blasting, let me put it that way. But then he said something that really stopped me — he said that we were bound to the Earth because the child who would have understood the secret of gravity had never been born, because his parents had been killed in the Holocaust. And that made an incredible amount of sense to me immediately — I understood that a species that could do that to themselves maybe does not yet have the right to leave its planet and expose others to its problems. And that we might go extinct here, if we can’t fix ourselves. It made terrifying, clear, and logical sense. I’ve had too many weird experiences in my life to not realize, at that moment, that this is probably one of them.
Given that you’ve written a good bit about the potential deadly consequences of climate change, do you feel vindicated in a way?
It’s a horrible vindication. But yes, it is a vindication. A dreadful, nightmarish vindication. I would infinitely rather be wrong. I have a 6-week-old grandson, a 10-year-old grandson, and a 7-year-old granddaughter. All of them are so beautiful and full of life and so eminently deserving of a future. It’s being stolen from them by that train wreck, Donald Trump. I have to tell you, when I saw Trump say about the recent climate change report, “I don’t believe it,” I thought to myself, “That is Evil Incarnate.” Those three words will probably cost the lives of millions of people and cause untold amounts of suffering. We are in the last few years where leadership might help. It’s going to be too late soon.
I’m interested in what you think of the idea of the “Western canon,” both the literary canon as well as the canon of scientific knowledge.
Well, I have two entirely different opinions. First of all, the Western canon in literature is precious and very valuable and benefits from being challenged. I think it’s being challenged now in a lot of interesting ways, in writing, and that’s a good thing. I’m very interested in poetry, and I’m forcing myself to go back into poetry, especially the poetry of the early 20th century.
And with regard to science, something fascinating happened to me recently. You know, I have this implant in my ear.
I’m sorry, an implant in your ear?
It happened in May of 1989. About 11 p.m., some people invaded my house in upstate New York and ended up putting a thing in my ear using a means that is not known — there wasn’t a scar or anything. But the thing is there, and for many years, would occasionally turn on. My ear would turn bright red and —
When you say “people,” what sort of people do you mean?
It was a man and a woman, in dark clothes. They were accompanied by people outside; I could hear them talking. I do not know who they were, if they were in league with aliens or if they were some kind of military group or what. But I do know that the means they used to put it in my ear were unusual, because there was no scar. And when I tried to get it taken out, the doctor made an incision and [the implant] proceeded to go from the top of my ear down into my earlobe on its own, avoiding the doctor’s scalpel. He got a corner of it, which was analyzed. It had a metallic base with motile proteinaceous cilia attached to it — in other words, it was a biomechanical device of some kind.
Instead of trying to get rid of it, I began to focus on attempting to figure out what it was and whether or not I could make use of it. I made no progress for nearly 30 years. Then suddenly, I noticed that when I’m writing, if I look against a white wall, I see a slit in my eye and there are words racing through the slit faster than I can read them. But they are subliminally readable by my brain, and they are reflecting and working with my writing. The implant doesn’t tell me things. But if I think about something I want to know, it comes in funny ways.
About two weeks ago, I said to the implant, “Tell me something that is essentially important to the new book I’m working on but which I know nothing whatsoever about.”
What happened?
I proceeded to get the most important piece of information that I have probably ever gotten, in one time, in my whole life. The implant came back with the number 137. It was an obsession of Wolfgang Pauli, one of the greatest physicists who ever lived. It led to his relationship with Carl Jung, the psychologist. My next book is about the nature of ambiguity in reality, and this goes right to the heart of it. There’s something called the fine-structure constant, which is 1/137th. Is there a reality beyond what we can see and feel? The fact of 137 argues that this must be the case.
What kind of meditation do you do?
I do something called the Sensing Exercise that I learned in the Gurdjieff Foundation. It’s a very simple exercise to start. I’ve been doing it now for over 50 years and over time, you get to the point where you have sensation of more than just your physical body.
It starts with an idea, that the human attention is sacred for a very simple reason. It is the only attention on this planet that can be intentionally directed. When you place your attention on your body, it causes your nervous system to change suddenly so that you, in another level of reality, can be seen more clearly. I asked the visitors, when they first came to me, why they came. They said, “We saw a glow.” After Annie died, she made it clear to me that she could see me when I was sitting in the chair doing the exercise. That was when she could see me and I realized that the glow they were talking about was the glow that comes from placing the attention on sensation.
That’s a beautiful thought.
It’s the truth. Anne was the most conscious person I have ever had direct contact with. Just as she had lived, she made a very conscious decision to die. She had a series of strokes and a brain tumor that had not been fully removed. She was losing functionality and was going to either die a painful, difficult death, or turn into a zombie. Or she could make a decision. And she decided she would stop eating and drinking. She wasn’t scared, she wasn’t angry, she wasn’t sad. She was just doing it, and she did it beautifully. I would have followed her if I didn’t have my son and his family. His kids are counting on their granddad to be a bridge. They love me very much, and I love them dearly. So I keep on, rowing against the current as best I can.
Would it be fair to say you’ve had an influence on pop culture?
I would be very disingenuous not to say that I’ve had an influence on pop culture. I’ve also, unfortunately, had an influence on modern UFO folklore. I think it’s all folklore — it’s something that people don’t understand, and they generate stories about it. What I’m interested in is the something that’s there — what’s behind them?
It seems like trying to lend meaning to unexplained phenomena comes from a human impulse, and the details are often a reflection of the historical moment.
There’s something behind it — there is an objective reality of some kind. The one thing Annie used to always say to me is that she signed on for an interesting life, and she hit the jackpot with me. I’m usually broke, no one will pay me for anything, publishers won’t publish me because they look down their noses at the Communion man. I’ve had a lot of trouble. But at the same time, I’ve also had this incredibly interesting life. It’s a wonderful experience, to be alive. | https://gen.medium.com/he-was-supposed-to-be-the-next-stephen-king-then-the-aliens-came-afd7195e0b49 | ['Drew Millard'] | 2019-09-27 00:38:12.169000+00:00 | ['Whitley Strieber', 'Authors', 'Aliens', 'Reasonable Doubt', 'Interview'] |
5 REASON WHY YOU SHOULD STAY HAPPY…..by Namit Dwivedi | 5 REASON WHY YOU SHOULD STAY HAPPY…..by Namit Dwivedi
Happiness is a universal feeling available to all but only a few in a thosand choose this universal option. We all are anxious about are future worried about our family or ourselves which is also not wrong but for just few minutes now lets take a pause from our busy world and lets realize the fact that how thankful we should be for this universe for helping us out and sustaining us in this big world where things just change in a second.
So here are few points that you must think on and if you have any of these blessing in your life you must be thankful to the power governing this universe. Also,in case you are deprived of any one of the privilege kindly focus on the next one. So here we go:
1)You have someone to talk to:
In this restless world people are loosing connections and have no one to talk around them. In this senerio if you have a good friend be it your batchmate or someone from your family feel yourself lucky. Pepole commit succide just because they cant talk or share their feelings to someone else. You must feel fortunate that someone is there to take care for you. A report said that staying alone is equal to smoking 13 cigarettes.
2)You have a roof above your head:
In this pendamic we have been so tired of just sitting at home but those who don’t have a house to live food to eat ,who have lost there daily wages job are more unhappy than us. So at this very moment close your eyes and be thankful for what you have.
3)Able to do work:
Have you ever visited a hospital someoe is not able to walk ,not able to see ,not able to sit or what not even if you have injury in anyone of the part be thankful for the rest. Have you heared about Nick santonastasso? A social media influencer ,entrepreneur and what not with just one arm and no legs but still inspire a lot of people to live happily and fight against all odds. Are your problems really bigger than him?
A large no. of people are born with genetic diseases be thankful that atleast you were born with a great health.
4)You have an internet connection:
Imagine what would you do without internet.Few people even today when internet is cheapest in india still either can not have access to internet or mobile phones or don’t know how to use it
5)Every damn thing is happening for you:
When you wake tomorrow just go for a morning walk and sit in a garden and just watch the things happening. Hear the birds chirping , see the sun rising feel the wind blewing and then close your eyes. Just think that this every damn thing in the nature is happening for making you feel happy give you joy. The sun rises for you the world turns for you only for one reason ,that you stay alive. Nature tries to give its 100% everyday so that you can perform at your best. It cant provide you the same weather everyday and similarly not everyday is a sad or happy day. Time brings both good and bad feelings its upto you how you react to it.
At last just want to tell you that there is a lot to love and explore take a pause take a walk around you. A happy mindset brings in good thought and good thoughts help to bring out good actions. Just don’t forget that self-love is the key and if anything you feel is happening wrong right now in your life most probably for most of the things you will fid that there was reason for that to happen. As Steve Jobs said,”Connecting the dots | https://medium.com/@namitdwivedi08/5-reason-why-you-should-stay-happy-by-namit-dwivedi-7dba2d33f9bf | [] | 2020-11-23 16:24:21.901000+00:00 | ['Happiness In Life', 'Copywriter', 'Content Writer', 'Reasons For'] |
5 Career Mistakes I Wish Someone Had Warned Me About | 5 Career Mistakes I Wish Someone Had Warned Me About
@fizkes on Shotzr
In today’s economy, with businesses under pressure, the working environment is changing. In a sport span of time, it might force some companies to keep only the best performing people, to move ahead.
In this context, while you’re doing your best, you also may wonder: what are the biggest career mistakes to avoid?
Below, I’ve gathered my five lessons learned — the hard way — in the past decade, in the corporate world.
This is what you aren’t taught upfront — I sure wasn’t — because it’s hard to say this bluntly to a new colleague or employee. Not to mention, when some workplaces have a ‘lions arena’ unwritten culture: manage this as you go along, or be ripped off and taken out.
1. ‘But That’s Just for Show Off!’
Don’t complain when there’s too much ‘visibility’ work to do — which requires a massive focus on detail, yet little business impact. Both your reputation and authority in your field benefit.
Think longer term: when in interviews later on, you will display you were the one leading a visible project — also communicated online, that the interviewer might have heard of. Why it’s good? Because… surprise! the big, high-impact stuff you’re working on is likely under confidentiality clause (forever).
@zgel on Shotzr
2. Not Giving Life to Ideas You Care About
Worry when you’re left in the ‘mild water’ of rolling in the same processes, when you’re told to first master the repetitive, background work, and only then come up with stray ideas that could improve or add something.
Don’t stay complacent and think ‘well, if that’s what my boss expects of me, why bother and waste my time and energy?’
You’ll be surprised over the years to find what you become known and appreciated for. Hint: it’s not improving by 12% or whatever the efficiency of processes in the job description.
It’s that odd initiative you had: the company public speaking club, the internal lobby for a baby-sitting arrangement near the office for employees, the short Friday movement which you try to roll out after proven success in your team.
These are undertakings that add to others’ wellbeing and which cost you overtime, but you deeply enjoyed building.
3. Empathizing with Complainers
If your colleagues complain about the workplace, refrain from joining them, if you only do it to be accepted into the group.
Being accepted into the informal ‘underworld’ of interaction in an office is important. Although this might not impact your actual job, it matters.
@zgel on Shotzr
When? Guess what? when being promoted. The hiring manager will ask people to give feedback about you, and whether they know precisely what you do in the company or not, they will speak.
And the shocking thing I observed again and again in corporations: the hiring manager is influenced by what others say about you. As professional as he or she might be, sometimes just cannot dig deep and ask: ‘this opinion of yours is it based on directly working with the person?’
It’s hard to distinguish between the voices of those who have actually worked with you, and those who merely see you in the morning by the coffee machine and decided they dislike your fashion sense — and, as a result, dismiss you as a professional as well.
4. When Being Too Well Behaved is a Career Mistake.
Gossip is an innate part of the human interaction. No company culture will ever be affective in eradicating it. Be careful with whom you engage in this. I see here three approaches:
a. Being hostile towards colleagues who gossip will cost you — because their opinion about you influence the team’s opinion about you. If you banned gossip from your adult life, this is a situation when being too well behaved is a career mistake.
@yakobchukolena on Shotzr
b. On the opposite spectrum, joining the gossiping will put your name on the unwritten ‘people we dislike’ wall, for those who aren’t already in category a.
c. If you find yourself in a group where rattle ignites, listen, but don’t engage. Simply be a spectator. I’ve found this to be the most effective way to deal with this challenge. This way, you avoid being labelled by either, and you’ll catch up on what’s happening around.
5. Not Giving Value, First
Counterintuitive, right? Giving your help — i.e. time and expertise — to colleagues can cause you to lose focus on what’s important for your role.
Also, you risk being overwhelmed when project pieces you need to deliver approach deadline. In the long run, this means burnout.
Why give?
Because when you create value and help others, not only you contributed to something being achieved.
@nd3000 on Shotzr
Humans have an innate desire to give back and pay their dues — as Robert Cialdini documented in “Influence — The Psychology of Persuasion”.
So, as long as it’s not a far stretch for you, and you actually come to resent giving a helping hand, do it. It will come back when you’ll need it. Sometimes, in ways you are not aware of (remember feedback given by colleagues to your boss?)
Work too, like any other human interaction, requires emotional intelligence. Sensing the others. Sometimes instant intuition for what is acceptable and what is not.
Sometimes, the right approach in a weird situation might be something against common sense.
These take time to learn, so be patient with yourself. It’s probable you’ll blunder, yet being actively aware of your first years in the career or the first year on a new role, can save much headache.
Everybody makes mistakes! What matters most is learning from them, moving forward and showing grace to others when they have a slip. | https://medium.com/better-advice/5-career-mistakes-i-wish-someone-had-warned-me-about-ef681636d41f | ['Bianca Zagan'] | 2020-12-15 10:16:05.358000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Career Advice', 'Careers', 'Office Life', 'Millennials'] |
Entertainment Lawyer Tifanie Jodeh Acosta Joins Mogul Productions as Head of Business Affairs | Entertainment Lawyer Tifanie Jodeh Acosta Joins Mogul Productions as Head of Business Affairs Mogul Marketing Follow Jun 17 · 2 min read
Acosta joins Mogul as their film financing team grows
Mogul Productions, the decentralized film financing (DeFiFi) platform and movie-based NFT marketplace, today announces entertainment lawyer Tifanie J. Acosta as the project’s new Head of Business Affairs.
As the Founder and Managing Partner of Los Angeles-based Entertainment Law Partners, Acosta brings with her a plethora of experience representing actors, performers, writers, directors, musicians, executive producers, public relations companies, managers and producers.
“We’re delighted to welcome Tifanie to the Mogul Team,” said Mogul Productions Founder & President, Lisa Sun. “Her insider-level knowledge of the entertainment industry is unparalleled, and we can’t wait to tap into the deep well of experiences that she brings to Mogul’s film team.”
Added Acosta: “I’m inspired by the idea of turning film production into a more inclusive, equitable and accessible process for both fans and key stakeholders. I’m excited to join the team in deal making across Mogul’s film platform and advance the company’s key business priorities.”
Acosta’s multifaceted career extends over 20 years handling production, legal and business affairs on such projects as “Greenland” (starring Gerard Butler), “Breaking News in Yuba County” (starring Allison Janney and Mila Kunis), “Chappaquiddick” (starring Jason Clarke) and “The Stand-In” (starring Drew Barrymore). She started her career in the business affairs department at Nancy Cartwright’s company (voice of Bart Simpson) and was later the general counsel of TFN, The Football Network where Acosta was responsible for a range of issues pertaining to production, business and legal affairs, intellectual property, financing, standards and practices, and more.
Acosta has been recognized as a “Viv Magnificent Woman”by VIV Magazine, and has lectured on the business of film and television at Louisiana State University, Slamdance Film Festival, San Pedro Film Festival, Hollywood Black Film Festival, Film-Com and more. Jodeh is an Emmy voting member of the Television Academy. She regularly blogs about the entertainment industry and posts noteworthy columns featured at http://entlawpartners.blogspot.com/
Acosta joins a leadership team led by Sun, along with Co-Chairs of Film Financing Paul Sparkes & Gorav Seth.
About Mogul Productions (Mogul)
Mogul Productions is a decentralized film financing (DeFiFi) platform that connects creators, movie fans, and film financiers in one space to ensure the best films get made by giving everyone a voice. By leveraging blockchain technology, NFTs and a tokenized system, Mogul incentivizes participation and rewards engagement. Using the Mogul in-app payment and utility token (STARS), users can vote on, greenlight, and participate in key decision-making aspects of production.
Website: https://www.mogulproductions.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mogulofficial_ | https://medium.com/mogulproductions/entertainment-lawyer-tifanie-jodeh-acosta-joins-mogul-productions-as-head-of-business-affairs-d18ece0d95f4 | ['Mogul Marketing'] | 2021-06-17 21:09:12.684000+00:00 | ['Movies', 'Filmmaking', 'Mogulproductions', 'Lawyers', 'Blockchain Technology'] |
Reflections of a Semi-disillusioned Individualist | When did the empowering “I matter” morph into the narcissistic “I am the only thing that matters”?
……………………………………………………………………………………….
Individualism
noun. a belief in the importance of the individual and the virtue of self-reliance and personal independence
Seeing several sources implicating “American individualism” as a contributor to the recent spike in US coronavirus cases confused me enough to make me want to look up the precise definition of the word.
I have always been proud of my individualism.
My belief in the “virtue of self-reliance” is what motivates me to spend hours poring over textbooks and scrolling through internship websites so that I can someday support myself financially. Striving for “personal independence” was one of the reasons I chose to move out at age sixteen to attend an early college program. My commitment to the “importance of the individual” is why I’ve chosen an unconventional undergraduate major that directly relates to my personal interests instead of simply following one of the many tried and true pathways for pre-medical students.
My individualism has given me confidence and helped me live a more fulfilling life, so I was initially puzzled by the idea of it being a culprit in the COVID-19 crisis. Yet, after a little Internet digging, I was horrified by the examples of selfishness and utter lack of empathy that I discovered. One question remained in my mind:
When did the empowering “I matter” morph into the narcissistic “I am the only thing that matters”?
I now see that the answer is, “it didn’t.” Individualism has always been two-sided, and now, in the midst of a crisis, the dark side is rearing its ugly head. American individualism is not just having the courage to break away from restrictive social norms, walking away from toxic relationships, and following your own path in life instead of the one your family prescribes for you. It’s also refusing to potentially save lives by wearing a mask because you find it mildly uncomfortable. It’s also having a juvenile Twitter meltdown because, in the middle of a global pandemic, your server at Mi Cocina dared to forget your shredded cheese.
The current situation is a great opportunity for us Americans to take a serious look at the “freedom” and “individualism” we value so much and find the point at which they become a danger to us and others. To believe that any modern country, America included, is 100% free is foolish- the very act of living in a society under an organized government requires that we relinquish some small percentage of our “freedom”. The question that drives most of our biggest political conflicts is exactly how much that should be. If practicing social distancing is giving up “too much” freedom- even knowing that it could mean the difference between life and death- perhaps we need to reevaluate where we draw the line. I still am and always will be an individualist, but an individualist with a heart. People should have the capacity to look out for themselves without tossing everyone else out the window. | https://medium.com/@smrithiupadhyayula1/reflections-of-a-semi-disillusioned-individualist-47ce1325c44c | ['Smrithi Upadhyayula'] | 2020-07-01 22:50:30.021000+00:00 | ['Individualism', 'Masks', 'America', 'Coronavirus', 'Freedom'] |
How to Be Loved and to Love Without Fear | Fear and Love.
How closely related these two things are, though we rarely see or understand it. Love is confidence, surety. We may not see that in our relationships. Dating is awkward and terrible and there is always so much fear involved. Yet we are searching for the opposite. We search for love and have no idea how to find it.
It is love that removes the fear. It’s not about how good looking they are, about being funny enough, pretty enough, intelligent enough.
We ARE enough. As we are. Relationships require self-love. It requires seeing our own strengths and leaning into our weaknesses.
Relationships require seeing the exact same in another person. And it’s when we stop searching, root ourselves in what love really is that the fear can dissipate and we are able to find the relationships we seek everywhere around us.
Photo by Chad Madden on Unsplash
Those relationships are everywhere if we stop looking beyond the mark. We don’t need a dating app or online service to fall in love. We don’t need to travel the world over to find that one special someone who will make us feel special.
The yearning for love that seems so distant is what keeps it so far away. The problem with dating isn’t in meeting more people. The problem is not fully understanding what love is and how it works.
When we fully love, all fear is gone. All of it. And in a society where anxiety runs rampant and we panic at every new exchange, this is a huge deal.
This is powerful.
Love is the most powerful thing on earth. When we love, growth is possible, because we no longer fear the results.
Confidence, success, relationships. It all follows after love. Love attracts all good things to flow to it.
So when we are rooted in that love and can feel it without any attachment to results, expectations, and fears, we tap into that power.
We attract all the things we have been chasing after with no success.
Let me share an example. When I was a little girl, I would often go to my grandmother’s house and loved her cats. But no matter how much I chased them, they ran away. They had no idea how much I loved them and just wanted to pet them.
Photo by Vinicius Amano on Unsplash
My sweet grandma taught me to sit still and they would come to me. That’s not exactly easy for a little girl to do. I had to be only 4 or 5 at the time. But there I sat, still as a mouse. The cats came to me.
After a while, I didn’t have to sit so much. The cats knew me, trusted me, and loved me in return.
Love gave a small child motivation to do something hard. I still love cats and they have brought me so much joy since. I have even been known to have wild stray cats follow me home, because who doesn’t want that kind of love on a constant basis?
Photo by Ray Hennessy on Unsplash
Even the animals seek after that kind of love.
Humans are no different. They are attracted to love. So when we are able to center our lives around this concept and idea, people are drawn to it.
Sometimes others might try to control it and take it by force. These do not understand love.
Sometimes others might fear it and the power it can contain. These do not understand love.
Sometimes others will encourage it to grow. These understand love. These are the ones that you want surrounding you in your life.
I sometimes find it so ironic that love can be the most discussed, sung about and sought after topic, yet so few really and truly understand it. So few feel it.
It is a calm feeling. It is a connection that allows you to bend and sway and dance in whatever storms may be blowing in your life.
Fears and worries in the wind blow by.
That is not to say that life is hurt free. The deeper the love, the greater the sorrow when it is suddenly removed from our lives.
Death happens, people move away. There are fires and floods and earthquakes. We have every reason in the world to fear so much, though nothing quite so much as a loss of love.
The only solace we can really have from tragedy, from fear and anxiety, or from problems that arise is love.
Love of those people still around us.
Love of our hobbies.
Love of our lives in general.
This is the only cure for anything and everything.
Want to lose weight? Love your body. What does that mean? It means taking care of it by giving it sufficient rest, healthy food and activity. Forget about the scale. Love it for what it is and what it can be. Love it for what it already does for you.
Maybe you want a promotion or a raise? Love your work. Find ways to make it better. Give your job the best version of yourself.
The same goes for anything we could ever want in life. Find out what it means to love in this area. What does true, unselfish love look like here?
Photo by Nathan Anderson on Unsplash
It always comes back to you, bringing your best self and the love you have to share.
The best part about love? It is never-ending. There is always enough love to go around. There is always more. You never have to fear running out of love. There is always enough because YOU are always enough.
What Now?
Take the next step in loving yourself and others. Get my free guide by clicking HERE. I’ll walk you through the steps to change your view to one of love.
Also, be sure to clap up to 50 times and share so others can find this. Share the love! | https://medium.com/@jesssqueaks/how-to-be-loved-and-to-love-without-fear-acb3eaff58d4 | ['Paula Jean Ferri'] | 2019-01-29 13:21:05.344000+00:00 | ['Fear', 'Giving', 'Success', 'Love', 'Relationships'] |
“This Was Me” isn’t working | When you will be trying to link your Instagram account with YellowDuck you may get the verification request from Instagram.
You can easily pass it by opening Instagram on your mobile device and selecting “This Was Me”.
Notice: It is always better to have a recovery email and phone number set up for your Instagram account.
Important: When YellowDuck asks you to click “This Was Me”, but you don’t see this option in your Instagram application, make sure you are logged in to the same Instagram account.
Sometimes “This Was Me” isn’t working, you can try the following steps: | https://medium.com/yellowducktv/this-was-me-isnt-working-43c3a89fbf92 | ['Yellow Duck'] | 2019-08-02 16:21:03.418000+00:00 | ['Streaming', 'Instagram', 'FAQ', 'Facebook'] |
Investing in schools and teachers is key to unlocking solutions to school-related gender-based violence | By Dr. Daniela Ligiero, Executive Director and CEO, Together for Girls
Every child deserves to be safe at home, in their communities, and at school. However, findings from the Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys (VACS) show that across the globe, children and youth experience unacceptably high rates of physical, sexual, and psychological violence, including in school settings and often driven by harmful gender norms and stereotypes. Experiences of violence have wide-ranging consequences for children’s physical, social, and emotional well-being, school performance and attendance, and likelihood of experiencing or perpetrating future violence.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. While the data is daunting, proven solutions to prevent school-related violence exist. Investing in schools and teachers, who are uniquely placed to guide students and lead critical social change to prevent violence, is key to unlocking these solutions.
School-Related Gender-Based Violence (SRGBV) is defined as any act or threat of sexual, physical or psychological violence occurring in and around schools, perpetrated as a result of gender norms and stereotypes, and enforced by unequal power dynamics. SRGBV can include teacher-perpetrated violence, such as corporal punishment or sexual coercion. It can also include peer-perpetrated violence, like bullying. For more information, visit togetherforgirls.org/schools.
Corporal punishment and peer-to-peer violence in and around schools are common, with higher rates of perpetration among male teachers and students
Data can provide key insights to address school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV). In partnership with Global Affairs Canada, USAID’s Higher Education Support Network (HESN), the U.S.Centers for Disease Control and AidData, Together for Girls has undertaken secondary analyses of eleven VACS to understand the prevalence of physical and sexual violence in and around schools, including specific types of violence in school settings such as peer violence and corporal punishment, as well as details on violence perpetration, victimization risk and post-violence behaviors in selected countries. The VACS are led by the CDC as part of the Together for Girls partnership.
Experiences of corporal punishment vary widely across countries, from one percent or less of male and female students in Colombia, El Salvador, and Honduras, to one-third of females and almost half of males in Uganda. Students consistently reported higher perpetration of corporal punishment by male teachers compared with female teachers. Students reported consequences ranging from physical injury to mental health issues to school absenteeism.
For additional insights and more data about violence in school settings, visit the Together for Girls SRGBV page: togetherforgirls.org/schools
For additional insights and more data about violence in school settings, visit the Together for Girls SRGBV page: togetherforgirls.org/schools
In some countries, peer violence is much more common than corporal punishment or other forms of violence perpetrated by teachers, and male students are both more likely to perpetrate violence, and to experience it at the hands of a male peer.
For additional insights and more data about violence in school settings, visit the Together for Girls SRGBV page: togetherforgirls.org/schools
Violence in school settings is more prevalent in countries where a larger proportion of young people condone harmful gender norms and attitudes. Notably, an analysis of VACS data from several countries found that acceptance of intimate partner violence is less common among males and females who currently attend or completed secondary school, compared with those who completed primary school or less.
Teachers and school administrators can play an important role in shifting norms around violence in and around school
Schools can serve as protective spaces for children, acting as an important arena for broader social change to end violence both in and around the classroom. Teachers, adminstrators, and teacher unions have a critical role to play in creating safe learning environments and changing social norms around the acceptability of violence and addressing harmful gender stereotypes that are often the root cause for violence and related discrimination.
One example of a promising approach to engage teachers as change agents is a project in Côte d’Ivoire. Graines de Paix, with support from Together for Girls, Global Affairs Canada, and UNICEF, is scaling up a project titled Apprendre en Paix, Éduquer sans Violence (Learning in Peace and Educating Without Violence). Through APEV, teachers in schools across Côte d’Ivoire are learning non-violent, alternative classroom management techniques.
© UNICEF/UN0149751/Dejongh
APEV was first implemented from 2012 to 2017, with four-day training workshops on classroom management techniques delivered to 320 “teacher counselors” who then delivered two-day trainings to colleagues, reaching 23,497 pre-school and primary school teachers. The training sought to build the capacity of teachers to transition their teaching styles away from harsh and violent discipline to an approach that creates a safe and positive learning environment for students.
Graines de Paix partnered with the Child Protection Research Group at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to conduct an initial evaluation of APEV of 160 teachers’ attitudes and behavior. Results demonstrated that participation in the APEV training is an effective strategy to reduce the acceptability and use of violence among teachers.
“I am really satisfied with the Graines de Paix training you brought us! Why do I say that I am satisfied? Because, with the practice of non-violence in school, we see that the attendance rate has increased. That is satisfying.” Male teacher, September 2018
Another effective intervention that empowers teachers as change agents is Raising Voices’ Good School Toolkit, developed to help educators understand and create a ‘good school’ environment. The Toolkit has four interrelated objectives that address: development of a collective vision for the school; creation of a nurturing learning environment; implementation of a more progressive learning methodology; and strengthening school governance. The Toolkit contains six systematic and child-friendly steps for creating growth and change in the school environment, enabling sustainable and natural change.
Raising Voices worked with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to investigate intervention effects in Uganda on the school culture and norms and attitudes on violence against children from caregivers outside of school. The study observed a host of positive outcomes including: students’ greater identification with their school and perceived emotional support for teachers and peers, as well as lower acceptance among students and staff, of physical discipline practices and greater perceived involvement in school.
© UNICEF/UNI313373/Adriko
Initial evaluations of both the APEV and Good School Toolkit demonstrate that teachers have the potential and willingness to lead change toward more positive, safer school environments. Equipping teachers with the tools to engage in positive classroom management techniques and embrace non-violence can have a transformational impact on schools and learners.
The COVID-19 pandemic and its social and economic consequences have impacted students, girls, and women in uniquely challenging ways, including both observed and predicted setbacks for gender equality, such as early pregnancy, school abandonment, and child early and forced marriage. Now more than ever, schools — and teachers who are in a unique position to support students and address the norms and attitudes that shape their lives — must be recognized as a critical vehicle for social change, and receive the investments necessary to provide not just quality but transformational educational experiences to all learners.
About Together for Girls
Together for Girls is a global public-private partnership that works to end violence against boys and girls, with a special focus on ending sexual violence against girls. Founded in 2009, the Together for Girls partnership brings together national governments, UN entities and private sector organizations to prevent and respond to violence. To do this, the partnership uses a three-pronged model: data, action, and advocacy to promote evidence-based solutions, galvanize coordinated response across sectors, and raise awareness. Currently, Together for Girls works with more than 20 countries around the world. To learn more, visit www.togetherforgirls.org.
For more information about Together for Girls’s work on SRGBV, visit: togetherforgirls.org/schools/ | https://medium.com/ungei-blog/investing-in-schools-and-teachers-is-key-to-unlocking-solutions-to-school-related-gender-based-3970b058c9cf | ["Un Girls' Education Initiative"] | 2020-12-03 18:29:44.598000+00:00 | ['Gender Based Violence', 'Teachers', 'Violence', 'Schools', 'Education'] |
OED says 2020 has too many potential words of the year to name just one | OED says 2020 has too many potential words of the year to name just one Denisaresenko Nov 23, 2020·3 min read
For the first time, the Oxford English Dictionary has chosen not to name a word of the year, describing 2020 as “a year which cannot be neatly accommodated in one single word”. Instead, from “unmute” to “mail-in”, and from “coronavirus” to “lockdown”, the eminent reference work has announced its “words of an ‘unprecedented’ year”.
On Monday, the dictionary said that there were too many words to sum up the events of 2020. Tracking its vast corpus of more than 11bn words found in web-based news, blogs and other text sources, its lexicographers revealed what the dictionary described as “seismic shifts in language data and precipitous frequency rises in new coinage” over the past 12 months.
Coronavirus, one of its words of the year, is a term that dates back to the 1960s, although it was previously mainly used by scientists. By March this year it was one of the most frequently used nouns in the English language. “Covid-19”, first recorded on 11 February in a report by the World Health Organization, quickly overtook coronavirus in frequency of use, noted the dictionary.
One of the year’s most remarkable linguistic developments, according to the OED, has been the extent to which scientific terms have entered general discourse, as we have all become armchair epidemiologists, with most of us now familiar with the term “R number”.
“Before 2020 this was a term known mainly to epidemiologists; now non-experts routinely talk about ‘getting the R down’ or ‘bringing R below 1’. Other terms that have become much more common in everyday discourse this year include ‘flatten the curve’ and ‘community transmission’,” said the dictionary.
Use of the phrase “following the science”, it added, has increased in frequency more than 1,000% compared with 2019.
Other coronavirus-related language cited by the OED includes “pandemic”, which has seen usage increase by more than 57,000% this year, as well as “circuit breaker”, “lockdown”, “shelter-in-place”, “bubbles”, “face masks” and “key workers”.
The revolution in working habits has also affected language, with both “remote” and “remotely” seeing more than 300% growth in use since March. “On mute” and “unmute” have seen 500% rises since March, while the portmanteaus “workation” and “staycation” increased by 500% and 380% respectively.
Other news events have also been reflected in language. In the early months of 2020, there were peaks in usage of “impeachment” and “acquittal”, and “mail-in” has seen an increase of 3,000%. Use of “Black Lives Matter” and “BLM” also surged, as did the term “QAnon”, up by 5,716% on last year. The phrase “conspiracy theory”, meanwhile, has almost doubled in usage between October 2019 and October 2020. Use of “Brexit”, however, has dropped by 80% this year.
“What words best describe 2020? A strange year? A crazy year? A lost year? Oxford Languages’ monitor corpus of English shows a huge upsurge in usage of each of those phrases compared to 2019,” said the OED in its report. “Though what was genuinely unprecedented this year was the hyper-speed at which the English-speaking world amassed a new collective vocabulary relating to the coronavirus, and how quickly it became, in many instances, a core part of the language.”
Previous choices for word of the year from Oxford have included “climate emergency” and “post truth”. Rival dictionary Collins chose “lockdown” for its word of the year earlier this month.
“I’ve never witnessed a year in language like the one we’ve just had,” said Oxford Dictionaries president Casper Grathwohl. “The team at Oxford were identifying hundreds of significant new words and usages as the year unfolded, dozens of which would have been a slam dunk for word of the year at any other time. It’s both unprecedented and a little ironic — in a year that left us speechless, 2020 has been filled with new words unlike any other.”
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https://teatrealicante.com/Video-pereval6ser99.html | https://medium.com/@denisaresenko1/oed-says-2020-has-too-many-potential-words-of-the-year-to-name-just-one-20d797d9bae9 | [] | 2020-11-23 12:37:22.119000+00:00 | ['Coronavirus', 'News', 'Blm', 'Oxford'] |
System change for youth-led entrepreneurship | Our commitment to the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth (facilitated by the United Nations)
With its network of local and global partners, Development Alternatives creates economic opportunities through microenterprise development for youth and women in underserved regions of India. It aims to create a culture of entrepreneurship through the interconnected objectives of:
Reducing socio-economic, intergenerational and gender barriers faced by aspiring entrepreneurs
Nurturing constructive communities that facilitate desirable norms that ensure quality jobs and social well-being for its members
Building networks of collaboration between workers in the informal sector, solution providers and policy makers to build a robust support system for entrepreneurship
Mainstreaming enabling mechanisms for entrepreneurship-led job creation
Partners: “la Caixa” Foundation, HSBC, The Bytes Project, systems play (University of Cape Town, Medha, Janasthu, Transforming Rural India Foundation | https://medium.com/jobs-we-make/system-change-for-youth-led-entrepreneurship-e8fceb38f3fa | [] | 2020-11-05 04:36:27.519000+00:00 | ['Solutions', 'United', 'Youth', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Employment'] |
How are Raffles Different From Lotteries? | Raffles are similar to lotteries in their schematic mechanism, but draw a distinction based on their list of pre-decided rewards and exclusivity. Furthermore, raffles always involve a fixed number of players with access to the draw. Raffles are commonly regarded to be a more favourable alternative to lotteries and practiced in several different spheres from retail marketing to games such as Tombola, to niche art unions, or even exclusive private raffles. Raffles allow for the dissemination of assets in a pre-decided community and raffles and are compatible to have any system of rules superimposed upon the concept in order to facilitate the distribution of the prizes to the community. A common example of raffles can probably be found at a local mall wherein if a customer has purchased items worth a specific threshold of monetary denotation, the customer would be eligible to enter into a special raffle to draw for a product such as a television or a speaker. However, a less commonly occurring example would be the raffling of a yacht owned by Townsend Duryea in 1858, or the raffling of a fine art portrait by the Montclair Art Museum. While lotteries allude to financial epiphanies for their participants, raffles provide for a grounded method of distribution of assets.
Keep a lookout for this space to know how we are forever changing the raffle system. | https://medium.com/@raffledao/how-are-raffles-different-from-lotteries-d0bfac3ba0a8 | [] | 2021-12-30 11:24:46.166000+00:00 | ['Nftart', 'Nft Collectibles', 'Nft', 'Nft Marketplace'] |
How to study specific cell types | Biomedical research can be approached from many different angles: different physiological and pathophysiological processes, evolutionary factors, and/or focusing on specific cell types. Especially when it comes to diseases, there are usually many different cell types involved, which fulfil (or fail to fulfil) different functions. Hence, to find out how and why a disease develop, it is of uttermost importance to dissect the contribution of specific cell types.
Study specific cell types
In the last episode of this blog series I already discussed fluorescence microscopy, which helps to study specific cells. However, there are substantial limitations as to what and how much information we can obtain from microscopy. For example, microscopy is a great way to resolve spatial information in tissue and expression of specific proteins, however, there is a limit as to how many proteins you can assess, and quantification is a difficult and tedious process. Therefore, it is difficult to enitrely characterize the properties of a specific cell. One way to resolve some of these issues is to use a different but yet very similar technique: flow-activated cell sorting (short: FACS).
Sorting cells
FACS allows us to literally sort specific cells based on expression of proteins (e.g. proteins that are only expressed by one specific cell type), and collect them. We mash up fresh tissue (blood, biopsies, post-mortem tissue), use fluorescently-labelled antibodies — the same antibodies that are used for fluorescence microscopy — and run this suspension through the FACS machine. Each cell will pass through a laser and if the cell was labelled by the fluorescently-labelled antibody, it will emit a signal that is detected by the machine. This signal is proportional to the amount of antibodies that are bound to a cell, meaning proportional to the amount of protein that was expressed by the cell.
The machine is able to apply an electric charge to labelled cells and as soon as the cell passes by an electrically charged surface, it will be redirected. It works a bit like throwing a metallic ball alongside a giant magnet: the ball will be pulled to the magnet which shifts it’s path to a different direction. Just place a tube or any other collection container in the right position and you will be able to collect the redirected cells.
And next?
Now that we have a tube full of cells, what’s next? There are actually many subsequent steps you can take in order to quantify RNA levels, protein levels, assess DNA alterations, etc. Commonly, these cells undergo RNA sequencing to determine which mRNA is expressed. This can give an idea about the state that the cell is in, since it provides an unbiased and extensive snapshot of what genes a cell expresses. Comparing a snapshot of cells from healthy individuals to diseased patients may identify disease-associated genes potentially targetable by drugs.
FACS enabled researchers to easily focus on specific cell types. In combination with other techniques such a RNA sequencing, it allows science to dissect what goes wrong in which cell type during disease. | https://medium.com/neurofy/how-to-study-specific-cell-types-fe2c1f89c297 | ['Malte Borggrewe'] | 2020-12-12 14:18:36.727000+00:00 | ['Biology', 'Cell Biology', 'Science', 'Research', 'Neuroscience'] |
A Beginner’s Guide To Computer Vision | Computer Vision
Before we dive into the various CV techniques, let’s explore the human body part that computer vision is trying to emulate in terms of functionality.
Most humans don’t give much thought to vision; it’s a bodily function that automatically works with little to no deliberate influence.
Photo by v2osk on Unsplash
The human vision sensory system has developed over thousands of years to provide humans with the ability to extrapolate scenery meaning and context from the light that is reflected by objects in our 3-dimensional world, into our eyes.
Our eyes and brain can infer an understanding of environments from reflected light.
Our visual system equips us with the ability to determine the distance of objects, predict the texture of objects without directly touching, and identify all sort of patterns and events within our environment.
Computer Vision is the process by which we try to equip computer systems with the same capabilities that the human's visual sensory system possesses.
An appropriate definition for computer vision is as follows:
Computer Vision is the process by which a machine or a system generates an understanding of visual information by invoking one or more algorithms acting on the information provided. The understandings are then translated into decisions, classifications, pattern observation, and many more.
Our visual sensory system consists of the eyes and the brain, although we understand how each component of the eyes such as the cornea, lens, retina, Iris etc., we don’t fully understand how the brain works.
To create algorithms and systems that have the capability of extracting contextual information from images, causations of patterns have to be observed. Then solutions can be derived from the understanding of the causes and effect of specific patterns.
There are a lot of applications of Computer Vision, here are a few: | https://towardsdatascience.com/a-beginners-guide-to-computer-vision-dca81b0e94b4 | ['Richmond Alake'] | 2020-09-22 23:23:37.211000+00:00 | ['Deep Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Machine Learning', 'Data Science', 'Technology'] |
Bringing The Necessity To The IT Industry | Bringing The Necessity To The IT Industry
Who Necess-IT is and what they do.
Necess-IT provides high quality IT work within the Tampa area and beyond. While Covid-19 had many businesses shutting down in 2020, Necess-IT stepped up to the plate to provide the necessary equipment and upgrades required in many businesses to adapt to the changing landscape that the entire world needed to quickly adapt to. This consists of growth at the end of 2020 within Josh’s company that was unexpected but highly welcomed.
Check out my video on data findings over the last year.
I spoke with Josh who is the CEO of the company and he stated that they went from working from their home office to a fully staffed warehouse and expanded from 4 to 20 technicians who work on the field all over Florida in a matter of a year. He started the business in 2014 with his partner Kevin who is part owner. They worked out of the trunk of their car (called trunk slammers in the industry) endlessly for years to build up their team of skilled employees and gaining the necessary knowledge on the IT industry. Fast forward to 2021 and they work with big name brands such as Coca-Cola, IHG Hotels and Manor Care nursing homes. Providing everything from low voltage cabling projects, fiber optic site surveys and service calls daily to repair cable that provide data, phone connections that are not working properly and complex camera system setups at retail and office spaces. During the height of Covid-19 many businesses had to adapt, this included the addition of new ways to pay in retail such as NFC pucks for contactless payments and upgrading entire internet provider networks in nursing homes to provide better flow of data throughout local networks within the businesses so their daily employee tasks can resume as usual.
For more information on Necess-IT and public relations you can also visit my website.
The technology industry during the pandemic shifted in a major way. Entire companies went from working in offices to all working remotely and shutting their office spaces almost entirely. Below are some articles that I found interesting regarding the tech industry and Covid-19 and the changes that took place over the span of a year and beyond. Necess-IT worked hard to assist local businesses upgrade their network workload that it was going to have to now produce since most employees were starting to work from home and offices needed upgrades anticipating their return after the pandemic.
https://www.pwc.com/us/en/library/covid-19/coronavirus-technology-impact.html
In conclusion, Necess-IT has been a great example of a business that became a need for many when times got tough. They see no signs of slowing down and expanding their services and quality work for years to come.
For more public relations insights and information you can visit my Facebook page. | https://medium.com/@gregoriocreates/bringing-the-necessity-to-the-it-industry-26db952ae4e2 | ['Gregorio Feliciano'] | 2021-12-20 02:07:13.220000+00:00 | ['It', 'Technology', 'Mastersprogram', 'Fullsailuniversity', 'Necessit'] |
Information Technology Reference Architecture for Automotive Industry | Let’s build a platform for modern automobiles to move intelligently
Introduction
One of the most popular TV series from the ’90s is “Knight Rider” which is a show about a self-driving car called “Kit” and a selfless man called “Michael”. That show really made a huge impact on people’s minds regarding the possibility of manufacturing driverless cars or autonomous vehicles. The term “self-driving cars” became one of the major goals of the automotive industry. Even though the world is not there yet, we are getting closer to see something similar in the real world.
Having said that, the automotive industry is much more than self-driving cars and the usage of information technology within the industry is immense. Modern automobiles are equipped with smart dashboards called “Human-Machine-Interface” or HMI which can do tasks like
Making phone calls, answering phone calls
Playing songs, movies
Finding gas stations, shopping malls, restaurants
Displaying optimal routes
Automatic parking, brake assists, cruise control
Providing weather information
The above list is a small portion of the various smart functions that can be executed in modern automobiles through the HMI. In addition to these external functions, there are smart On-Board-Diagnostics (OBD) systems that can keep track of the status of the vehicle parts and systems like tires, oil capacities, vehicle services, battery systems, transmission systems, etc. and integrate that information with the HMI.
All these capabilities are great additions to the vehicles and automobile manufacturers are putting a lot of effort to add more and more capabilities to the vehicle. In addition to the in-vehicle capabilities, there is a considerable amount of systems and applications that work in conjunction with the vehicle to provide this sort of experience. Let’s try to identify the backbone of the automotive industry which is the IT ecosystem around the vehicle network.
Business Architecture
Vehicles are moving objects that travel from point A to point B without colliding with other objects on the way. Some objects are living beings, some are similar vehicles and others are stationary objects. The driver of the vehicle (forget about the self-driving cars for the moment) is the one who is assigned with this task. In modern vehicles, there are a ton of sensors and actuators installed on the vehicle to help the driver execute this task of moving from A to B. The sensory data coming from these devices need to be processed, analyzed, and converted into actionable information using a system that consists of an in-vehicle component as well as components sitting outside the vehicle. The need for an external system comes with the advanced nature of the information that is provided to the driver. As an example, taking the input from all the cameras and placing them on a display is a simple task that can be performed by the in-vehicle computing platform. But providing the fastest route from A to B requires connecting to external services like traffic services and integrating that information with location data which is coming from a GPS unit installed on the vehicle. Another example would be automatically booking a vehicle service based on the distance traveled since the last service requires calling external services. What this means is that there is an underlying IT backbone that makes this sort of experience possible within the vehicle.
Let’s try to understand the main components of the automotive information technology ecosystem.
Figure: Automotive ecosystem business architecture
The above figure depicts the high-level components that are involved in operating a modern vehicle on the road. If we start from the left,
The vehicle has various sensors to capture details on the surroundings
The driver and the passengers are inside the vehicle
There is the dashboard or touch screen/s which displays all the processed information that is usable to the driver and passengers
The display shows multiple information on speed, rpm, indications, application (weather, maps, routing, etc.)
External services will be utilized to provide some information in the applications which connect over a WAN
Some vehicle-specific data are sent over to the enterprise side (car manufacturer, dealer, services company) to process and provide actionable information in a timely manner
Some 3rd party applications and systems are integrated to provide mobility as a service (restaurants, vehicle services, shopping, payments, etc.)
Vehicle owners can access the vehicle-specific information and historical and analytical data through off-vehicle applications (mobile app, web site)
In the above figure, there are 2 sections isolated by a dotted line in the middle. That line divides the computing resources based on the respective position in the overall ecosystem.
Edge computing — These are the computing resources available in the vehicle and we call this “edge” since it is closer to the end-user. The computing power and the resources are limited in the edge due to various factors such as power consumption, mobility, network accessibility, etc. Enterprise computing — This is the section where most of the heavyweight computing operations are carried out. This is a typical enterprise IT deployment with all the required computing resources to execute various complex computing tasks that are required to provide the best possible experience to the users.
The link between edge computing and enterprise computing components is the “access network” which is typically a mobile network. The advancements in the telecommunications industry like 5G connectivity helps largely to provide a seamless user experience in near future. Let’s dig a little deeper into the components in the above figure.
Edge computing
At the edge, what we can find is the vehicle with network connectivity. In the vehicle, there are various types of sensors that receive data from the surroundings and pass it back to the central computing platform within the vehicle. In most cases, it is a low-end computing device with a small processor and memory. This will have a display with a touch screen or with physical buttons that can execute simple tasks like changing the display mode, change across sensors in the display, control actuators like temperature, lighting, entertainment system, etc. All these functionalities can be done offline without connectivity to the external system over the network.
In addition to these traditional in-vehicle capabilities, modern vehicles come with a number of useful features in the form of “applications” that can be utilized while in the vehicle. These applications require connectivity to external systems to execute their tasks. Some examples of such applications are Routing, Shopping, Restaurants, Weather. In addition to these applications, there is a feature called driving assistance which relies on external systems to provide better insights into the driver on road conditions, traffic conditions, vehicle maintenance, and much other useful information.
Enterprise Computing
As we discussed in the previous section, certain applications installed in the vehicle requires additional information and computing resources to carry out those functions. This is the task of the enterprise computing section of the platform. It requires certain components that are essential to support the edge computing resources. Given below is a list of high-level functionalities required in the enterprise computing section.
Gateway — This is required to connect with external systems over a standard and secured channel from the in-vehicle applications. It allows the enterprise platform operators to offer different classes of services to the users with required access controls.
Event Broker and Analysis — This component is needed to process real-time events coming from various sensors within the vehicle that requires near real-time processing and send back to the vehicle as actionable information. At the backend of these events, various AI and ML models can be executed for predictive analysis and provide user experiences such as ahead of time notifications on sensor replacements, vehicle part replacements, vehicle services, traveling patterns, effective routes with better air quality, etc.
Integration — Providing an experience that involves multiple systems requires an integration component that understands those different systems. That is the role of integration in this solution. As an example, to provide an integrated food ordering application in the vehicle requires connecting to restaurants, payment services, and location services.
Data Store — This is required to provide various short term and long term analytics on driving patterns, vehicle conditions, predictive analysis, and many other aspects of the overall experience that relies on historical data.
Other applications — There can be many other applications that support the overall experience of the driver and the passengers which operate outside of the “edge”. Some examples are weather services, location services, enterprise applications, and cloud services.
User (off-vehicle) applications — These applications provide the users with the capability to review and analyze the various metrics of the vehicle and driving patterns through a mobile application or a web site from an off-vehicle device like a mobile computing device (e.g. phone, laptop, tab).
With the understanding of the main components that are involved in the automotive IT platform, let’s build a solution architecture that can be realized with the technologies available in the market.
Solution Architecture
In this section of the article, we expand the business architecture that we came up with within the previous section and discuss each component in relation to existing technology solutions. The below figure depicts a solution architecture that is built using the previously mentioned BA.
Figure: Automotive industry IT reference architecture
The above diagram depicts the vehicle along with some of the common sensors found in modern vehicles. In addition to that, the built-in dashboard or touchscreen is depicted as the Human-Machine-Interface (HMI) which is a common term used for such interfaces. This interface consists of multiple applications that help the driver achieving his task of moving from A to B while providing additional mobility as a service function. These applications come with security requirements like authentication and authorization for doing certain tasks like payments. These applications rely on the enterprise computing backbone which does the heavy lifting of these applications.
API Gateway acts as the interface between edge computing and enterprise computing components and provides quality of service (QoS) capabilities such as security, rate-limiting, analytics, and different classes of services (e.g. free, monetized). It connects with various business systems and applications as the backend possibly through an integration layer that interconnects all these heterogeneous systems. There is a Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) platform that provides the necessary security features to the platform such as authentication, authorization, and Single-Sign-On (SSO), and Muti-Factor-Authentication (MFA) for APIs and applications.
The real-time events and sensor data captured in the vehicle are sent to the event broker via a simple messaging protocol like MQTT to reduce the overhead added by a protocol like HTTP. These events are captured and processed in real-time by an event processor or a stream processor and generate actionable insights and store them for further analysis by AI & ML services. These processed and analyzed information are then stored in data stores and exposed as data services to the edge applications over HTTP interfaces. At the same time, real-time notifications and insights are sent via event broker in a publish-subscribe model. The applications running on the edge consume these processed and analyzed information within the HMI so that drivers can take benefit from that. In addition to that, these enterprise systems provide predictions on certain events and automatically generate events such as vehicle services, part replacements, traffic conditions.
The same API Gateway is used to expose certain details about the vehicle, driving patterns, service schedules, and maintenance activities via mobile phone or a web application. It can also provide information such as the location of the vehicle and any movements even if the user is not within the vehicle.
Summary
The automotive industry is going through significant advancements despite not being able to fully realize the “Knight Rider” legacy yet. Automobiles are becoming more and more intelligent and autonomous with the usage of information technology. We have identified 2 separate components of the automotive IT ecosystem namely edge computing and enterprise computing. Both components work together to provide a unique experience to the vehicle users (drivers, passengers) as well as to provide a safer environment for 3rd parties like other vehicles, pedestrians, and other objects. We briefly covered the main technical building blocks that can be used to build an effective IT solution architecture for the automotive industry that works with automobiles of the present and the future.
References
https://www.ibm.com/cloud/architecture/architectures/automotive-connected-driver | https://medium.com/solutions-architecture-patterns/information-technology-reference-architecture-for-automotive-industry-c9709e9a41f0 | ['Chanaka Fernando'] | 2021-01-24 06:02:47.630000+00:00 | ['Api Management', 'Solution Architecture', 'Reference Architecture', 'Integration', 'Automotive Industry'] |
Interactive Data Viz using Altair | While working on a Data Viz project, everyone wants to present interactive plots on their notebooks and dashboards. Although it seems quite a daunting task to build effective & interactive plots. Recently I came across a gem of an Open Source Data Visualization library, called Altair.
About:
Altair is an open-source python library used for declarative statistical visualization and is based on Vega and Vega-Lite. Altair provides an effective and concise visualization grammar that allows us to construct an extensive variety of statistical visualizations quickly.
Thus we can give more time to exploring our data by building elegant and effective plots rather than just struggling with code.
Installation:
Altair can be installed, along with the example datasets in vega_datasets, using:
$ pip install altair
or
$ pip install altair vega_datasets
For Conda package manager, the equivalent is:
$ conda install -c conda-forge altair vega_datasets
Let's build an interactive chart for the below Case Study :
This article covers a small case study and provides step by step procedure to build interactive charts. If you want the final code directly jump to the bottom or check this Repo.
We will take the Seattle weather dataset which contains daily weather-observations from Seattle for the years 2012–2015.
Interactive Concatenated Scatter Plot & Bar Chart
This chart provides an interactive exploration of Seattle weather over the year. It includes a one-axis brush selection & Clicks selection to easily see the distribution of weather types in a particular date range.
1. Importing the dataset:
Since we installed Altair with example datasets, we can import the datasets or we can use Pandas to import data from CSV.
import altair as alt
from vega_datasets import data
settle_data = data.seattle_weather()
settle_data.head() or import altair as alt
import pandas as pd
settle_data = pd.read_csv("/content/seattle-weather.csv")
settle_data.head()
The data used internally by Altair is stored in a Pandas DataFrame format, but it supports multiple input formats. This is the best part, we can manipulate our data in Altair just like how you deal with Pandas DataFrame.
2. Defining the scale:
settle_data.weather.unique()
>> array(['drizzle', 'rain', 'sun', 'snow', 'fog'], dtype=object)
We will be plotting data based on the Distribution of Weather types. As we look at the ‘weather’ column, we find 5 categories, which are defined on the scale.
# Defining the color scale for the plot (distribution based on Weather types) scale = alt.Scale(domain=['sun', 'fog', 'drizzle', 'rain', 'snow'],range=['#e7ba52', '#a7a7a7', '#aec7e8', '#1f77b4', '#9467bd']) color = alt.Color('weather:N', scale=scale)
# N : used to specify nominal data
3. Top Scatter plot: Temperature Vs Date
x-axis: date, y-axis: temperature
We are interested in knowing the correlation between temperature with Date(Time). We specify the kind of plot we want to make by using make_point() fn to show data as points.
fn to show data as points. We pass the data to alt.Chart() function.
points = alt.Chart(settle_data).mark_point().encode(
alt.X('monthdate(date):T', title='Date'),
alt.Y('temp_max:Q',
title='Maximum Daily Temperature (C)',
scale=alt.Scale(domain=[-5, 40])
) # T- Specify Time data
# Q- Specify quantitative data
# O- Specify ordinal data
Scatter Plot
We can make our plot more Informative by adding one more attribute i.e. precipitation measure(take a look at the dataset), as size property.
points = alt.Chart().mark_point().encode(
alt.X('monthdate(date):T', title='Date'),
alt.Y('temp_max:Q',title='Maximum Daily Temperature (C)',
scale=alt.Scale(domain=[-5, 40]),
size=alt.Size('precipitation:Q',scale=alt.Scale(range=[5, 200])
)
)
Precipitation attribute added
Make sure every time an attribute is added, it should be enclosed inside the encode() function and separated by commas.
In altair, the mapping of visual properties to data columns is referred to as an encoding. Thus we need to define the encoding for each chart, in order to define the properties.
4. Add Interactive Features:
We will use selection() function, which can be used for creating interactive images.
We will add a brush that is active on the top panel which can be used for an interval selection using the selection_interval() function, to select the Time Interval (encoding: x-axis i.e. Date/Time
brush = alt.selection_interval(encodings=['x'])
Next, we will add the brush to our chart. We will also use condition() fn to provide conditional color encoding(for different weather types) to the plot, based on interval selection.
points = alt.Chart(settle_data).mark_point().encode(
alt.X('monthdate(date):T', title='Date'),
alt.Y('temp_max:Q',
title='Maximum Daily Temperature (C)',
scale=alt.Scale(domain=[-5, 40])
),
color=alt.condition(brush, color, alt.value('lightgray')),
size=alt.Size('precipitation:Q', scale=alt.Scale(range=[5, 200]))).add_selection(
brush
)
points
Brush to select an interval from the x-axis (date)
5. Bottom bar Plot: Weather type
x-axis: Weather, y-axis: Count of Records
We use make_bar() fn to show data as a barplot.
bars = alt.Chart(settle_data).mark_bar().encode(
x='count()',
y='weather:N')
barplot (weather Vs Records)
Next, we add an interactive feature, a multi-click that is a selection tool based on weather type, shown by color.
click = alt.selection_multi(encodings=['color'])
We bind it to the chart, along with adding a condition() fn.
bars = alt.Chart(settle_data).mark_bar().encode(
x='count()',
y='weather:N',
color=alt.condition(click, color, alt.value('lightgray')),
).add_selection(
click
)
6. Building Compound Chart: Concat both the charts Vertically:
Here comes the final part of our case study, we will be Vertically Concatting both the plots, as you saw at the beginning.
We will use vconcat(plot1, plot2, data,) function, to stack the plots, and also made some tweaks to our prior codes, so that both plots are connected and, behave as a single interactive chart. You can also refer to other types of Compound charts.
alt.vconcat(
points,
bars,
data=settle_data,
title="Seattle Weather: 2012-2015"
)
7. Final Code:
Some Important tweaks made:
When we use a Compound plot, the dataset (here: seattle_data), is passed as an input to the vconcat(), and not to the individual plot functions i.e. alt.Chart().
Also, properties() is used to provide equal width & height, to each chart.
Filter Transform (brush)
Filter Transform ( Click ) | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/interactive-data-viz-using-altair-873139771fe2 | ['Samarth Gupta'] | 2020-11-26 04:49:47.458000+00:00 | ['Data Visualization', 'Python', 'Dashboard', 'Interactive', 'Altair'] |
DeFi Recap: Assets | About Citadel.one
Citadel.one is a non-custodial Proof-of-Stake platform for the management and storage of crypto assets. Users can create public addresses for all supported networks with one seed phrase, connect their Ledger or Trezor device, or import an address generated by another wallet.
The analytical dashboard provides relevant information on wallets’ balances and networks’ main metrics. In Citadel.one, we are standardizing the semantics, making interactions with the platform as easy as possible. The same goes for network metrics. By using universal terms, we are making it easier for users to understand and compare networks.
One of the main functions of the Citadel.one platform is participation in the PoS consensus — users can stake and delegate their assets, claim rewards, and follow the latest network proposals in the voting tab.
Citadel.one offers its users instant cryptocurrency exchange services that allow fast and secure crypto assets swap, and it is also possible to buy and sell crypto with a credit or debit card. Citadel.one users can track rewards, withdrawals, transfers and deposits across all supported networks and add comments to these transactions.
Among PoS platforms Citadel.one supports Secret Network ($SCRT), Cosmos ($ATOM), ICON ($ICX), IOST, Orbs, and Tezos ($XTZ). For our user’s convenience we also support Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Tether ($USDT). Mobile and desktop versions, new networks, including Polkadot and Ontology, are scheduled for the upcoming updates. Furthermore, delving into the idea of true decentralization we envision Citadel.one a decentralized autonomous organization and a truly community owned platform in the nearest future.
Learn More About Citadel.one
📍 Website📍Telegram📍Twitter📍Facebook
📍Reddit📍Instagram📍LinkedIn📍Youtube | https://medium.com/citadel-one/defi-recap-assets-b762a27ba87a | [] | 2020-12-25 23:34:49.878000+00:00 | ['Stable Coin', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Cryptocurrency News', 'Cryptocurrency Investment', 'Blockchain'] |
13 innovative ways to effectively use social media as a Product Manager | If you are a product manager and still contemplating having a social media presence for work, then you are just blog away to make an impact. My intent is that at the end of this post, you find few effective ways to make the most out of your social media presence.
All of what I write is based on my personal experience and use of twitter and LinkedIn.
The underlying need to be on social media is to serve the community and learn from it.
1. Find a community
Step 1 for social media for product management is finding the right communities that you wish to serve or learn from. You can subscribe to various relevant communities that could constitute your potential customers or interests. Find communities that can help you learn or share relevant and meaningful content.
2. Validate your hypothesis
Once you have a community of your target segment identified, you could collaborate effectively in various stages of product management. E.g. As a product manager, you always want to try out new ideas. But as we all know, the development cost for new ideas is expensive. Therefore, you can consider sharing UX mock ups for some crazy ideas on social media. That ways you can get some validation of your ideas at early stages of product building and accordingly shunt some of your crazy ideas or actually build some of your ideas into real product features.
3. Recruit users for research
You can use social media to validate your problem hypothesis with a particular persona.
If you have a particular persona in your mind while building your product features, you can reach out to your community and recruit the desired members who fit the user persona to interview them. You can perform research with these members to better understand their perspective and validate your hypothesis to build better products.
4. Evangelize
Use social media to advertise the latest product capabilities on social media so that you can drive adoption and get qualitative feedback on the product capabilities. This will also help you to grow a base of early adopters for your product. If you know your users well, then you can make magic.. not products :)
5. Seek feedback
Social media is the best platform to get early qualitative feedback from users and non-users for your product. You may get both positive feedback and areas of improvement. The most important thing is to follow up on any actionable feedback to ensure your user base stays engaged and you can show that you genuinely care.
6. Find early adopters
You can even use social media to give an early preview of some of your features in case you are looking for beta testers. It always helps to iron out your features by getting some early feedback for your product capabilities before rolling out to production.
7. Make personal connects
You may want to use social media to make a personal connect with your audience. Audience always loves a little bit of human behind the product manager :) Let your audience know what you are passionate about since passion is contagious.
8. Build your personal brand
Once you have a following, let your audience know where you are and how they can meet you. You would be surprised to know the impact you may be making in the community. Remember, the intent is always to find ways to serve others and if you think you can help others, then there is always a good reason for others to meet you.
9. Appreciate others
Don’t forget to take time to appreciate others who took time to touch move and inspire you.
10. Write
Write about what you may have learnt with the intent to offer help to others. I strongly believe that writing is the best form of learning and helping others learn.
11. Learn
If you are subscribed to the right audience, channels, and communities you may shorten your learning curve for new technologies and also stay up to date with the latest and greatest in the space you care about.
12. Find a mentor
LinkedIn could help you find some great mentors if you are looking for professional guidance. My previous blog on how to find a good mentor on LinkedIn.
13. Stay disciplined
While social media can be effective for all the above reasons, it can be a great distraction. Here are some do’s and don’ts if you plan to get active on twitter, LinkedIn, or other such platforms.
Restrict the time you spend on social media. You can time bound your presence on social media to best utilize your time e.g. 10 minutes after lunch, 10 minutes during morning travel, or while you are attending an event etc. Do not get enticed to look for likes, claps, views, engagements. These are a great time killer and their impact in the near term or long term is insignificant. Kudos to you if you got a viral tweet going or you are becoming an influencer on LinkedIn. But these are byproducts of what you do on social media. DO NOT get hooked to these numbers. Do not write content that distances you from your users. Stay away from polarized discussions, controversial topics, anything that may hurt the sentiments of your communities. Stick to quality and not quantity. Don’t feel compelled to post online. Clearly, declare that you belong to a particular organization so that the audience can clearly understand your motivation behind your posts.
To conclude,
The underlying need to be on social media is to serve the community and learn from it.
Would love to hear your feedback on using social media as a product manager. | https://medium.com/nerd-for-tech/13-innovative-ways-to-effectively-use-social-media-as-a-product-manager-16785f9e0521 | ['Sandeep Chadda'] | 2020-11-28 04:16:29.885000+00:00 | ['Resources', 'Product Management', 'Twitter', 'LinkedIn', 'Product Design'] |
Convolutional Neural Networks using Numpy | Convolutional Neural Networks using Numpy
Part 1: Using a single layer convolutional filter and a single dense layer on a two class Fashion MNIST image classification task
Photo by Franck V. on Unsplash
There are many powerful tools like Keras and Tensorflow out there to make convolutional neural networks (CNNs). However, unless I have opened the hood and peeked inside, I am not really satisfied that I know something. If you are like me read on to see how to build CNNs from scratch using Numpy (and Scipy).
The code for this post is available in my repository.
I am making this post a multi part post. As of now I have planned two parts. In the first I will only do a two class classification problem on Fashion MNIST restricted to two classes. The images are monochromatic and the CNN will have only one convolutional filter followed by a dense layer. This simplicity will allow us to focus on the details of convolution without worrying about incidental complexity. In the second post I will tackle the full Fashion MNIST dataset (10 classes) and multiple convolution filters. I will also look at the CIFAR-10 dataset which has colored images in 10 classes. I might make a third post where I highlight some other facets about convolution.
This is going to a technical post and certain familiarity with algebra and calculus is assumed. While I know that one can do a lot with tensorflow without knowing advanced math, I do not see how it is possible to peek under the hood without the same. Algebra is essential in the forward pass and algebra and calculus are useful to compute the derivative of the loss function with respect to the weights of the network which I derive in closed form. These are used to update the weights, something commonly known as back propagation. Readers unwilling to go through the derivation but able to follow the final expressions can still benefit by understanding the final results and implementing (or following my implementation) in numpy.
Convolution
In this section we will discuss what exactly we mean by convolution in image processing and how it is related to the implementation in scipy. This is useful as scipy implementation is much faster than a naive numpy implementation. In the end we will consider an example where we compute the convolution by hand and by using scipy as a sanity check. For simplicity we will work in 1 dimension for this section but the arguments extend simply to any number of dimensions.
Mathematically a convolution of a function f by a function g is defined as
Convolution in physics
This definition is useful in physics and signal processing. For instance in electromagnetism g could be the charge density and f (called a Green’s function in that case) would help us compute the potential due to said charge distribution. (See books on electromagnetism like Jackson or particle physics like Peskin and Schroeder for more details).
In image processing this definition is a bit backwards in that for a convolution window g , of length 𝐾, we would want the convolution at 𝑥 to be the weighted average of 𝑓 such that the value at 𝑥−𝐾/2+𝑦 is weighted by 𝑔(𝑦). Thus, for image processing purposes the correct definition is
Convolution for image processing
Note that this will require value of f(x) for negative values of x and if this is put in as it is then numpy will interpret the negative numbers as indexing from the end of the array. Thus, while implementing this in numpy, we need to make sure that the original array is embedded in a bigger 0-padded one and negative indexes are understood appropriately.
In our implementation of CNNs, we will use scipy.convolve as it will be faster than a naive implementation in numpy. So it is useful to understand the way scipy.convolve is related to what we want. Scipy’s convolve is for signal processing so it resembles the conventional physics definition but because of numpy convention of starting an array location as 0, the center of the window of g is not at 0 but at K/2. So scipy.convolve uses the definition
scipy.convolve
Now, we if reverse the scipy convolution window we have y ->K-y and that makes the integral
Result of reversing the convolution filter array before giving it to scipy.convolve
Thus we will get the result we want by giving the reversed array of the convolution window to scipy.convolve.
As an example consider the signal and filter given below.
Signal and the Filter to convolve it with
We then implement the convolution by hand and using scipy in the following command
convolve(sig,win[::-1],'same')
The results are plotted below. The reader is advised to convince herself that the results are the same either by eyeballing the graphs or implementing the two methods herself.
Results of convolution by hand and by scipy.
We are now ready to implement CNNs using numpy.
Two-class classification
As our first example we implement a two class classification using numpy. I discuss this in full detail and for the other examples in latter posts I will expect that the reader has understood this example in detail and go a bit faster.
For the data we will used the Fashion MNIST. We get this from Keras as it is easily available but do note that this is the only use of Keras in this post.
(X_train_full, y_train_full), (X_test, y_test) = keras.datasets.fashion_mnist.load_data()
We then restrict our dataset to just the category 1and 3.
cond=np.any([y_train_full==1,y_train_full==3],0) X_train_full=X_train_full[cond]
y_train_full=y_train_full[cond]
X_test=X_test[np.any([y_test==1,y_test==3],0)]
y_test=y_test[np.any([y_test==1,y_test==3],0)] y_train_full=(y_train_full==3).astype(int)
y_test=(y_test==3).astype(int)
We then split our training set into a train and validation set
X_train, X_valid = X_train_full[:-1000], X_train_full[-1000:]
y_train, y_valid = y_train_full[:-1000], y_train_full[-1000:]
And we finally standardize the data as Neural Networks work best with data with vanishing mean and unit standard deviation.
X_mean = X_train.mean(axis=0, keepdims=True)
X_std = X_train.std(axis=0, keepdims=True) + 1e-7
X_train = (X_train - X_mean) / X_std
X_valid = (X_valid - X_mean) / X_std
X_test = (X_test - X_mean) / X_std
Our data are monochrome images that come as matrices of dimension L x L (here L=28). For simplicity we have only one convolution layer (we will relax this restriction in later posts) which is a matrix of size K x K (we will take K=3 in our examples) whose weights can be learnt. In addition we have a dense layer which is a matrix of size (L*L) x 1. Note that we have not kept bias terms and the reader can include them as an exercise once she has understood this example.
We now describe the forward pass, the error and the back propagation in some detail.
Forward Pass
We get the images and refer to it as the 0-th layer 𝑙0
We embed the image centered into one of size (𝐿+𝐾,𝐿+𝐾) with zero padding
Then we pass it through a convolutional layer and an activation function f1 (that we will take to be Relu). This is the first layer l1.
Finally we make a dense layer wrapped in a function f2 (which in this case we take to be a sigmoid function). This is the second layer l2.
Note that even though the weights W2 are for a dense layer we have written the indices here without flattening as it has an intuitive interpretation in that it takes each pixel of the convoluted image and makes a weighted sum. Nevertheless, flattening both and doing a numpy dot is more performant and that is what we do in the code below.
The Loss Function
For the loss function we take the usual log-loss
Loss function
where y is the true outcome.
Backpropagation
Backpropagation is just a fancy word for saying that all the learnable weights are corrected by the gradient of the loss function with respect to the weights that are being learned. It is straightforward to differentiate the loss function with respect to W1 and W2 using the chain rule.
The derivative of the loss function with respect to the layer 2 is
The derivative of the loss function with respect to the dense layer weights is
where we have used the fact that l2 is the output of the sigmoid function s(x) and that s’(x)=s(x)(1-s(x)).
Similarly, the derivative of the loss function with respect to layer 1 is
The derivative of the loss function with respect to the convolution filter is
Now we have closed form expressions for the derivative of the loss function with respect to the weights of the convolution filter as well as the final dense matrix so we can update the weights (with a hyperparameter the learning rate) as
That’s it.
That is all that is required to write the implementation of the CNN. Before doing that we first note the loss function and accuracy for initial random weights so as to have a benchmark.
Loss and accuracy before training
Before training starts, the loss on average can be obtained analytically from the expression for the loss and is 1. The accuracy is 0.5. We will run our code over five epochs and see the loss and accuracy on the test and validation set.
The code
First we write some custom functions for Relu, its derivative and the sigmoid function that we require for the main code and a function to just do the forward pass and compute loss and accuracy to do so on the validation set
def relu(x):
return np.where(x>0,x,0)
def relu_prime(x):
return np.where(x>0,1,0) def sigmoid(x):
return 1./(1.+np.exp(-x)) def forward_pass(W1,W2,X,y):
l0=X
l0_conv=convolve(l0,W1[::-1,::-1],'same','direct') l1=relu(l0_conv) l2=sigmoid(np.dot(l1.reshape(-1,),W2))
l2=l2.clip(10**-16,1-10**-16) loss=-(y*np.log(l2)+(1-y)*np.log(1-l2))
accuracy=int(y==np.where(l2>0.5,1,0)) return accuracy,loss
Now we write the main part of the code
# learning rate
eta=.001 for epoch in range(5): # custom code to keep track of quantities to
# keep a running average. it is not shown for clarity.
# the reader can implement her own or ask me in the comments. train_loss, train accuracy=averager(), averager()
for i in range(len(y_train)):
# Take a random sample from train set
k=np.random.randint(len(y_train))
X=X_train[k]
y=y_train[k]
##### FORWARD PASS ###### # First layer is just the input
l0=X
# Embed the image in a bigger image.
# It would be useful in computing corrections
# to the convolution filter lt0=np.zeros((l0.shape[0]+K-1,l0.shape[1]+K-1))
lt0[K//2:-K//2+1,K//2:-K//2+1]=l0
# convolve with the filter
# Layer one is Relu applied on the convolution l0_conv=convolve(l0,W1[::-1,::-1],'same','direct')
l1=relu(l0_conv) # Compute layer 2
l2=sigmoid(np.dot(l1.reshape(-1,),W2))
l2=l2.clip(10**-16,1-10**-16)
####### LOSS AND ACCURACY #######
loss=-(y*np.log(l2)+(1-y)*np.log(1-l2))
accuracy=int(y==np.where(l2>0.5,1,0))
# Save the loss and accuracy to a running averager
train_loss.send(loss)
train_accuracy.send(accuracy) ##### BACKPROPAGATION #######
# Derivative of loss wrt the dense layer
dW2=(((1-y)*l2-y*(1-l2))*l1).reshape(-1,)
# Derivative of loss wrt the output of the first layer
dl1=(((1-y)*l2-y*(1-l2))*W2).reshape(28,28)
# Derivative of the loss wrt the convolution filter f1p=relu_prime(l0_conv)
dl1_f1p=dl1*f1p
dW1=np.array([[
(lt0[alpha:+alpha+image_size,beta:beta+image_size]\
*dl1_f1p).sum() for beta in range(K)
]for alpha in range(K)]) W2+=-eta*dW2
W1+=-eta*dW1 loss_averager_valid=averager()
accuracy_averager_valid=averager()
for X,y in zip(X_valid,y_valid):
accuracy,loss=forward_pass(W1,W2,X,y)
loss_averager_valid.send(loss)
accuracy_averager_valid.send(accuracy)
train_loss,train_accuracy,valid_loss,valid_accuracy\
=map(extract_averager_value,[train_loss,train_accuracy,
loss_averager_valid,accuracy_averager_valid])
# code to print losses and accuracies suppressed for clarity
On my trial run I got the following results. Your’s should be similar
We can see that even this simple model reduces the loss from about 1 to 0.1 and increases the accuracy from 0.5 to about 0.96 (on the validation set).
We can visualize the convolution by plotting a few (standardized) images and their convolution with the original random filter and the final trained one. | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/convolutional-neural-networks-using-numpy-part-1-f4f8ab26cccb | ['Borun Chowdhury Ph.D.'] | 2020-07-07 08:09:55.654000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Image Recognition', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Numpy'] |
Patience: A Dying Virtue | I try not to vent too much in my writing, because, for one, I know you probably don’t want to hear it. And two, venting is counter-productive — rehashing things that made your blood boil will just bring it all back and make it boil again. But sometimes, like right now, I just need to get it out.
We — humans — seriously need to re-learn the dying art of patience. We all seem to want the world handed to us on a silver platter, we want it yesterday (because apparently today isn’t soon enough), and we want it for as little as possible — if not for nothing. We feel like it’s owed to us.
Newsflash: NOTHING IS OWED TO US!
Respect is a two-way street, and basic human decency is quickly becoming a thing of the past. It’s sad, really. What used to be one for all and all for one, is now just ‘everyone for themselves.’
I work in the freight industry and let me tell you, it’s not all sunshine and roses. Far from it. People (not everyone, thank goodness!) are impatient — to put it nicely — rude, obnoxious, and entitled beyond belief. One would think that every shipment contains live organs and it’s all a matter of life and death.
They wait until the last possible moment, give us impossible parameters in which to pick up their freight, and then expect the near-impossible for delivery — they want to pay the lowest rate in the book for the highest level of service — they expect that level of service to be the bend-over-backwards-in-stilettos type. And then they threaten to take their business away if you — god forbid — ask for a little bit of flexibility.
People! STOP. BEING. SO. DAMN. DEMANDING!
If I sound a little frustrated, it’s because I am. If I sound a little angry? I’m more than just a little angry. I’m furious!
I’m tired of selfish, entitled people who feel it’s okay to rudely demand the world at the snap of a finger, and who have zero consideration for the work involved or the people doing that work, and have just as little gratitude for it when things go right. They fly off their broomstick the moment something doesn’t go their way but don’t have the decent courtesy to recognize the work involved when it goes right.
There are those who will put in the effort to reach out and thank you for a job well done, but the number of customers who actually show gratitude is laughable — and this is true of any industry.
I think that generally in life, we’ve all become so quick to point out mistakes that we forget to also notice the good. The hard work someone puts into their job, to make sure things go smoothly — and we forget that we’re all human and that there are always a million factors in any given situation that are out of anyone’s control.
Growing up, I’m sure we’ve all heard the saying “patience is a virtue.” When did this become a saying nobody puts any weight in anymore? It’s a dying quality that desperately needs to be brought back, right along with courtesy, and (ahem), politeness!
Yes, you’re paying for a service. I get that. But you’ve got to understand that the people who are providing this service — whatever the service may be — are just that: people! They’re as human as you are. Screaming at them on the phone, or sending scathing emails, will not make them want to work faster or better for you. If anything, it will have the opposite effect.
So please, if you have to call a customer service person for any reason, please keep a few things in mind:
They’re not the cause of your problem, so please be patient with them — give them all the details (calmly!) so they’re better equipped to help you. Screaming at the customer service person on the other end of the phone isn’t going to make them help you faster, or even want to help you at all. They have to be nice to you, so be nice to them. They’re a person, just like you — with real feelings and emotions. How would you feel if you had a hundred people calling you every day just to yell at you? Not very good, I bet. Put yourself in their shoes. They’re just trying to do their job to the best of their ability. They don’t own the company (in most instances). Treat them the way you’d like to be treated (Now there’s a concept!) Not every problem is fixed easily — or fixable at all! Sometimes it takes a little extra time and a little extra patience, and a little imagination. Don’t fly off the handle when things don’t go your way; it’s really not becoming.
Patience really is a virtue, and so is being nice. So take a deep breath, and be a nice human. It’s easier than you think. | https://medium.com/imperfect-words/patience-a-dying-virtue-86bec20d388a | ['Edie Tuck'] | 2020-04-23 02:46:31.986000+00:00 | ['Patience', 'Human Decency', 'Entitlement', 'Life', 'Customer Service'] |
Hiking and chaos | I suggested we could probably go for a quick hike at the nearby mountain. The hike isn’t difficult according to the blogs and instagram views. It started from a low point in Linnei, nearby a temple. Hiking up along the trees and trails, the trail only takes 30 minutes to reach to the other side. I was hyped!
I have been to linnei, mainly for the foresty season where you get to see trees in different shades of colors.
We arrived and spent a couple of minutes to hike up to the middle part of the trail. My mom couldn’t stand the constant up-and-downs, so we decided to go back after a couple of minutes. There were quite a few people hiking up as well. The weather was great but it was extremely warm, I got a heat stroke after coming home. It was roughly 35c whilst we went up the trail.
half way up
To be honest, I was slightly disappointed by the hike. Firstly, I expected it would be lots chiller climate. Second of all, I thought the air would be fresh, but the hike was right above a temple where they burn lots paper money. I could smell it burning in the air when we walked up. There were as well people singing kareoke right outside the temple. Those paid-to-sing portable kareokes, where they sang so loudly as if there’s no one around.
We decided to get some quick lunch at a nearby town Doulio. My friend from high school used to live here, she has brought me around the town and I was slightly familiar with it. I would take the train to visit her on the weekends and she would ride motorbike to take me around the hood.
Doulio is actually big. Probably bigger than Chiayi city.
There were few wooden houses being preserved and renovated on the old ally ways. Most turned into cafes. Apparently those are the old police dorms back in the Japanese era. The houses were built by hinoki woods, high setted flooring and very neat plants being decorated around the corners.
Opening the wooden door, where you actually have to drag it open with force. It felt like those Japanese houses in the animation. | https://medium.com/@hsintilee/hiking-and-3dfe0ae961c | ['H. L'] | 2021-05-07 06:50:31.490000+00:00 | ['Diary', 'Hiking', 'Taiwan', 'Chiayi', 'Linnei'] |
Web Scraping JavaScript Content in Python with Selenium and BeautifulSoup | In the following article, you will see how easy, and seamless Selenium is when it comes to handling the JavaScript tags in an HTML files.
Let’s continue with the scraping.
In Step 4, we had stored the links of the companies in a list. We will be using these links to redirect to each company’s profile and extract information.
The list “links”
Step 5: Iterating through each company’s link in the list links.
First, we import the relevant libraries. This is where we start using Selenium.
Also, we create 2 items here:
A dictionary “data” to save the name, address, and the survey scores An empty dataframe “df”, where we would append and save the dictionary, data
# Importing the Selenium libraries
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver import Chrome
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options data = {}
df = pd.DataFrame(columns = ['Name','Address'])
And we loop through each link from the list, links.
for link in links:
# Extract the scores
options = Options()
options.add_argument('--headless')
options.add_argument('--no-sandbox')
path = "C:\\Users\\lenovo\\Documents\\chromedriver.exe"
driver = webdriver.Chrome(path, options = options)
driver.get(link)
The last line driver.get(link) is where the Chrome Driver starts accessing each link.
NOTE: You will have to download the “chromedriver.exe” from this link if you don’t have it downloaded already. Make sure the version is the same as your current Google Chrome’s version.
Step 6: We are at the most interesting step, where we start fetching the scores. This is where we write our JavaScript query.
To extract the scores, we first create an empty list metric_values; we will fetch the list of dictionaries, chart.data, and append it. Since this list is under for loop, a new empty list will be created for each iteration of the link.
# Fetching the score from the JavaScript Tag
metric_values = []
# This is the JavaScript query to extract chart.data
results_vals = driver.execute_script
("""""
let results_vals = chart.data.map(({result})=>result);
console.log(results_vals);
return results_vals
""""") metric_values.append(results_vals)
We will use this metric_values to fetch the survey scores.
Step 7: Extract the name, address for each company, and save the scores for each survey scores.
# Extracting info
soup = requests.get(link)
webpage = BeautifulSoup(soup.content, 'html.parser') # Name of the company
data['Name'] = webpage.find('div', class_ = 'letterhead').find('h1', class_ = 'styled').get_text() try:
data['Address'] = webpage.find('div', class_ = 'contact-box').find('div', class_ = 'address contact').text.rstrip()
except:
data['Address'] = "Not Found" # Satisfaction Scores
try:
data['Satisfaction'] = ''.join([score[0].strip() for score in
metric_values])
except:
data['Satisfaction'] = "Not Found" # Expectations Scores
try:
data['Expectations'] = ''.join([score[1].strip() for score in
metric_values])
except:
data['Expectations'] = "Not Found" ... and so on for all the survey scores # Converting the list dictionary data into a dataframe
scores = scores.append(data, ignore_index=True)
At the end, we will convert the dictionary data to a dataframe.
The field “name” will act as the common key to merge both the dataframes profile (discussed in step 4 of Part 1), and scores.
Step 8: Merge both the dataframes
Finally, it’s time to merge both the dataframes on “Name”. And there you go! | https://python.plainenglish.io/web-scraping-javascript-content-using-selenium-and-beautifulsoup-in-python-5365823c5aa4 | ['Neeraj Khadagade'] | 2021-02-12 15:45:22.598000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Web Scraping', 'JavaScript', 'Selenium', 'Programming'] |
Red Flags To Look For On Freelance Job Boards | Last week, in an attempt to re-engage old leads I’d given up on, I took an inventory of all of the freelance opportunities I’ve persued over the last two years. I was pretty surprised to see that I’ve applied/pitched/reached out to over 200 different people and organizations.
I mean, desperate times called for extreme measures. There was one month where I sent five cold emails a day for 30 days. Another month I applied for every single freelance job I saw on the job boards. I really liked looking for opportunities on job boards early on. They’re attractive because it’s an existing opportunity. You could call it a warm lead because you know they need the service and have a budget (albeit not always a good one). If you can stand out from the sea of other freelancers who peruse those boards daily, you have a chance at finding some pretty good work.
However, there are definite signs that an opportunity is either a waste of time or will likely turn into a living nightmare. Here are my personal deal-breakers when it comes to what I look for in a job post on a freelance writing job board.
The company remains anonymous in the post
The first time I applied for a job where the company chose to stay “anonymous,” I thought it was because I was about to contact Netflix. Or at least a company that was so big and important that they thought naming themselves would destroy their inbox. That logic was seriously flawed. I could not have been more wrong. I wrote my best and most humble-braggy introduction and even wrote out a mini content plan to impress them. On the other end of the post was a guy with an IDEA for an agency. He was pitching a potential client and was fishing for ideas and rates because he had never sold content services before. He was anonymous because he had no website, no experience, and nothing to offer a freelancer.
I don’t trust clients who don’t view the relationship as a mutually beneficial thing. You need to vet potential clients just as much as they need to vet potential freelancers. If they don’t give you any information about their company, who they are, or what they do, that’s a bad sign. Either they are ashamed of their company, or they aren’t as legitimate as they claim to be in the post.
There is no contact information in the post
A Google Doc on a job posting is essentially an internet trash can. You spend time filling out the form, send it off, and that’s the end of it. When it comes to opportunities that a lot of people are after, like the ones on job boards, the power is in the follow-up. If you can’t follow up with someone after you’ve sent the form, you might as ball up your email and throw it in the trash.
They want you to do a free test
People have different opinions on “paying your dues” and “working your way up.” I say that there is absolutely no reason not to be paid for your work.
Some companies will try to leech every ounce of value out of you before they even think about making any monetary investment. Those people are the worst. I say that from experience. The clients who nickel and dime their businesses have a long way to go, mindset-wise before can see the value in the things they are paying for.
If a potential client is asking you to write a completely original article for their blog, from scratch, as part of the application, run. They will take that content, put it on their blog and probably never speak to you again. Reputable companies will pay you for your time, even they choose not to hire you.
They want a million references before they talk to you
It took me a while to realize this, but if a company hires you as a freelancer, you are not an employee. Companies that want to treat you as an employee but don’t want to give you any of the benefits of perks of being an employee are a huge red flag.
It’s always a good idea to have testimonials or an area on your website or portfolio that highlights happy clients. But you never have to give a potential client contact information for people you’ve worked with. If you want to, that’s fine. But if someone asks me for numbers of a reference, it tells me that they have trust issues. It means that they can’t look past the work you’ve done. They need to question your character by interviewing other people instead of assessing it for themselves by getting on a call.
Overall bad vibes
This is strictly a “me” thing. But the “vibe” of the post has a significant impact on whether or not I pursue the opportunity. If I was having a conversation with someone and they were telling me about this opportunity, how would I feel about it? I ask myself if it seems like they know what they want or if they haphazardly threw up a post. If they aren’t serious about how they present themselves, they likely won’t care enough to give you what you need as a freelancer.
Turns out, that after years of terrible prospecting experience and even worse clients, my standards are pretty high.
Always remember that your time is valuable. For every opportunity that seems awful but you feel desperate, there is an even better opportunity that has your name all over it. Don’t waste time with projects that drain you and prevent you from pursuing the opportunities you deserve.
If you like this article and want to help fuel my need for validation, then subscribe to my newsletter. | https://medium.com/swlh/red-flags-to-look-for-on-freelance-job-boards-20dbb26bd614 | ['Sarah Aboulhosn'] | 2019-09-04 08:30:48.042000+00:00 | ['Jobs', 'Work', 'Freelancing', 'Job Hunting', 'Freelance Writing'] |
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In 1889, on November 1 in Gotha, Germany Anna Therese Johanne Hoch, who later would be known as Hannah Hoch was born. Being the eldest of five children, the girl was brought up in a comfortable and quiet environment of the small town. Her parents, a supervisor in an insurance company and an amateur painter sent her to Girl’s High school. However, at the age of 15 Hannah had to quit studying for the long six years to take care of her newborn sister. Only in 1912 she continued her education with Harold Bengen in School of Applied Arts, mastering glass design. As the World War I broke up Hannah returned to the native town to work in the Red Cross.
The first years after war the young woman recommenced her studying, getting to know graphic arts. 1915 was highlighted by an acquaintance with an Austrian artist Raoul Hausmann, which grew into the long-lasting romantic relationship and involvement in Berlin Dada movement. For ten years till 1926 Hoch worked in Berlin’s major publisher of newspapers and magazines. Her task was to design embroidering, knitting and crocheting patterns for the booklets.
Being on vacation with her beloved in 1918, Hannah discovered ‘the principle of photomontage in cut-and-paste images that soldiers sent to their families’ (National gallery of Art). This find affected greatly on her artistic production, and she created mass-media photographs comprising the elements of photomontage and handwork patterns, thus combining traditional and modern culture. Her prior preoccupation was to represent the ‘new woman’ of the Weimar Republic with new social role and given freedoms.
Hoch was the only woman in Berlin Dada, who took part in all kinds of events and exhibitions showcasing her socially critical works of art. Till 1931 she participated in exhibitions but with the rise of National Social regime was forbidden to present her creative work. Till her last breath in 1978 Hannah Hoch lived and worked in the outskirts of Berlin-Heiligensee.
The piece of art which is going to be analyzed in this research is ‘The beautiful girl’ designed in 1919–1920. It combines the elements of technology and females. In the middle of the picture one can clearly see a woman dressed in a modern bathing suit with a light bulb on her head which probably serves as a sun umbrella. In the background a large advertisement with a woman’s hair-do on top is presented. Maud Lavin describes strange human as ‘she is part human, part machine, part commodity’ (Lavin). The woman is surrounded by the images of industrialization as tires, gears, signals and BMW logos. A woman’s profile with the cat eyes, untrusting and skeptical, in the upper right corner is eye-catching as well. This unusually large eye symbolizes DADA movement — a monocle, which is present in almost every Hoch’s work. The colour scheme does not offer rich palette of tints, including mostly black, white, orange and red pieces. The photo is surrounded by the BMW circles which add the spots of blue.
An apt description of the piece is given in the book ‘Cut with the Kitchen Knife’ and states that it is ‘a portrait of a modern woman defined by signs of femininity, technology, media and advertising’ (Lavin). In other words Hannah Hoch focused on the woman of the new age, free and keeping up with the fast-moving world. The artist promoted feministic ideas and from her point of view urbanization and modern technologies were meant to give hope to woman to gain equality of genders. With this photomontage she commented on how the woman was expected to combine the role of a wife and mother with the role of a worker in the industrialized world. The light bulb instead of a face shows that women were perceived as unthinking machines which do not question their position and can be turned on or off at any time at man’s will. But at the same time they were to remain attractive to satisfy men’s needs. The watch is viewed as the representation of how quickly women are to adapt to the changes.
In a nutshell, Hoch concentrated on two opposite visions of the modern woman: the one from the television screens — smoking, working, wearing sexy clothes, voting and the real one who remained being a housewife.
The beautiful girl’ is an example of the art within the DADA movement. An artistic and literal current began in 1916 as the reaction to World War I and spread throughout Northern America and Europe. Every single convention was challenged and bourgeois society was scandalized. The Dadaists stated that over-valuing conformity, classism and nationalism among modern cultures led to horrors of the World War I. In other words, they rejected logic and reason and turned to irrationality, chaos and nonsense. The first DADA international Fair was organized in Berlin in 1920 exposing a shocking discontentment with military and German nationalism (Dada. A five minute history).
Hannah Hoch was introduced to the world of DADA by Raoul Hausman who together with Kurt Schwitters, Piet Mondrian and Hans Richter was one of the influential artists in the movement. Hoch became the only German woman who referred to DADA. She managed to follow the general Dadaist aesthetic, but at the same time she surely and steadily incorporated a feminist philosophy. Her aim was to submit female equality within the canvass of other DADA’s conceptions.
Though Hannah Hoch officially was a member of the movement, she never became the true one, because men saw her only as ‘a charming and gifted amateur artist’ (Lavin). Hans Richter, an unofficial spokesperson shared his opinion about the only woman in their community in the following words: ‘the girl who produced sandwiches, beer and coffee on a limited budget’ forgetting that she was among the few members with stable income.
In spite of the gender oppressions, Hannah’s desire to convey her idea was never weakened. Difficulties only strengthened her and made her an outstanding artist. A note with these return words was found among her possessions: ‘None of these men were satisfied with just an ordinary woman. But neither were they included to abandon the (conventional) male/masculine morality toward the woman. Enlightened by Freud, in protest against the older generation. . . they all desired this ‘New Woman’ and her groundbreaking will to freedom. But — they more or less brutally rejected the notion that they, too, had to adopt new attitudes. . . This led to these truly Strinbergian dramas that typified the private lives of these men’ (Maloney).
Hoch’s technique was characterized by fusing male and female parts of the body or bodies of females from different epochs — a ‘traditional’ woman and ‘modern’, liberated and free of sexual stereotypes one. What’s more, combining male and female parts, the female ones were always more distinctive and vibrant, while the male ones took their place in the background. Hannah created unique works of art experimenting with paintings, collages, graphic and photography. Her women were made from bits and pieces from dolls, mannequins of brides or children as these members of the society were not considered as valuable.
Today Hannah Hoch is most associated with her famous photomontage ‘Cut with the kitchen knife DADA through the last Weimer Beer-Belly Cultural epoch of Germany’ (1919–1920). This piece of art highlights social confusion during the era of Weimar Republic, oppositionists and government radicals (Grabner). In spite of never being truly accepted by the rest of her society, this woman with a quiet voice managed to speak out loud her feministic message.
Looking at Hannah Hoch’s art for the first time I found it confusing, because couldn’t comprehend the meaning. It was quite obvious that every single piece and structure is a symbol of the era, its ideas and beliefs. However, after having learned about her life and constant endeavors to declare about female’s right, little by little I started to realize what’s what. As an object for research I chose ‘The beautiful girl’ as, to my mind, its theme and message intersects with the modern tendency: a successful, clever, beautiful and free woman has to become one in no time, cause the world is moving faster and faster. I enjoyed working with this artist as her example is inspiring and is worth following
WRITTEN BY
Its somewhat ironic that a movie about time travel can’t be reviewed properly until your future self rewatches the movie.
It’s bold of Nolan to make such a thoroughly dense blockbuster. He assumes people will actually want to see ~Tenet more than once so they can understand it properly, which some may not. This movie makes the chronology of Inception look as simplistic as tic-tac-toe.
Ergo, it’s hard for me to give an accurate rating, without having seen it twice, as I’m still trying to figure out whether everything does indeed make sense. If it does, this movie is easily a 9 or 10. If it doesn’t, it’s a 6.
It’s further not helped by the fact that the dialogue in the first 15 minutes of the movie is painfully hard to understand / hear. Either they were behind masks; they were practically mumbling; the sound effects were too loud; or all of the above. The exposition scenes are also waayyy too brief for something this complex — a problem also shared with Interstellar actually.
(Interstellar had this minimalist exposition problem explaining Blight, where if you weren’t careful, you’d miss this one sentence / scene in the entire movie explaining that Blight was a viral bacteria:
“Earth’s atmosphere is 80% nitrogen, we don’t even breathe nitrogen. Blight does, and as it thrives, our air gets less and less oxygen”).
I guess it’s a Nolan quirk. Hopefully, a revision of the film audio sorts the sound mixing out. I do like the soundtrack, but it’s too loud initially.
I liked all the actors. You think John Washington can’t act at first, but he can, and he grows on you as the film progresses. And Pattinson is his usual charming self. Elizabeth is a surprise treat. And so on.
Its worth a watch either way. See it with subtitles if you can. And definitely don’t expect to fully understand whats going on the first time around.
Its one hell of a complicated film. It will be very hard for an average viewer to gather all the information provided by this movie at the first watch. But the more you watch it, more hidden elements will come to light. And when you are able to put these hidden elements together. You will realize that this movie is just a “masterpiece” which takes the legacy of Christopher Nolan Forward
If I talk about acting, Then I have to say that Robert Pattinson has really proved himself as a very good actor in these recent years. And I am sure his acting skills will increase with time. His performance is charming and very smooth. Whenever he is on the camera, he steals the focus John David Washington is also fantastic in this movie. His performance is electrifying, I hope to see more from him in the future. Other characters such as Kenneth Branagh, Elizabeth, Himesh Patel, Dimple Kapadia, Clémence Poésy have also done quite well. And I dont think there is a need to talk about Michael Caine
Talking about Music, its awesome. I dont think you will miss Hans Zimmer’s score. Ludwig has done a sufficient job. There is no lack of good score in the movie
Gotta love the editing and post production which has been put into this movie. I think its fair to say this Nolan film has focused more in its post production. The main problem in the movie is the sound mixing. Plot is already complex and some dialogues are very soft due to the high music score. It makes it harder to realize what is going on in the movie. Other Nolan movies had loud BGM too. But Audio and dialogues weren’t a problem
My humble request to everyone is to please let the movie sink in your thoughts. Let your mind grasp all the elements of this movie. I am sure more people will find it better. Even those who think they got the plot. I can bet they are wrong.
~Tenet is the long awaited new movie from Christopher Nolan. The movie that’s set to reboot the multiplexes post-Covid. It’s a manic, extremely loud, extremely baffling sci-fi cum spy rollercoaster that will please a lot of Nolan fan-boys but which left me with very mixed views.
John David Washington (Denzel’s lad) plays “The Protagonist” — a crack-CIA field operative who is an unstoppable one-man army in the style of Hobbs or Shaw. Recruited into an even more shadowy organisation, he’s on the trail of an international arms dealer, Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh in full villain mode). Sator is bullying his estranged wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki) over custody of their son (and the film unusually has a BBFC warning about “Domestic Abuse”). Our hero jets the world to try to prevent a very particular kind of Armageddon while also keeping the vulnerable and attractive Kat alive.
This is cinema at its biggest and boldest. Nolan has taken a cinema ‘splurge’ gun, filled it with money, set it on rapid fire, removed the safety and let rip at the screen. Given that Nolan is famous for doing all of his ‘effects’ for real and ‘in camera’, some of what you see performed is almost unbelievable. You thought crashing a train through rush-hour traffic in “Inception” was crazy? You ain’t seen nothing yet with the airport scene! And for lovers of Chinooks (I must admit I am one and rush out of the house to see one if I hear it coming!) there is positively Chinook-p*rn on offer in the film’s ridiculously huge finale.
The ‘inversion’ aspects of the story also lends itself to some fight scenes — one in particular in an airport ‘freeport’ — which are both bizarre to watch and, I imagine, technically extremely challenging to pull off. In this regard John David Washington is an acrobatic and talented stunt performer in his own right, and must have trained for months for this role.
Nolan’s crew also certainly racked up their air miles pre-lockdown, since the locations range far and wide across the world. The locations encompassed Denmark, Estonia, India, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and United States. Hoyte Van Hoytema’s cinematography is lush in introducing these, especially the beautiful Italian coast scenes. Although I did miss the David Arnold strings that would typically introduce these in a Bond movie: it felt like that was missing.
The ‘timey-wimey’ aspects of the plot are also intriguing and very cleverly done. There are numerous points at which you think “Oh, that’s a sloppy continuity error” or “Shame the production design team missed that cracked wing mirror”. Then later in the movie, you get at least a dozen “Aha!” moments. Some of them (no spoilers) are jaw-droppingly spectacular.
Perhaps the best twist is hidden in the final line of the movie. I only processed it on the way home.
And so to the first of my significant gripes with ~Tenet. The sound mix in the movie is all over the place. I’d go stronger than that… it’s truly awful (expletive deleted)! Nolan often implements Shakespeare’s trick of having characters in the play provide exposition of the plot to aid comprehension. But unfortunately, all of this exposition dialogue was largely incomprehensible. This was due to:
the ear-splitting volume of the sound: 2020 movie audiences are going to be suffering from ‘~Tenetis’! (LOL);
the dialogue is poorly mixed with the thumping music by Ludwig Göransson (Wot? No Hans Zimmer?);
a large proportion of the dialogue was through masks of varying description (#covid-appropriate). Aaron Taylor-Johnson was particularly unintelligible to my ears.
Overall, watching this with subtitles at a special showing might be advisable!
OK, so I only have a PhD in Physics… but at times I was completely lost as to the intricacies of the plot. It made “Inception” look like “The Tiger Who Came to Tea”. There was an obvious ‘McGuffin’ in “Inception” — — (“These ‘dream levels’… how exactly are they architected??”…. “Don’t worry… they’ll never notice”. And we didn’t!) In “~Tenet” there are McGuffins nested in McGuffins. So much of this is casually waved away as “future stuff… you’re not qualified” that it feels vaguely condescending to the audience. At one point Sator says to Kat “You don’t know what’s going on, do you?” and she shakes her head blankly. We’re right with you there luv!
There are also gaps in the storyline that jar. The word “~Tenet”? What does it mean. Is it just a password? I’m none the wiser.
The manic pace of ~Tenet and the constant din means that the movie gallops along like a series of disconnected (albeit brilliant) action set pieces. For me, it has none of the emotional heart of the Cobb’s marriage problems from “Inception” or the father/daughter separation of “Interstellar”. In fact, you barely care for anyone in the movie, perhaps with the exception of Kat.
It’s a talented cast. As mentioned above, John David Washington is muscular and athletic in the role. It’s a big load for the actor to carry in such a tent-pole movie, given his only significant starring role before was in the excellent BlacKkKlansman. But he carries it off well. A worthy successor to Gerard Butler and Jason Statham for action roles in the next 10 years.
This is also a great performance by Robert Pattinson, in his most high-profile film in a long time, playing the vaguely alcoholic and Carré-esque support guy. Pattinson’s Potter co-star Clemence Poésy also pops up — rather more un-glam that usual — as the scientist plot-expositor early in the movie.
Nolan’s regular Michael Caine also pops up. although the 87-year old legend is starting to show his age: His speech was obviously affected at the time of filming (though nice try Mr Nolan in trying to disguise that with a mouth full of food!). But in my book, any amount of Caine in a movie is a plus. He also gets to deliver the best killer line in the film about snobbery!
However, it’s Kenneth Branagh and Elizabeth Debicki that really stand out. They were both fabulous, especially when they were bouncing off each other in their marital battle royale.
So, given this was my most anticipated movie of the year, it’s a bit of a curate’s egg for me. A mixture of being awe-struck at times and slightly disappointed at others. It’s a movie which needs a second watch, so I’m heading back today to give my ear drums another bashing! And this is one where I reserve the right to revisit my rating after that second watch… it’s not likely to go down… but it might go up.
(For the full graphical review, check out One Mann’s Movies on t’interweb and Facebook. Thanks.)
As this will be non-spoiler, I can’t say too much about the story. However, what I can is this: ~Tenet’s story is quite dynamic in the sense that you won’t understand it till it wants you to. So, for the first half, your brain is fighting for hints and pieces to puzzle together the story. It isn’t until halfway through the movie that ~Tenet invites you to the fantastic storytelling by Christopher Nolan.
Acting is beyond phenomenal, and I’d be genuinely surprised if neither Robert Pattinson nor John David Washington doesn’t receive an Oscar nomination for best actor. It’s also hard not to mention how good Elizabeth Debicki and Aaron Johnson both are. All around, great acting, and the dialogue amps up the quality of the movie.
The idea of this movie is damn fascinating, and while there are films that explore time-travelling, there’s never been anything quite like this. It has such a beautiful charm and for the most part, explains everything thoroughly. It feels so much more complex than any form of time-travelling we’ve seen, and no less could’ve been expected from Nolan.
Oh my lord, the score for this film fits so perfectly. Every scene that’s meant to feel intense was amped by a hundred because of how good the score was. Let me just say though, none of them will be found iconic, but they fit the story and scenes so well.
In the end, I walked out, feeling very satisfied. Nevertheless, I do have issues with the film that I cannot really express without spoiling bits of the story. There are definitely little inconsistencies that I found myself uncovering as the story progressed. However, I only had one issue that I found impacted my enjoyment. That issue was understanding some of the dialogue. No, not in the sense that the movie is too complicated, but more that it was hard to make out was being said at times. It felt like the movie required subtitles, but that probably was because, at a time in the film, there was far too much exposition.
Nevertheless, I loved this film, I’ll be watching it at least two more times, and I think most of you in this group will enjoy it. I definitely suggest watching it in theatres if possible, just so you can get that excitement.
(4/5) & (8.5/10) for those that care about number scores.
At first, I want to ask Christopher Nolan one question, HOW THE HELL YOU DID THIS? Seriously I want to have an answer, How did he write such as this masterpiece! How did he get this complicated, fabulous and creative idea? What is going on in his mind? The story is written and directed perfectly, the narration style was absolutely unique. I have no idea how can anyone direct such as this story, that was a huge challenge, and as usual Nolan gave us a masterpiece that we’ll put beside (Memento), (Inception) and (Interstellar) The movie is so fast-paced in a good way, there was no boring moment. The chemistry between John David Washington and Robert Pattinson was great and funny and both of their performance was really good. Elizabeth Debicki performance was the best in the movie because she had the chance to show her acting abilities and she cached up that chance and showed us an A level acting.
The music wasn’t unique and distinct as the music of Interstellar for example and I think this movie needed the touch of Hans Zimmer, I’m not saying that Ludwig Göransson failed but Hans Zimmer in another level.
If there was something I’d say that I didn’t like it in the movie would it be that Nolan discarded any set up or characters backgrounds except Elizabeth Debicki dramatic story but it wasn’t that bad for me, I didn’t care about that, the exciting story didn’t give me the chance to focus on it. But the actual problem was the third act, it was really complicated and I got lost and I convinced myself to discard the questions that were in my head and enjoy the well-made action sequences and Elizabeth Debicki performance.
I think this kind of movie that gets better with a second and third watch.
I honestly don’t quite know where to begin with ~Tenet. I love Christopher Nolan’s work but I have never seen a more complicated film (and I understood Memento). ~After nearly three hours, I came away from ~Tenet not knowing myself, my mind reduced to nothing more than piles of ash.
Was there time travel involved? Hmm, there was definitely something about time inversion. I mean, does Nolan even understand what he wrote? Look, I give credit to the director because he’s one of the few directors left who knows how to create a compelling and intelligent blockbuster. ~Tenet is full of Nolan trademarks — the gratuitous Michael Caine cameo, a loud, really loud score, complete with stunning cinematography and slickly inventive action set-pieces.
This time around however, Nolan has finally managed to ‘out-Nolan’ himself: the palindromic plot, whilst creatively ambitious, is simply far too complicated for its own good. ~Tenet is overlong, overstuffed, pretentious and too exhausting to comprehend in its entirety — it makes Inception and Interstellar look like Peppa Pig by comparison.
I’m aware of the technical wizardry and creative mastery in this film and lord knows I’ll have to watch this again. For those who want a puzzle, ~Tenet at least provides a unique cinematic experience. But to actually enjoy solving it Nolan wants you to work very very hard | https://medium.com/@jumatkliwon559/%E3%81%99%E3%81%B0%E3%82%89%E3%81%97%E3%81%8D%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C-%E3%83%95%E3%83%AB%E3%83%A0%E3%83%BC%E3%83%93%E3%83%BC-2020-hd-sub-japan-425ab212027a | ['Jumat Kliwon'] | 2020-12-24 07:10:37.671000+00:00 | ['Action', 'Japan', '2021', 'Crime', 'Movies'] |
Intuition Saved My Life. And Is Now My Compass. | Why is it important to listen? It might just save your life.
I’ll never forget the one defining moment when I learnt to listen to my gut feeling and believe in more than meets the eye.
I was a student at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK. Thursday night was the big social night of the week for students. There was a live disco on campus, affectionately known as the LCR (large common room). You could get in for next to nothing and dance your feet sore until 1 am. If you lived off campus, your transport was either a shared taxi or bike ride home.
Norwich is cycle friendly, with bike lanes (rare in other UK cities back in the 90s) especially to and from campus. I cycled and found myself cycling home alone. Not unusual as most of my friends didn’t cycle. And not unsafe for a short ride through a sleepy residential area. The streets were lit and there were no lonely roads to navigate.
Norwich is flat, but like all cities which are supposed to be flat, you encounter small hills and dips when on a bike. One of these hills could be found near my shared-flat. A side road crossed a main road leading into town. All traffic on this side road was obligated to stop, look both ways, and then safely continue. It was the early hours of the morning. There was no one around. Not even another car. I was tired. I wanted to get to bed. I dared myself to pick up speed, not stop and get momentum to manage the final hill before I reached my flat.
I turned my ear to listen for traffic. Nothing. It was safe. I peddled faster and faster. And looked forward to this rare occasion when I could speed up hill. As I approached the stop line in the road, something made me break. I had to break hard and fell off my bike, although unhurt.
Suddenly a black taxi whooshed passed in the dead of the night. Followed by complete silence.
I started to shake as I realized what had happened. I dared not think about the consequence had I not stopped.
A newspaper headline flashed before me, ‘perfect collision in the dead of the night.’
That something had saved my life. I remember looking up to the sky with tears in my eyes and said a silent ‘thank you.’ From that moment on, I knew I wasn’t alone. I call that something intuition today. I don’t question it when something doesn’t feel right. I respect it. It’s supported me in big as well as little decision making. It’s made me feel safe during my backpacking days when there were no mobile phones or internet connection.
I have total respect for feelings, silent whispers and irrational thoughts. And I use them as my compass to navigate life. When you live an intuitive life, it seeps into your daily habits. I practice intuitive eating and listen to those cravings for salmon, spinach and eggs my body asks for. I practice yoga intuitively and try to take inspired action without judgment. However, odd the feeling is. | https://medium.com/@karin-75074/intuition-saved-my-life-and-is-now-my-compass-ee2ae8b6f436 | ['Karin Weiser'] | 2020-12-18 06:40:03.688000+00:00 | ['Lifehacks', 'Compass', 'Inner Critic', 'Intuition', 'Trust'] |
Scopes, Universes, & Lunch Boxes; Procs vs Lambdas in Ruby | In Part 1, we talk about:
Definitions of Code Block, Proc, Lambda, and Closure Constructions Calling a Code Block/Proc/Lambda Passing and Returning Procs
The most important take aways from part 1 are the definitions:
a code block is a block of code
a proc is an object that contains a code block
a lambda is a special type of proc
A closure is a function that: 1. can be passed around as a variable and 2. binds to the same scope in which it was created (more on that in this post). To different extends, code blocks, procs, and lambdas, can be seen as closures.
In this part, we will discuss more advanced and fun topics:
5. Scopes, Universes, and Lunch Boxes [FUN STUFF]
6. Differences between Procs and Lambdas
The series ends with the grand final covering:
7. Proc <> Code Block Conversion and Ampersand(&) [FUN STUFF]
Let’s jump right into the FUN!
5. Scopes, Universes, and Lunch Boxes
I like to think of a scope as an universe.
A code block/proc/lambda/closure
preserves the local variable bindings that are in effect when it is created [1].
In other words, a code block/proc/lambda/closure is IN the universe that is in effect when it is created.
Let’s see it in action:
As we can see, the apple in the top level is reachable by both the proc and the code block.
A code block/proc/lambda/closure is not only in the universe that is in effect when it is created, it also can carry that universe with it.
We will talk more about the universe-carrying part in a second. Before that, let’s take a look at what happen when you create a class or a method.
When a class or a method is created, a new scope is created. They CREATE their own brand new universe.
Let’s see that in action as well:
The first time when we called the print_apple method, we got a NameError. That was because the apple was not in the method’s scope: the method was in a different universe. In the method’s universe, there was no apple.
Later when we redefined the method and created an apple inside the method, we could see that the apple inside the method was not the same apple as the one out side of the method. Although they both called apple, they are literary two different apples in two different universes.
Now, let’s go back to the idea of a code block/proc/lambda/closure carries its universe with it. We can see it in effect when two different universes come together — that’s when the fun begins! 😏😏😏
I will let the code speaks for itself:
In the first two lines, a blue universe and a proc were defined. Inside the m method, a red universe was defined. When we called passed_in_proc.call, the code, { universe }, held by the proc was executed, and the blue universe was returned.
You can think of the way a code block/proc/lambda/closure carries its universe with it the same way as you carry your lunch box with you to work. You put your meal and fruits inside your lunch box and take it with you. When you open it again at work, the meal and fruits are still there! Your office kitchen might have the same type of fruits, but they are not the same as the ones you take from home.
6. Differences between a proc and a lambda
Let’s revisit the definitions: a proc is an object that contains a code block, and a lambda is a special type of proc.
This is a metal picture you can have: procs = regular procs + lambdas
Tony Tony Chopper is here b/c he is cute!
There are three differences between a regular proc and a lambda.
The ways they are constructed are different:
a regular proc is constructed by either Proc.new or proc
a lambda is constructed by either lambda or -> (stabby lambda)
2. They ways they return are different:
a lambda return from the code block it contains
a proc return from the scope that calls it
The code speaks clear and loud:
An excellent example from The Well-Grounded Rubyist
3. A lambda needs to be called with the exact number of arguments, where a proc is more loose about the arguments it receives. | https://medium.com/gusto-engineering/scopes-universes-lunch-boxes-procs-vs-lambdas-in-ruby-75cdb26657e6 | ['Sihui Huang'] | 2018-06-04 17:29:39.202000+00:00 | ['Ruby on Rails', 'Lambda', 'Software Development', 'Ruby', 'Programming'] |
Former Ms. Black Ontario Contestant Champions Women’s Rights Through Empowering Songs | Jade Faith is one of the most multi-talented people you can ever meet. The singer and songwriter of various genres from Reggae, Gospel, R&B, Lovers Rock to Pop, etc., has over the years proven the true strength of a woman. The vibrant singer believes in the mantra that each day is a gift that is not meant to be wasted, therefore, pushing her to live each day with a sense of wonderment and profound gratitude.
The former Ms. Black Ontario Contestant beauty queen has over and over portrayed her prowess in the industry through her three singles ‘Here’s my number’, ‘I won’t suffer’, and ‘ So we roll ‘. What began as a modeling and acting career has seen her grow into a voice we enjoy listening to across the globe.
Earlier this year the talented songbird blessed our airwaves with two of the most throughout songs in the industry. New love and Tell me how I’m blessed are songs that we can all relate to. These two songs are the true definition of creativity, excellent song-writing, perfection in the message and delivery topped up by undisputable talent.
The Jamaican-born artist not only produces excellent music but also selflessly acts as a vibrant women’s rights activist. She has continuously champion for women rights everywhere she goes and remained on the forefront for women empowerment. Her voice is part of the revolution the women rights activism.
“I am very passionate about life, my music… Writing and singing.” Jade Faith. | https://medium.com/@michaelstover-9775/former-ms-black-ontario-contestant-champions-womens-rights-through-empowering-cad0634ba00 | ['Michael Stover'] | 2020-12-18 04:14:12.030000+00:00 | ['Music', 'Activism', 'Empowerment', 'Women', 'Canada'] |
What is a non-relational database for beginners? | Now you already know the relational database, but there is also the other type, the non-relational database, also called NoSQL databases.
A non-relational database is a database that doesn’t follow the tabular schema with rows and columns.
There are four categories of grouping data in non-relational databases:
key-value stores — data is collected as a key-value pair. It allows the horizontal scaling, which is impossible with different databases. The most popular use cases for this kind of non-relational database are gaming or IoT.
— data is collected as a key-value pair. It allows the horizontal scaling, which is impossible with different databases. The most popular use cases for this kind of non-relational database are gaming or IoT. graph stores — those types of databases are used to build applications that work with the highly connected datasets. The most popular use cases of this type of database are social networking apps, recommendation apps, and fraud detection.
— those types of databases are used to build applications that work with the highly connected datasets. The most popular use cases of this type of database are social networking apps, recommendation apps, and fraud detection. column stores — in those NoSQL databases, data is collected similar to a relational database, by columns and rows, but the difference is that in non-relational databases the names and formats of the columns can be changes from row to row in the same table.
— in those NoSQL databases, data is collected similar to a relational database, by columns and rows, but the difference is that in non-relational databases the names and formats of the columns can be changes from row to row in the same table. document stores — those are the databases where the data is stored in the file in a JSON format. The best cases to use document non-relational databases are projects with big data and real-time applications.
The most popular NoSQL databases are MongoDB, DynamoDB, ElasticSearch, Cassandra.
The biggest benefits of using the non-relational database are simplicity of the design, developers don’t have to care about the proper relations between the data in the tables and speed, because operations in NoSQL databases are much faster.
Thank you for reading,
Anna from Duomly | https://medium.com/dev-genius/what-is-a-non-relational-database-for-beginners-ad4a0eb8be93 | ['Radoslaw Fabisiak'] | 2020-07-24 05:36:54.152000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Database', 'Coding', 'NoSQL', 'Mongodb'] |
A Personal Finance Fix to the Gentrification Problem | I write a fair bit about my neighborhood. It’s part of East Hollywood in the heart of Los Angeles, a 10-to-15-minute drive (without traffic) from Downtown and Skid Row. And it’s gentrifying quickly. Like much of Los Angeles, mostly luxury (some affordable), mixed-use apartment buildings continue to rise nearly everywhere in my stomping grounds. The pandemic doesn’t appear to have slowed construction.
The image with the pretty leaves and grand houses illustrates two things — yeah, we have fall in Los Angeles and my neighborhood appears fancy:
My neighborhood is unique — classic and beautiful Los Angeles Craftsman homes sit in a relative oasis over a couple blocks, surrounded by gritty East Hollywood and its mainly multi-unit apartment buildings. These houses, including the one that’s on the market, have skyrocketed in value over the last decade.
The aforementioned apartment development also surrounds these Craftsman homes. Within just a few blocks of where I live, at least five mixed-use apartment complexes — at varying stages of completion — have replaced everything from strip malls to single-family homes or duplexes. One is low-income veterans housing. The others are market rate or a mix of market rate and affordable housing.
I don’t have a problem with this. In fact, there’s credible research, particularly from Columbia University’s Lance Freeman, that illustrates a more nuanced view of gentrification.
Indigenous residents of gentrifying communities sometimes perceive gentrification as favorable, in part because of the increased amenities neighborhood redevelopment tends to bring. While this is great, we can’t let the positive effects of gentrification simply trickle down and just randomly happen to benefit residents who not only face potential displacement, but witness their neighborhoods undergo profound practical and cultural change.
I’m all about ideas to flip the gentrification dynamic around. To start with the existing community and “the real order that is struggling to exist and to be served” and use it to fuel positive — and inclusive — neighborhood change.
So my first dumb, idealistic, and unrealistic idea.
As it stands, when new development happens one of the few considerations politicians, planners, and policymakers make for the gentrifying community’s existing residents are developer incentives. For example, a city will allow a developer to build at increased densities in exchange for affordable housing on-site or at another location in the same city.
While this is great, it doesn’t address keeping current residents in the community while ensuring they can thrive in what ends up being their new neighborhood.
I propose developer incentives — increased density, building a floor or two higher than typically allowed — that would require significant considerations for existing residents:
Reserve the equivalent of an entire floor of new development for low-income residents who live in the neighborhood.
Allow only residents of the gentrifying neighborhood (not the entire city) to enter a lottery to rent these units at affordable rates.
Maintain the apartments they vacate at affordable rates for the next tenant.
Subsidize landlords to help facilitate this form of rent stabilization.
Provide residents who move into the new, affordable units with a one-time cash stipend of ($10,000, $25,000, $50,000?) under the condition that they meet with a personal finance counselor to help assess their personal financial situation and suggest how to best direct these funds.
As I write this — and, again, this is a rough sketch designed to get ideas flowing — I realize the shortcomings.
First, it appears I make the assumption that existing residents would welcome the idea of leaving their current home in exchange for a brand new luxury apartment. For several reasons (cultural and historical among them), this might not be the case.
This said, some residents would jump at the opportunity. To that end, it’s a better ending than being displaced with no place to go. Or, at least, a significant struggle to figure out where and how you’re going to live next.
Second, it feels top down to give somebody money and assume they need help managing it.
There must be a strong community focus. Organizers need to go in and target residents not only with need, but who willingly and happily opt into this type of program. Place focus on empowering people along several lines by:
Allowing them to actively take part in the change their neighborhood is undergoing.
Acknowledging the financial implications of a gentrifying neighborhood, particularly for existing, low-income residents, and working to mitigate the potential detrimental impacts.
Providing low-income residents with something we tend to completely ignore — financial education usually only accessible to middle and upper middle class people.
Gentrification happens whether we like it or not. As it stands, we act like we care about what happens to low-income neighborhoods in the process. But we don’t. We pay lip service to social concerns. We placate existing residents. Or worse, we do nothing. We bulldoze neighborhoods and force people to fend for themselves.
Under my plan (which is back of the envelope at this point), we target people who need protection from displacement and attendant financial assistance most. We preserve affordable housing not just in the new development, but in the existing housing stock. And, most importantly, we actually put people on the ground in these neighborhoods to figure out who needs and wants what, with a focus on neighborhood preservation — to the greatest, most realistic extent possible — and economic empowerment.
Let’s digest this and continue the conversation with an extension of this idea and others in future articles. My broad approach looks to connect the things I care about most — personal finance, inequality, neighborhood development, and well-being. I aim to use these articles to help flesh out the connections and make them come alive. | https://medium.com/@roccopendola/a-personal-finance-fix-to-the-gentrification-problem-4c6de23ff5df | ['Rocco Pendola'] | 2020-11-27 09:54:54.332000+00:00 | ['Cities', 'Money', 'Los Angeles', 'Housing', 'Personal Finance'] |
What is Micro-Frontends(MFEs)? | Cons:
Micro frontends are not perfect for every project. They are a solution for scaling development. If you only have a hand full of developers and communication is no issue the introduction of micro frontends won’t bring much value.
Increased Payload size
Environment differences
Operational and governance complexity
Works best for big teams (hundreds of developer)
No global standards of development
Implementation example 1:
Code at,
Implementation example 2:
Code at,
A JavaScript framework for front-end microservices:
Build micro frontends that coexist and can (but don’t need to) be written with their own framework. This allows you to:
Use multiple frameworks on the same page without refreshing the page (React, AngularJS, Angular, Ember, or whatever you’re using)
Write new code, possibly with a new framework, without rewriting your existing app
Lazy load code for improved initial load time.
Micro frontends are indeed quite popular in the e-commerce sector. In 2012 the Otto Group, a Germany based mail order company and one of the world’s largest e-commerce players started to split up its monolith. The Swedish furniture company IKEA and Zalando, one of Europes biggest fashion retailers, moved to this model. Thalia, a German bookstore chain, rebuilt its e-reader store into vertical slices to increase development speed.
But micro frontends are also used in other industries. Spotify organizes itself in autonomous end-to-end teams they call Squads. Canopy, an American tax software startup and the sports streaming service DAZN use micro frontends to build its applications.
Conclusion:
Microfrontends are sections of your UI, often consisting of dozens of components, that use frameworks like React, Vue, and Angular to render their components. Each microfrontend can be managed by a different team and may be implemented using its own framework. It is practical and suggested to use just one framework for all your microfrontends, although you may add additional frameworks when migrating or when experimenting. | https://medium.com/@shahbhargav/what-is-micro-frontends-mfes-e77af73414af | ['Bhargav Shah'] | 2020-07-19 07:55:18.962000+00:00 | ['Frontend Development', 'Scalability', 'Techniques', 'Architectural Design', 'Micro Frontends'] |
I found comfort in ink | I found comfort in ink
trickling down onto the paper
like steady rain onto river rocks
i create those who look as i do
talk as i do
and walk as i do
though we can’t coexist
you were always real to me. | https://medium.com/@happyamylife/i-found-comfort-in-ink-daad1f4b4d | ['Mya Gibson'] | 2020-12-14 23:34:12.432000+00:00 | ['Poem', 'Poet', 'Poetry Writing', 'Poetry', 'Poetry On Medium'] |
The chapter is closed and done | Before I let this new chapter unfold and my dreams come to fruition, there are some serious lessons to reflect on and some things that need to be let go. The best method, it seems, is not only preventing the same thing from happening again (actions), but understanding and validating my feelings (emotions) at the same time. Staring at myself from a head-on angle is daunting. I don’t even know where to begin to process the types of feelings I had as this decade wrapped to a close. Yet, some part of me calls upon the task to try to write it all out, to do a brain dump, to begin to unload all the pesky baggage that I’ve been carrying all along before I get sucked into the same trap all over again, never growing from the place that I was planted at.
I’ll start with where I know it best. “Imposter syndrome” has befriended me and clasped tightly onto my hands vowing to never let go. It becomes a shadow for me, almost enough to become the person, and I just a shadow for it. A term that was only formerly introduced to me this year snuck into all aspects of my life, from academics to my extracurriculars to my personal life to a point where I began to question my own identity.
Have I fooled everyone into thinking that I’m good? I don’t feel like I’m good enough at all…
I don’t think there’s an answer for me to find here, other than to know that it exists and become aware of the ensnaring traps that it sets up for me. Once it latches on, there’s almost no other way out. Except there is. I don’t think every form is the same for everyone, but for me, I decided that there were specific symptoms I could find that would lead me to the main root of the problem.
Symptom 1: Lingering suspicion that I wasn’t liked by anyone. There are only a few people who actually know the real me, who I could talk to about anything. The other people are just people who talk to me without really knowing who I am. It becomes a fuel to doubt whether or not I let people in enough, or I do things that don’t really stimulate a connection. Either way, this really bothered me for a long while as I pondered what was wrong with me. I was carrying who I was but also this idea that people had of me. Who is the real person, and who is the imposter? The lines between the object and shadow were exceptionally blurry at these moments.
Symptom 2: An unhealthy amount of comparison and envy consumed me. What I saw on social media made me feel even worse. I wasn’t doing the same thing as everyone else. I didn’t always have friends to call and hang out with, and I didn’t have major accomplishments to post about. Hence, my confidence in myself wavered. I had some credentials, but it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t anything amazing like the other people I was seeing. I was doing normal things, too normal, and I almost felt like those things I envied to a point where it would present as a feeling of despise was only to make myself feel better about myself. Those low times would render me completely unproductive because I couldn’t do it better than the other people around me, and I was too consumed in my thoughts.
Symptom 3: Perfection is a dual-tipped flaw. When it comes to doing anything that was important to me, everything has to be perfect. This meant I had to have the right feeling to study well. There had to be the right environment with the right materials. I could never just dive into a task without preparing for it through every detail. To me, I would rather not study at all than just half-ass it. This would happen to me too many times; I would get prepared and find the right environment once only to never find the right time again a second time. I set myself to fail because I could not settle with just getting it done. There are so many things that I have tried, all that I’ve never followed through. My all-in or nothing-at-all mentality was detrimental, a huge flaw that could literally be the end for me.
A combination of these symptoms followed me through the past few years. Sometimes I wouldn’t have any, others I only had one. The worst time was when all three decide to rear their snot-smeared and sanded throat heads in my face at the same time. I was falling into a deep abyss. I wasn’t growing. I wondered what was wrong, but I didn’t know how to solve it. When I talked about it to others, they wouldn’t know how to help. Their measly validation only smothered down these feelings, letting them to hide, but never to fully rest. It was up to me to figure out how to get rid of these symptoms and make myself feel better. I needed my own validation. Perhaps, that means defining “enough” in a different way, or learning to love myself in the way that I hadn't thought of before.
I am good enough. I can do good things as well.
For once, as a change, I hope that writing will be my outlet. I’m not very good at it, but I hope that this will be my constant. I have put off my desire to write for so long because it wasn’t the right time, and I didn’t feel like anything I wrote was perfect enough. I hope that I learn that not everything has to be perfect, you just have to start. Starting allows you to make progress. Progress is better than nothing. That’s a hard pill to swallow for me, but it’s a necessary one. There can be healthy comparisons to serve as motivation, but anything more excessive turns into something ugly. The last problem, well, that I’ll blame it on growing up and working through different types of people before I find who really like me for all that I am. Because only when I understand myself will I be able to cure this. I hope that my hope blossoms me into the person that I envision, and one day, it won’t any longer be a hope but a reality.
I want to make 2020 and the years thereafter in the decade to be times where I really work to grow myself. I wrote this as a reminder, as the starting point from where I am to where I’ll be. I know that this doesn’t all magically disappear in one day all because I have come to terms with it, and it no longer exists in my mind. It runs much deeper than that, and there’s more to uncover and discover about myself. It’s all really a process that I must embrace and welcome while also fighting back. While I know how it sounds mushy and so cliche, I know that I’m capable of my dreams. This syndrome can’t hold me back, and being vulnerable and real about it is how I’ll start. The next step can only be an improvement from there.
It seems almost surreal to think that with this upcoming decade undeniable changes will be happening to my life. By the end of it all, who knows where I’ll be? | https://medium.com/@christintran99/the-chapter-is-closed-and-done-65d1353cded4 | ['Chrizzy T'] | 2020-01-01 20:18:08.459000+00:00 | ['Hopes And Dreams', 'Diary', 'Pre Medical Journey', 'Student Life'] |
Breaking Bad episode review — 3.10 — Fly | Original air date: May 23, 2010
Director: Rian Johnson
Writers: Sam Catlin and Moira Walley-Beckett
Rating: 10/10
This episode is pretty damn legendary at this point. Legendary for how polarizing it is, for how well directed it is, for how well acted it is.
When I first saw this series, this was far from my favorite episode. I appreciated how well it was made, and I recognized what it was trying to do, but I just didn’t love it. Seeing it now for the second time, and…wow. It’s right up there with “Peekaboo” for me as one of the best so far.
This is what they call a “bottle episode.” It’s when a TV series runs over budget so they try and make an episode with as little new sets and as few actors as possible. In this case, it’s Gus’s lab, and it’s Jesse and Walt, with a few extras thrown in as well.
Walt finds that they’re not producing as much meth as they should, and Jesse proposes a few reasons as to why this might be, which Walt doesn’t buy. He then discovers a fly in the lab, and recognizes that this poses a serious problem.
He injures himself trying to kill it, and he eventually gets Jesse to recognize what a big deal this is.
Meanwhile, we’re also treated to some of the best acting in the history of television, as far as I’m concerned. And the drama with these two characters is so great.
For once, they’re not really at each other’s throats. They’re listening to each other. It’s mostly Jesse listening to Walt, as he says that he should have died already, and he tries to think of when the perfect moment for him to have died was. He decides it was the night he ran into Jane’s father at the bar, which was also the night Jane died.
Walt apologizes to Jesse for Jane’s death, and you can feel him trying to tell Jesse that he’s responsible, but he just can’t bring himself to do it. Probably at least partially because Jesse seems to be doing rather well, as he’s now clean.
Jesse eventually kills the fly, and everything seems good. Walt says that if Jesse’s stealing any of the product, that he won’t be able to protect him from Gus.
The episode ends with Walt, unable to sleep, noticing a fly on the smoke detector light. The fly itself is both literal and metaphorical, as a manifestation of Walt’s guilt, which is really neat to explore in this episode.
If you enjoy Breaking Bad mainly for the violence and crazy shit that goes on, this isn’t your episode. But I think most people appreciate the acting and the characters, and htis episode is among the best in the series (and in TV in general) for those. | https://medium.com/as-vast-as-space-and-as-timeless-as-infinity/breaking-bad-episode-review-3-10-fly-df7e350a7a97 | ['Patrick J Mullen'] | 2020-08-19 23:41:00.869000+00:00 | ['Breaking Bad', 'Psychological', 'Tv Reviews', 'Drama', 'TV'] |
My Hometown, Kind Of | I liked Palos Verdes, but I couldn’t consider it my hometown. Twelve was too late to find a hometown, I figured. Plus, I wasn’t sure if I’d move again like I had a few times before.
Then, towards the later years of high school, I couldn’t wait to leave. Part of that is natural teenage sentiment I’m sure, but I also haughtily imagined myself “above” Los Angeles, more fit for places I imagined were more intellectual, less superficial — the Northeast, the Pacific Northwest, maybe Northern California. Now, I acknowledge that while Los Angeles is admittedly not as broadly intellectual as some other cities, it has a lot of well-established cultural and educational institutions. And even in a better-off area, I find that people are generally very down-to-earth.
As I went through college, I found myself rooting my identity more and more in Los Angeles, missing the nearby pupuserias and cliff trails and familiarity of home, realizing how lucky I had been to live in a community that prioritized education and safety, even if attitudes had been myopic in some ways. I looked forward to trips back and took advantage of being close to sights of Los Angeles I had taken for granted. But I never expected to live here again.
But, due to my Peace Corps plans being upended soon before I was scheduled to leave and then the pandemic following soon after, I have now been living back home for almost a year now. Not exactly what I expected, but now I feel even more grateful to be here. With few safe quarantine activities, the amount of open space that is unique to most cities in Los Angeles is something I try to take advantage of. And a feeling of home —in terms of place and people — is especially valued in uncertain times like these. It still doesn’t feel quite like a hometown, given my late start, but if I had to choose one, it’s here. Most of my close friends are from middle or high school here, I know this area so instinctively, and by this point, I’ve lived here longer than anywhere else. I’ll take it. | https://medium.com/show-your-city/my-hometown-kind-of-6c7bf9ba3112 | ['Kayla Vokolek'] | 2020-12-03 23:57:48.078000+00:00 | ['Traveling', 'Travel Writing', 'Los Angeles', 'City Living', 'My City'] |
Job Platform for the Previously Incarcerated | My Roles:
Market and user research
Sketching
Wireframing
Prototyping
User testing
Visual design
Background
U.S. spends $87 billion a year imprisoning more than two million people, the largest official prison population in the world. Among the 620,000+ individuals released from prison each year, one third will return to prison at some point. While there are a number of predictors for recidivism, finding employment is one of the most important steps to assimilating back into society.
Aiming to help people break the cycle of incarceration by leveraging the power of technology and community, I decided to design an app to help the previously incarcerated obtain employment.
Research
Job platforms serve as a bridge between two distinct groups of users that interact with one another through a barricade of subjective experiences and perceptions. The challenge here is to dismantle this barricade, so we can build an environment that fosters authentic connections and objective assessment. For this reason, the research phase for this project is dedicated to understanding the motivation and behaviors of both job seekers and employers.
Research Goals
Who are the job seekers?
How do job seekers with criminal records currently look for a job? What do they like and dislike about the current process?
How do job seekers address the challenges they face in the current process?
Who are the employers?
How do employers currently think about hiring people with criminal records? What factors contribute to this point of view?
How do we define success?
Research Methods
Market Research. To gain a basic understanding of the current narrative, trends and policies around hiring the previously incarcerated
To gain a basic understanding of the current narrative, trends and policies around hiring the previously incarcerated Competitive Analysis. To understand how primary and secondary competitors position themselves (value propositions), how they are received by both groups of users and what features are required
To understand how primary and secondary competitors position themselves (value propositions), how they are received by both groups of users and what features are required One-on-one Interviews. To deep-dive into the needs, pain points, motivations and behaviors of both groups of users (given my limited time and resources, I reached out to support programs, placement agencies and other intermediary players in the field that can provide crucial insights on both groups of users)
Define
Affinity Map
By recording interview observations on sticky notes and organizing them based on common themes, I discovered that, even when inherent barriers such as habitual behaviors and lack of qualifications don’t exist, an external barrier persists in the form of employers’ unwavering prejudice, which is constantly fueled by a lifeless record from the past instead of the ever-evolving reality beyond it.
Despite my time in prison, I considered myself trustworthy and responsible — the type of guy who would get the job done. I figured that desire — the willingness to work hard — would earn me a job, but failed to account for the discrimination ex-cons face…All people saw was that criminal record. (Source)
Using criminal records as a proxy indicator of these job seekers’ motivations and behaviors, we create a subjective social reality that often deviates from its objective counterpart in the following ways:
Story Board
To better understand the interaction between these subjective and objective realities, as well as the former’s impact on job seekers, I created a storyboard by mapping out the emotional journeys of both the job seeker and employer. This process forced me to not only think about what the user is thinking or feeling, but also anticipate their needs and pain points. For example, I found myself asking questions like: what was the job seeker’s experience in prison; how did that affect his/her mindset upon release; and what other factors may have influenced his/her thinking.
POV
One thing became clear through the story board: having no insight into Doug’s thoughts, feelings and experiences, the manager naturally fabricated Doug’s identity in his own mind based on the one thing that seemingly provides a peep into Doug’s inner world — his criminal record.
Due to our social construct of crime (e.g., portrayal of criminals in true crime documentaries), this fabricated identity typically takes on qualities that strip away one’s humanity and categorizes them as “others”, making it easy for us to dissociate ourselves from them and withhold empathy. As illustrated, when the manager called back to rescind the job offer, he reacted out of his fears without considering what it looks like on the other side of his reaction.
This leads to the problem statement below:
Job seekers need a way to demonstrate their true selves and shared humanity because employers dehumanize them based on their criminal record.
Ideate
How Might We Statements
I reframed the above POV into opportunities through HMW statements to jumpstart the brainstorming session.
I narrowed it down to three statements (bolded below) based on scope, impact and relevance. Each of the bolded HMWs explores a different player in the problem — job applicants, employers and the wider cultural influences.
Help job applicants demonstrate their humanity?
Help employers become more compassionate towards these job applicants?
Disassociate criminal records from negative definition / Associate criminal records with positive definition?
Present the job candidates as next-door neighbors instead of past criminals?
Prevent employers from seeing their criminal records?
Remove the job searching process?
Brainstorming
I decided to use the rapid ideation technique because I believe operating within a time limit can maximize productivity and results. Also, it is easy to get side-tracked and forget your main goal when you are working alone, so I appreciate the pressure that comes with the time limit because it keeps me tunnel-visioned throughout.
Feature Roadmap
I then organized the ideas above into a feature roadmap and prioritized them based on impact vs. effort.
Site Map
I used a site map to organize the high priority product features shown above.
Wireframing
After getting a better understanding of the screens and features required, I then sketched out ideas on how to organize the features on each screen. | https://medium.com/@lauram02/designing-a-job-platform-for-the-previously-incarcerated-af17e7a1d19e | ['Laura Meng'] | 2020-01-20 06:09:10.477000+00:00 | ['UX', 'Social Impact', 'Design', 'Mobile', 'Case Study'] |
Plato and Socrates (and a few other philosophers) have a plan to rescue us from ‘insanity’ and save the planet | ‘The School of Athens’ by Raphael, depicting Plato (centre), with Aristotle, and Socrates (left), in profile in brown garb.
Imagine an intensive discussion about the ideal society between a philosophy professor of today and the Classical Greek philosophers Socrates and Plato, as well as the Dutch philosopher Baruch ‘Benedict’ Spinoza (1632–77) and the American philosopher and psychologist William James (1842–1910).
Here we have it in this extraordinary new book Conversations with Socrates and Plato: How a post-materialist social order can solve the challenges of modern life and insure our survival, by Neal Grossman (Iff Books, UK £34.99 / US $49.95, July 2019).
Grossman, PhD, an associate professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has wide-ranging interests, from the philosophy of science, especially quantum mechanics, to Spinoza, Plato, mysticism, parapsychology and survival research, together with a new ‘world view’ emerging from such research.
Conversations is a veritable philosophical tour de force, impressive for its sustained intellectual drive and assertion, and the unprecedented way in which Grossman assimilates and interweaves the existential and metaphysical ideas of the four illustrious thinkers.
His concern is to show how a post-materialist social order could solve the challenges of modern life, using philosophical approaches which he sees as critical for the survival of Western civilisation. Indeed, such pragmatic approaches are what’s needed in philosophy today rather than an extension of the analytical labyrinth.
The phrase ‘post-materialist’, however, appears only in the sub-title of the book and not in the discursive text itself. And the use of ‘insure’ instead of ‘ensure’ (as might have been expected) in the sub-title is significant: ‘insure’ is used in the sense of protecting against a possible contingency, namely societal collapse, while use of ‘ensure’, in terms of making sure that something will happen or be so, would have expressed a certainty that Grossman evidently was not willing to embrace.
Most of the book’s 800 sagacious pages are to do with the rearing and education of children in the envisaged New World Order.
The Golden Rule
This New Society would have done away with ‘power and greed and corruptible seed’, having banished aberrant bankers, politicians, advertising and other corporate executives, and become non-capitalist, non-egoic, non-consumerist and matriarchal — a society founded on unconditional love and the Golden Rule that one should not desire for oneself what one does not equally desire for all human beings. In a word, a post-materialist society; the world’s Faustian pact with materialism would be a thing of the past.
Methods of child-rearing would emphasise emotional intelligence, sensuous expression (embracing a radical sexology for the eradication of sexual repression), music and other forms of non-linguistic conscious experience that focus on the mind in the present moment (‘Plato’).
For language can have a harmful effect on the human mind through its tendency, once learned, to absorb the whole of embodied consciousness into itself so that a person experiences himself or herself as merely a stream of thought (‘James’).
Grossman foresees children being raised so that, as adults, they remain cognisant of the soul’s original purpose in manifesting as human. Only this, he and his philosopher friends maintain, can save our planet from the destruction now impinging upon it because humans have allowed themselves to become insane through greed and ambition.
Yet it would be of no consequence to the World Soul, nor to all the individual souls contained within the World Soul, if the ‘human experiment’ were to fail (‘Benedict’).
In Conversations, it must be pointed out, the existence of the soul — defined as a person’s spiritual or non-material essence which is regarded as immortal — is taken for granted. Why souls choose to incarnate, though, in human form, is beyond words to describe, we’re told, although this is the question we’d probably most like answered; the implication is that all humans are embodied souls.
Our forgetfulness of our origins in the World Soul, limiting our consciousness to the ‘everyday’ level, is the problem. In the memorable words of William Wordsworth: ‘Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: / The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star, / Hath had elsewhere its setting, / And cometh from afar…’ (Ode: Intimations of immortality from recollections of early childhood, 1804).
‘River of Forgetfulness’
Three visits by the newly embodied soul to the ‘River of Forgetfulness’ are described (‘Plato’): the first, when the soul identifies with the body, losing knowledge of its true identity as ‘a holy thought in the mind of God’, the second, when language is learned causing the soul to identify with language, causing consciousness to be focused mostly on thoughts and words, and the third involving the effects of sexual repression.
These three visits ‘thicken the margins’ separating the embodied soul from its Source (upper case ‘S’ stipulated) in the ‘eternal order’.
Paradoxically, when souls are incarnate, it’s said the human condition must be ameliorated as much as possible in childhood to accommodate the ‘original purpose’ of incarnating — thus reducing the effect of the human experience sought by the soul in the first place.
‘For the child’s inner life is what’s closest to its soul’s original purpose in manifesting as that child, and our Society will do everything possible to assist the soul in its original purpose,’ says ‘James’.
Also, it seems odd that once incarnated, despite the human experience so desired, the soul immediately wants to find ways to return ‘home’, while at the same time the ‘whole point to the human experience is for souls to deepen their experience of Divine Love’ (‘Socrates’).
But how can the altruistic and harmonious New Society be brought about? Conversations is not at all clear on this question.
To me, the surprising thing is that four eminent thinkers — especially these four — and a contemporary philosophy professor do not discuss the idea that society’s acceptance of consciousness as primary, following a ‘top-down’ influence from academia, would be more effective in ushering in a New Order than Grossman’s suggestion that a ‘bottom-up’ transition could be achieved through the influence of more people talking about their transformative near-death experiences.
Collective beliefs
‘Plato’ admits that it’s not known how the transition would occur: ‘We know that either it will occur or humans will destroy themselves. The question is: how much suffering do humans wish to create for themselves during the transition?’
Present leaders would rather die than abandon the beliefs that support their greed and ambition. Current social structures would need to collapse before humans would be motivated sufficiently to examine their collective beliefs.
However, stories from near-death experiencers might be sufficient ‘to scare our sociopathic politicians and corporate executives into behaving more decently…’ (‘Plato’). As more and more of these people spoke about their blissful spiritual experiences of Divine Love, the ‘cultural taboo against spirituality’ would gradually wither away. Such people would be the harbingers of the New Society.
But, in my humble opinion, the real key to the kind of New Society or New World Order which Conversations seeks to promote would be the acceptance of consciousness as primary and universal, and that ours is an embodied consciousness — I believe the changes for which Grossman wishes could follow more readily from such acceptance.
Yet one reaches p523 in Conversations before one finds any mention at all of the primacy of consciousness.
Here, after stating that individual scientists are not always rational or reasonable, and often cling to false beliefs long after evidence against them has accumulated beyond the point where it’s rational to hold them, ‘Plato’ tells Grossman: ‘For example, the false belief that consciousness is produced by the brain is still adhered to by most of your scientists despite the overwhelming empirical evidence that has disproved those beliefs.’
The issue is touched on again 40 pages later in a single sentence (on p563): ‘Consciousness or mind is independent of the body,’ Grossman states.
And yet, acknowledging that consciousness is primary — with, importantly, education systems attuned accordingly — would change everything. For if consciousness is all that is, then each one of us is part of that consciousness, proving that we are all connected. So ‘I’ is not just me, but everybody.
Materialist paradigm
It offers explanations for an afterlife, reincarnation, near-death and out-of-the-body experiences, past-life experiences, precognition, the efficacy of meditation and intuition, and many other psychic and anomalous events.
For such events are only paranormal or anomalous if we decide, under the materialist paradigm, that the brain creates consciousness; if we accept things the other way round, that consciousness lies outside brain function, then a very different picture is presented to us.
If consciousness is thought of as a fundamental property of nature or, indeed, as the very ground of existence, then its participatory nature becomes apparent: human evolution has increasingly participated in it. Consciousness ceases to be seen as a function of the brain, and becomes a uniting human experience rather than one subjective and discrete only to the individual.
Crucially, if matter arises from consciousness, and not conversely, then there’s no reason to suppose that consciousness dies with the body, but instead returns to live on in the universal flow. General agreement on this position, needless to say, would alter profoundly people’s outlook on life and death.
So it’s not a revolution of consciousness that’s needed, as such, to change the world, or even an evolution of human consciousness (if there’s time for that), but a revolution about consciousness — about how we regard the nature of it.
The human race is accomplished in so many ways but we still don’t understand what we are, and the physicalist way of regarding consciousness is a stumbling block to arriving at an understanding which would go a long way towards satisfying the longing for transcendence inherent in all of us.
Grossman’s exceptional text — everywhere to do with the transcendent — is consistent logically throughout, and much of the argument is persuasive in itself, being eminently accessible and jargon-free, and not without wit and levity, in its pursuit of deep truths. Along the way, other essential aspects of everyday reality which come under discussion include reason, friendship, beauty and inspiration, old age and dying, and there is much of value in all elements of the book.
But the best, realistically, we could hope for in the foreseeable future from this majestic manifesto for a utopian social order would be a range of half-measures — preferable to none at all, of course.
Ultimately, though, one can’t help feeling that if a Divine Being, a World Soul, or eternal order, really does exist then, yes, it must be indifferent, or at least dispassionate, towards human existence or things surely could have been arranged better in the universal scheme of things. | https://geoffjward.medium.com/plato-and-socrates-and-a-few-other-philosophers-have-a-plan-to-rescue-us-from-the-insanity-of-1ab702d657d0 | ['Geoff Ward'] | 2019-08-27 21:38:08.238000+00:00 | ['Civilization', 'Consciousness', 'Philosophy', 'Society', 'Education'] |
The global fight against jungle fever | Article by Raymond S., Doctoral Student in Medecine, Burkina Faso
Malaria also called “jungle fever” or rarely “paludism” is an endemic-epidemic, tropical and intertropical parasitic disease. It is characterized by the presence in the body, associated or not with symptomatic manifestations, of a parasite of red blood cells belonging to the genus Plasmodium and transmitted to humans by the female of an Anopheles mosquito. Five species of Plasmodium are responsible for human malaria. These are Plasmodium falciparum, P. malariae, P. vivax and P. Knowlessi. The mortality is mainly due to P. falciparum which is by far the most dangerous species, the most prevalent in the WHO African region, where it was responsible for 99.7% of malaria cases. 2017.
Malaria is one of the oldest diseases of humanity. Monuments of ancient Egypt make reference. It is identified in many manuscripts of Hippocrates and Gallienus. As early as the second century BC, Greeks and Romans made the connection between the presence of these fevers and the proximity of swampy land, hence the word malaria, palu: marsh, and malaria: mal aria (bad air).
In 1630, after the conquest of America, Francisco Lopez noticed that intermittent fevers reacted spectacularly to the taking of Quinquinia bark. In 1820, Pelletier and Coventou discovered quinine and the first antimalarial Pamaquine was synthesized, chloroquine in 1934. The use of insecticide will occur at the end of the Second World War.
Since its inception, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has continued to address this endemic epidemic. In 1957 it launched a massive malaria eradication campaign based on DDT control and chloroquine mass chemoprophylaxis. This was a failure because of mosquito resistance to insecticides, and plasmodium to chloroquine since 1961. The WHO will not admit to being defeated at once. In 1998, a new campaign called “Roll Back Malaria” was started. After two decades, however, malaria remains more accurate than ever, a real public health problem in the world. The WHO estimates in 2017 show that there are 219 million cases of malaria worldwide, most of which (200 million or 92%) have been recorded in the WHO African region. Fifteen countries in sub-Saharan Africa (including Burkina Faso) and India have concentrated almost 80% of the total number of malaria cases in the world. The number of deaths from malaria has been estimated at 435,000 worldwide. Children under 5 years are the most affected with 61% or 266,000 deaths caused by malaria in the world. The WHO African Region is the largest tribe with 93% of malaria-related deaths in 2017. Burkina Faso ranks third with 6% of deaths behind Nigeria (19%) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (11%). %). The WHO is at war against malaria and nearly US $ 3.1 billion has been invested in 2017 for the control and elimination of malaria, including the ¾ directed to the WHO African region. Since May 2015, the World Health Assembly has adopted a new strategy called the global technical strategy against malaria 2016–2030 to overcome this scourge. Already, Paraguay has been certified free of malaria in 2018, and soon the turn of some countries like Algeria, Argentina, Uzbekistan, or even China and El Salvador.
In many countries, such as Burkina Faso, the challenges ahead remain enormous. These are inadequate domestic and international funding, the continued emergence of parasite resistance to antimalarial drugs and mosquito resistance to insecticides. In November 2018, a new approach called High burden to high impact was launched by WHO and its partners to put the fight against malaria back on track.
Current research focuses on the development of a vaccine (the RTS-S in experimentation). But until the efficacy and safety of the drug is proven, its marketing authorization granted, it’s in prevention that we must win the bet of this war against malaria: the fight against malaria vectors through long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets LLIN (50% of the population in Africa would have been protected in 2017 through LLINs) as well as preventive and intermittent treatment for pregnant women and children under 5 years of age the chemoprophylaxis of seasonal malaria.
The fight against malaria is far from over here and now. The 2030 deadline for evaluating the global technical strategy against malaria is not far away. So wait to see!
N.B: Article written with the collaboration of Raymond S. (see picture above) a medical doctoral student in final year of studies, Burkina Faso. | https://medium.com/@achillesawadogo/the-world-war-against-jungle-fever-b08483e7d92f | ['Achille Sawadogo'] | 2019-05-06 23:18:29.253000+00:00 | ['Africa', 'Burkina Faso', 'Sdgs', 'Malaria', 'Health'] |
Catalyst Programme Week 1 | Who are you? What do you want? What can you do?
To successfully integrate into a startup, we must all be able to articulate what we are seeking and what we can offer. Therefore, our group began by developing answers to these critical questions. Two days of reflection in group discussion, written reflection, and a variety of tools helped articulate the fine points of our intentions beyond gaining employment in the Finnish startup scene. One exercise we did, for example, was Tim Ferriss’ fear-setting framework, which is designed to show that inaction born of fear may have worse consequences than the perceived fear itself; another, the Purpose 15, provided a framework for identifying the people, causes, and motivations that instill our work with purpose.
A template for step 1 of the fear setting exercise made famous by Tim Ferriss. Credit to: mindfulambition.net
The self-reflection period culminated in personal goals that will guide and measure success in the program according to our unique motivations and intentions. This reflects that, while we all have the same ultimate goal, the paths we take will be different. I, for instance, want to understand the roles existing at the intersection of technology and people that require considering the balance between optimal technical efficiency and consequences on us as individuals and community members.
Equipped with this understanding, we spent the second half of the week branding ourselves. Through CV workshops and a session from Marko Oksanen, a LinkedIn expert, we improved our existing applications to materials to better reflect our skills and motivations, especially as it suits the startup world. Tips ranged from the highly specific — don’t use Times New Roman — to broader discussions of best practices. The takeaway: in a multimedia world, a one-page summary should only be one of the tools in an arsenal of materials showcasing competency, creativity, and personality.
We head into Week 2 with a greater understanding of our professional selves. Familiarization with the varied startup ecosystem in the capital region and an “Entrepreneurial Challenge” are on the agenda. It promises to be another week packed with learning, stay tuned to find out how it went.
**If you are interested in joining the Catalyst Programme the next batch starts on January 28th and you can apply by January 18th here!** | https://medium.com/the-shortcut/catalyst-programme-week-1-fcb3e6a41f6e | ['Thomas Rocca'] | 2018-12-19 12:24:06.083000+00:00 | ['Professional Development', 'Events', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Shortcut Lab'] |
Chest X-ray image analysis and classification for COVID-19 pneumonia detection using Deep CNN | Coronavirus or COVID-19 is considered an irresistible and dangerous pneumonia type infection until ongoing time. Novel coronavirus or SARS-COV-2 strain is responsible for COVID-19 and it has already shown the deadly nature of the respiratory disease by threatening the health of millions of lives across the globe. A clinical report uncovers that a COVID-19 tainted individual may encounter a dry cough, muscle torment, cerebral pain, fever, and sore throat. Most people who get COVID-19 have mild or moderate symptoms like coughing, a fever, and shortness of breath. But some who catch the new coronavirus get severe pneumonia in both lungs. At the same time, it affects the lungs badly with virus infection. So, the lung can be a prominent internal organ to diagnose the symptoms of COVID-19 infection using an X-Ray of the chest. I developed a new diagnosis platform using a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) that is able to assist radiologists with diagnosis by distinguishing COVID-19 pneumonia from non-COVID-19 pneumonia in patients based on chest X-ray classification and analysis.
In this work, I have taken the chest x-ray scans for covid-19 affected patients as well as healthy patients. After cleaning up the images and applying data augmentation, I have used LeNet architecture — straightforward and small, (in terms of memory footprint).
With this approach, the proposed model exhibits a higher classification accuracy of around 95.53% for X-Ray images with precision, recall, and f1-accuracy of 96% (Weighted avg.). The evaluation has been done on publicly available datasets containing both chest X-Ray
Preparing the data
The first and most significant step in any AI task is to set up the dataset. For many scientists and industry practitioners, the process of gathering, cleaning, labeling, and storing the data into a usable digital format represents the lion’s share of the work. Errors introduced during this step will cause the learning algorithm to learn incorrect patterns. As they say: shit in, shit out.
The dataset used in this project is collected from the below sources.
1 Dataset
2 Kaggle for more images of Normal Cases
Once I have the dataset, I have to format it appropriately for my neural network. I resized all the images to 50*50 and converted them into grayscale images. I am using 2/3 of the data for training and the remaining of the data for testing later in the blog post.
Here’s the graphical representation of how the looks like:
The LeNet architecture
The LeNet architecture consists of two sets of convolutional, activation, and pooling layers, followed by a fully-connected layer, activation, another fully-connected, and finally a softmax classifier.
Now, coming onto the juicy part of any machine learning application, that is building a NN. The LeNet architecture is an excellent “first architecture” for Convolutional Neural Networks. LeNet is small and easy to understand — yet large enough to provide interesting results. Designing a NN architecture is fun and also a pain in the clit sometimes as no one knows the answer to these 3 questions:
How many layers are there? How many nodes are there in each of those layers? What activation function is used at each of those layers?
Instead of explaining the number of convolution filters per layer, the size of the filters themselves, and the number of fully-connected nodes right now, I’m going to save this discussion until the next section of the blog post where the source code will serve as an aid in the explanation.
Implementation
I implemented the LeNet architecture with python and Keras (Keras is built on top of TensorFlow, which makes it a wrapper for deep learning purposes).
Note: The original LeNet architecture used TANH activation functions rather than RELU. The reason why I used RELU here is that it tends to give much better classification accuracy due to a number of nice, desirable properties. And I am using sigmoid instead of softmax in the last layer as I am dealing with a binary classification problem.
Now the model is ready to load the dataset and so I partition the dataset into the training and testing sets:
The next step is to categorize my labels into binary so they can be used with the binary cross-entropy loss function. I’m training my network using RMSProp Optimizer with a learning rate of 0.0001. Binary cross-entropy is used as my loss function, a fairly standard choice when working with binary datasets. The model is then compiled and loaded into memory.
Training the network is accomplished by making a call to the .fit method of the instantiated model. I allowed the network to train for 25 epochs (indicating that the network will “see” each of the training examples a total of 25 times to learn distinguishing filters for both the classes).
I then evaluate the network on the testing data and display the results to the terminal.
Experimental Results
Let’s visualize the progress of all metrics throughout the total epochs lifetime.
Accuracy and loss of training ad validation sets.
The accuracy we are getting on the Test dataset is almost around 95%. Let’s predict the test dataset and look at some of the performance measurement metrics in detail to evaluate our model.
Classification Report
Confusion Matrix
The confusion matrix of my model is given below: | https://medium.com/@syyamnoor10/chest-x-ray-image-analysis-and-classification-for-covid-19-pneumonia-detection-using-deep-cnn-1e1367618346 | ['Syyam Noor'] | 2020-12-22 13:53:23.390000+00:00 | ['Coronavirus', 'Convolutional Network', 'Data Science', 'Covid 19', 'Deep Learning'] |
I Think You Must Take A Tour To London Monuments | Any first time visitor to London will uncover to you that the city has determinedly stayed with critical milestones, statues, and commitments. In any case, be that as it may, they’re normally ostensibly interesting to look at, these statues are impressively progressively astonishing when you find increasingly about them.
Nelson’s Column
Nelson’s Column is a landmark in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, Focal London, worked to remember Chief of naval operations Horatio Nelson, who passed on at the Clash of Trafalgar in 1805. The landmark was built somewhere in the range of 1840 and 1843 to a structure by William Railton at an expense of £47,000.
2. Wellington Arch and Marble Arch
Wellington Arch, otherwise called Constitution Curve or as the Green Park Curve, is an Evaluation I-recorded triumphal curve by Decimus Burton that shapes a focal point of Hyde Park Corner in focal London, between corners of Hyde Park and Green Park; it remains on a huge traffic island with intersections for passerby get to.
3. Cenotaph
4. Battle of Britain Monument
5. The Victoria Memorial
From here you can get brief information about the monuments to visit in London. | https://medium.com/@adequatetravel/i-think-you-must-take-a-tour-to-london-monuments-a27224966f07 | ['Adequate Travel'] | 2020-03-17 07:41:49.114000+00:00 | ['Travel Tips', 'Monuments', 'London', 'London Monuments'] |
The Fear of Travelling Solo | I’ve used to be scared of travelling alone.
Aren’t holidays supposed to be enjoyed with friends, family and partners?
Countries where you have friends that you can meet up with don’t count — I’m talking about places where you have no social connections to rely on.
I think fear of being alone is what stops a lot of people from doing it. Will I be able to spend days on end in my own company? Will I be embarrassed requesting a table for one? Who will validate my choices on the trip?
Luckily, I’m fortunate to be able to challenge some of these fears while living in Europe, where long weekends away to a foreign country isn’t such a big commitment in terms of time and money.
My favourite solo travel moments so far in Europe:
- Savouring each bite of a bread roll while sitting on a park bench in in Pisa, Italy. It was like fireworks in my mouth — how could something so delicious, be so simple? It was a perfect concoction of seasoned raw pork on one layer, and truffle spread on the other, sandwiching in fragrant slices of pecorino cheese. Absolutely divine!
- Enjoying live classical music in Prague, Leipzig and Vienna — sometimes while watching a street busker, other times sitting in a church, where the high ceilings allows for the perfect acoustics and reverb, making you feel like the music is flowing through you.
- Hiking in Vienna and Dresden. There’s something very spiritual about going on hiking trail by yourself, like you’re making inroads into climbing your own proverbial mountain. It also made me very appreciative that I was in good health to be able to do this.
- Exploring Budapest at night. It was eerie walking around Buda Castle alone with tourists around because of COVID, but I persevered and was rewarded with gorgeous views of the evening skyline across the Danube River.
Travelling alone has been very liberating, as it forces you out of your head and into the present moment, as you actively process the overwhelming sights, sounds, smells and tastes of your unfamiliar surroundings.
What better way to truly experience your own Eat, Pray, Love journey and realise the depths of your own strength and resilience?
Don’t get me wrong — I have many fond travel memories of travelling with friends or with my ex, but there’s something special about going down the rabbit hole and being open to where it leads you. Where getting lost is an adventure, and plans not working out is an opportunity to learn how to be flexible and think on your feet. With no one to account for and no itinerary to commit to, the possibilities are endless, and if you don’t like it — change it! | https://medium.com/@raymondhoau/the-fear-of-travelling-solo-ada8dd969ce6 | ['Raymond Ho'] | 2020-12-06 15:49:10.563000+00:00 | ['Resilience', 'Travel', 'Solo Travel', 'Journey'] |
Universal Credit is a grotesque but unsurprising move by the Tories | The return of former embattled home secretary, Amber Rudd, to the frontbench is definitely a pragmatic choice from Theresa May. With her Brexit negotiations coming close to her demise, one of her original supporters has been appointed to lead the Department of Work & Pensions in a bid to overcome the notoriety surrounding Universal Credit. May’s Brexit talk continues to dominate the headlines but is certainly a deflection for the Conservatives when the country’s knee-deep into its worst poverty crisis in years.
The Universal Credit scheme was heralded by Iain Duncan Smith at the Conservative party conference in 2010. Its aim was to bring working-age benefits to low-income families in a simpler form whilst also being committed to incentivise people to enter the workplace. The truth behind the new benefits plan has been unravelled and has seen heavy consternation from across the political spectrum.
The many who will receive these benefits are going to be far worse off than they are now. An expected 2.1 million claimants, particularly families with young children, will lose around £200 a month from the new scheme. With 14 million people in the country living in poverty-stricken areas, 4 million of them being children, this is a merciless attack on those already struggling to make ends meet. With Brexit in tatters, rising poverty and an exponential housing crisis, how can the country hold anymore faith in a party who leads this debacle? Especially when they have failed to address the deep-rooted issues with their decision making.
In October, former Work & Pensions secretary, Esther McVey, was quoted as saying “some people could be worse off on this benefit”. McVey clearly hasn’t been presented with the statistics. If she had, Universal Credit and its misery would have been thwarted immediately before disaster struck, but instead it is being tested in many parts of the country before the official rollout begins next year.
The class divide and the social reawakening in the country caught the eye of the United Nations. Their rapporteur on human rights has recently conducted a report on the effects of the Tory’s austerity measures. In a highly political and unambiguous conclusion, Philip Alston blamed the incumbent May and her Cabinet for pushing for “social re-engineering” in the world’s fifth-largest economy. It is evident in all their policy decisions. Chancellor Hammond announced in the latest budget that earners who take over £50,000 a year will receive a tax cut. Meanwhile, the less fortunate who work just as hard will be left worse off.
It is very difficult to comprehend what is happening. The right continues to impose tough measures on those at the bottom of the pecking order, whilst the small minority who live with decadent wages and pensions lap up further wealth and affluence. Yes, maybe austerity was needed to assist the country in recuperating from financial crash under New Labour. But why do the rich have little responsibility when helping those in dire need.
Under Thatcher, we saw the working-class further disillusioned with an 18-year Tory reign. That all came crashing to a halt with the election of Tony Blair. However, we are now seeing the same happen again in a déjà vu manner. However vulgar Universal Credit may be, and how much condemnation it receives, it should not produce shock. The Tories have failed the masses before and they will do it again. | https://liambarrett1996.medium.com/universal-credit-is-a-grotesque-but-unsurprising-move-by-the-tories-d10f34e92dcd | ['Liam Barrett'] | 2018-11-20 21:54:31.437000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Socialism', 'UK Politics', 'Opinion', 'Austerity'] |
Dear White People, Here’s What Black Lives Matter Really Means | Imagine being scared to get in your car and drive because the police might kill you during a routine pull-over.
Imagine that the only place you and your father can spend quality time together is in jail.
Imagine being beat out for a decent job because of the color of your skin and not the quality of your resume.
This is what it feels like to be black in America.
Yet some white people still don’t get it. Some white people still live comfortably in their suburban homes without a care in the world to know or even understand what’s happening to African Americans in the United States.
And so when they see Black Lives Matter all across the country they believe it’s some sort of war on police by angry and crazed black people in the form violent protests.
But Black Lives Matter isn’t a war on police nor is it supposed to be violent protests.
Black Lives Matter is about equality; it’s about being treated the same as whites in this country.
Black Lives Matter is about exposing and addressing the injustice of the justice system, the malnourishment of education, workplace inequality, and wealth disparity against black people.
Unjust Justice System
Over the last couple of weeks the American justice system has shown exactly what they think about black lives — they don’t matter.
Instead of seeing to it that we are lifted up to an equal level as whites, the powers that be have have put their knee on our necks to keep us down.
Instead of helping young black men and women see their dreams come to reality, black lives have been taken in their sleep by reckless cops.
Instead of being served and protected, black America’s interaction with police has been extremely deadly.
It has gotten to the point that we are putting ourselves at risk if we are caught by the police while doing everyday activities.
And unfortunately for us this risk is much higher than it is for any other race.
Blacks are three times more likely to be killed by police than whites and 1.3 times more likely to be unarmed.
Being black in has always been a threat to the boys in blue but not it has reached new heights. More and more we are being gunned down for the color of our skin as if targets were being painted on our backs.
Too many times you hear policemen say that they feared for their life after they shot an African American and in many cases the officer had no reason to fear for his life.
How is it that the color of a person’s skin is threatening to a police officer? How is it that policemen, the one with the gun, faces more danger than an unarmed black citizen?
If I didn’t know any better I’d say this is an excuse to kill us.
After all, in 8 of the 100 largest US cities police killed black men at a higher rate that the national murder rate.
It’s as if the gang in blue are worse than the criminals themselves. It’s as if the cops turned into robbers and are stealing the lives of innocent black men and women.
What happened to serve and protect? What happened to our rights to life and liberty? Are we not granted these rights because of the color of our skin?
It would appear so especially when the culprits of police brutality are getting away with just a slap on the wrist.
“99% of killings by police from 2013–2019 have not resulted officers being charged with a crime”.
In essence if you want to get away with murder, become a cop. There is no accountability for officers. There is no penalty for those who are supposed to uphold the law but instead break it.
For killing African Americans policemen are given immunity instead of a sentence. For killing African Americans policemen are being awarded instead of arrested.
There is no justice for African Americans. There is no equality in the justice system for those who are black and brown.
And until now no one has seemed to notice. Until now white people have been going on with life as usual turning a blind eye to what their black classmate, coworker or friend has been going through since they were born into this country.
Hence, once again it takes a nation-wide protest for us help the rest of the country get the picture.
However, it shouldn’t take a reenactment of a march on Washington for White Americans to see our pain. It shouldn’t take another civil rights movement for White Americans to finally understand the systematic oppression that has targeted blacks.
But it does.
And so we scream Black Lives Matter in the streets because we are fighting for equality. We are fighting to be afforded same opportunities that have privileged whites to start at the middle of the ladder instead of the bottom. Not against the police, not against the government and not against whites — but for equality.
Black Children Are Educationally Malnourished
Photo by Kimberly Farmer on Unsplash
The quality of a child’s education should not be determined by the color of their skin.
Yet, for some reason black boys and girls always get the short end of the stick when it comes to their education — namly the quality of teachers.
Non-white students attend schools with a higher concentration of first year teachers than white students.
Almost 7% of black students attend schools where 20% of the teachers do not meet state certifications and license requirements compared to only 1.5% white students.
How does one expect a student to learn from a teacher that doesn’t truly know what they are doing? How are students expected to learn when the teacher knows just as much about the material as the students?
Unfortunately, the problem with teachers doesn’t just stop at their lack of experience it continues on into their lack of confidence in black students.
When students are assigned to teachers of different demographics that teacher is significantly more likely to perceive that student as disruptive, inattentive, and less likely to complete homework versus a teacher of the same demographic.
Thus, nonblack teachers have significantly lower academic expectations for black students than black teachers.
Which begs the questions, why are black students more likely to be taught by another race as opposed to white students?
To put it more bluntly why are schools using a higher percentage of white teachers to teach their black students as opposed to black teachers?
The only conclusion that I could come to in order to answer this perplexing question is systemic racism.
The educational system made for white students which blacks have been thrusted into in order to give off a false sense of equality has disproportionally disadvantaged black students.
Not only do their teachers lack experience but they lack confidence in the students which they aren’t even qualified to teach.
But as I think about it it makes sense. Of course white teachers lack confidence in their black students because they are unqualified to provide an adequate education to students who they can’t relate to.
If you were a scientist and tasked to educate your students on the stock market it would be hard to expect one of them to be the next Warren Buffet.
However race inequality between black and white students doesn’t stop there. It somehow manages to get worse.
Nationwide schools spend $334 more on white students than nonwhite students. The gap widens when comparing schools that are 90% white with schools that are 90% nonwhite ($733 more dollars).
But that’s not all, across all schools an increase of 10% in students of color are associated with a decrease in spending of $75 per student (Unequal).
Essentially the more black and brown students that populate a school the less money is given to that school. If this isn’t the definition of systemic racism I don’t know what is.
Why are black and brown boys and girls given less funding than they white counterparts? Are they not just as deserving of a quality education as whites?
It would appear so however it shouldn’t be the case.
And as a result of this fact Black Lives Matter has moved on from a hashtag to a movement. Black men, women, boys and girls are seen in the streets protesting on behalf of black lives.
Now there is noise being made to defund the police. Now there are serious demands for reparations in the amount of roughly $14 trillion dollars.
Why?
Because of our need for equality.
To some these demands seem irrational and to some these actions seemed uncalled for.
But regardless of what they seem like, they are long overdue.
The US Wealth Disparity Is Black & White
Photo by Jp Valery on Unsplash
Could you imagine making less money than someone else because of the color of your skin? Can you imagine not being able to secure a home loan because you’re darker than most?
Well if you’re white in this country, it’s hard to imagine since you’ve never been a victim of such racist practices. However, if you’re black in this country, you don’t have to imagine it because you go through it every day.
The main thing that continues hold black Americans down is the lack of access to wealth.
The median black wealth in 2016 was less than 10% of whites ($13,460 compared to $142,180), the average black wealth was 11% of whites ($102,477 compared to $935,584), and the percentage of blacks with little to no wealth was more than doubled what it is for whites (25.8% compared to 10.6%).
As a result, blacks are unable to take advantage of certain liberties that our white brothers and sisters are used to having.
The financial privileges awarded to whites are almost like bucket list goals for blacks. Things such as homeownership are milestones for blacks whereas for whites it would simply be another checked box.
Simply getting a mortgage from a bank is like pulling teeth due to systematic housing and mortgage discriminations that plagued blacks for decades making it harder for future generations to own a home.
But how did this all start?
Historically, black families were being redlined which required them to live in poorer areas to get a home loan with interest rates that would give a white person a heart attack (that’s if they could get a loan in the first place).
This then trickles down to only 41% of African American homeowners in 2016 with only a median of $45,000 in home equity versus 71.8% of white homeowners with an whopping median of $92,000 in home equity .
This is staggering considering 69% of blacks’ households wealth comes from how equity as opposed to the 57% of whites.
It’s no wonder why blacks don’t have much access to wealth. How could we when the bulk of it is tied into something that could barely replace a years worth of income for a lower-class family?
Yet with a college degree there is a path to financial freedom….right?
It turns out even a college degree isn’t enough to move the financial needle forward.
“Black with at least a college degree still had about 30 percent less wealth than whites without a college degree — $57,250 compared with $81,650”.
Which means that even when we educate ourselves, even when we aspire to something greater than what our parents could accomplish we still fall behind those whom we had to outwork.
How could it be that we are so called “equal” when whites begin at the middle of the ladder while African Americans start at the bottom?
One might argue “At least y’all have the opportunity to reach the top of the ladder”.
Yet, how much gratification does one get from getting to the top of a ladder that’s significantly shorter than everyone else’s?
For example, only 37.5% of working blacks have either a 401k or an IRA as opposed to almost 70% of working whites. However, when blacks do have retirement savings it only equals about a third of whites ($23,000 compares to $67,000) .
“But aren’t retirement vehicles dependent upon how much an individual puts away? Shouldn’t an individual take responsibility for putting away money for their future?”
Yes, however, it’s hard to put away money you have don’t because of a job that pays you just enough to get by.
Til this day, blacks face discriminatory practices that have kept us out of jobs which would provide us access to decent wages and savings vehicles.
And though it may have been up to our parents to teach us to get a good education, save and invest they never knew how so they couldn’t pass it on.
And thus you have a generation of people who consistently will begin at the bottom of the financial ladder whereas those who are of a lighter hue begin in the middle.
Takeaway
Black Lives Matter is about equality — it’s about being treated the same as whites in this country.
It’s about the boys in blue shooting down the men who are black.
It's about black children who don’t have equal access to education because of the color of their skin.
It’s about black families who can’t have generational wealth because the discriminatory policies and practices that plagued their forefathers are affecting them today.
Black Lives Matter isn’t a war on whites nor is it a war on police. It is simply a movement to reach equality in these divided yet the United States.
And until equality means equal in America and until Black Lives Matter we as black lives will continue the movement so that one day all lives will matter equally. | https://medium.com/an-injustice/dear-white-people-heres-what-black-lives-matter-really-means-651962e798a9 | ['Isaac Breese'] | 2020-10-05 11:29:52.715000+00:00 | ['Education Reform', 'Wealth', 'Race', 'BlackLivesMatter', 'Inequality'] |
Here Is Why We Will Never See A Game of Thrones in Malaysia. | Cersei Lannister, one of the major antagonists of this series, once said:
“When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.”
These words have rung true throughout the series as we see many characters — both beloved and detested, perish during the multiple attempts to seize the Iron Throne and become the ruler of Westeros.
We rejoiced, cried, felt betrayed and pitied the characters involved in the machinations of the Game of Thrones and after 8 fantastic seasons, it finally came to an end. (More like 7 and a half, because this writer still detests how the series ended, hence why its rating is only 8.5/10)
Given its epic storyline, fantastic character developments and unexpected yet satisfying plot twists, this series is definitely worth the watch. After all, it is an award-winning television series.
The Iconic Iron Throne. (Image Credits: Vox)
As much as the world of Westeros is captivating and exciting, it is interesting to note that we do not see a reenactment of Game Of Thrones in today’s modern world. I mean — who wouldn’t want to be a monarch like Cersei or have access to riches and pleasure galore like Robert Baratheon. Imagine what it would be like to call yourself King of North or the feeling of being able to sit on the Iron Throne.
Well, let us dive a little deeper by using Malaysia as a Case Study. We would be able to relate and understand more if we were to use our home country as an example to examine the reasons why nobody disputes, plots or conjures up any shenanigans to be the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (YDPA).
Constitutional Monarchy
A constitutional monarchy is a form of monarchy where the sovereign exercises authority in accordance with a form of written or unwritten constitution.
In Malaysia, we have a written Constitution. It came into force in 1957 when we achieved our independence and was known as the Federal Constitution of Malaya. It evolved into its current iteration, the Federal Constitution of Malaysia when Sabah and Sarawak joined the Federation of Malaysia in 1963.
Image Credits: New Strait Times
Article 32(1) of the Federal Constitution (“FC”) provides that the Federation of Malaysia shall be a constitutional monarchy and the YDPA will be the Head of State, whose role is mainly ceremonial. Figuratively speaking, the throne of the YDPA would be the ‘Malaysian’ version of the Iron Throne.
Robert Baratheon would certainly enjoy this role as it requires a minimum effort from his end. Image Credits: Game of Thrones Wiki — Fandom.
The YDPA will only retain his title while his other powers will be ceded. The Parliament of Malaysia and their leader, the Prime Minister, shall administer the country and use the powers ceded to them by the YDPA. Here, there will be no ruler on the Iron Throne declaring wars on the North or increasing taxation, as only the government can do so.
In exercising his constitutional function, the YDPA also has to act in accordance with the advice of the Cabinet or relevant Ministers as established in Article 40 of the FC. However, the power of the Iron Throne of Malaysia is not fully under the Government’s control. Article 40(2) provides certain exceptions where the YDPA can act at his own discretion, such as appointing the Prime Minister or withholding the consent to dissolve Parliament.
The Conference of Rulers
Article 32(3) of the FC is the main reason as to why none of the other Sultans plot a Game of Thrones. The provision provides that the Conference of Rulers (“CoR”) (which is basically a squad of Sultans) will elect a YDPA for a term of 5 years and they can also remove the YPDA from office. In essence, there will be no proclamations of ‘I am the King and Supreme Ruler’ or in Star Wars terms, in the Emperor Palpatine voice, ‘I am the Senate!’.
The YDPA can also resign his office in writing to the COR. For instance, Sultan Muhammad V of Kelantan renounced his throne on the 6th of January 2019.
Sultan Muhammad V of Kelantan (Image Credits: The Strait Times)
The YPDA can also cease to be in office when he ceases to be a Ruler, which usually occurs upon death. There have been a few instances where the YDPA has died in office and this means he ceases to be a Ruler and at the same time, the YDPA.
Conclusion
In short, the FC protects the Nation from a reenactment of Game of Thrones. It is an important and critical document that represents the supreme law of the land. No rebellion or claims to the throne would succeed as the FC would prevent all of this from happening in the first place.
For that, we should all raise our glass to this pristine document. | https://medium.com/@legalstreet/here-is-why-we-will-never-see-a-game-of-thrones-in-malaysia-dbc54b5fda67 | ['Legal Street'] | 2020-10-23 04:17:34.973000+00:00 | ['Malaysia', 'Constitutional Law', 'Game of Thrones'] |
Shortform Is Fun | Today, I’ve been testing with shortform posts on Medium.
Tomas Smith’s article was the reason to see what I could do with Shortform Posts on Medium. Medium itself changed some things that let their monetized alternative to Twitter fall behind the latter. The viewers can only read the (metered) post if they click and open the article. The news feed style is then gone.
My tests show shortform posts can have a title and subtitle too. The amount of words in the post is the only measure whether a metered article appears with a picture plus title or an article excerpt plus the read-more-link.
Shortform posts are not eligible for further distribution by Medium.
In my next post, I will try to find out where it makes sense to use shortform posts.
As for now, changing from bold first sentence to title with subtitle and adding pictures show bizarre behaviors of the Medium back end. Some post shrink to just the picture with a caption on it. Others display their content in full.
I’ll keep you posted. | https://medium.com/@michaelknackfuss/shortform-is-fun-1310303d5d72 | ['Michael Knackfuss'] | 2020-12-26 21:34:26.020000+00:00 | ['UX Design', 'Visual Design', 'Technology', 'Software Engineering', 'Culture'] |
Dandy Jazz Dancers on City Street | Thank you, Dennett, for allowing me into this family of nature lovers and for promptly looking over my first submission in your pub.
I come with flaws. For one, I curtail my dependence on my cell phone, which is the only camera I carry around. I’ve observed that my pictures hardly ever capture the beauty before me. Instead, I store things in my inward eye where they remain. (a good excuse, perhaps. Read more.)
This could be thought of as a flaw, for it would have served me well to have snapped a picture of those dandelions queued between the wall and sidewalk in a busy Tokyo street. This time I will rely on the fact that everyone has seen an image like the one I talked about in the poem. I hope so. Or, trust me that dandelions do find a way to break through concrete.
The lesson: Even wandering through industrialized concrete jungles, one can find a spiritual moment to remind us of our connections with more important things. Nature is our way back to the divine. Bask in that knowledge.
p.s. I have over 5,000 pictures on my cell phone, and I purchase space monthly to maintain them there. I really need to free up space. One day I will. So, you see, it’s not that I don’t like taking pictures; I’m flawed.
THANKS FOR READING
I Wish You Miracles. | https://medium.com/weeds-wildflowers/dandy-jazz-dancers-on-city-street-edb574ffb1eb | [] | 2020-12-12 15:18:41.476000+00:00 | ['Nature', 'Spiritual Growth', 'Life Lessons', 'Poetry On Medium', 'Weeds And Wildflowers'] |
What I learned from Coursera’s “Learning How to Learn” | What I learned from Coursera’s “Learning How to Learn”
How I’m using learning techniques from a Coursera course to be a better developer
I’ve been a Software Developer for more than 4 years now and if there’s one thing that never changes about this job it’s that it is always changing. There are always new things to learn. I love that part of it. Learning is the destination.
So, when I saw a course called Learning How to Learn on Coursera, I jumped on the chance to learn about learning from academic experts — Dr. Barbara Oakley and Dr. Terrence Sejnowski from University of California, San Diego.
Here are the key takeaways from the course that help me be a better developer and, in general, a better learner.
“Focused” and “Diffused” Modes
When learning, there are times in which you are focused and times in which you allow your mind to wander. This unfocused, or diffused, mode is just as valuable as the focused mode in allowing your brain to LEARN something. So — take breaks, meditate, think about other things, and give yourself plenty of time in both modes.
One way of making sure you’re taking regular breaks is to follow the Pomodoro technique. This is where you program for 25 minutes, then take a break for 5 minutes. The work and break time lengths can vary based on what works best for you. The important part is that you have a regular break. There are several applications out there that help you setup a Pomodoro timer. I use Pomodoro Time.
Chunking
This is the idea of breaking what you want to learn into concepts. The goal is to learn each concept in a way that they each become like a well-known puzzle piece. In order to master a concept, you not only need to know it but also to know how it fits into the bigger picture.
Mastered chunks form a whole puzzle (left) vs. learned but not mastered chunks don’t fit into a larger puzzle (right)
Dr. Oakley suggested a great step-by-step process to approach learning something. First, survey and priming — this involves scanning a book or the syllabus of a course, for example, to get a general idea of the bigger picture. Second, observe an example. Then, do it yourself. And, finally, do it again and again in different contexts.
So — let’s say I was trying to learn React and I was lucky enough to find Tyler McGinnis’s awesome React.js Program course. To apply this suggested process, I would first look over all the units in the course to try to get a general gist of the topics covered. Then, I would follow along closely as Tyler builds an example application. After that, I would build my own application. And finally, I’d apply those learnings into the new features we are developing in React at my job.
Beware of Illusions of Competence
There are many ways in which we can make ourselves feel like we have “learned” a concept. For example, looking at a solution and thinking that you know how to arrive at that solution is one of the most common illusions of competence in learning. Highlighting or underlining are also techniques that often lead to this illusion of learning. On the other hand, brief notes that summarize keys concepts are much more effective.
Recently, I found this great application called Highly (you should use this!). They make it really simple to highlight any article that I’m reading on the web using a Chrome extension. When I’m done reading and highlighting an article, it provides a beautiful summary of everything I highlighted. This is immensely useful to me.
I try to be sparing in what I highlight. The fewer takeaways, the more likely that I’ll actually take it away. This ties well into the next point…
Recall
Dr. Oakley points to Dr. Jeff Karpicke’s research about retrieval practice to provide scientific support behind taking a couple minutes to summarize or recall material you are trying to learn. It goes a long way to taking something from short-term memory to long-term learning. Even recalling material in different physical environments can help you grasp the material independent of any physical cues that your brain may have.
So — after you finish reading this article (or any article), take a moment and try to state what you remember from the article. It’ll go a long away.
Bite-Sized Testing
In order to avoid or break through illusions of competence, you should test yourself as you’re encountering new material. Recall is a simple example of this mini-testing.
It’s not important that you pass these tests without making any mistakes. Mistakes (and correcting those mistakes) are an important step towards solidifying your learning.
Over-Learning
After a long learning session…
The main takeaway on this point is not to spend too much time in one sitting going over the same material over and over again. The law of diminishing returns certainly applies. Spread it out over many sessions and over many different modes of learning.
I have been trying to set aside 30–60 minutes every day for each new thing I am trying to learn or learn in more depth. Not only has this been better in resulting in lasting learning, but I also find it way more achievable to say that I am going to work on X for 30 minutes.
Interleaving
Once you have a basic understanding of what you are trying to learn, interleaving can be used to help you master the concepts. By practicing jumping back and forth between problems that require different techniques, you can solidify your understanding of the concepts by learning how to choose to apply them in various situations. Know when to apply a particular concept is as important as knowing how.
I haven’t deliberately applied this technique yet but, going back to the earlier example of learning React, I can apply the interleaving technique by having 2 different projects in which I am applying React and Flux architecture.
Process over Product
When facing procrastination, think of process over product. I often procrastinate when I’m overwhelmed by the thought, “Ok, I have to get X done”. Instead, it can be beneficial to think, “Ok, I will spend an hour on X” — which isn’t overwhelming, doesn’t require a long breakdown of tasks, and gets me started (90% of the battle).
Metaphors and Analogies
Metaphors and analogies are often talked about as helpful study techniques. Personally, I never made much use of them. But, as I’ve met more people and more teachers/mentors, I’ve found that the best ones always use these as they communicate. And being able to communicate what you’ve learned is one of the main skills that differentiates a good developer from a great one (IMHO).
So, try to make a deliberate effort to teach what you learn to someone else and, in doing so, you will likely be forced to explain concepts with relatable metaphors and analogies.
There are several opportunities in the daily practice of software development to teach and learn from others. You can pair program, comment on pull requests, sign up to give a code talk about a particular topic, and blog! Do all of these things. I know I’m trying to.
Study Groups / Teamwork
This one isn’t new to me and has proven to be most beneficial to maintain continued progress and hold each other accountable. But, it is important to include in this list and note that finding the right group is key.
At work, I’m lucky to have plenty of internal groups: tech book club (currently reading Pragmatic Programmer), open source club, culture club, elixir group, and likely others too. But there are several awesome communities that meet and learn together in NYC and online!
No matter what or where you are learning, you don’t have to learn alone. In fact, it is the uniqueness of the people with which you learn and the discussions you have together that make what you learn unforgettable. | https://medium.com/learn-love-code/learnings-from-learning-how-to-learn-19d149920dc4 | ['Abhishek Pillai'] | 2016-08-28 00:17:45.759000+00:00 | ['Education', 'Learning', 'Programming', 'Coding', 'Learning To Code'] |
RabbitMQ with Java and Spring, asynchronous communication between microservices | In this article we will go over RabbitMQ practical implementation and try to look to the theoretical concepts meanwhile. We will be covering only windows installations with details, but the rest of the article work the same for any OS.
Installing RabbitMQ on Windows
Navigate to RabbitMQ.
2. Click on Using the official installer.
3. Click on Erlang/OTP Version Tree, rabbit needs Erlang installed to run properly as a service on windows, so we will install it before rabbit.
4. You can click on win64 or win32 depending on your needs. Follow the instructions and Erlang will be installed.
5. Navigate back to the page we were on step 2 and download rabbit..exe, by clicking on the installer with the indicated version.
6. After following all the steps and RabbitMQ is successfully installed, we need to verify is Rabbit is running as a service on windows. Search for “Services” on windows search bar, find RabbitMQ in the list, double click it, if it shows “Service Status: Running” or something like that, it was installed properly.
Let’s get started.
Setting up plugins to run rabbitmq broker locally
Navigate to the following folders:
C: -> Program Files -> RabbitMQ Server -> rabbitmq_server-versionYouInstalled -> sbin
Now open that folder on cmd. There are a bunch of .bat files on this folder, they will be enabling the plugins which we need. Run rabbitmq-plugins.bat enable rabbitmq_management (if later you want to disable it, just run it with disable instead). Go to your browser and go to: localhost:15672. I hope you see a page that looks like this:
We will log in to RabbitMQ user interface. By default rabbit uses “guest” as username and password, so go ahead and log in with them.
Go ahead, take a look at the UI. As I said earlier, it isn’t the purpose of this article to detail this interface, I only went this far without coding because we will be using it while we develop our projects.
You can create your projects in spring io, or simply just clone mine to follow along at my GitHub.
Producer MircroService Project
Consumer Microservice Project
Messaging with any messaging tool is all about, publishing a message to someplace and then a someone subscribes on it.
What is message and why we need it ?
SOAP protocol has message, header and body
asynchronous, different for a synchronous http request
example:
customers messages, orders coming in a huge load
we can process them one by one
we use advanced messaging to encapsulate any kind of information
queues, topics, channels, exchanges, depends on the protocol definition
How does this message goes from the producer to consumer ?
Exchanges
first to receive the message
routes a message to one or more queue
routing algorithms depends on exchange types and “bidings”
“biding” is nothing more than a configuration to bind exchanges to queues
types:
direct = empty string and amq.direct
fanout = amq.fanout
topic = amq.topic (user purchased, for example)
headers = amq.match and amq.headers
Queues
messages arrive from exchanges to queues
where messages go before reaching a subscriber
properties:
name: name of the queue
durable: either to persist to disk or not
exclusive: delete the queue if not used anymore
auto-delete: delete the queue when consumer unsubscribes
Bidings
rules that exchanges use to route messages to queues
from exchange E to queue K, K has to be bound to E
may have an optional routing key attribute used by some exchange types
routing_key acts like a filter
imagine something like:
queue is a destination city
exchanges are like the airport of this city
bidings are the routes to arrive from the airport to the city
there can be zero or many routes possible to reach it
Setting up project to work with rabbit
Rabbit template used methods to send any kind of data, we can send a simple string
If you are using IntelliJ, I highly recommend you to CTRL + CLICK in the .converAndSend() RabbitTemplate method to get to know it a little more.
Run your application, and you will see in the logs something like this:
Go to localhost:15672 -> Exchanges -> (AMQP default). Remember that the once a message is published, it gets to a Exchange, but we didn’t configure/said to rabbit which exchange to send the message we publish. When it happens, it goes to the default exchange.
When a message is published to a exchange, this graphic show the activity, if you don’t see it, run your application again, because maybe you didn’t make it fast enough to see it happening.
If we scroll down a little in the Exchanges section we can see a very interesting definition to the Default Exchange:
Let’s not focus on what happened with this message or where did it go, let’s dive into this in a real example.
Go to Exchange, “Add a new exchange” follow this and hit “Add exchange”
2. Go to Queue, “Add a new queue”, follow this and hit “Add queue”
3. In Queues, go to the Queues list and find the “MediumQueue” which we just created, click it. Scroll down to the Bindings section and now we will bind the MediumExchange to our MediumQueue. Follow it and hit “Bind”.
You should see something like:
Run the application again, go to the MediumExchange, we will be able to see the activity of the message being published. Then go to the MediumQueue, scroll down to “Get Messages”, hit “Get Message(s)” and you will see the message in the Queue.
Now what would be great is, don’t configure which exchange, routing_key and queue to use, manually. So we will do it all on code.
Go to the Consumer Microservice
Create the following file, and set it up as follows:
Ok, we are planning on printing the message, but how we tell the consumer microservice, which queue to consume ?
So we need to configure this in the project:
Run the application again, you will see that the “SecondMediumQueue” was created by the consumer microservice.
Now, we are going to create a Exchange, and bind it to the “SecondMediumEQueue” with a routing_key named “topic”:
Now we can verify that the exchange and queue were created, as well as the routing key that gathers them:
If we go to out Producer Microservice, and as before publish a message to a queue, but this time, using the exchange, routing_key and queue which we just created from the consumer, we can see the microservices communicating.
Run the application and as long as the consumer microservice is still running, you should see the message being consumed. Something like this:
The last thing I want you to do is, try to get the message in the “SecondMediumQueue”, you will see it is no longer there.
Thank you for reading this article, there are several topics wich weren’t covered deeply in this article, of course.
The main idea here was to make a project to implement two microservices communicating through RabbitMQ, so you can implement this solution inside a much more complex system. I intend to make another article covering exchanges types, such as topics, fanout , headers and much more…
Feel free to contribute to these projects making a pull request, suggesting or implementing new features, or reviewing something that I coded.
Project on Github:
Find me on: Github profile | Linkedin | https://towardsdev.com/rabbitmq-with-java-and-spring-asynchronous-communication-between-microservices-c087595c500b | ['Pedro Luiz'] | 2021-12-24 08:30:17.286000+00:00 | ['Java', 'Messaging', 'Rabbitmq', 'Microservices', 'Spring'] |
My 5 perspectives of 2020 | 1. He/she who has a why to live can bear almost any how.
Credits: Pexels
This quote originates from Friedrich Nietzsche, and I first came across it in Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. In this engaging book, Frankl describes his thoughtfully raw experiences in the Nazi concentration camps during WWII, and how he managed to miraculously survive them. While there was an undeniable element of luck involved in all this, the message that stood out more distinctly lay in the fundamental realms of human pscyhology — you may not be able to control what happens to you, but you can control how you think about or react to these occurrences. And it is this autonomy that allows you to go one level deeper, to the core of your being, to identify your why. This why then helps you to effectively deal with whatever comes your way.
When you have that purpose to live for — in Frankl’s case, driven by the love for his wife who he still believed to be alive, and his desire to finish writing his book — this allows you to draw upon an innate power to keep moving forward. If Frankl can do it in the harrowing camps of death, and fast forward to today, if we are still so blessed with the gift of life and the power of choice, why can’t we spend a little more time to think about our why?
To contextualise this further with an analogy — I have always thought that it was implausible to wake up at 5am to work out and start my day more productively. But the pressure of extrinsic circumstances actually led me to do so not once, but a few times: during the days when I had to report early for army reservist duties in November this year, I actually woke up at what I thought was an ungodly hour to get my workout in. So, it is possible — because I had a defined schedule, and there are consequences for not keeping to that schedule, it shaped my actions in a way that I otherwise thought to be impossible.
I think that the underlying moral of the story is that that all you need is a reason to do something. We may start with external triggers to help us take the first step, but the ultimate transcendent state is when you are driven by an innate why. When you do not require motivation any longer, you are truly motivated: you have your why firmly set in stone. | https://medium.com/@aldentanhz/my-5-perspectives-of-2020-a01be795544f | ['Alden Tan'] | 2020-12-27 12:50:37.320000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Reflections', '2020', 'Self Improvement', 'Life'] |
Pantone’s 2021 Colors of the Year: What You Need to Know | The Pantone Color Institute has named not one but two colors of the year: PANTONE 17–5104 Ultimate Gray and PANTONE 13–0647 Illuminating. According to Pantone, the selection is “a marriage of color conveying a message of strength and hopefulness that is both enduring and uplifting. Each of them has their own emotional aspect, the gray being the one that’s more supportive and solid, the practical foundation that we need, and the yellow is about hopefulness and sunshine and good cheer.” We examine how Ultimate Gray and Illuminating will be embraced in the fashion industry and beyond.
Fashion
Womenswear
Alice + Olivia | Prada | Daniela Gregis | Andrew GN
Menswear
OAMC | Ermenegildo Zegna | Salvatore Ferragamo | Homme Plissé Issey Miyake
If nothing else, Ultimate Gray and Illuminating accurately depict the times we live in, providing us with the resilience and steadiness we need to take on 2021. The muted gray selection is the first achromatic shade to be selected for Color of the Year, and it serves as a subtle neutral that pairs well with vivid brights and subdued pastels. Both colors made a major impact on the SS21 runway, visible in the collections of Prada, Jacquemus, Gucci, Balmain, Givenchy, and more.
Category Penetration of Ultimate Gray (L) and Illuminating (R)
Tops and dresses are the two most penetrated categories when it comes to Ultimate Gray and Illuminating. Despite our fervor for gray sweatpants as of late, which was noted as an inspiration for the selection of Ultimate Gray, sweatpants and hoodies came in at a distant №10, with about 5% of activewear appearing on shelves in gray hues.
Beauty
Daniela Gregis | Vivetta | Collina Strada
Ultimate Gray and Illuminating also found its way onto the SS21 runway in beauty looks. Daniela Gregis and Collina Strada featured statement yellow looks, while models at Vivetta wore grey nails for a neutral look.
Interiors
Dwell | MDDM Studio | Domino | Construction Union
Denoting fortitude, hope, and unity, the combination of Ultimate Gray and Illuminating also dial into the feeling of continuity that we take from the natural world. Commonly paired with stark whites or warm neutrals, the colors provide our homes with some much-needed positivity. | https://medium.com/@trendalytics/pantones-2021-colors-of-the-year-what-you-need-to-know-78ddbbe7f534 | [] | 2020-12-11 14:33:17.288000+00:00 | ['Beauty', 'Pantone', 'Retail', 'Colors', 'Fashion'] |
The Ultimate Guide to Optimize Google Ads Search Campaigns | Do you reckon that channelizing your digital marketing efforts towards either of the owned or paid or earned media alone isn’t sufficient enough to succeed? Firstly, What are these owned, paid or earned media? To explain in brief, these are the different mediums available for digital marketing. Earned media is about social sharing, reviews, mentions, reposts, etc. Owned media is about your website, blogs, etc that you own and is distinctive to your brand. Lastly, paid media is about advertising (PPC, display, etc), retargeting, paid content promotions, etc. You cannot just put 100% efforts on optimizing your website for SEO and think you have done enough to reach your goals. The same applies when you just concentrate on getting your Ads up and running, ignoring the other factors. You succeed and reach your goals only when you concentrate on the usage of appropriate channels available in each of the owned, paid and earned media for your website.
Now, let’s dig deeper into one of the channels of paid media which is advertising, advertisement of your products and services. Can there be a better platform than the Google search engine itself to advertise your products and services? Definitely not. You can assess by yourself how big of a platform is this, by going through these facts about the Google search engine. Being the most popular search engine, as per SEO Tribunal, on any given day, Google receives over 63000 searches per second. Also, the average person performs 3–4 searches every single day. Hubspot mentions that 85% of mobile traffic is captured by Google. I hope you are now getting a picture of how huge this opportunity is. The opportunity to present your business in front of your target audience at the right time and to convert them as valuable customers.
As you know, Google Ads is where it all starts but is it just enough to create the Ads here, keep your fingers crossed and expect business growth? No, not enough. This is where optimization comes into the picture. For effective utilization of the marketing budget, optimization of Google Ads search campaign is crucial for higher Clickthrough Rates(CTR), lower Cost Per Click(CPC) and a higher Return On Investment(ROI). Here’s an ultimate guide to optimize Google Ads search campaigns.
1. Keywords Optimization
Keywords are the key elements of your Ads. Knowing the right keywords can get you a higher CTR which is one of the factors considered for the Quality Score(QS). A poor Quality Score can cause damage to your CPC and the performance of your Ads. Until you put up relevant keywords in your Ads and run them you never know which of them are going to out-perform or under-perform. Once you Ads go live, here are a few things you can look for and take appropriate actions to optimize your keywords.
a. Add Negative Keywords
Consider a scenario, a baking products eCommerce company which is newly established and is trying to reach a larger set of audience by search Ad campaigns. They are using a broad match keywords for maximum audience reach. After their Ads start running, they see that they are paying for the clicks that aren’t adding any value to their business. For example, they used keywords like “baking”, “online baking” “baking products”. Since its a broad match, the Ads kept showing when people searched for keywords like “online baking classes”, “baking recipes”, etc. Google Ads provide a way to ignore these keywords by adding them to the negative keywords list. This is a great way to enhance the relevancy, in turn, the quality score and at the same time reach large audiences.
To add negative keywords, login to Google Adwords account. Click on the campaign you want to edit. On the left-hand side panel, click on the “Keywords” link. Switch the tab to “Negative Keywords”. The sample screen is as shown below
b. Research and Add New Keywords
Keywords are ever-evolving with a variety of people searching online. A person looking to buy flowers can search “flower shop nearby” whereas another person with the same intent can search for something like this “buy flowers online”. If you are a florist with a brick and mortar as well as offer online service. Both of these are researches are prospective customers to your business. There may be hundreds and thousands of such customers looking for the same thing on special days. Constantly keep researching on what exact phrases are users using and try and incorporate the relevant ones into your search Ad campaign keywords list.
c. Remove Under-Performing Keywords
Reviewing keywords frequently does more good than harm. You can look for keywords that are not performing up to the expectations. Reason can be anything, either the keyword is considered irrelevant or there is a shift in the trend or it may be simply users are not using the word anymore. It is vital to remove such keywords as they impact the Quality Score. Go to the keywords list of your search Ad Campaign and delete them.
2. Display URL Optimization
A display URL is a URL that your target audience will see when your search Ad is displayed. Display URL gives the prospective customers an idea of what they will be offered when they visit the landing page. So optimizing it is very important.
The inclusion of keywords in the display URL is a good approach as the keyword gets bolden by the search engine if it matches the search phrase highlighting the relevancy. An example display URL is as below
https://www.domainname.com/path1/path2
In the above URL, path1 and path2 can be used to include the keywords.
Another way of optimizing the display URL is to make the URL more readable by including hyphens between the words. Display URLs can also be optimized to include a call to action. This encourages or compels the target audience to take action. You can add a call to action words like BookNow, JoinNow, RegisterNow, etc. A screenshot below shows the same.
3. Campaign/Ad Group Structure Optimization
You can optimize the campaign or the Ad group structure by grouping similarly-themed Ads together. By doing this you can research and add the most relevant keywords to the corresponding Ad groups rather than mixing up all the keywords together affecting the relevancy and the performance of the Ads. Consider you offer digital marketing services and you are running search ads often, it may happen that you might miss out on the keywords that users are using to look for a specific service. If the user is looking for SEO services, even though you offer the service since your keyword list is missing the phrase, your Ad won’t be pulled up when the query runs, missing out on a lot of business. If you plan your campaign properly and create separate Ad Groups for each service offering the chances of missing out are reduced considerably. For example, One Ad Group focusing on Advertisement services, other on SEO services, the 3rd group on the Content Marketing services, etc
4. Optimize Ads for Ad Extensions
Ad Extensions are a great addition to the Ads. On inclusion, these Ad Extensions not only maximize the performance of search Ads by providing useful information but also help with the improvement of the Quality Score by increasing the CTR. Also, the addition of these Ad Extensions doesn’t cost you anything extra. You will still be paying for the “Click”. When it’s a win-win situation then why not go for it. However, the addition of Ad Extensions doesn’t guarantee that they will be shown along with the Ads always. It depends on factors like the Ad Rank and Ad position. Here are some of the major Ad Extensions.
Call Extensions
By adding this Ad Extension, you are giving your prospective customers an option to call you by displaying your business contact number along with the text Ad. You can schedule this particular extension to appear during your business hours. You can also get a detailed report of the number of calls your Ad campaign has generated helping you to evaluate ROI. An example of Call Extension is as shown below:
Callout Extensions
Callout Extensions allow you to add more information in the form of text. This additional space to add more text can be used to highlight the unique features that the business offers and can be thought of as bullet points. An example of Callout Extension is as shown below:
Sitelink Extensions
Using this Extension, the user can be provided with multiple links that take them to the other important pages on your website. This Extension also helps to understand which pages are the customers most interested in. An example of Sitelink Extension is as shown below:
Structured Snippet Extensions
This Extension allows you to specify the various aspects of your services. The snippet has two parts, a header and a list of comma-separated values. An example of Structured Snippet Extension is as shown below:
Review Extensions
This particular Extension allows you to incorporate your business reviews in your Search Ad. By looking at the reviews, customers get an idea of how good your service offerings are and increase the chances of conversion drastically. An example of Review Extension is as shown below:
Location Extensions
This Extension displays the address to your business location by linking your Ad to Google My Business Page. This information helps customers to belong to the same location and have the intent to visit the store/office. So in order to use this extension you need to register your business to Google My Business Page. An example of Location Extension is as shown below:
5. Bid Optimization
To start with bid optimization, you need to have an understanding of which keywords are getting you conversions and how much can you bid on each keyword. There is a bit of math involved here but there is no need to be intimidated.
If you are new to Adwords and you don’t have reports to analyze and to optimize bid. You can start by bidding aggressively. This increases your opportunity to get the prime spots and hence grab you more clicks and conversions. Once you start getting the conversion data. You can then continue with the process as mentioned below.
Firstly, you have to have a goal that describes the conversion. The goal can be either a phone call, filling a subscription form, purchasing a product, etc. A conversion tracking system should be in place to understand which of the keywords are causing conversions. For example, you decide to invest $10 for conversion as a conversion gets you a profit of 100$(seems fair enough to spend 10% of the profit for marketing). And you have analyzed that your keyword has a conversion rate of 10%. To calculate the CPC, multiply the conversion rate and the amount you have decided to invest. In our case, the CPC would be 1$ (10*10/100). Depending on the keywords, the conversion rates vary and so does the CPC for each keyword. Calculate the CPC for high-performing keywords and use them accordingly for maximum ROI and conversion rate optimization.
This helps you to understand how much money you can spend per click to reach your goal considering your budget. You should constantly keep monitoring the performance and analyze the data to help you come up with the most effective bids. This is an attention-seeking and time-consuming process but who wouldn’t want to spend the money wisely and get optimal results out of it.
6. Optimize Website and Landing Pages
If an Ad is doing well in getting clicks and the corresponding landing page in getting conversions, don’t just sit back and relax. You should be consistent and keep exploring new ideas to increase your ROI and not be satisfied if your Ad is just doing fine. Follow best practices for landing pages to design more than one landing page and assign them to different Ad groups. Compare between them and work towards the one which is getting you more conversions. When the visitors land on the page, make sure you have all the information that the visitor is looking for on the page. Relevancy is very important. Keep more images to make it more attractive and add videos that explain your services. If you are asking the user to fill out a form, don’t keep it too long and complex, you can miss out on a conversion. Also, show visitors the offers that they were promised in the Ad if any.
7. Optimize Ads for Geographics & Demographics
Google Ads provides you with options for choosing the target locations and target audiences for your business. What is the point of spending money on Ads if they are not reaching the right places and the right audiences? When we talk about location targeting, you have the liberty to choose countries, states, cities, location groups, a radius around a location, etc. Think of a real estate business, which is all about, locations!! What’s the point in showing an Ad to the people who don’t belong to the location of your business. Picking up the right areas will help you reach the right audience hence increasing your ROI. To add locations, you have to log in to your account. Click on the campaign you want to add a location to. On the left-hand side panel, click on the “Locations” link. Below is a sample screenshot.
Similar to geographic, demographic is also an important aspect while targeting the audience. You can choose the age range, gender, parental status, household income, etc. The inclusion of demographics guarantees that your paid search Ad is shown to only those visitors who fall in the demographic settings you have chosen for your Ads.
Consider a dance training academy exclusively for women, running a search Ad campaign. In this scenario, showing up the Ad to women makes more sense than showing it up to everyone. To add demographics to your Ads, log in to your account. Click on the Campaign, choose the Ad group. On the left-hand side panel, click on demographics. You can choose the options that best describe the target audiences for your business. The sample screenshot is as shown below.
8. Schedule Search Ad Campaigns
Scheduling the Search Ad Campaigns is making sure that your Ad shows up when the target audiences are most likely to visit the website. Scheduling increases the CTR as well as reduces the wastage of money by not displaying the Ads post business hours. For example, at-home beauty services company, need not show up their Ad for a call for booking post business hours. Also, once your Ads start running, you can analyze the report to understand what days of the week or what time of the day are the maximum conversions happening. If you are able to find a pattern, you can go ahead and increase the bids for those schedules for the best results.
To schedule your Ad campaign, log in to your Google Adwords account. Click on the campaign you want to schedule. On the left-hand side panel, click on the “Ad schedule” link as shown below.
Also post scheduling, below is a screenshot of bid adjustment of the “10%” increase on bid on Monday. You have to click on the “Bid adj” column beside the day where you want to increase or decrease the bid based on the report analysis.
9. Increase Quality Score
Quality Score is Google’s way of informing the quality and relevance of the search Ads and keywords. Quality Score is used to determine the CPC and the Ad rank. Quality Score is reported between 1–10, 1 being the lowest score and 10 being the highest.
Having a thorough understanding of the factors that affect the Quality Score is important because it directly influences the cost and the position of the Ad which are both critical for a search Ad Campaign. These factors include CTR, relevant keywords and Ad text in the Ad group, the relevance of the landing page. Work towards optimizing each of these factors to improve the Quality Score. To increase the CTR, write a unique, creative and compelling text. Make use of the Ad Extensions, make sure that the use of characters in the Ad adheres to Google’s guidelines. Likewise, optimize your keywords. Keep researching, revising the keywords list. Show relevancy between your Ad content and the landing pages content by using the relevant keywords. Handling these factors appropriately will automatically show a positive effect on the Quality Score.
10. Customize Ads to Include Countdown Timer
Customizing the search Ads to include a countdown timer is another great way to optimize the search Ads. The thought of missing out on good offers compels the users to click the Ads and buy the products or services, it’s a common human behavior. That’s the whole point of running the paid search campaigns to generate business. You can create this sense of urgency by adding a countdown timer using Google Ads. Once you are done adding the Title and description to your Ad, you can insert the “{” symbol to include the timer. Once you type “{”, you will see an option to include the countdown timer as shown below.
You need to also make sure that when the user clicks on the countdown Ad, the landing page should also talk about the same. This will increase the chances of conversion as you are giving the user what he was promised. If the Ad and the landing pages show no relation between them than that might cut down on the CTR significantly impacting the Quality Score badly.
Conclusion
When you come across the word optimization in Ad Campaigns, you need to keep in mind that this is an ongoing process. There will always be new stuff emerging every now and then be it new keywords, new strategies, new algorithms, and whatnot. You cannot put a period to your optimization efforts. Having an understanding of the above points will give you an idea of how frequently each of them needs attention and optimization. To maximize the Return On Investment(ROI), you need to make sure that you put constant efforts to work towards the optimization of the search Ad Campaigns. | https://medium.com/digital-ready-official/the-ultimate-guide-to-optimize-google-ads-search-campaigns-fcec88c14045 | ['Chiranjeevi Maddala'] | 2020-01-27 13:29:57.921000+00:00 | ['PPC', 'Marketing', 'Advertising'] |
How I Enabled CORS for Any API on My Single-Page App | How I Enabled CORS for Any API on My Single-Page App
And how you can too
Photo by jose aljovin on Unsplash
In this article, I’ll show you how I used free services available to anyone to build a little proxy server for my app to overcome certain CORS limitations for my single-page app.
I built Chisel to help with some repetitive API-response composition and manipulation I was doing at work.
It’s a single-page app that allows you to perform requests against any API endpoint and compose results to extract only what you need. It also allows for CSV exports. Pretty straightforward.
Being it’s still in its earliest days, I decided I wanted to build it with the simplest architecture in order for me to be able to iterate quickly. I went for the JAMstack, built it in React, and deployed on Netlify.
Since it doesn’t have a back-end server it talks to, anything you do stays on your machine. Unfortunately, not all APIs allow for cross-origin requests, so in certain cases, you won’t be able to perform any request from your browser unless you enable the proxy functionality.
What happens if you don’t is your browser will attempt a CORS preflight request which will fail if the API doesn’t respond with the expected headers. | https://medium.com/better-programming/how-i-enabled-cors-for-any-api-on-my-single-page-app-c51700dc7c29 | ['Alessandro Diaferia'] | 2020-07-20 10:16:43.869000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'JavaScript', 'Nginx', 'Docker', 'Web Development'] |
What Can Blockchain Projects Learn from Open Source? | What Can Blockchain Projects Learn from Open Source?
I’ve been involved with open source over a decade now. I’ve been part of small projects with innovative ideas which grew into large projects with solid communities. I’ve also witnessed how dysfunctional communities can suck the energy of projects for years. All that thanks to the open source development and collaboration. In recent times, I’m active on the blockchain space as well: reading, writing, and contributing to projects. And I came to the conclusion that blockchain projects are startups with open development and open business models. And to be successful, the first and foremost, blockchain startups have to learn how to build communities the open source way.
Open source code
One of the fundamental premises of blockchain is decentralization and giving control and data back to the user. Such decentralization cannot be achieved without transparency and openness. If the source code is closed, that is no different to the centralized closed systems of today. Without making the code open, there is no way to read and confirm that a system is doing what it is promising to do. There are projects that are trying to avoid it, but even they recognize that the code has to be open to a certain level at a minimum. For example, Hedera Hashgraph (which is technically not a blockchain project, but a similar class of software) has said the code cannot be freely distributed (forked), but it will be open for review. That proves our premise: blockchain projects, first and foremost are open source projects. Whether this can be classified as open source according to “The Open Source Initiative” is not in the scope of this article. The point is, if the source code is not readable/verifiable, there is no point in having something run on a non-trusted blockchain platform.
Open runtime
In addition to the source being open, what differentiates blockchain from non-blockchain open source projects is that fact that for the first the runtime is open as well. An open source project can be developed in the open, but then run and consumed as an open core, as a service, or as part of a closed system. Public blockchain (not looking into private ones here) are permissionless, anyone can join and leave a network, anyone can run a node or two. It represents a trustless and borderless runtime with open governance.
Open data
Another distinct aspect of blockchain is that blockchain projects in addition to the open source code, open runtime, also have open data. Anyone can fork the code (the client application), fork the data (the blockchain history) and start a new network. That ultimately makes blockchain projects the most open software systems ever existed. Open code, open data, open runtime, open business model, ensure openness in multiple dimensions.
Open business model
Blockchain startups are a very unique mix of open source development, and open value capture models, all blended into one at source code level. While a non-blockchain based open source project is typically used for creating value through collaborative development and open adoption, capturing value happens through a separate business model. The business model can be thought in advance or defined later such as SaaS, open core, subscription, etc. With the blockchain projects, the business model is described in a white paper, and the token model capturing value is implemented in the source code in advance. All that makes blockchain projects a unique blend of value creation and instant capture and distribution.
Why be so open?
Most of the blockchain projects are aiming to become some kind of platform or a hub with open standards and protocols that will attract and be adopted by the developers and consumed by users subsequently. The primary way these platforms and protocols attract developers is not through technical superiority over non-blockchain technology, but by the unique decentralization, characteristics achieved through openness in multiple dimensions. These platforms have to be open in order to become more attractive than the existing closed systems which already have all the developers and users on them. Being open is not only a prerequisite for its transparency, but also for its distribution and adoption. That is especially valid for projects which are aimed to be consumed as a platform or protocol by developers rather than end users. Open source is the primary way for developers to explore, learn and start using a project.
Isn’t “open” a weakness?
There was a time when being open source was considered a dangerous act as a competitor could copy and steal the code or the ideas. The recent times proved that being open source is the primary way for developer adoption, especially for developer-centric platforms, tools, and libraries. But as we have seen above, blockchain is also open runtime and open data as well. Which means anybody can fork the code and the data and start a parallel network. That makes a project vulnerable to even more kinds of splits/forks and value grab. And we have seen this happened many times with the forks of the most popular blockchain networks such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Yet, these projects are performing better than projects which are looking for ways to prevent forking but also lack the ability to attract followers. That is because being open is actually a sign of strength. If a network is so open and has survived forks and attacks, it makes its community only stronger.
We can observe the act of being open not only in projects, but also people and organizations. Today, people and organization rush into sharing and showing off their knowledge through open source code, conference talks, blogging, tweeting, etc. The innovation is happening so fast in certain areas that by the time somebody can understand and copy an idea, the inventor of the idea will have created the next one. And being a copycat in a winner takes all markets has a negative networking effect on community growth. In the journey to conquer the closed and centralized systems, being open is the primary weapon.
Hype is different than a community
I’ve seen many times, how successful Initial Coin Offering (ICO) investors measure hype around a project for an early investment. Typically such a measure works only when the early investment is accompanied by an early exit. In practical terms that means identifying the most hyped ICO, and selling all tokens as soon as it hits an exchange. Measuring such a hype is done by simple statistics around Twitter followers, Facebook followers, Reddit subscribers, Telegram users, etc. These metrics have a little value for measuring a community strength for the following reasons:
Metrics are artificially inflated with fake accounts, paid followers, subscribers, etc;
The ICOs themselves run airdrops campaigns and distribute tokens for following, subscribing, joining, etc;
These are the wrong metrics for measuring a developer-centric community;
What I mean by the latter is that an open source project that is going to be used by developers (as a platform, protocol, whatever) should measure developer activity, rather than airdrop hunter activities. None of the actions mentioned above are building stickiness in a project community. In fact, all of these activities are purposefully skewing the community metrics using temporary incentives.
Community over market cap
The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is one of the biggest and oldest software foundations, home of hundreds of popular open source projects. And there, we (I’m a member, committer, and PMC there) have a very fundamental belief that says: “Community over Code”. As a software foundation, we are all about code, and wouldn’t have a reason for existing without the code, but this slogan actually codifies how we do things, and how we go about decision making. ASF is first a home for communities rather than a repository for code. The code is the by-product of a good and healthy community. And we first try to grow healthy communities united around projects.
If we look for example how an ASF project measures its quarterly activity and progress, that is by the number of mailing list subscribers, emails sent, issues opened/closed, pull requests created/merged, software releases done, committers and PMCs voted for. The last one is a very important long term indicator for the health of a project measuring the ultimate level of commitment of community members to the success of the projects. If you look at these metrics, these are all about activities performed by technical people rather than temporarily incentivised airdrop hunters. These activities are harder to fake as they require doing something for the project (usually consuming brain power and time) rather than clicking a like/follow button which easier to outsource.
A blockchain project has a more complex ecosystem than an open source project alone. There are developers, but also miners (or their equivalent for running the network), investors, and eventually users. Measuring only the developer activity won’t be indicative enough for the full ecosystem, but focusing on the right metrics would be a good start.
In a similar spirit to the ASF’s “Community over Code”, I think the cryptocurrencies would benefit from “Community over Market Cap”. A healthy community is a far more important long-term measure than a temporary large market cap. The price of a token/coin and its market cap can be artificially manipulated or temporarily affected by a bear market. A strong and healthy community can hodl and survive ups and downs. An unhealthy community, without any stickiness to the project would fall apart anyway.
Building communities the blockchain way
Are there good examples of building stickiness and community around the new blockchain projects? I have seen a few projects that have recognized the importance of the community from the very beginning and approached their token sale completely uniquely. These projects aimed to familiarizing the prospective early investors with the project goals, white paper, mission and not only ask for money. There are definitely more examples, but the projects with unique token sale processes I have seen are the following.
DFINITY project had a registration process that cost close to 10$. Then they gave that money back in the form of a swag and a free t-shirt. But it was a good method to get rid of the people who are there only for the noise and not even willing to commit 10 bucks.
project had a registration process that cost close to 10$. Then they gave that money back in the form of a swag and a free t-shirt. But it was a good method to get rid of the people who are there only for the noise and not even willing to commit 10 bucks. QuarkChain ICO process had quiz with 25 not very simple questions. In order to join the token sale, one had to be part of their telegram channel from early days + have a good score on the quiz + pass the lottery. While the lottery and telegram channel components were already present in other ICOs at the time, the quiz actually forced candidates to find the answers in a short time, and learn about the project (that led to a blackmarket of quiz answers, but it was a nice attempt the least).
ICO process had quiz with 25 not very simple questions. In order to join the token sale, one had to be part of their telegram channel from early days + have a good score on the quiz + pass the lottery. While the lottery and telegram channel components were already present in other ICOs at the time, the quiz actually forced candidates to find the answers in a short time, and learn about the project (that led to a blackmarket of quiz answers, but it was a nice attempt the least). One of the best executions of community building during ICO phase has been of Mainframe. Mainframe run three crowdgift campaigns:
Proof of Being — where tokens where literally physically dropped from the air in certain locations around the world. To get tokens, one had to get to the meetup, meet the team and grab some tokens. Proof of Freedom — where participants had to answer the question why Mainframe mission mattered to them, and submit the answers in any form: tweet, blog post, audio, video, drawing, etc. I also took part in it by writing a blog post. Proof of Heart — where participants were asked to donate Ether which then went to a few non-profit organizations.
We can see how Mainframe used three different methods (each with its pros and cons) to build stickiness, awareness and community around its project and even managed to raise money for non-profit organizations.
Blockchain projects are especially sensitive to Metcalfe’s law and their value is directly proportional to the size of its community. A token not used by anybody is worth nothing. A platform without developers is a zombi platform. Building a community around the crypto project is as important as building the platform itself, if not more. While the crypto world knows how to raise money, the open source world knows how to build communities. They can learn something from each other.
Follow me on twitter for other posts in this space.
A shorter version of this post was originally published on Opensource.com under CC BY-SA 4.0. | https://medium.com/the-capital/what-can-blockchain-projects-learn-from-open-source-5177e36e8b11 | ['Bilgin Ibryam'] | 2018-11-20 09:34:15.587000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Open Source', 'Community', 'Development', 'Programming'] |
3 Questions to Ask Before You Start a Budget | Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
There’s a lot of information out there on how to create a budget. A quick internet search will give you everything you need to start tracking your personal finances.
But jumping straight into creating your budget isn’t the most effective way to create lasting financial change in your life.
A more effective, lasting approach requires you to take a deeper look. You need to start somewhere before the numbers. Before you even check your bank account, you should ask these 3 questions:
1. Who do you know that handles finances the worst?
A good place to start is knowing where you don’t want to end up. Most of us know someone who doesn’t handle money in the wisest of ways. And it actually pays off to pay attention to what they’re doing.
Make a list of all the ways you think this person handles money poorly. Of course you can’t always know someone else’s finances, it’s okay to guess here. Maybe it’s the excess coffee drinks or new clothes. Naming specific behaviors or purchases can clue you in to areas you might be doing the same thing. The benefit of actually listing out real, practical examples of poor ways of using finances can bring clarity. It’s easy to know in theory bad ways of handling finances, but having a tangible list of real examples is another level of enlightenment.
In addition, an image or impression an actual person gives off is very affecting. So imagining a lifestyle you don’t want of someone you know or don’t know can leave a lasting impact and motivating impression to push you in the direction you do want to go.
2. Who do you know that handles finances the best?
Speaking of knowing where you want to go, it’s helpful to have a concrete example. This one can be more creative as well because it can look very different based on what is important to you.
Choose a few people, both people you know in your own life and perhaps some famous people as well. The idea here is to analyze how people you respect handle their finances. Again, you won’t know specifics but you can make a lot of guesses. The act of very specifically writing out practices of handling finances can hit your mind on a deeper level than just trying to willpower your way to financial success.
Do they invest? Do they schedule time for budgeting and planning out their finances? This is why it is good to choose a few types of people. The ways in which we handle finances might look different depending on the amount of wealth. The way you handled finances when you got your first job looks a bit different than how you handle them years and many jobs later. Picking a few examples and writing out how they handle finances based on different income levels can give you guidance on how you would like to handle finances as you progress along.
3. If you had all your needs met, what ways would it be fun to be generous?
The final important question to ask before you start your budget is about being generous. I highly encourage you not to skip over this one. Holding too tightly to your wealth is a sure-fire way to be more stressed and anxious. Generosity is a freeing sort of feeling. Being able to pour out into others needs is absolutely filling.
The trap here is that so often we plan to be generous later. We fixate on some future destination when we have enough to go around how we might use it. Maybe we imagine how we would be generous if we were milionaires. And being able to be generous with a lot is powerful and impactful, but being generous with a little still has profound impacts. There are a lot of people who are trying to make ends meet and an extra $30, $50, or $100 could make an enormous difference.
Before you start your budget, brainstorm ways you would want to be generous. Maybe you don’t know if you even have an extra $5 to your name yet. Maybe you can’t make ends meet at all — still don’t skip this part. If you don’t list out ways you can give when you one day have enough you might forget when you get there. Be intentional with your wealth and choose to leave a legacy of something bigger than you behind.
Now go start your budget
After you have a good idea of where you don’t want to go, a good idea of where you do want to go, and a list of ways you can uplift those who come after you, it’s time. | https://medium.com/@coastwild/3-questions-to-ask-before-you-start-a-budget-afbe32bb4f62 | [] | 2020-11-27 20:01:53.762000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Money', 'Budget', 'Finance', 'Planning'] |
Four Years Later, How is Russian Interference Different in the 2020 Election? | Russian President Vladimir Putin and his proxies are at it again, but the Kremlin’s campaign includes some notably different tactics this time around.
Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: Getty Images.
By Michael McFaul and Bronte Kass
As observed in the 2016 U.S. presidential election — and numerous elections around the world since then — the viral spread of misinformation and disinformation can disenfranchise voters, delegitimize results, and erode public confidence in the overall integrity and legitimacy of democratic processes. Sources of misinformation and disinformation can be foreign or domestic. Social media platforms make it easy for foreign actors to interact with domestic disinformation propagators and American voters. Although not only the foreign actor influencing the U.S. election, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his proxies are again engaged, but the Kremlin’s campaign includes some notably different tactics in 2020 compared to 2016.
The U.S. ecosystem has changed as well. Social media companies have developed big teams to detect foreign disinformation and coordinated inauthentic behavior (CIB). Having helped to amplify Russian disinformation operations in 2016, U.S. media outlets have become more sophisticated and careful in their reporting. In addition, many non-government organizations are engaged in the fight against disinformation, foreign and domestic. For example, the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) is a non-partisan coalition of four of our country’s leading institutions analyzing misinformation and disinformation in the social media landscape: Stanford Internet Observatory and Program on Democracy and the Internet, Graphika, the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, and the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public. Supporting real-time information exchange between the research community, election officials, government agencies, civil society organizations, and social media platforms, EIP seeks to detect and mitigate the impact of content intended to suppress voting, reduce participation, confuse voters, or delegitimize results without evidence. In turn, actionable support, through policy analysis and rapid responses, is provided to officials who are increasing transparency and providing accurate information to the electorate.
Moscow’s Measures
In 2019, Robert Mueller warned during congressional testimony that Russians continue to interfere in U.S. elections “as we sit here” and that “many more countries” have developed campaigns inspired by their model. The Senate Intelligence Committee released a bipartisan report noting, “Russian disinformation efforts may be focused on gathering information and data points in support of an active measures campaign targeted at the 2020 U.S. presidential election.” In a classified report, the CIA observed, “President Vladimir Putin and the senior most Russian officials are aware of and probably directing Russia’s influence operations aimed at denigrating the former U.S. Vice President, supporting the U.S. president and fueling public discord ahead of the U.S. election in November.” Similarly, FBI Director Christopher Wray testified in mid-September that Russian efforts were “very active.”
In an update on election threats, Director William Evanina of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center remarked that Russia is “using a range of measures to primarily denigrate former Vice President Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia ‘establishment.’ … For example, pro-Russia Ukrainian parliamentarian Andriy Derkach is spreading claims about corruption — including through publicizing leaked phone calls — to undermine former Vice President Biden’s candidacy and the Democratic Party. Some Kremlin-linked actors are also seeking to boost President Trump’s candidacy on social media and Russian television.” In September, Derkach was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for being “an active Russian agent for over a decade, maintaining close connections with the Russian Intelligence Services” and waging “a covert influence campaign centered on cultivating false and unsubstantiated narratives concerning U.S. officials in the upcoming 2020 Presidential Election,” including by releasing “edited audio tapes and other unsupported information with the intent to discredit U.S. officials.”
Between misinformation related to COVID-19, coverage of racial justice protests, and increased aggression from extremist groups, Russian operatives have found a highly polarized and chaotic environment in which they can emphasize divisive examples of racism, stoke anger, and impersonate political candidates or groups online. Through a technique of information laundering, websites first “report” divisive propaganda with the hopes that more legitimate outlets will then pick up and circulate the stories. Russia’s Internet Research Agency created the fictitious Newsroom for American and European Based Citizens to spread propaganda, and created an entity called Peace Data to recruit U.S. journalists to write articles critical of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Affiliated accounts have since been suspended or deleted from Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. The Department of Homeland Security warned law enforcement that Russian actors were particularly amplifying fears about absentee voting and other measures taken to protect voters during the pandemic in order to sow discord.
Two Weeks Until Election Day
The good news is that to date, Russia’s intervention in 2020 has been more limited. In the last presidential election, Russia’s multi-pronged campaign of publishing information stolen from the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign was most impactful during the summer and fall of 2016. An equivalent operation has not yet occurred. According to U.S. intelligence officials, the Kremlin’s most ambitious project in this election has been the apparent effort to launder false information about Hunter Biden into the U.S. media sphere. Similar to 2016, President Trump and his allies have engaged directly in trying to amplify this conspiracy, including an investigation led by Senate Republicans which the New York Times described in the following headline: “Republican Inquiry Finds No Evidence of Wrongdoing by Biden: The report delivered on Wednesday appeared to be little more than a rehashing of unproven allegations that echoed a Russian disinformation campaign.”
Former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster remarked that on false claims about the Biden family, Trump himself was “aiding and abetting Putin’s efforts by not being direct about this. This sustained campaign of disruption, disinformation and denial is aided by any leader who doesn’t acknowledge it.” Dozens of former Intelligence Community officials issued a statement noting that the attack “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation” and would be “consistent with Russian objectives… to create political chaos in the United States and to deepen political divisions here but also to undermine the candidacy of former Vice President Biden and thereby help the candidacy of President Trump.”
To date, this Russian-backed smear campaign has produced little effect. Public opinion polls show that American voters have bigger issues on their minds, from the economy and national security to the national response to COVID-19 and healthcare.
But if Russian disinformation efforts have proven less impactful in this election compared to 2016, domestic campaigns have exploded. Many false narratives being cultivated this cycle originate from within the United States, gaining traction through domestic pathways to undermine faith in our democracy. As Reneé DiResta has written, “The conspiracies are coming from inside the house. After 2016, Americans are alert to Russian election interference, but domestic influencers are spreading discord on their own.” Similarly, former Senior Director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council Fiona Hill warned, “The biggest risk to this election is not the Russians, it’s us.”
Malicious Russian actors still have two possible plays left. First, they could seek to disrupt voting on Election Day, by freezing up computers with voter registration lists or disrupting infrastructure used for ballot processing and counting. To succeed, such attacks do not need to have a substantial influence beyond creating the perception of voting irregularities. At a moment when Americans are primed to distrust the electoral results, a small cyber incident could have an inordinate impact. A second, much more likely play is amplification of voter fraud claims. This disinformation operation would occur on Election Day and afterwards, especially if the vote is close. Tragically, this type of operation will have many U.S. allies, including most likely Trump himself if he is losing, but also radical anti-Trump forces if the president is winning.
If either scenario unfolds, Americans must ignore disinformation — foreign or domestic — and demonstrate patience in letting every vote be counted. Over 25 percent of the total 2016 turnout has already voted, as of October 20. Our best defense against Russian meddling in this election is to let the system of counting votes work.
For more analysis, visit the Election Integrity Partnership. To see real-time research, monitoring and analysis about the Stanford Cyber Policy Center’s programs and partnerships, visit FSI’s Free, Fair and Healthy Elections in 2020.
Elections deadlines, dates, and rules are available at Vote.org. To plan your vote in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, visit Plan Your Vote or How to Vote in the 2020 General Election.
*Note: This is the fifth post in Michael McFaul and Bronte Kass’s series “Preserving American Democracy.”
Read the first post, The Imperative of a Free and Fair Presidential Election in November, the second post, Lessons from Primary Elections in August for Election Day in November, the third post, Yes, Voting by Mail Remains Safe, Fair, and Democratic in 2020, and the fourth post, In-Person Voting Requires Safe and Accessible Solutions. | https://medium.com/freeman-spogli-institute-for-international-studies/four-years-later-how-is-russian-interference-different-in-the-2020-election-3d159c56c846 | ['Fsi Stanford'] | 2020-10-20 20:33:17.410000+00:00 | ['Election 2020', 'Disinformation', 'Russian', 'Russia', 'Elections'] |
10 Different Ways to Loop in Swift | Ten Ways to Loop
The humble loop
This does what you might expect it to do: print out the directions one at a time on different lines.
The humble loop, again
This of course does the same but uses a more Swiftish syntax, certainly one that will get you set up for thinking in coding in SwiftUI.
A sort of stacked loop
This is an interesting variation on the idea. Imagine I want to loop through my directions, not in nanoseconds as I have been doing, but on demand. Of course, this version will loop automatically (in nanoseconds) because I used a repeat/while — but I am sure you get the idea.
The recursive loop
This one loops through our directions using recursion. I cannot help being a little nervous about recursion. It uses more resources than a simple loop and should not be used unless it really makes sense.
Simple skipping loop
Of course, maybe you don’t want to print every direction out. Here is an unusual use of the guard statement to select even ones only.
One more simple loop I missed
This loop uses a while condition to check each time it prints out an element in our array. This one is special because, using it, you could change the contents of the directions array without worrying. In all the previous cases, that simply isn’t an option.
The indexed loop
OK, but what if you need the index too? This will do the trick.
The indexed loopII
Same again, but this one uses a Swift function to extract the index values.
The indexed loop, less code
Again, an arguably more Swiftish version. Of course, you don’t need the loop for enumerated ; you can simply use it on its own.
Another version of a loop with an index
This one, like the last, is a nice efficient, short piece of code.
One more I found on Stack Overflow
An interesting approach, although I am not sure how obvious its implementation is ultimately. | https://betterprogramming.pub/10-different-ways-to-loop-in-swift-20bd5a40c8f7 | ['Mark Lucking'] | 2020-12-21 15:33:10.901000+00:00 | ['iOS', 'Xcode', 'Mobile', 'Programming', 'Swift'] |
Borg Energy Chennai India | According to the company experts of Borg Energy Chennai from India, replacing traditional sources of energy completely with renewable energy is going to be a challenging task. However, by adding solar energy to the grid and gradually increasing its contribution, we can realistically expect a future that is powered completely by green energy.
The world is moving fast, technology’s moving faster. The sad part? Our mindsets are not. We’re still stuck repeating the same mistakes, talking about the same issues with zero action, still passing around the buck. We’re taking really long to realize that every small step we take today will release a consequence.
Negative or Positive. That’s for us to choose and act upon.
Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of ever-evolving technologies such as solar heating, photovoltaic, solar thermal energy, solar architecture, molten salt power plants and artificial photosynthesis. It is an essential source of renewable energy, and its technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar depending on how they capture and distribute solar energy or convert it into solar power. Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic systems, concentrated solar power, and solar water heating to harness the energy. Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light-dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate air. The large magnitude of solar energy available makes it a highly appealing source of electricity.
Thus, Borg Energy India Pvt Ltd from Chennai, a company who believes in making revolutionary changes for a better tomorrow is here to state all the benefits of solar energy you might not have known about!
1. Smaller Carbon Footprint
A carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases — primarily carbon dioxide — released into the atmosphere by a particular human activity. A carbon footprint can be a broad measure or be applied to the actions of an individual, a family, an event, an organization, or even an entire nation says experts of Borg Energy Chennai India. The current carbon footprint rate, which seems to growing visibly with every passing day. It raises threats not only for humans and animals but possibly every living species as well as the planet. It encourages global warming, which in turn, causes climate change and thus gives rise to extinction, diseases, climate change, habitat extinction and much more. However, with solar energy use, we could reduce all that threatening carbon footprint. Being a renewable source of energy, solar energy produces significantly lower greenhouse gases as compared to fossil fuels and thus controls carbon emissions.
2. Reduces Air Pollution
Air pollution is the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are different types of air pollutants, such as gases, particulates, and biological molecules. We all know how harmful air pollution is… asthma, respiratory issues, ophthalmological issues and many other health problems. However, renewable energy like solar energy reduces our dependence on fossil fuels and helps us to improve the air quality and breathe cleaner and healthier hair.
3. Inexhaustible Source of Energy
Yes, it’s like a treasure chest that would never get empty. Since the sun is a natural and permanent source of energy, we can basically draw as much as energy from it as required. Opposite to that, we have fossil fuels which take years and years to form and are getting exhausted at a very fast pace. In fact, scientists have researched and stated that by 2050, we would have exhausted most of our energy resources. Therefore, it is becoming even more essential for us to implement solar energy on a wider basis.
4. Inexpensive and Comparatively Cheaper
Not only is solar or renewable energy inexpensive, it is actually very cheap as compared to other sources of energy used by us. Thus, you would not only do your bit by using solar energy and save the planet but also save a lot of money, experts of Borg Energy India Private Limited from Chennai says.
So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and contribute towards a better tomorrow! | https://medium.com/@borgenergyindiapvtltd/renewable-solar-energy-492e7e067896 | ['Borg Energy India Pvt Ltd'] | 2020-11-26 05:56:14.705000+00:00 | ['Renewable Energy', 'Solar Energy', 'Green Energy'] |
Audeze LCD-1 planar-magnetic headphone review: The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth | Audeze LCD-1 planar-magnetic headphone review: The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth Charles Jan 4·9 min read
Audeze is one of the only headphone makers devoted exclusively to using planar-magnetic (PM) drivers in its products. The company offers a wide range of models, from reference over-ear designs to gaming-specific cans to in-ear monitors, all of which are based on PM technology.
I have little experience with planar-magnetic headphones. Many years ago, I reviewed the Stax SR-007 MK2 electrostatic headphones, which use a somewhat similar technology, but they require a special amplifier and are extremely expensive. But I’ve never spent any quality time with PM headphones. So, when I got the opportunity to review the Audeze LCD-1, I jumped at the chance—and now that I’ve given them a good listen, I’m very glad I did.
This review is part of TechHive’s coverage of the best headphones, where you’ll find reviews of the competition’s offerings, plus a buyer’s guide to the features you should consider when shopping for this type of product.Planar-magnetic technologyMost headphones use dynamic drivers to generate sound waves. In these drivers, an electrical audio signal is sent through a coil of wire—the voice coil—which creates a magnetic field around the coil that oscillates according to the waveform in the signal. The oscillating magnetic field interacts with the static field of a permanent magnet mounted nearby, which pushes and pulls on the voice coil, causing it to vibrate in response. The voice coil is attached to a diaphragm, which vibrates along with it, sending sound waves into the listener’s ear.
Vendor-provided art. Audeze wraps the headband and earcups of its LCD-1 planar-magnetic headphones in super soft lambskin.
Planar-magnetic drivers are similar in principle but different in implementation. Instead of a voice coil, the diaphragm in a PM driver is directly embedded with a flat conductor that snakes back and forth across its entire surface (see Fig. 1). That conductor carries the audio signal, and the oscillating magnetic field interacts with the static field of permanent magnets mounted very close to the diaphragm. That causes the diaphragm to vibrate according to the audio signal, generating sound waves that enter the listener’s ear.
Vendor-provided art. In this rendering, you can see the “voice coil” (labeled “circuit trace pattern”) on the ultra-thin substrate of the diaphragm. You can also see a magnet and Fazor on both sides of the diaphragm, but the LCD-1 has a magnet and Fazor only on the inner side of the diaphragm.
In this “exploded” rendering of an Audeze earcup, you can see the circuit-trace pattern (aka, “voice coil”) on the diaphragm. You can also see the magnet and Fazor structures, which are discussed in the next section.
Mentioned in this article iFi Audio hip-dac Read TechHive's reviewSee it The main difference is that a PM driver has no separate voice coil per se; the “voice coil” and diaphragm are a single component. As a result, the entire diaphragm vibrates more uniformly than a dynamic diaphragm, which is pushed and pulled at its center by the voice coil.
Also, the magnets in a PM driver are generally larger than those used in dynamic drivers, because they must be roughly the same size as the diaphragm. That makes planar-magnetic headphones generally larger and heavier than dynamic designs.
So, what are the advantages of PM headphones over dynamic cans? Generally speaking, planar-magnetic headphones tend to have tighter, more accurate bass response. And because the entire diaphragm moves uniformly, the planar soundwave creates a better soundstage with a more immersive quality, and there tends to be less distortion at high levels. For these reasons, PM headphones are often preferred by critical listeners such as recording engineers and audiophiles.
Audeze Audeze planar-magnetic headphones are well known among recording engineers for their neutral, revealing sound quality, a legacy that the LCD-1 easily upholds.
Audeze LCD-1 featuresThe LCD-1 is an open-back, circumaural (over-ear) headphone. It’s more compact than many PM headphones and weighs just 8.8 ounces. It sports memory-foam earpads and headband covered in lambskin leather and comes with a nice carrying case into which the headphones fold. The included premium braided cable terminates with a 3.5mm connector, and a 1/4-inch adapter is included.
[ Further reading: The best high-res digital audio players ]Interestingly, the plugs for each earcup are TRS (tip-ring-sleeve), which I thought might mean that the drivers are wired for balanced operation. But I was informed that they are not balanced; instead, the three-conductor connectors are used to automatically determine which signal is left and right, so it doesn’t matter which one is connected to each earcup. Clever!
Audeze An ingenious design means you can plug either cable into each earcup, and the left signal will be played by the left earcup and vice versa.
With an impedance of 16 ohms, sensitivity of 99 dB/mW (calculated at the eardrum), and a power-handling capacity of 5W RMS, the maximum sound output is rated over 120dB SPL with THD less than 0.1% at 100dB SPL. The frequency response is specified from 10Hz to 50kHz (no tolerance given).
Audeze designs and builds its headphones in the United States and touts several enhancements it has made to planar-magnetic technology. One of them is its ultra-thin Uniforce diaphragms, which are very lightweight, presenting very little resistance to movement for improved transient response. And its large size of 90mm in diameter facilitates deep bass reproduction.
The company makes all its drivers in its Southern California facility, using a vacuum-deposition process to coat the diaphragm film with conductive metal that is then etched to form the “voice coil” on the surface. To achieve a uniform magnetic force across the entire surface area of the diaphragm, Audeze actually varies the width of the voice-coil tracing depending on the strength of the magnetic field at different locations.
Vendor-provided art. The LCD-1 earcups fold so the headphone fits in a small, hard-shell travel case.
According to the company’s website, “Audeze uses ‘a genetic algorithm-based heuristic optimization technique together with magnetic simulations to optimize trace widths to achieve Uniforce.’ For those of us who don’t speak Martian: we use advanced computing techniques to get the most uniform distribution of force possible on the diaphragm.”
Another Audeze innovation is its Fluxor magnets. The description on the company’s website gets pretty technical, which I won’t go into here; if you want to dig deeper, click here. Suffice to say that Fluxor neodymium magnets increase the magnetic field strength at the diaphragm without adding more weight to the assembly.
In the company’s flagship headphones, each diaphragm is suspended between two Fluxor magnet structures, as seen in Fig. 1. But in the LCD-1, there is only one magnet in each earcup, located between the ear and the diaphragm. This is less efficient than a double-sided design, requiring more amp power, but it allows the headphones to be lighter. And the Fluxor magnet is more efficient than a conventional magnet, focusing more of the magnetic field toward the diaphragm.
Why place the magnet between the ear and diaphragm rather than the other way around? Two reasons—to protect the diaphragm and to allow damping material to be placed on the other side.
In most planar-magnetic headphones, including those from Audeze, the magnet is a slotted structure that allows sound to pass through the slots. As you might recall from basic physics, when waves pass through parallel slots, they cause interference patterns (see Fig. 2), which can degrade the sound quality. Audeze solves this problem with its Fazor waveguide attached to the magnet structure. According to the company, this eliminates the interference patterns, corrects the phase response, and improves the acoustic impedance. For more on Fazor technology, click here.
Audeze As the diaphragm vibrates, it sends sound waves through the slots of the magnet structure, causing interference patterns as they emerge. Audeze’s Fazor waveguides eliminate this interference. In this generic diagram, there are magnets and Fazors on both sides of the diaphragm, but in the LCD-1, they are on only one side of the diaphragm.
Without the Fazor waveguides, sound waves emerge from the slots and interfere with each other, degrading the sound quality. The Fazor waveguides eliminate this interference. In this diagram, there are magnets and Fazors on both sides of the diaphragm, but in the LCD-1, they are only on one side.
PerformanceThe LCD-1 is quite lightweight, and the earpads are very comfortable; my ears fit nicely in them, and they are super-soft. The earcups provide a surprising sense of isolation, despite being their open-back design. My only complaint here is that the headphone feels a bit flimsy.
As usual, I played high-res audio files from the Tidal Master library on my iPhone XS, using the iFi hip-dac (reviewed here) as the DAC/amplifier. First up was “In Too Deep” by Jacob Collier from his most recent album Djesse Vol. 3. The vocals are accompanied mostly by synths with some super-low bass, all of which was rendered beautifully by the LCD-1—clean and clear with an open soundstage and natural, present vocals. The deep bass was exceptionally well represented without bloat or congestion, and it balanced the rest of the spectrum perfectly.
I haven’t seen Pixar’s latest movie Soul yet, but the soundtrack album is now streaming from the Tidal Master library. I listened to “Collard Greens and Cornbread Strut,” a very short but hard-bopping piece played by a jazz combo of piano, bass, drums, and horns, including a smokin’ tuba. It sounded clean and open on the LCD-1; I could hear each instrument clearly within a unified whole.
This year, composer Max Richter wrote and recorded a haunting musical backdrop entitled All Human Beings meant to accompany the reading of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On his album Voices, the piece begins with Eleanor Roosevelt reading the Preamble in a 1949 recording, after which many other modern voices continue reading the Declaration in a wide variety of languages. It’s a lovely tribute to basic human rights that are all too often ignored in today’s world.
In addition to Voices, Richter also released a related album called All Human Beings, which includes a six-minute version of the piece played five times. Each one starts with the Eleanor Roosevelt recording that morphs into a modern voice reading Article 1 in one of five different languages—English, Spanish, German, French, and Dutch. (I wish he had included some languages from places other than western Europe.) I listened to the English version on the LCD-1, which sounded gorgeous, with a wide soundstage for the orchestra and choir, and the voiceover sounded completely natural and present.
Vendor-provided art. The Audeze LCD-1 planar magnetic headphones are quite transparent in their audio reproduction.
Next up was “Starlight” by guitar legend Lee Ritenour from his album Dreamcatcher. Most of the album is simple solo guitar—in this case, an acoustic guitar tuned quite a bit lower than normal. The folky, fingerpicked piece sounded clean, open, and well-balanced on the LCD-1, with a wonderful low end and no hint of congestion.
For some throwback fun, I listened to “Money For Nothing” from Dire Straits’ 1985 album Brothers in Arms, which was just released in MQA format. The LCD-1 presented a big, open soundstage in which the stereo drums really bounced around. Once again, the sound was clean, and I could hear each instrument and voice clearly, including Sting’s unmistakable guest vocals.
Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of The Manhattan Transfer, one of my favorite vocal groups, so I cued up “Cantaloop (Flip Out!)” from The Junction. The music is based on the classic Herbie Hancock tune “Cantaloupe Island” with lyrics by Us3. It’s a richly produced track and a wonderful mix with deep bass and an infectious groove. As I had come to expect, the LCD-1 did it full justice with a clean, open sound. The deep bass was perfectly balanced with the rest of the ensemble without becoming overbearing.
I always include some classical music in my review listening. This time, I started with the first movement of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for String Orchestra in C Major, Op. 48, from the album Serenades by the Zürcher Kammerorchester under the direction of Daniel Hope. Once again, the sound of the LCD-1 was clean, open, and well-balanced. The strings sounded vibrant, and I could clearly delineate each section within a cohesive whole.
Finally, I listened to the fourth movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92, as recorded by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Lahav Shani. The LCD-1 had a nice, open, wide sound with excellent balance.
Vendor-provided art. Most people will use the 3.5mm cable, but Audeze provides a 1/4-inch adapter in the box as well. | https://medium.com/@charles26435328/audeze-lcd-1-planar-magnetic-headphone-review-the-truth-the-whole-truth-and-nothing-but-the-8a013b66e1d5 | [] | 2021-01-04 11:10:10+00:00 | ['Home Tech', 'Cord', 'Mobile', 'Audio'] |
Which Activation & Loss functions should be used in Multi-Class Classification Problems? | In this tutorial, we will focus on how to select Accuracy Metrics, Activation & Loss functions in Multi-Class Classification Problems.
First, we will review the types of Classification Problems, Activation & Loss functions, label encodings, and accuracy metrics.
Furthermore, we will also discuss how the target encoding can affect the selection of Activation & Loss functions.
Moreover, we will talk about how to select accuracy metric correctly.
Then, for each type of classification problem, we will apply several Activation & Loss functions and observe their effects on performance.
We will experiment with all the concepts by designing and evaluating a deep learning model by using Transfer Learning on MNIST dataset.
In the end, we will summarize the experiment results.
If you would like to learn more about Deep Learning with practical coding examples, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel or follow my blog on Medium. Do not forget to turn on Notifications so that you will be notified when new parts are uploaded.
You can access this Colab Notebook using the link.
If you are ready, let’s get started!
PARTS
Part A: Binary classification
Part B: Multi-Class classification
Part C: Multi-Label classification
You can access all these parts on YouTube in ENGLISH or TURKISH | https://kmkarakaya.medium.com/which-activation-loss-functions-in-multi-class-clasification-4cd599e4e61f | ['Murat Karakaya'] | 2020-12-27 17:46:29.707000+00:00 | ['Multiclass Classification', 'Loss Function', 'Keras', 'Activation Functions', 'Accuracy'] |
Running a business is hard. (Chamath Notes: 001) | Running a company in 2020 is hard. It’s no longer just about employees and shareholders. It’s now also about stakeholders of which there are many:
Regulators, employees, partners, existing users
But the most important, imo, are mass market potential new users (MMPNU).
2. MMPNUs are critical because they are the only way of achieving a massive outcome. You can build a very good/big company without MMPNUs, but not necessarily world-changing.
If you want to maximize MMPNU demand, you need to understand their psychology.
3. MMPNUs are not picking features and functionality — that’s what early adopters do.
MMPNUs are initially triggered by virality but their choices are cemented by a sensation that the product is aligned with who they are.
When it is, they adopt. When it’s not, they churn.
4. My suspicions is that value-maximizing CEOs of the future will focus on stakeholder issues because, unemotionally, it’s the best way to maximize MMPNUs even when doing so privately drives them crazy.
You didn’t have to do this in the past, but building from today is different.
You can be successful if you don’t take this stakeholder focused path, but I don’t think it is the value-maximizing path which then probably causes more of the best employees to churn.
The fight for MMNPUs will make stakeholder focus a necessary strategic element going fwd. | https://medium.com/chamath-notes/running-a-business-is-hard-chamath-otes-001-f903cf19b34c | ['Sajid Salih'] | 2020-10-10 06:14:12.549000+00:00 | ['VC', 'Investing', 'Chamath Palihapitiya', 'Twitter Chat'] |
The nationalist approach. | The nationalist approach.
I’m still mesmerised to see that even in front of a big equaliser as COVID-19 people still relate as a national problem. Neither Germany was prepared, nor Italy or UK or Spain or you name it. No one was prepared. We, human kind where not prepared. We think we face it differently but we face it the same, open up our deeply hopes and fears in from of this big unknown and and the context that is changing rapidly. We start to blame the old context, our leaders, ourselves and this is our fear based response. And then we start donate, and listen to specialists that ask us to stay at homes — even if that’s hard. And we pray, and we cry when we see doctors working hours to save lives, and we volunteer. This is out faith based response.
Maybe, we will manage to get through that, not as US, or Italy or Spain or Germany or UK. As humankind, together. That would makes as stronger and maybe as John dreamed decades ago — the world will be as one!
Action as one, being part of something bigger that you that is representing you not against other but with all other is the hope for this world, and for our individual mind sanity. | https://medium.com/@rdavidescu/the-nationalist-approach-892775bea597 | ['Radu Davidescu'] | 2020-04-23 17:42:46.091000+00:00 | ['Coronavirus', 'Politics', 'Crisis', 'Economy', 'Economics'] |
PySpark Word Count | Apache Spark is an open-source, distributed processing system used for big data workloads. PySpark is the API written in Python to support Apache Spark. If you have used Python and have knowledge about Pandas then it will be easier to learn PySpark. The goal of this post is running with PySpark and make a Word Count application.
You can find many articles on Medium how to install Spark. We will do just a practice on how we can use PySpark. After installing PySpark, we will write PySpark in a Jupyter Notebook.
There are two ways to have PySpark available in a Jupyter Notebook:
Configure PySpark driver to use Jupyter Notebook: running pyspark will automatically open a Jupyter Notebook
will automatically open a Jupyter Notebook Load a regular Jupyter Notebook and load PySpark using findSpark package
I prefer the second option which is more commonly used. In order for Python to find the Spark, download the “findspark” library and start it with findspark.init() function.
RDD (Resilient Distributed Dataset)
A RDD is a parallelized data structure that gets workload distributed across the worker nodes. They are the basic units of Spark programming.
In order to work with RDDs, we need to create a SparkContext.
A SparkContext is the entry gate for Spark environment. For every Sparkapp you need to create the SparkContext object. It allows your Spark Application to access Spark Cluster with the help of Resource Manager ( Spark Standalone/Yarn/Mesos).To create SparkContext, first SparkConf should be made. The SparkConf has a configuration parameter that our Spark driver application will pass to SparkContext.
In Spark 2 you can use SparkSession instead of SparkContext. In Spark 2.0 onwards, it is better to use SparkSession as it provides access to all the Spark functionalities that SparkContext provides. Also, it provides APIs to work with DataFrames and DataSets.
The following code comes in handy when you want to create a SparkSession;
If we write local [*] in the master, it will use all cores in our machine. If we said local [4] it will work with 4 cores. It can work in local / yarn / mesos and kubernetes mode.
getOrCreate is used to check whether a SparkSession exists. It creates a new one if not.
If we do not import SparkConf, we will have to assign complex metrics for beginners like “executor.memory” and “driver.memory” values. In such cases you can determine the configuration values as in the example below. | https://medium.com/@gulcanogundur/pyspark-word-count-b099106135a7 | ['Gülcan Öğündür'] | 2020-04-13 07:26:13.434000+00:00 | ['Pyspark', 'Spark', 'Word Count', 'Python'] |
UX Design at Scale: Infusing Design as a Behavior in Your Organization | UX Design at Scale: Infusing Design as a Behavior in Your Organization
4 approaches we’ve found effective at Workday to show the value of UX.
By Tamara Hale, Principal UX Researcher, Workday
Illustration by Nor Sanavongsay (https://dribbble.com/shots/6007899-UX-Infused-Businesses)
This article is based on a talk that was originally given at Lesbians Who Tech 2018.
In the last few years, we’ve been hearing a lot about design’s coming of age and its expanding role in the most forward-thinking organizations. Those of us working in design have always recognized its potential to influence broader business goals and shape the direction of organizational growth. Lately, influential business thinkers, leaders like John Maeda and organizations such as the Design Council have been adding their voices to this discussion. In particular, this conversation has focused on three aspects of design’s potential: its strategic value, its impact on the bottom line and its function as an integral aspect of product or service development. But how do we realize the full potential of design while dealing with the concrete challenges of UX design at scale in large enterprises?
Before we dive deeper, a note on how we use the term “design” at Workday. We work as an integrated Design team, which means that we recognize and leverage the broad range of design specializations that have emerged in recent years. We have researchers, visual and interaction designers, design technologists, other design operations specialists and content strategists, as well as other roles. When I use the word “designers” here, I’m referring to all of the above. All of us work together toward common goals: to understand our users, and to advocate for great experiences that leverage the best technologies while balancing business needs. Our UX design framework depends on this shared effort.
Design as Strategy
Outside the traditional realm of shaping what a product or solution looks like, we’ve been hearing that the voice of design should also be present in the boardroom.
This is because design can:
Help businesses understand who their customers and users are
Infuse empathy for customers or end-users throughout the organization
Identify the problem space that an organization wants to address
Flip a business problem on its head, revealing completely new ways of framing a challenge
Some research has confirmed the strategic value of design. Findings from the design value index suggest that 10 percent of the Fortune’s top 125 companies have executive-level positions and CEO support for design-centered roles. Other recent studies show that companies with a strong design approach have seen increased revenues and higher total returns to shareholders compared to competitors. Strong design approaches can range from leadership support for design, emphasis on iterative processes, research-based decision-making, shared responsibility for user experiences between teams, and development that is focused not on “products” but more holistic experiences.
The Positive Impact of Design
Designers have long been asked to articulate the impact of their work on a company’s bottom line. Increasingly, research suggests that good design has a positive impact on a company’s revenue. To give one example, the Design Management Institute has shown that over the last ten years international design-driven companies (such as Apple, Ford, Nike, Starbucks, Disney, Steelcase and IBM) have outperformed the S&P 500 by 219 percent.
Design is Integral to the Process
Finally, there is a push to view design as integral to the product development process, and not just something you slap on your technology to make it usable or make it look good. Design is the product.
Reality Check
All these trends are enough to make the heart of a design team soar. The potential of design when given a strategic role is (or should be) intuitive to us. But what are the roadblocks in getting design a seat at the strategy table? Here are a few we have identified:
1. There just aren’t enough designers (and researchers) to go around
Designers are still far outnumbered by other roles in most organizations. The practice of “design” still tends to fall to a particular team or group, but there are rarely enough of them to keep up with the demands for their work. According to some statistics, there are on average five designers for every 100 developers. For researchers, it’s even bleaker, with one researcher for every 100 developers. The designer-developer ratio is one indicator of the maturity of a design organization.
2. Designers are asked to the party too late
One of the biggest pain points we hear from designers and researchers is that, in part because they are a scarce resource, they are invited into important conversations too late to make the biggest impact. All the strategic decisions may already have been made, with little time to course correct. Often, significant resources have already been committed to building something without validating whether the problem being solved actually matters to users or customers.
3. Scaling design is hard
As organizations grow, create more products, enter new markets and expand features, they need ways to scale design. Scaling a design practice is especially hard, but even more important when you have multiple products, locations and acquisitions that all need a consistent user experience.
4. There isn’t a recipe for success
Another big challenge is that there just isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution that can be dropped into your organization. Just as organizational cultures differ, so do their design cultures. Organizations also differ in the evolution and maturity of their design practices and teams. The strategy for scaling one design team isn’t necessarily going to work for another. For example, if your designers report in through a product team, growing that team will look different than if your designers report to a centralized design team.
While there are many great resources on managing design team growth, becoming more design-centric isn’t as easy as hiring more designers. An organization as a whole must also adopt a more human-centered design mindset, and not as much advice addresses this thornier problem. While data suggests executive sponsorship increases the visibility and impact of design teams, we know less about what’s needed beyond leadership buy-in.
Our Approach to Scale
Given that scaling design growth is difficult and there’s no recipe for success, how do you infuse design behavior into your organization? How do you elevate and scale design?
At Workday, we’ve tried and tested a few different approaches, and we’d like to share some of our lessons in the hopes that anyone thinking about these problems can learn from them.
Here are four approaches that have worked well for us:
Expanding our definition of design Identifying and supporting our allies Opening our tools Moving beyond territorialism
Expanding Our Definition of Design
We’ve been thinking about design much more broadly than in the past. Organizations need to let go of the notion that design is primarily about what something looks like. If you are conceiving an idea and planning and executing that idea, you are doing design, whether you’re designing a product, service, business process or internal team process.
Even when you think of more traditional design roles, many of those doing what we think of as “design” aren’t designers. At Workday, product managers also make important decisions about the problems we are trying to solve, what our product is or will be and who will be using it.
Finding and Supporting Our Allies
Increasing the impact of design requires identifying the people, like product managers, who are making design decisions, who may be “doing design” in a broader sense and who may be natural allies for a design team. Once identified, you can support those allies and help them sell design to other parts of the organization.
We find that providing our allies with opportunities to learn about design strengthens their empathy for what designers and researchers do, and contributes to stronger partnerships. We offer online training on topics such as conducting user interviews and design thinking fundamentals — tools that reach our colleagues in all locations and allow them to fit design education into their day-to-day work. We also offer in-person, hands-on workshops for colleagues to learn and practice design thinking skills and problem-solving activities.
Most of our trainings are attended by individuals from a broad range of teams across the organization and create new opportunities for learning across Workday. We regularly have other people from the organization tell us “I had no idea user research was so hard” or “We didn’t realize that you had such a nuanced process.” Our program of learning opportunities helps us bring design thinking to the company as a whole.
Opening Our Tools
Design systems get a lot of attention these days, for good reason. In order to keep up with the demand on our design team, we have created and released our own design system to other teams at Workday and the broader community. Workday Canvas is our library of reusable UI components and guidelines for using them. It allows us to manage design at scale for a number of reasons.
First, it provides a single source of truth on UI elements; second, it delivers a “self-service” method of getting access to design elements without the need for exporting and sharing components via one-off conversations.
Third, it offers a shared language to use with other teams, especially developers and product managers. For example, in the past we talked about colors using hex values, which was cumbersome and not intuitive. Now teams can easily point to our Workday “Jelly Belly” color palette; instead of numbers we have “Blueberry” and “Chili Mango.” This easily-accessible reference source has also promoted adoption of our design system and good design practice by other teams.
Fourth, it allows our designers and other teams to save valuable time because they aren’t reinventing the wheel every time a new component is needed. For example, in the past, our designers used to create or approve every single icon that went into the system, even if it was just required in a different color or size. Now, we can use the Canvas design system to ensure consistency across our design and research teams, which are spread between different product areas and geographic locations. The design system provides guidelines on the standards we agree on, allows us to evaluate our work against a common ground, and gives enough flexibility for our experienced teams to be creative, innovative and efficient.
Our Canvas design system serves as the pencils and paper of UX design — the tangible tools required to design — but we also want to teach our allies how to use that pencil and paper. In addition to the Canvas design system, we created guides to help others understand and implement a design process. Our UX Playbook is a set of best practices and easy-to-use activities for how to get great design done, regardless of which department or team someone comes from. They are methods we’ve used to get unstuck, aligned and creative in our problem- solving. They are framed for an entry-level audience, including people who are completely new to design, people working with design partners or more experienced design-minded people. Offering transparency into how we work and showing teams how to use design tools to help them with their work has helped us build credibility and trust with our partners.
Ultimately, sharing our tools allows us to build faster and to increase the cohesiveness and consistency of Workday’s look and feel across all of our products and features. In turn, our designers can spend time on tasks that require more specialized design expertise and increase visibility, acceptance and design sensitivity throughout the organization.
Not only have we shared our tools within our organization, we’ve also released Canvas, together with our Playbook of methods, to the broader community. Workday recognizes that there are partners, developers and community members who are using Workday Cloud Platform to build onto our API and get the most out of Workday. Releasing our tools to the community lets us support these efforts in a way that maintains the look and feel of Workday.
Moving Beyond Territorialism
You may be wondering, if we advocate for a broader definition of design and support non-designers in learning how to use design tools, where does this leave those folks who are trained as designers? We’ve heard concerns from designers about good design being diluted without quality control on good design and research. If design is on everyone’s plate, isn’t the effect of design lessened? Some may even wonder what the role of a traditional designer or researcher might be in the context of these transitions and changes.
Our experience at Workday suggests there are grounds for optimism. We can unequivocally say our design team isn’t going anywhere. In fact, Workday’s design organization has been growing exponentially over the last 5 years, a time frame that coincides exactly with the approaches we’ve outlined above.
In fact, all of the approaches we’ve described have freed up our team to do some of the best work of their careers. It has allowed us to be more selective, strategic and forward-thinking in our work. The avenues outlined above have allowed us to work on bigger, thornier and more complex problems. They have also helped other teams in the organization understand how and when to engage with design.
We’ve talked about the ways in which Workday has tried to infuse design throughout our organization by expanding our language around design, identifying and supporting our allies, opening up our tools and moving beyond territorialism. These initiatives have allowed us to broaden and strengthen UX design at scale at Workday. We are continuing to develop these approaches and are learning lessons about what works and what doesn’t along the way. If you are facing similar to challenges and are thinking about trying out some of these approaches, we’d love to hear from you! | https://medium.com/workday-design/ux-design-at-scale-infusing-design-as-a-behavior-in-your-organization-568cab1918ff | ['Workday Design'] | 2020-10-12 22:19:21.249000+00:00 | ['Ux Design At Scale', 'Design', 'Ux Design Framework', 'Ux Playbook', 'Design Systems'] |
The Biggest Financial Story of Our Lifetimes | The biggest financial story of our lifetimes was published this week. Wall Street paid it no heed.
True, markets have declined modestly for a few days, driven by — pundits say — general worries about increasing long-term Treasury yields, trade frictions with China, and / or weakness in emerging market economies.
These issues are, however, small potatoes.
The biggest financial story of our lifetimes is the report published Monday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that found it likely that if drastic action — the magnitude of which has “no documented historic precedent” — were not taken, the global economy would experience severe disruption by the year 2040. (The failing New York Times published a good article summarizing the report.)
Before you pooh-pooh my contention that the IPCC report represents the most important financial news of our lifetimes, consider this chart of Walmart’s WMT forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio over the last six months.
Figure 1.
Over this time, Walmart’s forward P/E ratio averaged 18.5x. This means that the earnings the company is likely to generate over the next year only represents (1 / 18.5 =) 5.5% of the total value of the enterprise, as assessed by the market. Or to frame this in different terms, 94.5% of Walmart’s perceived value depends on the assumption that the company will continue to generate ever-increasing earnings in perpetuity.
From a fundamental standpoint, I valued Walmart in August of 2016 at $91 / share. In that valuation, 16% of the valuation ($14.56 / share) stemmed from my projections for the company’s cash flow growth between the years 2021–2025; another 62% ($56.42 / share) stemmed from my projections for the company’s cash flow growth starting in 2026.
Figure 2. Source: Framework Investing
The time difference between 2026 and the IPCC date of 2040 represents only fourteen years — well within the investing lifetime of someone like my daughter, who was born at the turn of this century.
I picked Walmart as an example because I knew that it was furthest from being an outlier in terms of the value of various parts of its future assumed cash flows (try the same calculation with Amazon, whose most recent forward P/E ratio was 99x).
The dirty little secret among Wall Street analysts is that corporate values are not determined by whether firms miss or beat EPS guidance in the next quarter — the issue that 99.9% of all analysts direct their focus. Rather, corporate values are determined by the simple assumption that the firm is a “going concern” and will generate a perpetual income stream for its owners.
The prospect of catastrophic effects from climate change — while distant in the terms that elected officials, investors, and the public conceive of them — represents a very real threat to the value of real and productive assets simply because most of those assets’ values are tied to the going concern assumption.
The most recent (fake)Nobel Prize for Economics was awarded to William Nordhaus of Yale and Paul Romer of New York University for the former’s work on the economic effects of climate change and the latter’s work on the value of governmental incentives in technology development.
Paul Romer (l) and William Nordhause (r). Source: Wikimedia
The fact that the Nobel was awarded on the same day as the publication of the IPCC report might be a coincidence, but if it is, it is a convenient one.
Global warming has the very real potential to drastically change the rules of the game that investors have been playing for the last 100 years. The IPCC report makes it clear that the rule change has a good chance of occurring within my lifetime. Anyone with an ownership claim on a long-lived asset — whether that asset is a lake house, an ETF, or a stake in an international retailer — faces a real risk of an enormous loss.
This is the biggest financial story of our lifetimes. It is time to pay attention. | https://climate-solutions.medium.com/the-biggest-financial-story-of-our-lifetimes-a28823a37bee | ['Erik Kobayashi-Solomon'] | 2019-01-28 01:22:56.556000+00:00 | ['Investing', 'Climate Change'] |
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How- To TALK to your baby ~ Baby Talk | BY THABITHA DAVID · PUBLISHED JULY 2, 2020 · UPDATED SEPTEMBER 10, 2020
Talk to your Baby to encourage language development: Your baby is just born and few months old. You look at your baby and all you hear is them crying or making funny sound.
You hear or read a lot of advice on talk to your baby and how it helps speeden up language development.
But when you see your baby. You are at loss of words.. You have no clue what to do or how to talk to your baby.
Your mind says that it is a waste of time and you know that your baby is not going to understand anything you say. Leave alone respond to you.
You might be asking your self what is the point?. Or if there is a point. How do I talk to my baby?.
Topics
What is baby Talk
Baby talk is a type of speech which happens when you as an adult talk to your baby. It is also the talk that babies talk.
In simple layman’s terms, baby talk is nothing but the loving gibberish that you speak with your baby.
Usually parents indulge in baby talk when they are tending to their baby.
It can be done when they are giving baby a bath or changing their cloths or during any time that you get to spend with your baby.
Why is baby talk important?
The importance of baby talk is numerous. While below I have explained few.
To put it in a short way. More the baby talks the more likely they are better to be than their peers who had less baby talk by the age of 2. Their language development is comparatively higher.
Helps in brain development
We are known that 80% of the child’s brain gets developed during the first 3 years of their life. As the brain grows, they form important connections called synapses. These connections are important to help us think, understand, learn and process information.
When you baby talk to your baby. You are firing up these synapses to develop in the language part of her brain. The more the baby talk, more the words stronger the mental connections will be. This is fundamental for language development.
While we are in the topic of brain development can you guess one another amazing activity that helps brain development (Synapses). Its Boredom. I can bet you did not know this.
If you have not guessed you should read our article on “I AM BORED” — Surprising benefits for kids you did not know about.
Helps in building Good habits
Baby talk also happens when they are reading to their baby or playing with them.
When such activities are enjoyed by your baby. Your baby will relate toreading and playing in a positive way. And this sets the foundation for reading and playing habits as they grow
You may also like to read our article on 25 EASY WAYS TO TEACH KIDS GOOD HABITS. And have an outline of the good habits that every kid should have. This will help you start early.
Helps in increasing vocabulary
You cannot do baby talk with out using words.
When you baby talk you are introducing words to your baby. When you point to objects and mane them you are making your baby relate to the object and the word.
All these help your baby to get introduced to words and thereby increasing their vocabulary and there by aiding language development.
Increases Bonding
Baby talk is a good way for you to bond with your baby. When you indulge in baby talk you will not only just speak you will also touch and sign to your baby.
You will pay attention to their cues and they will in turn learn by observing you. All this leads to goo bonding between you and your child.
Apart from the benefits mentioned above there are many other psychological benefits that your child reaps.
Benefits such as Self-confidence when their rudimentary ways of communication are acknowledged and responded to.
It reduces anxiety, makes your baby feel loved, makes them feel secured to mane few.
Signs that your baby is communicating to you
When your baby is crying
Your baby is communicating to you from the time he is born. A baby’s first ways of communication is crying.
Babies cry when they are hungry. Babies cry when they are sleepy. They cry when they are uncomfortable. Babies even cry when they are bored.
The most basic and fundamental of communication is crying. and your response to these cries is the first form dialogue that you have with your baby.
Tip: Try to respond in a positive way. And not get irritated by the cries.
Babies communicate though laughter
In few months your baby will start communicating to you through smile and laughter.
This Smiles and laughter do not mean that they understood the joke and they are laughing out of humour. They just laugh to say to you that they are present and involved in your conversation.
My nephew when he was in this stage would just laugh for everything. We as a family would be having a serious conversation and he would still happily sit and laugh every time his mother pics.
When they Babble (the “oohh’s, “aahh’s”, “keekk’s”)
Around 4 to 6 months you will start seeing that your baby starts to babble. They start to make all sorts of sounds like “oohh’s, “aahh”, “keekk”, “Kaa” etc.
Babbling is a fundamental block on which communication and language development is built on.Your response to babbling plays a very important part in developing your child’s communication.
Tip: Don’t ignore it as random sounds but treat babbling as a language and talk back to your child.
When they babble to express thoughts/ feelings.
By now you would have slowly learnt to decode your babbling. When they cross 6 months and over you will also find that there language development is in full swing and they make certain sounds to voice out.
They attempt to voice out their thoughts and feelings.
My niece would use a high pitch “ahh” sound whenever she hears the Cotton Candy Man ring his bell.
I have seen my son use shirking “Eennnn” sound when he sees me reaching out to the shampoo bottle to wash hair.
Tip: Pay attention to their babble. The faster you understand these. You can understand their thoughts and feeling. And you can have better conversation with them. | https://medium.com/@the-shades-of-yellow/by-thabitha-david-published-july-2-2020-updated-september-10-2020-9c8f7b859480 | [] | 2020-11-18 17:45:36.564000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Kids', 'Parenting', 'Moms', 'Baby'] |
Tackling Kaggle’s Mercedes-Benz Greener Manufacturing Competition with Python | Photo by Marcel Strauß on Unsplash
Introduction
In this part (which is the last article in this series), we’ll build our final model, a reasonably accurate ensemble that will place in the top 10% of the Kaggle private leaderboard. You can find the notebook for this tutorial here.
Without further ado, let’s get coding (in Colab)!
Feature Selection Using OMP
We’ve already seen how well orthogonal matching pursuit performs on our dataset. One reason could be that, like many tabular datasets, most of the columns are extremely noisy and/or irrelevant to the dependent variable, so only a handful of features are actually needed. That is very true with this dataset, as we’ve already seen how, using only 5 binary features, we can make predictions almost as accurate as a model trained on the entire dataset, which consists of a whopping 376 features. Therefore, a model like orthogonal matching pursuit, which uses a fraction of the original features, should and does score relatively high on this dataset.
It would thus not be unreasonable to train other (tree-based) models on the features orthogonal matching pursuit uses (i.e. ones with nonzero coefficients), which should give us better results because remember, at the end of the day, OMP is just a linear model. At first, I was skeptical of this idea because we’ve already seen how feature selection using a Random Forest didn’t help at all, so why should this be any different? Well, first of all, it is possible our original Random Forest couldn’t see the relation between certain columns and the dependent variable whereas orthogonal matching pursuit did, so we threw those away during feature selection. But perhaps more importantly is that matching pursuit is using a one-hot encoded version of our data, which means if all that matters when it comes to ‘X0’ is, say, whether it’s 3, 7, or something else (for example, if it’s 3, then test times rise, if it’s 7, test times are shorter, and if it’s anything else, it has no effect on the dependent value), then it can easily multiply the dummy variable for ‘X0’ = 3 and 7 by the right coefficients. In theory, Random Forests should be able to take care of such instances but in practice, if doing so requires too many splits and/or there are better splits available, that might not be the case (had we tried feature selection using Random Forests on a one-hot encoded version of our data, we might’ve been able to achieve what we’re about to see without the need to use orthogonal matching pursuit. Yet another mistake on my behalf).
Let’s give this a shot:
orth = OrthogonalMatchingPursuit(n_nonzero_coefs=20).fit(X_one, y) # np.where() returns the indices of nonzero elements # orth.coef_ is just the coefficients multiplied by the features, # so if the ith coefficient isn't zero, it means that feature # is being used to_keep = list(X_one.columns[np.where(orth.coef_)[0]]) train_keep = train_one[to_keep+[dep_var]].copy() X_keep = train_keep.drop(dep_var, axis=1) test_keep = test_one[to_keep].copy() display_df(train_keep)
Output:
Like we speculated, only certain categories in ‘X0’, ‘X2’, and ‘X5’ matter and the rest are trivial (attentive readers might notice some similarities between the binary variables we have here and the ones used to create our magical feature). There’s one more step left before we can train tree-based models on this dataset — and get surprisingly good results.
Dummy Variables to Categorical Columns
Linear models, as you already know, require the dummification of categorical features. However, one-hot encoding could hurt tree-based models’ performance and hence, we need to convert the dummy variables in our dataset into single categorical columns. In part 4, we did something similar while we were creating our super feature, and we can use the same approach here as well, albeit on select columns rather than the entire dataset:
def dummy_to_cat(col, df): dummy_names = [i for i in df.columns if i.startswith(col+'_')] dummies = df[dummy_names] # Create a Series of tuples where the ith # tuple is a tuple of the dummy variables # in row i cat = dummies.apply(tuple, axis=1) # Label encoding (tuples >- ints) cat = cat.astype('category').cat.codes df.drop(dummy_names, axis=1, inplace=True) df[col] = cat return df df = train_keep.drop(dep_var, axis=1).append(test_keep) # Doing this to 'X2's dummy variables isn't # needed, since there's only 1 such variable for col in ['X0', 'X2', 'X5']: df = dummy_to_cat(col, df) X_keep = df[:len(train_raw)] train_keep = X_keep.copy() train_keep[dep_var] = y test_keep = df[len(train_raw):] display_df(df)
Output:
Neat! Let’s test out a Random Forest to see whether what we’ve done so far can help tree-based models as well:
rf_cross_val = partial(print_cross_val, RandomForestRegressor, train_keep, n_jobs=-1, n_estimators=40) rf_cross_val()
Output: Cross validation scores: [0.609 0.614 0.533 0.599 ...]
Cross validation average score: 0.561
Cross validation standard deviation: 0.060 rf_cross_val(min_samples_leaf=3)
Output: Cross validation scores: [0.537 0.615 0.595 0.599 ...]
Cross validation average score: 0.569
Cross validation standard deviation: 0.059 rf_cross_val(min_samples_leaf=5)
Output: Cross validation scores: [0.638 0.633 0.518 0.466 ...]
Cross validation average score: 0.571
Cross validation standard deviation: 0.059 rf_cross_val(min_samples_leaf=10)
Output: Cross validation scores: [0.447 0.613 0.554 0.479 ...]
Cross validation average score: 0.561
Cross validation standard deviation: 0.063 rf_cross_val(min_samples_leaf=5, max_features=0.5)
Output: Cross validation scores: [0.560 0.570 0.505 0.590 ...]
Cross validation average score: 0.567
Cross validation standard deviation: 0.052
The best score we get is 0.571, which is slightly worse than orthogonal matching pursuit but quite a bit better than anything we were able to attain with Random Forests in past articles. It’s important to keep in mind that previously, we sometimes got a score over 0.57, but that was mostly due to the randomness involved in train-test splits. Right now, out of every 4 or 5 runs of cross-validation (with k = 100), we get an R2 of more than 0.57, which suggests this Random Forest is likely better than the previous ones (in other words, if we set k to a large enough value, this Random Forest would score higher than 0.57, whereas previous iterations would score lower). We’re definitely on the right track!
LightGBM
Random Forests are nice for quick experimentation since they’re fast, intuitive, and easy to tune. Unfortunately, though, gradient boosting machines generally outperform them by a margin that is often decisive in Kaggle competitions, making them a favourite amongst contestants (it also doesn’t hurt that they’re quite fast and heavily optimized). Hence, if we’d like to have a shot at competing, we need try them out as well.
There are numerous available implementations of GBMs for Python, with the two most popular ones being XGBoost and Microsoft’s LightGBM. Both models yield roughly the same accuracy more often than not, but the tiebreaker is their execution time. LightGBM is often 3–10X faster than XGBoost, which is vital in our case because it enables us to increase k while doing cross-validation, thereby giving us a better picture of our model’s performance and allowing for more rigorous hyperparameter tuning. LightGBM is Scikit-learn compatible, so it has a gentle learning curve for those familiar with the Scikit-learn:
from lightgbm import LGBMRegressor
Before we go any further, remember that in the first article, we dropped the ID column since dealing with IDs can sometimes be frustrating and, at first, I couldn’t see how the ID of a car could be related to its test time. Just to be sure, though, I tried feeding it to a Random Forest (alongside the rest of the data) and even after extensive tuning, it didn’t budge our score whatsoever.
However, it did help LightGBM and XGBoost, so we’ll bring it back:
train_keep = train_keep.join(train_id) X_keep = X_keep.join(train_id) test_keep.reset_index(drop=True, inplace=True) test_keep = test_keep.join(test_id)
Again, LGBM is Scikit-learn compatible, so the process of training & validation remains pretty much the same. Please be aware that, unlike Random Forests, gradient boosting machines have a real chance of overfitting if there are too many trees and hence, we can’t begin with, say, 40 trees for validation and add more trees for our final model. Instead, we’ll have to start with a relatively high number of trees right off the bat:
# Good initial parameters lgbm_cross_val = partial(print_cross_val, LGBMRegressor, train_keep, k=1000, n_jobs=-1, n_estimators=400, learning_rate=0.01, max_depth=3, min_child_samples=1) lgbm_cross_val()
Output: Cross validation scores: [0.636 0.466 0.475 0.516 ...]
Cross validation average score: 0.573
Cross validation standard deviation: 0.055 lgbm_cross_val(max_depth=4)
Output: Cross validation scores: [0.618 0.604 0.628 0.589 ...]
Cross validation average score: 0.571
Cross validation standard deviation: 0.056 lgbm_cross_val(learning_rate=0.03)
Output: Cross validation scores: [0.606 0.614 0.597 0.476 ...]
Cross validation average score: 0.572
Cross validation standard deviation: 0.055 lgbm_cross_val(min_child_samples=3)
Output: Cross validation scores: [0.595 0.554 0.488 0.597 ...]
Cross validation average score: 0.576
Cross validation standard deviation: 0.054 lgbm_cross_val(min_child_samples=5) Output: Cross validation scores: [0.529 0.449 0.644 0.571 ...]
Cross validation average score: 0.573
Cross validation standard deviation: 0.054
With min_child_samples=3, we get an R2 of 0.576, which is absolutely astounding, considering we’re not using anything from articles 1, 2, 3, and 4 (in fact, one could only read this part and still fully understand what we’re talking about) and yet, we’re outperforming every single model we’ve come up with so far. We’re almost ready to submit to Kaggle.
XGBoost
Although, at their core, XGBoost and LGBM are the same algorithm, their details do differ, so ensembling them should generally help, particularly in Kaggle competitions since every last decimal point counts. Unsurprisingly, XGBoost is nearly identical to LightGBM in terms of hyperparameters and syntax, so everything remains pretty much the same:
xgb_cross_val = partial(print_cross_val, XGBRegressor, train_keep, k=200, silent=True, n_jobs=-1, n_estimators=400, max_depth=3, learning_rate=0.01, colsample_bytree=1) xgb_cross_val()
Output: Cross validation scores: [0.633 0.589 0.593 0.444 ...]
Cross validation average score: 0.550
Cross validation standard deviation: 0.059 xgb_cross_val(max_depth=4)
Output: Cross validation scores: [0.538 0.455 0.585 0.417 ...]
Cross validation average score: 0.552
Cross validation standard deviation: 0.058 xgb_cross_val(max_depth=5)
Output: Cross validation scores: [0.573 0.574 0.561 0.615 ...]
Cross validation average score: 0.550
Cross validation standard deviation: 0.059 xgb_cross_val(max_depth=4, learning_rate=0.03)
Output: Cross validation scores: [0.480 0.567 0.583 0.631 ...]
Cross validation average score: 0.566
Cross validation standard deviation: 0.054 xgb_cross_val(max_depth=4, learning_rate=0.1)
Output: Cross validation scores: [0.504 0.584 0.548 0.526 ...]
Cross validation average score: 0.533
Cross validation standard deviation: 0.058 xgb_cross_val(max_depth=4, learning_rate=0.03, colsample_bytree=0.5)
Output: Cross validation scores: [0.588 0.650 0.580 0.508 ...]
Cross validation average score: 0.570
Cross validation standard deviation: 0.057 xgb_cross_val(max_depth=4, learning_rate=0.03, colsample_bytree=0.3)
Output: Cross validation scores: [0.620 0.468 0.590 0.578 ...]
Cross validation average score: 0.557
Cross validation standard deviation: 0.055
An R2 of 0.570, which seems underwhelming at first but as we’ll see, our XGBoost can provide a nice boost for our LGBM.
Ensembling
Ensembling is the final step in virtually all winning solutions on Kaggle, no matter the domain or topic of the dataset. In short, it is basically when one leverages the power of several models to get a slightly better, bigger model. There are numerous ensemble techniques, some very simple, others fairly complex. The method we’ll be using today belongs to the first category, and it is known as weighted average ensembling, which is, as you’ve probably guessed, when you take the weighted average of the predictions of multiple models. Choosing what weights to assign to each model can be a tedious task if there are too many models, so one usually uses a linear model to automatically figure out the optimal values. However, there are only 2 models in our case, making the process of finding good weights manually rather straightforward (and also faster).
Scikit-learn learn has a class named VotingRegressor(), which does exactly what we need: It takes in a bunch of Scikit-learn compatible models, alongside the weights for each one, and returns a model with Scikit-learn functionalities, such as fit(), predict(), etc.
Let’s first create the base models:
lgbm = LGBMRegressor(n_jobs=-1, n_estimators=400, learning_rate=0.01, max_depth=3, min_child_samples=3) xgb = XGBRegressor(silent=True, n_jobs=-1, n_estimators=400, max_depth=4, learning_rate=0.03, colsample_bytree=0.5) estimators = [('lgbm', lgbm), ('xgb', xgb)]
And now we can proceed as usual ([0.9, 0.1], [0.7, 0.3], …, [0.1, 0.9] are good weights):
ens_cross_val = partial(print_cross_val, VotingRegressor, train_keep, estimators=estimators, n_jobs=-1) ens_cross_val(weights=[0.9, 0.1])
Output: Cross validation scores: [0.493 0.570 0.501 0.507 ...]
Cross validation average score: 0.578
Cross validation standard deviation: 0.058 ens_cross_val(weights=[0.7, 0.3])
Output: Cross validation scores: [0.457 0.597 0.618 0.622 ...]
Cross validation average score: 0.568
Cross validation standard deviation: 0.059
As we would expect, assigning too much weight to XGBoost’s predictions isn’t a great idea, since its accuracy is well below that of our LGBM. Despite that, a tiny amount of XGBoost does help a bit, resulting in a model with a promising R2 of 0.578!
P.S: Please bear in mind that in order for an ensemble model to be as effective as possible, the base models need to be as uncorrelated as possible: Maybe one is a linear model, another is a Random Forest, perhaps there’s an LGBM trained on a modified version of the dataset, and so forth. Thus, it’d seem like having a linear model or a Random Forest in our ensemble should help, especially because both score better than XGBoost and almost as good as LGBM. However, I tried adding various models into the mix and for some reason, it didn’t improve our score one bit.
Submitting to Kaggle
We’re now ready to submit to Kaggle. Were we competing for first place, our model would have to be a lot better and, let’s be honest, we didn’t really put in that much work into it. But our aim is top 10%, and our model is likely that good, given that our secret sauce was OMP (which, I looked on Kaggle and no one was using), without which we wouldn’t have been able to get an R2 of 0.578
ens = VotingRegressor(estimators, n_jobs=-1, weights=[0.9, 0.1]).fit(X_keep, y) test_pred = ens.predict(test_keep) test_pred = pd.DataFrame({'ID': test_id, dep_var: test_pred}) test_pred.to_csv('submission.csv', index=False) # Submit to Kaggle !kaggle competitions submit -c mercedes-benz-greener-manufacturing -f submission.csv -m ""
Heading to the competition’s submission page gives:
Our R2 on the private test set is 0.55183, which puts us at 376th (<10%) on the leaderboard! In a competition with a moderately high number of participants (over 3800), that is definitely a great starting point, and we should be proud of how far we’ve come with comparatively little work. But we must not get too cocky, as there are quite a few ticks we could use to place even higher up the leaderboard. Some that come to mind include:
More hyperparameter tuning: There are quite a few hyperparameters in XGBoost and LGBM we didn’t cover in this article. Tuning them might increase our score by as much as a thousandth. Higher k: It is possible that due to the fact that we get such high STDs during cross-validation (implying we can sometimes get values that are too optimistic / pessimistic), some of the hyperparameter values we chose are not actually optimal. Setting k to a higher value would lead to more robust values for our hyperparameters, especially since we’re using Monte Carlo cross-validation. Classifier for detecting outliers: You should know by now that this dataset is riddled with anomalies, and being able to detect which rows are potentially outliers could be game-changing. Thus, it’d be interesting to see whether a model can actually do that and if so, how could we use it to modify our model’s predictions? Less clumsy constant column removal: Before we fed our data to orthogonal matching pursuit, we removed all binary columns which had fewer than 40 instances of zero or one, which could really damage our model’s performance. A more careful cleaning may have possibly led to different columns chosen by orthogonal matching pursuit, which could’ve in turn made our final model better.
If you’re interested in this competition, you should give these a shot and see how well they perform. But even without these, know that we have a model that earns us a bronze medal in a Kaggle competition!
Conclusion
In this part, we used orthogonal matching pursuit to not only get rid of redundant binary columns, but to also reduce down categorical columns with cardinalities ranging from 25 to 45 to ones with fewer than 10 categories. We then loosely tuned an LGBM (R2 = 0.576) and an XGBoost (R2 = 0.570), two popular gradient boosting model which dominate Kaggle tabular competitions. Finally, we used a weighted average ensemble to combine the two models, which put us in the top 10% of Kaggle’s private leaderboard, a pretty good ranking given the number of contenders!
This was officially the last part of this series, and there’ll be no more articles after this one. I hope you learned at least 1 thing from this series and enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it!
Please, if you have any questions or feedback at all, feel welcome to post them in the comments below and as always, thank you for reading!
Part 1: https://medium.com/python-in-plain-english/mercedes-benz-greener-manufacturing-part-1-basic-data-pre-processing-a32d17803064
Part 2: https://medium.com/python-in-plain-english/tackling-kaggles-mercedes-benz-greener-manufacturing-competition-with-python-3ddff72d0187
Part 3: https://medium.com/python-in-plain-english/tackling-kaggles-mercedes-benz-greener-manufacturing-competition-with-python-1ca6b030bf58
Part 3 (continued): https://medium.com/python-in-plain-english/tackling-kaggles-mercedes-benz-greener-manufacturing-competition-with-python-b5220f479a44
Part 3 (continued): https://medium.com/python-in-plain-english/tackling-kaggles-mercedes-benz-greener-manufacturing-competition-with-python-7b203e886f8d
Part 3 (continued): https://medium.com/python-in-plain-english/tackling-kaggles-mercedes-benz-greener-manufacturing-competition-with-python-a004659e02c4
Part 4: https://medium.com/python-in-plain-english/tackling-kaggles-mercedes-benz-greener-manufacturing-competition-with-python-82dd27e53757
Part 5: https://medium.com/python-in-plain-english/tackling-kaggles-mercedes-benz-greener-manufacturing-competition-with-python-e31198ecafae
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bobmcdear
GitHub: https://github.com/bobmcdear | https://python.plainenglish.io/tackling-kaggles-mercedes-benz-greener-manufacturing-competition-with-python-ecbd2714d952 | ['Borna Ahmadzadeh'] | 2020-12-15 16:12:26.309000+00:00 | ['AI', 'Kaggle', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence'] |
What’s the Point of Rules? | I’m a seafarer. Rules dictate my every move on board ship. We have rules about rest, food, safety, clothes, training, and work. We are told to follow rules, told off for not following rules, reminded of rules we’ve forgotten, and constantly informed of new, updated and “improved” rules. It’s incredibly easy to forget that the rules are the means, not the end.
Fireman holding hose during the day, from Pexels.com
Most rules fall into one or more categories:
Safety rules (don’t walk under the crane);
Laws (keep appropriate records);
Social rules (don’t slam the doors in the accommodation, people might be sleeping);
Rules to enforce the on-board hierarchy (the chair next to the radar is the captain’s); and
Traditional Rules (the 4-on, 8-off watch system)
When we enforce rules, no matter what they are, we can misuse the act of enforcement to achieve a different end. We do not intend most rules to establish or enforce the on-board hierarchy. We definitely don’t intend them as a tool for bullying or harassment.
Firefighter relaxing. From Pexels.com
A crew member stands for a moment in the shade, under shelter, in a safe area, and takes their hardhat off for a moment to enjoy the breeze. If I order them to put their hardhat back on right now, will it improve safety? Or will it just prove that I’m higher than them in the pecking order?
Unfair, unequal or unreasonable enforcement of rules leads to friction on board. Not enforcing rules at all can lead to serious consequences when things go wrong. Each of us has to decide where we draw the line.
If I order them to put their hardhat back on right now, will it improve safety, or will it just prove that I’m higher than them in the pecking order?
No rule can cover all situations, and at sea we have so many rules that occasional clashes are inevitable.
When faced with contradictory rules, I ask myself two questions:
What’s the worst that can happen? and
If the worst happens, can I justify this decision?
“I didn’t give way because my captain told me to stay on the course line,” is not a good explanation for running into another ship. Similarly, if one of my crew dies after being hit in the head by a falling lump of steel, I never want to explain to a court, “They had a headache, so I told them they didn’t have to wear their hardhat that day.”
On the other hand, “I exceeded my hours of work because we were trying to put the fire out,” is a perfectly reasonable, rational explanation.
There are a few factors I consider when I decide which rules to follow or enforce in a given situation:
Am I trying to achieve the intent of the rule, or to prove that I have more power or authority than the other person?
Would I approach this the same way if I was dealing with a more senior crew member?
Which rule is more important in this situation? Is there is a justifiable reason to break one of the rules?
The answers to those questions help me determine what to do. Because, despite what we’re often told, blind obedience to “the people in charge” isn’t always the right choice. | https://medium.com/@nic6027/whats-the-point-of-rules-6b58096bf74f | [] | 2020-12-14 19:55:07.012000+00:00 | ['Shipping', 'Equality', 'Professionalism', 'Rules', 'Safety'] |
Beginner’s Guide To Beyword Research | There are several comprehensive steps for beginners to start doing keyword research for SEO. Search engines are no longer simply matching exact phrases. In this article, you’ll see a guide to keyword research for SEO
They can “read” content, correlate terms, and determine the meaning behind the text. To successfully find and rank for keywords, SEO professionals must improve their research skills and tools. Fortunately, there is a well-defined keyword research process that you can begin following by yourself. Read on to learn about how to do keyword research for SEO.
What Is Keyword Research?
Keyword research is a practice commonly used by SEO professionals to identify high-traffic, relevant search terms. Detailed research can uncover key terms to target your audience and help you understand their ranking difficulty. Using these metrics, you can obtain valuable insights into the search terms and audiences you are targeting on Google. Moreover, you can accurately define the intent behind various keywords relevant to your niche.
What Are SERPs?
SERPs, or Search Engine Results Pages, are the pages that search engines display in response to various search queries. Every SERP is entirely unique based on a wide range of factors like browsing history, physical location, and social settings. This is why experts always say that your browsing history is like a fingerprint. The rankings of search engine results is constantly changing to deliver a more intuitive, responsive experience for searchers. In response to these growing changes, you need to optimize your keyword research efforts to rank higher within SERPs.
How Does SEO Work?
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process of enhancing your website’s presence on high-traffic search engines like Google. To analyze web pages for SEO, search engines use automated robots called spiders. These spiders crawl your site and collect data like page speed, social metadata, backlinks, and social signals. Using this data, search engines can accurately determine when to display pages to your site. As a marketer, it is crucial to understand major ranking factors in Google’s SEO algorithm. This way, you can continuously make improvements to make your site more search engine friendly.
Steps to Begin Keyword Research
There are several steps to begin conducting keyword research on your own. Once accomplished, a strong keyword researching methodology will help you build organic SEO for your site. Following the proper steps to establish your keyword strategy, you can better understand your audience’s needs, interests, and questions.
Generate New Keyword Ideas
First, you need to begin generating new profitable keyword ideas. Think of broad topics that are relevant to your brand, industry, or audience. Use the most obvious topics that are relevant to your business. Even if they make sense, you want to avoid targeting keywords that are too narrow at first. By remaining broad initially, you can strategically get more specific as your keyword research strategy progresses.
With so many prospective keyword opportunities relevant to your brand, it can be difficult to know where to start. Therefore, many marketing professionals recommend using advanced keyword research tools to your advantage whenever possible. Platforms like Ubersuggest for example, instantly generate a list of keywords for you based on what people are looking for on search engines like Google. Of course, these metrics can help you uncover hundreds of keyword suggestions. Moreover, you can access key analytics regarding volume, competition, and seasonal trends.
Keyword Research SEO Guide: Analyze the Top Traffic Pages
To establish a strong keyword research strategy for SEO, you need to analyze the top traffic pages for phrases you are targeting. Understanding the top pages, you can discover which of your competitors are ranking for profitable search terms. Of course, this data can reveal information about your direct, referral, paid, and search sources of traffic. Using these metrics, you can optimize your personal content to ensure it ranks higher within your targeted SERPs. By analyzing the top traffic pages, you can make money from search engine optimization.
Since it can be incredibly complicated to analyze top traffic pages manually, many professionals in SEO recommending using advanced keyword research and tracking tool. Free platforms like Ubersuggest for example. So, can help you instantly examine the top SEO pages, estimated monthly visits, and total backlinks. Leveraging this information, you can more effectively understand how competitors are ranking for keywords you are targeting. Moreover, you can access crucial information regarding your top pages by country and overall social shares.
Prioritize Identified Keywords
After you have identified search terms to target, you need to prioritize identified keywords. To prioritize your targeted keywords, you need to outline estimated traffic potential, competition. In addition, its likelihood to convert into leads and sales. Ideally, you want to select keywords that will offer the highest return on investment for your content marketing campaign.
It is extremely challenging to prioritize identified keywords manually. Therefore, SEO experts across the globe recommend using popular keyword research programs to your advantage. Widely used solutions like Ubersuggest help you easily group keywords based on search volume, SEO difficulty, and estimated monthly visits. Of course, this information can help you identify the most profitable keyword groups to target. Using this data, you can prepare highly optimized content that will rank higher within the SERPs.
Keyword Research SEO Guide Conclusion
There are several steps to begin doing keyword research for search engine optimization purposes. Before you begin, you need to familiarize yourself with crucial terms like SERPs, SEO, and of course, keyword research. Then, you need to begin looking for solutions to generate new keyword ideas. Analyze the top traffic pages relevant to the phrases you are targeting. Furthermore, you need to prioritize identified keywords based on the estimated traffic potential, competition, and its likelihood to convert into leads and sales. Follow the key steps outlined above to learn about how to begin conducting effective keyword research for SEO. | https://medium.com/@visualmodo/beginners-guide-to-keyword-research-17ec527c07ff | [] | 2020-12-03 00:30:41.481000+00:00 | ['Beginners Guide', 'Keywords', 'Keyword Research Tool', 'Guides And Tutorials', 'Keyboard'] |
Oakland’s Homeless Mothers Spark a Movement | I watched in horror, along with the rest of Oakland, as videos surfaced online showing the forceful and shameful eviction of a group of homeless moms from a vacant West Oakland home they had been occupying since November to give themselves and their children a safe place to live.
The group of women — Dominique Walker, Sameerah Karim, Tolani King, and Misty Cross — took over the house at 2928 Magnolia Street, owned by Wedgewood Properties, a Redondo Beach–based real estate investment group, which had been sitting empty for two years.
In recent months, the women, all members of Moms 4 Housing, have received an enormous amount of support from the community, as well as from the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment. What the moms wanted from Wedgewood was simple: for it to sell the home to the Oakland Community Land Trust; in turn, the property would remain affordable in perpetuity.
Instead, at 5 a.m. this past Tuesday, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office sent a tanklike vehicle down the street to the house, along with soldiers carrying AR-15s. This entire display of warlike tactics was all to remove mothers from a place where they sought shelter — a place no one else is using. The women were charged with misdemeanors. After the eviction, Wedgewood sent a crew to board up the property, erect a temporary chain-link fence around the premises, and dump all the moms’ belongings onto the street without giving them a chance to properly pack their furniture—even their kids’ toys.
The story created a firestorm, not only for the cruelty displayed toward these women and their families, but also because it represents the larger problems of inequality and displacement that have reached a boiling point in the Bay Area. Evicting tenants in Oakland is nothing new, but it’s been particularly bad in recent years, especially for renters who are Black, Brown, senior, or disabled, as landlords make way for wealthier newcomers.
Destiny Johnson, 12, bottom, and her sister, Demi Johnson, five, the daughters of Moms 4 Housing’s Misty Cross, spend time in their room in a vacant house in West Oakland. Photo: Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images
There are countless tragic stories of eviction, such as when one of the last single-room occupancies— then called the Travelers Hotel — was sold in April 2016 and the new owner evicted its tenants, who were mostly low-income or seniors. The building was remodeled and turned into a swanky communal-living space. Then there’s the story of Jahahara Alkebulan-Ma’at, a disabled senior whose landlord evicted him on Christmas Day and posted a pro-Trump billboard on the building. Over in Fruitvale, neighbors rallied to prevent the eviction of a Latinx family living in an apartment with the help of a Section 8 voucher, but the developer wanted them out and saw to it.
These stories happen every day throughout this town, which is why the Moms 4 Housing case has struck such a cord. When being able to rent a place becomes unattainable, people will resort to other ways.
I write this essay not from a journalistic perspective, but as a lifelong Oaklander, one who — much like Dominique, Sameerah, Tolani, and Misty — knows what it’s like to count pennies every month in hopes that you can make your rent. Someone who has seen her hometown slip away from hardworking low- and middle-income families who have called Oakland home for generations. Someone whose own family has dealt with the pain and trauma of eviction.
The moms of the house on Magnolia Street are out there bravely doing the labor many of us wish we had the guts to do.
I’ve seen firsthand how landlords take advantage of the new reality here: Why rent to a local Black or Brown family for a reasonable amount when there’s a wealthy transplant ready to pay inflated rent? The number of high-income renters in Oakland earning more than $150,000 grew by 173% between 2014 and 2018, according to an analysis by RentCafé.
The moms of the house on Magnolia Street are out there bravely doing the labor many of us wish we had the guts to do. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve driven or walked by an empty home, quickly pulling the public records on my phone and wondering if the owner would be willing to rent at a more affordable monthly rent or sell to someone who hopes to stay in Oakland.
What people who are opposed to Moms 4 Housing’s unconventional methods do not understand is that as a city, as people, we’ve reached our limit. Conventional methods haven’t worked, so here we are fighting for our right to stay in the city we love, the city that birthed and nurtured us, the city that made us resilient and political. For those who tell us to move elsewhere — somewhere we can afford — my answer to you is this: No one should have to make hundreds of thousands of dollars just to be able to stay in their hometown, near family and everything they know.
The attention Moms 4 Housing is receiving is the start of a much-needed revolution to shed light on the desperate need for affordable housing.
We were here when apartments around Lake Merritt were $600 and a family could comfortably rent a house for under $2,000. We were here when no one else wanted to be — when Oakland was a stain on the map, when people from San Francisco were too afraid to cross the bridge. We grew up without all the hipster coffee shops, bars, and restaurants. We loved that Oakland. And we are tired of seeing our friends and family get displaced by those with a fleeting affection for our city.
The attention Moms 4 Housing is receiving is the start of a much-needed revolution to shed light on the desperate need for affordable housing. Sadly, their initial momentum wasn’t enough to garner national press coverage; it was the unnecessary force used to carry out the eviction that finally made national outlets pay attention.
The group’s movement had been overlooked for so long on a national level for many reasons, but first and foremost because they are Black women who carry a stigma of being homeless. Most people can’t fathom that someone with a job would be unable to secure housing. But one of the moms, Sameerah Karim, still could not afford a place despite working three jobs. I’d argue that if the residents of the house on Magnolia were white women with white children, the press attention and outcome would have turned out much differently.
My far-fetched wish is that transplants who moved to Oakland will realize the role they have played in the displacement of Black and Brown families and step up to join the fight, rather than contribute to the problem.
As I sit here typing this, my income spreadsheet on the next tab over, wondering how I’m going to pay my rent next month, my heart is heavy for Dominique, Sameerah, Tolani, Misty, and their children. It is heavy for so many families who are suffering here. If (God forbid) I have to move out of my apartment because I can no longer afford the rent, at least I have the option of going back to my parents’ place. Who do the mothers have to turn to?
My far-fetched wish is that transplants who moved to Oakland realize the role they have played in the displacement of Black and Brown families and step up to join the fight, rather than contribute to the problem. Activists have worked tirelessly to make sure the moms and their small revolution garnered attention, but the burden to find a solution is on all of us, especially those who came to the city for a job and played a role in gentrification.
If you own investment properties, are you willing to rent to these women at an affordable price that locals can pay? If you have a property sitting vacant, are you willing to let it go for a lower selling price? If you are new to town, are you willing to show up, protest, and support these women? That is the kind of activism we need. The fight for them to get a home is not over.
To my local lawmakers, especially to Mayor Libby Schaaf, do you want this to be your legacy — the displacement of families? Stop catering to developers who contribute to your campaigns, and use your political power to help your constituents.
The mothers represent all of us Oaklanders, fighting every day to remain rooted in our hometown. We value building and maintaining community. We all want to prosper, have a family (if we choose), and live comfortably. Housing is a human right. I thank Dominique, Sameerah, Tolani, and Misty for starting this housing revolution. Who is willing to join them? | https://thebolditalic.com/oaklands-homeless-mothers-are-all-of-us-6221716afe76 | ['Azucena Rasilla'] | 2020-01-17 00:23:54.322000+00:00 | ['Bay Area', 'Cities', 'Oakland', 'Equality', 'Bay Area Housing'] |
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