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MERIT OF SMART CONTRACT DEVELOPMENT COMPANY IN GWALIOR | Direct WhatsApp- https://bit.ly/2op0VQr
Website Visit- https://bit.ly/2nJJwBV
Contact No: +91–9870635001
Smart Contract Development
Smart Contract Development
As variety one Blockchain development company, we have a tendency to facilitate corporations to make sturdy digital protocols that validate conditions of a legal contract between 2 or a lot of peers, over personal and public blockchain networks.
Smart Contract Development
Implement sensible contracts to alter social control in RootStock and Ethereum. we are going to write your sensible contract’s code firmly.
What square measure sensible Contract Process?
A sensible contract could also be a code that predefines a gaggle of rules beneath that the parties to that smart contract accommodates act with each other . typically|this can be} often the sole style of localized automation. sensible contracts assist you send and receive cash, shares, property, or something helpful throughout a clear, conflict-free and predefined means whereas avoiding the services of a middleman.
Features
Smart contracts square measure capable of pursuit performance in real time, and should bring vast value savings. Compliance and dominant happen on the fly. therefore on urge external data, a smart contract wants data oracles, that fetches the information .
Smart Contracts square measure
Self-verifying
Self-executing
Tamper resistant
Smart Contracts can;
Turn legal obligations into machine-controlled processes. Guarantee a larger degree of security. Decrease reliance on trustworthy intermediaries.
Lower dealing prices provide United States a decision which we are going to assist you develop blockchain applications specific to your engineering business ways. we have a tendency to perceive the technology, the platforms, and so the developers.
Smart Contract Development Company | Services
Moreover, sensible Contracts give complete aid in legal and money fields, especially , by simplifying and automating routine processes that individuals presently pay vast fees to lawyers and banks by removing middlemen like retailers from a offer chain. The blockchain is good for storing sensible contracts because of its unchangingness and decentralization. sensible contract knowledge is encoded on a shared ledger, creating data safer , keep among the blocks.
Whether you’d wish to type payment through cryptocurrencies or secure your transactions through sensible contracts, we’ll produce electronic contracts among the correct direction in step with the client’s business wants. we have a tendency to hold huge experience in making sensible Contracts over Ethereum and Tron for many industries like attention, transport & supply, automobile, land , accounting & finance, etc.
smart contract application
Smart Contracts Development
Services sensible contract development services
Smart Contract design
smart contract development services
Smart Contract style and Development
smart contract development services
Smart Contract Audit
We offer sensible contract validation services to provide a smart contract free from bugs and breaches.
smart contract development services
Smart Contracts improvement
We optimize sensible contracts before readying to help purchasers save Ethereum gas.
Blockchain sensible Contract Development Services Company
The sensible Contract could also be a virtual contract that is formed victimisation blockchain platform for unchangingness and security functions. This sensible contract square measure typically signed between 2 parties while not third party involvement, terms & conditions square measure drawn in step with the authority folks.
Smart Contract knowledge square measure keep among the ledger that enhance it’s security. Theses tempting traits created sensible contract to face out of the box additionally gained numerous trade attention.
Our team of skilful developers has the experience of developing all types of sensible contracts on numerous blockchain platforms together with Ethereum, Binance Chain, Hyperledger, EOS, and Corda, and languages together with Solidity, Golang Vyper, Truffle and a lot of.
Smart Contract Development?
Our well-knowledge and trained developers works on developing the sensible settle for numerous blockchain platforms as per our cherished client necessities
100% bug free sensible Contract security code is given assured safety and flexibility
Smart Contract Development Services once we have a tendency to work on this specific answer, we have a tendency to confirm that it’s crafted as per the precise nature of your product or service. With our sensible contracts, you will give a sturdy base for your company and outflank all the competitors.
With the ability of our developers, your company gets the only results ANd implements this answer in an impeccable manner. we have a tendency to modify your business to understand feats at minimum expense and equip the platform with the foremost pioneering merchandise.
Smart Contract Development Services.
If so, then sensible contracts square measure the right answer for you. Execute business agreements and obligate all the parties concerned among the contract mechanically with none middleman with our sensible contract development services.
Smart contract development square measure typically tired completely different platforms such Hyperledger cloth, Ethereum or others. Our sensible contract development and auditing services will assist you alter all of your tasks.
Top sensible Contract Development
Looking for prime sensible contract development firms? Here’s a listing of sensible contract blockchain companies with reviews and ratings. sensible contract programming permits you to trade money, property, shares, or something of significant value throughout a simple means whereas keeping off from the administrations of a middleman. sensible contracts blockchain possesses the facility to defy the principles & penalties a touch sort of a customary contract. Also, it naturally implements the correspondent obligations. want this tech? Below is that the list ready by sensible corporations of best sensible contract firms to cater your wants.
SMART CONTRACT improvement
Because the sensible contracts square measure joined to blockchain, the information becomes changeless and so the necessity for third party is eliminated, that thereby automates business method and hamper additional prices.
Osiz technologies, a supposed sensible contract development company deliver top of the range sensible contract solutions for start-ups to enterprises. Our professionals square measure updated to the earth category technologies, together with new innovations in blockchain technology. whether or not it’s building sensible contracts for your existing blockchain or implement new sensible contract for your enterprise, we have a tendency to concentrate on developing self corporal punishment digital contracts, customizable for any style of industries. we provide the foremost correct sensible contract services, to form certain merely|that you just} simply profit with right automation method to cut back budget items and time.
Optimizing sensible contracts for value
people who square measure engaged on Blockchain, particularly on Ethereum, should have detected concerning sensible Contracts. Optimizing sensible contracts for value. people who square measure engaged on Blockchain, particularly on Ethereum, should have detected concerning sensible Contracts. whereas writing contract code we’ve to be terribly careful otherwise, a user will end up losing plenty of Gas.
Overview:
A developer has to be terribly careful whereas writing these contracts, otherwise, the user/creator of those contracts might end up losing several Gas. And someday, it’s about to exceed the block gas limit additionally and in such cases, those contracts will not even get deployed on the network. to look at ‘block gas limit’ construct, please look here. in brief it defines the utmost quantity of gas all transactions among the entire block combined square measure allowed to consume. The developer should understand these operations and therefore the means abundant they consume gas.
Bottom line is to put in writing down optimized contract code. And to undertake to that, the developer ought to be at home with ‘opcodes’. Let’s look at variety of those directions and perceive their behaviour. | https://medium.com/@nfttoken1/merit-of-smart-contract-development-company-in-gwalior-e3b6de401d6 | ['Nadcab Technology'] | 2021-06-17 11:52:32.423000+00:00 | ['Smart Contracts', 'Smartmlm', 'Smarttron'] |
I think I’m in a weird stage | There’re a couple of times that my friend asked me: “Have you considered a non-Taiwanese date?” I always responded to them, “Nah. I don’t feel like want to chat with other in English, especially something personal/emotional.” Because for me using English is a tiring process, which drains my brain quickly within just a few conversations. My vocabulary in English wasn’t abundant enough so it feels difficult to express my feelings in English. While there’s no problem for me using Mandarin, and that’s why I’m thinking only dating with Taiwanese.
But recently I found one thing, if I talked to a Taiwanese too much, I would like to develop a relationship with him/her/it. I would start expecting things from the other, although I clearly know it’s not healthy for our relationship.
Then, this morning, I was eating my breakfast in the McDonalds near Taipei Main Train Station. I was sitting their at the bar area, facing the windows out. Then, a backpackers approached, asked me if the chair next to me is occupied. “Of course it’s not”, I said. Then, after he got his meal and sat down, he brought out his phone and asked me how to use the WiFi provided by the McDonalds.
To use the WiFi, you need to download localized McDonalds (Taiwanese version) of an App and login with it. But it’s impossible to download it without the internet, right? So we began to chat a while, he’s a backpacker from Russia and just traveled from Indonesia. I then briefly share my experience in Indonesia and we all agreed how we love the country. I’ve finished my meal already, so I said “enjoy your meal!” to end our conversation. He then replied, “enjoy your life!”.
First, I never heard someone said that to me, which is really a fresh experience. I will remember this and said to someone else in the future lol. Second, I just had a quick casual talk with a foreigner, which I don’t think I will build a relationship with, and it feels relaxed and easy-going. I didn’t worry about messing up our conversation or relationship, as I from the very beginning didn’t expect anything back from him.
Well, that’s harsh. My previous assumption about only dating with Taiwanese quickly being challenged. At the moment, I’m feeling more stressful with Taiwanese than with a foreigner. | https://medium.com/@tomchentw/i-think-im-in-a-weird-stage-7a7b7eec3e8 | ['Lost In Space'] | 2019-03-03 04:25:45.372000+00:00 | ['Taiwan', 'Relationships', 'Diary', 'Personal Development'] |
AWS Snowball and Snowmobile Tutorial | This article will introduce you to how data migration works on Amazon Web Services Cloud. Following pointers will be covered in this article,
Use Case For Data Migration
AWS Snowball
Steps For Migrating Data To The AWS Cloud Using Snowball
Snowball vs Snowmobile
So let us get started then,
Use Case For Data Migration
With the faster penetration of higher internet speeds, satellites, and smartphones the amount of data generated is increasing day by day. For ex., a Satellite Imagery Company might be already storing Petabytes of information about the earth and updating the same on a regular basis. Adding storage capacity on a constant basis would be a huge challenge to them not only in terms of the cost but also in terms of logistics like space, power supply, security, etc. This is where Cloud Providers like AWS will come into the picture. A few other use cases where companies have huge amounts of data is for storing the video libraries, genomic sequences, seismic data.
The Satellite Imagery Company and others would like to move their applications and data to the Cloud and let the Cloud Provider take care of the storage aspect like security, backup, additional storage, etc. This way the Satellite Imagery Company might focus on its core business to find more customers, providing more value to the customers, more ways for the customers to interact with them, etc.
But, moving Petabytes of data over the internet has its own challenges. According to the AWS documentation here: 100 terabytes of data will take more than 100 days to transfer over a dedicated 100 Mbps connection. Forget about moving Petabytes of data, it will take close to a year. On top of the time required there is an additional cost of network bandwidth and let’s not forget the data snooping when a public internet is used. This is where services like AWS Snowball and AWS Snowmobile come into the picture.
Next in this AWS Snowball and Snowmobile Tutorial
AWS Snowball
The Snowball is a rugged device and is also explosive proof, a tad bigger than the size of a suitcase, and can be checked into a flight also.
Another option to speed up the data movement between the Data Center and the AWS Cloud is to use the AWS Direct Connect Service. Using this service, a dedicated line is established between the AWS Cloud and your own Data Center for a stable connection and consistent high bandwidth.
Next in this AWS Snowball and Snowmobile Tutorial let us see how data migration works,
Steps For Migrating Data To The AWS Cloud Using Snowball
Here are the steps at a high level to migrate the data between your own Data Center and the AWS Cloud.
Step 1: Request one or more Snowball devices from AWS depending upon the amount of data to be transferred. A Snowball has two versions with 50 and 80 TB storage and can be ordered from AWS via the management console.
Step 2: AWS would be shipping the Snowball to the customer. The next step would be to connect the same to the local network and then transfer the data into the Snowball using the Client program provided by AWS. The data gets automatically gets encrypted and stored.
Step 3: Once the data has been transferred to the Snowball, it must be couriered to AWS. The Snowball has e-ink to automatically populate the address of the AWS location. The data in the Snowball is encrypted (256-bit encryptions using AWS KMS Keys), so it’s now possible that the Snowball gets tampered with or someone tries to get the data out of it. It’s all protected.
Step 4: Once the AWS folks get the Snowball, they connect it to the AWS Cloud, decrypt the data, and move the data to S3.
Step 5: Once the data has been moved to S3, the Snowball is wiped out for no one to access it further.
Step 6: The last and the final step is for the customer to access the data in S3. From there the data can be moved to EBS, EFS, DynamoDB, and various other AWS Services.
The above-mentioned steps are very much like how we transfer the data from one Laptop to another when not connected to a network. We insert the USB Drive to the source Laptop, copy the data to the USB Drive. Remove and insert the USB Drive to the target Laptop and copy the data. While the above-mentioned steps are for moving the data from our own Data Center to the AWS Cloud, it’s also possible to move the data the other way, by following the exact steps in the reverse order. This way there is no locking of the data.
Not only Snowball is used to move the data of the existing applications to the AWS Cloud, but can also be used for the Data Center Migration when it makes sense to close an existing Data Center and move everything to the Cloud. This approach makes the transition faster when compared to moving the data over the public internet which is a bit slow.
This brings us to the final bit of AWS Snowball and Snowmobile Tutorial,
Snowball vs Snowmobile
A single Snowball can store up to 80 TB of data out of which only 72 TB is of usable space. Multiple Snowballs can be used in parallel when there is a requirement to move more than 80 TB of data.
AWS also provides a Snowmobile where the size of the data stored is much more than what a Snowball can store. A Snowball is a rugged shipping container with a semi-trailer truck. While a single Snowball can store up to 80 TB of data, a single Snowmobile can store 100 PB of data, which is almost 1,250 times the capacity of a single Snowball. AWS recommends using a Snowball when the data to be transferred is less than 10 PB or else to use a Snowmobile. Apart from the default encryption Snowmobile takes a few additional steps like GPS tracking, 24/7 Video Surveillance, optional escort to make the data even more secure. If you wish to check out more articles on the market’s most trending technologies like Artificial Intelligence, DevOps, Ethical Hacking, then you can refer to Edureka’s official site.
Do look out for other articles in this series that will explain the various other aspects of AWS. | https://medium.com/edureka/aws-snowball-and-snowmobile-tutorial-f8159ae8294e | [] | 2020-12-10 06:01:38.972000+00:00 | ['Snowball', 'Cloud Computing', 'Amazon', 'AWS'] |
How to monitor your Persistence nodes using PANIC! | In this guide, we will be going through the steps required to set up monitoring and alerting for your Persistence Network validator infrastructure. The software to be used is Simply VC’s open-source alerting tool, PANIC.
Situations alerted:
Missing Blocks
Validator voting power changes
Validator jailing
P2P peer fluctuations
Out of sync nodes
Unreachable nodes
New Github releases
Notification channels:
Logging — alerts logged to an alerts log
Telegram alerts — alerts delivered to a Telegram chat via a Telegram bot
Automated phone calls — alerts trigger a phone call to grab the node operator’s attention
Email notifications — alerts sent by email using a personal SMTP server
Setting up the Dependencies
Python3
Python3 comes preinstalled by default on most Linux distributions. In this guide the Linux release on this machine is Ubuntu 20.04 and python3 was installed by default with the current version being Python 3.8.5. Therefore if it is not preinstalled with your distribution, it is available as a package.
Check if Python3 is installed by running the following command.
$ python3 –-version
Installing PIP Package Manager, Pipenv Packaging Tool and Redis Database Server
# sudo apt-get install python3-pip redis-server -y
# sudo pip3 install pipenv
# sudo systemctl enable redis-server.service
Opening up the Persistence node’s RPC port for monitoring access
By default, the node’s RPC port is only accessible locally, as can be seen in the following snippet of $HOME/.persistenceCore/config.toml.
[rpc]# TCP or UNIX socket address for the RPC server to listen on
laddr = "tcp://127.0.0.1:26657"
Should you be installing PANIC on a remote host, set the setting to the following value and restart your Persistence node.
[rpc]# TCP or UNIX socket address for the RPC server to listen on
laddr = "tcp://0.0.0.0:26657"
Installing PANIC
1. Create a new user to run the alerter as:
# adduser panic_alerter --disabled-login
2. Create a directory that will have the PANIC alerter cloned into it. Since this is now owned by the root user, set it to be owned by the new panic_alerter user, then switch to that user:
# mkdir /opt/panic_alerter
# chown -R panic_alerter:panic_alerter /opt/panic_alerter
# su panic_alerter
4. Now logged in as the panic_alerter user, clone the PANIC Github repository:
$ cd /opt/panic_alerter/ && git clone https://github.com/SimplyVC/panic_cosmos.git && cd panic_cosmos && git checkout master
5. Update the project’s packages and run the alerter setup:
$ pipenv update
$ pipenv run python run_setup.py
Initialising the PANIC alerter setup
From here onward, follow the installation wizard and input the API tokens, node info, etc. to configure the different notification channels and the nodes which are to be monitored.
Follow the installation wizard and as we want to set our alerts up with Telegram we are required to insert the Telegram bot’s API token.
In order to obtain the API token, you must have a Telegram account. Download the Telegram app for Andriod or iPhone on your phone and create an account using your phone number.
Once you have your Telegram account set up you can create the bot by the following steps:
Add @BotFather on Telegram and press start. In the chat with @BotFather send a /newbot command and set the name using the /setname command. Take note of the API token, which will look something similar to 123456:ABC-DEF1234ghIkl-zyx57W2v1u123ew11. Access the link api.telegram.org/bot<token>/getUpdates, replacing <token> with the bot’s API token. This gives a list of the bot’s activity, including messages sent to the bot. Once you are on the chat with the bot, click on the start option and it will send the /start command to the bot. Check the api.telegram.org/bot<token>/getUpdates, the result section should contain at least one message. Take note of the “id” in the “chat” section of this message. One bot will suffice, however you may repeat the above steps to create more bots.
In step 5, once the connection is successful, a Test Alert message will be delivered to you.
On having completed these steps you should have:
A Telegram account
A Telegram bot
The Telegram bot’s API token
The chat id
With these details we can now carry on with the setup. Enter the Telegram bot’s API token. A subsequent prompt will ask you for the chat id in order to sync up the chat with PANIC.
Set up Telegram commands in order to be able to interact with the bot using certain commands. After accepting to set up the Telegram commands you will be prompted for the bot’s API token.
We will then set up redis in order for status updates to be enabled. This will prompt you for the Redis host IP: (default: localhost). You may leave the answer empty and press enter in order to allow the default to be set, which is localhost.
Onwards to the next step we will press enter and allow the default value 6379 to be set for the host port.
Insert the Redis password, if one is set up. (by default Redis doesn’t have a password)
Onto the last Redis prompt, where you should test your Redis connection configuration.
To produce alerts, the alerter needs something to monitor. Therefore in this case you will be required to provide the IP of your validator node. Once added, it will ask if you want to add another node. This is optional as we will be monitoring one validator node.
Once the setup is complete, a “Setup Complete!” message will display on your prompt and you will now be able to run PANIC.
Starting PANIC as a Service
The service file is created as follows:
# nano /etc/systemd/system/panic_alerter.service
Entering the service definition:
[Unit]
Description=P.A.N.I.C.
After=network.target
StartLimitIntervalSec=0 [Service]
Type=simple
Restart=always
User=panic_alerter
TimeoutStopSec=90s
WorkingDirectory=/opt/panic_alerter/panic_cosmos
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/pipenv run python /opt/panic_alerter/panic_cosmos/run_alerter.py [Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Running the alerter as an enabled service means that it starts up automatically on boot and restarts automatically if it runs into some issue and stops running.
You may omit the enabled service command if you do not want the alerter to start up automatically.
# sudo systemctl enable panic_alerter.service
Lastly, we will start the alerter service:
# sudo systemctl start panic_alerter.service
Check out systemctl status panic_alerter.service or the logs in /opt/panic_alerter/panic/logs to confirm that the alerter is running.
Try interacting with the Telegram bot now using the /ping command. To confirm that the bot is responding, it will return “PONG!” as a reply.
Moreover, in order to check the status of your node, you may type /status.
Use /help to find out more ways of interacting with the Telegram bot.
Changing configuration
Configuration options are stored in .ini files in the config directory of panic. Here you may find: | https://medium.com/simply-vc/how-to-monitor-your-persistence-nodes-using-panic-a09f39071220 | ['Gianluca Cremona'] | 2021-08-17 08:27:50.295000+00:00 | ['Monitoring', 'Persistence', 'Tendermint', 'Proof Of Stake', 'Blockchain'] |
Getting Started with Python 🐍 | March 21, 2020
If quarantine is boring you to death, this article might help you out.
This article is meant as a tutorials guide for someone who is looking out to learn python but is overwhelmed by the number of tutorials and resources to learn from. We hope this is the kind of article you’d bookmark and comeback to again and again to get links to tutorials, books, articles and the official documentation for Python.
Why learn Python ?
A language that doesn’t affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing. — Alan J Perlis
If you are someone who has had a semester of experience with C, learning python would be great, it will introduce you to the world of dynamic programming languages, where the programmer is not required to worry about data types and can do a lot of things on the fly.
Python is a high-level, versatile, object-oriented programming language. It is useful and powerful while also being readable and easy to learn. This makes it suitable for programmers of all backgrounds and is likely the reason Python is one of the most widely used programming languages (as of 2020). The shear amount of things you can do with python is breathtaking. It includes,
Basic Scripts for automation
Graphical User Interfaces
Games
Web Development
Data Science
Mathematical and Scientific Programming
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Embedded Systems
and that’s just scratching the surface, knowing Python is very much like a super power, you gain the ability to get into a lot of domains.
The following 3 reasons really make python stand out :
It’s simplicity and readability The enormous ecosystem of packages and tools that come along with it. An extremely strong and utilitarian standard library
The Zen of Python
This is an Easter egg in the python run-time, if you run import this
The Zen of Python, by Tim Peters Beautiful is better than ugly.
Explicit is better than implicit.
Simple is better than complex.
Complex is better than complicated.
Flat is better than nested.
Sparse is better than dense.
Readability counts.
Special cases aren't special enough to break the rules.
Although practicality beats purity.
Errors should never pass silently.
Unless explicitly silenced.
In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess.
There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it.
Although that way may not be obvious at first unless you're Dutch.
Now is better than never.
Although never is often better than *right* now.
If the implementation is hard to explain, it's a bad idea.
If the implementation is easy to explain, it may be a good idea.
Namespaces are one honking great idea -- let's do more of those!
This explains the spirit of python, it might not make much sense to the relatively new programmers, but should resonate with developers who have had some experience with languages like C, C++ or Java.
Okay, now we should get to the real business. | https://medium.com/dsckiit/getting-started-with-python-95cf3a26dd0b | ['Junaid Rahim'] | 2021-04-03 06:46:44.561000+00:00 | ['Tutorial', 'Getting Started', 'Beginner', 'Python', 'Boredom'] |
The secret to ending burnout — the one HR Gurus don’t talk about. | What a 9-day field trip through the jungles of Belize taught me about ending employee burnout in America.
Can you feel it now, Mr. Krabs?
Welcome, fellow traveler.
Today, you are going to learn one of the most successful methods out there for ending burnout — on your own.
*Disclaimer, I didn’t learn this hack for happiness and well-being in the middle of a fu*king jungle.
Instead, I stumbled on this all-to-obvious insight after kicking myself in the a*s for the last 25 years.
The secret to ending burnout boils down to one thing: taking care of yourself.
Here’s what I realized: Humans, unlike European sports cars, need more than the occasional tune-up. Rather, we need consistent R&R, structured high and low output days, appropriate nutrition, exercise, community, great sleep, and sex (if that’s your thing).
Pretty damn simple, right? However, who’s actually doing this for themselves?
Let’s break it down
Why should we even care about burnout?
Because “burnout,” unbeknownst to many, describes real conditions that are affecting millions of people, such as; anxiety, depression, insomnia, hypertension, obesity, suicidality, low self-efficacy, relationship stress, familial stress, financial stress, and so on.
Burnout is not just a phrase that applies to lawyers, doctors, sales reps, and those who work dead end jobs. It’s hurting all of us. Why? Because we fill up on fast food and soda, sleep like total dog sh*t, get worked like machines, and forget that we’re human.
As much as we like to say this, it isn’t the employers and HR gurus that are hurting us. If anything, they just aren’t helping us the way we need to be helped (working on that).
Truly, it’s us who got ourselves here. And it’s due to the fact that we have an unhealthy relationship with work. Tough pill to swallow, right?
However, because of a long history not worth recounting, it’s fallen on the shoulders of our employers to provide us with the care and resources we need. I mean, it’s the least they can do, right? After all, we help them make astronomical amounts of money.
So, where does the road to wellness start?
For employers to truly empower their most valuable asset (their people), they should start by aligning themselves with a provider who can give them the tools to assess, manage, and energize their people.
Here’s the caveat; it needs to be people-first, predictive, and comprehensive for it to work well.
A Band Aid will not do.
And to all you humans out there who would like to get access to cool sh*t that makes you better at being human, spread the damn word. Dammit.
What if I don’t believe in wellness?
Allow me to ask you a question in return.
What is prevention? Simple. Doing things that are good for you now to prevent harmful and costly things from happening later.
You see, America has practiced reactive care over preventative care for longer than any of us would like to admit. Treating people acutely or “as needed.”
Yet, when almost 90% of our annual healthcare spend is devoted to treating chronic conditions, we must be doing something seriously backwards.
Here’s one solution:
Give people what they really need. A lot of it. When and wherever they need it.
Where? Well, at work. The place where people spend nearly 75% of their adult life (yeah, that’s probably a great place to start). And if you can, give it to them before they even realize they need it. Wouldn’t that be flippin futuristic?
The fact of the matter is, a one-dimensional wellness program isn’t going to cut it anymore, not on paper and definitely not for the people who are supposed to use it.
Say hello to LEON
At LEON, we found that sewing people into the fabric of our approach makes all the difference. Oh, and we’re pretty flippin futuristic.
Got another question for ya. If no two people are alike and no two companies are the same, why should their response to wellness be?
This isn’t a trick question, the answer is: it shouldn’t be.
Can I tell you another way of saying LEON? Human-first. Predictive. Individualized. Comprehensive.
Whatever your company’s goal is, if it involves people, LEON has the resources to support it — while also optimizing for performance, health, creativity, and happiness.
Ask yourself, am I implementing an effective wellness program? If you have no clue, or you could be doing more, a dash of LEON should do the trick.
Want to learn more? Set up a discovery call, here.
Namaste. | https://medium.com/@braedonleslie/the-secret-sauce-to-ending-burnout-the-one-hr-gurus-dont-want-you-to-know-about-9b26cb4b3444 | ['Braedon Leslie'] | 2020-12-24 21:50:48.026000+00:00 | ['Employee Engagement', 'Employee Retention', 'Employee Benefits', 'Human Resources', 'Employee Burnout'] |
I have no Choice, My Dear Parents | A Typical Desi Mard (male) dilemma.
Photo by Sandy Millar on Unsplash
In Asia, especially in Pakistan and India, there is a deeply rooted tradition of arranged marriage. The tradition is that the family members of a boy go to see a girl in her home. The girl serves food and shows them her ‘mannerism’. Boy’s family members, most probably mother, looks at the girl from head to toe. She judges her character, way of speaking, her complexion, education, mannerisms and many ,many other things in just one sitting and then rejects on one simple thing such as ‘girl’s complexion is not fair or she is a bit healthy or she is short etc’. Once my friend told me that a family came to see her and the mother placed her hand under my chin and pulled it towards her to see my friend’s face more ‘clearly’. Pathetic!!!
Well, this was just a context; I want to say something else.
I want to talk about that man who sends his parents to another home to choose a girl for him.
Frankly speaking, I don’t like those men. (Blunt? Yes. Usually I don’t say bad about anyone, I know, but I have to be clear what I think about them).
I have certain things that I think about them. They want arrange marriage for certain reasons:
1. Well, some guys tell their parents about their ‘preferences’ regarding a girl because it seems more easy than trying. Like seriously? In this way you would only get ‘appearances’. Or maybe they only want appearances.
2. When a male wants an arrange marriage, he doesn’t have a choice of his own. So he gives all the matter to his parents. Or sometimes he thinks about his ideal girl but still gives the matter to his family. Lazy and lame!!
3. Some guys want arranged marriage because they are tired of finding a girl on their own. Well, in that case I can pity them as they don’t have any guts. They deserve ‘arranged girl’. Or may be they are simply shy.
4. Sometimes a guy wants an arrange marriage as he has done a lot of ‘girlfriend stuff’ already. Now he wants ‘shareef (pious)’ girl for him because his girlfriends are just ‘outside girls’. (like really?). There is a very crucial point here. How can a boy be sure that the girl he is getting via ‘arranged marriage’ hasn’t gone out with someone? Can’t she be the girlfriend of someone else? Don’t you see a cycle runs here? It is. And that is called “karma”, my dear.
5. Some guys are simply like a lump attached to their parents. They are so simple, pious and dedicated sons. They cannot do anything of their own. Every decision will be taken by their elders. So do I even need to talk about them? I guess you can understand my point here.
6. Often a guy is simply broken up by someone. He simply gives his strings to his parents. Rest is the history. They don’t believe in next effort.
7. Well, some parents are so strict that they do not allow their children to like someone. They think if a boy brings a girl of his own choice, she might be a bad seed for the family; hence, she cannot be trusted. Therefore, they decide to bring the girl of their ‘choice’. Seems ridiculous, isn’t it? Hence, a boy will marry the girl of his parents’ choice, not his.
8. Sometimes a guy is so young. He has tied a knot even before he is properly aware. I think they are out of our discussion.
9. Sometimes a male likes a girl and tells his parent that he has chosen a girl. At this point, parents become so stubborn and judgmental. They think their son has no guts to choose a girl. See, even your own parents think you a dumb person. Don’t you see? Sometimes they think a girl would be bad because in our society if a girl falls in love, she isn’t a good girl.
10. In most families, parents tell their kids, “this is your cousin, and you have to marry her, only. Otherwise, there would be clashes in our families”. Such men are so afraid because of family ties, they agree with their parents’ will. Simple and the most common story.
11. Now come a hypocrite male of our society. He would love a girl, date her and at the end would say, “My parents won’t accept you, so I can’t marry you”. You know what would they do? They will marry someone else’ girlfriend in the shape of ‘arranged marriage’. That’s called IRONY.
My God, there are so many points. I didn’t know there are so many types. If I think more I will write more categories. I think that’s enough.
My point is why is this culture so strong? In this society, a male is in a relatively better position but he is still sending his parents to some strange girl and then gonna marry her. I don’t like it. If he doesn’t have a choice of his own or guts to choose the girl, I cannot think high of him. Simple. | https://medium.com/illumination/i-have-no-choice-my-dear-parents-5dcc18a97a12 | ['Rabia Mustafa'] | 2021-04-03 08:55:27.609000+00:00 | ['Men', 'Love Marriage', 'Arranged Marriage', 'Choices', 'Desi'] |
Your Chance to Collaborate With Professional Authors | CRY has partnered with Toronto Writers Collective (TWC) to share this incredible opportunity for emerging writers. TWC’s mission is to inspire and empower the unheard through writing and they’ve done just that for a countless number of writers.
Please read below and apply if you’re interested. You DO NOT need to be from Toronto to participate.
Do you have a story to tell? The Toronto Writers Collective is offering the opportunity to celebrate and amplify powerful voices in collaboration with 8 professional authors. Your voice, your stories.
Between July and September, emerging authors will create new works that explore the themes of: Hope, Courage and Survival. Selected pieces will be published in a new Front Lines anthology. Through writing together and listening to others, writers discover and cultivate their voices, inspire others with their stories, and celebrate the diversity within their communities.
The deadline to apply is June 15 at 5 p.m.
Apply Now
More about the Write On! Program
The Toronto Writers Collective has published three anthologies in its Front Lines series. Over 50 emerging authors have been given the opportunity to work with professional authors to develop craft and have their voices heard.
As a Community Arts Development program, Write On! III encourages the artistic development and personal growth of the writer/participants. By working with professional artists, the emerging authors will learn new skills, improve literacy, explore different genres, and have their work published and presented. By creating a community inclusive of race, ethnicity, class, age, gender, sexual orientation, neurodiversity and physical ability, the TWC’s Write On! III Program celebrates creativity, expression, and voice.
The 2021 Write On! III Program will use the TWC method to create new material. The 10-week mentorship will give 6–8 writers in each group the opportunity to develop and hone their writing skills and submit edited material for publication. Applicants will be selected based on their submitted material and included in a group based on their availability to work with the mentors.
Each workshop will be one and a half hours long with additional consultation possible by mutual agreement. The day and time of the workshops may be adjusted based on the mentor’s and participant writers’ availability. Poetry, fiction, biography, memoir and lyrics are genres that have been previously published.
Result of the writing: What to expect
Each emerging author can submit up to six pages of edited material: 1,750 words for fiction, biography, or memoir. A 50-word biography will accompany the finished material. Final editing and assembly will occur during the months of September and October. | https://medium.com/cry-mag/your-chance-to-collaborate-with-professional-authors-caeb65e10ff3 | ['Kern Carter'] | 2021-06-08 12:32:38.040000+00:00 | ['Workshop', 'Newsletter', 'Writing', 'Authors'] |
Want to save money? Here’s how Americans plan to get it done in 2021 | Want to save money? Here’s how Americans plan to get it done in 2021 SWNS Follow Dec 24, 2020 · 3 min read
A new study conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Slickdeals aimed to reveal how 2020 affected Americans’ financial status and how they look at bettering their situation in 2021. (via Pexels)
The year 2020 has taken its toll, and Americans are looking at the 2021 new year for a fresh start in one particular area.
According to new research, 73% of Americans have a New Year’s resolution for 2021 that centers around being smarter with money.
The survey of 2,005 Americans also found that 47% of respondents say that 2020 was a difficult year for them financially.
Conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Slickdeals, the study aimed to reveal how 2020 affected Americans’ financial status and how they look at bettering their situation in 2021.
So how exactly was 2020 a bad year financially? The poll showed that 53% of Americans can point squarely at the pandemic.
One in four (23%) of those polled were laid off or furloughed, while 34% say they had some other type of sudden income loss.
But there were other causes, too. Nearly half (49%) say they were paying more bills in 2020, and 42% had some medical expenses.
There was also a somewhat unique and unconventional reason our finances struggled in 2020: 59% say they went overboard on spending due to the sheer amount of boredom the lockdown brought them. Respondents already have some solid plans lined up for 2021 that will help ease their financial burden a bit.
When it comes to how they plan to overhaul their financial situation in the new year, 38% say they are going to try to get completely out of debt.
One in three (34%) say they’ll discontinue some unnecessary subscriptions, with another one in three (33%) planning on seeking out more deals and discounts while they shop.
Another one in three say they simply plan on shopping more wisely, with 30% looking into a savings app for their phone.
For one in five (19%), it will be a matter of refinancing their burdensome loans, whereas 12% plan on getting a part-time job.
Another 12% plan on approaching their boss for a pay raise.
“A new year provides a clean slate for people to assess their financial situation and make the modifications needed to put them on track,” said Ryan Tronier, Senior Personal Finance Editor for Slickdeals. “Simple changes such as cutting unnecessary subscriptions or looking for more deals and discounts when shopping can quickly add up to big savings.”
Americans also plan on saving in the new year. The average respondent said they want to put $327 away per month, with 22% putting away $500 or more.
And it could be more than just having a little extra cash: 80% say that having more financial stability will result in a positive domino effect in their life.
Tronier added, “The study showed that consumers are looking to put more money away in 2021. We ran this survey because we believe that every shopping experience can be a winning one for your wallet. Our community of savvy shoppers helps one another discover the best products at the best prices. Over the past twenty-one years, our users have saved more than $6.8 billion. By tapping into the knowledge and insights from our unique community, consumers can quickly make strides toward their new year’s financial goals.”
TOP 5 WAYS AMERICANS PLAN ON OVERHAULING THEIR FINANCES
Getting out of debt 38%
Removing unnecessary bills 33%
Seek out more deals/coupons 33%
Spending money more wisely 33%
Using a savings app 30%
>> Download the video and infographic for this research story <<
NOTE: All news copy and multimedia on this SWNS account is free to use as you see fit. Where research has been conducted, we ask that you credit the company which commissioned it. | https://medium.com/the-capital/want-to-save-money-heres-how-americans-plan-to-get-it-done-in-2021-6d5f1c0f95e7 | [] | 2021-03-03 03:40:38.156000+00:00 | ['Money', 'Finance', 'Personal Finance', '2021', 'Saving'] |
Is Salesforce making money? | Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) is a profitable software company that most people are unfamiliar with.
Most investors are unfamiliar with Salesforce because it specializes in customer relationship management (CRM) solutions. To explain, CRM software connects businesses with customers.
Moreover, Salesforce pioneered the concept of Software as a Service (Saas). In detail, a SaaS solution provides both software and a service. For example, an invoicing SaaS offers both invoices and the program that creates them. Thus, a good way to think of a SaaS is an app for business computers.
Is Salesforce a value investment?
Hence, Salesforce has characteristics of a value investment. For instance, it makes a widely-used product that is but not sexy.
In fact, the obscurity adds value to Salesforce because a lot of investors are unfamiliar with it. Yet those who buy and use its products respect its product.
Notably, over 100,000 companies worldwide use Salesforce’s CRM products. More importantly, Salesforce’s business is growing at an impressive rate.
For instance, Salesforce’s revenues grew at a rate of 27.32% during 3rd Quarter 2018. That shows there is a significant demand for its products.
Does Salesforce Make Money?
Salesforce is making money off of its CRM and SaaS solutions. For example, it recorded a gross profit of $2.432 billion on revenues of $3.81 billion for 3rd Quarter 2018.
In addition, Salesforce recorded an operating income of $115 million and a net income of $299 million for 3rd Quarter 2018. Thus, the net income from Salesforce’s licenses exceeds its operating income. Hence, I think Salesforce makes money without spending resources.
Importantly, Salesforce’s business is generating significant amounts of cash. For instance the company recorded an operating cash flow of $458 million, a financing cash flow of $589 million, and a free cash flow of $288 million on 31 July 2018.
Salesforce is a Cash Rich Company
Additionally, Salesforce reported having a lot of money in the bank on 31 July 2018.
In detail Salesforce recorded $2.319 billion in cash and equivalents, $1.108 billion in short-term investments. Thus Salesforce had $3.427 billion in cash at the end of 3rd Quarter 2018.
Impressively, Salesforce’s stash of cash has been far bigger in the recent past. In fact, Salesforce had $7.159 billion in cash and short-term investments on April 30, 2018.
As a result, Salesforce meets one important criterion for a value investment; it is a cash-rich company. For this reason, many people will wonder if Salesforce is a good dividend stock.
Is Salesforce a Good Dividend Stock?
Unfortunately, Salesforce does not pay a dividend. I think’s a shame because CRM could be a great dividend stock.
Consequently, the market overpriced Salesforce (CRM) at $122.03 a share on 23 November 2018 without a dividend. Consequently, there is no reason for income or value investors to own Salesforce.
Conversely, there is a lot of growth potential at Salesforce. Accordingly, Salesforce could be an effective growth stock.
The Bright Future at Salesforce
Salesforce has a bright future because of the dramatic growth of the cloud and the relentless spread of apps. Salesforce is well-positioned to take advantage of new markets and business opportunities throughout the globe.
For example, Salesforce offers cloud-based platforms that perform basic business functions. For instance, Salesforce claims to offer the #1 marketing and sales platforms.
Moreover, customers can those platforms from anywhere via a simple app. Therefore, Salesforce can sell its products anywhere there is a decent Wi-Fi connection.
New Opportunities for Salesforce
Under those circumstances, Salesforce’s biggest opportunities will be in developing markets like India, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa. Such markets are an opportunity for Salesforce because there is little existing infrastructure to support business there.
To explain, an entrepreneur in Uganda cannot run down to a bank or a consultant. Yet she can access the cloud via a phone or a tablet. Hence that entrepreneur is a potential Salesforce customer.
Salesforce and Cloud 2.0
In the long run, the development of what I call Cloud 2.0 will create some huge potential markets for Salesforce.
To enumerate, Cloud 2.0 will consist of new technologies like the blockchain, sidechain, cryptocurrency and apps. An excellent example of Cloud 2.0 is the distributed ledger technology, The Hyperledger Project is creating for the Ethereum blockchain. Hyperledger’s goal is to create a wide variety of tools or apps for business to use on the blockchain.
Other examples of Cloud 2.0 include all the Ethereum platforms being built for specific business purposes. For Aitheon’s digital ecosystem for automation and the Internet Of Things.
How Cloud 2.0 will power future growth at Salesforce
Cloud 2.0 will drive future growth at Salesforce in two important ways.
First Cloud 2.0 will provide many new distribution channels for Salesforce’s products. For example, businesspeople in developing nations could use a sidechain and cryptocurrency to pay for Salesforce’s SaaS solutions.
Additionally sidechains will provide a distribution mechanism for decentralized applications (DApps). In detail, a DApp is a SaaS solution built for the blockchain or a sidechain.
A business model being developed by platform like MOAC (MOAC) will use sidechains to distribute DApps to people all over the world. I think solutions like MOAC’s sidechains could take Salesforce’s cloud-based solutions to company all over the world. Hence, Salesforce will see its markets expand dramatically in the years ahead.
How GitHub Threatens Salesforce’s Future
On the other hand, Salesforce will face a vast amount of competition in the years ahead. For example, a software developer in India can distribute his creations through open-sourced markets like GitHub.
Thus better and cheaper alternatives to Salesforce products could reach a mass market overnight. Notably, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) owns GitHub, which gives its 31 million developers potential access to Windows.
Moreover, GitHub claims the number of organizations using its web-based SaaS marketplace grew by 40% in the past year. For example there are now 2.1 million organizations using GitHub’s 96 million cloud-based software repositories.
Impressively, those organizations have made over 200 million pull requests for SaaS and other apps. To clarify a pull request is a demand for a product at GitHub
Under these circumstances, Microsoft and GitHub are Salesforce’s biggest and most dangerous competitors. Markedly, the GitHub threat is growing dramatically. In particular, GitHub claims more new developers’ joined its platform in 2018 than in the previous six years combined.
Why Microsoft is a Better Stock than Salesforce
In the final analysis, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) not Salesforce is the stock to buy to cash in on cloud-based CRM. I think Microsoft is in a position undercut and wipeout Salesforce’s business via GitHub
Impressively, Microsoft is scheduling a cash dividend of 46¢ on 13 December 2018. Furthermore, Microsoft stock is cheaper than Salesforce. For example, Microsoft shares were trading at $103.07 on 23 November 2018.
There is no reason to buy Salesforce because Microsoft is a better and cheaper stock. I advise investors to stay away from Salesforce because the market overprices it, pays no dividend, and has a questionable future. | https://marketmadhouse.medium.com/is-salesforce-making-money-ca4185c48309 | ['Daniel G. Jennings'] | 2018-11-23 23:07:37.102000+00:00 | ['Salesforce Productivity', 'Startup', 'Stocks', 'Salesforce', 'Value Investing'] |
England: Match continues as scheduled after testing Covid negative | Two members of England’s support staff and two family members of the support staff returned positive COVID-19 rapid antigen tests before play on the second day of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. The match continues as scheduled after all players tested negative with rapid tests, although there are now questions about how the series can be played from here.
Read more: Happy B’Day English Cricketer Heather Knight
https://twitter.com/englandcricket/status/1475231379117920256
Game was delayed by 30 minutes-
The game was delayed by 30 minutes. After two members of England’s support staff and two family members came back to test positive for Covid.
Read more: Mayank Agarwal: A Sixth Test half-century
Cricket Australia has been informed-
“Cricket Australia has been informed that two members of the England cricket team’s support staff and two members of their family. They have returned a positive COVID-19 rapid antigen test,” a CA statement said.
Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley spoke shortly after play resumed the second day. And he was confident the game and the series could continue.
Read more: Happy B’Day Australia Wicket-Keeper Matthew Wade
New South Wales reported 6,324 new Covid cases-
New South Wales reported 6,324 new Covid cases on Monday from 97,241 tests on Boxing Day. Hockley was confident that the fourth Test in Sydney, starting on January 5, was not in danger, despite the high number of cases there.
Seven Network confirms it is responding after a member of staff working on the Ashes broadcast at MCG tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday night,” Martin said. “The staff member was asymptomatic at the time of testing and is in self-isolation since the positive result came.
Read more: Pat Cummins Shook England’s Top Order
Martin confirmed that the main commentary team-
Australian television broadcaster Channel Seven had to completely replace its commentary team on the second day in Melbourne. After it was confirmed that one of their team had returned a positive Covid test. Sport’s Seven Network head Lewis Martin confirmed that the main commentary team, consisting of Ricky Ponting and Sir Ian Botham, are in isolation and will not be part of the broadcast until they return negative PCR tests. Seven’s BBL commentary team has stepped in to fill the breach. | https://medium.com/@babacric/england-match-continues-as-scheduled-after-testing-covid-negative-499a546f2e13 | ['Baba Cric'] | 2021-12-27 06:40:34.821000+00:00 | ['Cricket', 'Covidnegative', 'Englandcricketboard'] |
How’s This For A Curve Ball? | Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer jointly announce vote Thursday on dueling bills
How’s This For A Curve Ball?
Senate To Vote On Not One Bill To Reopen The Government Today, But Two…
The first is the new Senate bill, ghostwritten by the White House, that we painstakingly analyzed yesterday. That’s the one that includes Trump’s wall.
The other is the bill that’s already passed in the House, based on a bill originally overwhelmingly passed in the Senate by Republicans and Democrats alike. Before Trump changed his mind and said he wouldn’t sign. That one doesn’t include a wall.
The plan was revealed during a joint appearance on the floor of the Senate by Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Interestingly, McConnell put his proposed legislation up without comment. Schumer, always a talker, had a few points to make, but even he uncharacteristically kept it tight and (relatively) polite, although he likened Trump’s proposal to “bargaining with stolen goods”. Here’s part of what he had to say:
The most likely outcome is obvious: neither bill gets the 60 votes needed to pass in the Senate.
At the same time, it creates both some enticing opportunities, and potential ironies, for instance:
It could very likely result in Republican Senators voting down a bill they were responsible for first putting up, and passing by a huge majority.
Even though Trump has already said he won’t sign the House bill (which is the reason Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has given for blocking a vote until now), doing so might serve some useful purpose for the President, especially depending on how badly he wants to give the State of the Union Address next week. That’s because the House Bill only funds the government until February 8th. Which, when was originally proposed and approved by the Republican-controlled Senate back in mid-December, sounded like a reasonable amount of time to hammer out a border security package. Now, it’d just guarantee the government would be reopened for a few days.
So even though Trump has vowed not to sign anything without a wall included, there might be some attractive enticements for him to do so:
He could immediately reopen the government and even if that lasted for just a few days, he could get people paid. They’d like that. Pretty much all Americans would like that. He could give the State of the Union Address as scheduled, in Congress, without jumping through hoops or appearing under duress. He could still use the entire speech to bash Democrats about the wall. Even though Democrats still probably wouldn’t go for a wall, they would rush forward willing to commit far more money to border security than they ever would’ve before, just to prove Trump wrong when he says they’re against it and “for open borders.” Trump could claim this as a victory, and it would be for him, even though Democrats could also claim they didn’t give in.
In addition, the apparent Supreme Court decision not to consider DACA in the current session, despite the Trump Administration’s call for them to do so, detracts from of one of Trump’s biggest pressure points. That means their earliest ruling would now come in 2020, unless they decided to work an “extraordinary session”, which has almost never happened.
So now Trump’s “new generous compromise” offered over the weekend is far less attractive (not that it was attractive in the first place), because offering DACA recipients a 3-year extension under current rules is worth far less now that the Supreme Court has in effect already itself created at least a one-year extension.
Also remember, even if the new Trump-composed Senate bill passes, it would still then have to pass in the House, where it almost assuredly would not. At the same time, if the Senate passes the House bill that already passed, it goes right to the President’s desk, where he probably won’t affix his giant signature, but who knows?
One big lingering question: what’s Senate Majority Leader McConnell up to here? He’s blocked votes on the House proposal so many times during the 5 weeks of the shutdown. And even though he’s allowing a vote now, that doesn’t mean he’s supporting the bill that he originally shepherded through back in December. He’s not. So why suddenly allow it? What’s McConnell’s angle? Because, heck, he’s gotta have one.
But we’re not going to get sucked into speculating about what’s going on in his head. Well, maybe a little:
Perhaps he’s anticipating that even though both bills will fail, the Trump-authored one will get more votes, bringing some much-needed momentum Republicans’ way by making their bill appear more popular, even if it doesn’t mean very much right away. The White House certainly believes Democrats will start falling like dominoes, and abandon Nancy Pelosi, if public opinion somehow shifts to blaming Democrats more.
Maybe he sees this vote as a possible, low-risk path for federal workers to get paid without really giving in on much of anything, since the President could just shut the government down again at the beginning of February if no new border agreement is reached between now and then. In the interim, the President would have the opportunity to give his State of the Union address to the public, and maybe also do a rally: his best shots at ramping up support. And McConnell could come out smelling like a rose.
Or maybe there’s some stratagem we’re totally missing, that will reveal itself as days go by… | https://ericjscholl.medium.com/hows-this-for-a-curve-ball-6979d8e5d3de | ['Eric J Scholl'] | 2019-01-24 06:33:46.825000+00:00 | ['Budget', 'Donald Trump', 'Politics', 'Immigration', 'Congress'] |
#songhecrucche: 9ª puntata | in Both Sides of the Table | https://medium.com/rummenigge/songhecrucche-9%C2%AA-puntata-886c3b0c78b5 | ['Tommaso Lana'] | 2016-09-21 15:05:09.154000+00:00 | ['Kreismusik', 'Käptn Peng', 'Die Tentakel Von Delphi', 'Mucke', 'Germania'] |
No-code tools and their democratizing power for designers | Over the past couple of years, the rise of the no-code movement has started to change the landscape of tech. Designers can now build powerful apps and webs that can scale for any organization — without writing any code. Let’s take a deeper dive into no-code software and no-code tools.
The ability to learn new things and adopt new technologies, while progressing with your work accordingly, is a crucial skill for any designer, especially freelancers. With our lives and every business strategy increasingly dictated by screens, webs, and, basically, the Internet, the importance of digital design and coding is soaring. Fortunately, there’s a whole world of no-code tools allowing designers to make a leap into creating software.
It is no longer necessary for a designer to work together with a developer in every project they are involved in. The worlds of no-code software and design are colliding at a rapid rate and real software is being created without writing code for the first time ever.
This movement rests upon the belief that tech should enable creation rather than stress it. Crafting an app, or building a website has always been out of reach for designers. Today tools like Webflow, Bubble, Bravo Studio, Buildbox or Shopify are enabling designers to navigate a space that used to be open only for developers. No-code tools have removed the obstacle of having to learn programming languages. Now anyone can bring their ideas to life.
Plus, no-code software allows anyone to build products 10x faster than with traditional development. Being able to build your own app, spending a controlled budget, and determining its viability is huge.
No-code case studies and tools
There are so many tools around that it can seem a bit overwhelming to dive into this world. In addition to that, sometimes it’s difficult to understand exactly what we can do with each of them. I’ve been analyzing no-code directories and resources (such as nocodelist, zeroqode and nocode.tech) for a while now, so I’ve decided to put together a couple of cool case studies built in Webflow, Bravo Studio, and Billflow for you to get inspired.
HelloSign — Marketing pages built with Webflow
Let’s kickoff with a classic no-code drag & drop tool: Webflow.
HelloSign, a Dropbox company that adds legal eSignatures to documents, runs all of their marketing pages through this platform, letting their design and marketing team own web publishing without the help of developers. Before moving to Webflow, HelloSign’s marketing website lived in their main application, so all the changes and updates their marketing team wanted to make had to be routed through the product team. With this setup, it took three weeks to get changes to the website live. On the other side of the equation, their product engineers were spending valuable development time working on the marketing website, which meant less time focusing on the product.
Shop Cartooli — A native mobile app built with Bravo Studio
Bravo Studio is a no-code app builder that enables you to build your own apps. It works with Figma and Adobe XD and fosters design flexibility.
Shop Cartooli, an e-commerce site that helps artisans sell their products to customers around the globe, needed a mobile application. Both users and sellers were demanding this and they wanted to act quickly and make it easier for them to access their platform on mobile devices. However, they are a small business with in-house designers and no developers so they couldn’t afford traditional development.
They used Bravo Studio to turn their Shopify into a native mobile app. They were able to prototype a native iOS app based on their Shopify store and then launch it with their own branding and keep each and every functionality.
Hopin — Billing pages built with Billflow
Billflow is the best no-code solution if you’re looking for a fast and easy way to create billing pages.
Hopin, an online events platform, needed to improve their customers’ overall payment experience and reduce their billing development load. They did so using Billflow. First, they connected the app to their Stripe account, then they customized their pages to fit their branding and optimized the payment experience for their customers.
Other tools you might find interesting:
Carrd: simple single page websites
Scapic: AR/VR/3D experiences in your browser
Readymag: online magazine webs
Sheet2Site: turn a Google Sheet into a website
Rive: real-time interactive animations, for any platform
BigRadar: chatbots and customer engagement
The power unlocked by Webflow, Bravo Studio, Billflow, and any of these tools will certainly allow designers to take their creativity to the next level. You can build your own app, create animations, turn Airtable sheets into websites, and a lot more. Designers just need to take a moment to explore these tools and encourage themselves to begin to add them to their current stack. | https://uxplanet.org/no-code-tools-and-their-democratizing-power-for-designers-641f2b065e69 | ['Josefina Blattmann'] | 2021-04-20 10:36:04.377000+00:00 | ['Makers', 'No Code', 'Designer', 'UX', 'UX Design'] |
Impact of Uber | Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
I became curious about this topic a few years ago, when I came across a Quora answer on a question about how profitable working for Uber might be. The answer was extremely well written and included earnings calculation and if I remember correctly, personal experience. It came to the conclusion that considering all fees, etc imposed by Uber, the income earned was rather more like a loan dealt out by Uber.
The reason I write this article is two-fold
To find out whether or not the Quora answer provides an accurate summation of an Uber driver’s earning potential and To understand whether the effect of Uber is ultimately a positive or negative one, as in my own locality there have been several attempts by the incumbent taxi industry to block all ride-sharing services.
Analysing the impact on both Uber’s riders and drivers
To begin with, Uber has linked on their website a study by EDR Group in the United States. Some of the interesting findings were:
Uber’s contribution to the U.S Economy in 2017 was $17billion in GDP
Net impact of Uber stands at $591million(basically the difference of national income with Uber and without it)
The riders of Uber benefit in various ways such as
Need of owning a car(and costs that come with it)— Uber negates the need for a second car, and in some cases, even a first. This is evidenced by the fact that 15.7% of Uber riders in the US own no vhicle as compared to 9.1% of all residents. Costs saved include lease and purchase payments, insurance payments, licensing and registration, fuel, maintenance, parking and depreciation.
Non-money amenities — Riders are reportedly willing to pay more than available non-Uber alternatives for reasons like comfort, GPS-location safety, schedule flexibility, reliability and possibility of visiting destinations they may not have been able to via other alternatives.
When it comes to the drivers ways in which they are benefited include
Supplement to their main source of income — 87% of drivers earn income from sources other than Uber. Considering all these sources, 66% of the drivers now make more than they did before partnering with Uber. In addition, 23% of the drivers were unemployed before Uber’s arrival.
Schedule flexibility — To give a sense of how important this is to the drivers: 80% of the Uber drivers report benefiting from its schedule flexibility while 42% report they would not partner for Uber if not for its flexibility. Infact, up to 34% chose this flexibility despite higher earnings opportunities in their previous jobs.
Other reasons — Both income & non income factors influence a drivers decision to join Uber.
Percent responding “Yes”
It’s cogent to say the riders and drivers themselves are not aggrieved, but the present taxi business. | https://medium.com/@PiotrRees/impact-of-uber-91ddf33e128e | ['Piotr Rees'] | 2019-03-18 14:05:21.185000+00:00 | ['Ridesharing', 'Uber', 'Taxi', 'Lyft', 'Impact'] |
Is it time for the automobile industry to adopt decentralized technologies? | Recently the four largest automobile industries- BMW, Ford, General Motors and Renault formed an alliance with tech providers and start-ups to develop one of the biggest coalitions committed to the application of blockchain technology in the automotive sector. While there have been many attempts previously to transform the automobile industry using decentralized technologies, there was a need for a decentralized business network which is backed by both private and public blockchain systems. Why decentralization was necessary is what we will discuss in this article.
Why decentralize the data?
MOBI, better known as Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative which is headed by Chris Ballinger as its CEO and Chairman, can be seen as the auto industry’s united response to the observation that data produced around cars can be utilized as a valuable resource and blockchain technology can be used to control and manage the data without any manual interference. An average car produces about 25 gigabytes of data in an hour, and this can be categorized as the commuter’s usual driving schedule, their navigation details and weather reports of the areas they visit. While Google has already begun to store the data, Amazon is planning to introduce Alexa into vehicles while Microsoft Azure has its own Car System. As of now, Google and Tesla are already miles ahead of their rivals to tap into data pool and use it for their benefits. Once the data is decentralized, it can be used to deliver benefits to the society like improving road security and reduce congestion on the roads.
According to Ballinger, the CEO of MOBI, sharing this data is the quickest and safest way to bring out self-driving cars onto the roads. That’s where blockchain technology comes into play. Blockchain technology is an inherently secure way of stockpiling and sharing data. The data structure of shared ledgers store the data throughout various devices connected to the network hence making it impossible to manipulate once it is entered in a block. The blockchain structure doesn’t only safeguard the data from possible hacking issues but also encrypts it by hashing it using 256-bit strong encryption, which ensures that the probability of a hacker accessing a data is quite astronomical. Today, using blockchain technology to solve the obstacles of connected car data security is no longer a choice, it’s more of a necessity.
Other benefits of a decentralized platform
A decentralized platform not only provides with a secure option to store the data, but it can also be used to purchase vehicles from a buyer. This can work just like buying goods from a retail store, where the consumer uses tokens to pay the supplier. This exterminates the intermediaries from the equation of purchasing a car. Hence, one can get the same car at a low price as compared to the price quoted by a dealership. Such platforms are a boon for both the consumer as well as the manufacturers.
For the consumers, they may avail low costs, ability to pay for their vehicles in the form of cryptocurrencies and reduced delivery time. While manufacturers get a fully functional online system for selling their vehicle and a reduction in warehousing cost. While there exist many independent platforms that sell and trade vehicles of particular brands, there also exists a platform where one can buy any vehicle of their own choice without going through the hassle of long waiting queues, delivery dates or running from dealership to dealership in search of lowest costs. One can either choose to wander on their own browsing through different websites to find the best option that suits them or can take the word of an experienced person who has been working in the field for an extended period.
One such example of a platform that allows you to access every variety of vehicle available at once is Gaus.trade. Not only do they provide you with a smooth User Interface, but there are also features that you might not find elsewhere. Gaus.trade has created a decentralized, crypto-powered platform that eases many of the obstacles in the path to buying a car directly from the manufacturer. Once you choose the vehicle configuration and model on the website, you’ll be prompted to register for a personal account. Then you can proceed to buy GAUS token for fiat or cryptocurrency through your own account, i.e. you can either exchange your cash or your cryptocurrencies from different wallets into GAUS tokens and store them in your account. Once you make the purchase, the required amount of tokens will be frozen into your account, and you’ll receive a popup window that shows the Date of Manufacturing and Delivery Date of your vehicle. Once your vehicle is delivered, you need to activate it through satellite and verify the accompanying documents and confirm the purchase. Once the purchase is confirmed, the tokens will be unfrozen from your account and get transferred into the manufacturer’s account. Hence, you don’t need to make an advance payment of any sort like you need to do in dealerships, and the money is transferred only after you’ve confirmed about receiving the vehicle along with the authentic and correct documents.
This smooth functionality of Gaus.Trade makes it unique among the rivals. Not only is your money safeguarded until the delivery, the freezing of tokens also guarantees that you need not worry about the fluctuating price of your tokens throughout the period of delivery. They get you your vehicle, at your doorstep while providing you with a discount of about 20–30%.
Is the future here?
The data a car generates is not only a valuable resource for the manufacturers but also for companies that are planning to bring autonomous cars into existence. The mere idea of using blockchain technology to connect vehicles to share data can be seen as a way to eliminate the obstacles that arise in the development of autonomous vehicles. Not only does blockchain technology assure one of a non-manipulated database but it also increases the speed of data transmission.
The time is ripe for application of disruptive technologies in the automobile sector — not only in manufacturing world-class cars, but to transform the way these cars reach the end user. Gaus.trade has taken the right steps in that direction. Blockchain technology holds within it limitless opportunities to disrupt and transform. The trick is to tap into its deepest recesses to find ways to achieve that.
Official website
Telegram official group | https://medium.com/gausblog/is-it-time-for-the-automobile-industry-to-adopt-decentralized-technologies-f32fe96bb3f0 | ['Gaus Trade'] | 2018-07-13 12:48:20.952000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Automotive Industry', 'Vehicles', 'Autonomous Cars'] |
Data Science & Entrepreneurship 101 for Pre-Master Students | A. Practical
A.1 — Study Books 📚
That is where it all begins, right? Dabble in piles of literature to become the next level data science genius. No, not really to be honest. In fact, in the premaster program the focus is more on gaining practical skills. All the necessary materials will be uploaded on Blackboard and the JADS hub. In other words it won’t cost you a dime, lucky you!
A.2 — TU/e or UvT? 📩
You probably know that JADS is a joint-initative of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and Tilburg University (UvT), don’t you? This basically means you have the best of both worlds: you can make use of the student sport centers in Eindhoven and Tilburg, you can follow additional language courses at the UvT while you can buy an affordable notebook through the TU/e, you receive graduate diplomas from both institutions, and the list goes on and on.. So kind of two for the price of one. That sounds great, right? Honestly, it can sometimes be a bit confusing too. Am I supposed to write down my TU/e student number or my UvT one? Which of the two email accounts should I use? More importantly, which email address is read by my professor? Generally speaking, teachers use the email address from their mother university: so if they’re originally part of a research group in Eindhoven they most likely read their @tue.nl email. But be careful to double-check it. I can tell you I’ve got some bad experiences sending assignment files to the wrong one. So it’s up to you: 50% chance. Do you want to take a chance? Is luck on your side? If not, then send your urgent emails to both.
A.3 — Notebook 💻
Due to the continual exponential growth of data and the rise of big data you would almost get the impression that having a supercomputer at your fingertips is a must for anyone in the field of data science. Actually, truth be told, all datasets I have worked with so far were all very small in size (<100 MB) and few computation intensive tasks were needed. But keep in mind that might change throughout the remainder of the program. That’s why it is probably more meaningful to consider current master students’ point of view. For that matter check out this recent Facebook post (update April 23: post has been removed) in which a prospective DS&E student asked whether there is a required notebook configuration in terms of CPU, RAM or Windows version. In summary, a couple of master students mention that any notebook with ≥ 8GB RAM and at least an i5 processor will be more than sufficient for your coursework.
Tip: the TU/e offers the Notebook Reduction Program to (pre)master students which basically means that you get a substantial discount on a relatively high-performance notebook bought in bulk by the university.
A.4 — Student Housing 🏚
As many of the premaster students did their bachelor in Eindhoven, Tilburg or Utrecht, the majority still lives in one of those three cities (20–30 minutes away by train). However, if you moved from abroad it makes sense to find a place in Den Bosch. One option is the Mariënburg itself: Gapph rents apartments on a short-stay basis (<6 months). If you are looking for a permanent residence instead: Camelot Europe offers 1- and 2-person student rooms for a minimal renting period of 6 months. For more details about the rooms, price and location have a look over here.
A.5 — Academic Calendar 🏝
It’s still winter but due to our lovely Dutch weather I would not be surprised if you are already looking out for summer. So in case you’re tempted to score those early bird fly deals to your favorite tropical holiday destination, you may want to have a look at the exam schedule first.
Tip: In the electronic study guide you can find the exact examination dates for each course (Course Code > Examination schedule).
A.6 — Course Exemptions ⚠️
Possibly you are in a home stretch: trying to pass your hardest college course in order to secure your bachelor degree. Or you may even be taking the pre-master on top of all your bachelor coures. In any case, it is good to know that you may be eligible for exemptions for some of the premaster courses. Here is the email I received about it:
Tip: Given that you are only enrolled for the premaster, you may have to pay less tuition (i.e. it’s partially refunded, but you have to be patient..)
Update 30th of January: Important to note that once you decide to follow an optional course it will become part of your exam program. That is to say, you must pass it. Thanks for the tip Nigel!
A.7 — Always Register for the Resit 🔮
Do you know that moment you walk out of the exam room, either feeling relieved and confident or sad and terrified by what just happened in the past 180 minutes? Even though your gut feeling is often right, I would still recommend to register for the resit at all times. After all, it’s not unusual that at the moment of the resit registration deadline you haven’t received your grade for the first attempt yet. So your safest bet is to simply always register for the resit.
The exam took place on the 18th of December and the grades were published the 4th of January 2018, while the closure deadline is on the 21st of December as you can see above. You don’t want to pay the administration fee, do you?
Believe me, you will not be the only one doing that. As a result, expect to be bombarded with de-registration emails 1–2 weeks prior to the resits..
A.8 — You Get Assigned a Seat for Each Exam 😳
Yes, it has already been pre-determined where you have to sit in advance. So, you have to be lucky to sit next to your closest and most brilliant classmates..
A.9 — Being Late During Exams 🕥
Having been 28 minutes late myself — due to folks walking on the railway tracks — I would not necessarily recommend it, but it’s good to know:
you are allowed to enter the exam room until 30 minutes after the examination started. Yep, just in time, like always..
A.10 — Grades are Rounded to the Nearest 0.5 🤔
It’s probably best to illustrate this with a numerical example: if you think an 8.7 becomes a 9 then you are sorely mistaken. It will be rounded downwards to an 8.5. On the other hand, an 8.3 becomes an 8.5 as well.
A.11 — Pass-Fail Criteria ✅
In order to pass a course both your average assignment (!) and written exam grade must be at least 5.0. That is to say, an 8 for you exam cannot compensate a 4 for your assignments. Moreover, the total weighted average grade must be 5.5 or higher.
A.12 — Thursday Afternoon Drinks 🍻
Most Thursdays the Borrelcie (i.e. drinks committee) organises drinks from 17:30 onwards (follow the Facebook group for the exact dates). Stampcards can only be bought with cash, because you know… only by evading taxes we can serve you 8 cold beers for just €5.
A.13 — The Outlier ✍️
Bad luck? No not all, thirteen is an outlier and so are the academics and entrepreneurs showcased on The Outlier. You can read about the story behind JADS, the history of Data Science, the AI World Summit, the differences between an entrepreneurial and scientific career, what the “Stanford for Data Science” is, and much more!
As I (yes, I am also a writer for The Outlier!) wrote earlier, there is something for everyone. So regardless of whether you want to be involved as a writer, editor, interviewer, photographer, designer or promoter get in touch with me or one of the other committee members!
A.14 — Change Password of JADS Hub 🔒
Undoubtedly, your new classmates have your best interests at heart. Still, you might want to consider changing the default password (something like “qwerty”) to something even less original. For a step-by-step tutorial on how to do exactly that see section 3.1 in this guide.
A.15 — iStudent App 📱
Although this mobile app was originally developed for students of Tilburg University, you may benefit from it as a JADS-student too (e.g. to have a quick glance at your schedule). You can find the app on Google Play (Android) and the AppStore (iOS).
A.16 — JADS PowerPoint Template 🖥
A good first impression can work wonders and well begun is half done, so better use a fancy PowerPoint to catch your audience’s attention from the very start. You can find one — in line with JADS’ slick brand identity — over here (both PowerPoint and Keynote). | https://medium.com/the-outlier/data-science-entrepreneurship-101-for-pre-master-students-2641e571bc58 | ['Roy Klaasse Bos'] | 2018-08-31 14:35:17.006000+00:00 | ['Study', 'Education', 'University', 'Data Science', 'Learning'] |
20W USB C Charger, Luxos 20W USB-C Power Adapter Wall Plug PD Fast Charger | ERROR: type should be string, got "https://youtu.be/JCzixB7w6Mk\n\nPower Delivery Charger 20W A future-proof fast charger for your devices with Power Delivery charges your USB C phone or tablet at up to 20W\n\nComprehensive Protection Built-in smart chip multi-Protect safety system combines high-voltage protection, current regulation, temperature control, to keep you safe.\n\nQuick Charge 3.0 Compatible with Quick Charge 3.0 use with fast wireless charging pads and docks with usb c charging port.\n\n20W PD Charger With power delivery technology to save your time and charge your devices quickly. It Can charge your New MacBook Pro 13-inch up to 20W with the fastest and most efficient available current.\n\n20W USB C with Power Delivery High-speed charging Technology Smart Technology Superior Safety with Multiprotect Compact travel charger\n\nUSB-C 5V/3A, 9V/2A-2.22A, 12V/1.5A-1.67A, 3.3–5.9V/3A, 3.3–11V/1.63A-1.8A5V/3A, 9V/2A-2.22A, 12V/1.5A-1.67A, 3.3–5.9V/3A, 3.3–11V/1.63A-1.8A\n\nFast Charging Protocols PD 3.0/2.0, QC 4.0+/4.0/3.0/2.0, 5V1A\n\nCompatible For iPhone 12/12 Mini/12 Pro/12 Pro Max, iPhone SE, iPhone 11/11 Pro/11 Pro Max, iPhone XR/ X/Xs/XS Max, iPhone 8Plus/8, etc\n\nPD Charger Charging new iPhone form 0 to 50% in just 30 mins\n\nMultiple Protections Overvoltage, overcurrent, short circuit, overtemperature, etc.\n\nInput 100–240V, 50/60Hz\n\nBUYNOW!" | https://medium.com/@fenixdigitalzone/20w-usb-c-charger-luxos-20w-usb-c-power-adapter-wall-plug-pd-fast-charger-df461808d859 | ['Fenix Digital Zone'] | 2021-03-18 03:05:04.969000+00:00 | ['iPhone', 'iPhone 7', 'Charger', 'Mobile', 'Iphone Charger'] |
My Journey from Econ PhD to Tech — Part 5: Q&A + Miscellaneous | Q: How much coding do I need to know? What’s a coding interview like?
A: First, if you only know Stata and nothing else, Amazon is the only tech firm that will embrace you, so pick up either Python or R if you can. (But seriously, if you’ll stay in tech for the rest of your career, knowing coding is valuable beyond just interviewing — there are people who started at Amazon and can’t switch jobs because they only know Stata)
Second, the amount of coding you need to know to get the job varies by firm. Firms will typically send you interview prep material before your interview, so you would know how much coding the interview involves. But of course, it’ll be too late to prepare then.
I’d say, if you know everything I listed here, you’re fine. And in fact, it’s not so much about remembering these commands/algorithm/data structures, but that once you have mastered these, you’re at a level that can solve most coding questions that come up in data science interviews.
In other words: in a data science interview, they won’t ask you to write a function to implement ‘heap’, but they will ask you a question, which, in order to solve it, you will need to use the data structure heap (there are of course other ways to solve it, but knowing how heap works and using heap in your solution makes solving that problem very easy). — I’m using ‘heap’ as an example… not saying that all coding interviews involve heap if that wasn’t clear
All data science coding questions are ‘problem solving’ questions: the interviewer tells you a problem, e.g. identify all the words, which, by changing one letter, can become a palindrome. You usually have ~45 min to solve it.
I would start by asking clarifying questions, e.g. what’s the form of the input — is it already split into a list and each item is a word or do I need to parse it myself; or, by ‘changing’ what do you mean — can I delete or add letter or can I only replace a letter by another one, etc.
Then I’ll start from the brute force solution: ‘I’ll first write a function to identify palindrome, i.e. return True/False given a word, then write another function to loop through all letters of a word and given each letter, try to change it to each of the other 25 letters, and use the first function to determine if the new one is palindrome’.
Clearly it works but it’s way too slow, so usually you won’t write that out, but instead you’ll start to think about ways to improve it. Then I would suddenly recall that, for any string-operations problem, a typical solution is to use ‘pointers’ — this is something you’ll know once you have gone through enough Leetcode problems (themes start to emerge!). I would use 2 pointers, i and j, and a macro variable to keep track of the number of ‘differences’. i starts from the first letter and j from the last, and in each iteration, if i and j are the same letter I move i one position to the right and j one position to the left; if they are not the same, I increase the macro variable by 1, and let i and j move to the next position. At the end, if the macro variable is only 1, it means there’s only 1 difference, and this word can be changed to palindrome by changing 1 letter; otherwise it can’t.
And at the end you should run a few test cases to show that your function works and/or debug by test cases — you’re almost never bug-free the first time!
There’s another completely different type of coding interview where you’re given a dataset, e.g. some user pre-existing characteristics and results of an experiment, and you’re asked to answer a few questions by plotting graphs / running regressions. That should be easy for econ phd because that’s what we do everyday (except for theorists…?) But the only problem is that — you need to do this in Python or R, instead of Stata. So get comfortable doing the same thing you used to do in Stata with Python pandas or R’s equivalent package. | https://medium.com/@scarlet-chen/my-journey-from-econ-phd-to-tech-part-5-q-a-miscellaneous-4a343a4920f3 | ['Scarlet Chen'] | 2021-01-01 19:56:42.869000+00:00 | ['Networking', 'Job Hunting', 'Recruiting', 'Economics', 'Tech'] |
Dockerfile security tuneup | I recently watched 2 great talks on container security by Justin Cormack from Docker at Devoxx Belgium and Adrian Mouat from Container Solutions at GOTO Stockholm. We were following many of the suggestions but there was still room for improvement. So we decided it was good time to do a security tuneup of our dockerfiles.
Official images
We’re longtime users of Alpine Linux as we prefer the smaller size and reduced attack surface compared with Debian or Ubuntu based images. So we were using the official alpine image as the base for all our images. However an added benefit of the official images is that Docker have a team dedicated to keeping them up to date and following best practices.
We primarily develop in Go but we also use Ruby for some web and scripting tasks. For these images we’re now using ruby:2.3-alpine as the base. This image installs Ruby from source rather than using the Alpine package. With semantic versioning the 2.3 release of Ruby will receive security updates released by the Ruby core team and the Docker packaging team will update the 2.3-alpine tag.
Otherwise we’d need to install Ruby from source ourselves and track whenever a new Ruby version is released. Or use the Alpine package and track when Alpine package a new version of Ruby.
Notifications & Webhooks
As we saw in the Ruby example its important to rebuild your image if the underlying base image receives a security update. This is a plug for how our MicroBadger notifications can help with this. We use notifications for the alpine and ruby official images. These post to Slack so we know that a public image we care about has changed.
Image change notification in Slack
We also use notifications to trigger our automated builds to be rebuilt whenever their base image has changed. Docker Hub also has this feature but our notifications can be used with any system that supports webhooks such as your CI system or security scanner.
Non privileged user
One of the key differences between containers and virtual machines is that containers share the kernel with the host. By default docker containers run as root which causes a breakout risk. If your container becomes compromised as root it has root access to the host.
You can mitigate this risk by running your containers as a non privileged user. Here’s an example of doing this for a Rails app.
# Create working directory.
WORKDIR /app # Copy Rails app code into the image
COPY . ./ # Create non privileged user, set ownership and change user
RUN addgroup rails && adduser -D -G rails rails \
&& chown -R rails:rails /app
USER rails
Security scanning
I think security scanning is an area where container registries can really add value. As well as storing your images the registries can regularly scan them for vulnerabilities. Docker provide security scanning for official images and for private images hosted on Docker Cloud.
We also really like Clair from CoreOS, it’s open source and its used for the security scanning in the Quay.io registry. Clair support for Alpine has recently been merged which is great news and hopefully it will be available in Quay soon. There are also specialist scanners like TwistLock and Aqua which are usually paid products.
From the Docker scanning our Go images got a clean bill of health as we copy a binary into the image, and the only dependency is the CA certificates so we can make HTTPS connections. Our Rails apps have far more dependencies since Ruby is an interpreted language. We need to install all the Ruby gems needed for our app and any operating system packages needed by those gems.
The scanning found critical vulnerabilities in libxml2 and libxslt. These are build time dependencies for the Nokogiri gem which is an XML and JSON parser. This gem uses C extensions for performance that need to be compiled but once the gem is installed libxml2 and libxslt are no longer needed.
So we now remove all our build dependencies. This rather complex set of commands shows how we do this.
# Cache installing gems
WORKDIR /tmp
ADD Gemfile* /tmp/ # Update and install all of the required packages.
# At the end, remove build packages and apk cache
RUN apk update && apk upgrade && \
apk add --no-cache $RUBY_PACKAGES && \
apk add --no-cache --virtual build-deps $BUILD_PACKAGES && \
bundle install --jobs 20 --retry 5 && \
apk del build-deps
The Gemfile contains the gems that need to be installed and the Gemfile.lock manages the dependency chains. By caching these files in /tmp the bundle install command will only be run if the Gemfile has changed. If the Gemfile hasn’t changed it will use the docker build cache. This is useful because installing the gems is time consuming and uses a lot of bandwidth.
The run command is multiline so only a single layer is added to the image that has both the apk and gem packages. The build packages are added as a virtual package so they can be easily removed once the install has completed.
Update: Compiled binary may still be vulnerable
Although there is some benefit in removing the build dependencies there will still be a binary in the image for the gem extension. This binary is harder for the scanner to inspect but it may well still contain the vulnerability.
So its also necessary to check if the vulnerabilities have been fixed in the library itself. In the case of Nokogiri we’re running v1.6.8 which is up to date with security patches for libxml and libxslt. There is also a possible issue with the CVE metadata for these packages that I’ve reported to the Docker Scanning team.
Thanks to Justin Cormack and Stephen Day at Docker for flagging this up. Thanks also to x_17 on Reddit for the tip to use the no-cache flag when installing Alpine packages.
Automated builds
An important aspect of container security is that images should be rebuilt whenever there are security updates for the image or any of its base images. Automated builds help with this because the image is linked to a git repository. A build is triggered whenever commits are pushed to a branch that is being tracked. As we saw earlier an automated build can also be triggered if its base image has changed.
In this case our Ruby images are simpler as the automated build can run the same Dockerfile we use locally. For our Go images we need to compile the binary before adding it to the image. Locally we use a makefile for this.
For an automated build we can use a build hook and compile the binary using a docker container. These golang-builder images from CenturyLinkLabs and the Prometheus project both look like good options.
To call the builder image you can call a build hook. Build hooks can also be used to add dynamic metadata to your images which is something I blogged about recently.
It wasn’t possible to cover all the topics in the videos so please do watch them if you get a chance. Finally we’ve just added private repo support to MicroBadger! So you can now also use notifications with your private images on Docker Hub. | https://medium.com/microscaling-systems/dockerfile-security-tuneup-166f1cdafea1 | ['Ross Fairbanks'] | 2017-01-05 13:51:32.514000+00:00 | ['DevOps', 'Docker'] |
Bored of Routine? Try Channeling Chaotic Neutral Energy In Your Daily Life | Sign up for Yapjaw
By Slackjaw
Yapjaw is Medium's #1 newsletter for all things humor, and we're sorry to say you'll only receive it a few times a month. Take a look | https://medium.com/slackjaw/bored-of-routine-try-channeling-chaotic-neutral-energy-in-your-daily-life-f9f09b289d90 | ['Emery Schindler'] | 2020-10-05 12:23:10.433000+00:00 | ['Satire', 'Humor', 'Comics', 'Self', 'Funny'] |
TGIF… | Greetings from the remote outpost along Wisconsin’s northern border.
TGIF and for the first time in a couple of years we have no snow on the ground here in nearly mid-December. But hey, the Christmas lights are up on the house so we do have that going for us.
The December weather here at the remote outpost has been bearable to get the lights put up and to take care of some last-minute outdoor projects. Next week’s temperatures are forecast to be in the teens.
We’re still having issues with sunset now occurring shortly after 4:00 p.m. Yes, it does get dark early up here. However, in another 10 days, the process begins to reverse itself again.
Reading.
I’ve recently finished two books on Spatial Computing.
And have now begun the following book.
In, The Infinite Retina among other things they wrote:
“Tesla drivers have three options currently for driving.
Drive yourself. Trust your senses.
Let God drive. Trust the Spirit.
Let the car drive. Trust the data.”
They go on to say that we will be increasingly reliant on data for many if not all of our daily life interactions. Given our collective lifestyle over the past nearly year, there are several questions that arise. From whom can we rely on and trust the data we’re being given is accurate? Does the source have a historical track record of providing accurate and competent data? What about the lack of continuity of various data sources? If the data being provided isn’t transparent to us, the end-user how are we to trust any data in the coming years?
Will those of us, critical thinkers become like Galileo? Destined to live out our remaining years under house arrest. Why? For daring to think critically and place our faith in objective and observable real-world data and not to meekly and subserviently accept the subjective infallibility of our local, state, or federal government?
“It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.”
-James Madison | https://medium.com/@paulswansen/tgif-5c89392ebd62 | ['Paul W. Swansen'] | 2020-12-11 22:00:35.285000+00:00 | ['Galileo', 'Tesla', 'Bayfieldwi', 'Spatialcomputing', 'Wisconsin'] |
What Is A Smart Contract? | What Is A Smart Contract?
Source: Pixabay
Blockchain allows two parties to carry out a transaction without the need for a middleman or third party (click here to read Oddup’s Ultimate Guide on Cryptocurrency and Blockchain). This made it an ideal option for contracts, which could be converted to computer code, and then stored on the blockchain, under the supervision of the network of computers connected to it.
This is how smart contracts were developed.
What Is A Smart Contract?
A smart contract is essentially a contract that is developed for implementation on the blockchain. The contract is drawn up and coded, with a set of rules and penalties similar to that of a traditional contract. However, a smart contract goes a step further by being self-fulfilling. As long as the terms within the contract are fulfilled, the contract executes itself.
What varies here is the manner of execution.
How Smart Contracts Work
Smart contracts follow an ‘if ➡ then’ approach.
In a transaction, a buyer pays cryptocurrency to a seller for which he receives a receipt, and the amount is held in the virtual contract between both parties. The seller then provides a key to the buyer, which the latter receives on a pre-determined date.
On the specified date, the contract executes itself in one of the following methods:
The buyer receives the key and the fee is released to the seller
The buyer does not receive the key and the fee is refunded to him
In the event of the seller sending the key earlier, the fee and key are both held until the specific date on which they are both released to the respective parties. When the contract period ends, it is automatically terminated. The most important factor in this transaction is that the contract and its terms cannot be edited or interfered with, without all points of the network being alerted. This massively reduces the possibility of scams and cheating of any form. This security is only one of the many advantages intrinsic to smart contracts.
Advantages Of Smart Contracts
Smart contracts, being implemented through blockchain, have a host of intrinsic advantages. These include:
Trust
By being encrypted on a shared folder, these contracts and documents are well protected, removing the risk of accidental or intentional loss.
Autonomy
The details of a smart contract need to be confirmed only by the persons entering the contract, keeping sensitive data free from the scrutiny and manipulation by third parties.
Reliable
Smart contracts are duplicated across the network of servers, ensuring that they cannot be lost even if a copy is misplaced.
Security
Smart contracts are built on blockchain which is incredibly secure and nearly impossible to hack or manipulate, keeping data and transaction details accurate, original, and immutable.
Automated
Executed through a pre-written code, smart contracts take much less time and effort to be implemented. The process is automated, and this saves numerous business hours, allowing for greater efficiency.
Less cost
Smart contracts have their own cost, but these are generally less than the cost payable to a third party to traditionally draw and execute such a contract. Additionally, the price paid also brings much greater security, trust, and efficiency, making it much more cost effective.
Accurate
Smart contracts are fulfilled on the basis of code. Once this code has been tested and approved, errors are almost impossible. Manual errors during execution, especially, are completely avoided since the process is automated.
Application Of Smart Contracts
Given their many advantages, smart contracts are seeing improved reception in multiple industries. Today, an increasing number of industries, functions, and economic sectors are exploring smart contracts to identify how their business processes can be made more secure, efficient, and cost-effective.
Some of these sectors include government bodies, supply chain management, general business management, real estate, automotive, and even healthcare.
However, smart contracts are yet to achieve mass adoption.
Constraints Of Smart Contracts
Smart contracts, while having the potential to be safer, more effective, and more efficient than traditional contracts, also possess some constraints. The primary one is that of incorrect code.
Smart contracts need to be coded, and this process includes the risk of manual error. Hence, contracts need to be checked and rechecked until developers are absolutely sure that they work. Furthermore, the codes need to be regularly monitored to avoid bugs.
In addition to the problem of incorrect code or bugs in the code, smart contracts also have some other limitations. For instance, how can governments of the countries in which the contract is executed regulate or tax (where relevant) these transactions? Or, what happens if the objects behind a successfully executed smart contract (such as a house in the case of a rental agreement) are altered after entering into the contract, but before it is executed? These problems can adversely affect the successful execution of a smart contract.
Hence, smart contracts hold incredible promise, but unleashing that potential requires a lot of exploration and development.
Future Outlook
The development of smart contracts is greatly dependent on the resolution of their limitations. In fact, improving smart contracts is the only way to evoke mass adoption and understanding of the concept. An increasing number of researchers are focusing on solving the problems that are holding smart contracts back. Additionally, more and more startups are exploring blockchain and its mass adoption, and smart contracts are an integral part of the growth of this technology.
As with blockchain and cryptocurrency, only time will truly tell how receptive the general population will be towards smart contracts.
This article was originally published on Oddup.com and can be accessed here. You can check out the other insights articles on ICO, cryptocurrency, blockchain, investment, and startup culture published by Oddup by clicking here. | https://medium.com/the-capital/what-is-a-smart-contract-fe6c7b7f8f59 | [] | 2019-06-13 07:27:46.096000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Smart Contracts', 'Bitcoin', 'Blockchain', 'Crypto'] |
Zap June Update 2020 | Protocol Growth: New Front-End Development Begins
The Zap protocol continues to improve and evolve. The front end development team is continuing its rebuild of the front end of the Zap protocol. We expect to soon offer a ticketing system so anyone who wants to submit changes can do so and be rewarded with a bounty.
Check out the new test site — alpha.zap.org — which will be updated periodically with the buildouts into the future, so make sure to check back often for the new and up to date documentation and team pages.
Zap.org Partnership with Blockchain Center Brings Zap “Bootcamp” and Weekly Meetups
Over 200 people have applied for Zap’s “Smart Contract & Bonding Curve Bootcamp.” With such a large interest pool, it may take a little time to get to everyone.
The Zap team is making sure to process and interview each and every applicant. We will work with many of the developers who proceed to the course to guide them into the world of smart contract technology and how to develop with the Zap protocol.
Strong Interest In Joining Zap Team
We recognize and appreciate the strong interest by over 100 individuals (to date) for roles ranging from marketing to sales. This also exceeded our expectations. We will make every effort to get to everyone, to process and interview each applicant. Our outreach will also involve educating applicants on the Zap protocol.
Blockchain Centers across the globe are set to host Zap meet-ups on a regular basis in order to promote and educate the masses on the powerful Zap protocol and underlying blockchain technology. Additionally, the Zap protocol will be able to go live from time to time on the Developer Wednesday live streams hosted by the Blockchain Center to discuss and show how to develop on Zap protocol.
ICYMI: Create Your Own Token with ZAP Developer Adam Manka
Watch Zap Developer Adam Manka talk Zap and show you how to make an erc20 token in virtually no time with the Zap protocol. Using our protocol, anyone who creates an erc20 token also gets a fully liquid dex with algorithmic market making with a predetermined pricing function.
Twitter: @ZapProtocol
Facebook: @ZapProtocol
Discord: discord.gg/pvHzemX
Telegram: t.me/ZapOracles
Medium: The Zap Project
LinkedIn: Zap
GitHub: The Zap Project | https://medium.com/the-zap-project/zap-june-update-2020-96c6815d2492 | ['Stefan Furris'] | 2020-07-02 00:17:19.884000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Smart Contracts', 'Ethereum', 'Blockchain', 'Bonding Curves'] |
Update on Wrap Tokenomics In Response to Community Feedback | Wrap is a decentralized bridge between the Ethereum and Tezos blockchains that enables anyone to wrap native ERC-20 tokens from Ethereum into native FA2 tokens on Tezos.
Wrap Protocol is an open-source, community-owned project, and in the spirit of community ownership, the Wrap Community has debated on a key aspect of the tokenomics of the Wrap Protocol over the last week. The centerpiece of the debate was on the need to disincentivize the multiple wrapping and unwrapping of the same token and to apply more of the wrapping rewards to incentivize the WRAP/XTZ liquidity pool.
We listened to the community and allowed them to weigh in on a poll which lasted 72 hours.
The poll asked:
What portion of the original 40% of users’ share of $WRAP distribution should go to the LP staking contract for the WRAP/XTZ pool?
At the end of the voting period, we took an average of all votes: (9*0+10*10+12*20+32*30+37*40)/100 = 27.8%.
As a result, we have rounded up the percentages to apply 28% of the $WRAP distribution to the LP staking contract for the WRAP/XTZ pool, leaving 12% of $WRAP distribution left to reward wrapping.
The 28% of $WRAP distribution to the LP staking contract for the WRAP/XTZ pool and the 12% of rewards wrapping together makes up the original 40% of $WRAP distribution allocated to users of the Wrap Protocol.
On the actual implementation of liquidity mining incentive changes based on the community’s vote
This week we added 28% of $WRAP distribution to the new rewards to WRAP/XTZ liquidity pool — it means that users will earn more rewards by providing liquidity starting this week.
This week we have also changed the amount of $WRAP distribution to be earned by wrapping tokens to 12% of $WRAP distribution — it means that users will earn less WRAP starting next week, and as usual, these $WRAPs will be distributed 4 weeks later.
Already calculated wrapping rewards up until this week won’t change, users will receive what they already see here https://info.tzwrap.com/rewards.
We will continue to listen to the community and improve the Wrap Protocol for the benefit of all.
Happy Wrapping,
Bender Labs | https://medium.com/bender-labs/update-on-wrap-tokenomics-in-response-to-community-feedback-9120e4d8a1f1 | ['Bender Labs'] | 2021-06-17 16:11:47.452000+00:00 | ['Tokenomics', 'Ethereum', 'Tezos', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Defi'] |
How art investment compares to other alternative investments | Looking to make an alternative investment?
You are not alone. Alternative investments are catching on worldwide, with HSBC saying in its 2017 The Rise of Alternatives report: “Bond yields are far from returning to pre-crisis levels… An enhanced role for alternative assets seems likely to become a permanent feature of many investment strategies.”
The same report points out that “pension funds in Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland and the UK now have an average allocation of more than 30% to alternative assets”.
When people look to make an alternative investment, the art market is one of the more popular destinations investors choose to visit. A key reason for this is that art is generally resilient when economic downturns hit, holds its value well, and is not affected by changes in interest rates.
That is not to say that art as a diversified investment opportunity is without its risks, though. It will not provide a stable income, for example, may be difficult to sell later down the line, and can be costly to store safely.
Why art remains one of the best diversified investment opportunities
Still — for savvy investors, there is lots to be gained from art. According to the 2018 Contemporary Art Market Report, compiled by Artprice, the market for artworks created from the second half of the 21st century to the present day has seen 1,744% turnover growth in 18 years, with investors enjoying an 8.1% annual yield.
Today, the contemporary market continues to show good health, with the 12 months to June 2018 seeing an increase of 19% in global turnover and a 17% rise in lots sold.
Consider the individual argument for making an alternative investment in art, too; in 2002, The Architect’s Home In the Ravine by Peter Doig sold at auction for $474,838. In March 2018, it went under the hammer for $19,958,612.
Though art is a great investment opportunity, some can be put off by its high entry fees and oftentimes closed-shop status. So, what other alternatives are out there to consider as a diversified investment opportunity, and how do they stack up against art?
Wine
A bottle of fine wine can represent a good low-risk alternative investment, with the market remaining relatively stable for the past five decades. Despite that though, unlike the art market, there can be some semblance of price volatility. Like the art market, too, it is worth talking to experts and doing a lot of background research before investing. Get it right and you could potentially see annual returns of 10%.
Property
Property is often regarded as the favourite alternative investment opportunity for people the world over. It can be profitable too — according to Totally Money, for example, some areas of the UK could provide average rental yields of 11.79%. Many external factors can hit second home owners hard, though. Removing mortgage tax relief in 2017 as well as rising stamp duty means, for many, being a landlord in the UK can be more trouble than it is worth.
Classic cars
Owning a classic car can be a diversified investment opportunity that is as fun as it is profitable. In 2017 the Telegraph reported that the market had grown by 192% over the past decade. The newspaper also reported that it had peaked in 2015, however, and that despite the positives, more vehicles entering the market had naturally depressed prices. Rarity can also provide a barrier too, with AXA finding that classic cars worth more than $1 million make up 40% of the market in terms of value despite accounting for just 2% of volume.
Commodities
Though commodities such as oil are regarded as more mainstream than an alternative investment opportunity, people are still choosing them to diversify their investments in stocks and bonds. Could they still be a wise place to put your cash, though? By way of example, oil prices have been extremely volatile for years and could sink lower in 2019, according to J.P. Morgan, with issues such as climate change affecting investors’ appetites.
Renewables
Renewable energy is on the rise as a diversified investment opportunity. That could accelerate further with the UN’s recent stark climate change warning. Despite the rising interest in renewables, though, are the returns really there? Many investment websites report that the average dividend yield for renewable energy projects is 5% — not small, but nowhere near the yields the right investment in art could potentially provide.
Art as the diversified investment of choice
All of those avenues are good options for people looking to share their capital in different, alternative ventures. However, those with knowledge and passion for art could find it a very attractive market to explore in terms of protecting their capital and making high returns.
Still, it is worth remembering when it comes to art that blue-chip artists and artworks historically demonstrate the best returns. This can be something of a double-edged sword for many investors, as it makes the financial barrier to entry extremely high. How can you stand to profit from an artwork as an alternative investment opportunity if you cannot afford it?
Maecenas is looking to change that landscape for investors interested in entering the world of art with our online platform that opens what is essentially a closed shop for many, democratising the art market and helping people to own fully-legal and binding digital shares in blue-chip artworks.
Our online community is able to invest in shares in some of the world’s most famous artists and their works through a transparent and fair Dutch auction process. Recently, Maecenas helped numerous art investors to buy shares in the Andy Warhol piece 14 Small Electric Chairs — a world first that helped people become blue-chip art investors for the very first time.
Find out more about how Maecenas works and how it can help people diversify their capital into blue-chip artworks by visiting www.maecenas.co. | https://medium.com/maecenas/how-art-investment-compares-to-other-alternative-investments-8d273b8ce2ea | [] | 2019-06-05 10:06:00.909000+00:00 | ['Investing', 'Art'] |
Equilibrium July Summary | July has brought us several tech milestones and new partnerships, and yet another coin listing. Let’s review the month’s highlights.
Lever up your EOS with Equilbrium’s pyramiding!
Together with the leading decentralized exchange Newdex, Equilibrium has developed a new product called pyramiding, which is aimed to maximally leverage your trading and get the most out of your EOS. By means of this mechanism, you increase your asset exposure on one and the same trade by using our convenient borrowing mechanism with flexible collateralization vs risk exposure. Our calculation service makes using this instrument fast and easy.
New mobile Interface
Now all our features are manageable via our mobile DApp, including our user interface and our staking pool. All your assets and transactions appear in one place. Our dashboard gives users a heads-up display of all the vital information you might need on your EOSDT positions, your savings pool activity, or the current state of voting for EOS block producers on Equilibrium’s EOSDT proxy.
Partnership with Wombat
Equilibrium started cooperation with Wombat, an EOS-based wallet plus gaming center that also supports Telos and its native currency. It is adding support to our stablecoin EOSDT and utility token NUT, and hosting our DApp in its explorer. In turn, we have integrated the wallet into our website. Wombat offers high security — private key encryption and recovery, and you can protect your private key with your fingerprint or facial ID. The wallet is particularly user friendly and comes with several benefits, like free EOS and Telos account creation, free and automatic resource staking, easy crypto purchases per credit card, and unlimited play for selected games.
We created a detailed guide for staking
Our staking system is an ideal way to earn passive income using all of our assets: EOSDT, NUT, and EOS. In July we prepared a convenient step-by-step guide on how to do it. The overall process of staking and getting yield is pretty straightforward — choose the currency, set the stake size, connect your wallet, transfer crypto — and you are all set. Use our practical calculator to balance your staking and predicted returns.
EOSDT and NUT were listed on Xangle
We are proud to have been listed on Xangle, a valuable resource and disclosure platform for the crypto market. It collects and curates real-time data on companies and crypto value to assess their value and potential, thereby assisting market participants to cut through the clutter on the crypto market and find solid projects.
Equilibrium’s staking product was added to “Staking Rewards”
As we tweeted to recently, Staking Rewards is a leading data-provider for staking and crypto-growth tools which rates and reviews projects. Our listing with them includes a handy overview of our project and a calculator to check your earnings. | https://medium.com/equilibrium-eosdt/equilibrium-july-summary-e2fd308aee8 | [] | 2020-08-14 12:08:23.691000+00:00 | ['Eosdt', 'Staking', 'Defi', 'English', 'Eos'] |
How to Become a Good JavaScript Developer — The Basics | Photo by Vasily Koloda on Unsplash
If you want to become a JavaScript developer, we just have to do a few simple steps.
They’re simple, but that doesn’t mean they’re easy. In this article, we’ll look at how we can all become good JavaScript developers.
Start With the Basics
We got to learn the good parts of JavaScript, which includes many basic building blocks that we need to build good JavaScript programs.
Now it’s a great time to learn JavaScript since a lot of the good parts are added in the last few years. We can do a lot with the good parts of JavaScript.
The basics include defining and using variables, defining and using strings, array manipulation, and functions.
Those are the building blocks of JavaScript. Since 2015, the features that are added are good.
We can declare variables with let and const . Strings are used everywhere to store text.
The basics also include the use of operators to do arithmetic and assigning values to variables.
They include operators like add, subtract, multiply, divide and assignment. String concatenation is also an important operator to learn, even though it’s been replaced by template string in a lot of cases. This means that template strings are also important since they make our code cleaner.
Arrays and Loops
Arrays are used to store lists of data. We should use to learn the array methods thoroughly and use them. This is to minimize the use of loops.
However, loops are still very useful, so we should use them. Loops let us traverse through lists of data when array methods aren’t adequate.
Objects, Constructors, and Classes
To store data in an organized way, we should use objects. This way, we can group variables as properties of an object.
We should also learn about all the ways that objects can be created. This includes object literals and constructor functions/classes.
Object literals are the process of creating objects outright without calling a constructor or a class.
Constructors are functions that returns objects that have the same members, including instance variables and methods and static methods.
There’re no private variables in JavaScript constructors right now, but they’re being planned.
Also, we should know the instance methods are properties of the prototype property of a constructor. They’re called on the object when we need to call instance methods.
A prototype is template objects that an object inherits from. Most objects inherit from objects.
If we’re going top create constructors, we should use the class syntax. It makes our constructor look more like a regular class, even though it doesn’t act like a regular class underneath.
It adds more error checking to the constructor code we create so we won't make mistakes as easily as with the old constructor function syntax.
This part definitely trips people up if we’re used to class-based object-oriented languages.
Functional programming
Functional programming concepts are applied throughout the JavaScript language.
For instance, higher-order functions are used everywhere. They’re used in many array methods like map and reduce , which takes a callback function that’s called when we try to get new results from an existing array.
Also, callbacks are used a lot for asynchronous programming, which is required for making any nontrivial JavaScript program since they need to call callbacks so that the program won’t hold up other parts of a program from running.
We need asynchronously code a lot since JavaScript is a single-threaded language, so we callbacks to run code later in an indeterminate amount of time.
Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
Asynchronous Programming
As we mentioned above, we use callbacks a lot for asynchronous programming. To make async programming cleaner, we use promises to avoid nesting callbacks.
To make promises cleaner, we use the async and await syntax to make things even cleaner.
Therefore, we should learn the syntax to write some clean async code.
Testing
Automated testing is important since we don’t have time to check every part of our program all the time. Therefore, we should write tests to do this for us.
To do that, we should write tests and use test runners like Jest to run them. This way, we know that our app is still working properly.
Conclusion
The basic knowledge for becoming a good developer is a lot. First, we have to learn toe basics, then we have to get to think like async programming, functional programming, and automated tests.
Practice them all and we all can become good JavaScript developers. | https://medium.com/dataseries/how-to-become-a-good-javascript-developer-the-basics-d0810fca3cb0 | ['John Au-Yeung'] | 2020-05-12 08:02:14.566000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Programming', 'Web Development', 'Technology', 'Software Development'] |
Streaming SQL in Node.js | Sometimes you need a way to look at every row in a database table, and perform some operation on it.
SQL databases are, on the whole, great at handling massive amounts of data. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that most of the companies I’ve seen who use Hadoop, would be better off just adding an index or some RAM to their Postgres/MySQL server. You can do amazing filtering and aggregation within SQL. Sometimes these powerful operations don’t support the thing you need, sometimes you’ll want to process every single row in node.js
Async Iterables
Imagine the following scenario:
We have a database containing a large number of IDs of Tweets from Twitter. At least 100s of thousands.
We want request the number of likes each tweet has from Twitter
We’re processing this as a background job, and don’t want to use too much memory.
We’re going to want to stream the results of our query to get the rows out of SQL. This example works equally well, regardless of whether you’re using @databases/pg for Postgres, @databases/mysql for MySQL or @databases/sqlite for SQLite:
// replace this with your db of choice
import connect, {sql} from '@databases/pg'; const db = connect(); export default async function updateTweets() {
const tweets = db.queryStream(
sql`SELECT id, likes FROM tweets;`
);
for await (const tweet of tweets) {
const likes = await getLikes(tweet.id);
if (likes !== tweet.likes) {
await db.query(
sql`
UPDATE tweets
SET likes = ${likes}
WHERE id = ${tweet.id};
`
);
}
}
}
This will require a very recent version of node, or a transpiler like babel, in order to support the async iterator proposal. It will stream the tweets from our database, allowing a buffer of a few tweets before it begins to tell the database to slow down with the sending of data. As soon as we have received a tweet, and finished processing the tweet before, we can begin processing it.
Node.js Streams
Imagine you need to export the entirety of a very large database table to a CSV file for processing in some other system, e.g. an analytics tool, or for importing into an accounting package. You could wait until you’ve fetched all the records, but it’s much more efficient to start sending data to the client as soon as it’s available. This especially true if they’re downloading it over a (relatively) slow internet connection.
This example works equally well, regardless of whether you’re using @databases/pg for Postgres, @databases/mysql for MySQL. It doesn’t currently support SQLite.
// replace this with your db of choice
import connect, {sql} from '@databases/pg';
import {Map} from 'barrage';
import stringify from 'csv-stringify'; const db = connect(); export default function getTweetsCSV() {
const tweets = db.queryNodeStream(
sql`SELECT id, likes FROM tweets;`
);
const map = new Map(tweet => [tweet.id, tweet.likes]);
const stringifier = stringify();
stringifier.write(['Tweet ID', 'Likes']);
tweets.pipe(map).pipe(stringifier);
tweets.on('error', e => stringifier.emit('error', e);
map.on('error', e => stringifier.emit('error', e);
return stringifier;
}
Here we request all tweets as a node.js Object Stream. We then pipe that stream into a Map stream, which takes each row, represented as an object, and returns the row in the form of an array. Finally, we pipe this mapped stream into the csv-stringifier stream, which takes an array for each line, and outputs a CSV file. We could further pipe that stream into createGzip if the client supports gzip.
Conclusion
Both streaming options add a lot of flexibility. | https://itnext.io/streaming-sql-in-node-js-eb419c5bd27e | ['Forbes Lindesay'] | 2020-04-27 01:11:29.687000+00:00 | ['Postgres', 'Sqlite', 'Nodejs', 'MySQL', 'Sql'] |
Sharing Books and Spreading Magic | On Halloween, I saved the tricks for my kids and sent out treats of one hundred paperback and hardcover books to three different APO and FPO addresses, here and abroad. Who needs — and deserves — the comfort, escape, and pleasure of books more than our United States troops? Operation Paperback, founded in 1999, understands the solace and joys offered by the reading of a book. It facilitates the exchange of books between people just like me, looking for a good home for the overflow of books on our shelves, and the troops stationed all over the world, looking for something good to read.
Through Operation Paperback, books have been sent to just about every location where U.S. troops are found, from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan. Just imagine where those books have taken their readers, everywhere from home again to planet Mars! Even more importantly, a connection is made when books are exchanged: we at home understand just how hard it must be to be a soldier, to be stationed away from home and friends and family, and we offer what comfort we can, through the books we’ve loved.
Every month, Operation Paperback posts a list of requests that they’ve received, everything from travel books to classics to mysteries to biographies (go easy on the romances!) and volunteers sign up for what they can provide. I tend towards mysteries, having amassed a huge collection over my forty-plus years of loving the genre. Other volunteers might be ready to thin their collections of westerns while others might canvass their friends at work or in the neighborhood for secondhand volumes of Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, or Dickens. Volunteers sign up for what they can, pack up the books they’ve got, and march on down to their local post office to send off their boxes.
I was surprised to discover just how inexpensive it is to send books all over the world via media mail. And what a great feeling I got in return for simply culling my shelves and paying out a few dollars in postage: I had the joy and the thrill of watching my packages descend down the chute of the unknown, going off to provide the same reading pleasure, escape, joy and yes, wisdom, that I discovered when I first read the books. I am already gearing up for the November shipment, talking the project up with friends and hoping to start a Thanksgiving drive for books, a cornucopia of adventure and escape to send off to troops hungry for the written word.
Visit Operation Paperback’s Facebook page for inspiration, and its website to sign up as a volunteer.
Another great site for recycling books towards a good cause is the Bridge of Books Foundation. Bridge of Books wants your gently-used children’s books (books appropriate for readers through age 18) to distribute throughout New Jersey, thereby bringing the magic and power of reading to at-risk and under-served children throughout that state. Visit the Bridge of Books site for inspiration and sign up here for books to donate and sign up here for if books are needed in your own community.
Tweet | https://medium.com/nina-sankovitch/sharing-books-and-spreading-magic-5d5a9d51641f | ['Nina Sankovitch'] | 2016-09-26 18:02:14.191000+00:00 | ['Whatever Else', 'What Pleases Me'] |
Celebrating rice with its Master | In April 2012, Italian master chef Gabriele Ferron was in Malta for a week courtesy of Eatmania. The week was entirely dedicated to rice and rice products from Riseria Ferron. Here is how it developed.
For the second time, the World’s Ambassador of rice Gabriele Ferron, accepted Eatmania’s invitation to land in Malta with his rice portfolio. Gabriele Ferron has been moving across the globe spreading information and promoting rice and risotto for years. On his first visit to Malta, he discovered the potential of introducing the world’s most important cereal — rice — to our population. And from thereon, together with Eatmania, he kicked off a profile-raising and gastronomic campaign called Riso e Risotti.
This year’s events commenced at the Institute of Tourism Studies where the final year chef students were presented with knowledge about rice and rice-growing in Isola della Scala in Verona. The chef, born from a family of rice growers, guided them through the history of rice, identified the diverse characteristics of this cereal and distinguished between the vialone nano and the carnaroli rice varieties, both of which are suitable to prepare a delicate risotto. Eventually, the students were able to observe a demonstration of different methods of cooking risotto. Gabriele Ferron showed off the method he is so passionate about — the no stir method. He prepared a carnaroli risotto with fresh aromatic herbs with this new challenging technique of cooking risotto without stirring continuously. This simple procedure includes toasting the rice in some extra virgin olive oil, adding double the amount of rice in boiling broth and cooking the rice on a minimum heat, covered for around 10 minutes. There is no need to stir until you reach the final stages, then you mix in the desired condiment, butter and grated parmesan cheese and that’s it!
A similar event was held the day after for the professionals and restaurant owners in the local gastronomic industry. On this occasion, Gabriele Ferron, also demonstrated and introduced the entire range of products from Riseria Ferron including the black riso Venere, red riso Ermes, whole-wheat Carnaroli rice, Carnaroli and Vialone Nano rice for risotto, rice flour, and rice flour for polenta.
The possibility of getting to know rice and risotto was also offered to the public. A degustation event was held at Tartarun Restaurant in Marsaxlokk on two separate evenings. Gabriele Ferron and James Schiavone put their chef’s brains and hands together in the kitchen and prepared a series of degustation dishes for the guests. An arancina with squid ink placed on a tomato and chili relish was served as an amuse-bouche. The first course consisted of mixed vegetables and red mullet fillets battered with a rice flour mixture and deep-fried. This warm salad was served on a selection of leaves and dressed with home-made citrus mayonnaise. The salad was followed by a rice flour creamy polenta topped with fresh clams and a tomato concasse. Next in line was a train of 3 diverse risotto dishes: a carnaroli risotto with fresh basil, mint and wild fennel; a carnaroli risotto with cauliflower puree and baked scallop; and a vialone nano risotto with artichoke hearts and fresh anchovy fillets. The degustation was concluded with a classic tiramisu however prepared with cream of rice.
The jovial personality of Gabriele Ferron, his skills and passion about rice and risotto and his discovery of local ingredients have made Riso e Risotti a successful experience and an event with a future. Eatmania have recognized the possibility of amplifying the Riso e Risotti campaign to encompass on a twinning project between local ingredients and the Vialone Nano IGP rice for risotto. Hence, this week in April dedicated to rice was the beginning of a series of events devoted to rice and its culinary combination in the Maltese culture and cuisine.
For more information visit www.eatmania.com or www.risoferron.com | https://medium.com/eatmania/celebrating-rice-with-its-master-dbf94702bcf5 | ['Olivia Darmanin'] | 2017-06-23 14:32:10.354000+00:00 | ['Events', 'Travel', 'Celebrating Rice', 'Rice', 'Gabriele Ferron'] |
Blockchain Report — 8/23/2018 | Summary: U.S. Senate Hearing Shows “Valuable” Potential Applications Of Blockchain In Energy Industry; Dash Cryptocurrency Use Surges In Venezuela; Ethereum Scam App Appears On Google Play Store
U.S. Senate Hearing Shows “Valuable” Potential Applications Of Blockchain In Energy Industry
According to Cointelegraph, the U.S. Senate has held a hearing on the energy efficiency of blockchain technology. The hearing focused on energy and natural resources. The committee mostly focused on the issue of a possible increase in electricity prices following the rising power demand in blockchain applications. The hearing also wanted to evaluate if blockchain could improve the cybersecurity of the computing systems that supply energy.
One of the speakers was Thomas A. Golden, a program manager at Electric Power Research Institute (ERPI). He reported that the institute’s research on blockchain and its capabilities led to several pilots that have demonstrated potential promise in the use of blockchain technology to enable transactive energy.
Arvind Narayanan, associate professor of computer science at Princeton University, clarified how blockchain technology would be useful:
“A blockchain-based market might be more attractive than a centralized trading platform if market participants are averse to a single company controlling the platform. Other initiatives enable customers to directly trade electricity with each other in a ‘peer to peer’ fashion, for example, by buying and selling excess rooftop solar power. However, peer-to-peer trading still requires the cooperation of utilities who ultimately control the physical flow of electricity.”
Dash Cryptocurrency Use Surges In Venezuela
According to Business Insider, the cryptocurrency Dash is seeing a surge in new merchant sign-ups and wallet downloads in Venezuela as hyperinflation continues to push the country towards economic collapse.
Venezuela is forecasted to see inflation as high as 1,000,000% this year, and locals need stacks of cash just to buy food. Last weekend, socialist President Nicolas Maduro announced a series of measures in an attempt to stabilize the economy, including devaluing the bolivar by 95% and pegging it to the state-backed cryptocurrency the Petro.
However, the cryptocurrency Dash is also catching on in the country. Ryan Taylor, the CEO of the Dash Core Group, said:
“We are seeing tens of thousands of wallet downloads from the country each month…Earlier this year, Venezuela became our number two market even ahead of China and Russia, which are of course huge into cryptocurrency right now.”
Ethereum Scam App Appears On Google Play Store
According to Cointelegraph, Android’s Google Play Store now has an Ethereum scam application listed. Lukas Stefanko, a malware researcher from Slovakia, found a fraudulent Ethereum application on Google Play that had been allegedly offered for purchase at $388. A tweet from the researcher states that buying the app is not the same thing as actually buying Ethereum, and the app was created as a way to defraud people who believe they are actually buying Ethereum directly through the Google Play Store app.
The app has been installed at least 100 times since it was last updated in August 2017. On July 27, Google had banned cryptocurrency mining apps on its play store only allowing remote mining applications. However, despite the recent ban multiple illegal apps like JSEcoin are still appearing on the Google Play Store.
ICO Watchdog™ is the most popular chatbot assistant for ICO investors and cryptocurrency traders now available for FREE on Telegram, Messenger, Discord and Slack. Sign up today at http://icowatchdog.com.
Do you want daily blockchain and cryptocurrency news delivered directly to your inbox or feed? Sign up today for the Blockchain Report by ICO Watchdog™ at http://bit.ly/2KYOpxJ or follow us onTelegram,Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. | https://medium.com/blockchain-report/blockchain-report-8-23-2018-aba35872a30a | ['Christopher Durr'] | 2018-08-23 10:55:27.369000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'News', 'Blockchain', 'Investing', 'Bitcoin'] |
Black Girls Do Bike: How an Introvert Started an Army of Lady Cyclists | Black Girls Do Bike: How an Introvert Started an Army of Lady Cyclists Connor Grant Follow Jul 15 · 4 min read
By Monica Garrison
Frequently, I ask myself how an eternally introverted, plus-sized, woman of color managed to mobilize a passionate worldwide army of lady cyclists. I have always put cycling in the category of one of those positive things in my life that would always welcome me with open arms. In a way, cycling has given me unconditional love. It’s an activity that is low impact and great as a solo or group pursuit. A bicycle ride is one of the best ways to clear my mind and feed my soul while taking in the sounds, smells, and textures of my environment. Bikes are simultaneously ideal for short trips and long journeys of self-discovery. I can think of no more fulfilling way to explore my city or stir up a cool breeze on a hot day. Riding a bike can help lower blood pressure, stave off disease and improve mood. Whether you choose to play in the mountains, on the road, or on trails, cycling is good for what ails you.
My love affair with cycling started like most folks. For many, cycling was their first taste of freedom as a child. My summer breaks from school were filled with rides that started after lunch and ended at sunset. As an adult, I found commuting by bike saved me money and helped prepare my mind for a long stressful workday. On the weekends, cycling helped ground me and fuel my appreciation for the outdoors.
For me, cycling remains overwhelmingly a mental exercise. I solve problems and resolve inner conflicts while in the saddle. In 2013, I turned to cycling to work through a mental rut. I found myself again reaping the incredible mind and body benefits of riding my bike regularly. I was spending more time with my kids in the outdoors. As our adventures became more frequent, I noticed very few women of color riding bikes. Cycling had become a lifesaver for me and I wanted to share it with other ladies.
This was the genesis of a movement I started called Black Girls Do Bike. I wanted to shed light on the amazing benefits of cycling and I wanted to get the word out to women who looked like me, who shared the same stresses of life but had not yet discovered the joy of cycling to help them cope. Women of color are often the backbone of their families and beacons in their communities. I wanted to demystify cycling for these women and gift them a tool that could help them live richer healthier lives. Making cycling accessible is at the heart of what we do. Democratizing wellness means sharing cycling knowledge and working to knock down the self-imposed and systemic barriers women of color face when entering and exploring the world of cycling.
Quickly the number of followers swelled and soon we established our website that aimed to be part information and part inspiration. I had no idea how many women I would find and how diverse and enthusiastic this community would turn out to be. Ladies began to inquire about how they could connect with us in their cities and towns. What was intended to be solely an online space has turned into more than 100 riding groups around the world. We boast chapters from Anchorage, Alaska to London, England.
These days my social media feeds are flooded with images of happy women supporting one another on bikes. Sometimes they are even wearing gear I designed, and that still feels unreal. At annual national meetups, I meet ladies face to face who have benefited from the forming of BGDB. They thank me for creating a safe cycling space. They share stories of recovery and accounts of how cycling changed their lives. They mention how they have met life-long friends through their interactions with BGDB. For a girl who primarily prefers to ride solo, I really do cherish the advantage of having a community to surround you, lift you up, and hold you accountable.
In this 8 year endeavor, I’ve learned that we do not have to be limited by the labels we are given. I’ve had to face head-on things that are traditionally hard for me, like public speaking and meeting new people. BGDB has been as much a part of my personal growth as it has my professional growth. I’ve learned to let my guard down and open myself up to the possibility of success as well as failure. And I can truly say, if given the chance to do it all over again, I would, without hesitation.
Check out Black Girls Do Bike or find your local chapter here! | https://medium.com/downtoride/black-girls-do-bike-how-an-introvert-started-an-army-of-lady-cyclists-a5b52dc4d73 | ['Connor Grant'] | 2021-07-15 14:05:06.867000+00:00 | ['Cycling', 'Bikes', 'Black Girls'] |
Ask Panayote 3 — Greek Orthodox Orthodoxy | By Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Panayote Dimitras is the Co-Founder and Spokesperson of the Humanist Union of Greece, and a Board Member of the European Humanist Federation.
Here we talk about Greek Orthodoxy, Greek ethno-national identity, and the Greek Orthodox Church.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Now, many believe in a singular, interventionist being in the Eastern Orthodox tradition of Greek Orthodox Christianity. What defines this God in Greek culture? Also, how does this God — or belief in this assertion of this God, and this Greek Orthodox Religion, influence Greek culture?
Panayote Dimitras: Religiously, the unique God is defined in Greece as in most other monotheistic religions. But in Greek culture Orthodoxy is defined as a quintessential element of the ethno-national identity, Hellenism.
There are people who may not believe in, or may have doubts about, God but still consider Orthodoxy as a quintessential element of the ethno-national identity.
Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Panayote.
Photo by henry perks on Unsplash | https://medium.com/question-time/ask-panayote-3-greek-orthodox-orthodoxy-291d8ff7ca91 | ['Scott Douglas Jacobsen'] | 2019-08-20 06:39:33.570000+00:00 | ['Ask Panayote', 'Panayote Dimitras', 'Scott Douglas Jacobsen', 'Greece', 'Greek Culture'] |
Develop and Deploy Interactive Dashboards Using Python Dash | Develop and Deploy Interactive Dashboards Using Python Dash
Photo by Artem Podrez on Pexels
Dash Introduction
Plotly has come up with a new framework called Dash which allows users to create interactive dashboards with visualizations capabilities powered by plotly express. Dash core components are used as building blocks for each application are quite exhaustive in terms of attributes. You can give a face to your Python application with it in no time.
Getting started with Dash
As an example we are building a simple dashboard to display IPL stats (runs scored, wickets taken) for each player through graphs. This will give you a basic understanding of applying Python dash framework which cloud be scaled further. You can download the IPL dataset from here.
Image by author on Heroku
You need to make sure that you have dash, plotly and pandas libraries installed in the machine. If not, you can simply do that by executing the below lines in command prompt after CD into the python installation folder or if you are working on Anaconda, just open the Anaconda prompt and execute the following lines.
pip install dash
pip install plotly
pip install pandas
Dash will be the most prominent of the 3 libraries as this will be instrumental in rendering the dashboard on the browser. Plotly will be used to create graphs. Lastly, we will use pandas for data manipulation.
Apart from this, you will also need very basic HTML and CSS which you can pick up on the go like me.
Creating the dashboard skeleton
Alright, let’s dive in then. Let’s first create our sections (HTML div) on the dashboard where we will place dash components for our app. We need one section for dash dropdown on the top and two parallel sections for displaying the dash graphs. In addition to this, we will encapsulate every section into one big section which will encompass our complete viewport.
Image by author
import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html
import pandas as pd
from dash.dependencies import Input, Output
import plotly.express as px app = dash.Dash(__name__)
app.title = "IPL Dashboard" #Creating a section to place our dropdown
dropdown_box = html.Div(
children = ["dropdown", dcc.Dropdown()], #dash dropdown element style = {'width': '90%', "position": "fixed", "left": "5%",
'display': 'inline-block', 'height':"5%", "top": "1%",
'z-index':'1', 'border': '2px solid green',
'text-align': 'center'}
) #Creating a section to place our graphs Graphs = html.Div(children = [
html.Div(children = ["Graph 1", dcc.Graph()], #dash graph element style = {'width': '45%', "position": "fixed", "left": "2%",
'display': 'inline-block', 'text-align': 'center',
'top': '10%', 'border': '2px solid red', 'height':'50%'}
), html.Div(children = ["Graph 2", dcc.Graph()], #dash graph element style = {'width': '45%', 'position': 'fixed', 'left': '53%',
'display': 'inline-block', 'text-align': 'center',
'top': '10%', 'border': '3px solid red', 'height':'50%'}
) ]) #creating and adding the main html div which encapsulates all elements on the viewport app.layout = html.Div(id ="main_div", children=[input_box, Graphs], style = {'background-color': '#FFFFFF', 'padding':'0',
'width':'100%', 'height':'100%', 'position': 'fixed',
'top': '0%', 'left': '0%', 'bottom': '0%', 'height':'100%',
'border': '2px solid blue'}
) if __name__ == "__main__":
app.run_server(debug=False, port = 8080)
Adding interactivity to dashboard
Now that skeleton for dashboard is ready, let’s work on creating its soul to make it interactive. For that first we need to add an id attribute to all our dash components. This will give each component a unique identifier which will be used to take input and display output on the dashboard. Apart from that we will use few more attributes which are available for dropdown like clearable, placeholder, value and options. You can look at all the attributes available for dash core components here.
To add interactivity dash offers a callback function that allows us to interact with components on the dashboard. The callback function takes input and throws output using the dash dependencies class. We can take multiple inputs from a dashboard using each dash component’s id and property attributes and similarly can render output using the same as well. We will see this in the code in detail. The limitation is — there can be only one callback function. However, we can call multiple functions inside this callback function.
Hence, we have defined two functions to render the plotly graphs. We will be calling these functions from our callback function.
So, now let’s look at how to apply the same in Python.
We have made a few changes from our skeleton version in the CSS to enhance the look and feel like removing the border, changing the background color etc.
Deploying the dashboard on the web:
There are multiple ways to deploy this dash app on the web. However, we selected Heroku for the same. For this, you need the below things.
1. Account on Git (Sign up).
2. Git bash installed on your machine.
3. Account on Heroku (Sign up)
4. Download Heroku CLI from here.
5. Optional yet helpful — Pycharm/Visual Studio installed on your computer.
Once you have set up the above resources follow the step-by-step process below.
Login to Heroku and click on - Create New App.
Give a name for your app and click - Create app.
Now, you need to create a new project in Pycharm/Visual Studio, in case you don’t have it, don’t worry. You just need to create one folder and place the files we will create in further steps in the folder.
Open the project path and add the .py file into the project folder. This file will contain all the Python code.
file into the project folder. This file will contain all the Python code. In your .py file under app = dash.Dash(__name__) add this line: server = app.server
add this line: Open terminal/command prompt, and CD into your project folder.
Pip install all libraries with specific versions your .py file needs to run.
pip install pandas==1.2.0
pip install plotly==4.8.0
pip install dash==1.12.0
pip install gunicorn==20.0.4 #Required to run app on Heroku.
Create a file in the project folder and name it .gitignore .
Image by author
Create a file in the project folder, name it Procfile and add this line to it web: gunicorn YourPythonFileNameWithoutPy:server
Image by author
Go back to the terminal/command prompt and run the following commands.
pip freeze > requirements.txt
heroku login
git init
heroku git:remote -a yourHerokuAppName
Image by author
git add .
git commit -am “initial launch”
git push heroku master
Congratulations!!! you have deployed your Dash app on the web. You can share the Heroku app URL to present the app to anyone. This offers an incredible solution to display reports or give an interface to your Python programs which users/clients can interact with.
Happy coding, have fun and stay healthy. And, in case you face any issues while applying it - I am just a comment away. | https://towardsdatascience.com/develop-and-deploy-interactive-dashboards-using-python-dash-66a7e4873429 | ['Yash Mishra'] | 2021-07-16 06:53:12.344000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Dashboard', 'Python', 'Dash', 'Plotly'] |
Guatemala’s Terrorist Designation of Hizballah Explained | Guatemala highlands scene, January 2020. Photo by Todd Bensman
by Todd Bensman Special to IPT News
December 4, 2020
The small Central American nation of Guatemala does not usually pop first in literature and intelligence about Lebanese Hizballah’s operations deep in the heart of South America. So any surprise would be expected when the government of Guatemala in October, very far from that action, suddenly designated the Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim paramilitary group, and all of its branches, as a terrorist organization.
Guatemala’s designation follows one by Honduras in January and three other Latin America nations — Argentina, Paraguay, and Colombia — in 2019. The designations theoretically subject Hizballah and anyone caught supporting it to surveillance, asset seizures, arrest, and prosecution in coordination with the American intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
But the seemingly incongruous designations are more connected with a broader U.S. strategic initiative to pressure Hizballah’s South America revenue lifelines as the group and its primary sponsor, Iran, reportedly reel under harsh U.S. economic sanctions.
Hizballah reportedly was already facing a serious financial crisis because of American sanctions last year, when the United States began collecting terrorist designations. Its leaders implemented harsh austerity measures like fighter salary cuts, welfare payout reductions and putting donation boxes on Beirut street corners.
But Hizballah likely was somewhat buffered from the sanctions thanks to its successful 2006 decision to enter South America’s lucrative cocaine trafficking trade. Estimates vary widely, but Hizballah reportedly might earn anywhere from $200 to $700 million a year from cocaine trafficking. It probably earns more laundering it through byzantine automobile import and export operations that stretch from the United States through Latin America to Benin, Africa and then Europe. The Drug Enforcement Agency’s 2008–16 “Project Cassandra” found that Hizballah’s “External Security Organization Business Affairs” arm collected $1 billion a year from money laundering, criminal activities, and drug and weapons trade.
“While Hezbollah’s arsenal and fighters are concentrated in Lebanon and Syria, Latin America is an indispensable theater of operations for the criminal networks that generate much of Hezbollah’s revenue,” Emanuele Ottolenghi, a senior fellow for the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, wrote last year in Foreign Policy magazine.
Guatemala’s designation came after close coordination with the U.S. National Security Council as part of that broader effort to crack down on Hizballah money laundering and illicit finance operations, a spokeswoman for President Alejandro Giammattei told the Investigative Project on Terrorism.
In an email exchange, Francis Masek would not discuss the extent to which Hizballah operatives were active in Central America, only that “security reports” show the group as “having a presence in Latin America” with some presumed spillover through Guatemala.
“We know that the terrorist group has a presence in Latin America and that is why coordination has been initiated with neighboring countries, to counteract the presence of members of the group in the Central American Region,” Masek explained. As to the extent that Hizballah is active in her region, she replied, “There has probably been some kind of undeclared presence but only as passage, like drugs, let’s say.”
Though probably unrelated, but with beneficial timing, the U.S. effort to expand the assortment of Latin America countries willing to make life riskier for Hizballah occurs as Iran has repeatedly vowed to retaliate against the United States for the Jan. 3. assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. Iranian leaders have said they could attack anywhere at any time and, even before his death, Soleimani gave a speech during which he called out the American president: “Mr. Gambler, Trump! I’m telling you that we are close to you, exactly where you wouldn’t think that we are.”
A menacing presence
Guatemala and Honduras were late comers to the Hizballah-designation party in the Americas, joining Colombia, Paraguay and Argentina during 2019.
Of the five, Argentina was a key first player and not just because the country suffered the 1992 and 1994 bombings of the Israeli embassy and the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association community center in Buenos Aires. After Argentina branded Hizballah a terrorist organization in July 2019, it froze the assets of 14 Hizballah associates present in the country at the time, some of whom had “worked closely with numerous extremists” in a Tri-Border free trade zone shared with Paraguay and Brazil.
Significant to the Argentine effort was the Paraguay designation, which targeted Hizballah operatives known to be operating in the free trade zone.
In Peru, authorities arrested Muhammad Ghaleb Hamdar, an apparent operative of Hizballah’s clandestine services arm, Unit 910, named for stockpiling explosives and weapons and using false documents. The unit’s operatives have been found in Colombia and Venezuela. In 2017, Bolivia uncovered a Hizballah cache of explosives.
Further north, though, open source reporting about Hizballah activity in Central America and Mexico is spotty at best. The U.S. State Department’s most recent annual Country Report on Terrorism covering 2019 doesn’t address Honduras or Guatemala at all, though it does mention Panama’s cooperation with U.S. law enforcement on “ongoing counterterrorism cases in 2019, including individuals linked to Hizballah.”
Joseph Humire, executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society and Latin America security expert, praised the recent Latin America terrorism designations because they “put us all in the same language, on the same page,” especially in “countries that always knew Hizballah was there.”
Humire, who spends time with local intelligence officials in Central American countries like Guatemala, said that while intelligence agencies are not certain about Hizballah “density” closer to the U.S. border, he is seeing evidence of increasing presence and activity.
“There is a significant documented presence in Mexico” through Iranian cultural networks, he said, and more recently a center of Hizballah operations became “very active” in a free-trade zone that straddles Belize, Mexico, and Guatemala. This one connects through Venezuela with other illicit Hizballah operations in South America.
“There’s always been a concern about the Belize presence,” said Humire.
Vulnerabilities remain
Humire cautioned, however, that designations from five countries in the Americas is merely a good start and complained that 30 more haven’t acted and are vulnerable to Hizballah operating with relative impunity.
One of those in the neighborhood that is unlikely to issue a designation is Nicaragua, whose leftist Sandinista government has been diplomatically estranged from the United States since Daniel Ortega retook power in 2007.
Iran’s flag seen behind the heavily fortified wall of its Nicaraguan embassy. (photo credit: Todd Bensman)
Then-Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad attended Ortega’s inauguration and struck a new diplomatic relationship that resulted in an Iranian embassy in Managua and continues.
I saw this compound during a 2007 trip to investigate the new Iran-Nicaragua relationship. The new ambassador politely rejected interview requests.
Iranian flag at new consulate in Managua circa 2007. Photo by Todd Bensman
But journalists at the country’s largest-circulation newspaper, La Prensa, provided me leaked government documents showing that Nicaragua’s chief immigration minister had authorized 21 Iranian men to enter the country visa-free, leaving no paper trail. Local media at the time reported and named them as Quds Force operatives who had come in under diplomatic cover and traveled to Honduras and El Salvador.
Iran and Nicaragua remain close, with Iran sending its foreign affairs minister for a visit in July 2019.
Even with the powers of designation at the disposal of Honduras and Guatemala, actual intelligence and justice system capabilities may lag behind Hizballah’s clandestine operatives working in the region, said Renzo Rosal, a political analyst with the Association of Social Investigation and Studies, a Guatemala think tank.
“This is part of a trend at the global level where expressing these kinds of statements, especially in the case of Guatemala, is largely symbolic,” Rosal told the IPT. “Guatemala works well in other things, but for the detection of terrorist operations and groups? They seem to me to be quite weak, and therefore there will be a lot of dependence on what the United States does in the region.” | https://medium.com/the-right-side-of-history-of-national-security/guatemalas-terrorist-designation-of-hizballah-explained-ec2af2972a10 | ['Todd Bensman'] | 2020-12-07 02:45:23.440000+00:00 | ['Guatemala', 'Hezbollah', 'Iran', 'Terrorism', 'Central America'] |
Great Things I Have Accidentally Learned About Writing For The Medium Platform | Great Things I Have Accidentally Learned About Writing For The Medium Platform
I Discovered Interesting Things Which Medium Doesn’t Come Right Out And Tell New Creators About And For Good Reason Matthew Leo Follow Dec 22, 2020 · 11 min read
Medium is a fickle mistress, one that does not give up all of her secrets on the first night love making. She has to be explored and stoked, until she eventually gave me glimpses of what I could do and what I could not.
First of all, many of the the articles in this forum are locked behind a paywall. This enables content creators to actually receive small chunks of change per number of view and claps for each of their articles. Unfortunately, many of these articles had much of the information that I needed in order to start to make some movement in getting to know my newest obsession. I put it off for weeks, hopeful that my writing skills alone were going to be enough to draw a crowd and bring in some nice passive income.
However, as I said Medium is a fickle mistress. She must be stroked and caressed in just the right manner. You have to play by her rules if you intend on making any kind of mark. Pun intended.
Formatting
Firstly, I like how much of the formatting work is already done for you. Medium’s platform has a consistency in form that I have only seen mirrored to any degree on the Vocal Platform. One thing of note that I thought was rather important deals with the beginning title formatting. Should you accidentally skip your Subtitle and go ahead and upload a picture, you can easily go back up to your main title, hit enter and type in your subtitle. However, at this point, you will have to reformat your text so that it is in the appropriate subtitle format, otherwise your subtitle will just look like the rest of your text. You can do so by selecting the text with a quick scroll and highlight and when you release the button, you will see a small quick menu which contains buttons for Bold, Italics, Creating Hyperlinks and Font Sizes. Changing the font type to that of Subtitle is just as easy as clicking on the smaller letter T in that menu. You will know that you have done so correctly when you click on the Subtitle and you will now see a line marker coming down the side of the main title and you will see both the words Title and Subtitle in the sidebar.
Followers
You also should look through your follower list fairly often, I would say once a week. The reason being is that new followers to your contents are often kind of just stuck in anywhere when you look through your list. I am not sure what rhyme or reason Medium follows, but I don’t believe new followers are organized in single file in the order that they came into your room. If you are intending to do follow-backs on all of your followers, the best practice is to just look through your list to make sure you don’t have any stragglers you haven’t followed back shuffling about.
Following Other Writers
I started off like we all have to, with zero followers. I attempted to reach out to social media, but none of my immediate friends on Facebook had ever heard of Medium or Vocal with the exception of one. I even tried to appeal to my #WritingCommunity friends on Twitter to come help me out. However, I got little in response to my pleads for follow-ship. What did start working was looking at writers who were already established on Medium. Did you know that you have access to a list of each and every one of their followers? More importantly, on the desktop version of the platform, you can even type into their search box and find specific writers that may cater to your specific writing genre. For example, I write poetry. In that list, I found dozens of people who list poet as a part of their profile description. It was only then a matter of clicking on who I thought would be interested in my work and waiting for the follow-backs to come through.
However, this method is a bit tedious. At first, I was just clicking on every name I could possibly click on without any rhyme or reason. What I noticed was that the follows would start steadily trickling in, but my ratios were way off. I approximate I only received about 10 to 13 percent follow-backs using this method. I think that being a bit more nit-picky about who I follow might bear more fruit.
The next thing I tried out was quite by accident. Did you know that you can gain access to the list of people who have clapped on an article by clicking on that number at the bottom of the article? By only clicking on the number, not the hands, you will be presented a list of all of those who have clapped for that article in addition to how many times. The upshot of this is that you now have access to names of creators who are indeed willing to clap for outstanding content. These are the people we are looking for! So, every once in a while, I include these as follows for myself in the hopes of a followback as well. All in all, it is very good information to have and be able to act upon in the future. These are people who have already demonstrated the capacity for reciprocity.
What Do Those Green Crescents Around My Profile Pic Mean
More importantly, I think that there is a better way of organically reaching more writers that would be more apt to responding and following my content. I actually started doing what I believe I was meant to do in the first place. I got myself a membership. Sure, I started off getting my introductory month for free, but this enabled me to get my little green crescents to appear and hug my profile pic. Why is this significant? What possible importance could this possibly have? At first glance, I thought that these were featured content writers. I was mistaken, and perhaps you might have been as well. The green crescents identify you as a paying member on this platform. This is important because many content creators will choose not to follow you back if you are not a paying member. In fact, they will completely overlook you. That was my Ah-Ha! moment. Where previously, I was being looked and passed over by other content creator members, I was now having my follows reciprocated. This is likely because claps are indeed part of the currency that makes up this platform, and currency is meant to be exchanged.
Reciprocation and Just Good Ole Manners
Reciprocation is a very simple process, however it can be a time consuming one. My advice? Take at the very least an hour or so out of your writing day to read some of your fellow content creators articles, and give them the number of claps you feel their work has earned. Be fair. There are no rules as to how many claps you should give a work. At the very least, understand that 50 is the maximum amount of claps you can give any piece of work. For me, 50 claps should be reserved for those pieces that deserve a standing ovation. They are the crème de la crème. The best of the best.
If you took the time to read an article, but it didn’t necessarily suit your fancy, give 1 clap at the very least to show support for the author’s attempt. If the work is at the very least entertaining, I would clap anywhere from 10–15 times. If I learned something in the article that might help me in my own personal life, or at the very least my professional writing life, I might throw down 20. If the article is well researched and cited as well, I would offer 25 or so. For 30–40, the work needs to hit well on many levels. It should be well written, grammar and spellchecked for errors. It should be entertaining, informative or otherwise appealing to my as a reader. Lastly, it should leave me feeling that the author is speaking from personal experience and is writing from a vulnerable yet relatable place. A 50 should hit all of these and after reading such eloquence, I should feel the urge to immediately clap out loud. I know that there is no true scale for giving claps on articles, but this is the best that I can up with as a sort of general Rubric for awarding each article I read.
Getting Back To Reciprocity
I have noted that creators who I have gone back and read some of their content and gave them claps to, have come back to articles that I have published recently and given their applause feedback on those as well. This seems to be an excellent way to garner some reoccurring claps for the long run. However, how can we build even better relationships with other content creators so that they keep coming back for more? I recently commented on one particular creator’s article. The article in question had a couple of grammar faux pas that took some of the luster away from what would otherwise have been a fantastic article. When I wrote the comment, I was careful to build up the author first by explaining what I liked about the article and only then did drop the grammar bombs on her. The response I got back was one of appreciation. The take-away from this is that we should look for and make opportunity to communicate with other writers, especially those who traipse through the same wheelhouses as we do. In this manner, we can start to support one another and create interactions that will make them remember us when our next publication crosses their path.
A Note About Creating Link Boxes at the End of Any Article
I discovered a bit of trouble when trying to copy and paste links for my other articles to be placed at the end of the new article that I was trying to publish. When I copied the link, I would go and right click where I wanted the link to go and then choose paste. However, when I tried it this way, the link would shoot all the way back up to the top and become inserted into the title. I’m not sure why it does this, but it did the same thing consistently each and every time I attempted it. My solution was pretty simple. Instead of using the drop menu paste, I would position the cursor on the line where I wanted the link box to show up, and then on my Mac I would use the keys Command-V to paste the link. Once the link was placed, the link box still wasn’t there quite yet, but the regular link was put exactly where I wanted it to finally be. Then it was just a matter of hitting enter. After hitting enter, you need only wait approximately 4 to 5 seconds and the link box will generate right in your draft. If you do not hit enter, it will only show the plain link.
Giving Claps
The claps system is a great way to spread your enthusiasm for other creators work here on Medium. I had read in other articles many content creator’s guesses as to how their algorithm work. It is another Mistress Medium secret that I have yet to crack. However, many suspect that the number of claps given by other creators are definitely included in the pay process. Although the claps are link to play, there has been talk that the percentage of pay is affected by the amount each creator has clapped for content in each given month. This seems to make sense since many creators are full members of Medium, paying in their $5.00 a month, and those claps, if we are equating them to the money that is being put into the pot, must be spread to all of the content creators that particular member has clapped for that month. To me it sounds fair, as long as that member is not using a blanket amount of claps, say 50, for each and every piece of content he/she/they reads.
I discovered something quite by accident which took me by surprise. I had read in another article some information concerning claps and they used the number of claps, 100, in one of their example. However, I had noticed that on any given one of my articles, I had only received 50 as my highest clap amount. Then, I read an article that I thought was written particularly well, and I wanted to really shower it with applause. I clicked on my mouse in a fury and was surprised to find out that the highest number of claps I could give any one article was indeed 50. Even after clicking on it a few extra times, the number 50 simple just stayed there. I suppose Medium may have recently added this 50 clap ceiling in an attempt to maintain the fairness. Let’s say that if I converted 50 claps into pennies, that would mean that any given member-reader could at the very least clap for 10 articles, if he/she/they really wanted to. This is accounting for the $5 each member must pay per month to be a member. Again, this is just conjecture, but you can see how this would definitely help square the field up a bit, and not allow for too much in the way of one member using up all of their applause for only one article, in an attempt to garner full applause reciprocated from another content creator. One and done. As I said, I think that this is a very fair platform, and a wonderful way of getting all creators to get more involved as readers in this community as well.
The Stats Data
It doesn’t help to keep looking at your stats on a day to day basis. While in the short-run this may feel thrilling, watching your numbers go up, it isn’t based on real time statistics. Often the data can be 1 to 2 days off from real time numbers depending on when they choose to update. I would suggest perhaps looking at your data every 3 days or perhaps even once a week on a specified day, to give you a somewhat accurate count on how your reads and applause are accumulating.
I hope that each of you have found something of interest in this article. Please feel free to highlight some of the information that really piqued your interest and I am looking forward to any comments or corrections you may have concerning the information I have shared. Learning this new platform has been a wonderful experience, and I can not wait to see what new discoveries await me as I continue my bid for becoming the world’s most ubiquitous writer.
Your wordsmith,
Matthew Leo
© 2020 Matthew Leo
If you enjoyed this article, please be so kind as to click on the little clappy hands just below as many times as you feel my article deserves. Also feel free to click on the share icon to share it on your social media with others you feel may enjoy it the same.
Care to follow me a little further down the rabbit hole? Here are a few more articles I think you may enjoy: | https://medium.com/drying-inkstrokes/great-things-i-have-accidentally-learned-about-the-medium-platform-69627a3a4603 | ['Matthew Leo'] | 2020-12-22 23:59:54.183000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Life Lessons', 'Ｍedium', 'Education', 'Writing'] |
10 Best Godfather Quotes & Dialogues Filled With Life Lessons | The Godfather trilogy is arguably the best crime/gangster movie trilogy ever made. These dialogues & quotes from the godfather trilogy is an attempt to give you all the major themes shown in the trilogy and the life lessons you can get from it.
#1. “A friend should always underestimate your virtues and an enemy overestimate your faults.” — Don Vito Corleone
#2. “I have learned more in the streets than in any classroom.” — Don Vito Corleone
#3. “Great men are not born great, they grow great.” — Don Vito Corleone
#4. “Never let anyone know what you are thinking.” — Michael Corleone
#5. “I respect those that tell me the truth, no matter how hard it is.” — Michael Corleone
#6. “Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment.” — Michael Corleone
#7. “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.” — Michael Corleone
#8. “Finance is a gun. Politics is knowing when to pull the trigger.” — Licio Lucchesi
#9. “The richest man is the one with the most powerful friends.” — Osvaldo Altobello
#10. “Good health is the most important thing. More than success, more than money, more than power.” — Hyman Roth
For more Godfather Quotes, visit: https://mythgyaan.com/the-godfather-quotes/ | https://medium.com/@mythgyaan/10-best-godfather-quotes-dialogues-filled-with-life-lessons-e1f4fd7e6b22 | [] | 2020-12-18 05:47:53.988000+00:00 | ['Quotes', 'Godfather', 'Movie Quotes'] |
Who Votes Without Identification? | A decade after the Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s first-in-the-nation strict photo voter ID law, the number of citizens prevented from voting by laws like it is still unknown. This is because it is difficult to measure, at the individual level, who both lacks access to ID and has a desire to vote. A survey can measure both quantities, but it is also most likely to miss those who are least likely to have ID; in addition, surveys are vulnerable to people misreporting their ID status and over-reporting an intention or history of voting.
Alternatively, administrative data can be used to measure who owns a driver’s license as well as who votes. But comprehensive data on who possesses photo identification is often lacking, and missing fields, inconsistent data fields, and typographical errors can make it challenging to link the same individual’s records between different databases. Moreover, even comprehensive data on who possesses photo identification does not contain information about whether they might be unable to access that ID on Election Day. Such people could form a substantial portion of those burdened by a strict voter ID law.
We attempt to solve this measurement problem by leveraging novel administrative data on who shows up to vote without photo identification. Previous work has used provisional ballots filed in strict photo ID states to identify individuals who intend to vote but lack ID. Such data, however, cannot capture individuals who intend to vote, lack ID, and — for that very reason — are deterred from showing up at the polls. Our alternative measurement strategy makes use of the distinction between the “strict” states that require identification in order to vote, and the “non-strict” states that merely request it. We collect local administrative records on who does not present ID in a non-strict voter ID state, where people without an ID should not be deterred from voting by the law. These data allow us to put an upper bound on the share of voters who could be disenfranchised if a state shifted from a non-strict to strict photo identification law.
Since 2007, Michigan voters have been asked, but not required, to show photo ID in order to vote. Those who do not have photo ID with them at the polling place sign an affidavit in the presence of an election inspector and then cast a ballot just like any other voter. Importantly, these affidavits are public records subject to the state’s freedom of information law. We collected copies of the affidavits filed in a random sample of 20 percent of Michigan precincts and matched more than 4,000 affidavits to the statewide voter file, allowing us to identify the voters who potentially are at risk of being disenfranchised if the state shifted from a non-strict to strict voter ID law.
Relatively few voters lacked a photo ID while voting in Michigan in 2016. Our baseline estimate is that about 0.6 percent, or about 28,000 voters, would have signed an affidavit had it been required for both polling place and absentee ballots (in practice, absentee voters do not need to file an affidavit). One surprising finding is that the election inspector signs slightly fewer than half of these affidavits. In such cases we don’t know whether the election inspector didn’t follow the proper protocol or voters who possessed ID filled out these affidavits unnecessarily. Thus, we only can conclude that the actual share of voters who lack photo ID is somewhere between 0.2 and 0.6 percent.
A higher percentage of minority voters than white voters are at risk of being disenfranchised by a switch from non-strict to strict voter ID law. To show this, we first impute the race of every 2016 polling place voter in the Michigan voter file based on surname and residence. We then run a bivariate regression in which the dependent variable is whether someone filed out an affidavit and the independent variable is the percent chance that the voter is white. The results of these regressions, which are displayed in the figure below. show that minorities are 6 times more likely to file an affidavit, and 2.6 times more likely to file a signed affidavit, than white voters.
In our full paper, we also analyze the relationship between the likelihood of filing an affidavit and an individual’s primary vote history. Given that minorities are more likely to vote for Democrats than whites are, it is not surprising that our analysis suggests that voters who lacked photo identification are more likely to vote for Democrats too. However, we estimate that at least a quarter of affidavit filers would vote Republican.
Our findings are consistent with the claim that there is a potential disparate racial and partisan impact of strict photo ID laws, but the upper bound on the potential number of people affected is much smaller than often asserted. While this suggests that the electoral consequences of shifting from a non-strict to a strict photo ID policy are limited, our single-state case study cannot address the political implications of voter ID laws in their entirety. Instead, it suggests that scholars should spend relatively less time studying the de jure disenfranchisement caused by the shift from non-strict to strict photo ID laws and relatively more time studying the potential de facto disenfranchisement caused by the imposition of non-strict ID laws in the first place.
Election administrators may want to take note of a number of findings in this paper. This research was possible because Michigan creates a paper trail of voters who cast ballots without ID, makes these data available to researchers, and has clerks who are willing to be generous with their time to support our data collection efforts. We hope that other states with non-strict ID laws will make their data available to facilitate comparative studies across states and identify best practices. Such work would be easier if the data were centralized at the state rather than the municipal level, as the local administrative records are particularly difficult to collect.
Beyond facilitating data collection, our data analysis reveals that the placement of affidavits on the back of general use form appears to cause some people to fill out the affidavits even though they have access to ID at the polls. Combined with the fact that election inspectors do not always sign the affidavits, this makes it hard to reconstruct who exactly lacked ID when voting. If doing so is a priority, our results suggest that Michigan may want to hand out affidavits to voters only when required, and to provide further training to election inspectors on how to manage the process when voters lack the requisite ID. | https://medium.com/mit-election-lab/who-votes-without-identification-f7e7152e8ff2 | ['Mit Election Lab'] | 2018-07-26 21:23:00.449000+00:00 | ['Elections', 'Politics', 'Voting', 'Esra 2018'] |
MultiCarRacing: A Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Gym Environment | Background and Motivation
OpenAI Gym¹ environments allow for powerful performance benchmarking of reinforcement learning agents. In this article, we introduce a novel multi-agent Gym environment, MultiCarRacing-v0 , that augments the original Gym CarRacing-v0 environment. This augmented environment can be used for evaluating any deep multi-agent reinforcement learning agent that learns from pixels.
Our implementation of this MultiCarRacing-v0 environment can be found here, and is used for evaluation in our recent paper “Deep Latent Competition: Learning to Race Using Visual Control Policies in Latent Space” (see BibTex citation below).
Race segments from trained agents in our MultiCarRacing-v0 environment.
This environment augments the original Gym CarRacing-v0 environment through the following features:
Multi-car races: Our environment supports races with any N ≥ 1 cars. Randomized starting locations and car colors for all cars on the track. A novel reward mechanism, in which the reward is computed as (K-k)/K * 1000/N , where k is the number of cars that have crossed a tile before the current car, and K is the total number of cars in the race. This reward incentivizes agents to reach tiles before their opponents. Randomization of track direction: this can be set to CW (clockwise), CCW (counterclockwise), or RANDOM (each time the track is regenerated, there is a 50% chance of each direction). Ego car color: If desired, each car can view themselves as the same color, and all opponent cars as the same (different) color. The GIF below illustrates this. Backwards flag: In practice, we noticed that after a spin-out, cars tend to drive in the reverse direction. If desired, the use_backwards_flag option penalizes agents for driving on the track in the reverse direction. Custom Viewing Height: Both our MultiCarRacing-v0 and the original CarRacing-v0 environments have a bird’s eye view of a car (see above). Adjusting our environment’s h_ratio parameter (default is 0.25 ) allows the agent to see pixels further ahead or behind the car.
Video of trained agents racing against one another in our augmented MultiCarRacing environment can be found below: | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/multicarracing-a-multi-agent-reinforcement-learning-gym-environment-176b789e07e7 | ['Ryan Sander'] | 2021-02-23 14:52:57.288000+00:00 | ['Racing', 'Deep Learning', 'Openai Gym', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Reinforcement Learning'] |
The invisible app takeover | The invisible app takeover
Does your next app need a user interface?
Photo by Alex Wong
There’s no arguing that smartphones have become ubiquitous; recent figures show the number of monthly active smart devices at a staggering one billion. This has driven astronomical growth of the app market, with companies wanting people to use their apps as a mechanism to enhance relationships. App opportunities are not without challenges; as the number of apps proliferate, so does the battle for attention and engagement.
A critical difference between smartphones apps and websites offsets this battle for screen space and attention; loaded with sensors collecting environmental data, smartphones are always with or in proximity to their owners and are capable of triggering events on their behalf, without explicit user intervention.
Challenges for app developers
Getting an app to market is easy but getting users to regularly engage with it is difficult. An increase in both the volume and range of apps has made competition for app time fierce, despite the fact that most apps are rarely used and a quarter of installed apps are used just once. The result is an increasing disparity between time spent on apps and the number of app offerings available. For apps like Facebook and Google Maps that have already woven themselves into the fabric daily life, the challenge is to remain relevant through constant delivery of value to their users. For new apps trying to gain footing and build a user base, the road is far more arduous, with significant barriers to success.
One in four apps are used only once after installation.
The average smartphone user has over 95 apps installed but 85% of time spent on smartphones but only 5 apps see heavy use. At the end of 30 days, just 3.3% of apps still had active users. There’s simply too much noise.
This increasing app competition will lead developers to find innovative ways to create and market apps that can circumvent the fight for screen space entirely. Some are finding a solution in designing apps that are simple, quick and don’t bombard users with too much information. Others recognize that content in a mobile browser is not just merely desktop content formatted for a tiny viewport, but rather that smartphones connect to the Internet as well as to an array of sensors with triggers that can automatically act on our behalf.
A glimpse of the future
Photo by Riley McCullough
What will these new apps look like? As smartphones quickly become more sophisticated, sometimes in unpredictable ways, it’s difficult to make long term predictions. By looking at the current range of apps, however, one can see hints of the evolutionary process underway. Consider the following apps and their capabilities:
Google Now for travel reminders and local recommendations
Foursquare/Swarm and its location messaging experience
Tile and tracking connected objects
Health apps like Pedometer that measure physical activity
Apple’s Home and connected home devices like Nest
The breadth of functionality represented is quite astounding, especially when compared to what apps could do only a few short years ago. As sensors become more sophisticated and smartphones are able to package more sensors into their form factors, a device’s ability to become more aware of the surroundings is drastically increased. This contextual and environmental awareness that apps are beginning to tap into will spawn a new generation of apps with location services that know even more about its owner and her surroundings. In turn, the benefit users get from the proactive insight and value that these apps provide will increase exponentially over time.
A mobile leap forward
Today’s app renaissance and the shift to more intelligent, contextually-aware software actually represents the third strata of user interaction since the iPhone popularized the mobile app back in 2007.
Initially, apps tried to mimic their desktop software counterparts, offering everything in a smaller, mobile package. Apps became bloated with too many features, too little functionality, and user interface issues ensued. A shift was then made towards highly specialized apps to accomplish specific tasks or subsets of a brand’s full offering. For example, the Facebook Messenger app only includes the messaging components of Facebook; Swarm distills Foursquare into an app that helps track location and arrange meetings with friends.
As apps move toward a new mode of utility, user benefits are also evolving. The new generation of apps are contextually aware and more service-like in nature: they are always on and alert, but only interact with the user when appropriate. These “invisible” apps will spur the transformation of mobile devices from communication tools to intelligent assistants, making smartphones truly “smart.” Resulting improvements in these interactions will boost the quality and length of engagement between apps and their users.
Invisible triggers
Photo by Amos Bar-Zeev
This new method of interaction is only possible due to a range of smartphone services that constantly run in the background and that are capable of triggering events like push notices, contextual changes and server side notices. Invisible triggers include:
Date and time
Location
Proximity: relative to a nearby object or person
Movement
Connectivity status: networks, headphones, ancillary devices
Cloud based events
By listening for status changes, background services orchestrate events on behalf of users without explicit intervention. For example, when I place a click & collect order for groceries and later enter proximity of the collection store during the designated pickup window with my connected smartphone, attendants are automatically notified of my prescience and collect my parcels so that I don’t need to wait in line or flag down someone to get my order. There’s no need to pull out my smartphone or swipe through a series of on-screen buttons.
Implications
A few implications about the rise of invisible apps are worth noting. An invisible app, by definition, is resident or running but hidden. A great deal of trust is therefore required between app vendors and users; issues such as privacy, tracking capabilities, as well as an app’s ability to autonomously operate are all areas of concern.
Developers will need to consider:
Education: if it’s always running, what is it doing? always tacking me, or only when I request something? How do users quit or opt-out?
Permissions: when and under what circumstance will you capture user activity? If users become aware of background tracking, how will they react?
Battery impact: background services are always on, but that doesn’t mean that you can over task the device. With always running services, developers will be challenged to optimize services not just for effectiveness but for battery drain as well.
Integration: it’s not just online interactions, it’s things you do in the real world. The best experiences are often those that derive context from multiple systems of record.
Balance: helpful vs creepy. This will require more initial subtlety as consumers get used to experiences and decide what level of automation is appropriate.
Ultimately, invisible apps must strike a balance between being intrusive and being informative. Current initiatives from leading technology giants notably Apple’s continuing iOS developments and Google’s Nearby initiatives are paving the way towards a standards-based approach to designing the apps of tomorrow.
My company, Localz, is leading the charge into inviable app experiences. We’ve also made it our goal to ensure app experiences are relevant, rewarding and respectful. By leveraging smartphone background services with contextual rules and user education, we’re creating invisible, yet compelling, app experiences that stick. | https://medium.com/@peterwilliams/the-invisible-app-takeover-f58f78b5a9ff | ['Peter Williams'] | 2016-11-16 05:30:55.780000+00:00 | ['Messaging', 'Mobile', 'Startup', 'iOS', 'Android'] |
The French Dilemma and Lavender Madeleines | I’ve always wished that I was just a little more French than I already am.
Maybe it’s all the Madeline books I was read as a child. Or maybe it’s just in my blood.
Regardless of the reason, there’s a certain unkempt perfection that I adore about everything French. Like the cobblestone streets of Paris, or the often relaxed fold of the crust of a galette. While I aspire to this, it’s something I’ll never accomplish. I’m a little more unkempt and a lot less perfection…
…c’est la vie.
I’ll have to settle with admiration, imitation, et la persistance — in the form of food. These Lavender Madeleines are a good start, with their beautiful, golden shell exterior and their soft, spongy texture.
Finish them off with a delicate dusting of icing sugar and a hint of culinary lavender for an oh, so French treat.
Lavender Madeleines
Makes 12
Ingredients:
¾ cup all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs
½ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon culinary lavender, finely chopped
¼ cup butter, melted
Icing sugar, lavender, to serve
Instructions:
1. Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda; set aside.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar until light and creamy in colour, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla and lavender and mix. Fold in dry ingredients, using a rubber spatula, and then once fully incorporated stir in melted butter. Cover, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and generously butter a madeleine pan. Sprinkle pan with flour and tap out any excess. Spoon the batter into moulds and bake for 12–14 minutes, or until the madeleines are golden and spring back when touched. Invert them onto a rack to cool, and sprinkle with icing sugar and lavender prior to serving. | https://medium.com/global-dish/the-french-dilemma-and-lavender-madeleines-9cf4789bdd80 | ['Stephanie Arsenault'] | 2016-10-13 19:48:10.749000+00:00 | ['Cake', 'Cookies', 'Baking', 'Tasty Travels', 'From The Kitchen'] |
It’s Not that Easy: The Changes Need to Undergo Thorough Approval | A parliamentary board of trustees screening the submission bill will choose tomorrow whether to affirm changes made to it by the Council of State, the public authority’s lawful warning body. In view of this, Congressperson Surachai Liangboonlertchai, the panel administrator, said on Tuesday that individuals had met agents of the committee to talk about the progressions the last needed to make to Sections 10 and 11 of the bill.
The segment 10 explains insights about the submission cycle for sanction changes, while Section 11 arrangements with choices on different issues.
Also, The submission charge, which is presently at the subsequent understanding stage, may not come around.
That is on the grounds that it is at risk for being announced illegal, since the constitution specifies that solitary the bureau can start a submission. The changes, set forth by the resistance, approve parliament and the general population to start a sign-up crusade requiring a choice to be held. A few representatives demand what is being requested goes past the constraints of the sacred system.
https://www.theasianaffairs.com/its-not-that-easy-the-changes-need-to-undergo-thorough-approval/ | https://medium.com/@theasianaffairs/its-not-that-easy-the-changes-need-to-undergo-thorough-approval-fcd4b0273a66 | ['The Asian Affairs'] | 2021-04-01 12:57:51.676000+00:00 | ['Bill', 'Thailand'] |
7 Things You Should Never Do in the Morning | Planning Your Day
If you fail to plan, you’ll also fail to execute. But if you spend the first minutes of your day planning your schedule, you’ll waste enormous amounts of precious energy on that repetitive task.
“Write a to-do list to stay organized” is common productivity advice, but what most people overlook is that you’re too late if you set up your to-do list in the morning.
Yes, being organized is the key to a fulfilled life, but you shouldn’t get organized first thing in the morning.
Your plans should be ready when you get up.
Otherwise, you’ll spend mental energy on prioritizing your tasks and lack that mental power when it comes to doing all these things.
Waking up to a concrete plan for the day will help you be clearer about what you want to achieve and how to get it, but it will also allow you to focus more easily.
What to do instead:
If you want to make the most out of each day, set your priorities before going to bed.
When you wake up, your daily schedule and plan should be ready and waiting for you to tick off your to-dos.
Don’t allow yourself to feel overwhelmed in the early hours of your day. Instead, be well-prepared and set your priorities in the evening.
There’s no better feeling than going to bed knowing that you’re well prepared to tackle the next day.
And when planning your daily schedule and tasks, make sure to keep it to a minimum: Your schedule shouldn’t contain more than a few important tasks per day.
I organize my daily schedule with a simple tool called Todoist and make sure to have no more than 3–5 prioritized tasks per day.
Whenever I tried to get more big tasks done in a day, I ended up feeling overwhelmed and overstressed. This number obviously depends on the tasks you want to get done and can vary depending on your projects but on average, a maximum of 3–5 priorities is a good start. | https://medium.com/the-ascent/7-things-you-should-try-never-to-do-in-the-morning-2ccd8f7ac89d | ['Sinem Günel'] | 2020-11-19 18:00:29.305000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Morning', 'Advice', 'Self Improvement', 'Personal Growth'] |
Microinteractions: Make Your Systems Delightful & Effective | “The details are not the details, they make the design.”
Charles Eames
What are microinteractions?
Microinteractions are a small piece of functionality. They are a use case boiled down to a single moment, focused on a single task. Microinteractions provide delightful visual feedback, making the interface feel smoother thanks to the transitions.
The difference between a product you love and one you just tolerate is often how you interact with it. One of the most famous microinteractions is the Like button on Facebook, and this article by Geoff Tehan shows how much thought went into the recent changes to this button.
A good practice is to try to treat everything as a microinteraction
Where and how
There are a lot of potential opportunities for microinteractions. Where and how we implement them is basically defined by the specific needs of the interface.
Examples:
Accomplishing a single task
Managing an ongoing task
Viewing or writing a small piece of content (i.e., status message, comment)
Connecting one device to another (i.e., computer to phone)
Uploading and downloading
Notifications
Switching on/off (features, functions, or the entire UI itself)
Social media sharing
Pull-down and hidden menus
Showing changes (i.e., an animation to show the Play button changed to a Pause)
Highlighting calls-to-action
Adjusting setting preferences or continual elements (i.e., volume)
Preventing user error
Structure
When we talk about microinteractions we have to mention Dan Saffer (Interaction Designer). He explains that an effective microinteraction follow the following structure:
Trigger
The trigger is the starting point, it is whatever initiates or motivates a microinteraction. Pushing a button is a trigger.
An important aspect about triggers is that the more frequently the microinteraction is used, the more visible it should be. The best triggers are those that launch users into the actual interaction: the rules.
Rules
Rules are what happen when a user triggers the microinteraction.
They determine how the interaction works. Basically, rules are what the microinteraction does. For example: if you push the button of a lamp, the lamp turns on.
Rules must reflect constraints. Business, contextual, and technical constraints must be handled. Do not start from scratch. The most prominent default should be the action that most people do most of the time.
Feedback
The feedback is the verification that you get from the system. In other words, it is the indicator of the result of the microinteraction.
An important aspect of the feedback is that we must understand what information the user needs and when. All feedback relies on this understanding. Also, it is important to use common UI elements to provide feedback messages. Do not make feedback arbitrary. Link the feedback to the control and/or the resulting behavior.
A typical example of a microinteraction feedback is a progress bar
The feedback should not always be visible, it can also be a sound.
Another important point is to always try to speak human language.
Loops & modes
Microinteractions are brief in nature, and they must be designed for repeated use.
The loops are considerations about how the microinteraction is reused, including how long it lasts and how it changes for different uses. Use loops to extend the life of a microinteraction.
Modes
Most microinteractions should be mode-free, but sometimes they are necessary. If you must have a mode, make it its own screen when possible.
Examples
Tooltips
Switch controls
Hidden navigation
Contextual alerts
Yelp reminds us that today is a holiday and hours might be affected
Delightful details
Uber cars looking scary during Halloween
This article is inspired in Dan Saffer’s speak session Microinteractions: Design with Detail at the UX Lx Conference.
Other sources: UX Pin, Dribbble | https://medium.com/headspring-ux-team/microinteractions-make-your-systems-delightful-effective-19cbeedc258c | ['Juan Lasarte'] | 2016-05-06 14:57:09.912000+00:00 | ['Ixd', 'UX', 'Design'] |
[PC Update] v1.9.1 Update Preview | Hey there! Editor X here with PRISM Live Studio, the global live streaming app.
Today, let’s take a quick peek at the v 1.9.1 update.
The Windows update is scheduled for April 24th, 2020. the Mac update is scheduled for April 27th, 2020, though the schedules are subject to change.
v1.9.1 Major Changes:
BAND account linkage support
Connect BAND accounts for easy and convenient live streaming.
2. BAND multicast support
Band channel added through account linkage supports multi-platform live streaming.
★ BAND account connection
[☰]> [File]> [Settings]> [Channel Settings] > select [Add Channel].
2. Mouse over the BAND channel, select [Login with account].
3. Login by entering your BAND account and password.
4. After linking is complete, switch the band channel on in the channel settings.
If you want to live stream to multiple platforms, you need to switch the multistream button to On, and then switch all the channels you want to live to On.
5. Click the [Live Info] button to enter live information.
BAND live information will be exposed on the BAND web page.
6. When the scene to be used for live streaming is ready, click the [Ready]> [Go Live] button to start live streaming.
7. To finish live streaming, click the [Finish] button in PRISM.
★ BAND Custom RTMP connection
[☰]> [File]> [Settings]> [Channel Settings] > select [Add Channel].
2. Mouse over the BAND channel, select [InputRTMP].
3. The BAND channel URL is automatically entered in the New RTMP channel pop-up.
To enter stream key information, open the BAND page.
4. On the BAND page, select the [Live Streaming] menu, and click the Stream URL and Stream Key [Generate] button.
5. Click the stream key copy button on the BAND live streaming start page, and paste it in the [stream key] field of the PRISM.
* The stream key of BAND changes every time, so you must check and enter it every time when you want to go live streaming.
*BAND’s stream key is valid for 3 minutes, so if you do not start live streaming within 3 minutes after entering the stream key, you must get it again.
6. Finally, click [Save] to create the channel.
7. When the scene to be used for live streaming is prepared, click the [Ready]> [Go Live] button.
8. Go to the BAND page and click the ‘Go Live’ button to live to BAND members.
9. To end the broadcast, first click the [Finish] button in PRISM, then go to the BAND page and click the [End Live] button.
*Band channels added with Custom RTMP are not supported for multi stream.
If you want to multi stream, remember to add the BAND channel by linking your BAND account!
Thank you !!! | https://medium.com/prismlivestudio/pc-update-v1-9-1-update-preview-fe1a5e4c5e36 | ['Prism Live Studio. Official'] | 2020-04-27 03:43:13.061000+00:00 | ['Live', 'Prism', 'Live Streaming', 'Prismlivestudio', 'Livestream'] |
Monochrome | Photo by Lerone Pieters on Unsplash
Dull grey walls around.
Absent vibrant colours that
appears black and white. | https://medium.com/@sangkhaiya/monochrome-240b6de38f27 | [] | 2020-12-14 04:02:39.607000+00:00 | ['Poem', 'Life', 'Haiku', 'Poetry', 'Perspective'] |
Tactics for handling your interview nerves | 👩🏽💻 Sophia
5:35 PM: That’s a great question!! Thank you. I’ll let you know how it goes.
👨💻 Alex
9:38 PM: Sure thing! I bet they’ll be excited to talk with you in person and it will be a fun and informative time.
April 18th — Negotiating the Job Offer
👩🏽💻 Sophia
9:14 AM: Heya Alex!! I got the job! I am so excited!!
👨💻 Alex
9:20 AM: Excellent!! Congrats!
👩🏽💻 Sophia
9:21 AM: Thank you!
9:22 AM: I did have an offer question for you. It’s a little different of a situation than I’ve experienced before.
Photo by Christina Morillo, modified by Alex
9:24 AM: These folks are very honest, kind and upfront. They’d given a range at the beginning of the interview process.
When the COO gave me the offer, he took his time to explain they do hiring very differently, want to avoid the back and forth, give a fair etc. He also mentioned the offer may be lower than I’m used to, but the benefits of the company are the people you work with, the remote aspect, etc.
The offer was lower than I expected and at the mid-point of the range they gave me initially (he said this was rare, but given my skills they thought it was appropriate). He said he hopes the offer is respectful to me, etc.
Is there a polite way to counter and not put them off?
I’d just like to see if they can move even a few K up and not make it seem like I am negotiating or ignoring his initial spiel he gave me. I knew it would be a step down monetarily, but I hoped a little less than it is.
👨💻 Alex
9:27 AM: Hi Sophia, it’s definitely fair for you to negotiate. It’s great that they gave you a range up front, which helps to understand where they’re comfortable.
It sounds like you feel that you are above that midpoint..? If so, it’s fair for you to explain that even their high-end is a step down, but you’re excited about joining them, so you’re willing to find a middle ground.
9:28 AM: That said…
They’re very excited about you at this point. They’ve invested a lot and they clearly feel like you’re the right candidate, so you have room to maneuver.
9:31 AM: When I’m excited about a company and we’re close, I like to use language along the lines of:
“This is really exciting, thank you for the offer! This doesn’t quite match up with what I’m looking for, but if you can get the salary to $X, I’d be happy to accept the offer today.”
That last part is key, it gives them confidence that they’ll get what they want (you) without a lot more back and forth. | https://uxdesign.cc/tactics-for-handling-your-interview-nerves-5ab93596045 | ['Alex Jones'] | 2020-04-09 12:49:35.517000+00:00 | ['Interview', 'Anxiety', 'Tips', 'Negotiation', 'Business'] |
An Approach for a Hyper Local, Crowd Sourced, Data Driven Chat Bot for COVID | An Approach for a Hyper Local, Crowd Sourced, Data Driven Chat Bot for COVID Rajan Manickavasagam Follow Aug 11 · 5 min read
Overview
The COVID-19 pandemic has captured everyone’s attention and impacted our daily lives since the past few months. It is likely to remain that way for the foreseeable future too, as we learn to navigate around it.
Several organizations and volunteers globally have created various kinds of dashboards, databases, etc. so that information is available to everyone. Some of them are:
COVID-19 database by Johns Hopkins: https://github.com/CSSEGISandData/COVID-19
COVID-19 India dashboards: https://github.com/covid19india/covid19india-react
COVID-19 India clusters: https://github.com/someshkar/covid19india-cluster
WHO app: https://github.com/WorldHealthOrganization/app
COVID-19 time series data: https://github.com/pomber/covid19
And many others
Approach
From the various open source applications already created for COVID, came my inspiration too, for a chat bot. The idea is to empower local communities with data and insights so that they are better informed as they go about their daily tasks and routine. This might help people assess the “risk” where:
Some of them have to go to an office or public place for work
Children are going to schools/parks
People are heading out for chores/outdoors
And similar scenarios
Concept
Governments, NGOs, businesses and health officials all over the world are taking several initiatives to keep people safe. However, it is imperative that local communities also take steps to safeguard themselves. The idea is to create a chat bot that is set up and maintained by each local community, like a ham radio movement.
Such chat bots could provide both quantitative and qualitative data to the users. This chat bot could act as a digital sentinel for each local community. So, let’s call them DISCO (Distributed Information Sentinels for COvid) chat bots. Each of these DISCO bots will be maintained by each community.
Technology
The first step is to gather the relevant data. This can be done on a Google Spreadsheet, as it allows multiple people to update the sheet at the same time. In the example here, data from the Aarogya Setu app is used to capture the COVID-positive cases and at-risk cases for a given location. A sample spreadsheet is here. This is the kind of “quantitative” data that the DISCO bot could provide.
Often, many people have queries regarding the pandemic. An FAQ conversation model can be built that can also be integrated into the DISCO bot. A sample is provided here. This is the kind of qualitative data the DISCO bot could provide.
Next, we need a host computer to run the bot. It could be a desktop, laptop, server, Cloud or even a Raspberry Pi. This bot would download the above spreadsheet regularly and keep a local cache (for quicker responses to user queries). My copy of the DISCO bot for the local community is running on my Raspberry Pi 3 that has been idle for years.
Lastly, the community can use Telegram chat app on a compatible device to interact with the bot. Scroll below for the demos on how to set up and use the DISCO bot.
Drivers and Goals
The following drivers and goals have driven the design and implementation of this chat bot:
Local
Yet Global
Community/Volunteer Driven
Accessible
Simple and Cheap
Local
As we have seen so far, each community can set up their own little ‘database’ in the form of a Google spreadsheet. The idea is not to have a global or even a national instance of the chat bot, but for each community/locality/suburb to maintain one for themselves.
With many countries and communities in various stages of lockdown at some time or the other, many people — professionals, students, elderly and children (basically everyone) are home-bound most of the time. Hopefully, this idea motivates people to reuse this chat bot and build something similar for their local communities. This way, people can learn/share some knowledge on technology and help their communities at the same time.
Yet Global
Largely, people are limiting their travel and daily routines to their immediate and nearby areas. This approach can be adopted by communities and organizations around the world.
Use cases for this bot could be residential communities, educational institutions, workplaces (where remote working is not possible), etc.
Community/Volunteer Driven
The two key stakeholders for this chat bot are volunteers:
Data Volunteers: Their responsibility is not just to enter/maintain the data, but to also ensure that the data is “as true” as possible. Data volunteers are kind of playing the role of citizen journalists. One of the “journalistic ethics” is to have a story/lead/data verified by at least 2 independent sources. This is the reason for the Google spreadsheet to have 2 columns: “Data Source Verified By (1): and “Data Source Verified By (2)”. It is also important to ensure that the data maintained is sufficiently protected and privacy maintained. For more details, please refer to Reuters Handbook.
Their responsibility is not just to enter/maintain the data, but to also ensure that the data is “as true” as possible. Data volunteers are kind of playing the role of citizen journalists. One of the “journalistic ethics” is to have a story/lead/data verified by at least 2 independent sources. This is the reason for the Google spreadsheet to have 2 columns: “Data Source Verified By (1): and “Data Source Verified By (2)”. It is also important to ensure that the data maintained is sufficiently protected and privacy maintained. For more details, please refer to Reuters Handbook. Technology Volunteers: Their responsibility is to set up and run the chat bot. The source code and installation instructions are available here at Github.
Accessible
Creating chat bots using Telegram APIs is incredibly simple. Also, Telegram provides various free chat clients across all devices and form factors — web, desktop, mobile and tablet apps.
Unless someone is on a “feature phone”, virtually anyone in the world should be able to access their respective local COVID chat bot over a data connection (mobile or broadband or Wi-Fi) from a device of their choosing.
Simple and Cheap
Simplicity here has 4 connotations:
Simple to maintain the data
Simple and light-weight to set up and run the chat bot
Simple and actionable insights
Simple for anyone to use the chat bot
All the technologies used in this chat bot are either free or open source or cheap to buy.
Chat Bot in Action
Step 1: Updating data in a Google spreadsheet
Step 2: Training a sample FAQ for the chat bot
https://youtu.be/IWphF4t34Pk
Step 3: Downloading Google spreadsheet to a local file cache and running the chat bot on a Raspberry Pi
https://youtu.be/ft0uEUycBXc
Step 4: Testing an alpha version of the chat bot in the Telegram Web app
https://youtu.be/CPXuFHfRNLk
Step 5: Testing the current version of the chat bot in Telegram app for iPhone
How to set up your own Bot
The source code and installation instructions are available here at Github. Feel free to customize to your requirements. You can set up and run a bot for your local community/organization. It should take roughly 1–2 hours to set it all up from scratch.
Summary
In the example videos above, the health and contact tracing application from the Indian central/federal government — Aarogya Setu (rough English translation — Bridge to your Health) has been used to manually collect anonymous data over a period of a few weeks, for the location where I live.
Take care and stay safe. | https://medium.com/engineered-publicis-sapient/an-approach-for-a-hyper-local-crowd-sourced-data-driven-chat-bot-for-covid-f994d6723731 | ['Rajan Manickavasagam'] | 2020-08-11 05:10:04.365000+00:00 | ['Coding', 'Data', 'Chatbots', 'Engineering', 'Technology'] |
Why Alternative Data Is Critical to Digital Transformation | Alternative data has been a buzzword among investors for several years now. By leveraging the insights available in non-traditional datasets, hedge funds can reap massive profits off insights that aren’t easily available to the average investor or anyone looking at traditional markers. Hedge funds so value alternative data that, according to JP Morgan, asset managers were already spending $2–3 billion on alternative data in 2017 and those investments have increased 10–20% a year since.
But it is not just hedge funds who profit from alternative data. All kinds of businesses can use alternative data to increase returns — and the most innovative companies have realized that alternative data holds the key to maximizing their competitive advantage. In fact, data science analyses that leverage alternative data outperform benchmarks about 13% better than traditional approaches to analytics.
What exactly is alternative data?
Put simply, alternative data is any data used to make an analysis that would not traditionally be used to make that decision. Alternative data includes proxy metrics that can stand in for factors that are usually difficult to measure. They can also include information originating from unofficial sources that individuals can use to gain insight into an analysis. Alternative data provides both new types of business intelligence and new ways of understanding intelligence that could be gained from traditional data.
“Alternative data draws from non-traditional data sources so that when you apply analytics to the data, they yield additional insights that complement the information you receive from traditional sources.” — Krishna Nathan, CIO of S&P Global
Alternative data sources will vary widely depending on the industry and type of analysis being done. Investors have used everything from credit card transactions to location data from cell phones and scraped from the web. Even tracking the private jets of companies has been used to assess whether or not to invest in a particular company.
Photo by Andrej Lišakov on Unsplash
Alternative data can be leveraged just as effectively outside of the investments world. Retailers have used data taken from satellite images to decide where to open new locations. Fintech companies have used cashflow markers and academic history to assess the creditworthiness of people without a credit history. Even travel companies have used alternative data scraped from the internet to decide which amenities to offer and where.
At Evo, the supply chain and pricing AI company where I work, alternative data is a significant part of why our supply chain tools increase inventory efficiency by at least 10%. We use everything from scraped web data to weather to improve our analyses. One of my favourite examples of alternative data that we had great success with was using store manager opinions on trends. Essentially, we allowed store managers to request particular items they believed were most likely to be popular in the upcoming sales period. It was a way to get a more local, granular measurement of trends and popularity, using the managers as a proxy — and it worked. This increased the accuracy of our forecast by an additional 5pp over the 20pp improvement over the original replenishment system.
Image by author (CC with attribution)
How alternative data fuels digital transformation
Data-driven decision-making is vital for businesses that want to compete in today’s economy. That’s why a majority of companies use big data analytics to collect business intelligence. Few of these, however, have discovered how to leverage data effectively enough to succeed in company-wide digital transformation.
Photo by Tomasz Frankowski on Unsplash
Why? Because they are still looking at the same data. True digital transformation is about more than integrating AI and machine learning into your current decision-making processes. It’s about rethinking your entire approach to the problem by leveraging new technologies. Business intelligence may be collected more efficiently when using new tools to analyse traditional data, but overall gains will be limited unless alternative data is also incorporated.
Including alternative data in your analysis allows you to consider new strategies that would not have been informed by traditional approaches. You can fill in the gaps in your analysis for a more granular, more real-time, and more accurate recommendation. Only this can deliver the expected dramatic improvements promised by digital transformation.
“When digital transformation is done right, it’s like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, but when done wrong, all you have is a really fast caterpillar.”- George Westerman, Research Scientist with the MIT Sloan Initiative on the Digital Economy
Photo by Sam 🐷 on Unsplash
Finding the right alternative data
As a data scientist, simply knowing that alternative data in general helps improve analysis isn’t very useful. You have to understand which data will help you achieve your business goals and deliver useful business intelligence. So much data is available, yet most of that data is just noise — and ultimately useless.
“Every day, three times per second, we produce the equivalent of the amount of data that the Library of Congress has in its entire print collection, right? But most of it is like cat videos on YouTube or 13-year-olds exchanging text messages about the next Twilight movie.” — Nate Silver, Statistician and Founder and Editor-in-Chief of FiveThirtyEight
Some of filtering out the right alternative data is simply trial and error. You choose a source of data that is likely to apply to the analysis you are making, assess the risks of choosing that data, and make the best guess. The results will allow you hone in on the most appropriate choice after running some tests.
Ultimately, however, you choose the right data by asking the right questions. When you always prioritize the true business goal and not just KPIs, you can work back to what data you need to fill in the gaps much more easily. I tend to use a common-sense approach. It is all about context. When I’m working with clients, I make sure to find out their motivation. Why are they looking to make their supply chain more efficient? Those answers will help direct me to a reasonable source of alternative data.
Maximizing returns from digital transformation
Photo by Fabian Blank on Unsplash
Big data has flipped the challenge for data scientists. We no longer struggle to find enough sources of data; we struggle to find coherent and useful patterns in the massive amounts of data available. Considering alternative data only amplifies that problem.
Yet we must meet the challenge. The best business intelligence today often comes from non-traditional sources, so it is a data scientist’s responsibility to pinpoint and analyse that data. Alternative data is the future of digital transformation, and failing to embrace it as a critical part of your analysis will lead to your company falling behind. If you want to maximize your ROI, you must first invest in the right information. That is now alternative data. | https://medium.com/swlh/why-alternative-data-is-critical-to-digital-transformation-93bf877ff202 | ['Elena Marocco'] | 2020-10-07 13:18:42.651000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Business', 'AI', 'Business Intelligence', 'Business Science'] |
The Big Nudge #1: Make Capital Behave Differently | How Swytch shifts energy investments to where they’re needed most
In this series, we’ll be examining the four major ways Swytch will nudge behavior and markets in so as to reduce C02 emissions. This is part 1: Make Capital Behave Differently.
Swytch.io is a blockchain-based company that uses a unique Open Oracle to determine how much carbon is being offset from a given unit of renewable energy. The Open Oracle makes this determination in real time and then awards tokens to companies that make a measurable difference in reducing emissions. To earn Swytch tokens, companies go about their business, deciding where and how to produce energy through sustainable means. What Swytch does is provide a gentle nudge in order to move energy investments to the areas of the world that need it most.
Arizona or India?
Let’s say you’re a company that wants to produce renewable energy and will earn both revenue (from selling the energy) and Swytch tokens (as an incentive). You could create this energy in Arizona. Or you could create it in rural India.
In Arizona, there’s a ton of solar and relatively clean burning natural gas. You could create 1,000 kilowatts (1 megawatt) of energy in Arizona to get earn 1 Swytch token. But if you produce the energy in rural India, where energy production is still incredibly “dirty,” you’d only need to create 10 kilowatts of energy there to earn 1 token because you’d be offsetting so much diesel and/or coal. (A carbon offset is a way to compensate for emissions by funding an equivalent carbon dioxide saving elsewhere.)
This is how Swytch evens the playing field. In this case, you’re better off going to India. You’d need to produce 1/100th as much energy there as you would in Arizona. You save a ton of money while getting the same benefit.
Not to mention installation costs are probably cheaper in India so you’d be saving there too. Instead of putting up a massive solar farm in Arizona, you can put up just a few solar panels in the rural Indian town and achieve the same results. Plus, you’ve just given that town in India access to energy that it didn’t have before.
That’s an example of shifting investments to an area with a greater need where it will have a larger impact. Right now, the cost of capital (i.e. the minimum rate of return a business must earn before generating value) in these markets is much too high and there’s no real benefit for companies that “do the right thing.” Swytch creates that benefit. It reduces emissions, increases the payback, and therefore reduces the cost of capital.
Supply and demand as change agent
Companies are asking, “If we have to displace a ton of carbon, where can we do that with the lowest investment?” If you’re in a marketplace that’s already producing a very high percentage of renewables and/or natural gas, it’s really hard to displace carbon compared to a market that’s 99% coal or diesel. At the latter location, building a solar panel automatically displaces a huge amount of carbon.
With Swytch, companies will know the answer to that question. It will be determined via its Open Oracle, which is open source and features a wide variety of actors competing to answer this question: “How do I know how much carbon was offset by a unit of energy?” It will be on the blockchain and everything will be visible. Everybody will know how it’s calculated. There will be complete transparency.
The network will get bigger. More people will get engaged. There will be more demand for tokens. Renewables will scale up. Less carbon will be emitted. As a result, it will become more and more difficult to offset carbon over time. But that difficulty will continue to be rewarded with Swytch tokens. And renewables will take a greater share of the marketplace.
We won’t need good intentions to change the energy system, supply and demand will incentivize the behavior the world needs. And early adopters are the ones who will be rewarded most.
Nudge #1 summary
By rewarding early adoption, the Swytch model will shift investments to areas of greatest need and impact. Early adoption by producers is risk free and yields higher token amounts per unit of energy created.
As a result, Swytch… | https://medium.com/swytch/the-big-nudge-1-make-capital-behave-differently-3d33269a29b | ['Marcia Kadanoff'] | 2018-06-14 15:49:52.811000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Climate Change', 'Renewable Energy'] |
Best Gaming Monitor:- Asus monitor Rog Swift PG279Q | Dreampcworld | If your budget is good and you are thinking of getting the best monitor, then Asus rog swift PG279Q will be the best option for you. Asus has launched this monitor for gaming enthusiasts. Asus Gaming Monitor experiences the game at a different level. It is one of the premium monitors of Asus. The rog swift gaming monitor is built to win in the gaming battleground and features a WQHD IPS panel with a 165Hz refresh rate.
PS TECHNOLOGY FOR CONSISTENT, ACCURATE COLOR
The ROG Swift Gaming Monitor delivers superior images with excellent colors for 100% sRGB color and 1,000: 1 contrast ratio. Wide 178-degree views ensure minimal distortion and color change by viewing angle conditions.
ULTRA-SMOOTH GRAPHICS FOR SEAMLESS GAMEPLAY
Incredibly-fast 165Hz refresh rate
Asus rog swift gaming monitor To play the game, select 60, 120, or 165Hz refresh rates, while different games need to have different frame rates to maintain the game’s smoothness.
Features:-
ASUS-exclusive Ultra-Low Blue Light, Flicker-Free, GamePlus, and GameVisual technologies provide a comfortable gaming experience
27-inch, WQHD 2560 x 1440 resolution display feature IPS technology for wide 178-degree viewing angles and lifelike gaming visuals
Ergonomically-designed stand with full tilt, swivel, pivot, and height adjustment for comfortable viewing position
World-first 165Hz refresh rate and NVIDIA®G-SYNC™ technology for seamless visuals and smooth gameplay
IPS technology for consistent, accurate color Gain a Competitive Edge with NVIDIA®G-SYNC™ Technology Gamer-centric features ASUS-exclusive GamePlus technology ASUS-exclusive GameVisual technology Multi-display gaming at its finest Super-narrow bezel design for seamless multi-display setups Robust connectivity with 2-watt speakers Smart cable management Flicker-free technology Gaming marathon-ready Designed with gamer’s comfort in mind Ultra-low blue light technology Ergonomic tilt, swivel, pivot, and height-adjustable stand GAIN A COMPETITIVE EDGE WITH NVIDIA®G-SYNC™ TECHNOLOGY SUPER-NARROW BEZEL DESIGN FOR SEAMLESS MULTI-DISPLAY SETUPS ROBUST CONNECTIVITY WITH 2-WATT SPEAKERS SMART CABLE MANAGEMENT ERGONOMIC TILT, SWIVEL, PIVOT, AND HEIGHT-ADJUSTABLE STAND KEEPING IT COOL WITH A SMART AIR VENT DESIGN
Specification:-
Panel Size: Wide Screen 68.6cm (27.0) 16:9
Color Saturation : 100%(sRGB)
Panel Backlight / Type: In-Plane Switching
True Resolution : 2560×1440 *
Display Surface Non-glare
Pixel Pitch : 0.233mm
Brightness(Max) : 350 cd/㎡
Contrast Ratio (Max) : 1000:1
Viewing Angle (CR≧10): 178°(H)/178°(V)
Response Time: 4ms (Gray to Gray)
Display Colors: 16.7M (real 8 bit)
Flicker-free
Display
Trace Free Technology: Yes
Color Temperature Selection: 4 Modes
GamePlus(modes) : Yes (Crosshair/Timer/FPS Counter)
Low Blue Light: Yes
HDCP support :
GameVisual :6 Modes(Scenery/Racing/Cinema/RTS/RPG/FPS/sRGB Modes)
Video Feature
Audio Features
GamePlus
5-way OSD Navigation Joystick
Turbo key
Convenient Hotkey
Signal Input: HDMI, DisplayPort
Earphone jack: 3.5mm Mini-Jack
USB Port(s) : 3.0×1, 1 x upstream
I/O Ports
Signal Frequency
Power Consumption
Chassis Colors: Black
Tilt : +20°~-5°
Swivel: +60°~-60°
Pivot : 0°~+90°
Height Adjustment: 0~120 mm
VESA Wall Mounting: 100x100mm
Super Narrow Bezel Design: Yes
Mechanical Design Security
Dimensions | https://medium.com/@sourabhsharmakhandal37/best-gaming-monitor-asus-monitor-rog-swift-pg279q-dreampcworld-d72b3d9a0e3a | [] | 2020-04-27 08:26:50.602000+00:00 | ['Computers', 'Technology', 'Technology News', 'Tech', 'Smartphones'] |
COVID-19 Brings an Epidemic of “Othering” | COVID-19 Brings an Epidemic of “Othering”
Photo by Macau Photo Agency on Unsplash
As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, health-care systems around the world are left strained. The outbreak continues to throttle the efficiency of many health-care sectors, pushing some to the brink. While deficiencies within public health systems are exposed, other viral enemies have come to the fore — racism, bigotry, and xenophobia.
The spike in discrimination cases during the COVID-19 pandemic is derived from the process of “othering.” This is described as the conscious or unconscious negative framing of a group of people that are perceived to threaten another group’s existence. “Othering” marginalizes sectors of the population along dimensions such as race, ethnicity, skin tone, religion, gender, or class. By labeling a selected group of people as the “other,” the survival of the “imaginary” superior community is protected. It provides a fertile environment for dominant groups to exercise “othering” to affirm their identity and stigmatize less powerful groups.
Finding the Other
This process has been taking place throughout the current pandemic. Since its appearance in Wuhan, China, at the end of last year, the novel coronavirus has unleashed a wave of biased maneuvers against minorities. In the United States, East Asian and Southeast Asian communities have been subjected to virulent and hateful racial abuse ranging from verbal harassment to physical assault. Anti-Asian sentiments have been expressed even more freely online. According to Al Jazeera, more than 10,000 Twitter posts included the term “kung flu” — a derogatory, racialized descriptor — in March alone. Consequently, 1,497 discrimination complaints were filed to the Asian American and Pacific Islanders Hate Centre in the first month since the initiative launched in March.
In India, the COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity to appropriate the virus and justify Islamophobic attacks on Muslim minority groups along religious lines. The mistreatment began when news emerged in New Delhi of an outbreak linked to a Tablighi Jamaat congregation. According to the Health Ministry, by mid-April, 30% of India’s COVID-19 cases were linked to this gathering, contributing to the impression that the religious movement was the main culprit and that Muslims were potential virus carriers. Relatively lesser attention was drawn to other mass gatherings that also resulted in coronavirus infections.
Consequently, many Muslims in India now live in fear. In the village of Harewali, a 22-year-old Muslim man returning from a Tablighi Jamaat conference in Bhopal was beaten for allegedly spreading COVID-19. On Twitter, the #CoronaJihad hashtag was used to portray the virus as a political tool used by Muslims to wage an Islamic holy war in India. Though India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a statement in an attempt to calm the situation, discrimination still persists nationwide.
Elsewhere, prejudice on the basis of citizenship is on the rise. In Southeast Asia — where over 6.5 million migrants flock to Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand — migrant workers remain trapped and vulnerable to both COVID-19 infections and xenophobia in their host countries. Due to transmission control measures, the livelihoods of migrant workers have been significantly disrupted as their mobility becomes restricted.
In Malaysia, a movement control order (MCO) was imposed to combat the rise in infections. Although a rational move to safeguard public health, the MCO has simultaneously allowed employers to lay off migrant workers, removing them from the stream of income they require to access essential goods and sustain family members in other countries that are also impacted by the crisis. Even with legal and fiscal protections designed to protect small local businesses and the welfare of low-wage workers, Malaysia’s non-citizen workforce remains neglected on the periphery.
Ripple Effect
Thus far, national responses to the health crisis, or even to other crises of similar and lesser degrees, have not prioritized anti-discrimination measures. Despite efforts taken to tackle bias during previous crises, American federal agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Department of Justice have been less responsive during the COVID-19 outbreak. Meanwhile, given India’s history of tensions when it comes to its Muslim minority, little progress has been made to curb hate crimes besides issuing statements espousing fairness and equality.
In the Asia Pacific, government measures have produced unintended hostility against migrant workers. Citizens in the region have turned toward stereotyping the “poor hygiene” of migrant workers as a reason for the continued transmission of COVID-19. This xenophobic rhetoric is further intensified by government-led raids and detentions of those migrants who are forced to work illegally despite the lockdown.
These instances of discrimination are the ripple effect of COVID-19. The mystery surrounding this highly infectious virus also activates the fears and anxieties people have toward those seen as being “different.” Because of the unknown nature of the virus and its unprecedented impacts, people have engaged in “othering” as a means of self-preservation or to better make sense of the crisis. It is neither the color of one’s skin, nor one’s religious affiliation or nationality that is the issue; rather, these attributes have been made more visible by the virus, becoming targets for those anxious about their own safety from COVID-19.
Anti-Asian, Islamophobic, and xenophobic prejudice and discrimination need not occur when the world is already facing great challenges in the fight against COVID-19. Indeed, political leaders and the media play important roles in the narratives they perpetuate. However, people also hold equal responsibility in de-escalating these incidents by resisting the compulsion to succumb to fear, anxiety, anger and hate, and should instead move forward with empathy and compassion. Collective solidarity is the panacea we need during this viral pandemic.
This article was originally published in the Fair Observer. | https://medium.com/@harizfauzan/covid-19-brings-an-epidemic-of-othering-c1a193506a54 | ['Hariz Fauzan'] | 2020-12-22 07:38:03.701000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Other', 'Discrimination'] |
The Best Gift For the Man in Your Life | THE BEST GIFT YOU CAN GET THE GUYS IN YOUR LIFE IS A BOOK. SERIOUSLY, THIS YEAR HAS TAUGHT US THAT SLOWING DOWN AND LEARNING SOMETHING NEW IS SOMETHING TO BE PRIORITIZED. WHILE THERE ARE MANY BOOKS YOU CAN GIVE, YOU KNOW, HOW TO BUILD THIS THING OR HOW TO DO THAT THING, WHY NOT GIVE THEM SOMETHING THAT WILL ENCOURAGE THEIR SOUL AND SPIRIT?
Becoming A King: The Path to Restoring the Heart of a Man is a book every man (and woman) should read.
“Morgan Snyder’s Becoming a King speaks unabashedly to men, teaching them the life-changing truth about the power that God intends for them to responsibly step into for his Kingdom, while also giving women an honest peek behind the curtain into the lives and hearts of the men they know and love.”
Follow the link here to purchase this wonderfully, encouraging book. | https://medium.com/@tabathawhiteside/the-best-gift-for-the-man-in-your-life-44245a3160af | ['Tabatha Whiteside'] | 2020-12-10 12:57:03.144000+00:00 | ['Christian', 'Gifts For Men', 'Christmas Gifts', 'Book Recommendations'] |
Portrait Lighting 2 | My photographer partner, Bruce Walker, is always ready to try out new lighting ideas. His latest idea was extremely high key lighting, using a single light, with me as the model, along with the grey cat, Gandalf.
I asked Bruce to do a little write up on it.
One light high key portrait setup
Here’s a way to use a single light to create a pleasant, airy portrait that looks like it was taken in a bright sunny space. The background will be pretty much pure white so you can readily use the images as headshots for a blog or the like. I will describe the basic idea behind this and the way I shot it, but I will also suggest less expensive gear alternatives and even a way to use just a sunny window instead so you don’t need even a studio strobe or flash to get the shot.
What we are doing here, in essence, is starting with a large light source, like a seven foot umbrella, aiming that at a white scrim or some diffusion material that will serve as our backdrop. By using an umbrella larger than our scrim we are letting a whole bunch of light skirt around the edges of the scrim. This provides our subject with both a hair light and rim light, and by adding large white reflectors in front of our smiling subject to either side, we are illuminating our subject with a large, soft and flattering blanket of light from the front.
Here’s an overhead view of how this works:
The subject is in the middle of our lighting setup. Behind her is my five foot wide by six and a half foot high white scrim (translucent diffusion fabric), and behind that is the seven foot umbrella. The umbrella is mounted on a stand so that a foot or so of it appears over the top of the scrim and a foot sticks out on either side too. I used a Paul C Buff Einstein studio strobe in the umbrella, but you could substitute one or more off-camera flashes instead.
In front of to either side of the subject we position two large white reflectors, angling them a bit to bounce light directly onto the subject. I used 3x6 foot sheets of foam core which I simply leaned against two chair backs. You could also use large 5-in-1 white reflectors, or silver reflectors if you want to add a bit more contrast and punch to the shot.
You aim your lens and shoot through the gap between the two front reflectors. Your lens will be pointing straight at a bright source of light (the backlit scrim) so it will be subject to veiling flare. That, along with the wrap around light reflected from all the white reflectors and scrim, will create a very soft, and a bit ethereal glow enveloping your portrait subject. To keep from including any of the lighting gear from appearing in the shot I used a medium telephoto lens for a relatively narrow field of view (FoV). A 125mm lens on a full-frame camera would do fine.
Setting the exposure correctly is a must to avoid overexposing the subject. The background will be slightly blown out because it’s likely to be a full stop or more brighter than your subject’s face. That’s okay though and it adds to the bright, airy look of the shots. I used a handheld flash meter to set the exposure in my setup. I held the meter near my subject’s face with the sensor dome pointed back at the camera position. This gave me F:5.6 at ISO 100. I set the camera shutter to 1/125th second which is its flash sync speed.
Of course you can use your camera’s rear display histogram to judge the exposure, but be aware that the large area of blown out white around the subject might throw you off because of the big spike on the right side of the histogram.
Photo by Bruce M. Walker
Alternatives
You can substitute different, possibly cheaper materials for much of this. For instance, you can get a large sheet of white translucent plastic from the dollar store. It’s sold as a picnic table cover in something like 5 x 8 foot sheets for about a dollar. Or you can use rip-stop nylon from the fabric store, sold by the yard or meter.
In place of the large white or silver umbrella (which are already quite affordable), you can use the corner of a white room. Just aim your light into the corner from a few feet out and place the diffusion and reflectors accordingly.
Finally, if the sun is streaming in through a tall window, you can simply tape up the diffusion over part of it and use that as your light source. Again, place the reflectors and your subject appropriately. If you do this you can use your camera’s automatic exposure controls because the light will be constant. You can even use a smartphone or point and shoot this way for really simple and cheap headshots. | https://medium.com/@louisepeacock/portrait-lighting-2-99fdc4d18f8a | ['Louise Peacock'] | 2019-02-01 20:07:11.608000+00:00 | ['DIY', 'Lighting', 'Photography', 'Portraits', 'Cats'] |
It’s Time to Bring Back ‘Icing’ | It’s Time to Bring Back ‘Icing’
Remember the glorious heyday of ‘Bros Icing Bros’? We’ve arrived at the perfect moment for a Smirnoff alcopop renaissance
The other week, my buddy Spike happened to be passing through the town where I live. He wanted to know if he, his girlfriend Annie and their very good dog Edgar could crash overnight. I was away on vacation myself, but we figured out how to get them a key, and they made themselves at home. I was glad. But when I got home a few days later, I felt a strange sense of disappointment. It wasn’t just that I’d missed hang time with good people, and it certainly wasn’t that they’d trashed the place or anything. It was a deeper sadness.
They hadn’t left a Smirnoff Ice for me to find.
This may be difficult to understand for anyone who was not of drinking age and shitlord comportment in the spring and summer of 2010, when the “icing” craze swept through 20-something culture like sugary wildfire. Although the origins of this game remain murky — and truthers still believe it was a marketing stunt cooked up by Smirnoff itself — the rules have never been in doubt: If someone presents you with a Smirnoff Ice, you take a knee and chug it down, unless you have an Ice of your own to “block” theirs, in which case they are forced to chug both bottles.
The fad was catalyzed by a short-lived website called “Bros Icing Bros,” which collected photos and videos of bros being forced to gulp various flavors of the gross, frequently room-temperature alcopop.
Back then, Spike and I and other pals were icing each other constantly. You never knew when it might happen, and it always cracked us up. Our weekend at Sasquatch Music Festival was the height of this nonsense, though I also remember icing both a bride and groom at their wedding afterparty (the bar had to cut us off), and a few of us left Spike a sneaky Ice in his luggage during a trip to Amsterdam so he’d stumble across it when packing to fly back to the U.S. and have to chug it all alone, on the honor system (he did). Eventually, though, like everyone else, we stopped investing in Smirnoff six-packs for these puerile purposes.
Lately, I’ve been asking myself… why?
Now, eight years later, icing is more powerful a gesture than it ever was. It represents a commitment to history — and a triumph of memory. The isolated Smirnoff Ice is nothing short of miraculous, and the further we get from the malt beverage’s true heyday, the funnier its spontaneous appearance becomes, because who the hell is doing this in 2018? Heroes, that’s who.
The unspoken rule of icing is that the game cannot end. The people keeping it alive understand this, and they won’t let us forget it.
I happen to believe that we’ve arrived at the perfect moment for an icing renaissance. It’s the dog days of summer, everything is on fire, and we may as well pickle our brains in a drink that nobody actually enjoys.
Consider how the Awl co-founder and booze expert Alex Balk wrote about the icing phenomenon just after its peak: “America was in a bad place. The economy, which had nearly collapsed two years earlier, was still struggling badly, and the political will to address its problems was lacking.” The prankish fad, he argued, “was almost some sort of mass delusion in which society convinced itself that if everyone decided to participate in the icing our problems would mysteriously vanish and life would return to the normality we knew just a few years earlier.” You know who else could use that kind of communal escape? ALL OF US, RIGHT THIS MINUTE.
I realize some will say that intoxication needn’t be a competitive sport, that real adults can enjoy a regular beer or craft cocktail without these theatrics and that society may fall apart if we go hard on the icing again. I say: Bring it on.
Ice your parents. Ice your professor. Ice the dude whose pizza you’re delivering. Add the inalienable right to ice to the Constitution and vote for anyone who promises to ice Ted Cruz as soon as they’re sworn into Congress. Can you imagine that miserable shit trying to choke down 32 ounces of this milky carbonated swill on C-SPAN? What’s he going to do, refuse?
If only to accelerate the annihilation of our garbage country and failed species, we should welcome Smirnoff Ice back into our daily routines. We should wonder at every moment, “Will I, at any point in the next hour, have to pound a so-called ‘Peach Bellini’ that feels like it’s dissolving my tooth enamel?” More optimistically, I’m envisioning a future where instead of Kendall Jenner handing a riot cop a Pepsi, she ices him — and the crowd goes wild. We are so enmeshed in the hostilities of “owning” and “triggering” each other these days that we’ve forgotten the power of benevolent trolling to promote egalitarian bonds.
For icing takes as its prime ingredient the acceptance of small miseries in light of a greater good. The icee does not fight their fate but bravely submits to the ritual, quite aware that they’re expected to uphold a sacred code.
And that soon enough, they’ll have their revenge.
Miles Klee is a staff writer at MEL. He last wrote about about ‘The Art of the Deal’ and how Trump thrives on decay and collapse.
More Miles: | https://medium.com/mel-magazine/bring-back-icing-smirnoff-ice-renaissance-860864f504c3 | ['Miles Klee'] | 2018-08-08 22:26:40.414000+00:00 | ['Alcohol', 'Men', 'Drinking', 'Masculinity', 'Food'] |
We are the Sea, We are the Ocean, Oceania is Us: Cultivating a Sense of Belonging through Curriculum and Pedagogy at a Two-Year AANAPISI | Imagine sitting in a classroom where you felt your identities seen, opinions and ideas heard, and culture respected and honored. What would this environment look like? More importantly, how can institutions foster this sense of belonging for community college students who may only have limited opportunity to engage with peers and instructors in class due to working part-time and fulfilling multiple obligations at home or commuting? Leveraging the Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI) grant, De Anza College’s Initiative to Maximize Positive Academic Achievement and Cultural Thriving among Asian American and Pacific Islanders (IMPACT AAPI) developed learning communities to address the academic needs of their Filipino, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander students through curricular pathways.
In 2008, De Anza College — a public two-year community college in Silicon Valley with an Asian American and Pacific Islander student population of more than 47 percent of the student body — received one of the first six inaugural two-year AANAPISI grants to serve low-income Filipino, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander students. In 2011, De Anza received a second, five-year grant. Both grants met the goals of the federal AANAPISI program through design of curricular pathways based on learning communities (team-taught and thematically linked courses) and embedded counseling. This contribution to the AANAPISI series highlights how culturally responsive curriculum and pedagogy impacted the experiences of Filipinos, Pacific Islanders, and Southeast Asians. We offer implications for practice and research as future consideration for AANAPISI institutions and scholarship.
Photo by Lanelle Ladero on Unsplash
Research on Sense of Belonging at Colleges and Universities
Based on previous research, we know that students who perceive and experience a more positive campus climate feel a greater sense of belonging are more likely to academically and socially succeed, and to feel satisfied with their overall college experience. Sense of belonging affects all students, but students experience belonging differently and distinctly based on their social identities (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation) and campus environments. Specifically, for AAPI students, if they feel that their ethnic culture fits within the campus environment, they perceive a more positive campus climate and ultimately feel like they belong.
Focusing on AAPI students is important, as Teranishi’s research underscores the heterogeneity of the AAPI population in U.S. schools. His study makes visible the diversity in ethnicity, immigration histories, generational and legal status, language, educational attainment, and economic status of AAPIs. AAPI students include those who are the children of immigrants or immigrant-origin children, who often have to negotiate their dual identity — that of their home and American culture — within school settings.
Research on college students’ sense of belonging has primarily focused on students at four-year institutions in relation to campus climate. Little is known about how sense of belonging is cultivated at two-year community colleges, specifically in the classroom. This study addresses this gap by demonstrating how a culturally responsive learning community stimulated the academic and social experiences of IMPACT AAPI students through curriculum and pedagogy.
Sense of Belonging through Curriculum and Pedagogy
The majority of De Anza learning communities center on a theme, which is realized in the course content and assignments. In the case of ICS 21: Introduction to Pacific Islander Culture and History and EWRT 1A: Composition and Reading, the theme is introduced in the course syllabus that begins with the following passage: “We should not be defined by the smallness of our islands, but by the greatness of our oceans. We are the sea, we are the ocean, Oceania is us. Epeli Hau’ofa”. This passage speaks of connection and expansiveness within a diasporic identity. The passage also positions individuals and communities as being one with the environment. The two instructors deliberately chose this passage to situate the students within these values. The instructors also embraced storytelling as a central activity related to personal and cultural identity and the concept of family. The valuation of storytelling was shown through the inclusion and sharing of personal narratives, including stories shared by both instructors, the two IMPACT AAPI embedded counselors, and students. Below is an excerpt of a spoken word poem shared by a Filipina American student (CR) in class.
[CR]: So we took our chances in the land which claimed happiness, claimed opportunity, claimed a happier life, freedom and left behind all that I had to own except for a few pictures, some clothes and hope for a better change. I left behind my mother & father, my brothers and sisters. the only place I’ve come to call home. And as I left the shores I could hear their bittersweet goodbyes, fading, fading, fading, till I see their faces no more [NR]: So even though I am alone in a sea of people. And even though it is difficult to breath, I must persevere for the future. For my children and theirs. [CR]: I will be the one who brings hope, who brings joy, who brings opportunity no matter the burden, no matter the fear, no matter the isolation The life I live now is not lived for me, but lived for those that breathe after me. I will be the spark that brings up the flames of life. I am not alone, for their lives are in me.
In the poem, the dialogue between CR and her mother (NR) made an impact on her classmates. Imagery found in her poem invoked dreams, freedom, seclusion, isolation, poverty, better education, perseverance, hope, joy, opportunity, and ancestral connection. After performing, CR talked about growing up in a Navy family and several students commented on how they were able to connect to her family’s immigration story. CR also stated, “It’s a privilege to sit here in school cuz not a lot of people in the Philippines have this opportunity to sit in a school. This assignment is for school, but this assignment is for yourself.” One instructor underscored the importance of this last point, “In Asian Pacific Islander cultures, many traditions get passed down orally, so this assignment is to honor this tradition.”
The value of the concept of family as a supportive and nurturing space was done through the repetition of behaviors between the IMPACT AAPI instructors, counselors, and the behaviors between all four IMPACT AAPI staff members. Their interactions were positive, caring, and respectful. Positive interactions were also present between the IMPACT AAPI staff and student peer mentors in the classroom. The peer mentors were introduced and praised for their achievements in the previous spring term 2014. They were also thanked publicly in the classroom for volunteering their time to support students. These ways of being with each other demonstrated to the students the importance of nurturing the relationships that exist within the IMPACT AAPI community. These examples exemplify how program staff actively invited students to join the IMPACT AAPI family.
Photo by DeAnza College on Facebook
What This All Means and What We Can Do
Emerging research demonstrates the impact of AANAPISI-funded programs on the academic and social success of AAPI students. Moreover, as designated eligible AANAPISIs continue to increase, funding for these institutions has remained flat — slowing the progression for AANAPISIs. With two consecutive AANAPISI grants, De Anza College showed promise in leveraging federal funding to serve the needs of their AAPI students through learning communities. Based on this example, institutions should rethink their curriculum. Syllabi content should make visible the histories of AAPI students, and pedagogical strategies should engage students’ creativity to foster a sense of belonging. Recent waves of immigration should also be considered when thinking about the experiences of AAPI students who are refugees, asylees, or undocumented. Use of visual and performing arts and reflective writing can serve as a healing practice in learning and teaching. Due to the diversity of AANAPISIs and the student populations they serve, future research should assess programs at four- and two-year institutions both on the mainland and in the Pacific regions and explore the ways AAPI students have constructed their identities in relation to geography and colonial displacement. | https://medium.com/national-center-for-institutional-diversity/we-are-the-sea-we-are-the-ocean-oceania-is-us-cultivating-a-sense-of-belonging-through-7b1b1f3f64c9 | ['National Center For Institutional Diversity'] | 2020-05-25 20:44:40.751000+00:00 | ['Higher Education', 'Asian American', 'Diversity', 'Inclusion'] |
Generics in JAVA | Generics is one of the most important and hard to wrap head around features of the Java programming language. It was introduced in Java 1.5 version.
What is Generics?
Generally, a java class can take any type of Object. With generic, we can make a java Class, Interface, and method type-specific.
Benefits of Generics
Generics provide type safety With Generics, we don’t need to perform type casting It provides reusability of our code
Let’s see how it helps us to make our code type-safe.
We can store any type of object in collections. At the time of retrieving it may lead to ClassCastException or incompatible types Error.
The above code will lead to ClassCastException and Incompatible Type Error .
Now applying Generics we can force the ArrayList to take only a specific type of object so that we don't need to typecast anymore and ClassCastException will not occur.
We can use any object as a type for Generic but can’t use any primitive value.
Collection framework before and after Java 1.5
Before Generics (till Java 1.4) ArrayList class defined like this
class ArrayList{
add (Object o){...};
Object get(int index){...};
}
The argument to the add() is an object. So we can insert any type of Object.
The return type of get() method is Object. So at the time of retrieval, we have to perform typecasting.
After Java 1.5 the Generic version of ArrayList looks like this
class ArrayList<T>{
add(T t){...};
T get(int index){...};
}
At runtime type parameter ‘T’ will be replaced with the corresponding provided type.
For, ArrayList<String> obj = new ArrayList<String> following populated version of code will be generated at runtime.
class ArrayList<String>{
add(String s){...};
String get(int index){...};
}
Since the add() method takes String as a parameter so we can add only String object to the ArrayList.
method takes String as a parameter so we can add only String object to the ArrayList. The return type of the get() is String so we get only String object at the time of retrieval.
Java generic type parameter
Here is the naming convention provided by Java that helps you to understand the Java Generic. The most used type parameter names are:
E — Element (Used in Collections Framework for example Set)
K — Key (Used in Collections Framework for example Map)
N — Number
T — Type
V — Value (Used in Collections Framework for Map)
Custom Generic Class
We can make a class a Generic class by making it refer to any type (Integer, String, Character, Student, Object, etc.)
Below is an example of a Generic class
Output:
Type of the class: java.lang.Integer
Type of the class: java.lang.String
Type of the class: java.lang.Boolean
Custom generic class with multiple type parameter
Output:
100
Emrul
Wildcard in Generics (?)
The question mark (?) is known as wildcard
Wildcard represents an unknown type
The use of wildcard is to control the type safety of the generic type.
It restricts the unknown type to be specific.
Wildcard also describes a family of type
Three types of wildcards in Java
Unbounded wildcard <?> Upper bounded type “<? extends Type>” Lower bounded type “<? super Type>”
Unbounded type < ? >
It stands for the family of all types. That means while printCollection(List<Integer> list) method can accept only Integer type list as an argument, printCollection(List<?> list) can accept Integer, String, Boolean, Object, Student, etc. (basically all subclasses of Object) type list as an argument.
Output:
chandler bing ross geller
2 4 6 8 10
Monica 30 true
Upper bounded type “<? extends Type>”
Describes the family of all types that are a subtype of ‘Type’, including the type ‘Type’.
For example in printCollection(Collection<? extends Number> value) method, only those types of Collection objects can be passed as an argument who are either Number type or subtypes of Number like Integer, Double, Float. This type of wild card is used for reading purpose when object type is partially known.
Since we don’t know the actual runtime object type, we can’t perform add operation to a collection object using unbounded and upper bounded generic wildcard. We can only perform read operation.
Lower bounded type “ <? super Type> “
Describes the family of all types that are the supertype of ‘Type’, including the type ‘Type’.
In addToCollection(Collection<? super Integer> value) method only those types of objects of Collection can be passed who are either Integer type of supertype of Integer like Number , Object . Lower bounded wildcards are mostly used for reading purpose.
Generic Methods
Generic methods are methods that introduce their own type parameters. This is similar to declaring a generic type, but the type parameter’s scope is limited to the method where it is declared.
Suppose, we want to write a method that takes an array and collection object and add the elements of the array into the collection.
static void fromArrayToCollection(Object[] arr, Collection<?> coll){ for (Object obj : arr){
coll.add(obj); // compile time error
}
}
Since we can’t add objects to unknown types the above code will give us a compile time error.
The way to do deal with these problems is to use generic methods. Just like type declarations, method declarations can be generic — that is, parameterized by one or more type parameters.
static <T> void fromArrayToCollection(T[] a, Collection<T> c) {
for (T o : a) {
c.add(o); // Correct
}
}
Full example code,
We can also use multiple type parameter in a generic method just like the example below, | https://medium.com/@ronyemrul/generics-in-java-2a0f814121ed | ['Rony Emrul'] | 2020-11-03 21:53:54.085000+00:00 | ['Java', 'Generics', 'Object Oriented'] |
Beijing makes self-driving vehicles a priority | IMAGE: AutoX
AutoX, a Chinese autonomous vehicle startup, has announced the launch of a fleet of 100 self-driving RoboTaxis in Shanghai’s Jiading district, where it will be competing with Didi, which began operating there at the end of June. Other companies, such as Pony.ai, Baidu or WeRide are already running self-driving taxi fleets in other Chinese cities, many of which can be booked through mapping and mobility apps such as AutoNavi or LetzGo.
AutoX runs another fleet in the centric district of Nanshan in Shenzen, where it is based, and now has a license to road test in California, and has long announced its intention to launch its services in Europe through a partnership with NEVS, the company that acquired Saab’s assets. AutoX CEO Jianxiong Xiao, known as Professor X, is convinced of the suitability of NEVS’s electric vehicles for stand-alone taxi services and their potential contribution to reducing both pollution and the number of vehicles on the streets of our cities.
China’s autonomous driving sector has more players and has attracted more investment than the United States, which is still largely controlled by pioneer Waymo, whose vehicles have been circulating without a safety driver in several cities for some time now.
The Chinese government has designated autonomous driving, along with 5G and artificial intelligence, as one of the strategic technologies to counteract the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, boosted by state investment fund that has breathed new life into the ecosystem.
The development of autonomous driving systems depends on the availability of advanced mapping, and several companies in both the United States and China are vying for leadership in this area. For the moment, when a service is requested through an app that includes this type of service, it checks that the origin and destination are within its scope, and users are asked if they wish to be picked up by an autonomous vehicle. Very soon, depending on the regulation and development of technology, this type of service will become the norm, thanks to its lower operating costs. Whether that will happen first in a city in the United States or in China is yet to be seen. | https://medium.com/enrique-dans/beijing-makes-self-driving-vehicles-a-priority-a02298906e39 | ['Enrique Dans'] | 2020-08-25 08:26:54.580000+00:00 | ['Cities', 'Autonomous Cars', 'Self Driving Cars', 'China', 'Taxi'] |
Seven Small Steps to Level-up your Poshmark Selling Game | 5. Cases: they’re gonna happen. Deep Breath. It’s ok. Prepare for them in advance.
I’ve had them. Virtually all experienced sellers have occasionally encountered buyers who are unhappy with their purchase; it comes with the territory.
If you’re new to Poshmark, here’s what this is all about. A buyer can “open a case” when they are dissatisfied with their purchase and would like to return the item. To protect buyers (and sellers), Poshmark has guidelines as to what constitutes a valid case. For example, a buyer can open a case and request a refund if they receive an item that has undisclosed damages, but not if an item doesn’t fit.
When a buyer initiates this process, you’ll be notified of the buyer’s complaint. You’ll have a chance to respond, and the judges of Poshmark Court will examine the evidence: your original listing (including photos), the buyer’s claim, their photos, etc.
Poshmark will determine whether the case is valid. If it is, the item will be returned to you and Poshmark will refund the buyer. If the judge rules in favor of you (the seller), the buyer won’t be allowed to return the item and you’ll keep your earnings.
Two strategies to help you approach cases:
1. Be proactive. Thoroughly inspect each item before you list it, and disclose all flaws in your photos and description. I tend to err on the side of caution with this. I would rather a buyer be pleasantly surprised than disappointed when they receive their item.
2. Be humbly reactive. Learning that someone has opened a case against you feels like a gut punch. Resist the temptation to fire off a response immediately, as your emotions may cloud your judgment. Instead, take some time to cool down and come back to it when you feel more in control.
When you do respond, be kind, humble, and professional.
Consider pre-writing a standard response so you’re not at the mercy of your emotions when you’re in a vulnerable state. My comments on a case are typically along the lines of, “Thank you for reaching out with your concern about [the item]. I’m so sorry you weren’t happy with your purchase.”
Most of the time, buyers respond positively to messages like these. You may lose the case, but you’re more likely to keep the customer. And that’s what matters. | https://medium.com/@annieschell/seven-small-steps-to-level-up-your-poshmark-selling-game-8d9af2f5c48e | ['Annie Schell'] | 2020-07-01 21:16:02.145000+00:00 | ['Extra Income', 'Poshmark', 'Side Hustle', 'Reseller', 'Make Money Online'] |
Automating the Cloud SQL triad with Terraform, Python, Docker, and gcloud CLI | The terraform code is really similar, basically what changes is the database_version: MYSQL_5_7 , POSTGRES_11 , SQLSERVER_2017_STANDARD , since we are using the same terraform resource: google_sql_database_instance .
let’s execute it and take a better look:
./init-db.sh
Executing Terraform for SQLServer
Results
Cool, now let’s take a quick look at the init-db.sh bash script:
init-db.sh file — part 1
The important pieces here are, the .tfvar file and setting up the jq command-line which will be used in the next step.
Also bear in mind that we are saving the infrastructure state with all the output in a local tfstate file (remember that we had the password there?), don’t do this on a production environment =), consider using KMS or Secret Manager, depending on your requirements.
Generate Schemas and Tables
For this step, we are going with Python, and since this step requires connecting to the Database, getting the right environment set up always gives us headaches, so we are getting help from Docker here to have seamless automation.
init-db.sh file — part 2
Here we retrieved the database IP and credentials, and then we are calling the Docker container to populate the database: | https://medium.com/ci-t/automating-the-cloud-sql-triad-with-terraform-python-and-gcloud-2a17edfef3c4 | ['Marcelo Costa'] | 2020-05-04 16:43:09.633000+00:00 | ['Terraform', 'Sql', 'Docker', 'Gcp', 'Postgres'] |
Configuring WebServer and LoadBalancer using ANSIBLE ROLES….. | Follow the below steps to configure load balancer and web server using ansible ROLES
Note: haproxy file has not been made automated with jinja2 template in this demo.
Load Balancer OS IP:
Web Server OS IP:
First create ansible roles.
# ansible-galaxy role init [name of the role]
— — — — here loadbalancer and webserversetup are the ansible roles
2. Now creating the tasks in main.yml file in tasks directory of the webserversetup role…..
3. for the web page that will be shown by the webserver, here we write a small php code which will show the to of the webserver.
now in loadbalancer role…
4. In main.yml file of loadbalancer… creating tasks to setup the loadbalancer
5. Now the roles have been setup . We will now create an ansible-playbook to run these roles.
Note: for this specific demo make sure to create ansible playbook file in the same directory where both the roles are present . Else you may make changes in the ansible configuration file or can provide path of the ansible roles while running the ad-hoc command for the ansible-playbook..
6. Now we will create playbook in that directory only.
ANSIBLE-PLAYBOOK
7. Now from the same directory where the roles are present we will run the playbook.
RUNNING THE ANSIBLE-PLAYBOOK
you may see in the above image all the tasks are successful….
8. Make sure to make changes in the configuration file of the haproxy manully for this specific demo..
NOW … REVIEWING THE TASK..
web page code copied to both the webserver managed node
httpd services are running in the managed node
NOW… GOING TO IP 192.168.43.221:5000 [loadbalancer node IP]
HAPROXY LOADBALANCER WORKING PROPERLY….
HTTPD SERVICE RUNNING AT BOTH THE MANAGED NODE…
IN CASE OF ANY DOUBT.. PLS MENTION IN THE COMMENT SECTION OR PING ME DIRECTLY ON MY EMAIL …. | https://medium.com/@sourabhmishra1262/configuring-webserver-and-loadbalancer-using-ansible-roles-1b511d959c83 | ['Sourabh Mishra'] | 2020-12-26 11:33:08.849000+00:00 | ['Ansible', 'Apache Httpd', 'Haproxy', 'Sourabh Mishra', 'Sourabh'] |
Educación en la era digital | in In Fitness And In Health | https://medium.com/entel-ocean/educaci%C3%B3n-en-la-era-digital-25647392a17a | ['Entel Ocean'] | 2020-02-27 16:47:46.519000+00:00 | ['Educación En Chile', 'Educación', 'Tecnología', 'Futuro De La Educación'] |
Simple D3 with React Hooks. React Function Components with Hooks… | React Function Components with Hooks gives us a nice way to integrate D3 with React. There are many related articles that describe this already but they get in the weeds and complicated quickly. This article is just the basics on where to put things to get started correctly. You can expand from there.
In the past it was confusing to find the correct places to put D3 code, especially for someone new to D3 still getting their head wrapped around D3’s way of doing things. Optimization to minimize re-rendering was an advanced task when it should be easy.
Function Components with Hooks cleans this up quite a bit. There is one place to put D3, one way to connect it to React’s DOM, and re-render logic is mostly built in.
useRef Hook
We’re building a function not a class. There are no class member variables so we need a way to hold onto an object across multiple rendering passes.
useRef() creates a variable that does just that. The variable acts a lot like a class member variable without the class. We will utilize useRef() to hold onto the DOM element containing our D3 content. A ref is “get” and “set” via its .current property.
useEffect Hook
useEffect() gives us a place to put side effects such as our D3 code. Side effect?! It’s a side effect because it adds content to the DOM outside of React’s virtual DOM mechanism. (Note: useEffect() is like componentDidMount() and componentWillReceiveProps() combined, with change detection as a first-class feature.)
Here is a complete example Hooks and D3 (Typescript):
Here is what the example is doing:
Call useRef() to create a variable ( d3Container ) to hold the SVG element. Initialize it as null . React will set it the first time the page is rendered (because we tell it to on code line 60.)
Why not just use d3.select() to get the SVG element, or insert the SVG element using pure D3? By using a ref variable we can use it as a dependency in our useEffect() block to detect when the element has actually been rendered and available.
Call useEffect() to execute our D3 code. useEffect() takes two arguments — a function to run, and an array of dependency variables. useEffect() will run every time one of the dependency variables changes (a lot like computed properties in Ember and Vue if you’ve ever used those). Because we listed data as a dependency, useEffect() will run again whenever data changes. We don’t need to write code to compare old and new data for changes anymore!
The Function Component returns an SVG element, and its ref attribute is set to d3Container — the ref variable we declared at the top of the function.
React will run our D3 code when the DOM is ready and when the data changes. | https://medium.com/@jeffbutsch/using-d3-in-react-with-hooks-4a6c61f1d102 | ['Jeff Butsch'] | 2019-04-30 22:01:34.047000+00:00 | ['React', 'JavaScript', 'Hooks', 'Typescript', 'D3js'] |
Annie Easley, Computer Engineer, Mathematician & Rocket Scientist | Annie Easley, Computer Engineer, Mathematician & Rocket Scientist
Trill Partnership: Rediscover STEAM
Annie J. Easley was born in Birmingham, Alabama on April 23, 1933. As a black woman born before the Civil Rights Movement, her educational and career opportunities were limited. At the time, children were taught in segregated schools. However, this did not stop Easley: she worked hard and eventually graduated from Holy Family High School as valedictorian. After high school, she majored in pharmacy at Xavier University in New Orleans. Four years later, she returned home and had to pass a literacy test and pay a poll tax in order to vote due to the Jim Crow laws. During her time in Birmingham, she supported and helped other African-Americans pass the tests while advocating for women of color to join STEM-related fields for years to come.
Easley’s passion for computer science developed while living in Cleveland, Ohio with her husband. She tried to continue her education in pharmacy but was unsuccessful because of the lack of pharmacy programs in her local area. At this time, she stumbled upon a newspaper article detailing the work of the “human computer” twin sisters at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), now NASA. This single article pushed her to immediately apply to work at NACA as a mathematician and computer engineer. She was accepted and welcomed to the job as one of four African-Americans to work at NACA at this time. With her outstanding work ethic, valedictorian status, and her mother’s constant support throughout her childhood, Easley was unstoppable.
During her 34-year career, she was able to work on many projects and technologies that undoubtedly enabled current spaceflight and exploration. With technology becoming ubiquitous in everyday lives and new innovations constantly being created, she eventually had to stop working as a “human calculator” and became a math technician. In fact, she started working harder and even decided to pursue a math degree at Cleveland State University while still working full-time at NACA. Although she made significant contributions to various projects, this sadly did not protect her from discrimination while working at NACA. While her male colleagues had their undergraduate tuitions paid for, she had to pay for her education out of her own pockets. In addition, there were instances where her face was deliberately cut out of pictures. However, she persevered, worked harderm and eventually evolved alongside technology, learning how to code with languages such as SOAP. She soon returned to school in the 1970s to complete a mathematics degree, which she did in 1977 all while working full time at NASA. Later in her career, Easley worked as an equal employment opportunity counselor, where she addressed issues of gender, race, and age in discrimination complaints. After working for NASA for 34 years, she finally retired in 1989. Although Annie J. Easley passed away on June 25, 2011, her legacy still lives on and inspires countless young women to believe in themselves while making a difference in the STEAM fields.
“When people have their biases and prejudices, yes, I am aware. My head is not in the sand. But my thing is, if I can’t work with you, I will work around you. I was not about to be discouraged that I’d walk away. That may be a solution for some people, but it’s not mine.” — Annie Easley
References | https://medium.com/weeklytrill/annie-easley-computer-engineer-mathematician-rocket-scientist-d1c816c7a5ef | ['Rachel L'] | 2020-11-19 23:47:53.258000+00:00 | ['Computer Science', 'Womens History', 'NASA', 'STEM', 'Technology'] |
Dreams… | “Lets suppose that you were able every night to dream any dream you wanted to dream. And you would, naturally as you began on this adventure of dreams you would fulfill all your wishes. You would have every kind of pleasure you could conceive. And after several nights of 75 years of total pleasure each you would say ‘Well that was really great.But now let’s have a suprise, let’s have a dream which isn’t under control, where something is gonna happen to me that I don’t know what it’s gonna be.’ Then you would get more and more adventurous and you would make further- and further-out gambles what you would dream. And finally, you would dream where you are now. You would dream the dream of living the life that you are actually living today.”
-Alan Watts The Dream of Life
About an hour ago, I listened tot he song “Dreams” by NUAGES. The song begins with excerpts from Alan Watts’ speech The Dream of Life. I provided the excerpts in quotes above. The name Alan Watts was completely foreign to me until little under an hour ago. But within approximately 55 minutes, this man has shifted my thinking entirely.
Alan Watts served as an interpreter of Eastern philosophies for the Western world. Some of his quotes are indeed questionable as well as some of his teachings but here are a few that stand out to me in a positive light.
The following quotes are from Alan Watts:
“I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is”
“But I’ll tell you what hermits realize. If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you’ll come to understand that you’re connected with everything”
“The attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to truth, whatever it might turn out to be”
“No one is more insane than one who is sane all the time”
“Every intelligent individual wants to know what makes him tick, and yet is at once fascinated and frustrated by the fact that oneself is the most difficult of all things to know”
“Words can be communicative only between those who share similar experiences”
“Our pleasure are not material pleasures, but symbols of pleasure — attractively packages but inferior in content”
“Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth” | https://medium.com/@questionablylife/dreams-4db9109bb7ac | ['Questionably Life'] | 2020-12-20 05:32:00.212000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Meaning Of Life', 'Science', 'Purpose', 'Philosophy'] |
Let Technology Help Your Kids Remember What You Couldn’t | It has left me wanting. The only reason I began emailing my kids since they were born.
Why
It’s not a novel idea to email your children, but not everyone I know is aware of it. In the early days, I wrote to capture my feelings to know how I felt when they were born. And to one day experience the same, if they choose to have children.
Back in 2013 and 2015, is when I created these Google accounts. When I searched their names, they were already taken. So I had to be creative but still incorporate part of their full name. If you are looking to do this now, please don’t delay.
It takes a few minutes to create an account, and account users have to be at least thirteen years old. When they turn thirteen or eighteen, I haven’t decided yet, I will handover the password and let them dig into a slice of their history. | https://medium.com/modern-parent/let-technology-help-your-kids-remember-what-you-couldnt-210fd9e55671 | ['Chetna Jai'] | 2020-12-12 18:30:06.839000+00:00 | ['Parenting', 'Gifts', 'Email', 'Parenting Advice', 'Childhood Memories'] |
Deploy a Full Stack Application With No Code | This blog was written in collaboration with Rohan Shiva
Introduction
Creating a nice, clean, polished dashboard is a skill every programmer wants to have. Being able to translate raw data into a visual that’s easy to understand is a hard task. Plus, most dashboards require knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, along with inherent UI design skills.
In an effort to make this process easier, we created a framework for making a shareable dashboard for proof-of-concept use cases.
Let’s look at the specific technologies in play.
Streamlit
Streamlit is a Python framework that makes creating dashboards easier than ever. It lets you create a full, interactive dashboard without ever touching HTML or JS. Streamlit internally handles all of the front-end code and reduces complex structures to one-line functions. This allows everyone to create impressive dashboards with only a few lines of Python.
We used Streamlit for the front-end aspect of the Dashboard.
TigerGraph
TigerGraph is the fastest graph database platform in the world. With TigerGraph, you can create graphs with billions of nodes and edges that operate in realtime. TigerGraph also makes use of GSQL, their own graph query language that mimics SQL syntax and allows for quick and easy querying of graph data.
We used TigerGraph to store our data. Specifically, we used the Covid-19 Starter Kit from TigerGraph, which has Covid-19 data from the Korean Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (KCDC),
Google Colab
Google Colab is a free, cloud-based, Jupyter notebook environment. With Colab, you can create Python scripts without having to worry about disk space and RAM on your local machine. Additionally, like any file stored in Google Drive, Colab notebooks are completely sharable.
We used Google Colab to make the dashboard shareable and allow each user to have their own copy.
Now, let’s walk through the process of launching the dashboard. The entire process takes about 15 minutes and no requires no code, making it accessible to everyone.
Outline
Creating a TigerGraph Cloud Account Choose Covid-19 Starter Kit Loading Data Into the Graph Creating the Streamlit Dashboard Running the Google Colab Notebook Exploring your dashboard
1. Creating a TigerGraph Cloud Account
The first step is creating a TigerGraph Cloud account. Head over to the TigerGraph signup page and follow the steps provided.
You can also watch this demo if you get lost along the way.
Creating TG Cloud Account
2. Choose Covid-19 Starter Kit
Once your account has been created, you need to create a graph database. Start by clicking the My Solutions button and choose the Covid-19 Analysis starter kit.
Creating a TigerGraph Solution
3. Loading Data Into the Graph
Once it’s ready, load GraphStudio and click the Load Data tab. Hit the play button, and the data will start loading.
Loading Data
Once done, the graph is now good to go. There are lots of other tabs that let you explore the graph and the data. There are also a number of premade queries that show off the native GSQL used by TigerGraph.
Other graph functions
We’ll skip over these features for now, and move on to creating the visualization.
4. Creating the Streamlit Dashboard
Luckily, the script to create the streamlit dashboard is already written. If you want to see how the dashboard was made, check out this blog by Rohan Shiva. Next, continue to the premade Google Colab notebook.
5. Running the Google Colab Notebook
When you start up the notebook, you’ll come across a form asking for the information for your graph instance.
Entering Information
Once you enter your information, hit the Launch Dashboard button. This will start the loading process. The program will take about 2 minutes to load.
Loading Animation (Takes a couple of minutes)
You may be wondering, what’s happening behind the scenes?
The code first installs the pyTigerGraph Python package. This package simplifies the TigerGraph connection process and lets you call TigerGraph functions in Python The code then grabs other packages like Streamlit Next, it grabs the script for the Streamlit dashboard and the corresponding query that extracts information from the graph. Then, using pyTigerGraph, the query is uploaded to the graph Finally, the code configures a secure tunnel using ngrok to deploy the streamlit app. Normally streamlit is deployed locally, but the localhost can’t be accessed from Google Colab (since it’s a cloud environment). Thus, we use ngrok to link the localhost to a live website.
6. Exploring your Dashboard
Once the loading has taken place, the dashboard is good to go. Hit the link provided, and you’ll be brought to a webpage with the Streamlit visualization. You now have a full dashboard app at your disposal!
Dashboard Demo
Conclusion
We presented a general framework for creating readily-deployable, premade dashboards. The entire process takes about 15 minutes and requires no code, making it accessible to everyone. This process can be applied to other technologies as well, as long as the 3 main components are met:
Again, shoutout to Rohan Shiva for helping write this blog. | https://medium.com/swlh/deploy-a-full-stack-application-with-no-code-180c4d4e6fc8 | ['Akash Kaul'] | 2020-09-08 19:32:47.313000+00:00 | ['Dashboard', 'Coding', 'Streamlit', 'Graph', 'Google Colab'] |
Do early retirees need their own apartments? | I live in Moscow, Russia. A year ago I sold my last apartment.
I used the proceeds to buy various assets. As of today, these assets are earning me more in dividends, rent, and coupons than I need to rent a house. The values have also gone up in value a lot.
Here is the math:
The asking apartment price is $80,000.
You can rent such an apartment today for $450
The dividend yield on my portfolio is currently about 9% (dividends, coupons and rent).
A capital of $80,000 yields $650 in dividends each month.
I can earn money. Some of it goes to rent and some of it goes to consumption.
I can also rent a place to live, which will be much better than my one-bedroom apartment.
I faced misunderstandings from family and friends. Here are some examples.
Having your own place to live is better.
I was convinced of this by the society. I didn’t try to comprehend and sort this information in my head. For some reason with my money I only owned some trashy apartments, while renting a luxury home in an ideal geolocation. I would never have bought it with my own money however — I simply couldn’t afford it.
What if the landlord threw me out on the street?
I’m the perfect tenant. Day-to-day payments, neatness, zero noise. Why would the landlord kill the hen that lays the golden eggs?
How am I supposed to do my own renovations?
I’ve had my share of renovations which cost me a lot of money. As a result, I never lived a day in a renovated apartment. The place went to my ex-wife after the divorce :)
Housing will never depreciate to zero.
Are you sure? My friends from Donetsk (Ukraine) send their regards. The guys invested all their spare cash in real estate. The city was considered one of the most promising in the country. And then one day they lost everything because of the war. Who says the same situation cannot happen in your city?
Housing is always going up in price.
Nope! In Moscow, for example, over the past 10 years, housing costs almost did not grow at all. And there are many such locations in the world.
Tell us about the situation in your region.
Can the accumulated capital cover the cost of rent?
How do your relatives feel about this idea? | https://medium.com/@retire-at-35/do-early-retirees-need-their-own-apartments-fe30583da26b | ['Retire At'] | 2020-12-18 16:55:21.958000+00:00 | ['Investing', 'Financial Independence', 'Early Retirement', 'Retirement'] |
5 Life Lessons Told Over 5 Glasses of Wine from a 99-Year Old Filled With Regret | 2. I Wish I Was More Willing to Forgive
“Lara, I can tell you countless examples of when this applied to my life. Professional, personal, you name it, I was known for holding an intense grudge. But nothing hurts me more than two scenarios in particular. One in which I was unable to forgive my mother. And one in which I was unable to forgive my closest friend.
My mom and I never had a great relationship. She had a very difficult life. My father left before I was even born, so I’m sure that was devastating. Then she’d go from man to man to man searching for love, support, care. But it seemed she always found the wrong one. She always found the abusive types, the drinkers, the yellers, the criminals, the deadbeats. When I was old enough to understand her pattern, I attempted to put an end to it.
When I was 19, I was already off at college, and I came back to my mother overjoyed about having finally found ‘the one.’ A good egg she told me. And he did seem fine, he really did. Until I saw him one night at a local bar with his hands all over a woman who was certainly not my mother.
I told my mom. I had to, I was honest, direct, no matter the consequence. And she berated me. She called me names I had never been called before. She accused me of ruining her happiness. Ruining her life. She told me she never wanted to see me again. So that’s what happened. I never saw her again. I never forgave her for how she reacted to me that day. I learned she died years later. We hadn’t spoken since that day.
The other person I never forgave was my closest friend. I met him at work. He was strikingly handsome, charming, all that good stuff, you know what I mean Lara. But he was not available. He was married to some trust fund baby, and as flirtatious as he always was, I would not stoop so low as to sleep with a married man. After working together for fifteen years, the day finally came where he told me he and his wife were splitting up. This was my chance. I waited a few months before I finally made my move.
We were walking home after a few work drinks as we often did, and I just threw myself at him. I didn’t have a plan because I just expected everything to fall into place. But he rejected my advance. He told me we were better off as friends, and he didn’t see me that way. I flipped.
I brought up every single moment in which I believed I was the one for him, and he apologized for giving off the wrong signs. He asked if we could remain friends still, but I refused. He moved to a different team within the same firm, but we never spoke.
I never forgave him for not feeling about me the way I felt about him. I lost my best friend.
When it comes to my mom Lara, I want to tell you this. Words are more reflective of the person saying them than they are of the person they are directed toward. My mom said nasty nasty things to me, which she probably would have said she didn’t mean had I given her the chance to apologize. But what I realized was that her words were more reflective of how she felt about herself. They revealed her insecurities, her flaws, her hidden beliefs about the life she was living. When you feel like you cannot forgive somebody because of the words they said, please remember this.
The situation with my best friend is complex. But my main message is this. You want to be surrounded by people who make you a better person. Don’t push people away who make you better. Situations change, feelings change, we must adapt and accept change. I was resistant to change because I was so certain about the future. My interpretation of the future. I wish I could have put my ego, my pride, my feelings aside and just be friends with him, because my life was honestly worse off without him.
Forgive for you, Lara, not for others. Living with the pain of losing somebody because of a grudge or vendetta, or a feeling that I could not control, well it almost killed me on several occasions.”
Lara simply smiled and filled their third glass with a Riesling, a smooth white wine. | https://medium.com/mind-cafe/5-life-lessons-told-over-5-glasses-of-wine-from-a-99-year-old-filled-with-regret-e05c9fb48a66 | ['Jordan Gross'] | 2020-06-22 17:13:19.444000+00:00 | ['Inspiration', 'Life Lessons', 'Psychology', 'Life', 'Mental Health'] |
A Filmmakers's Best Friend | A Filmmaker’s Best Friend
Whether you work as a professional cinematographer or enjoy shooting videos as a hobby, you’re going to encounter a wide range of stories that require specific tools to visually bring them to life.
Despite an ever-expanding range of filmmaking gear offered to creatives to meet these demands, budgets and production timelines continue to shrink. In the world of lighting especially, every creative is forced to think critically before adding to their toolkit.
It certainly helps when one light can be adapted to take the place of many.
ABOVE: Cinematographer Nicholas Chin
Today we take a behind-the-scenes tour of three different projects recently shot by cinematographer Nicholas Chin.
As a full-time DP and rental house owner at 2117_Rentals, Nicholas takes pride in incorporating new technology into seemingly traditional workflows. He relies on the Aputure ecosystem for the bulk of his lighting arsenal and considers the built-in Sidus Link Bluetooth control app to be a game-changer for efficiency.
With the help of various optical and soft light modifiers, he adapts two styles of lights to cover the needs of most productions. First, Bowens mount point-source LEDs (LS 300D II, LS 300X) and second, color-mixing soft panel LEDs (Nova P300c). | https://medium.com/aputure/a-filmmakers-best-friend-252c56320df0 | ['Justin Rypma'] | 2021-02-24 03:43:58.121000+00:00 | ['Novap300c', 'Filmmaking', 'Lighting', 'Cinematography', 'Aputure'] |
What is EC2 instance in aws | What is EC2 instance in aws
Today i’m going to be talking about what isa easy to use instance so guysec 2 stints belong in aws so guys and in this article i’m going to be talking about what is that easy to an instance so guys EC2 instance is a virtual server in amazon elastic compute cloud for running application on on the amazon web service aka aws infrastructure aws is a comprehensive involving cloud compute platform ec2is a service that allows business subscriber to run their app application programs or servers in the computer environment so guys ec2 i told you guysisaacis a platform that people run their application program or or data server
So guys ec2 is very secure resizable compute capacity in the cloud it is designed to make webs web skill cloud computing easier for developer to usei told you guys about easy to in this article so guys if you guys liked it please subscribe and i’m going to keep going on because i’m not done yet you guys if it provides you with complete control of your computing resources and let you run on amazon proven compute cloud how do we use ec2 ec2instance is used virtually it is not it is not like a real thing is aec2 is a virtual machine andec2 elastic compute ec2 instance is a virtual machine
That you can use to run the application in aws aka amazon web service when setting up ec2instance you can customize configure cpu storage memory and networking resources and then guys you guys actually can create your own instance and do any thing in the ec ec2ec2 is a very good thing to use when ever you are you’re like using aws or like aws you should use a ws to store your cloud or just use other company but like aws is a very famous company and a very secure company and the second question is is ec2 free ec2 is free for a month if you want to try it but is it but it is not free for the whole time you have to pay to to to use ec2and easy to it depends on your server how many how many like applications you are running on like you are you are you are using how many application you want to use how many honey how many websites you are running on it so guys easy to actually like save your money because it is not it is not that expensive as like other servers last question but not the least is ec2 a server yes ec2 is a certain waybye guysi hope you guys like the article. and please comment below because i read everything coming by see you later bye peace. read more information... | https://medium.com/@ashishkapure00/ec2-instance-in-aws-c63655424f95 | ['Ashish Kapure'] | 2020-12-05 13:26:11.681000+00:00 | ['AWS', 'Cloud Computing', 'What Is Ec2', 'AWS Lambda', 'Cloud Services'] |
My Encounter of XinFin XDC Wallet | A new report from Mastercard confirms the power of mobile technology to improve financial inclusion. The research shows that 15 countries account for over 60% of the global unbanked population, where 607 million people have a mobile phone but do not yet have a bank account. Mobile technology could, therefore, provide them with immediate access to the benefits of financial inclusion. Moreover, with the extensive applications of Blockchain in almost all domains such as insurance and supply chain, tokenization became a vital part of the larger population.
However, adapting to the use of cryptocurrencies is not as big a challenge as actually using them and hence the concept of cryptocurrencies introduced the need for another concept, cryptocurrency wallets.
A cryptocurrency wallet is as far from your “pocket” wallet as it can be. It does not store any real cryptocurrency but stores the record of various cryptocurrencies owned by you. It is basically a software program that stores your private and public keys which it then uses to identify the various cryptocurrencies that belong to you by interacting with the Blockchain network. In simpler terms, it just stores information about the cryptocurrencies you own that exist on a particular Blockchain network.
The basic functionalities of a cryptocurrency wallet include sending, receiving, and monitoring the value of the digital currencies that belong to a user. When a user “Alice”, wants to send some coins to a user “Bob”, there will be no actual exchange of coins between them. Here, Alice will just transfer the ownership of the coins she owns to Bob. This transfer of ownership takes place by assigning the public key of Bob’s wallet to the coins. If Bob wants to use those coins in any way, the private key of his wallet must match the public key assigned to the digital currency.
But just like any other trending software, the Cryptocurrency domain has had an outflow of digital wallets. As soon as their need became noticeable, most businesses started developing their own wallets. It gave me my share of a hard time when I was trying to find a decent wallet with all the necessary features. After a lot of market research and time spent in testing different wallets thoroughly, I was lucky enough to come across XinFin Android Wallet.
Download Link : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xdcwallet
The XinFin team kept the need of individuals in mind while developing this amazing cryptocurrency wallet which is why this wallet is ideal for both individuals as well as companies. XinFin is a complete blockchain platform that combines the functionality of both public and private blockchain networks. It presents an enterprise-grade hybrid blockchain platform. Considering the awesome functionality of the XinFin network, a Cryptocurrency wallet linked to this network is just a blessing.
A remarkable thing to consider here is that XinFin provides an excellent feature for developing your own coins in the easiest manner and all you need to manage those coins is a wallet. Well, they provide that too. Kudos to the XinFin team for their efforts because this wallet is as easy to use as creating your own currency on this network.
Apart from being considerably secure, the XDC wallet is also open-source and multi-platform. The role of the XDC network is to provide peer synchronization and network interfacing features to the wallet. Another thing that stunned me was that the XinFin wallet supports XinFin XDC, XDCt (Apothem Testnet), XDCe (ERC20), Ethereum, USDT Tether, USDC Circle. Considering ether is the most widely used cryptocurrency, you can link your ethers in this wallet and start using them in no time. It gives you two options to send and receive your digital coins, either by entering an address or by scanning a QR code.
When I first came across this wallet, I accessed the web wallet here. The website is built to engage the clients and there were two options, one to create a new wallet and one to access an existing wallet. I clicked on the “Create a New Wallet” and it took me to another screen. In the beginning, there were several instructions explaining the wallet and its feature along with some obvious queries like “what if I lose my password” the answer to which was I am never getting it back. Some people may think this is not safe but on the contrary, think of it as there is no way in hell that anyone can even try to retrieve your password. Obviously, you have to make sure never to forget it. After the introduction part was over, it was just some basic steps and I was able to create a secure multi-platform wallet just like that. Next, I downloaded the app on my phone and accessed my wallet there.
A cryptocurrency wallet is one of the most frequently used software for anyone who has incorporated cryptocurrencies in their daily usage. Selecting the right wallet can make a huge difference in your digital currency activities. XinFin wallet is one of the best options for this purpose. It not only provides security and optimum performance but also turns the mundane process of dealing with your coins into an interactive experience. Moreover, the availability of the mobile app along with an excellent web wallet, you can send, receive, and monitor your coins anywhere and at any time. | https://medium.com/@mronwayne/my-encounter-of-xinfin-xdc-wallet-6b22aec2e522 | ['Mron Wayne'] | 2020-06-01 05:56:57.558000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Wallet', 'Xdc', 'Blockchain', 'Xinfin'] |
Connecting Family through Genealogy with Hollis Gentry | Hollis Gentry is a genealogy specialist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture Library. Following DeNeen Brown’s overview of family separation and slavery in our previous episode, Hollis shares her personal quest to reconnect her family through genealogical research.
Could you tell us about your family and your childhood growing up?
I come from a family of five, two boys and a girl, and I am the middle child. My family was very close-knit. We were of Southern origins: my father was born in Kentucky, my mother was born in Virginia. That influenced part of our lifestyle, although we lived everywhere, almost.
I grew up in the suburbs of Maryland. My parents were civil servants: my father was a science teacher in middle school in Washington, DC. My mother was a counselor of young children and teenagers who were being monitored by the juvenile justice system. At home, our discussions were typically focused around teaching and learning. My parents were very attentive to our learning processes and exposed us to a lot of cultures.
As we were growing up, my parents took us to different places. They would focus on us going to different ethnic communities and neighborhoods. So although our family was African American, they exposed us to people from all over the globe. I was very fortunate in that regard. As I got older, I grew up with this consciousness of people coming from all sorts of places. My mother was a fantastic storyteller. She’s a counselor, so she’s accustomed to interviewing people. She just had this knack for interacting with people even though she was somewhat of an introvert.
I used to observe this growing up: My mother could walk into a room of complete strangers and connect with someone, and not just simply connect with them, but pull a story out of them, a narrative. Because my mother was a storyteller, she also had a tremendous interest in our own family’s history. I heard from her the earliest of stories about my ancestors. By virtue of the fact that her great-grandmother lived from 1858 to about 1956, she was able to extract a lot of stories from her. I grew up hearing stories about my mother, as a child, as a teenager and as a young adult, in connection to different parts of our family’s history. That spurred an interest in me to begin to trace my own family’s history.
In terms of my dad, his family was from Kentucky. We were not very close to my father’s side of the family because of the distance. There were stories that I heard in my childhood that I just absorbed. It wasn’t until I learned how to begin to research genealogy that I began to ask more questions. I started when I was 13. By virtue of the fact that we lived in close proximity to Washington, DC, we had access to the local libraries out in the county and the suburbs, and these major research institutions in Washington DC. There is the concept of early exposure to certain environments that can help to guide a young person in a certain direction. I reflect upon my access to libraries and research institutions as being an important factor and influence in my ability to develop an interest in genealogy and to pursue it until the point that I became a professional in that field.
How did you become come to work in genealogy?
In terms of my work at the Smithsonian, that was a natural progression. When I was a child, we visited the library quite a bit. My parents had an extensive library collection at home. It wasn’t until I got older that I began to understand that they had an extensive collection of what was published by then on African American history. My father’s office was filled with science and education books.
It was a hands-off, hands-on kind of environment where we were always sneaking in to access his teaching supplies. We spent a lot of time in the library. As a kid, I remember going to the library and finding information. I had this belief that whatever I wanted to learn, I could eventually find a book in the library that would explain it. The local library was next door to my high school. I used to go there after school to do my homework; I call my mom and tell her that’s where I was going to be. I got started when I was 13 with genealogy, then I learned that I needed to learn about African American History and geography. After school, I was going to do genealogy after I completed my homework.
I remember my mother telling me a story about a great-uncle who worked on a steamboat that traveled from Virginia to New York. He worked in the dining hall and he was the famous person in the family at the time. This is someone who was born in the 1880s and lived until about the 1940s. His name was Willie Harris. She told me that some part of his history was recorded in a book, the history of this company he worked for, the Baltimore Steam Packet Company, which was the major form of transportation between Virginia and New York City when steamboats were the popular domestic form of travel on the East Coast.
She told me these stories, and I began to do research. I learned about interlibrary loans. I learned about the value of gaining access to libraries globally. Once I learned that I could borrow books from other libraries, I became keenly interested in accessing information. I found a copy of the history of the steamboat company. They identified the employees, which is a little unusual for the history of the company. On some of the pages I saw a reference to Uncle Willie, and then it identified his father. It said, between the two of them, they had been employed with this company for more than 40 years.
What that discovery did for me, and I can remember the moment, is like not just one light bulb, but a bunch of light bulbs went off in my head. I thought, Wow, if I just look long enough and hard enough in books, I may be able to find more information about my family. I was also excited because I’d heard my family talk about this Uncle Willie since I was young. It immediately helped me connect the past with the present. I was proud of the fact that I heard this oral history and I found a way to document it, to prove that it was true.
A year or so later was when Alex Haley’s book was published. There was a lot of focus on African Americans tracing their ancestry and making this connection to the past. At that moment, it solidified something in my mind: In the course of my life, I was going to spend a lot of time searching for proof of these family stories. That’s really how I got started. The library was the institution, the place where I was verifying information. I graduated from simply looking for evidence at public libraries to traveling with my mother to university libraries, the state archives and the National Archives.
By the time I graduated from high school, I had already graduated also into the early steps of tracing my ancestry. Whereas my peers were going to the beach and having fun during spring break, my parents gave me permission to travel from the suburbs into Washington, DC to conduct research at the National Archives, the Library of Congress and the Martin Luther King Library. I didn’t know at the time I was going to end up here, but the groundwork was laid when I was a teenager.
How did genealogy and research become your calling?
I started noticing when I went to the Library of Congress that most of the people around me were older. It dawned on me that if I start now, and I’m a teenager, by the time I’m old enough, I’ll be ahead of the game with my peers. When I was doing research, people were telling me how difficult it was for an African American to trace their ancestry. I thought to myself, Okay, so this is going to be a challenge, but if I put the time and effort, then perhaps by the time I’m in my 60s, I’ll be somewhere better off than I would be if I was just starting at that age.
The National Archives has been preserving the nation’s federal records since the 1930s, so they’ve got millions of documents, probably billions by now. I was in the genealogy mecca of the time — the Library of Congress is the largest library complex in the world. By it being this national resource, I also met serious researchers and scholars, and that helped me to develop and teach myself research skills.
I thought also to myself that the smartest thing for me to do would be to find a way to get a job in a library. By being a staff member, I would have access. It didn’t matter what kind of library I worked in, as long as I was close to the data and the information, that’s what matters. I used to call myself a salary patron. I’ve worked in different types of libraries — public, special libraries, academic — for about 25 years. All along, I saw that the salary that I was earning as the means of funding my research on my family history.
Was that the first thing that you focused on seeking out?
My full name is Hollis Lucretia Gentry. Very unusual name. Hollis is typically thought of by people as a male name, then Lucretia was an odd name. My mother told me that I was named after this ancestor. Her name was Lucretia Ann Mayhew Appleby Yule Sumner. She was my great-grandmother’s mother. The reason why she stood out was we had a person of Native American ancestry in the family and I was named after her. She was a long-lived relative of the matriarch of the family. This connected me to the past in a very unusual way.
I also learned that when she was born, there’s a story that there was an abolitionist who was very popular at the time, Lucretia Mott, the Christian mom of a Quaker. She was a member of the French Society and she was involved in the abolition of slavery. As a teenager, I spent some time researching her life to determine whether or not the story was true. The story was that when grandma Sumner was born, the next-door neighbor Lucretia Mott was visiting the area. So she was named after this abolitionist. Around that same time, I had been studying American history in school, and there was some coverage of abolition and slavery. In my mind, although we were being taught that African Americans were enslaved and they were poor, and all these negative things, what stood out for me was someone in my family was connected to this great historical figure.
It put me and my family in a different light than the narrative that I was being taught at school. That laid a foundation for me to look at history and challenge it, or to try to find the truth in whatever narrative that I was looking at. Because this ancestor identified as being Native American, or from a specific Native American tribe, in my mind, everything about our family that was different was somehow connected to this other ancestry. So I spent time not only looking for my African American ancestry, but Native American ancestry, and I spent an inordinate amount of time looking for evidence of her background. The other thing that stood out was she’s from New York. She was born in New York and she lived in New York until my third great-grandfather, on one of his naval tours, ended up in New York and they met. She married him and moved to the south and established a southern branch of the family.
What was the process of taking a DNA test like for you? And how did you feel when you discovered your long-lost relatives?
My grandma Sumner married grandpa Mills. Mills Sumner was born in slave, grandma Sumner, Lucretia, was born free. She was descended from the Shinnecock tribe of Long Island, New York. I learned the story of grandpa Sumner’s mother. Her name was Rachel Hodges. When I was about 16, I got my driver’s license. My mother didn’t drive, but once I obtained a driver’s license, I used to drive her all over the place. So we started visiting relatives more.
On Sundays after church, we would visit some of these elderly relatives who could not attend church. In the course of doing that, they would share stories. My mother had a phenomenal recall so she would start interviewing relatives about ancestors. On this one trip, this ancestor lived in Annapolis, Maryland. She was the fourth wife of one of grandpa Mills’ children. My mother kept asking her questions, and she said, “Hold on, wait a minute.” She went somewhere in the house and came out with a box full of photographs. In that box was this photograph of grandma Hodges, who was born in slavery, and she told us the story that grandpa Sumner was separated from his mother as a child, while he was enslaved. Grandma Hodges was sold somewhere south, separated from the family. When he came of age, he joined the Navy.
While he was on his naval tours, whenever he went into any southern port, south of Portsmouth, Virginia, which is where the family was based, he searched for his mother. He eventually found her. The oral history did not say where he searched specifically, or where he found her. But all I know is that he found her. When he found her, she had actually remarried and had another family. But he brought her back to Virginia. We didn’t have any details about the family, who may have been left in this other southern state. She lived until she died amongst her children.
This is a major reunification of what had been this family that was split during slavery. I didn’t have any details of what precipitated that separation, the manner of it, the exact timing or anything. And all I had was the photograph of grandma Hodges, grandpa Sumner. This relative also gave us a box full of photographs that included the enlistment papers, the rendezvous reports of grandpa Sumner as he enlisted in the Navy each year, and as he was released from service. It provided a few details, but nothing that told us about the story of grandma Hodges. So it took me 25 years to be able to find the background to anchor the family in documents: the federal census and the personal family papers. The family Bible that recorded grandpa Sumner’s marriage and the subsequent generations leading to us.
I’ve been searching since I was about 17 years old for the details of how the family was separated and how they came to be reunited. Fast forward to the late 1980s, I was at the National Archives learning about the different federal sources that were available for research on African Americans. There was a group of records called the Freedmen’s Bureau records. These were created by a federal agency that was created after slavery endedafter the Constitution was amended to prevent slavery from being legally practiced in this country.
This is around the ratification of the 13th Amendment in December of 1865. These records were created at the moment when people are beginning to emerge from the period of enslavement to freedom. I said to myself, I don’t care how long it takes. I’m going to search through these records until I find my family.
What I found was after Emancipation, the head of the family, who was Mills Sumner Sr, a house carpenter, enlisted himself with his children, or the children that were still minors who were living with him. About almost a decade later, the Mormon Church, under the auspices of their nonprofit genealogy agency, microfilmed records of another entity related to the Freedmen’s Bureau records, the Freedmen Savings Bank. They were searching for descendants of some of these bank account holders. The bank was a means of safeguarding the earnings of African Americans who had recently emerged from slavery.
Part of the impetus for this was to help preserve the pay that African American veterans or soldiers were receiving for fighting the Civil War. I was part of the descendant community and they gave me a CD that they created from these records. By then I had already found some other relatives in these records. I found my ancestor, grandma Hodges, was mentioned in a Freedmen’s Bank record in Atlanta, Georgia. It mentioned grandpa Sumner’s father, and it identified all of his siblings. It also identified a young brother, who was the person that the account was created for. He’s 11 years old and it showed that he was born in Virginia.
So that helped me to add some details to the timeline: If he’s born in Virginia, and they ended up in Atlanta, I at least know that grandma Hodges was part of the family back in the 1850s. I knew that that was a significant clue from which to work back. I haven’t found the answer yet. What caused her to be sold to the south? Or if she was actually auctioned? Or if she was inherited by someone who relocated to Atlanta? I don’t know. But the key part is the child for whom that bank account was created. His name was William Samuel Sumner.
I wonder from that point, what happened to him? I didn’t know anything about whether he stayed in Atlanta or returned to Virginia. He wasn’t part of the oral history. Some years later, I found the name of her second husband, who she united with in slavery. Slave marriages weren’t legal. I discovered that she also had a daughter with this second husband. I don’t know what happened to her. But I had this sense that William Samuel Sumner survived.
Two years ago, I convinced one of my aunts to take a DNA test. I had already taken a DNA test with Ancestry.com and I wasn’t getting any of the kinds of DNA results that I had expected. I started attending a lot of workshops with genetic genealogists. I started attending those workshops to figure out what to do with my DNA information. My parents and brothers are all deceased. I was able to get my youngest brother to take a DNA test before he died. I discovered that he had very different results in terms of matching with other people than I did. Though we did find some relatives in common, I was able to identify other cousins. My family tree consists of about 1500 relatives that span almost nine generations.
What have you learned about your family tree?
Compared to other parts of America, it’s tiny. There are some people who have 100,000 people on their family tree. But for a person who descends from enslaved people and some who weren’t enslaved, it’s somewhat large.
I started digging in the records for six months straight. Every single day, I’m looking through several thousands of DNA matches, and they don’t have any names that make any sense to me. I was using the Ancestry.com service. I had some specific goals: I wanted to see where in Africa my ancestors came from. I also wanted to determine if I could find any connection to the Native American ancestry. The other part was to face the genetic reality of slavery, or enslavement of my ancestors.
My admixture was showing I was 65% West African, and it wasn’t just one particular nation or place of origin. My maternal line traces back to the African origin or African Eve, which is somewhere in Central Africa, in the area where they speculate Homo sapiens originated, the Congo. Then 34% of my ancestry came from Europe, and I had this one percentage of Native American ancestry. Looking at my family, we span the color range from very fair to very dark complexion. We have relatives who don’t look like they’re African Americans, to those who there’s no doubt there is some African ancestry.
Looking at my results, I had to come to terms with the reality of what this was saying about my ancestry. All of those one thousand or so people on my tree are listed as African American. Yet, my DNA results are saying 30 percent of my ancestry is not African, knowing the reality of the history of that.
I could trace back to my great-great-grandparents, and in some instances, my third-great-grandparents. I was saddened for a while because of the junctures where I couldn’t trace my ancestry anymore were the same junctures where the predominant number of DNA cousins, people who share the same DNA with me, were not of African ancestry. In other words, so many generations back, I started having an overwhelming number of DNA cousins who are white, and I have no clue whatsoever how we’re connected.
For several months, I didn’t know how to handle that. Because I spent almost 30 years of my life tracing this difficult part. I was able to deal with the history of slavery, but I come to terms with the reality of the fact that some of my ancestors had been enslaved, and some of them haven’t. I was able to document how those who gained their freedom, how they gained it, before and during, or as a result of, the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment ratification. I had dealt with all these difficult things, but I had not dealt with this other ancestry.
I also came to understand that these DNA results were telling me, or they were evidence of, a story that I couldn’t flesh out. I didn’t have any names for the connections I have all over the globe with my DNA results. The DNA cousins that are showing up all over the globe: people born in Iran, Turkey, China, the Philippines, the Caribbean, Russia. I remember thinking back to the Michael Jackson song, “We Are the World” for a while to pull myself out of the sad feelings.
If you look at it and take steps back, we’re all related. It’s just a matter of when and where your ancestors migrated and settled for a bit, and migrated again and mixed with other people. Whatever the divisions that we’re walking around with really don’t matter for our social interaction. We can broaden our perspectives. We can focus on the history, the experiences that we have, that might color our narrative differently. But for me, because I’ve been researching for so long, and because I’ve worked professionally in this area, I’ve come to see the commonalities. We all have families, we all have those origin stories. We all have colorful relatives, we all have successful wealthy relatives, we have poor relatives, we have struggling relatives.
If you can trace the ancestry, you’ll find similar themes. They may be colored by the environment, the nation, the culture, the identity of the individual, or the family, or the community or nation that they’re living in. But if you strip away all of that, define the commonalities through time. Once I reached that point, it helped me to morph into this other kind of genealogist to look for the commonalities first, and to try to pull out the nuggets of a story that I think are most useful, and to also find a way to connect with everybody.
In my work, I probably have become overzealous at times and sharing information. But I also take the time to listen to others. Sometimes when I’m in the presence of strangers, let’s say waiting in line at the Motor Vehicles Administration, we strike up, a conversation about whatever I recall of my mother, and find a way to strike up a conversation to find the commonalities with somebody. Inevitably, there will be a story about a family member immediately. There are all sorts of stories that we have about our relatives that shape how we see the world and how we interact with the world. Genealogy is literally the way to make those changes, to trace the connections. Family history is a little bit broader. That involves looking at genealogy, but genealogy in the context of your culture, your community, your beliefs, and everything. Then you can take the family history to broaden it to the community history, regional history, and national history. When you get to the level of the international, it opens the doors for people seeing themselves in different contexts. The world has become a lot smaller because people can migrate.
I sometimes have a different perspective on what it means to be a part of the family, and what the stories that I have inherited and retained mean. I look at it as a way of finding our commonalities. I also hope that by sharing the stories, I will inspire somebody else to do the same. Also in that sharing, I will learn something else about another family that will help me to become a better researcher, or will help me find a different way of reflecting upon my own family history and my ancestry.
Tune in to Episode #34, contact us at [email protected] and follow us at @DividedFamiliesPodcast. | https://medium.com/@dividedfamiliespodcast/connecting-family-through-genealogy-with-hollis-gentry-9c173b9fc607 | ['Divided Families Podcast'] | 2021-06-17 06:59:37.987000+00:00 | ['Genealogy', 'Slavery', 'Family Seperation', 'Ancestry', 'Native American Culture'] |
HMM: 3 Guiding Words for 2019 | I’m not going to lie: I failed miserably on many promises of this blog and the according YouTube Channel in 2018. I’m sorry, we are all humans. But we don’t life in the past, so here’s to a great 2019!
I started this “tradition” last year and wanted to continue it this year again by defining 3 guiding words for the year.
I just looked it up and I followed this idea in 2017 but not last year, wow how time flies by!
So let me repeat the idea: Define 3 words for the next year that guide your actions and decisions. I’m not really aware of who started this but I first saw it on the blog of Paul Minors.
Perhaps you can come up with your 3 words as well, so simply add me to your tweet or tag me on Instagram!
Missed Goals of the last year — any regrets?
Before I dive into my words I want to shortly reflect on the last year. A lot of good things happened, especially that we became a family since the birth of our daughter in September.
But at the same time I failed at 95% of the goals I had for the year. The only thing that I sticked to was my content production. You can see everything that I released on my recently created tool “I am creator” on my own profile: https://iamcreator.io/simongrimm
The truth is, right after new year we found out my wife was pregnant and from that point on, everything else was secondary. Of course this is no excuse to not getting sh*t done, but it took a toll on me.
The good thing about regrets is that you can turn them around to improve what’s next.
I failed because my formulated goals were not accurate, not important enough and not enough aligned with my real life.
Therefore, I don’t regret failing but I’m happy to use this as a lesson for years to come!
My Guiding Words for 2019
So after finishing with your past it’s time to look at the future. I’ve defined about 8 goals for myself, but I also wanted to continue this tradition of 3 words (which is in fact not a tradition as I somehow missed it last year), so here we go!
Habits
Last year I tried to achieve goals like getting blog views to a fixed number, grow members of my Ionic Academy to a specific point or simply lose weight. I failed all of them.
This year, I will therefore focus on the process instead.
Instead of formulating “I want to lose 10kg” say something like “I will eat a healthy low carb dinner each day”.
See how it works?
Because I want to focus on the process, I will establish more healthy habits in my life that will automatically help me to achieve the bigger goals. This counts for both personal and business goals.
Once I’ve established the first set of habits I can stack additional beneficial habits onto them and finally let the score take care of itself (did you read the book though?).
Measure
You know that you should set SMART goals that you can measure, and it’s what I did. I just didn’t measure them through the year. That’s why I don’t really have any evidence how I did in different areas of my business.
This year I’m going to add more formal checks to see how I’m doing:
Weekly Review: See which tasks I finished and spend time on
Monthly Review: Track on which projects I worked the most and adjust my planning
Goal Review: Check in with my defined goals every 3 month and see if they are still important to me
Finance Tracking: List all income and expenses in sheets to better understand my cash flow
Sometimes you can feel like “what did I actually work on?” and that’s how I felt at the end of last year. I was doing a lot of content creation but finally felt like I didn’t do enough.
By reflecting what you did you can pat yourself on the back and be more happy with how you spend your time.
Make
Finally, I’m a content creator and maker by heart. I just love to come up with ideas and make them real. It’s how my blog started, how I created info products, how I build up my membership site and finally how my whole business works.
But somehow along the way last year I lost my vision and spend more time then I should have on consulting. It wasn’t bad in general, and the income was very welcome given the upcoming baby but it took a lot of time away from creating other things.
From doing things I’m better at.
But this year I want to align closer with my true calling again.
I already started becoming more active on Instagram and you should follow me for all the updates and progress on my business.
If you find yourself scrolling through Instagram 90% of the time perhaps take a step back and decide to create something on your own. Put something out there that others can consume! Or as I tell myself, make.
Looking Forward
For some reason I feel super energised for this year. It’s my second full year of being a Solopreneur and I feel like I got the ability to change and adjust a bit after building a foundation over the last years.
Because we all know this fire might change along the year I’ll try to establish the right habits in the first few weeks to set myself up for the best year ever!
So what could be your 3 words?
Let me know below or tag me on Instagram @simongrimm_ ! | https://medium.com/@schlimmson/hmm-3-guiding-words-for-2019-addcaf69715a | ['Simon Grimm'] | 2019-01-02 06:41:31.507000+00:00 | ['Developer', 'Resolutions', 'Personal Growth', 'Makers', 'Goals'] |
Angas of Yoga | People are able to explore such dimensions as consciousness and energy. These dimensions, inseparable from each other, represent the nature of the Universe. Infinite, beyond time and concepts, consciousness endowed with energy manifests everything in this world: objects, subjects, obscurations, liberations, all the processes, actions, states, and what is beyond the states.
Yoga is given to us so that we could explore who we are and what is Absolute, Universe. By practicing asanas, pranayama and meditation — angas of yoga (aṅga — “part, section”), we obtain the ability to abide in higher dimensions (tattvas). But it would be wrong to consider that angas come in a certain sequence, for example, first asanas, then pranayama and only then meditative practices (dharana, dhyana, samadhi). All of them are equally necessary and important, since they are integral for the whole. Most often, yoga is considered as ashtanga — consisting of eight parts, which includes yama, niyama, asanas, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi. But there is also shadanga (six parts) yoga , and other variants of angas. No matter how many angas one indicates, they have something in common that is the focus to Absolute. Take any of the anga, for example, asanas, and change the focus to health and as a result, it is not yoga any more but physical education or therapy. Or apply meditation to psychology and you will get a mindfulness consultancy practice. In the same way, it is impossible to exclude any of the angas from the actual practice of yoga for they only work together, they compliment each other. Yama-niyama (lifestyle prescriptions) provide the foundation for the correct use of energy, which leads to the higher states in any asana. While meditation takes place during asana or pranayama practices, and pranayama itself is present at all levels of yogic practice.
Many people practice yoga to achieve success, for some benefits or to justify their needs, replacing the focus from Absolute to personal goals and ambitions. But keep the right focus and everything else will fall into place. Questions will disappear, and the search for the meaning of life will melt into the infinity of being. For many, this may even sound intimidating. But where there is unity with the Universe, there is no need to prove anything. Everything becomes simple and clear, and yoga leads to the state without meanings and differences, to the perfect unity of the whole. | https://medium.com/@hamsanath/angas-of-yoga-22301703ce97 | ['Hamsa Nath'] | 2020-12-22 06:58:32.007000+00:00 | ['Yoga', 'Spiritual Growth', 'Self-awareness', 'Mindfulness', 'Spirituality'] |
Minexcoin Tutorial: How to Mine MNX? | Mining Within Terminal
To start several system threads for mining to load your CPU choose your system first.
Linux
1. Download zip archive from https://minexcoin.com (http://minexcoin.com/bin/linux/minexcoin-linux.zip).
2. Extract zip archive named “minexcoin-linux.zip” via linux terminal OR graphical user interface. (HELP: https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-extract-zip-files-in-linux-unix-command/)
3. Open linux terminal if it wasn’t done before. (HELP: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=linux+how+to+open+terminal)
4. Move to folder where you unzip the files. (HELP: http://www.rapidtables.com/code/linux/cd.htm)
5. Run command in linux terminal to start minexcoin core daemon: ./minexcoind -rpcthreads=<n> & . Where “<n>” is: AMOUNT OF CPU’s CORES + 1.
6. Run command to get common info about network and yours wallet: ./minexcoin-cli getinfo . (HELP: https://chainquery.com/bitcoin-api/getinfo)
7. Run command listed in item 6 until value of variable “blocks” of output of command “getinfo” will be equal to height of last block on explorer (http://minexexplorer.com/).
8. Run command to start mine: ./minexcoin-cli generate <nblocks> & . Where <nblocks> is amount of blocks need to be mined.
9. Run command listed in item 8 as many times as your AMOUNT OF CPU’s CORES but wait 2 seconds or more before you will start command again.
10. Wait until your CPU cores find blocks for you. It is a hard work and it may takes a very long period. Be patient, please.
11. If block is mined, you receive something like “0000016cc4c6b1a4a425f0687d0d9268b9b0c92bc6c03d2343e4a4c302d159bb”. This is your mined block. You are the winner.
Windows
1. Download zip archive from https://minexcoin.com. There are x32 and x64 versions in separated archives. (http://minexcoin.com/bin/windows-x64/minexcoin-windows.zip or http://minexcoin.com/bin/windows-x32/minexcoin-windows.zip).
2. Extract zip archive named “minexcoin-windows.zip” via graphical user interface.
3. Open windows command line if it wasn’t done before. (HELP: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=windows+how+to+open+cmd)
4. Move to folder where you unzip the files. (HELP: https://ss64.com/nt/cd.html)
5. Run command in windows command line to start minexcoin core service: minexcoind.exe -rpcthreads=<n> . Where “<n>” is: AMOUNT OF CPU’s CORES + 1.
6. Run command in another command line to get common info about network and yours wallet: minexcoin-cli.exe getinfo . (HELP: https://chainquery.com/bitcoin-api/getinfo)
7. Run command listed in item 6 until value of variable “blocks” of output of command “getinfo” will be equal to height of last block on explorer (http://minexexplorer.com/).
8. Run command to start mine: start /B minexcoin-cli.exe generate <nblocks> . Where <nblocks> is amount of blocks need to be mined.
9. Run command listed in item 8 as many times as your AMOUNT OF CPU’s CORES, but wait 2 seconds or more before you will start command again.
10. Wait. Just wait. No, seriously, you have to wait until your CPU cores find blocks for you. It is a hard work and it may takes a VERY LONG PERIOD. Be patient, please.
11. If block is mined, you receive something like “0000016cc4c6b1a4a425f0687d0d9268b9b0c92bc6c03d2343e4a4c302d159bb”. This is your mined block. You are winner. | https://medium.com/minecoin-blog/here-is-detail-instruction-how-to-mine-7be0d91ef5f0 | ['Minexcoin'] | 2018-10-31 15:13:28.321000+00:00 | ['Mining', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain', 'Crypto', 'Tutorial'] |
Meross Smart Wi-Fi Garage Door Opener review: A budget price makes this system worth the setup hassles | Bringing your garage door into your smart home isn’t the simplest process, nor is it the cheapest: Many smart garage door systems—our top pick, the Chamberlain myQ, notwithstanding—will run you $100 or more. And then there’s the hassle of climbing around on a ladder in your garage and dealing with some often janky wiring.
Meross doesn’t do much about the installation headaches—in fact, it’s one of the more labor-intensive openers on the market, for reasons I’ll explain shortly—but it does help out greatly when it comes to price. At a mere $40, it’s the second cheapest smart opener on the market, after the $30 myQ.
This review is part of TechHive’s coverage of the best smart garage door controllers, where you’ll find reviews of competing products, plus a buyer’s guide to the features you should consider when shopping for this type of product. Christopher Null / IDG Less-than-articulate installation instructions like this might challenge novices.
Like all of Meross’ products, the initial presentation of the device is decidedly understated. A plain white box contains all the individually packaged components, with nothing but a QR code to direct you to setup instructions and the Meross app. You will need those instructions.
All smart garage door openers have compatibility limitations, and Meross’ is no exception. Like all the other wired openers I’ve tested, Meross’ does not work out of the box with newer, more secure openers and requires a special accessory in order to do so.
Meross doesn’t actually sell this accessory; you are directed to email the company to obtain one directly (for free) if the app’s compatibility checker determines your opener isn’t compatible.
As such, it’s probably worth downloading the app and plugging in your garage door model information before you even purchase the product in order to save yourself an extra trip up the ladder in your garage. I ended up installing the device on a slightly older Liftmaster that did not need the accessory. The other two openers in my garage, however, would have required one.
[ Further reading: A smart home guide for beginners ]While Meross’ installation instructions are far from perfect, hardware setup is similar in most ways to other smart garage door openers. The opener plugs directly into wall power, and two bare wire leads connect the Meross opener to terminals on the back of the garage door motor, either through screw posts or spring-loaded connectors. Meross throws you for a twist, however, in its choice of door sensor technology, which is used to tell the app whether the garage door is open or shut. While most smart openers use a wireless sensor that mounts to the door and can sense whether it is upright (door shut) or horizontal (door open), Meross instead relies on a two-part magnetic sensor similar to the type used in a home security system.
Christopher Null / IDG A simple in-app animation tells you when your door is in motion.
That’s an interesting idea—except the sensor must connect to the Meross opener via a long wire. You snake this wire along the track, much like you do with the infrared sensors used to determine whether the door opening is blocked, and carefully position the magnets somewhere on the door.
Getting this all situated isn’t the simplest process, because if the sensor wire hits the chain, it can easily rip the whole thing apart. Meross doesn’t provide any accessories to make this easy, so bring some binder clips to make the process a bit cleaner. (Gloves are also a good idea, since the track can be quite oily.)
The good news is that the lack of a wireless door sensor takes one potential trouble spot out of the equation, and the MSG100 need only communicate with your router via Wi-Fi (2.4GHz only) in order to maintain its connection. Setup through the Meross app was quick and error-free in my testing, after which I was able to use the app to freely open and close the door.
Alexa and Google Assistant are both supported, letting you use your voice to operate the controls, and the MSG100 also supports both Samsung SmartThings and IFTTT. A different version of this product (model MSG100HK) supports Apple HomeKit, but it was not available at press time.
I particularly enjoyed the thoughtful additional features in the app, including an “overtime reminder,” which pushes a warning if the door is left open for a user-configured length of time, and the “overnight reminder,” which alerts you if the door is open after hours (at a time you set). You can also set the door to close automatically after it’s been open for a set time, or close at a certain time of day. My only complaint with the app is that it can be slow to respond—opening the door can take 5 to 10 seconds of “thinking” in some cases—but that’s a minor issue. All activity is logged in the app, and push notifications are also sent to your phone for just about everything.
Meross’s installation is more onerous than most smart garage products, but for just $40, one might feel able to tolerate a bit of a headache. If MyQ’s opener doesn’t work for you, this is our second-best recommendation.
Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details. | https://medium.com/@nick08400912/meross-smart-wi-fi-garage-door-opener-review-a-budget-price-makes-this-system-worth-the-setup-756965ea50dc | [] | 2020-12-24 18:20:58.215000+00:00 | ['Surveillance', 'Lighting', 'Connected Home', 'Audio'] |
5 Brilliant Books to Read in the Next 6 Months | It’s (finally) the end of the year. You’ve spent a lot of time inside, and you feel like you’ve watched all of YouTube. You’ve listened to every podcast there is. You’re waiting for an award from Netflix for ‘Most Time Spent Browsing’ yet you still haven’t made a dent in that bookshelf you spent a full day building at the start of lockdown.
Or maybe you have done nothing but read for the past six months and are looking for some new books to get stuck into over the next six. No matter which of these people you are, or if you are someone in between, I have a book for any taste below.
Some of these books I read myself over lockdown, and others I have fond memories of reading while lying by the pool on a Greek island when travelling wasn’t borderline illegal.
Hopefully you’ll find one of them to be suited to your own taste, or maybe one that makes you want to find a new taste altogether.
Let’s get stuck in. | https://medium.com/books-are-our-superpower/5-brilliant-books-to-read-in-the-next-6-months-bdd92c551d1e | ['Christopher Hanna'] | 2020-12-24 09:18:03.084000+00:00 | ['Book Recommendations', 'Readinglist', 'Book Review', 'Reading', 'Books'] |
CalCPA Daily Clips | Dec. 10, 2020
MEMBER IN THE NEWS
(David Cieslak quoted.)
The Top 100 People: 20 lessons learned
Accounting’s most influential people share realizations prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.
AccountingToday
BUSINESS
How to take a great break from work
To stay refreshed and energized while working remotely, schedule breaks on your calendar. Here is a look at what to do — and not do — during break time.
Fast Company
— —
Businesses Optimistic, But Say New Stimulus Is Critical to Economy
More than half of business executives (54 percent) say they expect some negative impact to their organizations if a renewed round of economic stimulus does not materialize by early 2021, according to the fourth-quarter AICPA Economic Outlook Survey.
CPA Practice Advisor
— —
The Decision to Buy or Sell Non-Core Assets
No matter what side of the negotiation table you are on, make sure these questions are top of mind.
CFO
PERSONAL FINANCE
Withdrawing from your 401(k) is a last resort — but CARES Act makes it less risky
As much as we’re trying to hold onto every shred of hope here, the economic outlook for many families remains rocky. And the piggy bank of last resort — your retirement savings — could present an option for getting more cash in 2020 even if you’re in your 30s or 40s.
USAToday
POLITICS & POLICY
Some unemployed Californians could be forced to repay part of pandemic benefits
Nearly a million Californians who received Pandemic Unemployment Assistance have been told they could have to repay some of their benefits if they can’t document the 2019 income they reported on their unemployment application. The repayment could amount to hundreds or thousands of dollars.
SF Chronicle
— —
California tax revenue ‘windfall’ now uncertain
That $26 billion dollar “windfall” that California lawmakers learned about last month may not withstand a second round of economy-squelching lockdowns, and the risk of losing what little leverage they have is a top concern for state budget writers.
Capitol Weekly
— —
Poll Shows Support for Government Funded Economic Advancement Programs, But Not How to Pay for Them
Polling offers snapshots of voters’ thinking but is frequently frustrating because while certain information is revealed the pollsters don’t have the time to dig deeper into issues that might change the reflexive attitudes expressed in answering the initial question.
Fox&Hounds
PROFESSION
4 questions before reopening your office
With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing, many firms are still up in the air when it comes to office reopenings. As they think about whether and how to bring staff back in, there are four major questions to consider.
AccountingToday
— —
Scamdemic: Preparers help clients dodge COVID schemes
Bad situations can bring people together. And it appears that COVID-19 has brought together a lot of online scammers and victims.
AccountingToday
— —
Preparing for PPP 2 is a full-time job
Advisory services soared this year, with clients turning en masse to their accountants for help navigating the coronavirus pandemic — and with the possibility of a second round of Paycheck Protection Program loans, accountants should be prepared for more of the same in 2021.
AccountingToday
REGULATORY
Identifying fraud in the PPP
The Paycheck Protection Program has helped small businesses through the coronavirus pandemic, but it has also attracted scammers eager to get their hands on the forgivable loans. The Justice Department has charged more than 80 people, and the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis suspects improper loans exceed $4 billion.
The New York Times
— —
SEC eyes rule changes for short-term funding
The SEC aims to revise rules governing short-term funding markets in response to disruption traders saw in March, Chair Jay Clayton says. The SEC would cooperate with other agencies domestically and internationally, Clayton says.
Bloomberg
TAX
Remote work could complicate taxes for many people
Americans working from home during the coronavirus pandemic might be surprised by tax implications if they have been working in a state different from their employer’s location. An October poll by the AICPA suggests many Americans are unaware of the problem, and, in some cases, the issue is causing disputes among states.
CBS News
— —
To avoid tax surprises, update your W-4
Americans should update their federal income tax withholding on the redesigned Form W-4 from the Internal Revenue Service to prevent unpleasant tax-related shock. Help friends and neighbors by spreading the word.
AICPA Insights
— —
Guidance issued for safe harbor retirement plans
The IRS has issued guidance on certain provisions of the SECURE Act that affect safe harbor plans, including safe harbor 401(k) plans and certain 403(b) plans.
AccountingToday
— —
Wage Withholdings and the W-4 Options for 2021
The first step in helping your clients better understand wage withholdings is resolving whether payments for services are being made to a contractor or employee.
AccountingWeb | https://medium.com/calcpa-daily-clips/calcpa-daily-clips-a02a229ed9b8 | [] | 2020-12-10 15:33:07.298000+00:00 | ['Calcpa', 'Accounting', 'California', 'Irs', 'Business'] |
7 Reasons Why Writers Make the Best Lovers | Have you ever flipped to the back cover of a book just to admire the author’s bio? Of course, you have.
Writers are some of the sexiest creatures to ever grace the surface of our planet. Not only are we incredibly talented, but we have the ability to capture your attention for hours on end, leaving you smiling, crying, or shaking your knees in anticipation.
So it should come as no surprise that writers also happen to make the best lovers.
1. We have a keen eye for detail
Unlike our fellow non-writer brothers and sisters, we have an acute sense for the smallest details. After all, we’re tasked with remembering every single feature, component, and element for all our stories and characters. We know exactly who “has luscious blond locks like the morning sun” or who “can flutter around the room like a delicate butterfly emerging from her cocoon.”
So obviously, we remember how you like to be fucked.
Gentle nibbles on your right earlobe? Tell us no more.
Subtle scratches down the spine of your back with our nails? We know that too.
A slice of pizza post-coitus? Baby, it’s already heating up in the oven.
2. We have passion flowing out of every pore
Boring just doesn’t suit a writer. We are passionate beings that seek out inspiration in everything we do.
No one wants to read a lifeless story, so why would anyone want to have sex with a lifeless lover? Our thoughts exactly.
Every single part of us is constantly on the lookout for new feelings, new emotions, and above all else, new experiences. And luckily for you, that carnal craving for passion always follows us into the bedroom.
If we can’t make your toes curl or your eyes roll back into your skull, then we aren’t doing our job right.
3. We’re good with our hands
Trust us — being able to type 90+ words a minute gives us the ability to diddle your genitals in ways you never thought possible.
4. We love adventure
Our imaginations are almost as uncontrollable as our sexual urges. And that’s why we don’t mind stepping outside of our comfort zone to try out that new vibrator or to give that new leather whip a few cracks. In fact, we love experimenting with new things in and out of the bedroom.
It’s inherently ingrained in a writer to play around with different topics, characters, and storylines, so we aren’t afraid of dipping our toes into the sexual unknown.
To some people, we can be a little too adventurous. But in our minds, if you aren’t living on the edge, then you don’t have a life that’s worth living.
5. We pay attention to our surroundings
When it comes to storytelling, setting up the plot is almost as important as the story itself. Writers have a firm grasp on what it takes to get those juices flowing and can easily set the scene to make their partners feel comfortable and relaxed.
From the flickering candles to the oiled back massages, writers are professionals at crafting the perfect atmosphere for a sexual rendevous. And if you happen to be more of the back-alley-by-the-dumpster lover, don’t worry your little heart out. We’re equally prepared for that too.
6. We’re great communicators
Because duh — that’s our job.
To a writer, communicating with another person comes second nature. We aren’t shy about asking for what we want, whether it’s to be spanked on our booties or slapped on our titties.
Communication is one of our most powerful tools, and words are our most valuable assets.
If we can make a scene about a grain of sand stretch out to three pages, then we can easily share our feelings beyond a few simple head nods or shoulder shrugs.
7. We’re ridiculously attractive
It should go without saying, but yeah, writers are incredibly attractive. Not only do we wear those adorable thick-framed glasses, but we also have perfected the art of the messy hairdo.
We’re scrappy-chic — but in a way where we look completely flawless. You won’t know whether we woke up like this or spent three hours in front of the mirror primping for your visit. | https://medium.com/sex-and-satire/7-reasons-why-writers-make-the-best-lovers-f3df1918e359 | ['Ms. Part Time Wino'] | 2020-12-08 14:10:39.953000+00:00 | ['Writers On Writing', 'Humor', 'Sexuality', 'Writing', 'Dating'] |
The MOST stressful modern issue | Photo by Paul Hanaoka on Unsplash
Kids, teenagers and adults have never felt as much stress in their lives as they have today. The pressure put upon every age group by advertisers is immense. It is actually worse than paying tax in fact it is like paying tax. It’s draining.
But not even as stressful as Chargers, WiFi and Internet access as they are potentially the MOST stressful and comes even before stressful relationships and stressful family. If we don’t have security around Chargers, WiFi and the Internet, we become very short tempered and moody. We will be short with others and even rude. You may even accuse others for the reasons why you don’t have access to those essential human needs. Seriously that has happened to us at home!
It even comes ahead of food and water. We can live without food and water for at least a day, but not without Chargers, WiFi or the Internet.
We now expect to be able to walk into any public place and be able to connect to WiFi, free of charge. Do you remember the days when you visited hotels and you had to purchase a 1 hour or 24 hour internet access voucher. I know some hotels still do this, like the UK’s Travelodge, but I’m talking more about the bigger hotels, when you made use of their reception area for meetings. Now we can walk into any reception in any hotel and expect to be able to go to the reception desk and ask for a WiFi code totally free of charge.
Amazing!
Michael de Groot | https://medium.com/typewriting/the-most-stressful-modern-issue-f7b4fe6bd07e | ['Michael De Groot'] | 2020-01-10 16:13:44.227000+00:00 | ['Internet', 'Stress', 'Mindfulness', 'Wifi', 'Charger'] |
The Voice Within | The Voice Within
A Poem about the Intersectionality of Race and Mental Health
Photo by Nada&Ninguem on Unsplash
i am Black
my stigma is in my skin
it’s visible to everyone
no matter how i look within
i live with it every day
and concealment is not a choice
i have available to help me
when i choose to raise my voice
Black is beautiful
that’s how i feel about my skin
a beauty seen by everyone
no matter how i feel within
i think about it every day
and it appears i have no choice
but to have others react to it
when with pride i raise my voice
Black is dangerous
that’s how others feel about my skin
a menacing threat to everyone
because of my rage within
i fret about it every day
for it appears i have no choice
but to generate a fear response
when i loudly raise my voice
i was born Black
my identity in my skin
unchangeable to everyone
from without and from within
defines my treatment every day
and leaves me with no choice
except defend my rights with vigour
and that’s why i raise my voice
i have depression
the stigma breaks my heart
invisible to all but me –
the stress this truth imparts
i live with it every day
conceal this truth by choice
this poem the first i have confessed it
when i’ve chosen to raise my voice
i am beautiful
that’s how i feel about my heart
even if it’s not the first thing you see
when my inner anxieties start
i think about it every day
but only sometimes have a choice
of when or how my truth reveals itself
when i choose to raise my voice
the mentally ill are dangerous
so others say about mind and heart
a menacing threat to everyone
just wait for the rage to start
we fret about this every day
others believe there is no choice
but to focus on their own fear response
when i loudly raise my voice
we are born as we are
our identities in our hearts
unchangeable to everyone
the strength this truth imparts
defines my treatment every day
and leaves me little choice
except defend all rights with vigour
and that’s why i raise my voice
both stigmas are real
in the skin, mind, soul and heart
we dispel dangerous assumptions
when understanding compassion starts
they live among us every day
i am one — so i have no choice
but to ask you to speak our truths out loud
with a single, deafening voice. | https://medium.com/invisible-illness/the-voice-within-caccc683393c | ['Greg Frankson'] | 2020-01-08 20:14:38.730000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Intersectionality', 'Invisible Illness', 'Mental Health', 'Race'] |
Composing some organ music and some spooky Halloween music, but with a twist and a view of 2030 | My first job out of high school was as a pipe organ builder; I was one of the only apprentices to start that year. I’ve lost touch with Peter Jewkes who was my boss and who taught me. But I’ve got a funny cross-over between my first job and my current work today.
I realise that organ music isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but would you listen to 30 seconds of something original and interesting?
https://soundcloud.com/greg-baker-574386084/autoregressor-11
And as a composition, it’s not exactly Bach, but it’s believably something you might hear during Mass at a traditional Catholic service or at a high-Anglican church.
Here’s the punchline: it wasn’t really composed by a human being. I created a one-line melody that had a few random notes and then I told AWS Deepcomposer to create a similar melody and fugue based on it.
There’s no musical genius behind this: it’s just an autoregression algorithm. I’m really quite surprised at how well it works.
The Deepcomposer platform also has a way of creating accompaniments in a variety of styles (rock, pop, orchestral) which is so spectacularly bad it has to be heard to be believed. About the best I could do was to make it create background breathy noises and ocean effects (which sort of came in at the right time):
https://soundcloud.com/greg-baker-574386084/halloween-music
Incidentally, if you want to upvote that track on Soundcloud I might win their Halloween competition. It’s a spooky enough track, although I cheated a little bit. After each set of iterations I went back into the resulting composition and put it firmly back into F-minor. For some reason it couldn’t quite cope with the idea that E natural and A-flat could co-exist in one composition — which is odd because they are both together in the F-minor harmonic scale and the F-minor melodic scale. So I had to go in and turn the A-naturals back into A-flats, and vice-versa with the E-natural.
I’m not about to start composing professionally again so I don’t see DeepComposer as some kind of threat. It’s more of a fun toy at the moment. I can easily believe that it could get to the point where it could create an orchestration from a piano accompaniment quite quickly though. And creating a backing track from a pop song melody isn’t something the requires more than a superficial understanding of music theory; it’s more a matter of fashion and adapting to this year’s newest soundscape. I wouldn’t put this beyond about 10 years in the future.
So then we have:
Vocaloid can do the vocals
Garritan and other sound providers who can provide the authentic-sounding instruments to play an arrangement
DeepComposer embellishing a melody and creating an accompaniment.
So I’ll predict that by 2030 it should be possible to take a melody lines and some lyrics and generate a nice song performance with a nice backing automatically. If you can play chopsticks on the piano you will probably have enough knowledge to create something good.
I’m hoping that that will expand the scope of people who can take some joy in composing. At the moment it’s not something that everyone can do, but creating a new music is such a wonderful feeling that I wish more people could experience it. | https://medium.com/@greg-baker/composing-some-organ-music-and-some-spooky-halloween-music-but-with-a-twist-and-a-view-of-2030-d80b46c1c691 | ['Greg Baker'] | 2020-11-06 02:25:51.287000+00:00 | ['Halloween', 'Deep Learning', 'Music', 'Organ'] |
If I have to watch one more minute of Fox News, I’m going to stab myself in the eye. | If I have to watch one more minute of Fox News, I’m going to stab myself in the eye.
I’m staying with my dad while he recovers from a significant health scare. I wouldn’t be anywhere else than here to help the old man. He’s my Daddy-O and we’re going to get through this.
But I swear if I hear one more news personality spin the same story as the previous five, I’m going to start slamming vodka and tonics out in the back yard until I pass out. I don’t care if it’s only twenty degrees. The booze will keep me warm. Right?
It’s not that I disagree with them. It’s not that I agree, either, come to think of it. It’s just, holy fucking shit, shut your big white shiny teeth.
There, I said it. Whew. I feel much better. | https://medium.com/@sterlingpage1/if-i-have-to-watch-one-more-minute-of-fox-news-im-going-to-stab-myself-in-the-eye-cf4d572a745 | ['Sterling Page'] | 2020-12-15 02:19:04.793000+00:00 | ['Biden', 'Life', 'Election 2020', 'Trump', 'News'] |
Are Trees the Silver Bullets to Solve Climate Change? | “The word “restore” is defined as the act of returning something back to its original state, but it’s also the act of returning it back to its original owners. The restoration of nature is for the local biodiversity and the communities that depend on it. And as that network grows, the collective action benefits everyone. And these benefits go far beyond the threat of climate change. Even if climate change stopped right now, the protection and rebuilding of earth’s biodiversity would still be a top priority because it underpins all life on earth. It can help us with all other global threats, including extreme weather events, droughts, food shortages and global pandemics.” — Thomas Crowther
Thomas Crowther is the Lead Scientific Advisor for the UN Billion Tree Campaign. He is a prolific researcher and ecologist leading a number of initiatives related to biodiversity, forestry, and soil research. His recent TED Talk highlights his work beautifully and lays the groundwork for local and global conversations about restoring nature’s biodiversity.
“The problem is clear. We know we need to reduce our emissions and draw the existing carbon out of the atmosphere, stop the damage and start the repair. And this is where forests can help. Like all plants, trees capture carbon from the atmosphere, and they use it for growth. And some of that carbon enters the soil, where it can stay for hundreds or even thousands of years. If we could stop the losses of forests around the world, we could directly help to cut our annual emissions. And if we could start to tip the balance in the other direction, we might even help the repair process.” — Thomas Crowther
The research Crowther has spearheaded is leading to a networked approach to understanding and restoring forests across the globe. The value of this goes far beyond reducing the impact of our global emissions though. Yes, defending and restoring our forests will of course result in significantly more carbon being captured by the world’s trees. Perhaps more importantly, the restoration of our global forests will also address the planet’s declining biodiversity.
In his recent TED Talk, Thomas Crowther addresses a communication error he has made and suggests that we focus on the value of restoring nature’s biodiversity. There is some psychology associated with this reasoning. If environmentalists communicate to the world that restoring our forests and planting trees can capture a significant amount of our annual emissions, then the general public will have less incentive and less conviction to reduce their carbon footprint on a regular basis. The challenge of communicating effectively isn’t new to environmentalists. This communication strategy is about communicating the primary value of a global action in a simple way that continues to encourage the world population to continue to take action on climate change. The global action of protecting and restoring forests is vital to addressing climate change, but that doesn’t mean we should communicate that to the general public. The communication of climate change solutions needs to be prioritized.
“But in the excitement of it all, and with the chance to make that positive impact I’d always dreamed of, I made some naive and stupid mistakes in communication that threatened the entire message. The simplicity of our message was its strength, but it came at the expense of nuance that is so important. And as the headlines began to emerge, I desperately just wanted to pull them back in. Because to some, it seemed like we were proposing restoration as the single solution to climate change. And this is the opposite of what this movement needs. When viewed through this lens, restoration just seems like an easy way out, a chance for us to “offset our emissions” by planting a few trees and ignore the very real and urgent challenges of cutting emissions and protecting the ecosystems that we currently have. Restoration is not a silver bullet. There is no silver bullet. It is just one of a huge portfolio of solutions that we so desperately need. And this view of trees as an easy way out is such a tempting perspective, but it is a real threat to the climate change movement and to the ecosystems that still remain.” — Thomas Crowther
As we approach financing massive global efforts to addressing climate change, it is important for us to consider the communication strategies and communication effectiveness associated with each effort. So much of addressing climate change is about changing behaviors, and we as environmentalists and sustainability professionals have the ability to enable and emphasize certain behaviors by changing the way we prioritize our communication. In the case of restoring our forests, we should not emphasize reducing the impact of our global emissions. We should instead emphasize the value of restoring the planet’s biodiversity. | https://medium.com/discourse/are-trees-the-silver-bullets-to-solve-climate-change-f299f63f1c27 | ['Carbon Radio'] | 2020-10-21 16:15:18.388000+00:00 | ['Nature', 'Climate Change', 'Environment', 'Future', 'Sustainability'] |
The Leap to Fa… | TLDR: Why Low Carb Diets Work
A recent NY Times article [Which Kinds of Foods Make Us Fat? Sept. 25, 2018] looked at what foods make lab mice fat, and found that no mice that ate low-fat diets ended up fat, but that mice that ate the highest fat percentage of all did not gain weight either. It was only the mice that ate a roughly equal mix of fat and carbs that gained weight.
It all hinges on this funny looking guy in the middle of our gut.
When you digest carbohydrates, sugar (glucose) levels rise in the blood stream. Sugar is great energy if you can use it right away, but an excess (hyperglycemia) has to be removed. The pancreas secretes the hormone insulin to usher the excess glucose from the blood into the cells, where it gets stored as fat (glycogen). In other words, insulin acts as the key opening the cell door to let the energy in to be stored as fat.
This is a great biological strategy for saving energy for later, and it enabled our ancestors eat abundantly in autumn and survive through the winter. Cian Foley (@wellboy), a bodybuilder and proponent of the “anti-autumnal diet,” noted that the results of the mouse study can be explained by simple evolutionary logic: certain combinations of food were once ideal to help us survive.
If you’re trying to store fat, there is no better way to do it than to eat calorically-dense food (nuts, fatty meats, etc.) simultaneously with sugar. It spikes your insulin, sending the “Open up!” signal to your cells to store the whatever calories you’re eating as fat. But it’s not always autumn, and the modern supermarket offers us endless opportunities to gorge ourselves on the deliciously fattening combination of fat and sugar.
Storage in fatty liver cells and new fat cells (adipose tissue) are the body’s first lines of defense, and provide a healthy buffer against starvation and stress. However, chronically elevated sugar and therefore insulin levels make cells resistant to the signal, which leads long-term to obesity (excess adipose) and diabetes (chronic hyperglycemia).
We know the best solution to metabolic syndrome and weight gain. It requires limiting carbohydrates, and in severe cases of obesity, severely limiting carbs, and substituting enough fat to make you feel satiated.
The good news is that fat is highly filling and tastes great. Eating more of it not only improves insulin sensitivity, but also leptin sensitivity, which makes us feel full after a meal. The mice in the study stopped eating once they consumed enough calories from fat. Knowing that many patients will not always follow this advice and cut out sugar, doctors instead prescribe low-fat diets.
That bad news is that the combination of sugar, fat, and salt is the evolutionary equivalent of manna from heaven — a cornucopia of energy that can be used later. We crave it like plants crave electrolytes. When we stop eating sugar, we find ourselves experiencing a hedonic deficit. This can partially be made up for by increasing delicious and satiating fatty foods, but the temptation will always be to sweeten meals up a bit, or get that comforting feeling of SUBSTANCE so cheaply supplied by carbs. As a species, we have already reached the Promised Land — the land of milk and honey. Now, the challenge is to be disciplined with our indulgences of such great abundance.
#LifeHack: Chronometric Seperation
Just understanding how insulin is the key mediator between how many calories you eat and how many calories you store should shift our preferences so that we naturally want to eat more fat. Still, we don’t have to cut carbs out altogether. There are many “safe starches” and sugary foods (i.e., fruit) that can be safely consumed because of the fiber and other nutrients they contain, which blunt the insulin spike. These can even be eaten in relatively high quantities as long as they are not complemented by high-fat foods at the same time.
Once again, it’s the bodybuilders — those who are most obsessed and neurotic about the science of body fat — who came up with the solution. A strategy of “backloading” carb intake to nighttime hours, separated in time from meals containing higher ratios of fat, has become popular among those looking to score “lean gains.” Not everyone’s objective is to achieve a minimum Body Mass Index (the ratio of fat to body mass), but to the extent you are looking to maintain a healthy physique without giving up rice, breads, and sugars altogether, carb backloading appears to be the way to go. In the same vein, there is a subtle art to gravitating towards high-carb, low-fat foods on some days, and high-fat, low-carb foods on others.
In this sense, the lesson I’ve learned can be boiled down to six words:
Don’t eat everything all the time.
Ketogenic diets are based on the logic of eating purely high fat, and require a greater leap of faith, which may be necessary for people with more advanced forms of metabolic syndrome. For most of us, however, it suffices to change our mindset such that we do not fear fat – consuming it until we are full – as long as we are able to limit our carbohydrate intake to 20% or less of total calories (usually around 150 grams per day). It still feels like a leap of faith, since most of us are used to a steady supply of sugar and it can take weeks to adjust to a primarily fat-based diet.
My adjustment is never optimal, but I have learned to find a balance. I do not obsessively count calories or worry too much about any given meal. I’ve also found that my sweet-tooth has abated to the point where a single piece of candy corn feels like a sumptuous dessert. And if you fall and gorge on pizza and ice cream, fasting for a dozen to 24 hours can cover a multitude of sins. | https://medium.com/@chdeist/the-leap-to-fa-766fd8b562ad | ['Charlie Deist'] | 2019-02-26 19:53:33.530000+00:00 | ['Weight Loss', 'Paleo', 'Ketosis', 'Diabetes', 'Biohacking'] |
What Wikipedia Can’t Tell You About Coworking Spaces | Coworking, as the name suggests, means ‘working together’. Also known by different names like shared spaces, flexible spaces, collaborative workspaces, coworking allows freelancers, startups, entrepreneurs, and even established businesses to work together in a shared environment.
Gone are the days when corporates believe in renting a traditional office and end up investing huge capital. Tables have turned around now. These shared spaces provide everything a traditional office has to offer, but with a lot more flexibility and decreased cost.
Those who love travel, work from home, or even digital nomads are most likely to benefit from shared spaces. That doesn’t mean multi-national companies don’t opt coworking. Large enterprises choose these flexible spaces when the number of employees exceeds the limit at any given time.
What is the Importance of Business Centre for Your Coworking Space?
Now the question arises, how to choose coworking space? well, this is the question that most pop into everybody’s mind who are looking to choose a shared office. This is where the importance of a business centre comes in.
A business centre or office space solutions provider offers you a range of office spaces such as co-working spaces, serviced offices, virtual offices, meeting rooms, and conference venues. The centre provides you with a well-equipped work environment, office equipment, and amenities found in a typical office.
Some of the salient features of coworking facilities include:
1. Fully staffed reception
2. Prestigious business address
3. High-speed internet connectivity
4. Plug & play setup
5. Telecom services
6. Housekeeping
7. Printing services
8. Ergonomically designed office desks’
9. Shared restrooms, pantry area.
10. Cost-effective
Flexible spaces, indeed, are viable options for freelancers and entrepreneurs who want are in a need for space to look and feel professional. Because corporates work in a collaborative environment, it allows you to network with like-minded entrepreneurs that might help grow your business, too.
What are the Benefits of Renting Coworking Space?
When it comes to discussing the benefits of shared spaces, it boils down to a multitude of things. Let’s discuss them in detail.
• Boost Your Networking Opportunities: Without cubicles, you’ll more likely to start random conversations with people sitting alongside. This will certainly allow members to get to know each other and discover resources they can bring to their specific corporate cultures.
• Enhances Productivity: This is one of the major benefits of choosing coworking space for your clients. Working with professionals in the same room will ultimately increase employee productivity significantly. It’s observed that people tend to be more motivated when they see others around them working hard and producing great ideas.
• Collaboration: When you work for yourself, it’s imperative to know your limits, too. Without a shadow of a doubt, helping each other is an integral part of coworking culture. Whether you are a product manager or a software developer, you don’t know what a marketer does. When you work in a shared environment, people with those skills probably work right next to you and might be interested in building something great.
• Cost-Effective: Renting coworking space can save money significantly regardless of the size of the business. Instead of buying furniture or any office equipment, an organization just need to pay a monthly fee to gain the benefits of combined space.
Coworking gives you an opportunity to mingle and play whilst getting your work done on time. | https://medium.com/@avantabusinesscentre/what-wikipedia-cant-tell-you-about-coworking-spaces-a4c9c6fb6f90 | ['Avanta Business Centre'] | 2021-10-26 10:13:17.307000+00:00 | ['Coworking Space', 'Coworking'] |
Personality Traits, Introverts, Extroverts and Everything in Between | Personality Traits, Introverts, Extroverts and Everything in Between
How to build your own recharge ritual and learn to choose yourself
From a young age, we are taught how to be kind, how to love and how to show up… for everyone but ourselves. We are taught that putting ourselves first is selfish. For some reason we are not taught to build a relationship with ourselves, to get to know yourself so deeply that we know what we want and more importantly, what we need.
At the age of sixteen we are asked to make a decision on what we want to do for the rest of our lives, and not knowing is not an option. This is usually the first time we are asked to make a decision for ourselves, by ourselves, that will shape the rest of our lives — and wow, what a heavy decision it is.
I see the world fundamentally different from other people, for many reasons. What people say and how they interact has always intrigued me. I have known from an extremely young age what my passion is, what I need as a person to thrive and recharge. Still, being headstrong and adamant, at the age of sixteen I had to go against everything I had been taught and fight for my choices, and for myself. I had studied design and psychology from a young age, in and out of school and wanted to go into design as a career, which at the time I didn’t know would progress into UX - but my school had other ideas. I had to have meetings upon meetings with my parents and my school to fight to do the subjects that I wanted to do, as they saw it as an unstable career… if I even manage to get a job at all.
It’s worth adding that I didn’t have a bad school, however, they are taught to make sure that the students are vaguely equipped to go into the world and have a fighting chance. This is a lesson to be learnt — most people that try to stop you in life have their own set of reasons. Realistically, they should have done their research on me and the career I knew I was going into, and educated me on the statistics and work required to succeed instead of brushing it off as high school arrogance and ego. This wouldn’t have changed the outcome for me, but it would have for a lot of my fellow students.
I was brought up with strong female and male role models, my Mum and my older brother raised me to a teen, when my Dad* stepped in and continued to raise a headstrong female without the constraints of gender stereotypes. I was well equipped with the skills I needed to know myself, to know what I wanted, what I needed and know that I was able to fight for it. And no, I didn’t have a ‘perfect’ childhood, but the resilience in my role models through uncertain times taught me to be stronger and love myself no matter how hard it might seem.
Okay, so I want to add that my Dad mentioned is my technically my step Dad, or as I like to say… my chosen Dad. I am a firm believer that DNA doesn’t give you the right to be in someone’s life. If someone is a toxic influence or detrimental to your self-love, they don’t deserve you. Likewise if someone in a genuinely amazing person and a positive influence, you can choose them. If you learn one thing when learning to love yourself, let it be that.
A mother who radiates self-love and self-acceptance actually vaccinates her daughter against low self-esteem - Naomi Wolf
Self-worth comes from within and we cannot rely on others to validate us, but self-love needs to be nurtured at a young age to blossom. It takes time to realise your worth for yourself, not just because someone else has said it. Self-love means getting to know yourself as well as you know other people — which may seem silly but you would be surprised how much there is that you don’t know or realise about yourself.
When you take time to replenish your spirit, it allows you to serve others from the overflow. You cannot serve from an empty vessel. - Eleanor Brown
One of the most important things to remember when you are learning self-validation is that, most people are faking it. Yep, that’s right, most people aren’t as confident as you see them to be. This is one of the main reasons that you can’t compare or validate yourself against other people — you are only seeing what they are showing.
Personality traits
According to psychologists, there are five main underlying traits that define personality, including:
Openness — Which indicates how open-minded a person is.
— Which indicates how open-minded a person is. Conscientiousness — A person scoring high in conscientiousness usually has a high level of self-discipline. These individuals prefer to follow a plan, rather than act spontaneously.
— A person scoring high in conscientiousness usually has a high level of self-discipline. These individuals prefer to follow a plan, rather than act spontaneously. Introversion/Extraversion — These personality traits cover how outgoing, talkative and energetic, or reserved and solitary a person is and how they recharge and relax.
— These personality traits cover how outgoing, talkative and energetic, or reserved and solitary a person is and how they recharge and relax. Agreeableness — This trait usually indicates how warm, friendly, and tactful a person is.
— This trait usually indicates how warm, friendly, and tactful a person is. Neuroticism — A person who has a high level of neuroticism is more likely to be moody and to experience such feelings as anxiety, worry, fear, anger, frustration, envy, jealousy, guilt, depressed mood, and loneliness.
Personality traits are, for the most part, categorised into introversion and extroversion. The thing to remember about introversion and extroversion is that it’s not black or white, one or the other — it’s a spectrum in which you can sit anywhere in-between. There are plenty of tests you can take online to tell you if you are an introvert or extrovert, remembering that these are very generalised and don’t show the spectrum. For example, the Psychologies test has 14 basic questions to answer — I didn’t really connect with a few of them and just ended up picking answers randomly, and at the end was told I am more of an Introvert.
Some of the traits associated with being an introvert and extrovert are:
Extrovert
Recharges and gains energy in social situations
Makes quick impulsive decisions
Can be seen as outgoing and enthusiastic
Thrives in a team setting
Introvert
Enjoys spending time alone to recharge
Thinks before speaking and acting
Can be seen as more reserved
Prefers working independently
I am technically an extroverted introvert, I have strong traits from both ends of the scale. These traits apply to everyone who isn’t in my select group of friends and family that actually recharges me. Some of these traits include:
Generally finding people both intriguing and exhausting — in equal measures
Interactions with new people in new situations completely drain me mentally and physically
I am very selectively social
I have absolutely no interest in trying to stand out in a crowd, and not because I am shy
People tend to assume I am an extrovert
I constantly feel the need to do something
I need nature to feel grounded
I see the world in a fundamentally different way to other people — or so I am told
Self-care routine
Building a personalised self-care routine is the most important thing that we just aren’t taught to do at a young age. In fact, for a lot of people, they are told that they shouldn’t ‘spend so much time alone’ or ‘focus so much on their friends’. Most people are taught a routine, but it’s someone else’s and doesn’t work for them. As an example I hate running, like seriously… hate! But as a young teen, that’s what I was taught will help me recharge, as that’s the experience other people have.
The way that I am means that my brain doesn’t stop, I don’t shut down my work self at the end of the day. I don’t stop feeling driven when I am at home ‘chilling’. I can’t just switch off. My brain is always firing 1000 thoughts and it’s a lot. When I am around people my brain is on fire — it’s attention is drawn to micro-expressions, body language, word analysis, taking in every morsel of visual stimulant… as well as being constantly over aware of all of my surroundings. While being so intently focussed on what’s directly in front of me, my brain consumes itself with simultaneously tracking how close people are, what’s going on around me and the surrounding structures. Sometimes I struggle to hold a conversation or even hear someone talking — my brain is simply overwhelmed by the number of stimulants.
Breathe
I was around 17 when I passed my driving test and this for me was a big step towards finding my self-care routine. It opened up experiences I couldn’t have before and I quickly found that one of the things that made me recharge was being alone, truly alone.
I found my happy place, my solitude, the place I could breathe again. I found this about a 20 minute drive from where I lived and visited it regularly for around 6 years.
Over the years I added a few places, mostly spots to take my labrador, Bracken — and then I moved to Wales. Well, Wales is not short of blissful solitude. My favourite of which is Moel Famau in the colder months, pictured here. You can walk for miles or drive to the top car park, walk 5 minutes and find a bench right on the edge of a hill where you can sit and watch the world pass by.
Things change
I have always been a person who doesn’t have a large group of friends — and that’s fine. I always end up with single friends from different aspects of my life, and they are mostly male. My personality just seems to mesh more with the male personality and always has, it may be because I grew up with brothers or that’s just the way I am. This seems like an issue to a lot of people — even in my school reports from primary school my friendships were mentioned as being odd and not with girls which seems to stem from the strong gender role stereotypes forced upon people. I am inclined to believe this even more as my female friends have this ‘male’ persona as a strong part of their personality.
I can say with ease and content that I am extremely lucky with the few true friends I have, and this changed me as I grew up. I was always the type to need time on my own to recharge, finding excuses to avoid social interactions — which played a big part in my relationships. I find adults completely draining mentally and psychically. While this hasn’t changed for the most part, there are certain people I can breathe around. When I say ‘can breathe’ that’s literally how I feel around these truly amazing people.
I was never the type to go out drinking all of the time, and honestly, this is mostly because of the people I was with. For me any experience being a positive one, including a night out, 100% depends on the people I am with. Around these people, I am honestly a completely different person, with a completely different energy. It’s not about how long I have known someone or how much time I spend with them, or even how much we have in common — it’s solely the connection. Once I connect to people that connection will always be there, it doesn’t depend on how often I see them, how many good or bad times we have had or how much time I spend talking to them each day.
Learn to breathe
We all work differently, relax differently and recharge differently. The things that make us happy may not be the things that recharge us. The people we love may not recharge us and that’s okay! You have to figure out what it is that recharges you, this may mean trying something new. Be okay with the fact that the things you do to take care of yourself may change, they may evolve, they may include people or not.
If you don’t know what makes you happy — why not try some self-care tips from Women’s Health for 30 days to build yourself a new routine. You will soon realise what works for you and what doesn’t.
Try 30 days of improving your mental and psychical health by
Drinking some water first thing in the a.m.
Write down five things every day that didn’t totally suck
Meal plan! Make a menu for the week
Try that new yoga/gym/boxing class
Have a mini dance party every day!
Move for at least 30 minutes a day
Sleep 8 hours a day
Start a journal and write down everything that happened that day
Sit up straight (no, really)
Plan a workout date with a friend
If you don’t like kale… don’t eat kale!
Exercise your right to say no!
Learn what helps you breathe and choose yourself | https://medium.com/curious/personality-traits-introverts-extroverts-and-everything-in-between-6ad25beec668 | [] | 2020-11-28 03:55:16.655000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Self Love', 'Mental Health Awareness', 'Personality', 'Psychology'] |
A Shot of Business Central and A Beer Episode 5 | S4E5 A Shot of Business Central and A Beer
Intro
Ken and Michael here for Episode 5 of a Shot of Business Central and A Beer. Today we’re talking a little Business Central news, we’re taking a look at Business Central Apps for tracking expenses, we have a listener submitted Stump Ken question, and will be talking about a few manufacturing things. So if you are in the manufacturing industry, I’d stick around. But before we get into the Business Central things it looks like my co-host Ken has brought an interesting beer for us today. Tell us a little bit about this beer Ken.
Contents Section
Beer Review Segment: 32 second mark
A Shot of Business Central Segment: 7 minute 42 seconds mark
Business Central Feature — Assembly vs Manufacturing Segment: 24 minute 08 seconds mark
Business Central Apps Segment — Payroll Solutions: 44 minute 14 seconds mark
Stump Ken Question Segment: 50 minute 35 seconds mark
Show Notes
Segment 1 — Craft Beer
Beer: OHH-MEGA Haze
BrickStone Brewery — Bourbonnais, IL
Hazy, New England, IPA
Creative collaboration with the Omega Yeast Crew. Brewed with heavy oats and Omega KVEIK yeast, then double dry hopped with Cryo Citra and Mosaic.
Beer Reviews: Ken = 90 rating, Michael = 86 rating
Segment 2 — A Shot of Business Central with Ken Sebahar
Cumulative Update 10 for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central on-premises released.
Multiple windows release in October version.
Segment 3 — Business Central Feature: Assembly Orders Vs Production Orders (Manufacturing)
Production Orders and Assembly Orders are internal orders
About Production Orders (Job or Work Orders)
Production orders are used to manage the conversion of purchased materials into manufactured items.
Production orders route work through various work or machine centers (facilities) on the shop floor.
Before proceeding with production, most companies perform supply planning, typically once a week, to calculate how many production orders and purchase orders to execute to fulfill that week’s sales demand.
Purchase orders supply the components that are required according to the production BOM to produce the end items.
Production orders are the central components of the program’s manufacturing functionality and they contain the following information:
Products planned for manufacturing
Materials required for the planned production orders
Products that have just been manufactured
Materials that have already been selected
Products that have been manufactured in the past
Materials that were used in previous manufacturing operations
Production orders are the starting points for:
Planning future manufacturing
Controlling current manufacturing
Tracking of finished manufacturing
Limitations on Production Order Creation
Production orders are automatically reserved and tracked to their source when:
Created from the Planning Worksheet
Created with the order function in the Sales Order Planning window
Created from the Order Planning window
Using the Replan function on Production Orders
About Assemble to Order
An assembly BOM defines which items and resources are required to assemble the parent item. A resource cannot be a machine or work center.
You do not need to have a resource defined, meaning the assembly BOM will simply contain a list of sub-components. If a customer requests a slightly different version of an item, you have the flexibility to modify the assembly order on a per-sales order basis. This is a good option if you only need to plan for the combination of simple components, without the need for manufacturing.
You typically use assemble to order for items that you do not want to stock because you expect to customize them to customer requests or because you want to minimize the inventory carrying cost.
The supporting Business Central functionality includes:
Ability to customize assembly items when taking a sales order.
Overview of availability of the assembly item and its components.
Ability to reserve assembly components immediately to guarantee order fulfillment.
Function to determine profitability of the customized order by rolling up price and cost.
Integration to the warehouse to make assembly and shipping easier.
Ability to assemble to order at the point of making a sales quote or a blanket sales order.
Ability to combine inventory quantities with assemble-to-order quantities.
In the assemble-to-order process, the item is assembled in response to a sales order and with a one-to-one link between the assembly order and the sales order.
When you enter an assemble-to-order item on a sales line, an assembly order is automatically created with a header that is based on the sales line and with lines that are based on the item’s assembly BOM multiplied by the order quantity. You can use the Assemble-to-Order Lines page to see the linked assembly order lines to support you in customizing the assembly item and in a delivery date that is based on component availability information.
Segment 4 — Featured Business Central Apps: Expense Reporting
Important Expense Features
Ability to capture receipts
Ability to add Expenses and mileage
Ability to Approve Expenses from anywhere
Continia Expense Management 365
Free Trial Available
Took 5 Minutes to install
Installed 3 total apps: Expense Management, Document Capture, and Core.
Two Expense Management Apps in Apple Store — confusing as to which one to use.
Appears to be really well integrated with Business Central
Zetadocs Expenses
Free Trial Available
Installed in two minutes
Can take pictures of receipts using the separate App
Has an Expenses Customer Portal
Not as integrated within Business Central as other Apps
OmniFY Expense Reports
Free Trial Available
Installed in two minutes
Does not have a separate mobile app so can’t take pictures of receipts and documents.
Simple setup.
Segment 5 — Stump Ken Question:
This week we have a submission from a listener named Cheryl. Cheryl wants to know is it possible to use the Copy Document function in Business Central even when some lines are blocked?
For Example: You want to use the Copy Document function (on a Sales Order) to create a new document based on an existing document. Are you able to do this if the existing document lines have any items or resources blocked?
Answer: Not yet. It’s a feature coming in the October Business Central release. Learn more about using the Copy document function even when some lines are blocked here.
Closing Statement
Thanks for listening everyone and just like last week let us know what you like, didn’t like or want to see going forward. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast.
Do you have some questions regarding Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central? Let us know by clicking here to schedule a phone chat or emailing us at [email protected] | https://medium.com/@solutionsystemsinc/a-shot-of-business-central-and-a-beer-episode-5-3c56e5856970 | ['Solution Systems'] | 2019-09-05 19:37:27.296000+00:00 | ['Beer', 'Erp', 'Manufacturing'] |
The Voice of God? | 2 Samuel 16:23 (KJV)
And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, was as if a man had enquired at the oracle of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.
The saying goes something like, “He began to believe his own press reports.”
As a counselor Ahithophel had enjoyed great favor and success. It seemed like everyone took his counsel as synonymous with the voice of God.
He was popular
He was respected
He was followed and apparently
He was unchallenged
The problem with all of that is that it is never appropriate to give a man that sort of authority. Worse, it is a huge mistake when the man begins to expect it.
Ahithophel’s advice to Absalom was good, but he was not the only advisor. He believed that, when his counsel was rejected, his hopes for a victorious outcome were squelched.
2 Samuel 17:23 (KJV)
And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.
I heard something the other day about the trouble with the internet and social media, we were not meant to be omniscient.[1] We have not been wired to handle all the news we receive these days, and it is driving many of us to the brink of depression. The same can be said of Ahithophel. No one is wired to be trusted as the voice of God. We simply can’t handle it. | https://medium.com/daily-visit-with-god/the-voice-of-god-5bbe0cf97fa4 | ['Marvin Mckenzie'] | 2021-07-02 14:17:25.633000+00:00 | ['Bible Study', 'Proud', 'Devotion', 'Faith and Life', 'Christian'] |
Societal Engineering: Conjured Conflict Creates Control | If you pay attention to the best news headline and media sensations, you will find that every event that goes viral is, at its root, a conflict or debate of some sort.
Viral content is always composed of two opposing sides, dueling for supremacy.
Separating a conflict into two viciously conflicting viewpoints taps into the human need to be a part of tribe. Everyone wants to associate with others who agree with them. The more people you have around you that agree with your ideas, the more “right” you feel you are.
And the more that the other side is “wrong”, the more you feel compelled to “correct” them.
Hence, the tendency for people to divide themselves into opposing groups.
Take for example the whole white and gold / blue and black dress phenomenon that blew up the internet a few years ago.
Blue and black, or white and gold?
This was a huge sensation — the only way anyone didn’t hear about this one would be if they were in total social isolation with zero internet connection. I would say that this debate reached a point of social saturation that could not be beat by even the most mind blowing of CNN breaking news stories or the most vicious of Trump tweets.
So why did this explosion take place?
Well I’ve done a bit of an analysis on this and found that the exact factors which caused the dress phenomenon to skyrocket to legendary status are the same factors which can cause any issue to be looked at and supported.
These factors all stem from the basic idea that human beings are attracted to conflict, but specifically they are:
The more opposed the two sides of a conflict are, the more attention that conflict will attract. The more each side of a conflict is relatable, the more attention that conflict will attract. The more sides there are to a conflict above 2, the less attention that conflict will generate.
On point one — the two sides in conflict must be very opposed to each other. The more dissimilar they are, the better the conflict itself will be. The dress was either blue and black or white and gold. Two very different color schemes which should not have been able to be mistaken for each other.
Republicans and Democrats each take a different side of every issue. Not all members of each party fall in line with the official party position, but the parties themselves are exactly opposed to one another.
Atheists versus creationists is a good fight — very dissimilar worldviews. Atheists versus reform Jews? Not so much.
Anarchists vs Fascists? Great fight, everyone tunes in. Green party vs Democrats? There are some contentions there but you’re going to get low viewership on that one.
White supremacists vs Muslims? Not only are these forces totally opposed but this battle echoes imagery of the historic Crusades. Big attraction. White Nationalists vs Neo-Nazis? Different aims to be sure, but the optics are too similar for anyone to care.
Good fights which garner a lot of attention, and thereby grab more supporters for each side, are the ones who feature teams that are the most different to each other.
Similar viewpoints fighting it out are only interesting to those who have a more nuanced view of the field, and can understand why the two forces are more different than they appear to an outsider.
Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi (two long time Democrat politicians) duking it out might be very interesting to a lifelong Democrat party member. To a Libertarian…not so much. The interest in such a matchup is directly proportionate to the degree of difference one can perceive between them.
To the second point — each side of a big conflict needs to be relatable to the audience you are trying to attract. The side you want to appear as “good” needs to align with things your audience believes is “good”. The enemy needs to align with things your audience believes to be “bad”. You thereby divide the two sides into a friendly tribe and an enemy tribe, clearly showing the audience who they are supposed to be in support of.
Duels which are too far in the abstract and contain no struggle of interest to your audience will be largely ignored.
Republican vs Democrat will hardly matter to an entrepreneur who works 80 hours a week trying to get his new startup off the ground.
Yankees vs Red Sox doesn’t matter to a Canadian hockey fan.
Raving American patriots might care about passing the next gun rights bill, but not about gun smuggling in Cambodia.
Relevancy is key.
The last point to remember about the art of conflict promotion is that people generally are less attracted to conflicts that contain many sides, all in opposition to each other. The more complicated the alliances, the less interest you are going to get and the less people are going to pick a side to support.
The ideal is one large group pitted against another large group — with as little division within these groups as possible.
Think Axis vs Allies — the whole world was at war, but we boiled it down to two sides. Sure, each component country had their own aims, but for propaganda purposes — there was only one enemy.
Remember the whole Assad regime issue? The Syrian civil war?
That whole situation blew up back in 2013 when president Bashar al-Assad supposedly used chemical weapons on rebel opposition forces (a big no-no in the international community).
But from a western point of view, other than the chemical weapons thing, this was a conflict where it was almost impossible to determine who the “good guys” were. The people who opposed the Assad regime weren’t necessarily friendly with western countries, and Assad was doing things that made it pretty clear he was a power hungry dictator rather than a true representative of the people.
There were many players involved in this struggle, some lending actual soldiers to the cause, some just contributing weapons and funding. The Assad regime received military support from Russia and Iran. Qatar and Saudi Arabia gave weapons to the rebels. Each side was calling the other “terrorists”, and each side was committing human rights violations against the other.
Even each “side” was made up of a conglomerate of forces, each with their own set of alliances and objectives.
It was an absolute mess politically, and even though many Americans knew that there was something going on over there, very few knew what they were supposed to believe or who they were supposed to support. It was a public relations nightmare.
Because the set up was so complicated, and there were so many different factions all with their own agendas, the war did not gain the traction it otherwise could have. There was no massive support for either side, and as a result there was much less international intervention than there could have been.
The lesson here — make the conflict a simple one. When people know clearly who stands for what and who is allied with who, it makes picking a side that much easier.
The exception to this rule is if you are working for the “bad guys”. If your team is the one that is going to be seen in a bad light if the truth got out, it is better to create so many interrelations between the various participatory parties that outsiders will have a very difficult time following what is really going on.
The average onlooker won’t want to put in the effort to decipher it all and so will move on to battles that have clearer aims and allegiances.
This international political confusion in this case may actually have been an intentional psyop on the part of Assad’s PR team. Who knows. It ended up working in his favor — he’s still in power.
Using these 3 rules, you can create conflicts that attract attention and drive the public interest.
Watch out for this technique being used by the media. Its the reason why news is so often seen as “divisive” or even “stressful” — its always about this side against that side. That’s what drives views, and as a result, collects supporters. | https://medium.com/societalengineering/societal-engineering-technique-5-conflict-promotion-28e42a08b581 | ['Desmond Donovan'] | 2021-04-11 15:27:38.408000+00:00 | ['Syria', 'Conflict', 'Social Engineering', 'Influence', 'Fake News'] |
The Art of Hansei — How The Japanese Philosophy of Self-Reflection Can Improve Your Life | The Art of Hansei — How The Japanese Philosophy of Self-Reflection Can Improve Your Life
A Japanese philosophy that acknowledges how we fall short of our full potential
Self-awareness is one of the best ways to improve or make progress — it’s a must for anyone interested in growing, personally and professionally.
Hansei is a Japanese word meaning “self-reflection”, or “introspection”. It’s a fundamental part of Japanese culture. It is both an intellectual and emotional introspection.
It’s similar to the German proverb Selbsterkenntnis ist der erste Schritt zur Besserung, where the closest translation to English is “Insight into oneself is the first step to improvement”.
“Hansei also incorporates the concept of greeting success with modesty and humility. To stop Hansei means to stop learning. With hansei, one never becomes convinced of one’s own superiority, and feels that there is always more room, or need, for further improvement.”
Most people don’t engage in self-reflection often enough — they don’t consider it a tool worthy enough to be used consistently to improve their lives.
Generally, when people fall short of their expectations, they don’t make enough time to think deeply about what went wrong and what can be changed or done better next time.
Whatever the outcome of your goals (success or failure), there’s always a gap that demands a better understanding of the processes that led to the outcome.
“Hansei is used not only when things fail but also when they succeed. Anything can be made better and more efficient,” writes Kaki Okumura. “Hansei is meant to question our assumptions about the kind of control we have over our lives and grants us the power to be better,” Kaki says.
Self-reflection in life and career can help you learn more about yourself, your processes, systems and practices — ii you want to get better, that is.
Hansei implies that nobody and nothing is perfect and it’s considered a valuable tool for growth in Japan. This philosophy is practiced in almost all levels of in Japanese society — it’s a vital part of learning and improving.
Hansei is taught in schools and has been traditionally considered a fundamental skill that promotes a child’s social and personal development.
“In Japan, when someone makes a mistake, they will profusely apologize, take responsibility, and propose a solution for how they can prevent the same mistake from happening in the future,” writes Tim McMahon.
Hansei is practiced regularly, as a discipline, irrespective of an outcome. Hansei in business is a rigorous review process.
At Toyota, hansei is a pre-requisite for learning: “Even if a task is completed successfully, Toyota recognises the need for a hansei-kai, or reflection meeting; a process that helps to identify failures experienced along the way and create clear plans for future efforts. An inability to identify issues is usually seen as an indication that you did not stretch to meet or exceed expectations, that you were not sufficiently critical or objective in your analysis, or that you lack modesty and humility. Within the process, no problem is itself a problem.”
Hansei suggests that we all have flaws and weaknesses, otherwise our ability to continuously improve will be at a disadvantage. Hansei is accepting and exploring our uncomfortable personal truths, admitting our mistakes with the intent to improve. It’s deeply reflective and deeply human.
How to practice Hansei
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man being unable to sit quietly in a room alone.” — Blaise Pascal
To practice Hansei or make the most it, schedule it on your calendar. Make time for it. You can set aside about 5 or 15 minutes every week if you can’t do it every day. Hansei can be a daily or weekly journaling experience.
You can experiment with weekly weekend hansei in an effort to align your efforts and actions to your goals and values or correct direction more frequently.
Daily practice of hansei can help you assume responsibility of your actions and keep you open for improvements. It can also help you introspect about “what went right” along with “what went wrong / what could be improved”.
The process of writing things down requires an honest acknowledgement of your uncomfortable truth — your personal struggles, mistakes you keep making and the path you should be taking next time.
Keep it short and from the heart. Hansei is meant to help you get your thoughts and actions better aligned by making them more visible to yourself.
Reflecting on your actions, habits and emotional responses naturally leads to self-control, the effectiveness of your planning processes and use of your unlimited time and energy better.
Use the art of hansei to surprise yourself and create more opportunities for personal growth. Self-introspection & feedback are a hugely important part of personal progress & development. | https://medium.com/personal-growth/the-art-of-hansei-how-the-japanese-philosophy-of-self-reflection-can-improve-your-life-a886e11aeb96 | ['Thomas Oppong'] | 2020-12-08 14:51:51.070000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Self', 'Personal Growth', 'Psychology', 'Philosophy'] |
Germany’s prevarication on Huawei 5G is sad news for the free world | Brexit trade talks stuck on three critical issues as ‘significant differences remain’, say UK and EU leaders
Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen issue a joint statement, with talks to reconvene in Brussels.
By David Mercer, news reporter
Saturday 5 December 2020 22:43, UK
BREXIT
Play Video — EU: Still ‘significant differences’ over Brexit
EU: Still ‘significant differences’ over Brexit
Why you can trust Sky News
Negotiations over a post-Brexit trade deal are stuck on three critical issues and “further effort” is needed to break the deadlock, UK and European Union leaders have said.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen issued a joint statement following an hour-long discussion on Saturday.
They said that while “progress has been achieved in many areas… significant differences remain on three critical issues: level playing field, governance and fisheries”.
Image:Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen spoke in an hour-long phone call on Saturday
The level playing field refers to state subsidies and standards: the EU fears that Britain could become a low-regulation economic rival, cutting standards and heavily subsidising its industries.
In the statement, Mr Johnson and Ms von der Leyen said: “Both sides underlined that no agreement is feasible if these issues are not resolved.
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“Whilst recognising the seriousness of these differences, we agreed that a further effort should be undertaken by our negotiating teams to assess whether they can be resolved.
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“We are therefore instructing our chief negotiators to reconvene tomorrow in Brussels.
More from Brexit
Brexit trade talks: What’s at stake if no deal is reached
Post-Brexit talks deadlock: What are the obstacles?
Brexit has reached its endgame — and one very important phone call could be make or break
Brexit: Boris Johnson to hold crisis talks with EC chief after ‘significant divergences’ on key issues
Brexit: Trade talks put on hold as UK and EU say ‘conditions not met’ for deal
Brexit: Michel Barnier set to stay in London as trade talks go down to the wire
“We will speak again on Monday evening.”
Following the joint statement, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said: “We will see if there is a way forward. Work continues tomorrow.”
Image:Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen issued a joint statement on Saturday
The negotiations on a potential trade deal between the UK and EU have gone down to the wire, with time for an agreement rapidly running out.
It comes after a week of intense negotiations in London, with late night sessions fuelled by deliveries of sandwiches and pizza.
Britain wants to “take back control” from Brussels and set its own economic policies.
The fishing industry is another obstacle — a small part of the European economy at large, but very important to nations such as France.
The EU wants to continue to fish in British waters, but the UK wants to control access and quotas.
What is unclear from the joint statement from Mr Johnson and Ms von der Leyen is whether either — or both — of the two leaders was prepared to shift ground during the call in a way that would enable their negotiators to bridge the gaps.
In the run up to the call, the UK accused the EU side of seeking to introduce “new elements” into the negotiations at the 11th hour.
The British side was angered by reported demands by Brussels that EU fishermen should continue to enjoy the same access to UK waters for another 10 years.
There was concern that Mr Barnier was coming under pressure from French President Emmanuel Macron at the head of a group of countries which feared he was giving too much ground to the UK.
Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheal Martin said he welcomed news that negotiators would resume their discussions in Brussels on Sunday.
“An agreement is in everyone’s best interests,” he tweeted.
“Every effort should be made to reach a deal.”
Analysis: A deal remains favourite — but it’s not certain
By Adam Parsons, Sky News Europe correspondent
On the face of it, this is like putting a cup more petrol in an empty fuel tank. The car might trundle on for a mile or two, but it won’t get you home.
Brexit talks have been stuck for months now over the familiar themes of fishing, governance and competition rules, known as the level playing field.
For day after day, negotiators have wrestled with how to find an agreement — and have consistently failed. So how will a few more days help?
If it was just down to the pressure of time, that would have worked by now.
What’s required now is for new instructions from above — and in the case of the EU, that means giving more wriggle room to chief negotiator Michel Barnier.
The problem is that some countries — including France, the Netherlands and Belgium — have already complained that they think he’s giving away too much to the UK. Would they really be happy to let him make further concessions?
The same challenge faces Boris Johnson and Lord Frost (the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator) — how to strike a deal that looks sufficiently hard-won to satisfy Brexiteers, but is also palatable to the EU.
It will take compromise, and at pace. Proper diplomatic high-wire stuff and, among senior sources I speak to, there is no consensus about what will happen.
Most still expect a deal, but perhaps because that’s how negotiations often work — crisis, anger, broken deadlines and then agreement at the last minute. The choreography, they insist, is part of the process.
But there has never been a deal quite like this one.
On Monday, the Internal Market Bill, which is utterly hated by the EU, is back in the House of Commons.
The European Council meets on Thursday. And the French have already said they would be prepared to veto a Brexit deal if they hate it.
The truth is that, right now, nobody knows what’s going to happen. A deal remains favourite, perhaps because no-deal is seen as so economically damaging. But it’s not certain. | https://medium.com/@usa24news/germanys-prevarication-on-huawei-5g-is-sad-news-for-the-free-world-8b63399c1475 | [] | 2020-12-05 23:13:28.671000+00:00 | ['Germanys', 'Huawei', 'News'] |
METAL MONDAY | It’s not Monday, which is a good thing in life, but maybe less effective for my titled post. Oh well. Anyway, in the past few weeks, I have been in a bit of a music drought, not in the sense that I can’t find anything to listen to, but more in the sense that I don’t have a go-to artist/album/playlist, like I typically do. Instead, I’ve been going through a lot of old playlists and have also been pretty into Spotify’s Daily Mixes (made just for me!). It’s a good blend of new and familiar tracks and I guess that is what I need now.
Anyway, one constant in my music life has been my emo mainstays. I’ve been listening to some emo tracks almost everyday and weirdly enough, my new foray into spinning has actually increased my emo exposure.
Let me explain.
I typically hate spinning or any sort of instructed exercise, but was recently introduced to the Monster Cycle in NYC and have been obsessed. It’s still spinning, but it’s definitely a more alternative/laid-back crowd and they have unique emo and metal themed rides, which are right up my alley.
While I’ve always been into emo/screamo, I am not sure that I would really consider myself/my music tastes “metal.” Given this, I was a bit anxious when I signed up for the “Metal Monday” ride as part of me was self-conscious that I would not be “metal” enough; however I realized that maybe metal wasn’t as intense as I had thought.
A lot of the songs that were played during the ride were more of what I would call “90’s hair metal”. Not as much screaming as screamo, but pretty intense guitar and drum riffs. Also, part of the Monster Cycle is that they play the corresponding music videos during the ride, which is unique and a pretty good distraction. I spent quite a bit of my ride watching these videos and semi-analyzing them. A few things I noticed, which maybe are obvious to true metal fans, but were new and interesting to me:
There is a large overlap between metal and horror. Pretty much every music video had some element of horror in it, whether it was monsters, disturbing images, etc.
Metal videos like featuring the theme of death. I guess that one might have been obvious. But, it almost seemed cliche after a while. Three of the videos we watched were set in graveyards and one was in a run-down church that definitely had a death vibe
The videos always feature an “objectively hot girl”. I guess this is not specific to metal videos, but still kind of interesting that they would still be featured in them
Anyway, those are a few of my insightful learnings from my recent Metal Monday spin class. I think some of the cliched aspects of the music videos actually made me feel that metal was less intense than I thought.
I actually loved the class, had one of the best workouts ever, and realized that maybe I am intense enough for metal (or it’s intense enough for me). Good day. | https://medium.com/in-tune/metal-monday-b6380c366566 | ['Carolyn Chen'] | 2018-04-18 15:19:25.285000+00:00 | ['Music', 'Spinning', 'Fitness', 'Exercise', 'Metal'] |
Function Creep or Creepy Function? | Photo by Shahadat Rahman on Unsplash
“Function Creep” is another example of how something that moves with glacial speed and suddenly inspires a lighting reaction, and one that often happens in between an epiphany and the sinking realisation it’s too late to stop it.
Over the past decade or more, technology giants have been quietly going about the business of harvesting more and more details about us, right down to our innermost thoughts and desires. Organisations such as Google and Facebook have developed such sophisticated algorithms that they can interpret our very words into emotions without the nuances of body language and tone of voice. These two elements, it seems, have been replaced by use of emojis and even something as simple as capitalised letters and specific punctuation.
While the realisation that our outward essence conveyed in pictures, videos, and text has been commoditised, analysed, and sold to anyone with the money seeking to exploit it is disturbing, it pales in comparison to the next “function creep”.
We’ve long since become blasé about being captured on camera any time we are outside of the comfort of our homes (and with function creep seeping into households, that’s questionable) but perhaps it’s time to take notice. Our image is captured dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of times a day from CCTV at banks and shops to appearing in the background of strangers home videos and need for social media validation through selfies. Like it or not, our digital shadow grows by the millisecond.
At a macro level, we’re assured by authorities these digital replicas are necessary to keep us secure, to combat terrorism, and to keep public order. At a smaller level, it makes daily life a bit easier through use of License Plate Recognition in car parks or when passing through customs at the airport. It’s the micro level where I’m concerned. Facial recognition in the name of public safety is good, but now we’re seeing that very same biometric technology exploited in the name of rampant consumerism.
It’s fair to say that most stores have installed cameras to combat crime from theft to unacceptable behaviour, but what else can that very same technology be used for? Could the owners of those shops, through facial recognition recognise a loyal customer and reward them? Or instead, would they try to analyse their behaviour and movements to manipulate them into spending more money? Maybe even share that information with business partners to appeal to the interests of that customer? Sounds more creep than function to me.
Where will the line be drawn? I think that’s up to us and not the users (dare I say abusers) of the technology. Imagine, for example, that upon entering a shopping centre your image is captured and you are identified. In the background, a whole lot of harvested data is linked and the stores with a vested interest in you interests are alerted. You suddenly start receiving alerts on your mobile that your favourite electronics store is having a sale on a specific brand you like, the café in the food court is having a special on your favourite sandwich, and hey, the chemist has some more of that “special ointment” for your little issue!
Let’s suppose that your mobile isn’t on so you don’t get the alerts. Next minute, random strangers start approaching you to come into their stores. They know you by name, they know your interests. Hell, they might even know your secrets and try to manipulate you. When do we cross the line of promotion, manipulation, and extortion?
Here is another example. From my perspective, drones are pretty cool in that they can capture views that, until recently, were the domain of well-financed people with a helicopter or airplane at their disposal or for those crazy enough to attach cameras to body flying machines. For a small investment, and a little practice, anyone can become a hovering cinematographer, capturing anything, anywhere, any time. Enter our friend “Function Creep” again.
Where I live, I frequently see drones buzzing by over the water and legal matters notwithstanding, I don’t think they’re quite as cool anymore. It seems the operators of these things care little about the matter of flying over people, operating in the airspace of a local aerodrome, or disturbing our local osprey. They seem to care even less about privacy.
Now, combine the ability to have facial recognition on a drone and you’ve got a serious invasion of privacy. Instead of randomly peering into windows, the operator could conceivably identify people in a compromising situation, even in the privacy of their own home and then the nefarious things they can do with the data is limitless.
Google the internet for “hacked IP cameras” and “hacked webcams” and you will quickly find there are a wealth of feeds, live or not, where those on display go about their lives unbeknownst to who may be watching. Imagine if this capability was combined with facial recognition and life could get pretty scare for someone is a big hurry.
It’s fair to say that it’s not so much about the technologies by itself, but rather combining them. Also interesting is that technology is perfect; it does exactly what we tell it to, so if the developers of the tech make a mistake, the machine will simply follow orders. It’s that ghost in the machine that makes technology vulnerable to abuse.
Even at that, it doesn’t have to be exploited to be problematic. Simply adopting a few functions together for something as simple as marketing can be problematic. Setting this up at a car dealership is one thing; using it at a store that markets to the 18+ crowd is something else. All things considered, I have a few points to ponder.
What about government regulation of the technology? Will it be restricted to government for security purposes or available to commercial entities for use in sales and marketing? Who will enforce this with traditional law enforcement already having enough on their plates? Expansion of powers or forces require additional resources (read: taxes) to make it happen.
What about private investigators or others that seek to track people? While it may be good for bounty hunters, it could be bad for privacy (i.e. stalking, divorces, custody battles, and other human conflict that takes a deeply emotional toll).
Private individuals — anyone with the money could purchase and use the tech and pair it with technology such as drones, etc. If someone has the skills, time, and money and a blatant disregard for morals and ethics, the world opens up to anyone seeking to discover and exploit information.
Let’s consider the aggregation of data. There are multiple points available that can all be linked despite coming from several unrelated or unlinked sources. Could this all add up to be a really big issue?
Inevitably, there will be flaws in the system. Would there be a standard of service to adhere to or would there be a bigger margin of error for cheaper solutions? Think of the difference between, “It looks kind of like him” and “It is absolutely him”.
How do we go about clawing back that data or controlling it? Our very essence has become digitised and our analogue selves are but containers. Once it’s out there, it’s out there for anyone to access, manipulate, distribute, and sell to the highest bidder.
How about identity theft and other means to exploit the system. Where does Sci-Fi intersect with reality? We’ve probably all watched enough of those dystopian futuristic movies featuring the movie star of the day who miraculously saves humanity. Does fantasy inspire reality or vice-versa?
Let’s even go out on a limb. What about cloning? Could that ever enter into an aspect of function creep enabled by technology?
Food for thought. Stay safe out there!
Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions presented on this blog are my own and not those of any associated third party. The content is provided for general information, educational, and entertainment purposes and does not constitute legal advice or recommendations; it must not be relied upon as such. Appropriate legal advice should be obtained in actual situations. All images, unless otherwise credited, are licensed through ShutterStock | https://medium.com/swlh/function-creep-or-creepy-function-4490a2c58a33 | ['Digitally Vicarious'] | 2020-12-22 06:25:31.443000+00:00 | ['Data Security', 'Information Technology', 'Privacy', 'Cybersecurity', 'Information Security'] |
Almost Any Physical Activity Can Make You Smarter | Photo by Byron Stumman/Unsplash
Almost Any Physical Activity Can Make You Smarter
Exercise boosts brain power. So can dancing, gardening, brisk walks — even housework.
Yaakov Stern didn’t exercise when he was younger. But after years of studying the effects of aging on the brain, the 65-year-old Columbia University researcher has learned a few things about how exercise can improve thinking skills. As a professor of neuropsychology, Stern knew of many studies showing how regular aerobic exercise boosts brain power. But his latest research yielded two significant new findings.
In the study, 132 subjects from 20 to 67 years old who were not exercising were split into two groups. One did moderate aerobic exercise four times a week for six months, walking on a treadmill, cycling on a stationary bike or using an elliptical machine. The other group did just stretching and toning.
As in many previous studies, the exercising group improved their scores notably on tests that measured executive function, the ability to pay attention, organize and achieve goals. Also, an outer layer of their brains, called the left caudal middle frontal cortex, thickened, which is “usually taken to be a good sign” in relation to executive function, Stern said in an email.
That was no huge surprise. The more interesting thing was that improvements were seen across all age groups. And the effects were rather dramatic for the older individuals, when put into this context:
“The people who exercised were testing as if they were about 10 years younger at age 40 and about 20 years younger at age 60,” Stern said.
He and his colleagues detailed the findings in January in the online version of the journal Neurology.
The Best Medicine?
In addition to improving cognitive abilities — from executive function to memory — simply walking briskly 2.5 hours a week (figure 30 minutes each weekday) is known to improve blood pressure and cholesterol levels, increase energy and stamina, improve mood and mental well-being, and help you sleep better, according to the American Heart Association.
A growing body of research finds exercise is directly related to happiness, and likely is a cause. On the flip-side, exercise can help battle depression. A mere 10-minute walk can reduce stress and anxiety. And the evidence is conclusive that exercise improves overall physical health and lowers the risk of dying from several causes.
Here’s the thing: The effort required to see physical and mental benefits is not herculean, nor does it require Spandex and shoes with swooshes. In fact, the very word “exercise” may be a stop word for many sedentary individuals.
Physicians and other health experts, so quick to dole out pills and potions, should first think to prescribe “activity” to promote physical and mental well-being.
How Does it Work?
Exactly how physical activity offers so many brain benefits isn’t entirely clear. But scientists are zeroing in on some answers.
A brisk workout stimulates the release of chemicals that help keep brain cells healthy and grow new blood vessels in the brain, according to Harvard Medical School. Indirectly, exercise boosts mood, reduces stress and helps foster better sleep — all things known to improve brain power.
The benefits are actually visible inside your head.
“Engaging in a program of regular exercise of moderate intensity over six months or a year is associated with an increase in the volume of selected brain regions,” said Scott McGinnis, a neurologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a neurology instructor at Harvard Medical School.
One meta-analysis of several studies looked into exercise’s effects on the hippocampus, a brain region involved in verbal memory and learning. The researchers found “aerobic exercise had significant positive effects on left hippocampal volume” compared to those who didn’t exercise. The exercise prevented a shrinking of the hippocampus that otherwise occurs, the scientists wrote in 2017 in the journal Neuroimage.
Protective Effect
Physical activity also seems to have a protective effect on the brain in general.
One very interesting study monitored the activity levels of 454 older people who agreed to donate their brain tissue upon death. Through tests, the researchers found that those who were more active — even just doing routine tasks like housework — had better memory and thinking skills. Further, the brains of the less active individuals were later found to have more lesions that are linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
“Exercise is an inexpensive way to improve health, and our study shows it may have a protective effect on the brain,” said Aron Buchman of the Rush University Medical Center and lead author of the study, published in January 2019 in the journal Neurology. “But it is important to note that our study does not show cause and effect. It may also be possible that as people lose memory and thinking skills, they reduce their physical activity. More studies are needed to determine if moving more is truly beneficial to the brain.”
Indeed, more study is needed. But there’s little doubt left that some activity is better for the brain than none, and that more is even better.
Research published in 2017 in the journal Translational Psychiatry involved brain scans of 60 people, age 65 to 85, who hopped on exercise bikes three times a week for 12 weeks.
The key finding: The physical activity changed brain metabolism by preventing the buildup of choline, which in excess quantities is known to contribute to the loss of brain cells in dementia patients. Choline increased in the brains of a non-exercising control group.
“The elevation of choline could be a sign of neurodegenerative processes,” Silke Matura, one of the study leaders from Goethe University Frankfurt, said by email. “Thus, our finding of increased choline levels in the … control group but not in the training group could be interpreted as a neuroprotective effect of regular aerobic exercise by possibly slowing down neurodegeneration.”
Whether adults can even grow new brain cells, let alone whether physical activity plays any role, has been controversial for many years. But the debate seems to be in the process of settling on the side of “absolutely.”
Broad studies in 2018 and in 2019 found that older adults can, indeed, grow new brain cells. The headline from the 2019 study, published March 25: “Adult hippocampal neurogenesis is abundant in neurologically healthy subjects and drops sharply in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.”
And recent studies in rats and humans indicate exercise contributes to that neurogenesis.
Strong Body, Strong Mind
So if aerobic exercise can create new brain cells, improve memory and help us think more clearly, what about other forms of exercise? Weightlifting has also been found to be good for the brain, though fewer studies have been done, and intensity seems to be an important factor.
Research by Teresa Liu-Ambrose at the University of British Columbia compared the effects of cardio exercise and weight training on women who had early signs of dementia.
“We found that only participants who did weight training showed significant improvements in both memory and executive functions,” Liu-Ambrose said. “This is in contrast to earlier studies on healthy participants that showed cardio exercises to be beneficial. When we performed neuroimaging, we also observed areas of the brain responsible for memory and executive functions showing more neural activity after weight training.”
In one perhaps more grueling study, at least for the participants, 100 men and women age 55 to 86 who had mild cognitive impairment — a potential precursor to dementia — were put on a weightlifting program, twice week for six months. They worked with relatively heavy weights — 80 percent of their max strength — and as they got stronger, the weights were increased.
Compared to control groups, these ever-more-fit seniors saw improved cognition that lasted even a year after the conclusion of the formal exercise program.
“The stronger people became, the greater the benefit for their brain,” said Yorgi Mavros, a University of Sydney researcher and lead author of the study, published in the Journal of American Geriatrics. “The key however is to make sure you are doing it frequently, at least twice a week, and at a high intensity so that you are maximizing your strength gains. This will give you the maximum benefit for your brain.”
Just About Any Activity is Good
The bottom line? Here’s a quote similar to those I ran across several times over from just about every researcher who has studied this field:
“I think that the evidence is overwhelming that one of the best things you can do for your physical and mental health is exercise,” said Stern, the Columbia professor.
I asked him whether this knowledge has coaxed him out of his chair.
“I have tried hard to increase my weekly exercise,” he said. “However, it is hard to change behavior. I think one trick is to build in some external motivation, like friends or a trainer who are waiting for you. Another is to figure out how to integrate exercise with your daily routine. For example, I go to the hospital cafeteria to buy lunch and then walk back up to my office.”
Skipping elevators and incorporating walks into your daily routine is great advice, and not just for brain health. Other research shows you don’t have to hit the gym for hours to see significant physical health benefits:
Walking just an hour a week may improve longevity.
Brief, intense exercise — even something simple like vigorously climbing three flights of stairs, three times a day — can improve fitness and make you feel better.
Here’s a zinger: Firefighters who could do 40 push-ups in a row had a 96 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease compared to those who couldn’t manage 10.
A mere 13 minutes of weightlifting, thrice weekly, brings the same strength gains as sessions lasting three times as long.
Other research has found an array of things qualify as beneficial physical activity.
Dancing: Not only did dancing help stave off dementia and bulk up that important hippocampus volume, one study found, but it did a better job than a traditional endurance workout of cycling and walking at improving balance among a group of elderly people.
Gardening: A single 20-minute session of gardening — which included cleaning a plot, digging, raking, planting and watering — boosted levels of growth factors known to be good for the brain in a group of elderly South Koreans.
Anything? A study of 800 Swedish women, published in Neurology in February 2019, found those who had high levels of physical activity were 52 percent less likely to develop dementia over time compared to those who were inactive. Physical activity included things “such as walking, gardening, bowling or biking for a minimum of four hours per week, to regular intense exercise such as running or swimming several times a week or engaging in competitive sports.”
That’s not to suggest you should avoid vigorous exercise. Another study of 1,462 Swedish women across the years found those with high levels of fitness saw the onset of dementia delayed by 9.5 years, on average, compared to those with medium fitness.
None of the studies cited above are, on their own, conclusive. But taken as a whole, the conclusion is clear: It’s just not smart to be sedentary. | https://medium.com/luminate/almost-any-physical-activity-can-make-you-smarter-6e2f19960d31 | ['Robert Roy Britt'] | 2019-06-11 15:24:34.054000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Mental Health', 'Science', 'Self Improvement', 'Exercise'] |
Touchdown Pence, Polk County, Lakeland Patriot Rally | “This is the county of Grady Judd for God’s sake,” Senate candidate Danny Burgess said. “People should look to Polk for guidence.”
LAKELAND — Dual rallies were hosted at Lakeland’s Linder International Airport (LAL) and Lake Mirror, featuring a rotation of conservative speakers on Oct. 24.
Vice President Mike Pence’s touchdown address at LAL was part of the GOP’s greater hit-and-run reprisal to win over the battleground state of Florida for presidential incumbent Donald Trump. Pence’s more aggressive campaign style, which his chief-of-staff stated includes rallying up to three times a day, preceded the Presidential Election by only a week and a half.
“In this election, it’s not going to be whether America ends up more republican or democrat, more conservative or more liberal, more red or more blue,” Pence said to roughly 1,000 supporters at LAL. “I think the choice is whether America remains America.”
The half-hour pitch by Pence focused on confronting the Biden administration. The Vice President mainly concerned his audience with the Trump administration’s route to reopening State economies, slashing adversarial policy, defending the President’s conservative judicial appointments and SCOTUS justice nominee Amy Coney Barett.
“I really believe it’s between a Trump recovery and a Biden depression,” Pence said, emboldening the administration’s fiscal COVID-19 recovery.
Pence cited a Stanford economic study, which found that Biden’s economic policy would cost 4.9 million American jobs and reduce the average household’s income by $6,500.
“Over the next ten days, you got to ask your family members and neighbors, and your friends this question,” Pence said. “Who do you really think can bring this economy all the way back?”
Recalling a two-year-old Court of Appeals confirmation, Pence criticized a comment made by Dianne Feinsein of California, the leading Democrat on the senate Judiciary committee, calling Barret’s Catholic faith into question.
“She said, and I quote, ‘the dogma lives loudly within you,’ and Hollywood elites have already criticized Judge Barrett’s faith and her convictions,” Pence said. “I got news for democrats and their friends in Hollywood. That dogma lives loudly in me.”
Before boarding Air Force 2 to Tallahassee, Pence urged supporters in Lakeland to vote.
“First and foremost, I need you to vote, Florida,” Pence said. “Vote to re-elect President Donald Trump.”
Pence recognized and proceeded incumbent speaker Greg Steube of congressional district 17, endorsing House candidate Scott Franklin and Senate candidate Danny Burgess.
“We are Americans and we are at our absolute best when we are face-to-face with the absolute worst every single time,” Burgess said.
Burgess, along with the other candidates running for either election or re-election praised resident President Donald Trump and his bid for re-election in the state of Florida.
“We know the silent majority is going to come out strong,” congressional district 15 candidate Franklin said.
The congressmen also praised Polk County’s leadership in the heat of the race for House and Senate majority.
“This is the county of Grady Judd for God’s sake,” Burgess said, appraising the County Sheriff. “People should look to Polk for guidence.”
A tangential gathering across the way in Lakeland’s downtown platformed a diverse rotation of conservative speakers on Lake Mirror.
The event was organized by The Angry Viking, whose personnel guarded what they called a “patriot rally.” Protected also by a Lakeland Police Department watchtower, the private event reserved the Lake Mirror lakefront as a venue and was seen by pedestrians from the sidewalks.
Guest speakers were brought on to give testimonials endorsing conservative values and President Trump’s re-election.
Gary Lamb, a popular YouTube commentator of around 70k subscribers gave his life story and how conservatism positively impacted his life, even preventing suicide, he said.
“I felt invisible,” Lamb said. “I was being challenged. That’s why I’m here today. I’m fighting back.”
Long time member of the Angry Viking community, Tim Roberts hailed from Georgia.
“After this plandemic- and that’s exactly what I’m going to call it- I believe in my heart that this was a test, and socially we’ve failed it miserably,” Roberts said.
Roberts testified on the behalf of his fellow conservative supporters.
“Now that we’ve worked past that and the election’s coming up, I think many of us are tired of seeing our country burn around us,” Roberts said. | https://medium.com/@salvatorysxe_70249/touchdown-pence-polk-county-lakeland-patriot-rally-c0515b76d4 | ['Salvatore Ambrosino'] | 2020-12-06 04:32:43.229000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Mike Pence', 'Lakeland', 'Florida', '2020 Presidential Race'] |
Why Marketing Consistency Leads to Success | Put Up or Shut Up
If you’re starting a new job, workout program, diet, or relationship you need to realize that the key to success is always consistency. From a business perspective, the same is true for marketing.
Consistently promoting your business and it’s services/products is a way to drive growth quickly and effeciently.
Ways to market consistently
There are numerous ways to market your business today. Communication has never been easier and with that, we are at an all time high of being able to put our businesses and their brand messaging in front of consumers.
Free ways to market yourself or business
Social media
is without a doubt something you should be investing time on as a business owner. Being free, it’s a collection of networks that puts your content forward for people interested in whatever it is you have to offer.
Consistently sharing, broadcasting and interacting with your followers is going to mean big business in the future. We use five main social media networks to spread the word about Couple of Creatives. You can pick whatever networks you like on your own but it’s not necessary to cover them all. In the end, pick the networks you know you will use. If you neglect any, it will come off as unprofessional.
On these social media accounts, we post a number of times a week (3–5). To help with this we use an application called Buffer which allows us to schedule and post on our behave. I highly recommend spending a day or so a week scheduling content. It will seem like a lot of work at first but you will save more time in the long run.
Networking
Attending meetups, talks, and general network meetings are free outlets to learn more about other business and explain the benefits of your own to members of your local community.
Consistently making an effort to network keeps your name in the back of like-minded business owners. The time may arise where they need a good or service you provide and they think of you first.
Focus on making good impressions. Come up with an elevator pitch about what it is you provide and how you can benefit consumers.
Interact more online
Forums, blogs, comment boards, and more are free places to show your appreciation, opinion, and expertise in a given area. You’ll likely want to hone in on topics surrounding your own business. For example, I visit a website called designernews.co quite often. It is an open forum for designers to talk about news, inspiration, ask questions, and more. I like to comment on some topics as well as post my own thoughts on the forum.
Doing this means a few things:
My name gets spread a bit if the topic gains in popularity. I can offer advise and appear as a professional thus increasing my public perception. The more I reply and offer my own thoughts the more my name spreads
All of these things combined can come from a simple interaction on a website. It’s pretty amazing to think that many people got to where they are by simply stating what’s on their mind.
Blogging/YouTube
Subscribe to our channel for more videos!
We are avid bloggers and now YouTubers. I myself dedicate time to Couple of Creative’s YouTube channel and my own creation called Web-Crunch’s YouTube channel and blog. (I recommend you go subscribe if you’re interested in design, development, and entrepreneurship).
Premium ways to market yourself or business
Ads
Ads are the obvious route when it comes to promoting your business by spending money. Depending on your business you may need to take out ads in specific areas. We are an online business primarily so we take out ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Google Display ads from time to time.
If your business is a storefront you can utilize the best of both worlds by doing a bit of both direct marketing and digital. Stumped about what those are? Read this for help.
Sponsorships
Radio spots, events, and printed collateral are great ways to spread the message about your business. These cost money but help accelerate your brand’s presence to many people of all types of backgrounds.
Radio sponsorships, for example, are run for a set amount of time. Business owners can pay for more spots as they please and in return, a radio station creates a radio reel about your business. Think of it as a dynamic testimonial and promotion in one that people hear quite often.
Signage
Billboards, flyers, storefront signs and much more are great ways to increase awareness of your business. These might not mean instant business but it creates an impression with people who see them. If they happen to need or want something you offer in the future, chances are they will think of your business first if they saw your sign.
So, Where to start?
If you’re new to marketing your own business you can do a lot these days on your own using the free and premium methods I mentioned prior. The main question to ask yourself is:
Do I have the time to market my own business?
We all want to be successful as well as have a personal life. Balancing those are forever a challenge but many find ways to make it work. Marketing takes a lot of work and again if not done consistently it can actually hinder business.
We actually talked very recently in a new video about how marketing incorrectly can also hinder business. Check it out
Let’s Rock n’ Roll
We recommend starting off by doing an audit of your business’s brand first and foremost.
Never rush into trying to advertise your business without first appearing professional, knowing what it is that you do and why. People need to be able to trust you and find the value in what you have to offer. Don’t give them any reason to feel uncomfortable.
If you’re not sure how to go about making your brand appear cohesive and professional you might consider hiring a professional. It just so happens this very challenge is something we are experts at. Let us give you a hand. 💡👫
If you’re not quite ready for help. Start with social media. Pick a couple of networks that you find yourself already on quite often. Facebook and Twitter are great places to create branded pages and promote your business for free. Start showing your followers you mean business by posting quality content often. Soon enough you’ll gain some attention and from there you can compound that attention into even more.
Have questions? We are here to help. Contact us today. | https://medium.com/couple-of-creatives/why-marketing-consistency-leads-to-success-74f688127042 | ['Andy Leverenz'] | 2017-03-24 19:38:37.348000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Practice', 'Marketing Strategies', 'Consistency', 'Social Media'] |
Total Solar Eclipse and a Spell for Power — The Pleiadians | Nora Herold and the Pleiadian Collective
Excerpt from the December 1, 2020 Transmission
So, as you are moving forward now from using abuse scenarios or pain or conflicts as your growth motivators, as you are moving off of those older outdated programs, as you are discarding the need to either use being abused or being in pain or experiencing conflict or justifying or rationalizing or examining the painful pieces and redefining them as beneficial because they allowed you to grow, as you’re doing all of that right now, it is less important for you as creator beings to run the mental gamut of, “Why did I bring this in? What does this tell me about myself?”, because that is going to want to pull you back into these outdated blueprints and patterns. And it is going to cause you to identify the painful stimulus as again needed, necessary, good, and we really encourage you all right now to completely deactivate those programs and that way of thinking.
So, we’re going to speak a bit differently about this right now. It doesn’t mean that it’s not valid to have that bigger perspective, see yourself as a co-creator of every event, and also as a collective creator. Yes, that’s also valid. However, we are encouraging you to put your attention elsewhere right now. And where we recommend you put your attention is not so much in the examination of “Why”, right?, the navel-gazing that you all are so excellent at. — We say that in a very loving way. It has been so beneficial and useful for you all to really tune in and examine the totality of yourselves and your experiences in this way and how it is you got to where you are. — That has been so useful and now instead of doing that, instead of letting that be the first thing you do, right, you can do it later perhaps once you are through this next step.
What we want you to look at as a creator being is, “What action is it that I can take in this moment that will pull me out of this older paradigm of using abuse and painful stimulus to get me to move, shift, heal, evolve, actualize joy on my own and operate from a more joyful manner?”
So, sometimes that might mean that in the moment of playing out a dynamic like this, what you’re going to have to do is define your boundaries in a clearer and more focused way than you have in the past. And as you do that, as you give yourself permission to define your boundaries and express them and be clear in this way, that then activates within you a more empowered state that then allows you to write over those old programs. With this new empowered technology in your bodies that then takes you forward into new creations where you’re less likely to include in your new creations these older dynamics of conflict and difficulty and abuse and pain, all as motivation for growth.
Take a breath here.
So, we think it would be fun for you all to come up with a spell for yourselves right now, a simple spell that allows you to activate that empowered state from within, that helps you then, that facilitates a very clear and easy actualization and expression of your boundaries in the moment, which changes then, your future moments as creator beings.
Take a breath here.
So, coming into the solar eclipse here, and then the solstice energy that will follow, remember that you are really going to be playing with power and ideas around power.
So, let yourself breathe here, just easily and gently.
And let yourself tune into the vibration of power in your energetic structure. So, find the visceral correlation in your body. Don’t worry about where we have placed power in the past as a vibration in our earlier work with you all, that was the third eye, the sixth chakra. That’s still valid, and if that is where you are accessing your power, that is fine, that’s great, but if you are accessing it elsewhere in your body, that is perfectly wonderful. Let yourself tune in right now to power, your power as a vibration, as a frequency, as energy, as you breathe.
And as you are playing with power in your body in this way let yourself notice if you’re activating any discomfort, any judgments, any fear, any echoes of any traumas. And just feel and observe and accept and love whatever is coming up to be felt right now, as you continue to breathe.
And now find where your power is centered, in your bodies. See if it has changed at all now after running that clearing. And with your breath now, as you’re inhaling and exhaling, just let yourself begin to magnify the vibration of power in your body. This is a really challenging one for humanity because more often than not power is displayed in aggressive ways on your world. So power and aggression have become conflated. And you’re having to really detangle those two things right now within yourselves as you are finding your power. Power is simply a concentration of energy, that’s all it is. Where do you find you’re most easily able to access that concentration of energy in your body? Where does that happen for you? Don’t worry about where it is that you think it should happen, where IS it happening? And just breathe and tune into it.
And what is energy, but LOVE?
That probably makes it a lot easier as you interpret it this way. Where is it in your bodies, you feel your concentration of love? So let yourself feel that, the richness of it, the fullness of it, the beauty of it, the expansion, the joy, the excitement, that massive portal of love in your bodies.
And now as you inhale and exhale let yourself begin to magnify your power all throughout your third dimensional operating system, all throughout your body. You’ll start to feel an energetic occurrence in the field of space around your body as well, as you magnify your power, which is just a concentration of love. Let your lower chakra system really hear this right now. You are going to feel some shifts and openings there perhaps, and remember to keep running this energy all the way down into the soles of your feet as well.
Alright, so now as you are humming along here, actualized as an empowered and powerful being of love, to complete your spell, all that is needed is for you to take a simple action right now that allows you to demonstrate your power in this way. So if you can do it in this moment, fantastic. Perhaps you are thinking of doing something and you can’t quite do it right this moment, then you can complete this spell later. You can tune back into this feeling state. You will get here again very quickly. So just bookmark the sensation and energy right now and then take a simple action that brings this energetic experience into physical density, into the 3-D structure here.
And then over the next few weeks, really as you’re headed all the way into the solstice and even after the solstice, you’re going to be examining this. Just really observe yourself and your experience with power. Notice when it is that you want to fall back into the outdated blueprints and paradigms of victim/perpetrator/abuse structures and programs. Just observe, don’t judge. Catch yourself when you can. Call a timeout. Remember you can always do this. This is one of the things that we often see doesn’t happen nearly enough on your world when it comes to conflict and power dynamics. More often than not what is simply needed is a break in the moment, because you start to build off of that old dynamic of victim/perpetrator abuse and over-powering, dominance and submission, and you get caught up in that. More often than not what is really needed is for one being within the dynamic to say, “Wait, I need a moment”, and then step back, literally, physically take a step back. This can be another spell to pull you out of old blueprints. Physically take one or two steps backward, and plant yourself firmly in your body on the ground.
Take a breath here.
You can feel that in your body right now, how that allows you to adjust. And not only will that allow you to adjust, but it will cause an adjustment in the other being that you’re engaging with because they will feel your adjustment, and they will no longer feel that opening to play in that other blueprint, and if they try, their energy will not be as forceful. It will fall flat. And then either they will decide to co-create something new with you, something more collaborative and cooperative, or they won’t, and you’ll simply then just walk away. You will say, “Ah, this being in this moment is not available to collaborate with me in this new dynamic, this dynamic of cooperation. So in this moment, I’m going to remove myself completely now from the engagement to allow a bigger reset to occur”, which may or may not then happen.
You can’t have an expectation ever, that the other being is ever going to do what you want them to do. It just doesn’t work that way. Your expectations, attention, energy, adjustments always need to be on the self and your own actions, behaviors, and choices. This is where you become more and more powerful and more empowered as a creator being because as you maneuver in this way from this more empowered state, you will pull in those that want to collaborate and cooperate with you in a more joyful way without conflict or with less conflict, or who are willing to look at conflict differently, who are willing to look at power dynamics differently, willing to own the old abuse paradigm and timelines as outdated and discard them.
So, the total solar eclipse is really going to highlight a lot of this as you’re moving into it.
Full audio recording of this transmission available here | https://medium.com/@noraherold/total-solar-eclipse-and-a-spell-for-power-the-pleiadians-4b58e3d3ea2a | ['Nora Herold'] | 2020-12-12 08:40:26.764000+00:00 | ['Spirituality', 'Channeling', 'Winter Solstice', 'Eclipse', 'Magic'] |
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