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The History of American Urban Development Part 5: Post-War Period (1945–1973 CE) | Alright who’s ready to talk about some urbanization? I know it’s been a really long time, but oh boy, we are finally here again to continue on this never-ending series (that will end with the next article). It’s been a wild year of uh… well everything. So, give yourself a pat on the back for returning to your mandated lessons about the history of cities within the United States.
Just in case you wanted to catch up:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
So, what are we going to be talking about today?
We’re going to be focusing on cities from the period of 1945–73, an era where the suburbanization that we talked about last time really gets a kick in the pants, where the car begins to dominate the American way of life, and where a generation of Boomers will be born to yell at service workers sixty years later. It’s an era of rock and roll, free love, horrific racial violence, and a war that makes America go: “are we the baddies?”
And as you might imagine, it’s also an era where the cities of the United States go through another wave of restructuring and the very orientation of cities within the United States shifts away from the previously dominant Manufacturing Belt.
We’re going to see more suburbs, more poor decisions, the continued decline of the central city, and all sorts of other things that are going to make us shake our head and go, what the fuck?
For this blog, we’ll start by examining general trends in urbanization, then focus a whole lot of words on the topic of suburbs (as did the urban planner of this era), vaguely talk about the inner city (as did the urban planners of this era), finish up with a few words on demographics, and then scurry off to finish this bad boy off with some concluding remarks.
What Changed?
The Hub and Spoke model of highway development was used extensively in the United States. Highway 495 is the wheel around Washington DC, while Highways 66, 295, and 395 are the spokes that service the hub (Washington). Source: http://www.vidiani.com/large-detailed-roads-and-highways-map-of-washington-dc-area/
Do I even really need to say it at this point?
It’s the same old story just polished off and sold to us for the fifth time in this narrative. The cities of this era were innovated, reorganized, and developed due to changes in transportation and communication technology.
On the transportation side of things, the United States went through a massive bout of road building starting with the Eisenhower administration, creating the modern Interstate Highway System. In 1956, an ambitious project was put in place with the latest version of the Federal Aid Highway Act (which we discussed last time). This iteration allocated funding for 41,000 miles of additional road ways. This connected every major city within the continental United States with high quality roads that facilitated rapid transit.
Not only did it connect them but it also integrated the urban road networks with the federal highways in a mode of development called the hub-and-spoke. The idea was to ring the urban centre with highways and then run a few avenues into the very urban core. This allowed for easy transportation into the urban core from the fringes, further fueling the flight of individuals out of the urban core and into the new suburban developments.
And of course, what would be roadbuilding without the cars to use them. During this period car ownership within the United States rose from 26 million cars in 1945 to 52 million in 1955 and finally 97 million cars in 1972, nearly a four-fold increase within 27 years.
These newer cars were also more efficient, as the average top speed of a car grew from less than 50mph (80 kph) in the 1920s to 80mph (130kph) in the 1950s. This meant that there were more cars which could travel further distances in the same amount of time, greatly opening up new tracts of land to potential suburban development.
Beyond roads, this period also saw the growing sophistication of air travel with a series of regional and subregional airports springing up to support the growing demand and availability of passenger aircraft.
As for communication technology, the growth of new industries and forms of communication allowed previously periphery areas to gain new importance within the United State’s urban system. A big example being the growth in electronics and computing.
To understand why this happened we must examine two seemingly opposite forces exerted upon the American urban form: regional decentralization and metropolitan consolidation.
Regional decentralization can be seen as a by-product of the growing ease of travel that started during the Fordist period. The growing number, power, and accessibility of automobiles meant that industries were no longer tied to the traditional Manufacturing Belt. Which was good because the aging nature of the Manufacturing Belt meant that these regions were becoming increasingly costly to operate in.
What this meant is that the South and West could now entice investment from industrial firms as they were becoming increasingly accessible, had cheaper land, lower taxes, lower energy costs, local boosterism, and a less militant labour force. Two big industries to make this transition were the electronic and aerospace industries which both took up operations in the American Southwest.
An added benefit to these industries was the fact that the cities here were rapidly taking shape, meaning these industries could more easily have a city conform around them, rather than having to conform to an existing city.
The biggest losers in this situation were the Manufacturing Belt cities where blue collar manufacturing and wholesaling jobs took a hit. For example, in New York, 206 000 manufacturing jobs and 26 000 wholesaling jobs were lost. In Philadelphia, these figures were 102 000 and 26 000. And similar crunches were felt in places like St. Louis, Boston, and Baltimore.
Though not all was lost for the manufacturing cities (as you can probably tell by the fact that New York is still an important place).
This is where Metropolitan Consolidation comes into effect. During this period corporate HQs and R&D facilities tended to be localized in the largest population centres. This is due to corporations themselves consolidating with mergers and acquisitions. What this meant is that we begin to see a rise in control centres. Control centres are urban locations with a high concentration of R&D and corporate headquarters.
Some of these control centres were already in large and established cities such as New York and Chicago. While some appeared in growing cities such as Atlanta, Houston, and LA which shows the growing importance of these regions. Still not all control centres were created equal. For example, by 1970, New York housed the HQs of 25% of the world’s 500 largest companies. Plus, they were the hub for a significant portion of the 300 largest companies in banking, insurance, retailing, transportation, and utilities.
New York always finds a way to thrive doesn’t it?
Why New York, and to a lesser extent Chicago, was allowed to do this is because they had a reserve of brainpower, an array of support services, and were well connected via infrastructure to the rest of the country. Meanwhile other control centres popped up near hubs of specific industries with Houston being the control city for energy and LA the control city for tech.
Meanwhile from the R&D perspective, things became heavily localized within a few innovation centres. These were metropolises which had a strong post-secondary education base, had a firm federal government presence, and offered attractive amenities to the highly skilled scientific workforces that populated them. Places like this included Silicon Valley, Route 128 in Boston, and the Research Triangle in North Carolina. Which yet again shows a mix of old and new.
So that’s what’s generally changed during this period. More cars, more roads, more sprawl, and the growing decentralization of the United State’s urban form.
Jesus, that’s Suburbia
A house in Levittown. Within 3 years, 17000 homes such as this would be constructed within the suburb. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Levittown_houses._LOC_gsc.5a25985.jpg
As previously mentioned, the growing power and number of cars allowed for suburbanization to flourish during this period. During the 1950s, suburban populations grew by a massive 45.9% (or 19 million people) compared to a more modest 11.6% (or 6 million) within central cities.
There are four factors which led to this unprecedented explosion in suburban growth.
1) Euclid v Ambler, that court case we mentioned last time, allowed for large tracts of land to be segregated exclusively for residential purposes. This meant that these investments were seen as financially stable and highly lucrative, making lots of firms eager to try and make a profit off of them.
2) Over the course of the Depression Years and World War Two there was a suppressed demand for housing. With the war’s end, 16 million Americans had returned to domestic living and there was an immediate backlogged demand for 3–4 million homes. This situation did not get any better as the United States’ birth rate also exploded due to the baby boom.
3) 1944’s Serviceman’s Readjustment Act created the Veteran’s Administration whose primary goal was to facilitate home ownership amongst returning veterans. This organization was further strengthened by an evermore powerful Federal Housing Administration which received further powers under the 1949 Version of the Housing Acts. This helped make loans even cheaper and more secure for the average American.
4) As previously mentioned, the Federal Aid Highway Act allowed for the construction of 41,000 miles of limited access highways which greatly aided in transportation.
So, before we discuss suburbs, I do want to just briefly mention that there was at least some degree of physical growth within central cities. This was especially prevalent in the cities of the South and West. Throughout the 1950s and 60s major cities in these regions began to annex their surrounding counties into their legal borders. Through this annexation the central cities of places like Dallas, Houston, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, San Diego, and San Jose all grew by more than 100 square miles.
But this is but a mere drop in the bucket when compared to suburban growth.
With the war’s end, housing construction exploded. Prior to the Great Depression, there were 350,000 new housing units added to the market in an average year. After the war, this number exploded to 2,000,000 new units throughout the 1950s and would continue to produce an average of 1,500,000 new units all the way until 2009. This is an order of magnitude greater than the pre-war period.
So, what led to this massive explosion in housing development?
Well as mentioned, the government put in place many policies which favoured homeownership. The Federal Housing Administration helped nearly 11 million Americans with acquiring a home between 1945–73, leading to home ownership rate growing from 45% of Americans to 65%.
Government aid is only one side of the coin however. The other is the fact that developers began to adopt Fordism into their production models, turning housing into a mass-produced product for mass consumption. They utilized economies of scale, standardized techniques, and new technology to drive down costs.
One vital piece of technological innovation was the implementation of balloon-frame construction. This allowed for a cheaper frame to be used in housing construction. One that didn’t need a heavy and costly support beam. It also had the secondary effect of allowing for standardized components and the usage of cheaper semi-skilled labour. This single technique drove down the cost of housing construction by 40%.
So, using this technology, and by offering only a few pattern-book designs, developers began to create sprawling suburban communities. An early example would be the development of 16 square miles at Lakewood which was a development south of LA which would eventually house 100,000 people.
Though the most famous would be Levittown on Long Island. They took Fordist principles to heart and, starting in 1948, mass produced housing on their lands. By 1951, they had managed to sell 17,000 homes at the affordable rate of $100 down and $57 a month. Which… fuck you but okay.
So, houses were getting cheaper and this just so happened to also be a period of unprecedented economic growth. Between 1948–73 the economy grew five-fold and median incomes doubled (in terms of purchasing power). So, it shouldn’t be too surprising that homeownership grew by a rate of 50% over this same period.
Most suburbs were heavily car focused with development centred upon single detached homes. The suburbs were not a venue for apartments, duplexes, and smaller lot sizes. This had the effect of making the suburbs especially white as they, alone, had the purchasing power to live in such accommodations. Meanwhile, minorities and poorer elements were kept in the inner cities where conditions were less desirable.
It should also be noted how non-residential utilities were influenced by suburbanization.
As cars got more powerful, so did trucks, allowing for industry to move even further from the urban core. And as the land out here was far more advantageous and affordable many firms leapt at the opportunity to set up shop, creating sprawling industrial parks.
Along with these, there was also a continued evacuation of retail and office function to the suburbs with shopping centres and office parks. Even the department stores, who were once the centrepiece of central city living, got the memo, with companies like Sears moving their operations into these new shopping centres.
And the growth of shopping centres was tremendous. In 1957, there were 2000 shopping malls in the US. By 1965, this figure had grown to 8420. Then to 12170 in 1970. During this period suburban shopping centres would become dominant with 55% of all retail sales (excluding motor vehicles and gasoline) taking place within them. Not bad for something that didn’t exist until only a couple decades prior.
Now that we know why the suburbs were growing, let’s focus on what was going on in the central city.
Downtown USA: Population — 0
During the 1950s, there was a major move to clear slums within major US cities. This picture is from the Bronx. Source: https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/flashback-the-bronx-slums-1950s
As previously mentioned, there was a flight of manufacturing and wholesaling jobs from the inner cities of the Manufacturing Belts. While the job losses were often balanced out with the creation of new white-collar service jobs, the populations lost would not be regained. That’s because blue collar workers would often live in their cities while white collar workers more frequently commuted from the suburbs.
This is just one of the many ways that the central cities of the United States entered a period of relative decline.
The central city ceased to be a venue for day to day life but rather hosted the jobs necessary to support their ring of suburbs. The city became a thing you commuted to rather than lived in.
So, what were a few factors that led to the decline of the central city.
First off there was the abandonment of old factories and warehouses as industry fled to the suburbs. This left large tracts of the central city blighted and reduced to nothing more than slums and relative wastelands.
While there was development this mostly took place in the very core of the Central Business District in the growing cluster of skyscrapers at its very heart. It was not evenly disturbed throughout the entire central city.
Secondly, the freeway system further added to this sense of urban blight. The freeways required a margin of 200–300 feet of right of way when they cut through cities. And due to free market economics, the freeways went through the region of “least commercial resistance” or the areas where the land could be bought up cheapest. Which meant that massive gouges were cut through low-income neighbourhoods, devastating communities.
And lastly, the 1960s was a period of massive social unrest with the civil rights and anti-war movements resulting in violence from the state. This further devastated the central city and led to the flight of more white and affluent families to the suburbs.
What we were left with was an American city that resembled a donut. A ring of populated and affluent suburbs around a blighted, devastated, and under-supported urban core.
While brief, the story of the inner city is a bleak one, during this period. Now to wrap up this blog we’ll be talking about demographic and social changes within American cities during this time.
The Baby Boom, Immigration, and Urban Life
Graph of US birthrate, showing an increase during the period mentioned. Source: https://www.prb.org/us-fertility/
Well let’s start off with the big demographic shift of this period: The Baby Boom. Starting in 1945, there was an explosion in the United States’ birth rate as new families began to form after the wake of WW2. From a low of 19 births per 1000 people in 1929, the birth rate spiked to 27 births per 1000 people in 1948 and would continue to remain within the low to mid-20s until the 1960s with the advent of the birth control pill.
This Baby Boomer generation had a profound impact upon American life and the American Urban Form.
For starters, there was a more liberalized view on divorce and sexual behaviour with this generation which led to the formation of many new types of household units that were different from the traditional nuclear family of the suburbs. Yeah, this one surprised me too. However, the formation of new household units put a greater demand on housing that was already being put under strain by the explosion in population.
So, by the 1970s, as this boomer generation was starting to enter the labour force and housing markets, we begin to see a great level of competition for jobs and housing, causing wages to stagnate and housing prices to grow higher and higher. This problem was added to as we see the entrance of a greater number of women into the labour force, adding to this competition.
Between 1973–83, the real median income of a US household, which was headed by someone under the age of 35, fell by 11%. And as prosperity faltered, the New Deal and Great Society of Roosevelt, Kennedy, and Johnston were the first to go, replaced by the growing demand for liberalization and its neo- variant.
So, in the face of stagnation, the Boomer Generation started to vote with their feet, moving away from the traditional urban hubs of the east and into the suburbs and Sunbelt Cities of the South-West where housing was affordable, jobs more plentiful, and conditions for prosperity just ramping up.
The other demographic shift was the return of immigration to the United States. Many of the quotas and ceilings that were put in place during the Industrial Era (Early 20th Century) were removed in 1965.
In fact, migration has accounted for 1/3 of growth within the United State ever since.
What was different about this migration however was the demographic makeup of those coming into the country. Where previously, most immigration came from European countries, by the 1970s there was a steady shift towards Latin America and Asia. This shift would continue, and by 2009, 40% and 36% of migrants would come from Latin America and Asia, respectively, while only 9% came from Europe. This greatly shaped the cultural and racial identity of America.
How this shaped cities, is a two-part story. First, the traditional European communities that existed in many American cities began to assimilate to America and as they became American, they too fled the urban core for the suburbs. This left space for the new migrants to enter. Where there had once been Italian, Irish, and Russian communities there was now Cambodians, Colombians, Cubans, Jamaicans, Koreans, and Vietnamese.
This wave of immigration was also predominantly urban in form, like most before it, with large cities being the landing ground of many immigrants. What was different was where these big cities were. Where migrants used to land in New York, Boston, Chicago, and Detroit, they now landed in San Francisco, Seattle, Houston, and well… still New York… because honestly nothing can seem to bring that city down.
And this is a trend that continues to this day.
Concluding Statements
Well this project took several months of occasionally chipping away at it for it to finally take form. I honestly don’t even know if people are still sticking around for these bad boys.
That being said let’s quickly recap what just happened.
Suburbanization got even more popular, hollowing out the American urban core until there was nothing but ruin and desolation in the traditional central cities. Well except for an even more specialized Central Business District, a gleaming venue of skyscrapers that brought affluence but only provided jobs to those who had already abandoned the city.
The urban system within the US also shifted, with the Manufacturing Belt rapidly falling from grace and the mantle of American cities being taken up by the West Coast, American South, and the Sunbelt. We see the decline of almost all East Coast cities (with the exception of New York) and the rise of places like Houston, Los Angeles, and Seattle.
Infrastructure was also a big theme during this period as the US dumped tremendous amounts of money into road building, helping to fuel the rise of automobiles, and in turn, providing a million opportunities to flee its cities. These roads also had a nasty habit of cutting swathes through urban communities, leaving them in further desolation.
And finally, we have the Baby Boom which caused the US population to explode, the housing market to become more and more expensive, and wages to stagnate. Who knew people fucking could have such a destructive effect upon our perceived notions of prosperity?
Oh, and we have immigration again. That’s pretty poggers, if I do say so. Good job… President from 1965… who was… *counts fingers* Johnston! Should’ve known that it was that guy. He’s pretty rad. Well except for Vietnam.
Anyways, thanks for sticking around and I hope to see you all around next time when we return to finish this bad boy up. That’s right! Only one part left.
Actually, I lied, I’m going to detour and do a brief food history article on currywurst because I’ve been having cravings that desperately needs sating.
Twitter|my Website | https://medium.com/@kimberlyeab/the-history-of-american-urban-development-part-5-post-war-period-1945-1973-ce-57744ce68b8a | ['Kimberly E.A.B'] | 2020-12-17 20:19:09.580000+00:00 | ['Urban Planning', 'History'] |
Dear Lambda, Shutdown that EC2 for me! | Problem statement
Save cost on our on-demand EC2 instances by shutting them down based on a schedule defined within a tag.
Solution description
The solution can be found on my Github repo.
We came up with the following tag format to help us shutdown our EC2 instances. As each EC2 instance runs specific applications with varying workloads and access patterns, we wanted to define a set of tags to cover all of them. This is what we came up with.
Schedule
24x5_Mon-Fri
Shutdown at 12am on Saturday and start back up at 12am on Monday.
08–24_Mon-Fri
Shutdown at 12am on Saturday and start up at 8am on Monday.
08–18_Mon-Sun
Shutdown at 6pm Monday to Sunday and start up at 8am.
08–18_Mon-Fri
Shutdown at 6pm Monday to Friday and start back up at 8am.
18_Shutdown
Shutdown at 6pm and do not bring it back up.
24x7_Mon-Sun
Should not shutdown as the instance needs to be up 24x7.
Maintenance
Nothing to do but send an email notifying that the instance is tagged for maintenance.
Lambda
Lambda to the rescue. The serverless framework was used to package things up as it was an intuitive way to set it up and hook into our current CI/CD.
Python was the natural fit for this lambda with the libraries around AWS specially with boto3.
The lambda fires up at a defined interval as configured on your serverless.yaml which then checks to see if any of the above schedule constraints are met. If so, we perform the relevant operation(either a start or stop) on those EC2 instances. The scheduled activity on the lambda is done via the integration with the AWS EventBridge which is all done under the hood through the serverless framework.
Did I tell you how awesome this framework is? Well get ready to hear it a couple of more times through this post!
In terms of the actual implementation, I will leave it up to the reader to go through the GitHub repository. It was a mixture of the usage of pytz, datetime and boto3 in action.
Test driven development (TDD)
I am a huge advocate of TDD and thus was looking at implementing my lambda using TDD. I stumbled upon this amazing library called moto. Huge shout out to these guys as it is just an amazing piece of work.
What it essentially lets you do is run a virtual AWS environment and run tests/assertions against it. This was just what I needed and saved me a good several hours as I did not have to go through the deploy/test cycles to test my lambda.
As I used Pipfile to package my lambda, it was easy for me to separate out the dependencies needed for development and production.
As you can see from the following, I was able to package on moto and pyyaml just for testing purposes and leave the rest to be bundled up when I do a deployment to production.
[dev-packages] moto = "*" pyyaml = "*" [packages] boto3 = "*" pytz = "*"
Dockerize the tests
When integrating this to our existing CI/CD platform, I did not want to have to go in to all the servers and install the Pipenv related dependencies just to run the integration tests.
Docker to the rescue. The panacea to all things these days ain’t it!
I wrote a quick Dockerfile that installed all the required dependencies and ran the tests.
I also wanted to make sure that the docker instance ran with the UTC timezone. The Dockerfile used is as follows;
FROM python:3.6-slim ENV AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=ap-southeast-2 ENV TZ=UTC RUN ln -snf /usr/share/zoneinfo/$TZ /etc/localtime && echo $TZ > /etc/timezone RUN pip install — upgrade pip RUN pip install pipenv ADD Pipfile /home/ec2-stop-lambda/ ADD *.py /home/ec2-stop-lambda/ ADD serverless.yml /home/ec2-stop-lambda/ WORKDIR /home/ec2-stop-lambda RUN pipenv install — dev ENTRYPOINT exec pipenv run test
The python slim version of the docker image was used to keep the size of the artefact at a minimum.
Conclusion
The Lambda runs on all our environments and works as expected to start and stop all our EC2 instances on the schedules we define.
Do drop a comment below if you have anything you would like to add on and thank you for reading!
Have a good week ahead people. Stay safe! | https://medium.com/@dinuka-roshan/dear-lambda-shutdown-that-ec2-for-me-bb79a586e81c | ['Dinuka Arseculeratne'] | 2020-12-14 00:26:23.541000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Serverless Framework', 'Pipenv', 'AWS Lambda', 'Pytz'] |
10 things to complete your JavaScript skills. | 1.THIS & GLOBAL THIS:
“This” refers to an example of an object or class. It also changes depending on how a function is called. It’s only relevant wherever you use it and also changes when you are in strict vs. non-strict mode.
2. OBJECTS:
The main reason you must master objects in javascript cause everything in javascript is objects. Object-oriented programming is a must-have skill to claim yourself as a pro.
3.CLASS:
being comfortable with objects, you must start learning the classes which are objects and constructor functions under the hood.
Understanding how an object works, you’ll understand the limitation & advantages of a javascript class. it is a go-to for developers to avoid the cluster of the wired prototype in javascript, and get it done.
4.FUNCTIONS:
After objects, the function is the second most powerful thing in javascript. It is a very important thing to master as a modern javascript developer. it has become a common practice to write functional programming in major frameworks and libraries.
since functional programming is flexible and can be reuse unlimited time, it simplifies the process of writing a complex application much easier. functions in javascript allow you to do anything and can be used in almost all conditions.
5.SCOPE & CLOSURE:
The scope is about making the box and the closure is a special box. If you understand the SCOPE it will help you create code that works together and closure is just a powerful tool you should use if you like the concept of encapsulation and functional programming.
6.DATA STRUCTURES:
You cannot understand how the web work without understanding data structures. it’s a huge topic, but as a developer, this is one of the primary things that you must master.
7.SINGLE THREAD, NON-BLOCKING, ASYNCHRONOUS, CONCURRENT:
these are the core component of web app developments. you will understand better what kind of project should you use javascript by understanding why JavaScript is single-threaded.
8.PROMISE & ASYNC AWAIT:
Promises and async…await allow you to deviate from the traditional linear way to execute programs which for a single-threaded language like Javascript, make it more powerful and fast to compute a lot of things quickly without resourcing to create dedicated threads.
Javascript is a single-threaded language, therefore without creating dedicated threads, it cannot be used for multiple computing and faster processing. so, to avoid that we use promise and async-await.
9.CONTROL FLOW:
If you want to build a complex application, you must understand how things work step by step. it will also allow you to build even more complex programs.
10.FETCH & AJAX:
Since JavaScript mostly use for web-based applications, Data is a huge part of it. You need to send requests, fetch data from the server all the time. so fetch and ajax is something you must understand very well. | https://medium.com/@mshowkat/10-things-to-complete-your-javascript-skills-b206d08ad858 | ['M Showkat'] | 2020-11-17 19:10:57.929000+00:00 | ['Programming Languages', 'Programming Tips', 'Javascript Development', 'Javascript Tips', 'JavaScript'] |
Kuwait Entrepreneurs Know Thy Environment | We live in the Covid age, market demand collapsed, businesses fell down, what when wrong? It might not be your fault, or might be your fault, who on earth knows?
Calamities are by default part of the business nature. My uncle uses to say to be me; when I was young, I use to ask him about his workshop: one day it’s a honey (Aasal) one day its onion (Basal). So as a business owner, you should always plan for the worse.
Besides planning for the worse scenarios, there is another essential element most of the startups here in Kuwait overlook: Know your environment.
The factor goes very deep in the strategical teachings, precisely to Sun Tzu. Recognizing the environment you’re competing in always gives you a competitive advantage. Most of the coffee shops and cupcakes startups literally overvalued this tenet. Everything sounds good when initiating the project, attracting your customers through your marketing tools, so vibrant, not very long until your plans collide with the harsh environment. No matter how hard you tried to control it, you simply can’t. Your ROI starts decreasing, and in a moment of a sudden, you realize that you are no more reaching the break-even point.
It all started when you decide to compete in a market where Starbucks -for instance- alone has more than 100 branches. What was your strategy? Are you going to a differentiation strategy (specialty) or a low-cost strategy? You can’t implement both for your project, which can indicate confusion on a managerial level. Such an immature strategy planning is the cause of grief later on, as Miyamoto Musashi noted long ago. | https://medium.com/@m-hersi/kuwait-entrepreneurs-know-thy-environment-5fd13007d1f2 | ['Mohamed Hersi'] | 2020-12-10 14:49:50.639000+00:00 | ['Kuwait', 'Life Hacking', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Sun Tzu'] |
Docker Containers: an absolute prevail over Virtual Machines | Docker containers allow the developers to run their apps in any environment, be it bare metal servers, cloud or virtual machines. Why don’t we drop the VMs for good then?
The main idea of a Docker container is that once the Docker image is created, the container with it can be easily built and run in any environment — and it will behave exactly the same wherever it runs. This means that regardless of the underlying infrastructure, operating system, installed software, and other variables, the app will always run, as it has its runtime environment in the container. However, despite certain benefits we mentioned in our Docker vs Vagrant comparison, containers are not universal.
Below we list several points to consider when choosing between containers and VMs:
Containers provide more operational agility Containers underpin multi-cloud and hybrid systems Containers are easily integrated with existing IT workflows Containers are cheaper than VMs Containers are inherently more secure
This is a brief overview of the points above.
More operational agility
Docker containers are built and launched according to scripts, so 1 command provides everything a developer needs. Every time a new VM is provisioned, it must be configured and all the needed software must be installed and configured before it can be used. Containers can be rebooted in a matter of seconds while rebooting an app running on a VM requires restarting the VM and all the required services.
Cornerstones of multi-cloud and hybrid systems
As containers run equally well anywhere, they can be easily used as building blocks for distributed multi-cloud systems, spanning across multiple availability zones and using various features of different providers. They can also work wonders in hybrid systems, where some parts of the infrastructure are deployed to the public cloud and mission-critical systems are kept on-prem or in a private virtual environment.
Ease of integration with the existing IT infrastructure
Mature companies have built their unique IT infrastructures around certain tools, workflows, people and skills. Once your IT department grasps the basic concepts of Docker containers, they will see multiple ways of integrating them into your unique software ecosystem. The main purpose of this process is reducing the time needed for app deployment, and removing the “works well on my machine” situation, plaguing the software delivery pipelines of many businesses.
Containers are much cheaper than VMs
Containerized apps share the same OS, libraries and other components, allowing to save a ton of computing resources when deploying at scale. Actually, due to removing the hypervisor layer and consolidating the virtualized resources, containers are 300% more cost-effective, as compared to VMs.
Containers are inherently more secure
Containers have multiple security layers and form a protective layer for the virtual host or bare metal server they run on. Every set of security restrictions within the container protects both the host and all the colocated containers, working well with the whole range of virtualization security features.
Final thoughts on why Docker containers prevail over Virtual Machines
For all the reasons above, Docker containers gain the ever-increasing importance for software delivery and production maintenance. However, there are multiple reasons why they cannot become the mainstay of the software development. First of all, virtual machine software like Vagrant or vSphere is designed specifically to support the software development pipelines and works great in tandem with multiple Big Data Analytics tools, monitoring solutions and code version control systems.
Secondly, full-scale migration to the cloud and transition to using Kubernetes clusters can be quite a costly endeavor, especially for matured enterprise IT infrastructures. Thus said, it can be done and it must be done, one project at a time — but till all the workloads move to working on Kubernetes, virtual machines must do.
Is your company still running virtual machines or have you containerized your workloads already? Which approach suits your operational profile best? Please let us know below! | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/docker-containers-an-absolute-prevail-over-virtual-machines-c595cdec1897 | ['Vladimir Fedak'] | 2018-11-12 10:21:49.595000+00:00 | ['Docker', 'Virtual Machine', 'Kubernetes', 'Cloud', 'Workflow'] |
To Universities: Give it Away | To Universities: Give it Away
Knowledge is meant to be shared.
Universities are in the knowledge business.
They create it with research.
They share it with education, books, and article publishing.
They organize it, curate it, and interpret it in their libraries, datasets, and faculty.
Prior to invention of the printing press, knowledge resided primarily in the minds of the people who knew things. Books were expensive to reproduce, because they had to be copied by hand.
In fact, the very first university lectures were little more than a group of scribes, copying word-for-word. A Reader with a valuable book would stand at a lectern, reading from the text, so that the students could copy it over into their own notebooks in parallel, which was much more efficient than passing the book around so the students could take turns making their own copies.
But after the invention of the printing press (one of the earliest harbingers of the Industrial Revolution), books and manuscripts could be reproduced at scale, for way less money.
Book production costs declined by over 75% after invention of the printing press (reproduced from https://ourworldindata.org/books, with data from Zanden 2009, The Long Road to the Industrial Revolution).
The production of knowledge exploded when the cost of documenting, sharing, and archiving it came down.
The model for monetizing that knowledge also changed. Instead of learning under the direct tutelage of a Master, students could purchase books, and learn at a geographic and temporal distance from the author.
Nevertheless, the University lecture remained little changed.
The world of knowledge is undergoing another extraordinary technological change enabled by computing and the internet. The marginal cost of documenting, sharing, archiving, and curating knowledge has come down so far that it is now, for practical purposes, zero.
Students seeking knowledge no longer need a library card. The incredible access to knowledge via the internet allows students to learn via twitter, blogs, YouTube — even those in college report how thankful they are for tutorials like those at Khan Academy.
Universities have been slow to change. Although university online offerings have expanded, the dominant business model remains reading, lecture, writing, and exchange of academic credentials for tuition dollars, while research is still organized around the traditions established for the printing press.
In academic research, “papers” are submitted to journal editors, who send the electronic files to other academics for peer-review. Several rounds of revision take place, until finally an archival (and immutable) version is published as a pdf and typically archived in a academic library, behind a paywall. There is hardly any effort at post-publication review, and corrections and retractions are still printed in separate documents as if the original copy was etched in stone (or offset printed on paper).
In fact, technology now allows post-publication revisions, corrections, reviews, and amendments. It just doesn’t happen.
Meanwhile, bloggers, self-published authors, and independent scholars have made available an surfeit of new knowledge that bypasses the traditional mechanisms of sorting, vetting, and filtering knowledge established by the academic system. The new model is more democratic in one sense, because the barriers to entry are so much lower. It’s also subject to misconceptions, fallacy, misinformation, and political distortion.
As if academics aren’t? | https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/to-universities-give-it-away-ab0e29225d34 | ['Thomas P Seager'] | 2020-10-20 15:18:03.621000+00:00 | ['Gary Vaynerchuk', 'Online Education', 'Seth Godin', 'Education', 'Digital Marketing'] |
2019_08_12 — “Hong Kong: 🇭🇰 past, present, future — a super region” | August 12, 2019
Hong Kong 🇭🇰 past, present, future — a super region
Credit: Hong Kong city and harbor by Michael Ashley
Hong Kong: 🇭🇰 past, present, future — a super region
SUMMARY
Months of demonstrations in Hong Kong sparked by a contentious extradition bill show no signs of moderating as both sides harden and anti-protest crackdowns strengthen
Hong Kong, although officially a part of China, remains independently minded and governed, and has one of the highest GDPs in the world
China wants to integrate Hong Kong, yet preserve its value after its current governing system expires in the middle of the century
One path to integration could in the medium term create a super region of over 36 million people that commingles Hong Kong and Macau with much more populous neighboring Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou
The market does not expect such a move, and stock and company valuations might drop precipitously on such an announcement, but long run it could be a positive
DETAIL
The area of Hong Kong has been inhabited for over 30,000 years, was incorporated into China’s Qin Dynasty around 200 BC, eventually governed as part of the Guangdong and Dongguan regions (which would include today’s large modern cities of Shenzhen, Dongguan, and Guangzhou), and saw its population expand in the late 1200s as the Mongol invasion drove Chinese refugees to the territory. In the early 1840s, Britain took Hong Kong to protect its tea and opium trade with China, and in 1898 colonized the surrounding areas under a 99 year lease with China. In 1997, when the lease ended, Britain returned the leased territories as well as Hong Kong to China under a “one country, two systems” (OCTS) regime for the following 50 years; i.e., Hong Kong would remain part of China, but have its own political government and financial system.
Hong Kong has become an international finance and trade/shipping center with the 10th highest GDP per capita in the world — and the most expensive housing market (for seven years straight) — a far journey from its roots as a simple farming, fishing, salt producing, and pearl hunting region. It is too valuable and important to China to mar, and simultaneously, from the Chinese perspective, it has been a part of China for thousands of years. With this dual role that Hong Kong plays as different but same, in the next few years, China may step up its preparations for the homogenization of the independently minded territory into China (now less than 30 years away) while preserving the luster that has made Hong Kong so valuable.
Starting peacefully in March and April 2019, demonstrations began in opposition to a Hong Kong government extradition bill which allows suspected criminals to be sent to mainland China or Taiwan (or anywhere else) for trial. Protestors claim that it undermines the legal freedoms of Hong Kong citizens. Over the last ten weeks, protests and anti-protest crackdowns have escalated as Honkongers react to Beijing’s influence in local politics. However the near term conflicts settle, the uprisings may strengthen Beijing’s medium term resolve towards eventual unification (if that is the end goal).
One possible path to integration would create a super territory of four quadrants, combining Hong Kong (7.6 million people) in the southeast with neighboring Shenzhen (an economically diverse 40 year old city of 12.9 million people in the urban area and 20+ million in the greater metropolitan) in the northeast, Guangzhou (15 million urban population) in the northwest, and Macau (a densely populated territory of 640,000 people similarly handed back to China by Portugal in 1999) — in the southwest. Such a super region, including smaller town and cities in the area, could easily have a population of 36 million to 40 million people.
A new Chinese super territory with no borders and the legal use of both local Hong Kong dollars and Chinese renminbi currencies, could preserve the symbolic nature of OCTS, yet dilute the independent minded and Cantonese speaking populace of Hong Kong and Macau with tens of millions of Mandarin speaking Chinese. Mandarin has already become the second language of choice taught in Hong Kong and Macau schools, displacing English and Portuguese respectively. A combination of this nature could occur within several years, allow freer transition of labor (without having to go through immigration at every border), and still provide approximately 25 years of transition before the “One Country Two Systems” agreement expires.
Even if done adroitly, such a move could spark large scale protests from the citizens of Hong Kong and Macau — afraid of losing some of their self rule — as well as a precipitous drop in local stock and company valuations. However, amidst current protests, such a move by the Chinese government could be molded as a compromise. Either way, in the long run, the creation of a super region could prove an advantageous path to meet China’s dual goals of integration and value preservation. In an optimal scenario, the value of Hong Kong, Macau, and regional companies could increase with such a super region.
Invest in, avoid, or exit the region? These are all relevant questions. One has to weigh the potential of several years of upside versus of the possibility of a short to medium term drop. Whatever happens, if there is a market dip on integration fears, it could be a good opportunity to add to positions.
Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed are those of Michael Ashley Schulman, CFA and are subject to change without notice. This material is provided for informational purposes only, does not constitute an offer or solicitation to purchase or sell any security or commodity or invest in any specific strategy, and is not a recommendation. It is not intended as investment advice and does not take into account each investor’s unique circumstances. Information has been speculatively made up or obtained from sources believed to be reliable; its accuracy, completeness and interpretation cannot be guaranteed. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Stocks, securities, companies or investments mentioned may be held long or short by the author. | https://medium.com/@rbtrage/2019-08-12-hong-kong-past-present-future-a-super-region-50708439a110 | ['Michael Ashley Schulman'] | 2019-08-12 00:00:00 | ['Asia', 'Investing', 'China', 'Hong Kong', 'Wealth'] |
Finite Element Analysis | Part 1: Introduction
Now that we have the theory down, let’s move on to the process.
Most natural systems are too complicated to be mathematically computed using their direct formulas. Everything is changing at all times and so if you’re calculating a function for temperature based on a heat flux equation, you need to keep track of the time and xyz coordinates, all of which are constantly changing.
Natural phenomena are frequently based on partial differential equations. These equations include expressions that determine how a dependent variable will change based on an infinitesimal change in independent variable (i.e. the derivative).
An ordinary differential equation (ODE) has only one independent variable and is structured as below: constant * derivative = function(dependent var, independent var).
Since there’s only one independent variable, ODEs are frequently solvable and will give a solution T=f(t) such that the dependent variable can be calculated at any instance of the independent variable.
This could be the differential for conservation of internal thermal energy. ⍴ is the density, Cp is the heat capacity, T is temperature, and t is time. The function g is a variable heat source dependent on time and temperature.
However, in all likelihood, the temperature would be different at each point. This creates a heat flux across different points.
Here we add three more independent variables: x is the vector (x, y, z). The heat flux q is (q ₓ, qᵧ, q𝓏), and the divergence specifies the change across coordinates. Further, heat flux can also be represented as q = -k𝛁T where k is the thermal conductivity; in other words, heat flux is proportional to the temperature gradient. All in all,
So finally substituting back into the initial equation,
This, like other PDEs, is a complex equation that can’t be solved using numerical methods so we have to use numerical approximations.
Part 2: Weak Formulation
The first thing we can do to simplify the problem is bring it from one of infinite dimensions to finite dimensions. Currently the solution space (of functions) is in infinite dimensions. By restricting it with boundaries, we convert the functions to vectors that share nice similar properties. This step is called a weak formulation because it relaxes the requirement that the equation hold for all points and instead just says it must hold for all functions in the Hilbert space.
How exactly does this work?
We’re going to use the same example as above at steady state, meaning that the temperature does not change with time (dT/dt=0). We will model this over the domain 𝛺.
Then we can specify the boundary conditions. For example, let’s assume that we know the temperature along a boundary ∂𝛺₁ and the expression for the heat flux normal to another boundary ∂𝛺₂. The remaining boundaries have 0 heat flux in the outward direction (∂𝛺₃).
n is the outward unit normal vector and h is the heat transfer coefficient
For a visual representation, we have something like this:
We then multiply a test by a test function 𝜙 and integrate over 𝛺. 𝜙 and the solution T belong to a Hilbert space which is an infinite dimensional functional space in which all of the functions share certain nice properties that allow them to be manipulated. Therefore, we have that
Using Green’s identity (like integration by parts), we end up with:
We make the weak formulation by only requiring the above equation to hold for all test functions instead of the previous one (without the integrals) for all points in 𝛺. In this way the original PDE doesn’t have to be well defined for all points; it only needs to be equal in terms of the integral. For example, a discontinuity in the first derivative is fine because it doesn’t affect the integration.
Part 3: Discretization
Now that we have a weak representation and have limited the solution space, we must find an approximation of the infinite dimension Hilbert space in a finite dimensioned subspace. As we discussed at the beginning, this approximation is going to be a linear combination of basis functions φᵢ in the subspace.
A set of basis functions are the only functions needed to describe a space. Every point within the space is then a linear combination of the bases. For example, in a plane, any two non-colinear vectors define the basis for the space.
The most simple example is <0,1> and <1,0>. By adding a coefficient times the vectors, you can get to any xy coordinate.
This applies to higher dimensions as well and we get that Th, the approximation of T, can be represented as
Substituting that back into our weak formulation gives this terribly ugly and messy equation:
As a reminder, the unknowns are the coefficients Tᵣ. The above equation forms a system of equations of the same dimension as the finite-dimensional functional space. If there are n test functions, j goes from 1…n, and we end up with a system of n equations and n unknowns.
If you’re familiar with matrices, then you can see that this can be easily represented in matrix form with ATh = b where T is the vector of unknowns, Th = {T₁, … Tᵢ, … Tn} and A is an nxn matrix with the coefficients of Tᵢ in each equation j. The vector b, then becomes a nonlinear function of the unknown coefficients of Tᵢ.
The great thing about FEM is that you can choose optimal basis functions. By having basis functions that don’t overlap much (remember the triangles at the beginning), the dotted integrals are 0 so the coefficients are frequently 0 and the contribution to the matrix is also 0. The system matrix A is therefore sparse and calculations with it are much faster.
Essentially what we did in this step was to mesh the structure, in other words, break it up into little pieces.
The meshed heat sink
Common mesh geometries
Then we summarized each element with a simpler basis function. Then you can piece together each basis function to get an approximation of the entire function. One notable thing is that the smaller the mesh one uses, the more accurate the approximation would be (same as in Riemann sums). | https://medium.com/swlh/finite-element-analysis-f8eaba1ae54 | ['Kiran Mak'] | 2020-05-29 22:13:08.227000+00:00 | ['Materials Science', 'Finite Element Analysis', 'Math', 'Computer Science'] |
Mengambil dan menyimpan gambar pada aplikasi iOS | Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more
Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore | https://medium.com/dipantry/mengambil-dan-menyimpan-gambar-pada-aplikasi-ios-e62f137eac8d | ['Auriga Aristo'] | 2020-12-11 03:02:48.476000+00:00 | ['File System', 'Swift', 'Camera Settings', 'Image', 'iOS'] |
You Can’t Be A Writer By Writing All The Time | This weekend, I took two days off.
It would never have happened if I hadn’t been forced to slow down by the flu. My brain was like a huge piece of fluff and I couldn’t have coherent conversations, let alone trick my brain into thinking and writing. And so after scribbling down a few paragraphs of babble, I gave up, and had two days off. I had long conversations with my boyfriend, I went to a new part of town with a market and concert held by charities, I drank too much beer with a friend and had long discussions about love and sex and our messed-up world. I spent a lot of time in bed, too, catching up on some reading, doing macramé, and watching some arty French films that I never usually feel up for.
On Monday morning, something amazing happened. My articles wrote themselves. It was like they had been bubbling in my brain throughout the two days, and when I finally got around to writing them down, they slid off my fingers with ease. I don’t know about you guys, but I usually find writing more like trying to get water out of a stone. It is a long, painful process. So when it feels like the words already lined up by the door, with their shoes and their coats on, ready to walk outside docilely, I was pleasantly taken aback.
It came as a useful reminder to me about the importance of breaks in general, whatever your line of work. Working every hour of the day isn’t productive, it just leads to a lower quality of work and, more importantly, to your heart and soul growing weary. It has been calculated that people coming to work when they aren’t fit for it actually cost companies a lot in terms of productivity — more than people pulling sickies.
A year-long telephone survey of 29,000 working adults dubbed the “American Productivity Audit” calculated the cost of presenteeism in the U.S. to be more than $150 billion a year. Most studies confirm that presenteeism is far more costly than illness-related absenteeism or disability. Two Journal of the American Medical Association studies found that on-the-job productivity lost resulting from depression and pain was roughly three times greater than the absence-related productivity loss attributed to these conditions. — Forbes
The reason people continue to come is, of course, not because they really want to be at work feeling like crap, but because the culture around work still tells us that more is better, when it isn’t. Not for workers, not for society.
It is important to bear this in mind as a freelancer because the person ultimately suffering from you not taking breaks is you — twice over — as the person having to work when they need rest and the person who suffers from the lack of productivity. The problem is the burden of guilt which any freelancer has to deal with. Working for yourself does require a lot of discipline. It is hard not to go to far, and to set healthy limits. | https://starkraving.medium.com/you-cant-be-a-writer-by-writing-all-the-time-a1956c8732f | ['Stark Raving'] | 2020-12-04 15:23:51.473000+00:00 | ['Advice', 'Writing Tips', 'Writing'] |
How to Make New Friends — 5 Solutions That You Can Try Today. | How to Make New Friends — 5 Solutions That You Can Try Today.
Tried and Tested by yours truly.
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
Having friends is essential for most people’s wellbeing. With friends close by, we’re more likely to be active and engage in events, days out, celebrations and the like. Close bonds with other people away from our family or relationship, can help bring balance and happiness to our lives. Not only on an emotional level can friendship be important.
There are direct links between friendship and the immune system. Experts have shown that people with good friends tend to have stronger immune systems. They also have better anti-inflammatory responses that can lead to swifter wound healing and reduce the risk of illnesses. These include cardiovascular disease, arthritis and some cancers.
There can be many reasons why we need to make new friends at any stage in life.
Maybe you moved to a new city where you know few people.
Perhaps your friends from college moved away or are no longer interested in the same activities.
Maybe you never needed friends much in the past, but are keen to grow a group now.
Possibly a relationship has ended and you’re looking for new people and experiences.
You’re in the right place.
Below you’ll find five practical, tried-and-tested ways to make new friends here and now.
Following my divorce and a house move, I had very few friends and was desperate to meet some great people to share my life with.
I know I’m a good friend, caring and thoughtful, so I definitely hoped for long term friendships with those who were looking for the same thing.
Photo by Yura Fresh on Unsplash
1. Friendship Apps
Yup, just like Tinder or Bumble for dating — there are apps out there for friendships.
My personal favorite is MeetUp, but others like CitySocializer and local apps can be a great way to start. These apps allow users to join groups centered around an interest. The groups then ‘meet up’ and socialize in a group environment.
Groups vary in size and some are gender-specific and age-limited too. You can even launch your own group around your particular city or interest.
My first ever MeetUp was nerve racking. I chose a ladies’ cocktail night and messaged a few of the girls beforehand to check that it was legitimate and suitable for a newbie.
I arrived early and lingered nervously at the bar until the organizer spotted me and called me over. It was all good from there and I’ve now attended over fifty events.
I now have a huge group of friends and a smaller group of close friends, plus I run my own groups and co-host others, to help people find new friends in my city.
My favorite groups are music, book, and walking groups, but I dip in and out of others too.
A few words tips for first timers.
It’s better to go to your first couple of events with someone you know if you can. I went alone but that can be daunting.
Never, ever meet up with anyone from the app alone.
Always report unwanted approaches on the app (although this is very rare).
Some groups do charge a small admin fee. This is normal, but never send money in advance to anyone.
Make sure that you read the Safety Guidelines of any app you choose.
Photo by Jessica Devnani from Burst
2. Take Solo Trips
Again, post divorce, all I wanted to do was travel and experience new things but I didn’t have many friends left who were interested in backpacking Asia with me!
So I started researching solo trips and, amazingly, found tonnes of great companies offering adventures for single travelers of all ages.
When you take one of these trips, you’re paired with a buddy, but travel the country as a group, bonding over shared experiences. To this day, I keep in touch with friends from trips I took years ago, still sharing memories and stories.
Below is a list of ones I’d recommend. I’ve now done 5 of these trips and urge anyone to consider it:
Trek America — now owned by Exodus Travel — my personal fave.
TopDeck
Contiki
DragoMan
G-adventure
And no, I’m not on commission! All of these I’ve tried personally, or have had recommended by a friend whose opinion I trust.
Photo by 42 North from Pexels
3. Try new Hobbies and Courses
It’s an oldie but a goodie. Hobbies and interests are the main things that get people out of their homes and talking to other humans. While it’s great to maintain any hobbies you already have, spreading your wings can expand your friendship group quickly and easily.
One thing I tried and loved was Roller Derby — I met a group of amazing women and got fit too! You can find new hobbies at local sports clubs, churches and town halls or on Facebook.
It doesn’t need to be something hugely active like my choice. There are cookery classes, photography groups, even coffee-tasting classes, knit ’n’ natter, and dog walkers.
Taking a course is a similar way to meet new people and expand your skill set at the same time. Have you always wanted to learn how to cook? How to paint? Or maybe something more academic?
You could take a degree course in a subject that has always interested you.
I made new friends when I learnt to dance. I’m a terrible dancer, even after the course, but girl, was it fun!
Photo by Pixabay from Pexels
4. Reinvigorate old friendships
Sometimes it can be easier to make new friends than reach out to old ones, but what have you got to lose?
Reconnecting with an old friend or acquaintance can feel awkward, especially if their lives look perfect on social media (as most lives do). What would they need another friend for?
Truth is, you really can’t take someone’s Facebook or Instagram page as a whole representation of what’s happening with them. Maybe they’d love to catch up with you. If they’re close by and you didn’t despise each other the first time around, drop them a casual message and say you’re at a loose end this weekend and do they fancy reconnecting?
Give it a try. You may be surprised.
Photo by VisionPic .net from Pexels
5. Get a sociable job
A workplace can be a great spot to meet new friends. Getting a part-time job can be particularly beneficial if you don’t work or if your current role doesn’t have much of a social side. As well as paid work, there’re lots of voluntary positions out there too.
Whichever type of job you opt for, try choosing something that interests you, or something you don’t get the chance to do normally. If you love animals but don’t get much time with them, you could consider a shelter or zoo. How about a job in a museum or local music venue? You can even gain additional skills that can lead to a new career.
Voluntary work is an amazing way to help others and yourself simultaneously. I volunteered for a local community radio station. I’ve always loved music and really wanted to meet new people. I had no idea that two years later I’d be live on air, interviewing my favorite bands such as MotorHead, The Calling, Scorpions, Bonnie Tyler and more! I made lifelong friends through this voluntary position and it’s great for a CV as well. You just never know where something could lead.
Sources
Friendships enrich your life and your health by Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/friendships/art-20044860#:~:text=Friends%20also%20play%20a%20significant,body%20mass%20index%20(BMI). Retrieved 4th December.
7 Ways Friendships Are Great for Your Health by Stephanie Pappas. Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/53315-how-friendships-are-good-for-your-health.html Retrieved 4th December. | https://medium.com/illumination/how-to-make-new-friends-5-solutions-that-you-can-try-today-a55675074e6a | ['Jessie London'] | 2020-12-11 15:06:55.533000+00:00 | ['How To', 'Wellbeing', 'How To Find Friends', 'Friendship', 'Make New Friends'] |
December 15th, 2021 — NCAAB Betting Preview | YTD: 4–0 (+3.37u)
Morehead St. @ Xaiver (-15) | O/U 133.5
The №22 Xavier Musketeers bring a 9–1 record into Wednesday’s matchup against a 6–4 Morehead St. squad. Xavier comes off a 20-point victory against in-state rival Cincinnati. Xavier’s promising start to the year is thanks to several contributors including 4 guys averaging double figures. There’s a good chance Xavier makes some noise in the Big East this season and it rolls on tonight.
Their success is in large part to a defense that ranks #25th in the country in opponents points per game. Morehead State doesn’t light up the scoreboard themselves either. Beyond that, Xavier is 5–1 ATS as a home favorite and Morehead State is 1–4 ATS as an away underdog. I like this spot a lot for Xavier I’ll even lay -8.5 in the first half. Morehead is #239th in 1H PPG while Xavier is #28th in opponents points per game. Xavier is 31st in 1H PPG, while Morehead is ranked #166th in Opp. 1H PPG.
PICK: Xavier 1H -8.5 and -15
Northern Colorado @ Arizona (-24.5) | O/U 153.5
#8 ranked 9–0 Arizona is on the front lines of a Pac-12 that is on the rise this season. Lead by Bennedict Mathurin, Zona holds two big wins over Michigan and Illinois fronting the resume. Additionally, Arizona is 8–1 ATS and simply has been a wagon this year. All this to say I’m going to fade Arizona today.
Northern Colorado is on a three-game win streak and could muck this up to make an interesting first half. The Golden Bears aren’t great defensively but are much better in the first half than the second half; ranked #173rd in 1H Opp. PPG. and #295 in OPP. PPG. Furthermore, Northern Colorado is #152nd in 1H Power Ratings and #269 in 2H Power Ratings. I’ll just hold my nose and hope Northern Colorado mucks it up in a big game for them.
PICK: Northern Colorado 1H +13.5
Chattanooga vs. Belmont (-5.5) | O/U 139
A matchup of a couple mid-majors who could make a splash in the NCAA tournament this coming march meet in Nashville tonight. Chattanooga is 9–1 and Belmont brings in an 8–3 record into the battle. This figures to be a back-and-forth battle, so I’ll be looking to take the points.
Especially with Chattanooga being 4–1 ATS on the road and power ranked #37th on the road. Chattanooga is better defensively #46th in OPP. PPG. while Belmont is #206th in OPP PPG. Chattanooga also has the rebound advantage being #102nd in rebounding and Belmont is #170th against. Chattanooga is #23rd in rebounding against while Belmont is #234th in rebounding.
PICK: Chattanooga (+5.5)
QUICK PLAY TEASER -110
Utah St @ Weber St. OVER 139
- Top Half in pace
- Both averaging 75 PPG.
- 6–3 & 5–3 to the OVER
UC Irvine @ USC UNDER 132
- UC Irvine 0–6 To UNDER
- USC 3–7 to UNDER
- USC 61 OPP PPG
- UC IRVINE 57 OPP PPG | https://medium.com/@ttucker325/december-15th-2021-ncaab-betting-preview-9e9be6af4742 | ['Tyson Tucker'] | 2021-12-15 16:57:35.998000+00:00 | ['Betting', 'Picks', 'NCAA', 'Gambling', 'Basketball'] |
Network Notlarım #2 | Hello, I’m Süleyman Kaya! I’m a cybersecurity researcher and student. I’m 15 years old. I love to hack ≧◡≦ | https://medium.com/@suleymankaya1/network-notlar%C4%B1m-2-48682d2f7463 | ['Süleyman Kaya'] | 2020-12-09 14:59:10.890000+00:00 | ['Network', 'Computers', 'Information Technology', 'Cybersecurity', 'Internet'] |
Here’s how we upgraded our marketing analytics | I hate interrupting my analysis workflow by tabbing between different applications and interfaces. It’s irritating, decreases your productivity and just makes things harder to understand. Therefore, I could empathize when one of our marketing people came up to me and expressed their need for an online marketing dashboard. In their vision, this dashboard would unite all our most important online marketing indicators and help them immensely by removing the need to go back and forth between the analytics views of different platforms.
But online marketing data is isolated, lives in silos and the individual platforms don’t make it easy to integrate them with one-another. Luckily, most of them offer API services, so we rolled our sleeves up and built a basic data pipeline, which resides entirely in the cloud and feeds our Tableau dashboard.
The data
As far as social media platforms go, Starschema mostly uses Facebook and, to a much lesser extent, Instagram and Twitter. Our leads are generated through our website, the traffic of which we measure with Google Analytics, which we also use for our standalone, Wordpress-based blogs. It would have been nice to get the traffic data from Medium as well, but this platform doesn’t offer an API for that unfortunately, so it’s not currently in our scope.
The pipeline
If you’re only interested in the visuals and not how the data got there, just skip this section.
We are not a small firm anymore, so whatever we would have created needed to be as enterprise-ready as possible, not least because we wanted to showcase this and use it as a proof of concept for other projects. We also wanted something with low cost and maintenance, since we want to be able to deploy this for smaller firms that might not necessarily have tech personnel on board.
Thus, we opted for the Google Cloud Platform, mostly because their generous free tier ended up completely covering our requirements. The idea is to have scheduled Python scripts download the data through the API-s, flatten it and load it into our Marketing Data Warehouse which we set up in BigQuery for the sake of simplicity. In a more mature environment, we would put a frontend onto App Engine to drive the Scheduler and the Functions, but in our case we skipped this and manage everything through the GCP console.
The very simple pipeline architecture we set up for this project
The dashboard | https://medium.com/starschema-blog/unified-marketing-analytics-69426752b2e5 | ['Istvan Korompai'] | 2019-04-25 14:40:16.450000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Tableau', 'Analytics', 'Dataviz', 'Google Cloud Platform'] |
Celer Network and Bytom Blockchain sign MOU | Celer Network and Bytom Blockchain recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding which indicates that both sides will collaborate on strengthening Bytom’s ecosystem.
Celer Network is a platform enabling internet scale blockchain applications based on off-chain scaling techniques. It allows everyone to quickly build, operate, and use highly scalable decentralized applications through innovations in and incentive-aligned cryptoeconomics.
With the aim to accelerate blockchain mass adoption, Bytom will cooperate deeply with Celer Network in the future on layered architecture, production iteration, developing sidechain modules and passages supporting fast off-chain status change, through combining different off-chain scaling techniques and creating a comprehensive solution.
Follow Celer Network: | https://medium.com/celer-network/celer-bytom-e2d8962b3919 | ['Celer Network'] | 2019-09-25 01:32:20.098000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Celerpartners', 'Celernetwork'] |
Eat My Shorts | I saw the live action Academy Award nominees for Best Short.
The winner, playwright Martin McDonagh’s Six Shooter, is way better than the rest and deserves to win. It is superbly written, a pitch black comedy with extraordinary dialogue and acting. I can’t get it out of my head. I won’t attempt to try to explain it to you, except to say that it starts out with an extremely dramatic moment and continues escalating until one doesn’t think it’s possible to do so anymore. The premise is almost ludicrous. Four strangers meet on a train; they’ve all had a very recent death in the family. From there all hell breaks loose, thanks to a funny psycopath who chooses to engage his fellow travelers in conversation.
This short is a master class in condensed dramatic writing. Every person who wants to direct or write a short should consider watching this one homework. Maybe it’s unfair for the other nominees to have to compete against a major living playwright (and boy, does it make a difference). Still, it’s his first film.
The other shorts kind of pale by comparison, so it’s a good thing that Six Shooter is screened last. The first one, Our Time is Up, is a frivolous, mildly amusing short from the U.S., about a bored shrink who is suddenly told he only has 6 months to live and, as expected, starts telling off his patients. It’s conventional and predictable, and nobody in it is a real human being.
The Last Farm, hailing from a Scandinavian country (I couldn’t tell which and there were no end credits) is about an old guy who lives in a remote farm with his old wife, who’s just died. He buries her and himself in a little plot next to the house. The piece is beautifully shot, but I didn’t buy it. Death is the worst cliche in the movies and the worst lie. In real life, dead people start leaking and stinking after like five minutes, about twelve if you live in cold weather. They do not retain the beatific composure they show you in the movies. Their faces become distorted, unrecognizable, all their expression is sucked out of them. It is an ugly affair. And so, the fact that this old guy lays down to sleep next to his very dead wife, who’s been dead for at least a day, seems to me bogus. It’s a powerful short, morbid and humorless, and the second best of the lot, but I didn’t like it.
Cash Back, from England, is a very amusing, if rambling story about a slightly smarmy art student who works the late shift at a supermarket. It is quite funny, but tonally all over the place, veering between philosophical musings about art and beauty and sheer slapstick (I was much entertained by the slapstick, less thrilled with the musings). The short has an advertisingy feel to it, relying on Matrix-like fx, the sort that are routinely abused in car commercials. Also, this artist kid expostulates about the beauty of women yet all the naked women they show are leggy models in poses that remind you more of Axe ads than of the concept of female beauty in art (you know, unshaved armpits, tubbiness). They are too perfect, too thin, too tall, too creamy. Ergo: bogus.
Ausreisser, from Germany, is a whimsical story about a child that appears at a guy’s doorstep, a sort of annunciation. It’s well done, but I don’t like sugary whimsy.
So then Six Shooter, the most outrageous, over the top of the shorts, seems the most human to me. And it’s all in the writing. Sharp, complex, funny, vicious, real. | https://medium.com/ive-had-it-with-hollywood/eat-my-shorts-c741ee823755 | ['Yehudit Mam'] | 2018-01-01 03:29:15.970000+00:00 | ['Short', 'Oscars'] |
Art can help you cope with the pandemic. — Arpita Sharma | I don’t know about you all, but I’ve been struggling a lot recently — feeling more lethargic, lost, and void of meaning. As someone who still has a job, a home, and whose family is relatively healthy given everything, I feel pretty privileged (knock on wood). Even so, this pandemic has taken a major toll on my mental health and really restricted my ability to do the things that gave me joy and helped me be more resilient.
One thing that has gone right for me though is my effort to continuing to make art and trying to connect with an art community during this pandemic. At the beginning of this year, NPR shared an article called Feeling Artsy? Here’s How Making Art Helps Your Brain. I’ve been thinking about this piece a lot recently as the pandemic continues to disrupt our lives and makes it difficult to connect, explore, and expand our worlds. I wanted to share some of the key benefits of creating art from the article. Hopefully, it will encourage you to do something a little more creative in your spare time.
1) Art helps you imagine a more hopeful future.
Girija Kaimal is an Associate Professor at Drexel University and a researcher in art therapy, leading art sessions with members of the military suffering from traumatic brain injury and caregivers of cancer patients. She wrote a recent piece for the Journal of the American Art Therapy Association theorizing that art-making helps us navigate problems that might arise in the future. She argues that the act of imagination is actually an act of survival. It is preparing us to imagine possibilities and hopefully survives those possibilities.
I see this play out often with the folks who come to my art classes. They feel more hopeful and creative when they spend their evenings in a community with others creating something. The process of creation opens up their imagination to new ideas or approaches to the world.
2) Art makes you happier.
Kaimal and a team of researchers also discovered that making art may benefit people dealing with addictive behaviors, eating disorders, and mood disorders. They measured blood flow to the brain’s reward center, the medial prefrontal cortex, in 26 participants as they completed three art activities: coloring in a mandala, doodling, and drawing freely on a blank sheet of paper. They found an increase in blood flow to this part of the brain when the participants were making art. The research suggests that art may activate reward pathways in the brain that can benefit them.
I have personally experienced this in my own life. I started painting during a period where I was struggling with how to managing life expectations and disappointments. Art allowed me to feel happier and better manage those challenges.
3. No matter your skill level, creating art makes you less anxious about life.
A 2016 research paper found that 45 minutes of creating art in a studio significantly lowered stress levels. The paper also showed that there were no differences in health outcomes between people who identify as experienced artists and people who don’t. So that means that no matter your skill level, you’ll be able to feel all the good things that come with making art.
A struggle I hear from many people I try to convince to take up art is the fear and anxiety around not being good at it. One of the great things about this article is that it reinforces that you don’t have to be greatly skilled at art in order to enjoy it and reduce your stress levels.
If you read this and want to try painting, check out my other article where I share my top 5 youtube art tutorial channels. If you are interested in a community of hobby artists, come to my art class on Wednesday nights. I’d love to have you. | https://medium.com/@arpitasharma/art-can-help-you-cope-with-the-pandemic-arpita-sharma-16d35e2aa787 | ['Arpita Sharma'] | 2020-12-27 16:07:07.088000+00:00 | ['Art', 'Creative Process', 'Creativity', 'Life'] |
Spreading Joye | Spreading Joye
No. That’s not a typo.
Yes, at this time of year, it’s common to spread JOY everywhere we go. However, this is the kind of thing I tend to look for all throughout the year. The JOYE “who” spreads joy.
Meet JOYE.
Joye recently stayed at the SpringHill Suites by Marriott in Logan. UT. This is what she had to say, on Facebook, about her stay: I love staying at the Logan SpringHill Suites by Marriott because the staff is always so welcoming. They also provide herbal teas and hot chocolate in the lobby, not just the usual coffee. The rooms are spacious and clean.
Joye could have stayed anywhere, but she stays at the SpringHill Suites when she is in Logan, UT.
Joye could have said nothing, but she shared her love for this particular hotel, “…because the staff is always so welcoming.” They, “…provide herbal teas and hot chocolate in the lobby, not just the usual coffee.” And ,”The rooms are spacious and clean.”
Joye is a better marketer than any hotel. WHY? Because people listen to their friends. You do it. I do it. We all care about our friends opinions. Before some stranger on Facebook, Yelp or TripAdvisor. And WAY more than any brand!
Joye has 530 friends on Facebook! How many of them love the SpringHill Suites in Logan, UT? I don’t know, but it’s a good bet they’ll consider staying there the next time they visit.
The best part? We did not pay, coerce, bribe, force or incentivize her to write this post. Her sentiment is 100% genuine. She’s just being honest. Sometimes, we get so caught up in running our businesses that we forget who we run them for. This season, stop to thank those who take the time to thank you for all that you do.
Now, the only question remaining is: How can we find more Joye? | https://medium.com/@joeymcgirr/spreading-joye-9c0e78e53b0a | ['Joey Mcgirr'] | 2016-12-12 23:34:37.636000+00:00 | ['Hotel', 'Business', 'Marketing', 'Word Of Mouth', 'Social Media'] |
Tua Nao: The Plant-based Alternative To Shrimp Paste You’ve Probably Never Heard Of | Tua Nao: The Plant-based Alternative To Shrimp Paste You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
The centuries-old Thai condiment that will elevate your dishes
Nothing brings Southeast Asian flavors together quite as well as shrimp paste.
Okay, maybe knowledge, skill, and love for cooking, but mainly shrimp paste…
I used to be vegetarian, and of the few things that spoiled plant-based, Southeast Asian recipes — that is, those that normally aren’t — for me, omitting shrimp paste and fish sauce hit the hardest.
There’s nothing quite like taking all the flavor, fat, and umami out of a dish and half-heartedly replacing it with tofu and a squirt of soy sauce, or if you’re lucky to have some, Miso.
But, Miso can be a little sweet and doesn’t always hit the same as shrimp paste (Gapi).
So we look to Thailand…
An old episode of The Splendid Table podcast features Austin Bush — author of The Food of Northern Thailand — nostalgically recounting his travels of northern Thailand and the smell of Tua Nao.
Tua Nao, which roughly translates to “rotten beans” are fermented soybean cakes that have been used as a seasoning in the north of Thailand, and Laos, for hundreds of years.
They’re made from cooked soybeans pounded into a paste and left to ferment for several days. They have a strong flavor similar to shrimp paste and have traditionally been used to add a sense of umami to otherwise simple dishes. | https://heeryalex3.medium.com/tua-nao-the-plant-based-shrimp-paste-alternative-youve-probably-never-heard-of-2986dd0e28a2 | ['Alex Heery'] | 2020-11-24 16:29:02.275000+00:00 | ['Thailand', 'Vegan', 'Cooking', 'Fermentation', 'Food'] |
.NET Core Code Quality with Coverlet and SonarQube | By Sandeep Anantha
Organizations that embrace continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) reap enormous benefits when rolling out their products — if you’re new to the subject, you can read more about CI/CD here. The reason that CI/CD works is that code is built, tests are run and code is deployed as soon as the code is checked in. As CI/CD catches problems as soon as the source code is checked in, this puts the onus on developers to write code that is efficient and bug-free, thus making them accountable for their code. The idea that code is deployed continuously even before it is QA’ed, seems like a significant risk to some. But if we fortify the code with tests to ensure every piece of code is covered by these tests, then we can be reasonably confident that the code the developer checks in does not break the larger code. Of course for this strategy to work, test driven development (TDD) has to be practiced and automated tests have to be written religiously for every piece of code.
However, the effectiveness of CI/CD will largely depend on how well tests are written, how extensive they are, and how subjective they are. As the ultimate value of CI/CD will depend on code quality, and having continuously good code quality. If you have tests that don’t cover critical pieces of code, then you may end up with many false positives leading to compromised code quality. To avoid this, code reviews should be conducted, but be aware that reviews are also subjective and bugs can slip through the cracks. When conducting a code review, a big part of what you’re doing is identifying smells.
Code smells are common knowledge these days and there are many resources available to identify code smells. Though, it can be daunting to manually find code smells in every code review. Imagine a tool that can help you define custom rules, in addition to the common code smell patterns, externalize these rules and have the flexibility to apply them to the code at the project level, department level, or at the enterprise level…Meet: SonarQube.
SonarQube is a service that can scan code in 25+ languages and identify smells, vulnerabilities, and bugs. SonarQube is a big step toward automating development operations (DevOps) as it enables continuous code inspection that will improve code quality and ensures clean code.
Since SonarQube is open source, it can easily be integrated right into your CI/CD process, which will enable continuous inspection of code for bugs, vulnerabilities, and smells, and can be extended. SonarQube can also be extended by using plugins. For example, you can use the CodeAnalyzer plugin to measure cyclomatic complexity.
With so many CI/CD tools available, like Jenkins, Cruise Control, etc., this blog will focus on externalizing SonarQube integration into a shell script. Since shell script is generic and cross-platform, it can be called from any CI/CD tool of your choice.
Given the core capabilities of SonarQube, it can be used to smooth out the rollout process to production. Imagine the hurdles that a development team faces before going to production at the eleventh hour. They have to go through a long checklist of processes; one among them is the mandatory approval by the enterprise security team, which is often responsible to go through the code, analyze it, and block deployment if they see any issues or vulnerabilities. Development teams have to go through each of the concerns, address them, refactor the code, and submit it for deployment again. This can happen multiple times depending on the quality of the code and can lead to crucial time lost, increasing time to market, and can lead to burnout and stress on the team. Imagine if we could detect and fix all these potential bugs and vulnerabilities early on, right when the code is checked in. This would take little effort to fix them early while still in dev., leaving the teams happy and assured. SonarQube will help you in this endeavor.
SonarQube feeds on the coverage reports and analyzes .NET assemblies and generates reports of its own that include vulnerabilities, bugs, and code smells. It also reports the asymptotic complexity of the code. Apart from these obvious benefits, SonarQube can automate gating of deployments on the server. Should the coverage fail beyond a threshold, or if a bug has been detected, SonarQube can report them to the team and block the deployment.
In the next part of this blog series, we will go over how to scan the C# code on .NET Core platform via SonarQube and in the third, how to enable quality gates. Stay tuned! | https://medium.com/tribalscale/net-core-code-quality-with-coverlet-and-sonarqube-1372e5bb1b71 | ['Tribalscale Inc.'] | 2019-04-10 15:04:01.247000+00:00 | ['Software Development', 'Continuous Integration', 'Sonarqube', 'Development', 'Net Core'] |
First Steps Into The Medical Field | First Steps Into The Medical Field
Auburn Youth Programs is passionate about helping students of all ages grow their passions, develop skills, and become leaders. We are eager to bringing these students back to Auburn’s campus this summer so they can explore their interests in Auburn University’s beautiful facilities alongside professionals in their desired fields. Registration is NOW OPEN for these medical camps:
Discovery MedCamp:
Hosted by the Southeast Alabama AHEC and led by the AU Interprofessional Education (IPE) faculty team, campers will investigate nine different health care, career options: Osteopathic Medicine, Nursing, Social Work, Speech & Audiology, Pharmacy, Dietetics, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, & Athletic Training. Campers will also tour the labs and go behind the scenes at East Alabama Medical Center for an up-close look at the real world of medicine.
Pharmacy Camp:
The Harrison School of Pharmacy, in partnership with Auburn Youth Programs, invites you to join us this summer for Pharmacy Camp. This unique opportunity is for rising high school 11th and 12th grade students as well as rising college freshmen who are interested in pharmacy. This hands-on experience will allow campers to explore the profession through various learning experiences such as skills and compounding labs, while also exposing you to the various career options through visits to local pharmacies and healthcare facilities.
Nursing Camp:
Facilitated by Auburn University School of Nursing (AUSON) and Auburn Youth Programs, this engaging one-week summer program is available for high school students interested in careers in nursing. Camp participants “learn by doing” and practice technical skills as they rotate through interactive learning stations led by undergraduate nursing students in the school’s labs and simulation center.
Emergency Medical Responder Camp:
For anyone interested in a field of emergency medicine, or in serving on the response team as a non-EMS responder in the government, corporate, law enforcement, or corrections field, the Emergency Medical Response course provides invaluable skills and knowledge to help responders appropriately help at the scene of an emergency. Campers will learn how to take vitals, proper lifting and moving skills, in addition to treatment for a variety of common emergencies.
AU Brain Camp:
High school students will have the opportunity of a lifetime this summer when the Department of Psychology in the College of Liberal Arts hosts their annual Auburn University Brain Camp. AU Brain Camp is a fun, interactive camp for juniors and seniors in high school, or about to enter their freshman year of college, to get hands-on experience using advanced technology and to learn from distinguished professors in the field of neuroscience. | https://medium.com/@auyouth/first-steps-into-the-medical-field-d93bf4605225 | ['Auburn Youth Programs'] | 2020-12-14 18:24:05.517000+00:00 | ['Summer Camp', 'High School', 'Youth Program', 'Youth', 'Summer2021'] |
These Are 5 Ways to Check Your Progress on Medium | Medium writers always try to check their progress using their earning dashboards. It is not a good idea to check the dashboard on medium to check your progress. Medium is not all about money. On medium, every writer can write to give world knowledge and further can change the lives of the people.
Medium earnings do not tell medium writers' progress, but it depends on many factors.
1. Are readers commenting on your stories
Are readers commenting on your stories? If they are doing it, then your work is being appreciated by them. Medium is a social media platform, the interaction between you and the reader is necessary for engagement.
To create a relationship with the reader, create engagement with them. Try to write content that entertains and teach readers. They will interact with your work.
More comment you get by readers, it means your work is getting appreciated by the reader and you are doing well. Write the number of times readers are commenting on your spreadsheet this will help you track your engagement.
2. Pay attention towards readings to clap ratio | https://medium.com/illumination/these-are-5-ways-to-check-your-progress-on-medium-262c0834e852 | ['Mike Ortega'] | 2020-10-26 13:17:38.797000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Self Improvement', 'Writer', 'Success', 'Writing Tips'] |
GatsbyJS — Building Stallion Websites That Outrun the Rest | Working with GatsbyJS, the React-based, GraphQL powered static site generator has been a wild ride so far. Build on top of that a modern CMS like Prismic and you can’t go wrong.
You could implement this technology into almost any industry and it would work. Even better than using dinosaur CMSs like *cough* WordPress. *cough*
But people don’t like change so how do you persuade the client or stakeholder that newer is better?
Is going static the future? Do we need the future, yet?
Bringing such a product to your boss and shouting like a monkey “hey, use this! This is the future!”.
That might not be the best way to do it but maybe there’s a better solution.
Whats Gatsby?
GatsbyJS is a combination of the ReactJS best of the best. It’s an open-source community empowered beast with a bunch of good reviews on the internet.
The developer experience is great as it weaves together the best parts of React, Webpack, react-router, and GraphQL. It has a bunch of plugins and is constantly evolving so both the developer and the client can live happily ever after.
GatsbyJS is said to be a static site generator, however, as I dive deeper into the abyss of the Gatsby development community I find out it is a much grander and generous compadre to find.
It is not like the old static generators people are used to.
It’s really a Stallion-site generator.
It uses powerful reconfiguration to build a website that uses only static files for incredibly fast page loads, service workers, code splitting, server-side-rendering, intelligent image loading, asset optimization, and data prefetching. I was told Usain Bolt couldn’t outrun Gatsby, but that's a topic for some weird podcast.
You code up your site in your favorite code editor and run gatsby build in the command line. Gatsby then transforms your code into a lean, mean code-spilling stallion of a directory in the shape of a single HTML file and your static assets.
GraphQL
GraphQL is what gives GatsbyJS the powers to make stallion websites that it does.
GatsbyJS utilizes GraphQL to build the data layer. Data from APIs, the Headless CMS you use, or JSON. When you run gatsby build it creates an internal GraphQL server from all of the data.
All in all, working with static sites is cheaper and easier for both the developer and more importantly the client. It’s modern and worth digging into if you dig digging dig worthy diggables. | https://medium.com/@danielbergmannn/gatsbyjs-building-static-stallion-websites-that-outrun-the-rest-fe76c543314b | ['Daniel Bergmann'] | 2020-12-05 09:37:32.824000+00:00 | ['GraphQL', 'JavaScript', 'Web Development', 'Gatsbyjs', 'Reactjs'] |
Mental & Behavioral Health Startup Library by Hopelab | Mental & Behavioral Health Startup Library by Hopelab
The mental and behavioral health space, in particular, is difficult to navigate with the ambiguous pathways to proving real outcomes, the empathy required to design an effective solution, and the relative novelty and mounting importance of innovation in this area.
This is why we’ve decided to curate this resource, so no founder is without a paddle when they row into the ocean. We hope that this resource helps you as you begin your journey in this space.
So, You Want to Build a Mental Health Startup?
Designing Your Product
Testing Your Product
Evidence is Key in Digital Health Randomized trials are burdensome, but as Nike says: just do it
Generating Evidence in Digital Health From the perspective of four digital health startups
Identifying Your Customers
Who Should Your Customer Be? Why B2B could be attractive
Get To Know the Next Generation And how to market to them
Choosing Your Business Model
The Social Entrepreneur’s Dilemma Should your business be a non-profit?
Scaling Your Business
Going from Hypothesis to Scale Because you are a startup after all
Before You Leap, Learn From Where Others Have Stumbled
And, Remember: Your Mental Health is Important Too
Other Things To Have On Your Radar
These organizations are looking for great new companies now: | https://medium.com/hackmentalhealth/hopelabs-mental-behavioral-health-startup-library-2b16e701d4c9 | ['Trishla Jain'] | 2019-11-27 20:12:39.389000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Behavioral Health', 'Mental Health', 'Health'] |
Thirty-four sweet years | Thirty-four sweet years
Dr. Richard C. Taylor and his son Edward recently baked several kinds of cookies from recipes that appear on Taylor’s list of more than 100 recipes collected from his students since 1986.
By Shelby Williamson, senior communication specialist in the Office of Marketing and Communication
Philosophy and cookies seem like an odd pairing.
The first, a field of study analyzing fundamental questions, reason, existence, knowledge and values.
The latter, a delicious treat.
But for more than three decades, Dr. Richard C. Taylor, professor of philosophy in the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences, has tastefully mixed the baked goods into his classes to create the perfect blend of serious and sweet.
The result: A 70-page list — or cookbook, if you will — of more than 100 (mostly) cookie recipes collected from students over the course of 34 years.
Taylor has shared the list of recipes with friends, family and colleagues every now and then. He says, though, if there were ever a time to share the list more broadly with everyone, it’s now — to spread some sweet joy and a little happiness both to close out what has been a difficult 2020 and welcome 2021 on a delightful note.
Taylor began teaching at Marquette in 1982. Having always enjoyed baking — a love instilled in him by the father and aunts who raised him — Taylor soon began making Snickerdoodles for his students and fellow faculty members. He mostly shared the treats during final exams in hopes of adding a little dash of indulgence to what is typically, a stale, stressful week.
“I just really wanted to do something to help release some tension,” Taylor says. “And then that turned into students returning from Thanksgiving Break and sharing cookie recipes with me that they brought from their families. So, I saved them.”
In 1986, Taylor made it a point to formally archive the recipes.
Today, the collection boasts 114 recipes from different eras.
The “R.A.D. Oat Cookie”
One of Taylor’s favorites on the list is the “Mega Cookie” recipe — whether he enjoys the cookie so much for its flavor, or chaos that ensues in the kitchen when it’s made, though, is up for debate.
“The Mega Cookie is massive,” he says. “This thing calls for a pound of chocolate and all sorts of other things. I have broken two mixers trying to make the Mega Cookie. So, I’m on my third mixer . . . I’m a little more careful now.”
The Mega Cookie is not the only recipe on the list with a juicy story.
Taylor says the first recipe on the list is actually identical to No.14.
No.1, which of course dates back to 1986, is the “Pseudo-Mrs. Fields Cookies” recipe.
“It’s a very specialized recipe,” Taylor says. “But then some years later another student submitted the same recipe with a story attached saying that the recipe is actually the recipe for the Neiman Marcus cookie. They wrote that they got the recipe from someone who paid $250 to get it. So, there’s this sort of urban legend surrounding those particular ones.”
The “Pseudo-Mrs. Fields Cookies,” also known as the “Neiman Marcus Cookie,” according to two different recipes submitted by students of Taylor’s.
The cookie recipes are special to Taylor for many reasons, but perhaps the thing that’s most appetizing is that the collection contains recipes from students all of different backgrounds, experiences and cultures. Because of that, Taylor says, some fudge and even some non-dessert recipes are sprinkled throughout the list.
“Of course, not all of our students are Christian,” he says. “On the list are various kinds Indian food recipes from students who wanted to submit something but didn’t necessarily have something to contribute as far as sweets.”
The collection also contains Pakistani and a few Arab recipes.
“Those recipes are not so sweet,” Taylor says. “But are just as enjoyable.”
When Taylor thinks back to 1986 and how and why all of this started, he says it really came down to him simply wanting to show that those studying philosophy can be serious in their practice but also have a sense of humor.
Afterall, the best things in life are equal parts salty and sweet. | https://stories.marquette.edu/thirty-four-sweet-years-d5f39cc480d4 | ['Marquette University'] | 2020-12-21 19:21:08.195000+00:00 | ['Philosophy', 'Baking', 'Recipe', 'Holidays', 'New Year'] |
FinOps at SMPD | Cloud resources are free… until they are not.
FinOps — Joel Marchand
Cloud computing is amazing. Resources of all sizes and shapes can be provisioned with a few commands. But at the risk of using a tired trope, with great power comes great responsibility, or at least great cost. My team saved Cloud costs by 40% while doubling our infrastructure by adopting FinOps principles articulated around four tenets. In this blog, I will introduce our process.
Some Background:
The Social and Messaging Product Development (SMPD) team lives within T-Mobile’s contact center organization. Our mission is to develop tools and experiences empowering customers to have the best and most effective interactions with T-Mobile over asynchronous communication modes (such as messaging or social networks). We build tools and a platform used by Customer Care experts to accelerate and optimize every contact with our customers.
Our application landscape is organized around an increasing number of microservices, running in containers orchestrated by Kubernetes and augmented by a collection of Amazon Web Services products for data persistence, streams management, encryption, etc.
Within SMPD, my team is focusing on creating and maintaining the platform, tools and guardrails allowing the product teams to innovate, disrupt and optimize business flows with increasing speed and quality. This team is known as the Engineering Efficiency team or E2. As the custodian of the infrastructure and platform, the E2 team took on the responsibility to introduce FinOps principles as part of the quality markers for each SMPD product. So even as our portfolio of products and services continues to grow and change, the E2 team is focusing on maximizing resource utilization by identifying and reducing waste while remaining on the leading edge of technology innovation.
These principles were put to the test during a recent project to achieve multi-region resilience. More on that later…
To bootstrap our FinOps responsibilities, we organized four focus areas:
1. Increase cost awareness across the whole organization (and make it fun!)
2. Provide automated guardrails for resources creation and management.
3. Reduce waste by adopting ephemeral environments principles.
4. Create cost modelling tools at design time.
1. Making cost awareness fun
The first step in our FinOps journey is to make the actual cost of services available to all. True to the spirit of the DevOps model, the operational responsibilities for a product lies fully with the team that creates the product. As such, it is important to make the cost of running a product completely transparent. The T-Mobile Cloud Center of Excellence (CCOE) provides each team using cloud resources a detailed report on the cost of running every aspect of our applications. From the CPUs and memory to network connection cost, the information is available in nearly real time. This invaluable tool is too often only available to comptrollers and management. We decided to provide that information to everybody inside the team. Awareness is the greatest tool to ensure the rightsizing of resources. This has become a part of our operational review of our applications. Every month, the E2 team reviews the numbers provided by the CCoE and presents them to the different product teams with suggestions on potential optimization opportunities.
To increase the participation of the product teams, we have also taken a page out of the gamification playbook. We regularly create contests between teams to achieve some widespread goals for the platform. For example, we needed the team to right-size the provisioning of the Kubernetes pods resources. Our goal was for each container to use 60% of assigned memory as a baseline for provisioning. Creating a leaderboard showing how each team’s portfolio met that goal increased awareness while tickling their competitive streak. It is a simple but very effective solution to ensure the teams’ participation.
Gamified Resources Utilization Dashboard
2. Guardrails for resource creation and management
In SMPD, we strongly believe in bringing the decision-making process as close to the individual as possible. However, there are some requirements that are larger than the team. Security standards are a good example. To achieve adherence to organizational standards, the E2 team is designing automated guardrails that implement the patterns necessary for compliance without additional burdens on developers. Our CI/CD pipeline is a constantly evolving product designed to implement standards when they are needed. For example, the pipeline enforces naming conventions and tagging requirements on resources. And when automation is not possible, documentation starting with the “why” of a pattern is available for constant reference. We have affectionately named our documentation system E2Pedia. If the code does not meet our documented standards, the pipeline fails the build and prevents the deployment.
3. Ephemeral environments
With the resource creation and management guardrails in place, we move a step closer to ephemeral environments. One of the promises of the Cloud is the ability to create and destroy resources as needed. The ability to create, let’s say a Redis cluster, with a few mouse clicks is truly a game changer when it comes to designing disruptive products. Destroying that Redis cluster when done however seems to not generate the same level of glee. It is also not in the Cloud providers’ business model to encourage us to clean up after ourselves. My parents would be proud. Our team is moving towards a completely ephemeral provisioning model. Every Cloud resource required is created upon requests by the CI/CD pipeline and destroyed either on schedule or with the click of a button. This ensures that resources are only created for as long as they are needed. This seems like an obvious habit to implement but it does require us to declare all the infrastructure needed by an application with the application itself. Adopting the principles of “Infrastructure as Code” and empowering every developer to declare what resources is needed is a critical step in managing our cloud resources efficiently.
4. Cost modeling tool at design time
The next step in our FinOps initiative is to provide a cost modelling tool at design time. While we do not advocate for cost to be the sole or even a major design consideration, providing knowledge of the impact of those decisions helps shape better design decisions. The tool models the cost of the infrastructure required to run the service through a short survey. For example, a new application might require 4 new microservices deployed over 35 Kubernetes pods. Each pod is provisioned with 500 minutes of CPU time and 256 MiB of memory. The application also uses a couple DynamoDB tables and Kafka for streaming. Based on the information collected, we provide a strawman of the costs associated with running the application. The results can be saved for side by side comparison with different configurations. This information can also be compared with the results of some more rigorous performance testing to validate the design assumptions. This tool is still a work in progress. The feedback we gather from the different teams will make it more accurate over time. Data driven decisions make for better decisions.
Walking the talk:
One of our team’s initiatives for 2020 is to improve the resilience of our applications by distributing our services across multiple cloud regions and follow an active/active traffic distribution pattern. This meant duplicating our infrastructure and supporting cloud services. To validate our FinOps principles, we set a goal to be fully geo-redundant without increasing our cloud budget for the year. Six months into the year, the current forecast has us achieving that goal!
Conclusions:
Managing the costs associated with an application portfolio is rarely a pre-occupation of a traditional development team. We believe however that bringing the attention of the whole team on the financial aspects of software development empowers us to make better, more conscious decisions about the design, management and maintenance of our products. FinOps is a process complementary to any good DevOps team. | https://medium.com/tmobile-tech/finops-at-smpd-db7c9646bac5 | ["Olivier D'Hose"] | 2020-07-06 23:57:24.871000+00:00 | ['DevOps', 'Cloud Computing', 'Finops', 'T Mobile Tech'] |
Submit | What we’re looking to publish?
Since No Writing aims to help writers achieve their career goals, we are looking for articles that focus on writing, editing and publishing articles, short stories, essays, fiction, novels, nonfiction et al. Any high-quality piece that includes fresh advice on writing a manuscript, getting published, querying agents, self-publishing hacks, freelance writing goals, editors’ experience, author interview, writing routines, first person accounts of going through the industry, pitfalls of the industry, is what we aim to produce.
We’re looking for you, if
you have advice on how to write believable characters,
you have advice on working with editors,
you know how to pitch to magazines and journals,
you have a unique way to outline your stories before you start writing,
you had advice on how to write a book while being a full-time parent,
you have tips and tricks on doing market research for a book,
you have fresh tips on avoiding writers’ block
…. and other similar topics.
Photo by Mark Duffel on Unsplash
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All submissions must comply with Medium’s Rules and Ad-Free Policy. Partner Program stories must also comply with Medium’s Content Guidelines and Curation Guidelines. We only accept previously unpublished drafts. However, stories published outside of Medium are welcome to be submitted as unpublished drafts, but posts already published on Medium are not accepted. Please do not violate Medium’s rules on duplicate content. Submissions must be non-fiction. We reserve the right to reject content deemed offensive or inappropriate. Product reviews (including promotion for writing tools, apps, services) is not allowed. Mentioning a tool/app/service that has been beneficial to you as a writer is okay, as long as it not affiliated with you or promoted by you. You can include single links to your website, blog, social media, in your author bio, that will appear at the bottom of the submission. Stories requesting link clicks, money via payment apps and claps, will be removed. All submissions must be in UK or US English and free of grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, or language issues. You retain all rights to your content and can remove it from No Writing, if you choose, however if you habitually remove stories from our publication (more than twice), we retain the right to remove you from the publication.
By submitting a story to the No Writing, you are agreeing to comply with all of our rules and policies. You will be removed as a writer for the publication if there are multiple violations.
How to submit?
Start an account on Medium. Write a story and without publishing it, send the draft link to Amrita at [email protected]. The draft link can be found when you click on the three little dots right next to the bell icon beside your profile photo, on the top-right corner of the screen. Reviewing an article can take anywhere from 1 to 2 weeks. All decisions are final. | https://medium.com/not-writing/submit-c4c918d07798 | ['Amrita Chowdhury'] | 2020-02-28 21:15:59.544000+00:00 | ['Fiction', 'Submission Guidelines', 'Writing', 'Nonfiction', 'Writers On Writing'] |
Kolmogorov–Smirnov test(KS Test) in Python. | KS Test is used to check if two continuous distributions follow the same distribution or not. Below is the Python code for performing KS Test.
# Import Libraries
import numpy as np
import seaborn as sns
from scipy import stats
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt #Generating Normal Random Variable X
x = stats.norm.rvs(size= 100) #Draw Kernel Density Estimation Plot for X
sns.kdeplot(np.array(x),bw = 0.5)
plt.show() #Use kstest function available under scipy to compare X with Normal Distribution. stats.kstest(x, ‘norm’)
#Output :
KstestResult(statistic=0.063772217543546034, value=0.81075786049050036)
Conclusion:
P-value is higher than the Significance level(Also known as Alpha .05 in our case) so we accept the Null Hypothesis which implies x is normally distributed.
Follow us to get more such articles. | https://medium.com/@kunalmahajan141/kolmogorov-smirnov-test-ks-test-in-python-55ce3a77372e | ['Kunal Mahajan'] | 2020-12-26 16:15:40.369000+00:00 | ['Statistics', 'Machine Learning', 'Data Analytics', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Data Science'] |
“Sapphic Fragment” | by Eliza Griswold
Do I still long for my virginity?
— Fragment 107
I never longed for my virginity.
I heard it on the radio after the hurricane.
There, in the aftermath, was the voice of a man —
once the sweet, screwed-up boy whose hooded,
jessed spirit I tried to possess with the ruthlessness
I mistook for power. Here he was on NPR,
so gentle, so familiar with devastation,
his timbre woke the teenage falconer in me
who once saw his kindness as weakness,
saw a boy as an unfledged goshawk —
a creature to trap and be trapped with
in darkened mews. I knew the rules:
neither of us could sleep until the molting bird
grew ravenous enough to take the raw mouse
from my hand. Breaking the falcon
broke us both, left us scared
and less aware of love than fear.
— Poetry, February 2013
Eliza Griswold is a poet and reporter whose work has appeared in the New Yorker, the Atlantic, the New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, and the New Republic. Her books include the poetry collection Wideawake Field (2007) and the non-fiction title The Tenth Parallel (2010), which examines Christianity and Islam in Asia and Africa. | https://medium.com/the-hairpin/sapphic-fragment-545f2320fb6 | ['The Hairpin'] | 2016-06-02 01:26:41.742000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Featured Poet', 'Eliza Griswold'] |
Throwing Away My Bicycle Was The Best Decision I Ever Made! | Throwing Away My Bicycle Was The Best Decision I Ever Made!
A long-time cyclist’s review of the Brompton Bicycle.
me by Meghan Willis
by Ren Willis
***AUG/2018 UPDATE! I have now switched from my Brompton to a Tern! CLICK HERE to read why!***
It dawned on me the other day… I’ve been riding bikes for a very long time. From big wheels to training wheels to my first dirt bike to my first ten-speed, steel, aluminum, and carbon, department store mountain bikes to fancy bike store road bikes, tandems, hybrids, fixed-gear, single-speed, 10, 12, and more speeds than I can know what to do with, when you tally it up, we are closing in on nearly 40 years of riding bicycles.
photo: me crossing the finish line after the Tour de Cure 100 mile bike ride.
Oy. That’s a long ass time and goodness knows how many miles (no Strava apps in the 70s, I’m afraid).
But, as a cyclist in NYC, things are different. Long-distance road cycling became rather boring — I can only do so many laps in a park or ride the same 15 mile ride to ride the same ride in Jersey so many times before I want to shoot myself in the brain. So I took up running and fortunately, I love it. So while I do miss my 60, 80, and 100 mile bike adventures from the days of yore, my “weekend warrior” problem was solved. Check done.
Commuting by bike was still good though, but with space being tight, thieves getting better, dogs pissing on my bike & lock, random people fucking with my bike during the day, and being beholden to the bike (if you ride it in, you ride it home, can’t leave it overnight), managing my commuting cyclocross bike started becoming a chore. A lot to maintain, a lot to care for… basically a “thing” to worry about. When your commute goes from 20 miles to 7.5 miles each way (and that’s the long way), it’s a whole lot of thinking for a relatively short amount of time on a bike.
Also, this bike was the cheapest decent cyclocross I could find a number of years ago — originally my snow bike (snowclocrossssss!!!), it was upgraded to commuter status after the steel vintage road bike was ready to be sold — it was starting to show it’s age.
So, long story short (too late), I was ready for a change. And no, I’m not commuting on the carbon Felt. That’d be stolen in 5 min. After some soul searching, consulting online and with friends and loved ones, I came to the conclusion that my options were as follows:
- Do I go back to single speed from the days of yore? No. Unlike Ted Cruz, I and these gams like science. I go over bridges and up hills, my legs want to spin. One gear means of the three possibilities (up a hill/bridge, down a hill/bridge, on the flat) I only have one correct gearing for a good cadence.
- Fine, what about going to a 3-speed? Thought about this long and hard. A cute little internal 3-speed urban bike would be great, but I’m not sold on internal hubs and their shifting dependency (see my brutal accident story here) and it doesn’t solve the bike commuting issues mentioned above.
- Okay, so? You’ve gone this far, how about just modify and simplify the current bike, STFU, and just keep on trucking? Take it to a single gear up front, go to a flat bar handle bar (aging hands, want a better grip for commuting), get a good tuning and fresh parts, and carry on! Sounds good! Orrrrrrrrrrrr…..
- Scrap the big wheels and go to a folding bike.
After a 3 mile test ride at BFold in Manhattan. I was a smitten kitten and I bought a black Brompton S2L.
Okay, why a Brompton?
Well, of all the folding bikes, the Brompton seems to be the one that folds up the smallest so I can store it under my desk at work (and it takes up like no space in the apartment). The Brompton is renowned for it’s quality, endurance, and simplicity. Regardless if you like them or not, these are wonderfully built & engineered bikes. People who get Bromptons love their Bromptons.
So, size and quality in check, why the S2L? Let me break it down for you:
The S- is the more aero, less upright flat bar set up. I still want to go fast after all and I’m rather used to being hunched over my bike peddling away. They also have M (medium classic height), H (pretty much upright), and P (an “all of the above” handlebar). As an ex-roadie, the S was the way to go.
The L- is for the fenders. Never was a fenders person, just slapped on the quickie one for rainy days, but I figured, it comes with it ready to go. so why not, right? The first week I had the bike, it rained pretty much every day. Good call, I’d say.
The 2- is for two gears. It keeps the bike lighter (seriously, the 3 speed goes to an internal hub that’s a pound heavier), simplifies the set up, and I’ve learned I can live with 2 gears, 1 gear for getty-up and 1 gear for go! They also do a single speed (nope for me) and a 6 speed. In my opinion, you really only have 3 options, single if your life is flat like in Florida. 2 if you got a few hills here and there, and 6 if you are doing some distance involving rolling hillsides or other varying terrain. The 3 speed, while classic, is the odd duck out, imo.
So I got my bike. Bfold was kind to show me how to fold and unfold, got me all good to go, and for past 3 months and nearly 700 miles I’ve been riding nothing but #mybrompton!
One thing I’ve found as a Bromptoneer is that people love to a) look at you on your bike (seriously people, eyes up here!) while you pass by and b) ask you about the bike everywhere. As you are folding or unfolding it, at lights, or in the middle of riding! I could be going up a hill and I’ll hear “hey, how’s that thing ride?” lol
Hence this review!
So, the million dollar question: how DOES this thing ride?
In a word, great! In more than one word, it generally rides like it’s full-sized sistren. Meaning, if I pedal at my normal cadence on the normal gear, I go as fast as I did on my road bike. And if I have my saddle at the right height, I’m sitting on the bike in pretty much the same position as I did on my road bike (barring adjustments for the different handlebar shape). In other words, I feels like I’m riding a bike, like it has my whole life.
But…. there are differences! Those little 16 inch wheels do make for a different ride, for sure. The biggest differences are:
Quicker off the line. Light turns green and I’m off! Those little wheels take less energy to spin up (i.e. they have less inertia), so you get moving faster! It’s kind of fun when a spandexed Fredly roadie shoals in front of me at a light and when the light turns green, they are literally left in my dust. You need to pedal more. The same thing that causes them to speed up faster causes them to slow down faster. Less momentum means if you want to maintain that 22mph on the flat road, you got to keep on pedaling where as on the big wheeled bikes, once you built up that momentum, it’s easier to maintain it. Steering is a little twitchy. Those little wheels means a sharper point of contact on the road and a smaller radius of weight distribution within the wheel, so things are a little bit more sensitive. This is great when you are weaving around NYC stuck traffic, but I do feel more compelled to keep both hands on the grips at most times. If I’m bombing down the Williamsburg Bridge at 35mph, I’m much less inclined to deal with an itch or some sweat or whatever! Things that go bump in the night go more bumpy all day now! Those little wheels fall deeper in a hole than a bigger wheel would. For example, a 8 inch wide pothole would consume half a Brompton wheel but only 1/3 of a road bike wheel! Both would suck immensely, but you’d definitely feel it more on the Brompton. Brompton compensates some with a little bit of suspension in the back, but still… The first week of riding, my back was a bit more sore than usual as I adjusted to the new bike (and had to re-find my fit). I’ve also become a lot more aware of crap on the crappy NYC crap-covered crappy roads.
That’s it! Other than that, I’m just as fast as I was, I ride just as much as I did, but I’m having 200% more fun than ever before! AND I gain all the benefits of riding the most compactable folding bike.
It fits under my desk at work.
No more 10lb lock covered in dog pee! No more frozen solid bike buried under snow in the middle of winter! No more delivery guys locking their shitty bike on my bike and scratching it up! No more competing for your favorite bike lot spot with that other commuter (dude, this was totally my spot first)! yay!!!!
If suddenly @tsurubride wants to go out for dinner in the city, I can just leave my bike right there under my desk, subway, run, or ride a citibike the next day and there’ll be my bike under my desk waiting for me in the morning! Or hell, take it with me on the subway that night! Need to run an errand after work? Ride to the store, fold it up, carry it inside, shop, come out, unfold, and ride! BAM!
It takes up like no space at home.
Milo our cat in a cardboard box for scale.
And like I said before, the bike is fast and fun! At just over 20lbs (and with these gams) I’m flying up the bridges, passing all the fixie kids and most all the roadies to boot!
Apparently that’s my huffin’ & puffin’ for air face as I climb the Williamsburg.
Another huge plus is maintenance. Flats are easy to change in “kickstand mode”, the 2-gear system is simplicity incarnate, and wiping down & lubing up the bike is a 5 minute job. I was super slack about that on the full-sized bikes, but the Bromptons are so easy to clean, I’ve actually enjoyed it after a particularly rainy week!
As I mentioned earlier, besides the questions I get from strangers now, the other side effect of riding a Brompton are the gawkers. People love to watch me ride my bike now! Either that or they just like the better view of these sexy gams? I’m thinking it’s the bike though.
Usually the stares come with a smile. Sometimes, when I riding alongside a car I’ll get a smile and maybe a nod or thumbs up, they seem amazed I can go their speed (a common thought about small-wheeled bikes). Overall, Bromptons seem to bring a tiny bit of joy to most people’s lives as I scoot along.
Speaking of the smiles. One last thing that may take some getting used to for a some people. The overarching idea of “riding a silly little bike”. For people with emasculation issues or maybe “purists” of some kind, this could be a hump to get over. Here’s what I’ve found. Over the years, every time I’ve gotten a new bike, about 2 weeks into it, I’m pretty much totally used to it, new muscle memory, the works. You get on the old bike and it suddenly feels weird and foreign.
Humans are both resistant to change and highly adaptable at the same time. We lose our shit when a website changes a font, but 2 weeks later we forgot what the old font looked like.
Just as every time before, 2 weeks into the Brompton and I’ve forgotten what my old bike felt like until I had to ride it back from the bike shop one day and it felt like I was attached to a ginormous unweilding device! The point is, you will adapt and riding the Brompton will be your new norm. I promise.
And yes, maybe if you are aggressive in your thinking of what a bike must look like, you’ll feel like you are riding a clown bike at first. But, when you really get down to it, aren’t all bikes kind of silly to someone? Whether you are spandexed up and hunched over a $10,000 carbon bike or sitting upright like a 90 year old piano teacher on a 50lb Dutch bike or in a suit making your way along 5th Av on a Citibike or a fixie kid with your knees popping out as you try to stop going down a hill (or worse, you do that weird swerve/skid thing, fuck man, tires ain’t cheap), we all look silly to someone.
So just find the right bike for you and ride! With the Brompton in NYC, I have.
This bike has completely rejuvenated my love for cycling (and my Disposable New York photo series) but in a completely different way! It’s not about getting the 80 mile bike ride in, it’s about exploring the city on my Brompton!
I find myself taking the long way home more often and the extra long way home and even the extra-extra long way home! 5, 8, 11, 20 mile bike rides are an absolute blast!
So much so that in the months since switching to the Brompton, I’ve sold off my road bike and literally put my stripped down Fuji cyclocross bike on the curb for free or for trash (it was gone in a few hours).
For the first time in I don’t know how long, I have only one bike and it’s my Brompton S2L (though now I kind of want a 2nd one with a different configuration for super chill days and to share with Megs for bike rides and trips)…
*love*
Who knows, maybe one day you’ll see me at the Brompton World Championships!
;)
Cheers & keep riding!
Ren Willis | https://medium.com/@rentsuru/throwing-away-my-bicycle-was-the-best-decision-i-ever-made-ebb17d1b2a20 | ['Ren Willis'] | 2021-07-10 00:48:18.934000+00:00 | [' Disposable New York photo series', 'mybrompton'] |
HIPAA and Considerations to Adopt when Designing a System. | The healthcare domain is one of the rapidly growing and changing domains. One of the major changes that have been incorporated into the healthcare industry is the shift from legacy systems to electronic systems. All the data that was once jotted down is now either printed or stored in some kind of database. These data are collected, created, and manipulated in healthcare providers like hospitals, clinics, etc. are important details of an individual’s health history. Naturally, any system designed would take into consideration the security of the system and also data. But the question arises here, Are the normal security considerations enough for a system handling health-related data? What happens if there is a breach? Are there any privacy considerations for health data? All the answers to mentioned questions, rules, and regulations related to handling health-related data are mentioned in HIPAA.
What is HIPAA?
HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is a law that ensures data privacy and security provisions for safeguarding the medical information of an individual.
The sole purpose of HIPAA is to provide continuous health insurance and also to reduce frauds, abuse, and waste in health insurance and health care delivery. The following rules are to be followed to be HIPAA compliant:
National Provider Identifier Standard.
A unique 10 digit identification number must exist for each health care entity, including individuals, employers, health plans, and health care providers.
Transactions and Code Set Standard.
A standardized mechanism must be followed while exchanging electronic data to submit and process insurance claims.
HIPAA Privacy Rule: Authorized Use and Disclosure
Officially known as the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information, this rule establishes national standards to protect patient health information.
HIPAA Security Rule: Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability
This rule specifies the standards that are to be met while sharing and storing Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) in a secure manner.
Breach Notification Rule: Reporting Security Events
This rule requires organizations that experience a PHI breach to report the incident.
HIPAA broadly divides the institutions into two:
Covered Entities.
A HIPAA-covered entity is any organization or corporation that directly handles PHI or personal health records (PHRs). Covered entities are required to comply with HIPAA and HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act mandates for the protection of PHI and PHRs.
Business Associates.
They are third-party organizations that perform certain activities that involve the handling of PHI on behalf of the covered entity. (The workforce of covered entities are not considered BAs). A subcontractor that creates, receives, maintains, or transmits PHI is also considered a BA.
What is Protected Health Information(PHI)?
PHI are details of an individual past, present, or future health status that is
created, collected, transmitted, or maintained by a covered entity concerning
provision of health care, payment of health care services, or health care operations. PHI includes the following but not only them,
Names. Geographical identifiers smaller than a state, except for the initial three digits of a zip code (if the number of people identifiable using zip code is more than 20000 and zip code contains more than 20,0000 people). Dates (other than year) directly related to an individual. Phone number. Fax. Email. Social Security Number. Medical Record Number. Insurance Number. Account Number. Certificate/ License number. Vehicle Identifiers. Device Identifiers and Serial Numbers. URLs. IP Address. Biometric. Face Any other unique identifying number, characteristic, or code except the unique code assigned by the investigator to code the data.
What is the Privacy Rule in HIPAA?
The privacy rule in HIPAA aims at regulating the use and disclosure of PHI held by covered entities. The HSS, when implementing the HIPAA Omnibus Rule, extended the HIPAA privacy rule to independent contractors of covered entities who fit within the definition of a business associate. The Privacy Rule strives to assure that an individual’s health information is properly protected. At the same time, it allows access to the information needed to ensure high-quality health care for patients and to protect the public. The Privacy Rule strikes a balance that permits important usage of information while protecting the privacy of people who require health care services. The essence of the HIPAA privacy rule can be summarized as the following points.
Uses and disclosures of PHI are prohibited unless required (expressly requested by the subject of the PHI or by a government agency) or permitted (disclosures to the subject or a representative, uses undertaken in the public interest, and incidental disclosure, etc.) All permitted disclosures, except certain required cases, need to be limited in scope to the minimum necessary amount that satisfies the permitted or required use case. The HIPAA Privacy Rule is enforced by assessing the extent to which these principles are operationalized across a company’s cybersecurity architecture, personnel, and practices.
What is the Security Rule in HIPAA?
The security rule exists to increase the privacy rule principles across a covered entity’s security architecture. The key goal of the security rule is to stipulate rules that protect the privacy of PHI and also ensure quality and efficient patient care. The HITECH Act of 2009 expanded the responsibilities of business associates under the HIPAA Security Rule. The security rule specifies 3 safeguards covered entities must implement to ensure confidentiality, integrity, and availability of (e)PHI. Specifically, covered entities must:
Ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of all e-PHI they create, receive, maintain or transmit. Identify and protect against reasonably anticipated threats to the security or integrity of the information. The security rule exists to extend the privacy rule principles across a covered entity’s security architecture. The major goal of the security rule is to outline rules that protect the privacy of PHI and also ensure quality and efficient patient care. The HITECH Act of 2009 expanded the responsibilities of business associates under the HIPAA Security Rule. The security rule specifies 3 safeguards covered entities must implement to ensure confidentiality, integrity, and availability of (e)PHI. Specifically, covered entities must: Protect against reasonably anticipated, impermissible uses or disclosures and Ensure compliance by their workforce.
The Security Rule defines “confidentiality” to mean that e-PHI is not available or disclosed to unauthorized persons. The Security Rule’s confidentiality requirements are in line with the Privacy Rule’s prohibitions against improper uses and disclosures of PHI.
The Security rule also promotes the two additional goals of maintaining the integrity and availability of e-PHI. Under the Security Rule, “integrity” means that e-PHI is not altered or destroyed in an unauthorized manner. “Availability” means that e-PHI is accessible and usable on demand by an authorized person. The 3 safeguards are specified below:
Administrative Safeguards:
Policies and procedures are designed to clearly show how the entity will comply with the act.
Covered entities must adopt a written set of privacy procedures and designate a privacy officer to be responsible for developing and implementing all required policies and procedures. The policies and procedures must reference management oversight and organizational buy-in to compliance with the documented security controls. Procedures should identify employees or classes of employees who will have access to electronic protected health information ePHI. Access to ePHI must be restricted to only those employees who need it to complete their job functions. The procedures must address access authorization, establishment, modification, and termination. Entities must show that an appropriate ongoing training program regarding the handling of PHI is provided to employees performing health plan administrative functions. HIPAA laws state that covered entities that out-source some of their business processes to a third party must ensure that their vendors also have a framework in place to comply with HIPAA law requirements. Companies typically gain this assurance through clauses in the contracts stating that the vendor will meet the same data protection requirements that apply to the covered entity. Care must be taken to determine if the vendor further out-sources any data handling functions to other vendors and monitor whether appropriate contracts and controls are in place. A contingency plan should be in place for responding to emergencies. Covered entities are responsible for backing up their data and having disaster recovery procedures in place. The plan should document data priority and failure analysis, testing activities, and change control procedures. Internal audits play a key role in HIPAA compliance by reviewing operations to identify potential security violations. Policies and procedures should specifically document the scope, frequency, and procedures of audits. Audits should be both routine and event-based. Procedures should document instructions for addressing and responding to security breaches that are identified either during the audit or the normal course of operations under HIPAA rules.
Physical Safeguards:
Controlling physical access to protect against inappropriate access to protected data.
Controls must govern the introduction and removal of hardware and software from the network. When equipment is taken out of service it must be disposed of properly to ensure that PHI is not compromised. Access to equipment containing health information should be carefully controlled and monitored. Access to hardware and software must be limited to properly authorized individuals. Required access controls consist of facility security plans, maintenance records, and visitor sign-in and escorts. Policies are required to address proper workstation use. Workstations should be removed from high traffic areas and monitor screens should not be in direct view of the public. If the covered entities utilize contractors or agents, they too must be fully trained on their physical access responsibilities.
Technical Safeguards:
Controlling access to computer systems and enabling covered entities to protect communications containing PHI transmitted electronically over open networks from being intercepted by anyone other than the intended recipient.
Information systems housing PHI must be protected from intrusion. When information flows over open networks, some form of encryption must be utilized if deemed appropriate and possible. If closed systems/networks are utilized, existing access controls are considered sufficient and encryption is optional. Data integrity must be maintained, including the use of a checksum, double-keying, message authentication, and digital signature to ensure data integrity. Covered entities must also authenticate entities with which they communicate to include: password systems, two or three-way handshakes, telephone callback, and token systems. Covered entities must make documentation of their HIPAA practices available to the government to determine compliance. In addition to policies and procedures and access records, information technology documentation should also include a written record of all configuration settings on the components of the networks. Under HIPAA laws, documented risk analysis and risk management programs are required. Covered entities must carefully consider the risks of their operations as they implement systems to comply with the act.
What is the Breach Notification Rule?
The HIPAA Breach Notification Rule requires organizations that experience a PHI breach to report the incident. Depending on how many patients are affected by the breach, reporting requirements differ. Breaches affecting 500 or more patients must be reported to the HHS OCR, affected patients, and the media. These large-scale breaches must be reported within 60 days of discovery. Additionally, when a breach affects 500 or more patients, they are publicly displayed on the OCR breach portal.
Breaches affecting less than 500 patients must be reported to HHS OCR and affected patients. These breaches must be reported within 60 days from the end of the calendar year (March 1st) in which the breach was discovered.
How to achieve HIPAA compliance?
When designing a HIPAA compliant system we need to ensure that the Privacy Rule and the Security Rule are met. We can ensure the Security Rule is followed by ensuring the data is always encrypted in transit and at rest. If we are designing a system using cloud solutions then it is mandatory to enter into a Business Associate Addendum (BAA) with the cloud provider. We can ensure the data is encrypted at rest by ensuring we have configured or selected a database that supports encryption at rest for eg: AWS RDS, MongoDB enterprise, etc.
It is also important to avoid communicating the data over insecure channels or methods, for eg: emails, SMS, etc. If the system must send the ePHI via email then as mentioned above we need to enter into BAA with the email service provider. There are also HIPAA password requirements that demand the system to ensure the password is only known to the user, for this we can use biometrics, passwords, pin, or smart card as a form of password. It is also necessary to track the user identity and also monitor the login attempts and avoid any form of brute force attack.
We also need to ensure that the data when shared with a third party like for analytics is de-identified. The following are two methods which can be followed:
Expert Determination:
A person with appropriate knowledge and experience can use any generally accepted statistical and scientific principles and methods for rendering information not individually identifiable.
Safe Harbor:
We can remove the identifiers mentioned above in the section of “What is Protected Health Information(PHI)?”.
Thank you for your valuable time in reading through this article. I hope you were able to understand the basics of HIPAA and what it signifies and also things to remember while designing one. Hope to come back with more interesting and fun articles until then
Peace out ✌. | https://medium.com/@vishnupradeep.mahe/hipaa-and-considerations-to-adopt-when-designing-a-system-62879d9d01e6 | ['Vishnu Pradeep'] | 2021-09-16 09:10:15.548000+00:00 | ['System Architecture', 'Hippa Compliance', 'Compliance', 'Design Process', 'Hipaa'] |
sunday night | Is happiness too much to ask for?
Here I am, sitting in my bedroom, on my bed, typing this as a last resort; I do not know who to talk to, and i dont want to feel like a burden to the people i cherish. I am bad at writing, you’ll probably see this for yourself, but here i am. i stare at myself in the mirror, seeing my screen reflect on my glasses. I see, but i can’t think. I can’t think of anything, i am struggling to keep my emotions in order like a bunch of hyper-active soldiers.
My name is jun. Like June, but without an e. I’m a person, but i’m lacking something. Something that i do not know. I will write down here my journey to find that thing. that one thing that will make me the happiest person on earth. Yet, I can’t stop thinking that even the richest person on earth is looking for it as well.
The year is 2020. A grim year, a killer year. The covid pandemic is thriving, unlike my professional career. Sure, I’m still a student, 6 months away from graduation, but still. I wish i could move forward in my life but it seems like the universe decided otherwise.
Anyways, who cares about this. I’m here to talk to you. I’m not the happiest person on earth, I can assure you. Maybe you aren’t, too. But I just want to tell you the things you’re surely dying to hear. The words I’m dying to hear from somebody i care about.
You are loved.
We care about you.
You are part of this universe.
Without you the world would feel wrong. Everything would feel wrong.
I love you. | https://medium.com/@yshkry6/sunday-night-93bdc7b46b9b | [] | 2020-12-20 20:53:02.619000+00:00 | ['Pandemic', 'Depression', 'Suicide', 'Covid 19', 'Anxiety Attacks'] |
How to Show Love During the COVID-19 Pandemic? | Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.
Dalai Lama
As the above quote states, we cannot survive without love and compassion. In the current situation we need these two concepts more than ever. Hoarding food and toilet paper leaves nothing for the most vulnerable within our nation. I’ve seen the photos of empty shelves and I must admit that struck a bit of fear into my heart. I was actually surprised how horrible the grocery stores became.
However, it not just the food and water hoarding but the amount of people who are still on the streets during a pandemic that could possibly overwhelm our health system. If you are blessed to be healthy, please be thankful but don’t put others at risk.
80 percent of the infected only exhibit mild symptoms or none at all, but those who become deathly ill are in that 20 percent. Consider that 20 percent when you are on the beach or saying I won’t become infected. Please, remember your mom or grandma and consider what life would be without them.
Embrace your humanity by staying home as much as possible. Thank God for each day this silent monster doesn’t come to your door. Call a friend and check on them and offer each other a bit of human kindness through conversation.
While you are at home with the kids, spend quality time together. Have a specific time of day when the devices are off. Relax and watch a movie together or pull out a board game that’s collecting dust. Fill your home with laughter and remember the preciousness of family.
I know it’s been said before, but we are at war with an enemy we can’t see. COVID-19 doesn’t carry a gun or raise a fist. It lays in your body and takes away God’s most precious gift- your breath. It steals the air we’ve taken for granted and enjoyed.
We must lay in the fox hole together. We must fight with the human diligence used in WWII. The best method to mitigate the spread is to shelter in place. By doing that, you are possibly saving lives. Several states have shut down all non essential businesses, so I hope the amount of people out and about begins to dwindle.
Please, be safe, my readers and friends. It’s up to each of us to do our part to defeat this biological enemy. | https://medium.com/the-partnered-pen/how-to-show-love-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-e03077bb6f9b | ['Estacious Charles White'] | 2020-03-22 00:55:31.109000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Humanity', 'Empathy', 'Compassion', 'Love'] |
Thailand Integrates Blockchain to E-Visa System for Higher Security | Image source：Statecraft
【 Published by cointelegraph | Editor: Helen Partz 】
Thailand, one of the most-visited countries in the world, will soon apply blockchain to its Electronic Visa On Arrival (eVOA).
Thailand’s new blockchain-powered eVOA system intends to speed up and protect the digital visa application process and will soon be available for five million visitors from 20 countries.
eVOA operator partners with Australian travel firm for the blockchain-enabled service
The upcoming eVOA feature is a joint effort of Australian travel company ShareRing and Gateway Services, an entity that owns the license to process eVOA for Thailand, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Dec. 19. According to the announcement, Thailand will initially roll out the blockchain-enabled eVOA service with a focus on visitors from China and India.
The new feature will purportedly streamline the process of applying for Thailand’s visa as its existing Visa On Arrival process is done at airports or land entry points in Thailand, according to Tim Bos, CEO and co-founder at ShareRing. The process is paper-based and requires travelers to bring a number of documents like printed copies of their airline tickets, accommodation confirmation and photos. Such a process usually takes about one hour to complete, Bos said in an email to Cointelegraph.
Blockchain technology is used to improve security and speed of the digital visa applications
As digitized application process is associated with major risks fraud or mistakes from the eVOA provider, ShareRing have been working with Gateway Services in order to improve security, speed and the quality of this process, ShareRing CEO noted.
Specifically, ShareRing provides Gateway Services with its self-sovereign identity technology OneID, which enables optical character recognition (OCR) and protects data by encrypting all the information into a single file on blockchain. Bos explained that such a combination of blockchain tech and OCR reduces the amount of time required for eVOA partners to manually verify all the information.
Additionally, ShareRing is eyeing further global expansion of its blockchain-based visa application system after successfully completing its initial pilots. Bos noted: | https://medium.com/ktrade/thailand-integrates-blockchain-to-e-visa-system-for-higher-security-8a4d49eea42d | ['Statecraft Tech'] | 2020-01-12 16:01:01.257000+00:00 | ['News', 'Blockchain', 'Fraud', 'Tourism', 'Thailand'] |
Python — The Cool Parts: List Comprehension | One of the cool parts of Python is the ability to make a new list from writing logic around an existing list. Consider a list/array that has the numbers from 1–6.
listA = [1,2,3,4,5,6]
In Place of Map
Suppose you wanted to have a new list containing each number squared. In most languages this would require using a map method or something similar. You expect to see something like this:
let listWithElementsSquared = listA.map((x) => {return x**2})
With Python however, this can be done inside a new list:
You write a for loop inside the new list, looping over each element. Then prior to the for loop, you describe what you want done to each element.
In Place of Filter
List comprehensions can also be used to filter out items in a list:
All this requires is a conditional after the for loop.
In Conjunction with Map
You can also use Map with a lambda function inside a list comprehension. Map, takes the lambda function as an argument, and then the list you are mapping the elements from as the second argument.
More Uses
List comprehension is a concise way of manipulating a list. The syntax is also available for dictionaries and sets which can be very useful. | https://medium.com/python-in-plain-english/python-the-cool-parts-list-comprehension-57853ddd554d | ['Seann Branchfield'] | 2020-10-08 07:14:52.219000+00:00 | ['Development', 'Software Development', 'List Comprehension', 'Python', 'Arrays'] |
3 Role Model Traits of Donald Trump | Sure, the orange-toned hyperbole machine currently occupying the White House is a ________ __________ (your choice of adjective and noun). But if we squinch together our moral eyelids and twist the picture enough, we can actually see some (I hesitate to say the word) redeemable qualities.
I’m a believer that everyone can teach us something. I also enjoy a good challenge. So, let’s talk about Trump.
It would be way too easy for me to pick revered and venerated icons such as Mister Rogers or Mother Teressa. But bear with me, because even saints have sinful qualities, and the worst sinners have saintlike traits.
Yes, admittedly, some people make it tough to glean lessons. If we can get past the raging lies and little fingers, we might get something useful.
Let’s talk about what we can learn from example number 45’s three role model traits. | https://medium.com/illumination/3-role-model-traits-of-donald-trump-e2a5972d192 | ['Ryan Dejonghe'] | 2020-12-15 02:09:45.299000+00:00 | ['Success', 'Writing', 'Trump', 'Confidence', 'Self'] |
Postman: JSON Schema Validation | In my previous article, we discussed how to automate and validate APIs using postman. In this article, we will see how to validate a JSON schema using postman.
What is JSON schema?
JSON Schema is a specification for defining the structure of JSON data i.e. JSON request body and response in case of APIs. Basically, JSON schema defines various keys and their values and certain constraints on the values.
The various important keywords that are used in the JSON schema are as follows:
type: The type keyword defines the first constraint on our JSON data. Type can be null, boolean, object, array, number, integer, or string. properties: The value of properties is an object, where each key is the name of a property and each value is a JSON schema used to validate that property. required: This keeps a list of required properties i.e the mandatory properties. minimum: Represents the minimum acceptable value for a number type property. maximum: Represents the maximum acceptable value for a number type property. maxItems: The maximum number of items in an array type property. minItems: The minimum number of items in an array type property. maxLength: Represents the maximum length for a string type property. minLength: Represents the minimum length for a string type property. pattern: A string instance is considered valid if the regular expression matches the instance successfully. additionalProperties: Used to handle properties whose names are not listed in the properties keyword. It may be either a boolean or an object. If it is a boolean and set to false, no additional properties will be allowed.
The entire list can be found here. You can write JSON schema by yourself or it can be generated online. Go to the URL, paste your JSON and submit and JSON schema will be generated.
Why JSON schema validation is required?
JSON schema validation ensures that the JSON response format that we are getting is the same as the expected one. Validating the structure of the RESTful services using a schema is simple, otherwise, it would be almost impossible to test each field manually every time there is a change
How to validate JSON schema using Postman?
It is a JavaScript library that provides functions to validate JSON schema. It’s built-in in postman.
Let’s validate the JSON schema for the following API response.
API Response
Test Script And Test result
We have successfully validated JSON response against a JSON schema. Now, what if the type of property age is changed to Integer .
Changed Response
Our test would fail since in JSON schema we have defined type of property age as String
Failed Test
Let’s validate a more complex JSON response.
Here you can see that the test has passed even though our JSON schema does not include all the other properties. This is because additionalProperties is by default true. What if additionalProperties is set to false?
additionalProperties :false
The test has failed and the string data should NOT have additional properties is repeated thrice, one for each isEmployed , familyMembers and features .
Now let’s validate the following conditions:
name should contain only alphabets and space i.e matches the regex ^[A-Za-z\\s]+$ One of the property isEmployed is missing from the response. The minimum length of the familyMembers array should be 2 and the maximum length should be 4. The minimum and maximum value of property height .
JSON schema for the including above conditions:
Now suppose response has changed
Modified Response
For the above response, our test should fail because in JSON schema we have defined that the property name should have only alphabets and spaces, familyMembers must have at least one item, isEmployed is a mandatory property and minimum height is 4.
We can see that the test failed and the assertion clearly shows the reason for failure.
Using JSON Schema solves most of the communication problems between provider and consumer of the RESTful API service. A provider can be a backend developer and a consumer can be mobile development team. JSON Schema has a surprisingly sharp learning curve. Some developers feel it’s hard to work with, dismissing it as “too verbose”.
That is all for this article.
Full projects and more repositories can be found on my github. | https://medium.com/geekculture/postman-json-schema-validation-ed09b3532a39 | ['Deepak Attri'] | 2021-05-16 18:05:15.836000+00:00 | ['Postman', 'Schema Validation', 'Testing', 'API', 'Automation Testing'] |
Starts With A Bang podcast #64 — Galaxies Without Dark Matter | Over the past 2 years, an exciting development has finally arisen: scientists have measured a large number of small, diffuse galaxies exquisitely well, and have finally found their first candidate galaxies that appear to have no dark matter at all. Whereas large cosmic structures typically have dark matter-to-normal matter ratios of 5-to-1, smaller structures typically have higher ratios, as star formation will kick some of the normal matter out but leave the dark matter intact. However, there should be a second type of galaxy: stars without dark matter, as tidal interactions can rip the normal matter out and keep it out. But these structures are easy to destroy, and so shouldn’t persist for very long.
How, then, did we find a galaxy that both appears to have no dark matter and also appears to have not formed any new stars in ~7 billion years or more? While the science is still ongoing, I’m so pleased to welcome Dr. Mireia Montes onto the program, whose recent paper may have just solved the mystery.
Have a listen and enjoy the show; there’s a lot of astronomy in here for you to enjoy! | https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/starts-with-a-bang-podcast-64-galaxies-without-dark-matter-3daf5af1934 | ['Ethan Siegel'] | 2020-12-13 18:41:18.233000+00:00 | ['Astronomy', 'Space', 'Galaxies', 'Cosmology', 'Dark Matter'] |
Financial and Personal Prosperity: The Case for Medicare for All | Click here if you’d like to listen to an audio version of this article.
Right now, millions of people remain uninsured, and millions more are underinsured, even with the current Medicare and Affordable Care Act systems in place. We have an opportunity to change our healthcare system for the better, and we must take it. Medicare for All is a necessity in the United States because it saves billions in spending, while also expanding coverage and the range of care to every American, gives working-class families tax savings, and saves thousands of lives yearly.
One of the reasons why we need to switch to Medicare for All is because it would save us billions of dollars in national spending. This would be accomplished via the nationalization of multiple healthcare programs, as well as reformations to other parts of our system.
“This would require $3.034 trillion annually, $458 billion less than national health-care expenditure in 2017. Even after accounting for the increased costs of coverage expansion, [it] includes $59 billion savings on hospital care, $23 billion on physician and clinical services, $217 billion on overheads, and $177 billion on prescription drugs. Consequently, annual expenditure per capita would decrease from $10,739 to $9,330, equivalent to a 13.1% reduction. The expectation of savings is robust and remains following variation in [multiple scenario] input parameters. For example, if overhead costs only dropped to 6% of total health expenditure — rather than Medicare’s current 2.2% — … Medicare for All…would still reduce costs by 10.3%” (Galvani).
With all of the proposed reforms, changes, and other goals Medicare for All would amend to our country, our country would still save billions of dollars, even when you consider the expansion of coverage, not just in terms of who is covered, but also what is covered.
Being able to expand coverage to everybody, while also being even more fiscally stable than our current healthcare system, is a win-win for not just the people, but also healthcare organizations, workers, our government, etc.
PLOS Medicine “found that 19 (or 86% of) [studies from our research] predict net savings in the first year of operations, with a range from 7% higher net cost to 15% lower net cost. Increases in cost due to improved insurance coverage and thus higher utilization were 2% to 19%. Savings from simplified payment administration at insurers and providers, drug cost reductions, and other mechanisms ranged from 3% to 27%. The largest net savings were for plans with reductions in drug costs. Net savings accumulate overtime at an estimated 1.4% per year” (Cai).
Even research that comes to the conclusion that Medicare for All won’t have initial savings find that over time, there will be savings. Even with the possibility of initial overage of expenditures, Medicare for All would still work out not just for the health of our citizens, but also economically over time. If we’re looking to transition out of our current system, which, as studies show, has not been as fiscally stable, Medicare for All is the right choice to go, especially knowing that not only would we be saving money, but we’d also be bolstering coverage to every single American.
Expanding coverage to every American, as well as expanding the areas we cover to allow for more treatment and care for our citizens, is another reason why Medicare for All is a necessity in the United States. Under the Medicare for All Act of 2020, proposed by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), it, and the most recent proposal, on top of what is covered under our current system by Medicare, would expand that coverage.
The coverage would include more “health, vision and dental benefits, and some long-term care benefits including hospital services, ambulatory patient services, primary and preventative services, prescription drugs, mental health, substance abuse, laboratory, and diagnostic services, comprehensive reproductive, maternity, and newborn care, pediatrics, oral health, audiology, and vision services, short-term [rehab], emergency services, transportation, and home and community based long-term services” (Wolf). While Medicare does cover some of the things in the excerpt, like some dental care, “Medicare coverage for many tests, items, and services depends on where you live” (Medicare.gov). And, unfortunately, “you’ll have to pay for the items and services yourself unless you have other insurance” (Medicare.gov).
By expanding care, as well as the range of care, to and for everybody, Medicare for All would eliminate a lot of these blockades for millions of citizens. On top of every single person being protected under Medicare for All, it would also have economic benefits for the United States.
Specifically, “expanding Medicare to a larger population could facilitate improved efficiency, [leading to a potential] $219 billion [savings] annually by consolidating all insurance schemes into the Medicare framework. [Medicare for All] would entail expanded use of health services by those who are currently uninsured and those who are insured but for whom cost, such as copays, imposes a barrier to health care…and patient choice will be dramatically expanded if a universal health-care system is adopted” (Galvani).
Not only does Medicare for All help with people’s coverage, but combining that with eliminating networks, co-pays, and deductibles, can actually save the United States money in national expenditures. This is, once again, while expanding services to every single citizen in the United States, and eliminating a lot of roadblocks that come with our current system. A lot of people who oppose Medicare for All claim that the plan will eliminate choice for Americans, but that is simply not the case, considering that Medicare for All erases networks, removing the barrier of limited choice, allowing everyone to choose where they want to go, who they want to go to, etc. Expanding Medicare to cover every single citizen in the United States, while also making sure they can choose who and where they go, is very important to the health and safety of people in the US, as they are not restricted by things like networks and co-pays, which could be a matter of life or death for some. When Americans are able to access more care and are able to access those points of care without the worry of financial burden, or wondering things like is this hospital in-network? or will I get a hefty hospital bill just for trying to get a check-up? It can be metamorphic for millions of Americans. Considering the fact that this would be going on, on top of expanding care to every single person in the United States, means that Medicare for All would not only be a fiscally expedient option but also a moral option. However, some say that even with this, there could still be financial issues down the road.
Everything mentioned before now still might not mean that Medicare for All is 100 percent perfect. While multiple studies show that a Medicare for All system would save money overall, there are other studies that suggest that lower to middle-income families could feel burdened by the major cost of the healthcare system.
“[Commonly, Medicare for All bills propose] a wealth tax, a bank levy, and premiums paid by employers and employees. But that only raises about half of what is needed, meaning that payroll taxes and income tax increases would necessarily have to be part of the plan” (“Reviewing The Research: Medicare For All Comes With Many Costs (Both Known And Unknown).”).
Medicare for All does have a good amount of costs — everyone agrees on that. However, what those who are concerned about a Medicare for All single-payer system bring up is that even with taxes on the rich, and other premiums inflicted on corporations, it would only cover a half portion of the costs and that the rest would have to go to the average taxpayer, increasing their taxes. Middle and lower-income families could feel the potential tax increases that come with a Medicare for All system. Even with certain administrative savings and other points of income, those against the system show that those might not entirely cover the costs associated, and as such, the rest would have to be transferred to the taxpayer. These concerns are much valid and do raise good points when it comes to this aspect of funding a Medicare for All system. However, these concerns often leave out important fundraising techniques and primarily focus on taxes and administrative costs, not other sources that would help keep the system financially healthy. There are multiple ways that Medicare for All could be funded, and combining a variety of these resources will make it so not only will our country be able to afford a single-payer Medicare for All system, but also give lower and middle-income class families much-needed tax savings.
The Political Economy Research Institute supports the claim that Medicare for All saves money, as well as utilizing different sources of funding, including “the same public health care revenue sources that presently provide about 60 percent of all U.S. health care financing, including funding for Medicare and Medicaid. Existing public sources of funds will provide $1.88 trillion to finance Medicare for All. Given our estimate that the overall costs of Medicare for All will be $2.93 trillion, the system, therefore, needs to raise an additional $1.05 trillion from new revenue sources” (Pollin). These new revenue sources would include things such as “[cutting] business health care premiums by 8 percent relative to existing spending per worker, [which would generate] $623 billion, a 3.75 percent sales tax on non-necessities, [which would generate] $196 billion, a net worth tax of 0.38 percent, [which would generate] $193 billion, and taxing long-term capital gains as ordinary income, [which would generate] $69 billion” (Pollin). With all these resources in mind, “Medicare for All can promote both lower average costs and greater equity in financing health care. For example,…for middle-income families, the net costs of health care will fall sharply under Medicare for All, by between 2.6 and 14.0 percent of income” (Pollin).
Taxing corporations, as well the very wealthy, isn’t enough to fund a Medicare for All system. However, with all of the revenue sources that could easily be utilized, the funding issue could very well be solved. On top of all this, because the funding issue would be solved, and even exceeding the potentially needed costs, lower to middle-income families’ taxes would go down, saving them money. There are a large number of ways Medicare for All can be funded, and when they are used cooperatively and efficiently, it will not only cover the costs that would be pushed by Medicare for All but save money for the people that need the money the most. Medicare for All, using the right methods and a mixture of different funding sources, will help our economy in a way that not just works for the government and businesses, but also for the middle-income taxpayer, on top of the potentially life-saving benefits everyone receives from the expanded range of care and coverage.
Another reason Medicare for All would be beneficial for everyone in the country is that compared to our current system, we would save thousands of lives every year. With Medicare for All, we would not only expand coverage but also make sure everybody is covered, which would lead to great relief for middle-income families.
We would be able to “save more than 68,000 lives every year compared with the status quo” (Galvani). Compared to now, where “10.4% (27.9 million) of the nonelderly US population remains uninsured” (Cai), including even more underinsured under the current status quo, leaves people in the dark, and with little choice, meaning worse outcomes for the population’s health.
Medicare for All would allow everyone to be covered, as well as expanding what is covered (as previously mentioned), meaning that people would be able to get the care they need in much more efficient time. Allowing people to get the care they need that they weren’t able to before, whether because they weren’t covered, or the care they needed wasn’t covered under our current system, is not only beneficial for Americans but can also be life-saving for many as well. 60 percent of these deaths could easily be prevented, according to the CDC.
Because of the areas of care that Medicare for All expands to and improves, as well as coverage, Medicare for All would allow “treatment of health problems before they become life threatening. It would also improve access to treatment for chronic conditions, which would reduce life-threatening complications of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and other common disease” (“Medicare-for-All Saves Lives”).
Right now, our system does not amply allow for providing proper care to our citizens when they need it most. The unfortunate truth is that right now, thousands of people die and get sick every year in this country because of the limited access to care, and for some, if any. Allowing people to get treatment, care, and checkups that they need, especially with the health problems that are common today, can not only save lives but also improve the health of the overall population. Utilizing a Medicare for All system, and working hard to ensure everybody has coverage, is shown to not just have economical benefits overtime, but the biggest benefits being with our population’s health, and people not needing to do things like rationing their insulin, or prolonging their wait for urgent medical care.
In the United States, we need change to our current healthcare system. In our country, we could expand coverage to every single American, while also expanding what is covered to them, and saving thousands of more lives. We could do all this while preserving billions of dollars, and relieving working-class families of unnecessary healthcare tax costs. Even with the changes our current healthcare system brought, it unfortunately still leaves millions in the dark, including those who are fully insured, with unnecessary premiums, deductibles, and co-payments. Eliminating these tedious costs, as well as getting rid of the limiting restrictions of networks, giving people more choice, is an important part of a single-payer Medicare for All system, and is something that our government and politicians should fight for to help out our people, especially those in need. | https://medium.com/@haydenlacellewa/the-case-for-medicare-for-all-59fba8fd62a9 | ['Hayden Lacelle'] | 2021-11-16 01:58:22.705000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Bernie Sanders', 'Medicare For All', 'Healthcare', 'Medicare'] |
Manually upgrading to Android 4.2.1 | If you are an avid Android user you will find the lack of updates to certain phone models frustrating. Manufacturers such as HTC and Samsung only support updates to supported phones and if you are one of the unlucky ones, you won’t see the amazing new features of Android.
I am one of those Desire HD owners, which despite being a top end phone of it’s time and fully capable of supporting Android 4, is not ever going to be supported.
Here is how to manually upgrade.
1) First root your phone. The Advance Ace Kit is good for Desire HD
http://tau.shadowchild.nl/aahk
2) Then unlock your phone. Easy-S Off is good for Android 2.2 or lower
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=855403
3) Visit the xda forums and download a new img rom. I am using AOSP-4.2.1 which works really well!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2003273
4) Download the Rom and the google app zip files to your computer e.g.
Rom: http://downloads.codefi.re/synergy/codefireX-Ace/cfx_ace-4.2-BR4.zip
Apps: http://goo.im/devs/KonstantinKeller/mako/gapps/gapps-4.2-JOP40C-121116.zip
5) Connect your phone via USB cable and mount the SD card as a drive. Copy the two zip files onto the route and name the Rom as update.zip.
6) Reboot your phone in Recovery Mode and first select backup phone. After backing up the phones current files, select wipe data / factory reset
7) Now select apply update.zip and wait for the files to be extracted to your phone. Then hit reboot and do the same again to apply google apps zip file to your phone. Happy days | https://medium.com/creative-technology-concepts-code/manually-upgrading-to-android-4-2-1-46f389fe54f0 | ['Kim T'] | 2018-01-29 17:01:14.275000+00:00 | ['Custom', 'Android', 'Rom', 'Developer', 'HTC'] |
Flame. Light. Lover | Score: You Light Up My Life by Kasey Cisyk (1977)
I finally got her to go camping. She didn’t see the fun in it, but she said since I was so invested, she would give it a try.
We were 8 of us going on a camping trip, and it was just for one night. We got there late in the morning and spent most of the afternoon setting up our tent and a small grill for food.
By 4 pm, we had taken off on a jaunty walk to gawk at nature. It was a breathtaking sight. She complained her feet didn’t like stress though. By 7 pm, we had gathered around, eating, and swapping stories with each other about how the past year had treated us all.
It had been quite a year with a global pandemic leading to a global economic crisis, explosions, plagues, and a lot of other weird things. But we had all pulled through, stronger and better, and so there was a good vibe in the air.
Throughout the night, I held her hand in mine. Even when she leaned in and rested on my body, I never let go of her hand. And as I talked about my year, and how it had gone, it was the feel of her skin on mine that grounded me, and prevented me from descending into the dark alleys of memory.
All too soon, it was 2 am, and everybody retired to their tent. In our tent, she wrapped herself in a thick blanket, because the weather was quite cold. I set up the portable fireplace, and she wriggled closer to better feel the warmth of the flames.
Watching the scene, I realized it painted a picture of what she is to me. The flames were her, and she was me. I wriggle closer to her every day. I look forward to hearing her laugh and look forward to seeing her smile, I look forward to listening to her talk. I want to watch her eyes light up at the simplest of things; when she sees her favourite snack, when she’s around babies when she sees a funny meme when she talks about her favourite food. Because whenever I am close to her, whenever I witness her doing any of these things, it means I am close enough to the flame, and the cold cannot come close.
I used to wonder why I felt like a man drunk on salvation and joy when I felt her skin. It didn’t matter if I was holding her hand, touching her face, or massaging her feet. As long as I was touching her, that feeling was there. I realized now that it was the feeling of a freezing man who had touched a flame. It was the warmth she was injecting into me. A Warmth she gave off by just being herself. And when she turns and smiles that special smile, that she gives only to me, it’s like the sun bursting over the horizon and bringing forth a new morning.
She not only brings warmth; she also brings light. My journey since I met her has been smoother because she helps illuminate my path, and gives me the strength to carry on when I face difficulties. She is the human who serves as a life-bringing light to my universe.
These thoughts run through my mind as I watch her fall asleep. I step out and look up at the stars, and thank my God. Because I do not know how I managed to get a girl like her. But I am grateful I did get her, and I am going to cherish her with every fibre of my being.
I step back in, back to my own personal flame. It’s cold outside, and my life-bringing light sleeps inside, waiting for me. | https://medium.com/@osheku/flame-light-lover-390b23d85d4f | ['Fredrick Osheku'] | 2020-08-07 09:01:01.203000+00:00 | ['Lovestory', 'Life', 'Relationships', 'Love', 'Romanc'] |
Dustin Higgs Has Covid: Take Action! | COVID-19 has hit the federal death row, infecting Dustin Higgs, who is scheduled to be killed on January 15th. Because of this, Death Penalty Action has a new petition addressed to incoming Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen. Dustin getting a confirmed COVID-19 infection gives yet another reason to call off the remaining federal executions.
We aim to have this petition on Rosen’s desk when he arrives to his new position next Wednesday. As I write this there are under 10,000 signers. Will you help get it over 50,000?
Sign the new petition to acting AG Rosen.
There’s not much hope that the President will show mercy, so we’re asking the new acting Attorney General to act. Yes, in case you missed it, Attorney General Barr has resigned effective December 23rd. He will be replaced by Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen.
That’s right. One quick action: Click here to add your name to the Rosen petition.
(You need not live in the U.S: Anyone of any age may sign)
If you have not seen it, check out this excellent video about Dustin Higgs. Take good care. Shine your light.
— abe
Abraham J. Bonowitz, Director
PS: ALSO: Death Row Survivor Ahmad Issa survived 22 years on Ohio’s death row for a crime he did not commit. He just celebrated one full year in freedom. He can use your help to resume his life in freedom. Click here to learn more and help him recover. | https://medium.com/@deathpenaltyaction/dustin-higgs-has-covid-take-actions-bc0889ced387 | ['Death Penalty Action'] | 2020-12-18 02:55:53.735000+00:00 | ['Criminal Justice Reform', 'Protest', 'Covid 19 Crisis', 'Covid 19', 'Death Penalty'] |
Black Mirror Isn’t as Dark as it Used to Be, and That’s Okay | About a year has passed since the fifth season of Black Mirror came out, and some of the fans have been a little disappointed. There were plenty of complaints, from the reduced episode count, to the re-use of already-explored technologies, but one critique that rings out above the rest is how lighthearted this season has been. There were very few stomach-churning twists, very little existential dread. Two of the three episodes ended on what most can agree were positive notes. The general understanding is that Black Mirror, the horror/sci-fi anthology series, has finally gone soft.
But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
[Caution: mild spoilers for multiple episodes below.]
The first thing I want to clarify is that yes, I get it: the darkness was a huge part of what made the show so great in the beginning. The show made its name off of disturbing, cynical episodes like White Christmas, Shut Up and Dance, and White Bear. But the bleakness has never been the core of the show, and as of season five, that core has still never been lost. (No, not even in the Miley episode.)
Black Mirror is, at its core, a show about the way technology enhances or exposes the aspects of humanity that were already there. That’s all. Every episode has the same basic formula: there’s some sort of technology that has obvious upsides, but humans — being humans — decide to use that technology in unexpected ways. These ways don’t have to be bad and they don’t have to be good; they just need to be compelling. And in that regard, season five stands up just as well as the rest of the show.
Credit: Netflix
Striking Vipers, for instance, takes the concept of hyper-realistic VR gaming, something that seems very much plausible in the near future, and uses it to explore such complicated human themes around sexuality, love, and infidelity. Not only that, but it does this in a way that has never been done before. What was the last movie you’ve ever seen with a love triangle like this? When was the last time a show made you grapple with the sort of questions this episode made you grapple with? Just like White Bear and Fifteen Million Merits, I could talk about the implications of Striking Vipers for hours on end.
Meanwhile, I can’t help but wonder if Ashley O’s arc in Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too was intended as a direct commentary on fans’ expectations for the show itself. Ashley wants to try out new music, but she’s been pigeonholed by her fans to a specific genre. When she finally gets to branch out and sing other stuff, some of her “biggest fans” (remember those girls who cried at the news that she was in a coma?) are appalled and storm out of the concert.
Credit: Netflix
Whenever I see people complain that the new season just doesn’t feel like Black Mirror, I’m reminded a little bit of those teenagers who cried over Ashley O’s coma, only to be appalled when she starts singing what she wants to sing. Black Mirror may have made a name for itself by taking stories in the darkest direction possible, but I doubt the writers want to keep going for that same type of tone over and over again. They want to throw in a little more optimism, tell different types of stories, but of course this alienates a lot of the fans who loved them for their darker moments. But that’s okay, because the writers are getting to tell the stories they want to tell. They aren’t catering their writing to appease their fans.
I remember when San Junipero came out — the first episode to give viewers any hope for the future — and talking to a handful of fans who wished the story had gone in a more typically Black Mirror direction. “I wish Kelly had chosen to die naturally,” one person had said, “and then the episode could’ve ended with Yorkie alone in the simulation, waiting forever for Kelly to come back.” Someone else had an even darker idea: that Kelly would want to pass over, but would die unexpectedly before she got the chance.
Yes, both of those endings would’ve been heartbreaking. They both would given the viewers that same sinking stomach feeling that so many of the best episodes produced. But what would be the point? What would a tragic ending for San Junipero say that hasn’t already been said in the ten episodes that preceded it? Fifteen Million Merits used its cynical ending to make a statement about how genuine rebellion can be repackaged into something that defeats its own message. White Bear used its cynical ending to make a statement about outrage culture and retributive justice. What profound statement would the writers be making by refusing Kelly and Yorky their happy ending?
A dark ending would not have worked for San Junipero. Worse: a dark ending would’ve been boring, predictable. It would’ve been lazily repeating that same pattern the audience had come to expect. So much of what made this episode great was the contrast with what came before it: after ten episodes in a row of everything going wrong, of watching our protagonists get all their humanity drained out of them, it can’t be understated just how powerful it was when things finally went well. For the show to finally say, “you know what? Maybe things won’t be so bad.”
Credit: Netflix
One of the best things about the recent lighter episodes of Black Mirror is how they’ve widened the range of where each story could go. By the time we got to season three, we’d been trained to expect the absolute worst. We went into every episode knowing we’d be subjecting ourselves to another hour’s worth of stress and pain. San Junipero taught us that wouldn’t always be the case, and now after finishing season five, it’s clear that the possibilities are endless in future episodes. The first episode of season six could end on a dark note, a happy note, or anywhere in between. Isn’t it more exciting to have no idea what to expect?
I think a lot of us need to deal with the idea that a story being bleak and cynical does not necessarily equal a story being deep. Nowadays, we have a tendency to think that happy endings are easier to write; that by nature they can’t be as memorable or as compelling as an ending that’s dark. We have a tendency to believe that negativity is synonymous with wisdom, and that being optimistic about anything is the same as being naive. This is such an unproductive, self-defeating attitude for people to have, and it’s part of why I’m not upset that Black Mirror seems to have pushed back on it, if even just a little.
Because in the year of 2020, when authoritarianism seems to be spreading across the globe, when the climate crisis is accelerating at a faster rate than ever, when there’s a massive pandemic and the economy is in shambles, how much value does cynicism really add? | https://medium.com/make-it-personal/black-mirror-isnt-as-dark-as-it-used-to-be-and-that-s-okay-e18cb18814c8 | ['Michael Boyle'] | 2020-08-06 04:35:40.854000+00:00 | ['Storytelling', 'Culture', 'Film', 'Television', 'Medium'] |
How to Add Webdriver IO Version 6 to an Existing Node/Npm Project | So I thought I’d write up a tutorial on how to get up and running with WebdriverIO version 6 in any node/npm project.
For this example I’m assuming that you are an automation engineer or aspiring automation engineer who is currently working on adding an E2E test framework into an existing node/npm repository. Meaning that the repository already has a package.json, we’ll be adding our wdio packages to this file as dev dependencies. If you’d like to learn more about the differences between regular dependencies vs. dev dependencies, check out this article
Ok let’s get started!
First off, using your terminal of choice, navigate over to the local instance of your repository and pull all the latest changes. You’ll need to have git installed on your computer to be able to use the git commands.
Mac users — follow this article to get set up with git.
Windows users — follow this article to get set up with git.
cd ~ // this will get you to the root directory of your computer
cd path/to/my/repo //i.e cd Desktop/myRepoFromGithub
git pull
If you don’t already have a local copy of the repository and need help cloning it down, check out this article to learn how to do that.
If you don’t have a repository to work on, you can use the one that I’ll be using for this tutorial. It is located here.
*Disclaimer — All the credit of the repository I’m using goes to Sahat Yalkabov and the many contributors that helped put that boilerplate project together.
Make sure to Fork the repository to your own GitHub account before you clone it down!
(You will need to install MongoDB if you are going to be using the same repository that I am using. I will list some MongoDB resources at the end of this article. Ignore this if you are using your own repository.)
Now, you should be on the master/main branch of the repository with the latest changes.
Next we’ll want to install all the existing npm packages in the repository. You’ll need to have node installed on your computer in order to run npm commands. Follow this article to learn how to install it.
For people that cloned the repository for the first time or who have never executed an npm command, run the following command to install the existing packages
npm install
You should see a new directory named node_modules appear in your repository.
For people who already had a local instance of the repository and have the packages installed, it’s probably a good idea to run the command again to ensure that you have the latest packages. Before you run the npm command above, delete you’re existing node_modules directory and your existing package-lock.json file. These things will be auto generated again once you run the npm command above.
So at this point you should have all the packages required by your repository installed. You’ll now want to run the application to test that everything is working as expected.
*Note — the command used to start your application may differ from the one I’ll use. To find this command, look in your package.json file under the scripts object.
Run the following command to start the application if you’re using the same repository I’m using
npm start
(make sure you have MongoDB running in a separate terminal window or else you’ll get an error when you try to start the application.)
If everything went according to plan, you should now be able to see the application running at the address http://localhost:8080/
Go ahead and stop running your application for now by pressing CTRL-C to stop
Cool! Now we can start with our E2E test framework!
Head over to https://webdriver.io/docs/gettingstarted.html
The people at WebdriverIO have done a really great job of writing up documents to get started, definitely a good idea to bookmark the site if you plan to use WDIO.
Ok first things first, let’s create a new branch using our terminal window. You should be in your project on the master branch when you do this.
git checkout -b wdio-tests
You should now be on a branch labeled wdio-tests
Next, we’re going to create a directory to store our webdiver io tests in our project
mkdir webdriverio-test && cd webdriverio-test
Next, we’ll install our first wdio package
npm install --save-dev @wdio/cli
Once that completes downloading, run the next command to generate a configuration file to store your WebdriverIO settings.
npx wdio config -y
The command above will also install more wdio packages.
At the time I was writing this tutorial, these were the packages that were installed
"@wdio/cli": "^6.10.11", "@wdio/local-runner": "^6.10.13", "@wdio/mocha-framework": "^6.10.11", "@wdio/spec-reporter": "^6.10.6", "@wdio/sync": "^6.10.11", "chromedriver": "^87.0.4", "wdio-chromedriver-service": "^6.0.4"
You should also see that the command created a few more directories and files within your webdriverio-test directory. More importantly, you’ll see that a wdio.conf.js file was created. This file is super important as it contains all the settings for your WDIO E2E framework. For more info on the type of things you can set in this file visit the webdriverIO docs here
You may have also noticed that a sample test file was created example.e2e.js , inside you should see the following code:
const LoginPage = require('../pageobjects/login.page'); const SecurePage = require('../pageobjects/secure.page'); describe('My Login application', () => { it('should login with valid credentials', () => { LoginPage.open(); LoginPage.login('tomsmith', 'SuperSecretPassword!'); expect(SecurePage.flashAlert).toBeExisting(); expect(SecurePage.flashAlert).toHaveTextContaining( 'You logged into a secure area!'); }); });
This is a standard E2E test, I won’t go into the details of writing tests in this tutorial, just know that this is a widely followed standard.
Now for the thing you’ve been waiting for, let’s run our sample test!
Run the following command
npx wdio wdio.conf.js
This should fire up a chrome browser and it should navigate to the following website https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/login
And you should see the following output in the terminal
"spec" Reporter:
------------------------------------------------------------------
[chrome 87.0.4280.88 mac os x #0-0] Spec: /Users/Nick/Desktop/openSourceProjects/hackathon-starter/webdriverio-test/test/specs/example.e2e.js
[chrome 87.0.4280.88 mac os x #0-0] Running: chrome (v87.0.4280.88) on mac os x
[chrome 87.0.4280.88 mac os x #0-0] Session ID: 2627d7e5b0fb5b5558ddb9f21f3c4c2e
[chrome 87.0.4280.88 mac os x #0-0]
[chrome 87.0.4280.88 mac os x #0-0] My Login application
[chrome 87.0.4280.88 mac os x #0-0] ✓ should login with valid credentials
[chrome 87.0.4280.88 mac os x #0-0]
[chrome 87.0.4280.88 mac os x #0-0] 1 passing (6.5s) Spec Files: 1 passed, 1 total (100% completed) in 00:00:11
2020-12-20T19:01:50.614Z INFO
2020-12-20T19:01:50.614Z INFO 2020-12-20T19:01:50.356Z INFO @wdio/local-runner : Shutting down spawned worker2020-12-20T19:01:50.614Z INFO @wdio/local-runner : Waiting for 0 to shut down gracefully2020-12-20T19:01:50.614Z INFO @wdio/local-runner : shutting down
Congratulations!! You’ve successfully added an E2E test framework to an existing node.js project. Have a beer or your drink of choice, you deserve it!
At this point you would commit your code changes and create a pull request to have your changes merged into the master branch. Once merged, you can go back to your master branch in the terminal and pull the latest changes to see that everything was merged correctly.
I’ve also added the completed example I was using down below, feel free to look it over and reach out with any questions!
Additional Resources — | https://medium.com/@goveanicolas/how-to-add-webdriver-io-version-6-to-an-existing-node-npm-project-73ec3f0a93b3 | ['Nick G.'] | 2020-12-20 21:21:14.906000+00:00 | ['Software Testing', 'JavaScript', 'Nodejs', 'Software Development', 'Webdriverio'] |
Why You Should Conduct Front-End and Back-End Tests | Releasing a new product or an update can be stressful because you’re excited about your release but at the same time, you feel nervous about potential bugs or issues that can arise at any moment. To prepare yourself, you need to thoroughly test your application to ensure minimal to no problems with a product launch or at any point afterward as that would jeopardize your customers’ trust in you.
Testing can be either front-end or back-end or both, depending on your release. Testing is an integral part of the release process. Before we dive into the importance of front-end and back-end tests, let’s take a brief look at the two forms of testing: manual (where you do everything yourself) and automated (where you write code/scripts with tests that can run through a command or in a CI/CD process).
Manual Testing and Automated Testing
Manual testing is where no automated software used and it’s purely performed by a dedicated tester. This is the most initial testing technique to find critical bugs in your product.
Automated testing is different from manual testing because automated testing is done with an automated tool, less time is needed for testing and more time is needed to create test script/code, at the same time you also need to increase the test coverage.
Now, let’s look at front-end and back-end testing, and why they are critical for development. | https://harsh-patel.medium.com/why-you-should-conduct-front-end-and-back-end-tests-7a3a716d8ec2 | ['Harsh Patel'] | 2020-12-28 10:14:12.201000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Backend', 'Software Testing', 'Testing', 'Frontend'] |
Create Filter in Excel using Java | When dealing with Excel documents containing a large amount of data, you can select the data you need quickly by filtering the data. This article will demonstrate how to create filter in an Excel file using Free Spire.XLS for Java.
Installation (2 Method)
1# Download the free API and unzip it, then add the Spire.Xls.jar file to your project as dependency.
2# You can also add the jar dependency to maven project by adding the following configurations to the pom.xml.
<repositories>
<repository>
<id>com.e-iceblue</id>
<name>e-iceblue</name>
<url>http://repo.e-iceblue.com/nexus/content/groups/public/</url>
</repository>
</repositories>
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>e-iceblue</groupId>
<artifactId>spire.xls.free</artifactId>
<version>3.9.1</version>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
Code Snippet
import com.spire.xls.ExcelVersion;
import com.spire.xls.Workbook;
import com.spire.xls.Worksheet;
public class CreateFilter {
public static void main(String[] args){
//Load an Excel file
Workbook workbook = new Workbook();
workbook.loadFromFile("sample3.xlsx");
//Get the first worksheet
Worksheet sheet = workbook.getWorksheets().get(0);
//Create filter
sheet.getAutoFilters().setRange(sheet.getCellRange("A1:F1"));
//Save the result file
workbook.saveToFile("CreateFilter.xlsx", ExcelVersion.Version2010);
}
}
Output | https://medium.com/@andrewwil/create-filter-in-excel-using-java-e2ca8a164705 | ['Andrew Wilson'] | 2021-02-07 07:29:05.659000+00:00 | ['Filters', 'Excel', 'Java'] |
Serena by Lutron Smart Wood Blinds review: Pretty enough, but also pretty expensive | Lutron makes one of our favorite motorized shades, but the company also offers motorized blinds. What’s the difference? Window blinds are considered “hard” window coverings because they consist of slats—wooden, in this case—that drop down from the top of the window (or that slide left or right, in the case of vertical blinds).
The motor mounted in the headrail of the Serena blinds tilts the 2-inch slats for privacy and light control. The accumulated weight of the slats, however, makes them too heavy for the motor to lift—even though Lutron fabricates the slats from a soft, fine-grained timber called North American basswood. If you want to fully expose the window, you will need to lift the blinds by hand and pull them back down to close.
This review is part of TechHive’s coverage of the best smart shades and blinds, 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.The upside is that tilting the slats from their closed position to allow maximum light into the room takes just a couple of seconds, versus 20 to 30 seconds to lift or roll up a fabric shade. The tilted slats in a blind can be adjusted to allow more light into the room than even a light-filtering shade, and they won’t entirely block your view out. Also, you can tilt the slats even if the blinds are partially lifted.
Lutron Each of Lutron’s smart wood blinds can respond independently based on the time of day and the window’s exposure to the sun.
Lutron sells its Serena product line through custom installers who will take all the anxiety out of accurately measuring your windows and installing its products, or you can purchase them direct and install them yourself. We took the latter approach for this review. You can order single blinds in widths from 20 to 72 inches and in lengths up to 72 inches. The blinds are made to order, and it takes about two weeks for them to arrive at your home.
[ Further reading: The best smart switches and dimmers ]Styles and power optionsSerena Smart Wood Blinds are available in four stained finishes (dark walnut, light oak, red mahogany, or walnut) and four painted finishes (arctic white, mist grey, soft white, or stone grey). Whether you choose an inside or outside mount (I went with the former), the blinds come with your choice of two valance styles that cover the headrail. The valances come in the same finish as the blinds, but one is slightly more ornate than the other. If you have very large windows or windows that are close together, you can mount two shades under a single valance (in widths from 40 to 96 inches).
Mentioned in this article Serena by Lutron motorized shade Read TechHive's reviewLearn moreon Serena by Lutron Lutron offers these shades with battery (four D cells) or hardwired power options, the latter being either a $40 wall wart attached to a 15-foot cord for each shade, or a professionally installed Lutron Power Panel. The Power Panel can support multiple blinds and shades, but it costs $800, plus installation. I chose the battery option, as I believe most DIYers will. I ordered a pair for matching windows because I wanted to see if they would open and close in sync. They don’t quite manage that trick, but the delay hasn’t proven to be a bother because the transitions happen so quickly.
Michael Brown / IDG Serena Smart Wood Blinds operate on four D cell batteries mounted in the front of the headrail.
As with Lutron’s Serena motorized honeycomb shades, the batteries for its Serena wood blinds install in the front of the headrail. But rather than tilting the headrail down to expose the battery compartment, as you do with its shades, you slide the front of the valance down when you need to replace the batteries in the wood blinds. Battery life will, of course, depend on how often you adjust the tilt of the blinds, but I can report that the batteries in the company’s smart shade are still running strong after a year’s use with typically two operations (open at sunrise, close at sunset) per day. Having the battery compartment in the front of the headrail means there’s not much to see when viewed from outside the window, which is a good thing.
Control optionsThis is a good time to discuss control options. I’d say the simplest solution is to use Lutron’s Caséta smartphone app, but that depends on the presence of the Caséta Smart Bridge ($80), which I’ll get to in a moment. A less-expensive alternative is Lutron’s wafer-thin five-button Wood Blinds Pico remote, a $25 option with dedicated square buttons at the top and bottom for tilting the shade slats open and closed, respectively, triangular tilt-up and tilt-down buttons in the middle of the remote that adjust the tilt of the shades as long as you hold them down (until they reach their limits, that is), and a round “favorites” button in the middle of the remote that memorizes your preferred tilt position.
Lutron Lutron’s $25 Wood Blind Pico Remote is a less-expensive control alternative than its $80 Caséta Smart Bridge, but the bridge is a better value.
The Pico remote can be programmed to control just one Serena wood blind or as many as you’d like. Once programmed, pressing the buttons on the remote will control all the linked shades simultaneously—although as I’ve mentioned, not necessarily in perfect sync. This would work best for blinds installed on windows with the same exposure, allowing you to block glaring sunlight on some windows while still allowing light to come in from others.
Mentioned in this article Hunter Douglas Duette shade with PowerView Automation Read TechHive's reviewLearn moreon Hunter Douglas Alternatively, you could pair each blind with its own remote, or assign groups of blinds to different remotes. However you set it up, the remote needs to be within about 30 feet of the blind(s) it’s intended to control. I didn’t order a Pico remote for these blinds, and I can’t say that I miss it. I’ll explain why next.
If you’re building out a smart home, or if you just want to use voice commands via Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, you’ll need to pick up the aforementioned Caséta Smart Bridge. If you already own other Lutron smart home products, you probably already have one. This small device acts as a bridge between Lutron’s proprietary ClearConnect network and your home network.
Lutron If you want to integrate your Lutron smart shades and blinds into your smart home, you’ll want to pick up the $80 Lutron Caséta Smart Bridge.
This same bridge will also service the broad range of other Lutron smart home products, including its plug-in and in-wall switches and dimmers, ceiling fan controllers, motion sensors, and—of course—its motorized shades. The Caséta bridge is also compatible with Apple’s HomeKit technology and certain models of smart thermostats, and can even trigger Sonos speakers. The blinds themselves, oddly enough, are not HomeKit compatible.
Michael Brown / IDG If I could change one thing about Lutron’s app, it would be to provide the ability to type in values instead of relying on sliders on a touchscreen.
With the Smart Bridge installed and start and end times programmed for each blind (this can be as simple as sunrise and sunset), a “natural light optimization” feature in the Lutron app will automatically control the tilt of the slats to admit daylight without exposing you to direct sunlight. The app tracks the location of the sun throughout the day so that during times when the sun is shining directly on a given window, the blind’s slats will tilt so that sunlight is directed up instead of directly into the room.
You’ll also need the Smart Bridge to set up automation schedules to adjust the blinds based on time of day and day(s) of the week, and to create “scenes.” Scenes can not only move the blinds but control all other Smart Bridge-compatible devices as well. I created a “Goodnight” scene that closed the Serena blinds in my master bedroom and the Serena shade in my master bathroom, turned off the ceiling fan in my home office (controlled by a Lutron Caséta fan controller) and the ceiling cans in my home theater (controlled by a Lutron Caséta in-wall smart dimmer), and paused the music on all my Sonos speakers.
You can also control Serena blinds using voice commands via Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. I set up a routine for the Amazon Echo in my master bedroom that opens both blinds when I say “Alexa, open the blinds” and closes them with the command “Alexa, close the blinds.” (Actually, this command will work when spoken to any Echo-compatible device, but I use it most commonly when I’m in the same room as the blinds.)
Michael Brown / IDG Wood blinds are the most elegant window coverings you can buy, and automation enables Lutron’s to adjust the tilt of the slats so you get optimal light all day long.
Bottom lineAs with smart window shades, the biggest barrier to outfitting your home with smart wood blinds is cost. The 34x58-inch Serena by Lutron Smart Wood Blinds ordered for this review cost $579 each (roughly $17 per inch, measured widthwise). Add in the $80 Lutron Caséta Smart Bridge (which I already had and heartily recommend) and the total bill would be $1,238. That makes them much more expensive than the DIY smart shades we’ve reviewed to date: $10 per inch for the Graber Virtual Cord, $13 per inch for the Powershade TruePoE roller shade, and $14 per inch for the Lutron Serena. (The cost of hubs, remotes, and other options is not included in my per-inch calculations to make apples-to-apples comparisons.)
Having a professional out to your home to measure your windows and install the blinds would add to that total, but I didn’t find this to be a particularly difficult DIY project (pro tip: Using a laser distance meter does a lot to alleviate anxiety over botched measurements).
Still, outfitting an entire home with smart blinds—or smart shades, for that matter—will entail an expenditure in the many thousands of dollars. If you decide to go down that path, you’ll likely want to do so one room or a couple rooms at a time. Cost aside, Serena by Lutron Smart Wood Blinds feature excellent build quality, look stylish, are easy to install, and are a snap to automate.
Wood blinds add an elegant flair to your home’s décor, and these Serena by Lutron Smart Wood Blinds offer sophisticated and inexpensive smart home options to boot. The blinds themselves, however, are anything but inexpensive.
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/@sandy76931500/serena-by-lutron-smart-wood-blinds-review-pretty-enough-but-also-pretty-expensive-b0acd850f9a3 | [] | 2020-12-07 18:03:02.402000+00:00 | ['Electronics', 'Chargers'] |
Novum Alpha — Daily Analysis 21 December 2020 | A magnificent Monday to you as we’re just days away from Christmas and I hope you’re ready for a party pandemic style!
In brief (TL:DR)
U.S. stocks were lower at the end of last week with the S&P 500 (-0.35%), tech-centric Nasdaq Composite (-0.07%) and blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.41%) were all down on concern that stimulus would get stuck.
Asian stocks started the week lower on pandemic concerns and stalled Brexit talks even as the prospect of U.S. fiscal stimulus improved.
U.S. 10-year Treasury yields ended last week at 0.930% and look set to fall further as uncertainty rises (yields rise when bond prices fall).
The dollar climbed as worries over Brexit and a worsening pandemic fueled flights to safety in the greenback.
Oil fell sharply with January 2021 contracts for WTI Crude Oil (Nymex) (-1.93%) at US$48.15 from US$49.10 on concerns of the mutating virus in the United Kingdom.
February 2021 contracts for Gold (Comex) (+0.65%) rose to US$1,901.10 as risk aversity was in full display on pandemic concerns and despite a rising dollar.
Bitcoin (+0.97%) soared to US$23,658 heading into the week as outflows from exchanges surged ahead of inflows (outflows typically suggest that investors are looking to hold Bitcoin in anticipation of price rises).
In today’s issue…
Your Next Computer May Not Have an Intel Inside Robinhood’s Gamification of Trading Has Changed Investing Forever Bitcoin & Tesla May Soon Be More Bounded Than Ever
Market Overview
Just when you thought it was safe to take off your mask…
Even as coronavirus vaccines are being loaded into vials and injected into arms, the disease is spreading seemingly unabated across many parts of the world, with conditions worsening and fresh lockdowns ensuing.
What then was the past year’s sacrifice for anyway?
As pandemic fatigue have weakened people’s resolve to be socially distant, wear masks and take extra hygiene precautions, there is now news that the U.K. variant of the coronavirus may prove to be even more virulent than earlier conceptions.
And while vaccine makers have assured leery governments that the mutation should not dull the efficacy of the brand new coronavirus vaccine candidates, there’s no way of knowing that for sure until sufficiently larger populations are vaccinated.
In Asia, markets entered the week mainly lower with Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 (-0.58%), Sydney’s ASX 200 (-0.50%), Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index (-0.67%) and Seoul’s KOSPI (-0.41%) all down in the morning trading session on pandemic concerns.
1. Your Next Computer May Not Have an Intel Inside
Cloud computing has created demands for more specialized semiconductors, with cloud computing giants looking to develop their own
Customers may become competitors to traditional chipmaking giants, especially with the progress in contract manufacturers
Intel’s (-6.30%) iconic marketing campaign “Intel Inside” was a stroke of sheer genius. Despite not ever selling its chips to end consumers at the time, Intel was determined not to be a nameless and faceless supplier to personal computer manufacturers.
Dubbed “Wintel” Microsoft (-0.38%) and Intel worked closely together to ensure that Microsoft’s Windows would work well with Intel’s chips.
But things have changed dramatically in the chip business and not only has Intel had to face off archrival AMD (-0.95%), it’s also now staring down competition from unlikely challengers — it’s own customers.
With the rise of cloud computing accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic and companies embracing the digital tools using those remote servers, Amazon (-1.06%), Microsoft, Google (-0.82%) and others have enjoyed strong growth.
And many of the business and work trends sped up by the pandemic are likely to prove durable, including a desire to work from home and rely on cloud-based work applications.
With business customers showing an increased appetite for analyzing the data gathered, there has been a surge in demand for artificial intelligence tools to process that data and hardware that is optimized for those applications.
An early mover in the space has been Google which released an AI processor in 2016, well before it was a buzzword.
And other big cloud players, including Microsoft and Amazon have also invested heavily in chip designs, including a programmable chip to handle AI and another one that enhances security.
But there are rumors that Microsoft is secretly working on its own CPU that would rival Intel.
The sheer size of the cloud giants presents a unique challenge for traditional chipmakers, including Nvidia (-0.52%), which had earlier pivoted into making chips for data centers and is now a major player in the sector.
Whereas in the past, chipmakers like Intel tended to design high performance chips for generic applications, leaving it to customers to adapt and squeeze the most performance out of their chips, now its customers are so big that they are demanding more optimized designs.
Intel with a market cap of US$207 billion and Nvidia, the world’s largest chipmaker by market cap at US$330 billion are both dwarfed by the cloud giants Amazon, Google and Microsoft which each top US$1 trillion in market valuation.
And while chipmaking was an expensive and risky endeavor in the past, the advent of highly adept contract manufacturers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (+0.37%) helps customers avoid the multibillion-dollars costs of building their own chip foundries.
Custom chips are also gaining favor in consumer technology, with designs created by Arm Holdings, which sells circuit designs that anyone can use after paying a licensing fee, a major supplier for Apple (-1.59%).
But the incumbents aren’t taking the challenge sitting down and this year Nvidia moved to buy Arm Holdings, which could potentially stifle access to its designs from competitors.
And while the firm that is most under threat is Intel, it has invested heavily in AI processors and other specialized hardware, buying Habana Labs for US$2 billion, which makes AI training chips.
The market for semiconductors is expected to continue growing, especially with the rise of the Internet of Things, but in the future your next computer may come with “Anything Inside.”
2. Robinhood’s Gamification of Trading Has Changed Investing Forever
Retail investors are no too big to ignore for their influence on markets
Research for stocks now needs to encompass a growing array of social media channels outside of traditional sources
There was a time when investing was daunting. When investors would phone their brokers using a landline and generally delegate navigating the complexities of the markets to those with supposed expertise and sharp suits.
But the great stock market crash of 1929 (and the many others that followed) as well as the advent of low-cost investing and ETFs has dramatically reshaped the way retail investors now approach their portfolios.
And nowhere has this become more apparent than 2020’s gamification of investing by zero-fee trading app Robinhood.
With the coronavirus pandemic creating a literally captive audience, online brokerage Robinhood has ushered in a new class of U.S. trader that could very easily become global.
Founded in 2013, Robinhood has long courted ignored small-dollar novice investors by charging zero commissions on trades, later offering fractional stocks that allow investors to buy slivers of companies with daunting stock prices, like Amazon where one share is worth US$3,200.
Zero fee trading has now become an industry standard and even companies themselves, like Apple and Tesla (+5.96%), have of their own initiative split their stocks turning them into retail bite-sized chunks.
But as a product of the smartphone era, Robinhood offers a trading experience with social interaction woven into its DNA, from confetti animation to celebrate an investor’s first trade, to getting bonuses if they invite a friend to sign up.
Robinhood even has a leaderboard to show the 100 most-held stocks among fellow users for those looking for investment inspiration, and a legion of TikTok videos with millions of views have sprung up under the hashtag #robinhoodstocks.
Just as how many drops make a mighty ocean, those neglected retail investors with small holdings have now created a tsunami in the stock markets, pushing equity valuations well beyond bubble levels and with no signs of stopping.
But because many of these retail-centric trading platforms are privately held, it’s nigh on impossible to figure out how much money is flowing through them.
But there is some evidence that this year has been a banner one for the industry, with eToro claiming that it recorded more than US$1 trillion worth of trades on its platform this year alone.
As a more diverse audience enters the markets, voting with their dollars, long-held assumptions and beliefs about how markets behave will need to accommodate for these new entrants.
In other words, traditional metrics for valuation may need to be temporarily suspended, sentiment monitors will need to expand to encompass unlikely sources such as Reddit, YouTube, Twitter (+2.27%) and TikTok, and professional money managers will need to keep a more open mind.
And as physical casinos and sports betting were put on hold during the pandemic, many of those impulses have trickled down to the markets, and those shifts may ultimately prove durable.
Investors need to brace themselves therefore for a shifting market.
While bonds and commodities may still be dominated by institutional investors, stock markets are increasingly looking to be more democratized than at any time in the past, and that creates just as much opportunity as it does risk.
3. Bitcoin & Tesla May Soon Be More Bounded Than Ever
Telsla CEO Elon Musk entertains idea of putting some of the electric vehicle maker’s balance sheet into Bitcoin
If the world’s second richest person buys big into Bitcoin, investors can expect a sharp boost to Bitcoin’s fortunes but Tesla investors to also become unwitting investors into the cryptocurrency
Just a week ago, I wrote about how Tesla was very similar to Bitcoin in that their prices were driven primarily by narratives than by fundamentals, likening them to unconstrained assets, unbounded and unburdened by profitability.
And over the past year, the fortunes of both Tesla and Bitcoin have moved almost in lockstep, with their highest price correlation between the six months from October 2019 to April 2020.
One key reason for that may be because retail investors make up a large portion of investments in both Bitcoin and Tesla — or at least that may have been the case in the past.
Over the past year, retail investors have hardly made a dent in Bitcoin’s movement, with an inflow of institutional investors being the primary driver of Bitcoin’s rally.
And despite skepticism by institutional money managers over Tesla’s heady valuation, many could not avoid the need to allocate at least a portion of their assets to the electric vehicle maker, for fear of missing out.
Now there’s a possibility that Tesla’s investors are doubling down on both assets with Tesla CEO Elon Musk publicly inquiring about moving “large transactions” to Bitcoin.
In a Twitter exchange with Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy (+1.14%) which made headlines several times this year for putting a significant chunk of its treasury into Bitcoin, Musk asked about converting significant “large transactions” of Tesla’s balance sheet into Bitcoin.
Saylor, in a series of tweets encouraged Musk to shift dollars from Tesla into Bitcoin and “do your shareholders a US$100 billion favor.”
“Other firms on the S&P 500 would follow your lead & in time it would grow to become a US$1 trillion favor,” Saylor added.
Stocks of companies like business software maker MicroStrategy, have seen their once languishing fortunes revived again on the back of high-profile investments in Bitcoin and some investors are viewing stocks of such firms as proxies of an investment in Bitcoin.
Yet given the strong correlation between both Bitcoin and Tesla’s investor base, as well as their speculative natures, investors in Tesla could be doubling down on risk if Musk eventually follows in the footsteps of MicroStrategy and converts some of its treasure into Bitcoin.
Bitcoin has surged in recent weeks as investors race for exposure to the rally, even if that has meant paying a high markup to enjoy institutional-grade safeguards.
As Bitcoin rocketed above US$23,000 for the first time ever this week, the rally pushed the price of the Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund as much as 650% above the value of its holdings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Tesla is set to start trading as a member of the exclusive S&P 500 Index today, and has had an eight-fold surge this year, making Musk the world’s second richest person.
And if Musk bets big on Bitcoin, you can bet the rest of the world will pay attention.
What can Digital Assets do for you?
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If this is something of interest to you, or if you’d like to know how digital assets can fundamentally improve your portfolio, please feel free to reach out to me by clicking here.
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DOWNLOAD APP & TRY IT FREE | https://medium.com/novum-digital-asset-alpha/novum-alpha-daily-analysis-21-december-2020-cbdf718ce133 | ['Phuong Nguyen'] | 2020-12-21 05:31:38.462000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Tesla', 'Cryptocurrency Investment', 'Crypto'] |
Video: iExec Completes Whitepaper and Presents New Adoption Roadmap | 22. October 2020: iExec has released a video marking the milestone of the completion of the 2016 roadmap. The video covers recent business developments and outlines how iExec will be moving forward, with the future roadmap being adoption-driven.
When iExec and the concept of off-chain decentralized computing was imagined four years ago, it was impossible to forecast how blockchain technology and ecosystem would evolve over the years. Certain emerging technologies such as trusted computing were almost unknown at the time. iExec was able to innovate in some cases even additionally were not initially outlined in the original whitepaper (such as releasing the first full ‘trusted compute’ solution for blockchain with Intel). The world’s first decentralized marketplace for computing resources was successfully delivered and during this time, iExec has evolved from a start-up idea to a fully-fledged enterprise.
iExec maintains its vision that decentralized Cloud computing is the best way to provide enterprises with secure and affordable computing resources. Having proven to be the leader in decentralized computing as well as confidential computing.
Covering recent iExec developments
Approval from the French SEC (AMF) for its new Enterprise Marketplace token swap offering. This token allows enterprises to exchange cloud resources in a regulated & compliant environment, facilitating adoption & reinforcing RLC token economics. More information can be found on the dedicated iExec Enterprise Marketplace webpage .
for its new Enterprise Marketplace token swap offering. This token allows enterprises to exchange cloud resources in a regulated & compliant environment, facilitating adoption & reinforcing RLC token economics. More information can be found on the dedicated Partnership with ‘OntoChain : the EU project funding 4.3m euros for blockchain innovators. With OntoChain, iExec will be offering EU-funded grants for projects to build on iExec stack.
: the EU project funding 4.3m euros for blockchain innovators. With OntoChain, iExec will be offering EU-funded grants for projects to build on iExec stack. iExec Academy : the new platform that acts as an aggregator for content. From blog posts to Github repos — all things iExec, in one place.
the new platform that acts as an aggregator for content. From blog posts to Github repos — all things iExec, in one place. Adoption roadmap and EPICs process : iExec outlines their plans moving forward, presenting the initial new roadmap as well as ‘EPICs’: projects towards developer and enterprise adoption. Have your say: Submit an idea or business application via this form.
: iExec outlines their plans moving forward, presenting the initial new roadmap as well as ‘EPICs’: projects towards developer and enterprise adoption. Have your say: Submit an idea or business application via this form. Developer walkthrough demo for adoption: iExec will be releasing developer guides and walkthrough interfaces for various iExec user types, taking into account their knowledge-level in both blockchain and iExec. The goal is to make the onboarding process as easy as possible and to ensure that value propositions are clear to the specific user persona. More details for this work can be found in the roadmap. The first onboarding is for cloud developers. It removes the complexity of blockchain with iExec Cloud Computing. Select a provider offering the best price and run the demo app. Give it a try with free credits: https://developers.iex.ec/goal
iExec now has all the building blocks for adoption and we can’t wait to see what the future holds. | https://medium.com/iex-ec/video-iexec-completes-whitepaper-and-presents-new-adoption-roadmap-d26402ac9761 | ['Baptiste Castiglione'] | 2021-08-13 12:30:39.124000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Ethereum', 'Blockchain', 'Tech', 'Press Release'] |
The Stand < "Season 1 :: Episode 2" > FULL~EPISODE | ⭐ Watch The Stand Season 1 Episode 2 Full Episode, The Stand Season 1 Episode 2 Full Watch Free, The Stand Episode 2,The Stand CBS All Access, The Stand Eps. 2,The Stand ENG Sub, The Stand Season 1, The Stand Series 1,The Stand Episode 2, The Stand Season 1 Episode 2, The Stand Full Streaming, The Stand Download HD, The Stand All Subtitle, Watch The Stand Season 1 Episode 2 Full Episodes
Film, also called movie, motion picture or moving picture, is a visual art-form used to simulate experiences that communicate ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere through the use of moving images. These images are generally accompanied by sound, and more rarely, other sensory stimulations.[2] The word “cinema”, short for cinematography, is ofCBS All Access used to refer to filmmaking and the film The Stand, and to the art form that is the result of it.
❏ STREAMING MEDIA ❏
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a provider. The verb to stream refers to the process of delivering or obtaining media in this manner.[clarification needed] Streaming refers to the delivery method of the medium, rather than the medium itself. Distinguishing delivery method from the media distributed applies specifically to telecommunications networks, as most of the delivery systems are either inherently streaming (e.g. radio, television, streaming apps) or inherently non-streaming (e.g. books, video cassettes, audio CDs). There are challenges with streaming conCBS All Accesst on the Internet. For example, users whose Internet connection lacks sufficient bandwidth may experience stops, lags, or slow buffering of the conCBS All Accesst. And users lacking compatible hardware or software systems may be unable to stream certain conCBS All Accesst.
Live streaming is the delivery of Internet conCBS All Accesst in real-time much as live television broadcasts conCBS All Accesst over the airwaves via a television signal. Live internet streaming requires a form of source media (e.g. a video camera, an audio interface, screen capture software), an encoder to digitize the conCBS All Accesst, a media publisher, and a conCBS All Accesst delivery network to distribute and deliver the conCBS All Accesst. Live streaming does not need to be recorded at the origination point, although it frequently is.
Streaming is an alternative to file downloading, a process in which the end-user obtains the entire file for the conCBS All Accesst before watching or lisCBS All Accessing to it. Through streaming, an end-user can use their media player to start playing digital video or digital audio conCBS All Accesst before the entire file has been transmitted. The term “streaming media” can apply to media other than video and audio, such as live closed captioning, ticker tape, and real-time text, which are all considered “streaming text”.
❏ COPYRIGHT CONCBS All AccessT ❏
Copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to make copies of a creative work, usually for a limited time.[2][2][2][2][2] The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is inCBS All Accessded to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself.[2][2][2] A copyright is subject to limitations based on public interest considerations, such as the fair use doctrine in the United States.
Some jurisdictions require “fixing” copyrighted works in a tangible form. It is ofCBS All Access shared among multiple authors, each of whom holds a set of rights to use or license the work, and who are commonly referred to as rights holders.[citation needed][2][1][1][1] These rights frequently include reproduction, control over derivative works, distribution, public performance, and moral rights such as attribution.[1]
Copyrights can be granted by public law and are in that case considered “territorial rights”. This means that copyrights granted by the law of a certain state, do not exCBS All Accessd beyond the territory of that specific jurisdiction. Copyrights of this type vary by country; many countries, and sometimes a large group of countries, have made agreements with other countries on procedures applicable when works “cross” national borders or national rights are inconsisCBS All Accesst.[1]
Typically, the public law duration of a copyright expires 1 to 2 years after the creator dies, depending on the jurisdiction. Some countries require certain copyright formalities[2] to establishing copyright, others recognize copyright in any completed work, without a formal registration.
It is widely believed that copyrights are a must to foster cultural diversity and creativity. However, Parc argues that contrary to prevailing beliefs, imitation and copying do not restrict cultural creativity or diversity but in fact support them further. This argument has been supported by many examples such as Millet and Van Gogh, Picasso, Manet, and Monet, etc.[1]
❏ GOODS OF SERVICES ❏
Credit (from Latin credit, “(he/she/it) believes”) is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), but promises either to repay or return those resources (or other materials of equal value) at a later date.[2] In other words, credit is a method of making reciprocity formal, legally enforceable, and exCBS All Accesssible to a large group of unrelated people.
The resources provided may be financial (e.g. granting a loan), or they may consist of goods or services (e.g. consumer credit). Credit encompasses any form of deferred payment.[2] Credit is exCBS All Accessded by a creditor, also known as a lender, to a debtor, also known as a borrower.
‘The Stand’ Challenges Asian Americans in Hollywood to Overcome ‘Impossible Duality’ CBS All Accessween China, U.S.
CBS All Access’s live-action “The Stand” was supposed to be a huge win for under-represented groups in Hollywood. The $2 million-budgeted film is among the most expensive ever directed by a woman, and it features an all-Asian cast — a first for productions of such scale.
Despite well-inCBS All Accesstioned ambitions, however, the film has exposed the difficulties of representation in a world of complex geopolitics. CBS All Access primarily cast Asian rather than Asian American stars in lead roles to appeal to Chinese consumers, yet Chinese viewers rejected the movie as inauthentic and American. Then, politics ensnared the production as stars Liu Yifei, who plays The Stand, and Donnie Yen professed support for Hong Kong police during the brutal crackdown on protesters in 122. Later, CBS All Access issued “special thanks” in the credits to government bodies in China’s Xinjiang region that are directly involved in perpetrating major human rights abuses against the minority Uighur population.
“The Stand” inadverCBS All Accesstly reveals why it’s so difficult to create multicultural conCBS All Accesst with global appeal in 2020. It highlights the vast disconnect CBS All Accessween Asian Americans in Hollywood and Chinese nationals in China, as well as the exCBS All Accesst to which Hollywood fails to acknowledge the difference CBS All Accessween their aesthetics, tastes and politics. It also underscores the limits of the American conversation on representation in a global world.
In conversations with seThe Standl Asian-American creatives, Variety found that many feel caught CBS All Accessween fighting against underrepresentation in Hollywood and being accidentally complicit in China’s authoritarian politics, with no easy answers for how to deal with the moral questions “The Stand” poses.
“When do we care about representation versus fundamental civil rights? This is not a simple question,” says Bing Chen, co-founder of Gold House, a collective that mobilizes the Asian American community to help diverse films, including “The Stand,” achieve opening weekend box office success via its #GoldOpen movement. “An impossible duality faces us. We absolutely acknowledge the terrible and unacceptable nature of what’s going on over there [in China] politically, but we also understand what’s at stake on the The Stand side.”
The film leaves the Asian American community at “the intersection of choosing CBS All Accessween surface-level representation — faces that look like ours — versus values and other cultural nuances that don’t reflect ours,” says Lulu Wang, director of “The Farewell.”
In a business in which past box office success determines what future projects are bankrolled, those with their eyes squarely on the prize of increasing opportunities for Asian Americans say they feel a responsibility to support “The Stand” no matter what. That support is ofCBS All Access very personal amid the The Stand’s close-knit community of Asian Americans, where people don’t want to tear down the hard work of peers and The Stand.
Others say they wouldn’t have given CBS All Access their $1 if they’d known about the controversial end credits.
“‘The Stand’ is actually the first film where the Asian American community is really split,” says sociologist Nancy Wang Yuen, who examines racism in Hollywood. “For people who are more global and consume more global news, maybe they’re thinking, ‘We shouldn’t sell our soul in order to get affirmation from Hollywood.’ But we have this scarcity mentality.
“I felt like I couldn’t completely lambast ‘The Stand’ because I personally felt solidarity with the Asian American actors,” Yuen continues. “I wanted to see them do well. But at what cost?”
This scarcity mentality is particularly acute for Asian American actors, who find roles few and far CBS All Accessween. Lulu Wang notes that many “have built their career on a film like ‘The Stand’ and other crossovers, because they might not speak the native language — Japanese, Chinese, Korean or Hindi — to actually do a role overseas, but there’s no role being writCBS All Access for them in America.”
Certainly, the actors in “The Stand,” who have seen major career breakthroughs tainted by the film’s political backlash, feel this acutely. “You have to understand the tough position that we are in here as the cast, and that CBS All Access is in too,” says actor Chen Tang, who plays The Stand’s army buddy Yao.
There’s not much he can do except keep trying to nail the roles he lands in hopes of paving the way for others. “The more I can do great work, the more likely there’s going to be somebody like me [for kids to look at and say], ‘Maybe someday that could be me.’”
Part of the problem is that what’s happening in China feels very distant to Americans. “The Chinese-speaking market is impenetrable to people in the West; they don’t know what’s going on or what those people are saying,” says Daniel York Loh of British East Asians and South East Asians in Theatre and Screen (BEATS), a U.K. nonprofit seeking greater on-screen Asian representation.
York Loh offers a provocative comparison to illustrate the West’s milquetoast reaction to “The Stand” principal Liu’s pro-police comments. “The equivalent would be, say, someone like Emma Roberts going, ‘Yeah, the cops in Portland should beat those protesters.’ That would be huge — there’d be no getting around that.”
Some of the disconnect is understandable: With information overload at home, it’s hard to muster the energy to care about faraway problems. But part of it is a broader failure to grasp the real lack of overlap CBS All Accessween issues that matter to the mainland’s majority Han Chinese versus minority Chinese Americans. They may look similar, but they have been shaped in diametrically different political and social contexts.
“China’s nationalist pride is very different from the Asian American pride, which is one of overcoming racism and inequality. It’s hard for Chinese to relate to that,” Yuen says.
Beijing-born Wang points out she ofCBS All Access has more in common with first-generation Muslim Americans, Jamaican Americans or other immigrants than with Chinese nationals who’ve always lived in China and never left.
If the “The Stand” debacle has taught us anything, in a world where we’re still too quick to equate “American” with “white,” it’s that “we definitely have to separate out the Asian American perspective from the Asian one,” says Wang. “We have to separate race, nationality and culture. We have to talk about these things separately. True representation is about capturing specificities.”
She ran up against the The Stand’s inability to make these distinctions while creating “The Farewell.” Americans felt it was a Chinese film because of its subtitles, Chinese cast and location, while Chinese producers considered it an American film because it wasn’t fully Chinese. The endeavor to simply tell a personal family story became a “political fight to claim a space that doesn’t yet exist.”
In the search for authentic storytelling, “the key is to lean into the in-CBS All Accessweenness,” she said. “More and more, people won’t fit into these neat boxes, so in-CBS All Accessweenness is exactly what we need.”
However, it may prove harder for Chinese Americans to carve out a space for their “in-CBS All Accessweenness” than for other minority groups, given China’s growing economic clout.
Notes author and writer-producer Charles Yu, whose latest novel about Asian representation in Hollywood, “Interior Chinatown,” is a National Book Award finalist, “As Asian Americans continue on what I feel is a little bit of an island over here, the world is changing over in Asia; in some ways the center of gravity is shifting over there and away from here, economically and culturally.”
With the Chinese film market set to surpass the US as the world’s largest this year, the question thus arises: “Will the cumulative impact of Asian American audiences be such a small drop in the bucket compared to the China market that it’ll just be overwhelmed, in terms of what gets made or financed?”
As with “The Stand,” more parochial, American conversations on race will inevitably run up against other global issues as U.S. studios continue to target China. Some say Asian American creators should be prepared to meet The Stand by broadening their outlook.
“Most people in this The Stand think, ‘I’d love for there to be Hollywood-China co-productions if it meant a job for me. I believe in free speech, and censorship is terrible, but it’s not my battle. I just want to get my pilot sold,’” says actor-producer Brian Yang (“Hawaii Five-0,” “Linsanity”), who’s worked for more than a decade CBS All Accessween the two countries. “But the world’s getting smaller. Streamers make shows for the world now. For anyone that works in this business, it would behoove them to study and understand The Stands that are happening in and [among] other countries.”
Gold House’s Chen agrees. “We need to speak even more thoughtfully and try to understand how the world does not function as it does in our zip code,” he says. “We still have so much soft power coming from the U.S. What we say matters. This is not the problem and burden any of us as Asian Americans asked for, but this is on us, unfortunately. We just have to fight harder. And every step we take, we’re going to be right and we’re going to be wrong.”
☆ ALL ABOUT THE SERIES ☆
is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), but promises either to repay or return those resources (or other materials of equal value) at a later date.[2] In other words, credit is a method of making reciprocity formal, legally enforceable, and exCBS All Accesssible to a large group of unrelated people.
The resources provided may be financial (e.g. granting a loan), or they may consist of goods or services (e.g. consumer credit). Credit encompasses any form of deferred payment.[2] Credit is exCBS All Accessded by a creditor, also known as a lender, to a debtor, also known as a borrower.
‘Hausen’ Challenges Asian Americans in Hollywood to Overcome ‘Impossible Duality’ CBS All Accessween China, U.S. | https://medium.com/the-stand-2020-s1-e2-on-cbs-all-access/watch-%E1%B4%B4%E1%B4%B0-s1-e2-the-stand-series-1-episode-2-full-episode-a6e2b02fdfab | ['Lydia Jordan'] | 2020-12-26 03:16:56.891000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Lifestyle', 'Coronavirus', 'TV Series'] |
by Martino Pietropoli | First thing in the morning: a glass of water and a cartoon by The Fluxus.
Follow | https://medium.com/the-fluxus/saturday-new-york-9cd144888953 | ['Martino Pietropoli'] | 2018-08-04 00:16:01.283000+00:00 | ['New York', 'Art', 'Drawing', 'Saturday'] |
Coworking Space for Orthodox Jews Opens in Bnei Brak, Israel | It’s called Ampersand the first ultra-Orthodox coworking space in Israel, which is set to open soon in Bnei Brak, the ultra-Orthodox suburb of Tel Aviv.
Ampersand was established by KamaTech, a nonprofit organization with the goal to integrate Israel’s ultra-Orthodox population into its technology industry. This new coworking space is supported by Cisco and mentored by WeWork.
Also, Ampersand is backed by some private investors. Among them, Mobileye cofounder Amnon Shashua and Magma Venture Partners general partner Zvi Limon,
Ampersand founder is KamaTech CEO Moshe Friedman. Friedman said the name Ampersand was chosen to stress the desire to connect ultra-Orthodox entrepreneurs with the Israeli Tech sector, as reported by CTech.
Ampersand will be managed by an ultra-Orthodox team, it will have a strictly kosher kitchen and will be run in accordance with the Jewish calendar. The coworking place has even a synagog on site. It will be an ultra-Orthodox friendly environment but it won’t feel like a yeshiva so that non-Orthodox people will feel comfortable.
Ampersand will also offer workshops and mentorship programs.
According to a study published in August 2017 by the Israeli Ministry of Finance, ultra-Orthodox Jews make up around 10% of the population and only 0.7% of the tech sector. | https://medium.com/jewish-economic-forum/coworking-space-for-orthodox-jews-opens-in-bnei-brak-israel-c6d8c23c820 | [] | 2018-04-22 09:07:05.459000+00:00 | ['Ethics', 'Israel', 'Coworking', 'Orthodox Judaism', 'Jef'] |
How to Build a Text Summarizer (TL;DR) With Simple Natural Language Processing | From Text to TL;DR
For parts 3 and 4, we’ll develop a method called summarizeURL :
def summarizeURL(url, total_pars):
url_text = getTextFromURL(url).replace(u"Â", u"").replace(u"â", u"")
fs = FrequencySummarizer()
final_summary = fs.summarize(url_text.replace("
"," "), total_pars)
return " ".join(final_summary)
The method calls getTextFromURL above to retrieve the text and clean it from HTML characters and trailing new lines (
).
Next, we execute the FrequencySummarizer algorithm on a given text. The algorithm tokenizes the input into sentences and then computes the term frequency map of the words. Then, the frequency map is filtered in order to ignore very low-frequency and high-frequency words. This way, it is able to discard the noisy words (such as determiners that are very common but don’t contain much information) or words that occur only a few times. To see the source code, head to GitHub.
Finally, we return a list of the highest-ranked sentences, which is our final summary.
The full source code is available on GitHub. | https://medium.com/better-programming/how-to-build-a-url-text-summarizer-with-simple-natural-language-processing-ac1a9cb742de | ['Assaf Elovic'] | 2021-01-02 13:01:44.500000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Machine Learning', 'Python', 'Data Science', 'NLP'] |
Gallen vs Hunt Boxing Live Stream | ‘I’m going to fix him’: Mark Hunt sends final warning ahead of boxing bout against Paul Gallen
Kiwi combat sports star Mark Hunt has declared he will hang up the gloves for good if he can’t beat boxing “freshie” Paul Gallen.
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The two heavyweights clash in Sydney on Wednesday, fighting as the co-main event alongside the bout between fellow Kiwi super welterweight Bowyn Morgan and rising Australian Tim Tszyu at Bankwest Stadium.
Hunt hasn’t been in the professional boxing arena for more than 20 years, but became arguably Australasia’s biggest combat sports star through his career in both kickboxing and mixed martial arts, amassing more than 70 professional bouts while former NRL star Gallen has just 10 to his name — a number of which have been against fellow league players.
Gallen has made a strong start to in his boxing career since turning professional in 2014. The former Australian NRL star has won nine of his 10 professional bouts, five of those coming inside the distance, with the other being a majority draw against Barry Hall, a former AFL player, in November last year — his most recent encounter.
While Hunt has not fought in any form over the past couple of years, he comes into the bout in shape and said he felt physically and mentally ready to go as many as 12 rounds. The bout with Gallen, however, is only a six-round affair.
While he comes into the bout in shape — taking every step to do so including enlisting The Fight Dietitian Jordan Sullivan, who works managing the nutrition and weight cutting practices of Australasia’s top combat sports stars during fight camps — many continue to suggest Hunt will be out of shape on fight night.
Hunt said that narrative was being fuelled by the fact he weighed in at more than 20kgs heavier than Gallen.
“People are looking at me like I’m unfit because of him; what was he, 100kgs or something? If I hit him with something I’ve got, he’s not going to come back,” Hunt said. “I’m not going to be working as hard as he is; he’s going to be working hard. It just takes me a couple of shots, or one shot to put you in trouble.
Hunt has also spent the best part of the past two decades competing in five-minute rounds. The bout against Gallen will be contested with three-minute rounds.
For Gallen, the bout will be the biggest test of his professional combat sports career to date and despite all the trash talk between the two in the build-up, the 2015 NRL premiership winner was complimentary and respectful of the power in Hunt’s fists.
While Gallen suggested it was an “unprofessional” way for Hunt to act given he was a veteran of the combat sports scene, Hunt shrugged the situation off as simply a part of the game.
“It wasn’t really a fiery stare down at all,” Hunt said. “That’s just what we do; as a fighter part of your job is to be part of conflict — that’s what fighting is, and I’m okay with it.
“Time for talking is over, I’m just looking forward to scrapping now and putting this one to bed; putting the nails in his coffin and ending it. Enough talk is enough, that time is over; I’ve had enough of this. | https://medium.com/@likepungta420/gallen-vs-hunt-boxing-live-stream-ef57442251f0 | [] | 2020-12-16 08:14:14.869000+00:00 | ['News', 'Broadcasting', 'Life', 'Health', 'Safety'] |
The future of recruiting and hiring with technology | Technology will play an essential role in the future of work. Similarly, recruitment technology will help HR personnel and recruiters gather what’s necessary to assemble top-notch teams. But when considering how technology can help recruitment, it’s essential to take a look at what the job landscape will look like the rest of this year — and for years to come.
For starters, flexible work environments are quickly moving from accessory to necessary as many organizations shift some, or all, of their workforces to a remote setup. If potential hires have the technology to conduct remote work, then organizations will need the right recruitment tools to reach those candidates.
As you’re pursuing a remote workforce, it stands to reason that some of your talent acquisition will be contactless. Virtual recruiting tools can help foster connections that put candidates at ease with a company — even at a distance. These tools also open your organization up to a wealth of global talent that can help your team expand its physical borders.
It’s equally important to have the resources on hand to create a solid company. The future of employee onboarding and retention will rest heavily on having the kinds of online collaboration tools necessary to help teams connect and create from anywhere.
What’s more, the future of human resource management will likely have a top-to-bottom technological influence. Outfitting your talent acquisition efforts with recruitment technology will help you feel confident that you’ve left no stone unturned to find the best talent.
Using virtual recruiting tools to find top talent
Recruitment technology is an efficient and insight-driven way to connect employers with talent that checks a company’s boxes for skill set and cultural fit.
If you’re still not sure how to integrate employee recruitment tools into your candidate search, try these three strategies:
1. Forget what you thought you knew. To see clearly how technology can help recruitment, start by adjusting how you previously viewed it — as well as onboarding. Understand that technology can benefit both the recruiting and onboarding processes, and then tailor your methods to those solutions.
Invest in chatbots, software, and other assets to build rapport with potential candidates and new employees. Find ways to use those solutions in your everyday processes to create a more organic approach to talent acquisition.
2. Map out your strategy. With the litany of challenges and opportunities affecting the future of human resource management, it’s best not to leave anything to chance. Put a proper plan in place that leverages tools that will lead you to your ideal candidates.
Create a blueprint for each aspect of recruitment, attaching some element of your tech stack to each step. You stand a better chance of finding the right candidates if you connect recruitment solutions to the most critical aspects of your search.
3. Invest in subscription solutions. You should be able to test virtual recruiting tools free of charge, and they should come with fewer strings attached in terms of commitment. The future of recruiting and hiring technology will focus on subscription technologies that allow users to try several solutions until they find one that works.
No one can truly predict what will be most effective in the talent acquisition landscape. Pay-as-you-go video conferencing, messaging, and online collaboration tools provide recruiters and companies the flexibility they need to use tools that can scale with their needs.
Unfortunately, finding top talent isn’t as easy as shaking a magic eight ball. To make the search process smoother, implement technology into your recruiting and onboarding system that will help bring the challenges and opportunities affecting the future of human resource management into focus and empower you to find the best talent. | https://medium.com/@SteveNellon/the-future-of-recruiting-and-hiring-with-technology-f93ac84ebed6 | ['Steve Nellon'] | 2020-12-11 15:08:24.477000+00:00 | ['Recruiting', 'Recruiting Software', 'Hiring', 'HR', 'Virtual Recruitment'] |
Bitcoin Won’t Make You Rich, and That’s Okay, Because That’s Not the Purpose of Bitcoin | Bitcoin Won’t Make You Rich, and That’s Okay, Because That’s Not the Purpose of Bitcoin
Bitcoin is much more than a get rich quick scheme.
Bitcoin is much more than a simple financial investment with extraordinary return potential. I have written this over and over again. Yet, if you look at the numbers, Bitcoin has performed extraordinarily well over the past decade.
Bitcoin has transformed $1 invested in 2010 into $90K by the end of 2019.
For the few people who kept the Bitcoins they owned throughout the past decade, Bitcoin has allowed them to have a performance of +9,000,000%. In the investment world, this is unprecedented.
Even the most fabulous investments in Silicon Valley startups don’t yield such a return on investment in 10, 15, or 25 years. So the success of Bitcoin since 2010 is fabulous.
Such success has inevitably made some people think that Bitcoin is a get rich quick scheme.
Bitcoin is much more than just another financial investment
Thinking of Bitcoin in this way is the best way to get severe disillusionment. Bitcoin is not a startup. Bitcoin has much deeper goals: it aims to build a fairer and better world for all through a system with unique monetary attributes.
The monetary attributes of Bitcoin are supported by a disruptive technology: the Blockchain. Without Bitcoin, the Blockchain is not revolutionary, since it would be just another data storage technology.
Many people are already struggling to understand this first idea. But it is essential. Bitcoin without the Blockchain could not exist, but the Blockchain without Bitcoin has not yet proven its worth.
Thus, all Altcoins that claim to replace Bitcoin with potentially superior technologies are wrong. The real battle is that of monetary attributes, and in this field, the unique invention has already taken place with Bitcoin.
In the future, Bitcoin will remain and will be improved by an exceptional community of developers. Searching for the next Bitcoin is as incongruous as searching for the next Internet: it is a waste of time and money.
If Bitcoin is here to stay, Altcoins are not
Bitcoin will still be there in 25 years. The Altcoins, often vulgarly called Sh*tcoins, will have seen their value tend towards zero. It is only a matter of time.
Some explain that their favorite Altcoin has a higher potential return than Bitcoin over the next few months. This is possible. You can also go and play at the casino, and get lucky. You will then have a better return on your investment than with Bitcoin.
I think you get the idea here: buying Altcoins to invest is similar to gambling. You can win, but in the long run, you will always lose.
With Bitcoin, you have many more guarantees.
Although Bitcoin is not expected to be able to show a return of +9,000,000% over the next decade, Bitcoin does however give you the guarantee that your wealth will be protected over time in a way that is resistant to censorship.
This is the great need that emerges in 2020 following the economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. Now that the flaws of the current monetary and financial system have been exposed, this need will continue to grow in the years to come.
MicroStrategy leads the way for many to follow with Bitcoin in the coming months
Just as MicroStrategy is making Bitcoin its primary treasury reserve asset with a $425 million investment, more and more companies will follow this strategy.
Likewise, more and more individuals will choose Bitcoin in the future.
Among all these people, a majority may think they will become rich. However, this is not the real purpose of Bitcoin. The purpose of Bitcoin is the one that Michael J. Saylor, the CEO of Micro Strategy, has recently put forward in explaining why he chose this strategy for his company.
Bitcoin is there to enable you to protect your wealth over time in a way that is resistant to censorship.
Bitcoin is the best hedge against the uncertainty of today’s world. In the face of the great monetary inflation that we are experiencing, the U.S. dollar is increasingly risky. You cannot bet on the world’s reserve currency. Bitcoin is your only real option.
As inflation continues to eat away at the value of the U.S. dollar, your Bitcoins will continue to grow in value.
Bitcoin is there to prevent you from getting poorer slowly but surely over time
No matter what happens, you are guaranteed that 1 Bitcoin purchased in 2020 will still represent 1 Bitcoin out of 21 million in 2050. By buying 38,250 BTC, Michael J. Saylor knows that his company will still own 0.182% of the total Bitcoin supply.
Considering that 4 million BTC are considered lost forever, MicroStrategy currently owns 0.225% of the total Bitcoin offering.
This is an incredible guarantee when you consider that the Bitcoin price is expected to reach $1 million in the next 20 to 30 years for two major reasons:
The law of supply and demand, with a supply that is inevitably shrinking and demand steadily increasing. The endless inflation of the U.S. dollar.
By buying Bitcoin, you are choosing to protect what you own from the flaws of the current system.
The real purpose of Bitcoin is to prevent you from becoming inevitably poorer over time. Bitcoin is a savings technology that allows you to opt for low time preference.
Therefore, when entering the Bitcoin world, you should be aware that its revolution will take time, and that you are here for a very important number of years. Soon you will even understand that becoming a Bitcoin HODLer is the best strategy to take full advantage of Bitcoin.
Conclusion
With time, you will come to the same conclusion as all Bitcoiners: Bitcoin HODLer one day, Bitcoin HODLer forever.
You’ll get to the bottom of it, and you’ll understand that you have no interest in exchanging your Bitcoins for the U.S. dollar. The best thing you can do is to keep them for as long as possible until the day the Bitcoin revolution is fully successful.
If that happens, we will then speak in Satoshi, and you will be able to use your Satoshis in everyday life. Until that time comes, the best thing you can do is to support the Bitcoin revolution by being a Bitcoin HODLer.
This strategy won’t make you rich quickly, but it will prevent you from slowly and surely becoming poorer in an inescapable way, as is the case with all fiat currencies. | https://medium.com/in-bitcoin-we-trust/bitcoin-wont-make-you-rich-and-that-s-okay-because-that-s-not-the-purpose-of-bitcoin-ae5a76d97db8 | ['Sylvain Saurel'] | 2020-10-06 17:23:01.592000+00:00 | ['Investing', 'Money', 'Economics', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Digital Tools for Looking at Texts | There has been a profusion of tools to enable scholars, readers and analysts to look at texts. I’m not going to go through these tools per se, but rather to demonstrate how it might be done.
I’m an analyst — and that means, I look at reports, and try to glean from them what they are trying to say. In well-constructed reports, that is easy, but as they become long, then things get really difficult. Thankfully there are a whole bunch of tools that are now becoming available that allow for the extraction of insights.
The tools are possible owing to the advancements in natural language processing — the use of computational techniques and models to analyse natural language — language as it is used around us — in the documents, in voice, in chats. The explosion of content generated, and especially Wikipedia — has made various advancements possible. Thanks to Wikipedia, which contains topics arranged in a structured manner, and thanks to the effort put into translation by Google and others, it is now increasingly possible for machines to read texts in a structured way. Such tools are of great help to analysts — they can also aid in helping analysts see what the main points in a document are, and how they might be related to each other. Across numerous texts (think of new articles), analysts could paint a picture of the issue evolving over time.
Such objectives are the intention behind my explorations in NLP. As an analyst looking at emerging trends, I look at news and articles, and I wanted to be able to note the changes over time. The collections process aside, I also had to stitch together various tools. The aim was to be able to build a knowledge graph based on a long text. Why a knowledge graph? A knowledge graph would allow for the analyst to look at the main entities involved, and how they might be involved on an issue. Graphing techniques provide a quick view into the relationships that are involved. Although the findings for this particular exercise are underwhelming, they do nonetheless show enough promise for further refinements.
So here it is. The documents I chose were from recent McKinsey Global Institute publications on climate risks and the Bio Revolution. That these articles come from MGI should raise eyebrows — I would not ordinarily associate MGI or McK as a whole on these topics; I had initially associated McK with the usual efficient capitalist model — how to exploit tools and techniques for maximum profit. But I guess it’s a sign of the times when even McK (albeit the think-tank part) has to pay attention to these issues. But that aside…
The underlying engine powering the whole exercise is Spacy — the natural language processing library for Python. Other tools would be the good ‘ol NLTK (natural language tool kit, an earlier library that provided foundations for other work). I will be using NetworkX, the graphing library, and pyLDAvis, the visualization package for topic models (I’m using package and libraries interchangeably).
This article will focus on the results from the Climate Risks paper, since I had already looked at the Bio Revolutions one before (to demonstrate summary, fuller paper to follow someday…).
Before doing all that, one had to first take the pdf and turn it into a txt file. Sounds easy, but actually non-trivial. After some false-starts, I landed on pdftotext, that actually worked (module import issues, etc.).
Most of the code was taken from this piece on Towards Data Science (thanks Chris Thornton, for the code). The code for this exercise is on the Git — it’s the full notebook, so it’s a big large. I had also tried this (shout out to Prateek Joshi), but the Thornton code seemed more helpful — but it’s a matter of preference).
After converting the pdf to text using pdftotext (and making sure the result is a string, not a pdftotext object), run it through Spacy, and extract the entities. I used the Entity Pair code from Thornton, and I identify the various geopolitical entities and organisations.
I also looked at the topic models:
Now, as I mentioned, the knowledge graphs were… underwhelming, and this was what I meant — this is for a chart for how organisations might be related in the document.
It turns out that just a simple table can be quite useful:
With this table, I can tell at a glance what’s attributed to the term, ‘climate’ that I can interpret and further understand. Or with this:
The table for the network graph you saw previously. I also try a different way of representing the tabular data, using Circos plots.
Table for GeoPolitical Entities (“GPE”)
Circos Plot for the GPE table
Nonetheless, I feel that these are really promising directions — and I hope with further practice, tweaks and refinements, I can get to the point when the knowledge graphs are more usable. | https://medium.com/open-source-futures/digital-tools-for-looking-at-texts-d181219a5b89 | ['Scalable Analysis'] | 2020-05-26 04:01:00.884000+00:00 | ['Report', 'NLP', 'Knowledge Graph', 'Insights', 'Data Science'] |
Talking to a Woman | Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more
Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore | https://medium.com/wordsmith-library/talking-to-a-woman-133322494e9d | ['Patrick M. Ohana'] | 2020-12-05 09:02:28.795000+00:00 | ['Creative Writing', 'Poetry', 'Muse', 'Moon', 'Humor'] |
why do i like the set myself up for self destruction? | why do i like the set myself up for self destruction? I think about this a lot because well i do it a lot. For someone who has anxiety i sure don’t seam like i do. Most of the time in fact i have a “fuck it what ever” attitude. The only reason why i am able to have this attitude is because i’m always insanely well prepared. I’ve been that way my entire like probably because my dad was in the marines and fought combat. So if my friends want to all go to the bathroom at the same time during class i’m like “yeah sure” and not “what if we get in trouble?” because i know that if a teacher asks us why we are all in their i am great at coming up with an excuse. some of my favorites are “oh she was having lady problems” or “i was crying over a test and i needed support”. Like worst case we get reported and my school had much bigger problems to deal with this year then some girls missing 5 minutes of class. This year is 2020 so i could literally have a drug addiction and my school would be like “but did you have your uniform shirt on during your zoom?” (i’ve never done drugs before just so we’re clear).
Anyway, i never really set myself up for self destruction. i mean yeah sure it may seam like it but i usually end up embarrassing myself and everyone forgets about it a day later. I’d rather make those memories then live the same boring day over and over. Plus i know that i’m a strong little bitch who can live through anything.
Your probably reading this thinking “she isn’t a very anxious person” and i totally get that. I am only anxious over things that i don’t have control over. I guess growing up worried about everything you learn that you can handle a lot and you cope by trying to be prepared for everything.
ok that’s enough ranting for today
Luv ya, Jane Gilmore | https://medium.com/@mollycolleen56/why-do-i-like-the-set-myself-up-for-self-destruction-6cf318ee89ac | ['Jane Gilmore'] | 2020-12-19 05:00:17.099000+00:00 | ['Teenagers', 'Anxiety', 'Rant', 'Preparedness', 'Random Thoughts'] |
Critical thinking, informations, and decisions. | Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Critical thinking, informations, and decisions.
Critical thinking is the human capacity to analyze and evaluate information regarding a subject, verify the the veracity of information, ignore external biases and reach to a justified idea by focusing only in facts and rationality.
Why is critical thinking important?
Have a better perception of reality which can reduce anxiety and fear.
Make better decisions in work and personal life.
Be a better person, being a critical thinker requires to set aside your personal beliefs to analyze a problem, this way you can understand what the other is going through.
What do you need to develop critical thinking?
Be curious
Being curious, always ask questions, seek more knowledge, being eager to learn more.
Have understanding
If you focus to small portion of a problem you will loose the full picture and you will not be able to takle down the problem effectivelly.
Be logical
Verify everything, dont do logical jumps.
Be no biased
Critical thinking is not only to verify opinions of others but also to verify your opinion if is true or not and not act impulsive or desiderative, this means that personal biases must stay aside and accept only facts and rational statements that we like or not.
Be open minded
Allow your self to accept that your or others opinions might not be the only one or the best, allow acceptance of other opinions.
Have empathy
Being able to put your self in a situation of another person makes it more easy to understand how he/she reached a conclusion.
Create associasions
Being able to associate the information and its effects on big scale but as well how it effects individuals.
Doubt everything, but know when to stop
You have always to question truth, but note that the doubts must be limited to the reasonable, or you will never lead to any resolution.
How to evaluate information
Evaluation of information needs to pass some criteria in order to evaluated as True or not to pass and evaluated as False
Is the information accurate?
The souce of the information should be verified and supported by evidence, also the information should have been reviewed by others which are trustworthy, also information should be un-biased and emotional free.
Who provides the information?
Is someone who is subject matter expert? is an existant person? its a sponsor? the source of the information provides any info? for example, is a goverment site? an organization? a commercial site? a personal blog? is biased to any degree? (political, idelogical, cultural, religious, personal, institutional) its propaganda of any type?
Is important?
How imporant it is? its the information on the apropriate level?
Its still relevant?
How old is the information? its still revelant or the information content is out-dated?
How to take good decisions
Dont limit your options
Dont limit your options artificialy, for example if you have to decide to go to concert or not, you dont have this option only, other alternatives is to go to the movies, to go for a drink, for a dinner or practice a hobby.
Dont follow a single option only
If you have the time, energy and the circuimstances allows it follow more than one option and drop as soon as possible options that dont do well.
Look what other people did
Most likely any problem you will need to deal at work or personal life there is someone else who have allready did, on the internet you can find tones of similiar occassions, which might not fit 100% to your case but you can get some ideas, or even combine various ideas and create something that fits your case.
Think the problem from another persons view
Try to think the problem from other prespectives and not only yours! you might see that the problem is not exactly what you thought to be, or you might realize that the solution is something far different what you initially think.
Dont think short term if feasible
Avoid short term solutions if you can! its much better to invest more time to a permanent solution rather you face the problem again, maybe in a more hectic moment.
Set priorities
If you have to decide for many things start from the most important, partition your time to the optimum for each solution.
Does this decision affects other things?
Some decisions might affect other part of or work or personal life, some will affect them positive, some negative.. lets say that you have found your dream job, but does this dream job gives you enough time to enjoy life? does this dream job gives you enough money to enjoy life?
Trial and Error
Nothing guaranties that your solution will work smooth or new variables will be inserted to the problem, so you need to set some evaluation marks that will often reviewed and do some changes to the solution.
Decide relaxed
Dont take decisions when you are tired, emotional or under stress. | https://medium.com/@kpatronas/critical-thinking-informations-and-decisions-42beece494b3 | ['Konstantinos Patronas'] | 2020-10-25 15:36:27.988000+00:00 | ['Information', 'Decisions', 'Critical Thinking'] |
Speech synthesis and paralanguage: Experiments in affective computing | Three years ago, our small team at Voice Tech Global was developing a voice application for ESL Students(English as a Second Language) as a part of our co-creation and educational workshop series. In our community-led user research, we learned that ESL students lacked practice time when attending in-person classes and that this lack of practice led them to struggle with literacy skills. This lack of practice was damaging to their confidence, especially regarding their pronunciation of new words that they encountered.
community-led product development
After some ideation, evaluation, and early prototyping, we landed on the product concept of what we called ‘Read Along’–a patient, kind, and always available reading assistant. Read Along leverages text-to-speech synthesis to create an a-la-carte audiobook experience, enabling the user to customize and control aspects of the speech playback. We were excited about the potential of this project, but we ran into a problem with speech synthesis early on. in our experimentation. In trying to solve this problem, we came up with a novel solution that began to look like the contours of what a future, more expressive, empathetic, and relational conversational AI might look like. To help illustrate these contours, I’ll take you through the challenge we faced, our approach to solving them, and the potential future applications of this technology
For Read Along, we sourced our stories and texts from Project Gutenberg. Everything from Project Gutenberg is free of U.S. copyrights. This library includes a lot of classic literature that is old enough to have entered into the public domain, giving us a significant source of material to create on-demand ‘audiobooks’ for our users. We decided to try speech synthesis instead of prerecorded speech because of the production effort in prerecorded audiobooks. We also wanted to provide features like translation, accent/voice selection, and variable speech rates which wouldn’t really be possible with prerecorded speech. However, when we tested our various prototypes with ESL students, larger bodies of text suffer in ‘listenability’ when using unstyled, raw speech synthesis.
Without the dynamic and emotive aspects of good storytelling, our reading assistant sounded and felt monotonous. This flat and sterile reading made every sentence an effort to get through, and the result was that it became difficult for our participants to pay attention to and read/follow along with the assistant. However, when we tested with dynamic expression added to the narration, the measure of what we termed "listenability" increased dramatically. To validate this, we tested several different prototypes with our ESL students. Three versions of the same VUI (Voice User Interface); one used prerecorded human-read stories, another used plain text-to-speech synthesis, and the third utilized styled TTS (text-to-speech) synthesis. After our testing session, all of our participants agreed that both the prerecorded speech and styled speech synthesis were easier to follow and more enjoyable to listen to than the flat and sterile version.
Some of the SSML tags used by Amazon Alexa
The styling we applied to the text was done with SSML, which stands for Speech Synthesis Mark-up Language and is a type of mark-up code that lets a TTS engine synthesize paralanguage–a kind of meta-communication that allows humans to modify and communicate more nuanced meaning and convey emotion. As humans, we do this naturally by adjusting our prosody, pitch, volume, intonation, and other qualities of speech. While computers don’t have this innate ability, with SSML, we can manually craft the paralanguage expression of our digital assistants’ synthetic voices. We knew from our research that our TTS would be easier to comprehend and listen to if we added expressive paralanguage.
The problem is that SSML styling is time-consuming and painstaking work. Even for an experienced conversation designer, a single turn of dialogue, or a paragraph of text, may take several iterations to get right. Here is a list of the SSML parameters that can be adjusted. It’s a quintessential but often missed step in voice product development because it’s time-consuming, laborious, and requires significant experience and experimentation to implement effectively. If these barriers prevent it from being implemented on everyday voice interactions, it will undoubtedly make applying SSML to large libraries of classic literature an insurmountable task. The first story we began testing with was the children’s classic Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. At 40,745 words and 118 pages, this novel clocks in at almost 3 hours of audio time–A length of text that makes the speech synthesis very difficult to listen to without expressive styling, but also an incredibly daunting task to apply this expressive styling.
The problem is that this styling is time-consuming and painstaking work. A single turn of dialogue may take several iterations, and a process of trial and error to get right. Here is a list of the SSML parameters that can be adjusted. It’s an important but often missed step in voice product development because it’s time-consuming, laborious, and requires significant experience and experimentation to implement effectively. If these barriers prevent it from being implemented on standard interactions it will certainly make applying SSML to large libraries of classic literature an insurmountable task. The first story we began testing with was the children’s classic Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. At 40,745 words and 118 pages, this novel clocks in at almost 3 hours of audio time. This would be arduous for any listener to get through with the plain text, as even listening to one paragraph was a struggle for our testing participants.
Our Solution
To accomplish this seemingly impossible task, we found a way to automate the SSML styling of an entire text, regardless of its size.
Our method required two steps to take place:
1. Processing of the entire text using sentiment analysis to understand the affective meaning behind the writing.
2. Using the results of this analysis to programmatically apply rule-based SSML styling that would emulate the expressive style that a professional narrator or voice actor would use.
With these goals in mind, we began by benchmarking various tools to determine a sentiment analysis solution that would fulfill our needs.
Sentiment Analysis
With these goals in mind, we began by benchmarking available tools to bring this concept to life. Sentiment analysis refers to a combination of data analysis techniques used to systematically identify, extract, quantify, and study emotional sentiments and intentions within data. Sentiment analysis can be applied to text, audio, biometric, image, or video data. For our Read-Along application, we wanted to analyze our long-form text to infer the implicit affective sentiment in each sentence and use that understanding to then apply auto-SSML styling, sentence by sentence.
For this to work, we needed a capable sentiment analysis tool, and so we started by doing a technical audit on the following sentiment analysis tools. The most accurate and capable tool we found was IBM’s Watson Tone Analyzer. It was able to parse and analyze our large text at both a document level and sentence level.
IBM Watson — Tone Analyzer
Tone Analyzer can identify a variety of tones at both the sentence and document levels. It detects three types of sentiment, including emotions (anger, disgust, fear, joy, and sadness), social propensities (openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and emotional range), and language styles (analytical, confident, and tentative) from whatever text you need to analyze.
Once we had selected the right platform and affiliated API, the next step was to build an end-to-end application to drive the experience on smart speakers.
IBM Watson Tone Analyzer
Compute Sentiment and Apply Emotional Styling:
We set up a database to pull stories from the Guttenberg Library and reformat the classic stories to extract chapters, paragraphs, and sentences. With the text extracted, parsed and structured, we needed to compute sentiment. We decided to do this on two levels, first on each sentence and then, on average, the dominant sentiment at the paragraph level. We decided on this simple system to help balance the outliers in a text where a few sentences would emote strongly as happy in the middle of a very sad paragraph, which would risk creating an odd reading experience. When we look at the snippet below:
a passage from chapter 11 of Peter Pan
Tone Analyzer
The Tone Analyzer Service analyzes text at the document level and the sentence level. The document-level analysis helps to get a sense of the overall tone of the document, and the sentence level analysis helps identify specific areas of your text where detected sentiments are the strongest.
Here is the JSON code returned from tone analysis for one of the more emotionally intense parts of our passage. You can see that sometimes 2 or 3 sentiments are detected on a sentence level, each with a coefficient value associated with them. We realized that we’d have to figure out how to handle multiple detected sentiments.
Sentence-level analysis:
{
"sentence_id": 3,
"text": "He does this at once because he thinks it is what real boys would do, and you must have noticed the little stones, and that there are always two together.",
"tones": [
{
"score": 0.687768,
"tone_id": "analytical",
"tone_name": "Analytical"
},
{
"score": 0.727798,
"tone_id": "confident",
"tone_name": "Confident"
}
]
},
{
"sentence_id": 4,
"text": "He puts them in twos because they seem less lonely.",
"tones": [
{
"score": 0.931734,
"tone_id": "sadness",
"tone_name": "Sadness"
},
{
"score": 0.687768,
"tone_id": "analytical",
"tone_name": "Analytical"
},
{
"score": 0.822231,
"tone_id": "tentative",
"tone_name": "Tentative"
}
]
},
The document analysis returns the following JSON code. Instead of running the document analysis on the entire text, we used it on our paragraph structures. This allowed us to infer sentiment at both sentence and paragraph levels and provided us with additional contextual understanding, which became very useful later in our project.
Document-level analysis: | https://medium.com/voice-tech-global/speech-synthesis-and-paralanguage-experiments-in-affective-computing-c80c950f7e5a | ['Tim Bettridge'] | 2021-04-26 22:37:06.663000+00:00 | ['Sentiment Analysis', 'Voice Assistant', 'Virtual Assistant', 'AI', 'Artificial Intelligence'] |
Three Simple Ways To Boost Your Mood | If you’re like me (or really just human), you get down sometimes. Now whether you’re clinically depressed or just having a rough day, it doesn’t matter, you can use a mood booster.
For most of my life, I would just accept my sad times saying there was nothing I could do about it and that that’s just the way I was; but over the past few years, I decided I just can’t settle for that and have started testing different things to hack my mood in the upward direction.
Here’s a few mood-boosting tips that have been working for me that I’ve built into my daily commute as I’m walking to work in New York City.
Step 1: Look Up
This is my most recent find and the one that inspired me to write this post. When I’m down, I tend to look at the ground as I walk, making sure to avoid any eye contact or other universal connection. So lately, I’ve just started looking up as I walk around. I focus on the blue sky, the beautiful buildings, the trees and my other surroundings. It’s so simple, but it works every time in tricking my brain to think I’m in a better mood – similar to how smiling makes you feel happier even when you fake it.
Step 2: Breathe Deep
Looking up alone is a win, but to multiply it’s effect just begin to take deep, slow breathes. All those yogis aren’t wrong, deep breathing calms you down.
Step 3: Say Thanks
To further multiple the boost, just start saying thanks for things in your life or if you’re too deep in the fog for that, start wishing good things for your friends and loved ones. Gratitude always works.
That’s It.
This routine has been helping me the past few weeks and I hope it helps you too. If not, read these mood-boosting tips and tricks.
BONUS: Grateful & Optimistic Playlists
I’ve also curated playlists based on how they make me feel and use them as a sort of prescription supplement. When I’m down, I listen to my Grateful and Optimistic playlists and they work wonders.
Who am I?
My name is Mike Vosters, I’m the founder of the Mental Health League, a charitable apparel brand raising money and awareness for mental health. We sell sportswear for mental health champions and donate 50% of net profit to the Crisis Text Line. I’m also a DJ in NYC. | https://medium.com/@vosters/three-simple-ways-to-boost-your-mood-937b9394798b | ['Mike Vosters'] | 2019-07-16 16:26:21.790000+00:00 | ['Depression', 'Sad', 'Happiness', 'Tips And Tricks', 'Mental Health'] |
how-to-manage-the-loss-of-a-pet- | How to manage the loss of a pet?
It’s a human instinct to feel a loved one’s loss, but it can be a little sad when it comes to crying over a pet’s loss. Many of us think that pets are our best companions, and almost like family members, so imagining our lives without them is just difficult. But there will be a time when it may be hard to say farewell to our beloved pets and resolve their loss.
Photo by Alvan Nee on Unsplash
Here are some ways that may help you deal with a pet’s death:
1. Express yourselves
Don’t, don’t hesitate to weep or feel sad at your pet’s absence. You may come across individuals that leave you feeling embarrassed for crying over a pet however feeling that way is absolutely okay. Let the healing process go through the mind and body. Speak to someone if you want to it could be a family member or a buddy.
2. Get active in physical activity
Find new hobbies requiring lots of physical movement for yourself. Tiredness and fatigue will leave less time for you to think about your pet’s absence. It might be a good idea to enter the gym or to do new activities. Regular household tasks will help you a lot. Get yourself involved in cooking or baking something that takes away your distress.
3. Take a journey or go anywhere
Taking some time off can assist you to deal with the loss. Simply pack your bags and visit your friends or relatives. You can take a quick trip to a spot you’ve been with your pet before. It makes you feel so much at ease to go back down memory lane.
4. Create an album of photographs
Save all the pet pictures you took of them once. Doing that will make you feel so good trust me! You will feel their presence once again when looking at these lovely pictures will remind you of how once you both enjoyed life together and it will also make you cherish the time you spend with your other pets.
5. Seek clinical assistance
If it’s getting harder and harder to deal with the loss of your pet and it’s impacting your everyday life, it’s okay to see a therapist. You should speak to your therapist if you’re uncomfortable revealing it to your family or friends.
6. Don’t disregard your other pets
Often we fail to give time to others while mourning the loss of one pet, this is completely unfair. Even every pet has a special place in our hearts where we still have obligations to others. One of the easiest ways to cope with a pet’s death is to continue your routine with the other pets/babies that might include walking, feeding them on time, etc.
7. Take your time with you
I know that pets mean the world to us. But then a time will come when they will finally depart us and we will have to live with their loss. It may take a week or a month or maybe a year to resolve the pain, but you can get over it. Just take your time to experience the sorrow and emptiness. | https://medium.com/@momnafaz180032/how-to-manage-the-loss-of-a-pet-9979e67e5fba | ['Momna Faz'] | 2020-12-31 12:46:12.745000+00:00 | ['Pet Loss', 'Pets', 'Life Lessons', 'Pet Animals', 'Life'] |
Get to Know Aisha Noel : Emerging Caribbean Artist | Singer/Songwriter
Genres- Soca/Pop/Fusion
Aisha Noel, was born in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. With a love for the performing arts she began her musical education at a young age in piano in addition to singing, songwriting and classical ballet. As a young girl she partook in various calypso song writing camps where she learned about the local art form. Aisha also competed in multiple music festivals representing her school choir, St. Josephs’ Convent San Fernando. After achieving her bachelor’s degree with honors in International Relations and Psychology, at the University of the West Indies, Aisha’s free-spirited and adventurous nature led her to Latin America where guided by her passion for music she performed at various schools in the country of Colombia. This journey outside of her home country in many ways pushed Aisha to begin her musical journey as a performing artist and to embark on a career in music, her life- long dream.
On her return to Trinidad and Tobago, Aisha landed a place as one of the top finalists in this year’s official “Uncovered Live” showcase 2018, with her own show, Aisha Uncovered Live, at Kaiso Blues Cafe being a tremendous success. Since then she has performed in many shows thus far, including but not limited to New Fire Festival 2018 and the Republic Bank Decibel Expo 2018. Within that same year, the talented and determined songstress released her first production entitled, “Nobody be Safe” an r&b/soca infused track produced by the Ballistik Boyz. A track that gained the artist attention in her home country and fans in Japan and Korea. Aisha Noel has a desire to bring her own unique style and sound to Soca music.
It then came as no surprise that within the following year, Aisha released her first Soca Single, “Soca Fever (Baile). This song spear heads the, “Hello Bacchannal Riddim”, alongside artistes, Orlando Octave, 5Star Akil, Ricardo Drue, Fadda Fox accordingly. To date the artist has released four songs which includes her recent release, “One Dance” off the One Link Riddim and has written for Soca Artist, Nailah Blackman on her latest released track, “Trouble Wine”. Aisha Noel names Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Bunji Garlin and Buju Banton. as some of her idols. Aisha has a single-minded vision for her future and aims at honing her craft and becoming a world-renowned international artiste. | https://medium.com/@theglobaltrotter/get-to-know-aisha-noel-emerging-caribbean-artist-9d03b63ba2e1 | ['Matthew Khloe'] | 2020-12-15 02:21:48.754000+00:00 | ['Singer Songwriter', 'Aisha Noel', 'Emerging Artists', 'Trinidad And Tobago', 'California'] |
An Open Letter from Evolution to America 2020 | Dear Americans,
On behalf of evolution, this letter is being forwarded to all of you.
Many receiving this are not guilty of the infractions listed further down here; but like you, we have also had to lock-down and socially distance and so our own ability at keeping tabs on who is doing what has been greatly reduced.
Half of the team here at Evolution Inc, otherwise knows as EI, have voted to let you guys just keep up the “good” work for us, the consequences of your actions being punishment enough — sort of a like a survival of the fittest (or smartest) type scenario. The other half of the team wants to inflict small, temporary punishments with the caveat that if the behavior continues the punishment in question will be made permanent.
The tie-breaking vote falls to me. 2020 has been a stellarly stupid year. This year long surpassed 2016 for wackiness and has the whole evolutionary community abuzz — and, not in a good way.
A lot of behavior has been completely lacking in commonsense and as a result the year has been more deadly than usual. The Committee for Human Behavior convenes in the next couple of days — we had our annual meeting delayed due to a COVID scare — and so the final decision will be made shortly.
The coronavirus was one of those hundred-year tests we run to justify our own internal KPI’s. Between you and me, a lot the team here lost century-bonuses over the way most of you have so abysmally failed the test. I mean, let’s just start with that little bat. When we infected it and that knucklehead in Wuhan ate it, a lot of cash changed hands on side bets. But, as we all now know, never doubt what someone from China will or won’t eat. We often like to forget about that little mix up we put into them.
The expectation, however, was that the Rubik's Cube-like virus would be figured out rather quickly and defeated — I mean, few here at EI can even complete the Rubik’s Cube and yet some of you can do it in a few minutes. This silly virus should have been quite easy for you to solve.
We really underestimated, however, the effects of the 2016 election combined with the deadening power of Fox News. Pretty much, everything we instilled in your DNA screams — preserve life and most importantly preserve your own life! Some heads rolled here at EI when the whole mask lunacy began. There is talk in the corridors here that next year, a special project will be launched to slow the evolution-reversing — we jokingly call this “devolutionary” — effects of right-wing media.
The consensus was that your president would be toast when he said don’t bother wearing masks and use bleach in your veins (we were prepared to stop this, by the way). Instead, many of you became even more impassioned in your defense of him — wow! You really had evolution shaking its collective head over that and a lot of soul-searching — and single-malt drinking — took place.
So, already in hot water over a lot of really questionable decisions, when you made mask-wearing a political statement and started protesting to un-mask and infect yourselves, and others with this very deadly virus, let’s just say that the shit hit the fan here. Many at EI realized, the warning signs had been of the stupid pandemic had been missed.
This is why when the super-seeder rallies commenced, many just popped some corn, chilled beers and waited for the deaths to commence — and they have. The belief by some is — okay, we are weeding out the imperfections in the human strain. Stupidity is also an evolutionary hurdle. The Sturgis biker rally, for instance, threw back some of our work by a few hundred years; nevertheless, that woman pictured with your president tattooed on her breasts is now is the most popular screen-saver around the office.
Biden’s victory was a great relief; but then, the stop the count and count the votes hypocrisy launched by the right and Trump supporters, really got our synapses firing.
The complete mockery of the warnings signs we send about climate change, the illogic of saying guns don’t cause deaths, the mask thing, the election ignorance about whether votes can be counted past midnight on election day — this was actually so sad it was funny to many at EI — the absolute hypocrisy of so many who claim to be followers of Jesus yet they worship a Trump has led me to decide how I will cast my vote.
I don’t want anyone dying and so my vote is being cast for temporary punishment. It will be made permanent if there is one incident of armed revolt during a Biden presidency.
The punishment will be the following: All Americans will lose both of their thumbs for one month — December.
The thumb was one of our biggest successes here at EI over the past 50 million years or so. EI employees are still so proud that many to this day name their kids and pets names with names that play off of our masterful accomplishment— Thumby, Thumber, Thumb, Thumbooza, Thumbalooza, Thumbilit, Thumbulina, Thumbster, The Thumb, B-muht, Humby, Mutby, etc.
The punishment, I feel, fits the crime.
You guys have been so callously snubbing your noses at our ceaseless, behind-the-scenes, tireless work and now it’s time we showed you just how important evolution and the all knowledge and discoveries that come as a result of it really are.
Wise up or you will all be dropping a lot of mobile phones soon.
Oh and, good luck wrapping gifts this holiday season, dear Americans, with no thumbs! | https://medium.com/the-haven/an-open-letter-from-evolution-to-america-2020-6e923a11e33a | ['Brian Kean'] | 2020-11-17 07:23:57.694000+00:00 | ['Innovation', 'Education', 'Evolution', 'Society', 'Election 2020'] |
Banking Making Easy With BNXFINEX | Introduction
The goal of bnxfinex is undeniable to outfit you with a huge overall experience got together with remarkable encounters from driving specialists. Bnxfinex.com ensures consistent innovation, progress, and sponsorship. The Bnxfinex bunch understands that standing is basic to an association about financial business. That is what rouses Bnxfinex to develop the most open to the trading atmosphere for all clients (paying little brain to individual or association).
BNXFINEX trading platform and application have become the most needed and supported exchange technology for those looking for trusted, secure, and guaranteed digital cash, similarly to exchanges. solution-orchestrated understanding.
As people started using Bitcoin and various other cryptocurrencies on account of decentralization, strength, and mission for imaginative advances that could open the backwoods and get cash, the ascent of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies has made new cutoff points. Nevertheless, paying little mind to the intensity made by exchanges, the colossal shadows, and forex deals proceeded. Abundances have lost a huge load of its digital assets, and even platforms brag a reasonable bit of challenges and hacks that have impacted traders' sureness and gathering of cryptocurrencies. their overall number.
Exchanges are not, now set up in rapidly creating markets, so I'm happy to have a capable, secure, and clear association, alongside many trusted blockchain specialists, to go up against these drawn-out troubles. The imaginative platform is planned to handle issues related to the more broad cryptocurrency natural framework, the BNXFINEX Platform.
Advantages
• Best UI with BNXFINEX. Users will be fulfilled as they can coordinate continually and quickly. BNXFINEX gives throughout the day, consistently online customer uphold, ensuring that each customer's purchase is done gainfully and on time.
• In various markets, high liquidity is an ignored component. The gathering uses condition of-the-workmanship BNXFINEX technology to develop the fake market according to street business measures and build displayed assessment focusing on more than 250 market limits and 24/steady assistance 7 on high liquidity.
• Support for various cryptocurrencies is consolidated with BNXFINEX. BNXFINEX circulates and regularly records great cryptocurrencies around the world, which grants purchasers to exchange a wide variety of decisions for certain cryptocurrencies.
• Prosperity and trustworthiness are major considerations when figuring exchange rates. To understand a trustworthy system action, the multi-mode game plan meets the financial region's sensible IT control work.
• To broaden the scene and offer better help to clients, organization front-end and back-end gathering and send multi-point and multi-style scattering.
Critical business or market issues
• Least essential if an exchange isn't arranged. Liquidity is the primary factor for the trading volume. You are not allowed to buy something, yet you won't find suppliers or find clients. When will the exchange happen?
• Security is the principal test in trading the cryptocurrency world. Various humiliations have caused users to lose their speculation cash beforehand. Society doesn't need to relate and guarantee its assets.
• Cryptocurrencies exchanges should give boundless straightforwardness to clients, allowing them to guarantee and add to your venture.
The BNX Token is made subject to the ERC20 standard:
* Token Name: BNX Token
* Picture: BNX
* Outright Volume: 12.000.000
* Starting Cost: 1.1
Conclusion
BNXFINEX is the best exchange in the crypto market now and very soon when the arrangement will be done the platform will be a ton notable and it will, in general, be used for banking as well. here anyone can store his asset with no uncertainty and can without a doubt get to his cash from any spot whenever. The platform is many simples to use for all. the UI is a great deal basic for all and the financial specialist can acquire a ton of benefits from here.
Information About Bnxfinex:
Website: https://bnxfinex.com/#/market/index
Telegram: https://t.me/bnxfinexchannel
Telegram Channel: https://t.me/bnxfinex
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bnxfinex
Bitcointalk Username: Arikeola
Bitcointalk Profile url- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2779823; | https://medium.com/@ayanfeola67/banking-making-easy-with-bnxfinex-31854a1d749b | [] | 2020-12-26 15:25:05.383000+00:00 | ['Trading', 'Bnxfinex', 'Exchange', 'Banking', 'Tron'] |
Best Machine Translation Services in 2021 | Whether you exchange messages with friends who speak different languages, shop online on international websites, or just need to translate the content for research purposes, the chances are, that in one way or another, you used machine translations at some point. In many cases, these tools are doing their jobs automatically, enabling you to communicate across borders by using foreign languages with confidence.
As we live in an interconnected world, the need for translation has increased exponentially. In the last 10 years, the global language services market has seen rapid growth, virtually doubling in size. In 2019, it was evaluated at $49.6 billion and it’s forecasting to reach $56.18 billion by the end of 2021.
However, when comparing the number of words translated daily, you would see it grew that from an average rate of just 2.000 words almost fifty years ago to 10.000 words today. This increase is a result of using an extensive range of machine translation software and special tools that are available nowadays. Algorithms and artificial intelligence help to continuously improve machine translation and process quickly large volumes of text.
But the main question is:
Can Artificial Intelligence replace completely human translation?
Well, the answer is neither simple nor easy. When the text is simple and clear, machine translation services can replace human linguists and provide good translations immediately. But for the complex texts, translation of sensitive data, business communication, and other professional translations, artificial intelligence translation tools are not a good enough alternative to specialized human translators.
But as many people rely on translation tools, let’s take a closer look at several machine translation services, their benefits, and limitations. This way, you can decide which translation software fits better to your needs, when you should consider professional translation made by a specialized human translator and when you can rely just on the AI. | https://medium.com/sandvox/the-best-machine-translation-services-in-2021-all-you-need-to-know-6407a32fb60b | ['Sandvox Solutions Llc'] | 2021-12-20 09:01:19.030000+00:00 | ['Translation', 'Machine Translation', 'Localization', 'Business', 'Artificial Intelligence'] |
Blurring the police : what the article 24 of the French “Global Security” law may prevent you from seeing | Inspired by the French Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, the proposed law on “global security” (published in October 2020) wishes, in its article 24, to create a new offense.
The dissemination, by any means, of “the image of the face or any other element of identification” — with the exception of the RIO (registration number) — of a police officer or a gendarme in intervention, would be punished by one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros, if intervening with the aim of undermining his “physical or mental integrity”.
In a few words, this proposed law would make it illegal for non-journalists to publish or show police forces photos without first blurring them.
Using videos to incite hatred or violence (against the police or any citizen) is already prohibited in France and punishable by one year of imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros. As expressed by a group of journalists unions, the vague notion of the “aim” of undermining “physical or mental integrity” runs the risk of “a completely different reality”. “There is indeed much to fear that on the ground, the police officers, who already very often oppose, including by force, to the photo and video recordings — however perfectly legal — of their operations in the public space, feel more justified than ever in hindering them” ,notes the collective.
To better measure the impact of article 24 on journalistic work, on the right to inform (and to be informed), here are some practical examples, taken from the work carried out by the Le Monde’s video team since 2019.
Civic images and journalistic investigations
In October and December 2019, Le Monde published two video investigations on police violence, in Bordeaux and Paris.
They revealed:
What happened to the protester Olivier Beziade, targeted by an illegal LBD (Blast ball) shot. Mr Beziade is hemiplegic since. One of the police officers was indicted for “willful violence with a weapon”.
How an illegal tear gas canister shot made protester Manuel Coisne lose an eye.
Other police misconducts have since been documented by Le Monde, in short-form videos : the brutal (and fatal) arrest of the delivery man Cédric Chouviat, and a short range Blast ball shot, in January 2020.
None of these videos would have been possible without the hundreds of images captured by journalists, protesters, NGOs and witnesses. These are precious images that medias can collect, authenticate, cross-check and analyze.
These amateur images make it possible for journalists to document precise actions and decisive elements, that could not be verified otherwise.
Zooming in, we identified the type of a thruster and we revealed that is was used non-proportionally.
Smartphones and cameras not only capture images, they also offer precious location and timeline information (EXIF data). Any smartphone that films is also a GPS, a clock…
Banning non-blurred images would mainly prevent live video broadcasting. Neither Facebook nor any mass-market mobile app offers an automatic face blurring option. However, these “live videos” are often the most precious documents for establishing the truth.
They make it possible to follow long sequences of time without interruption (we saw many live streams during the 2018–2019 protests). They can be used to synchronize various images and audio files. Like here, where two videos from distinct sources have been synchronized using vehicle noise.
In one of our investigations, amateur-footage show not only a disproportionate attitude of a police officer, but also a climate of high tension (stone-throwing by some demonstrators, as seen below) five minutes before. The more images there are, the less unambiguous or manipulable they are.
Blurring the police, anonymizing the RIO (identification number)… Le Monde’s visual investigation team is already doing it. We also blur some protesters. But we do it by choice, a posteriori, once the investigation has been completed. Revealing facts without targeting an individual means letting justice do its job.
Like several other editors, Le Monde asked for the outright withdrawal of this article 24. As Jérôme Fenoglio, Le Monde’s director, writes, “the quality of information will never improve when it’s primary condition is restricted : freedom”. | https://medium.com/@chgroult/blurring-the-police-what-the-article-24-of-the-french-global-security-law-may-prevent-you-from-13e49afd2cf8 | ['Charles-Henry Groult'] | 2020-11-23 12:49:00.436000+00:00 | ['France', 'Investigative Journalism', 'Journalism', 'Police Brutality'] |
Crypto For Beginners: How To Get Started | So, you want to get into cryptocurrency?
Whether you have a finance background or not, intelligent investing is a crucial skill that everyone needs. Asset management and growth is fundamental to increasing your wealth, and regardless of how much experience you may have, it’s never too late (or early) to start learning. As cryptocurrency continues to solidify its role as the potential future of finance, here’s what you need to know to get started.
Do Your Homework
Before you do anything, set aside time to wrap your head around what cryptocurrency is. Start with the basics; you’ll need to have a foundation before you jump into investing. Understand how blockchain technology works and that it’s responsible for decentralizing the transfer of value through digital currency. Learn the difference between this and how the current centralized financial system works. Be aware of the distinctions between cryptocurrency and traditional investment options. Unlike the stock exchange, cryptocurrency is traded all around the world at all times, making it extremely volatile.
Additionally, with thousands of cryptocurrencies to invest in, you must understand which one is right for you. For example, are you trying to invest for the long-term gain or quick return? Are you willing to spend thousands of dollars or just a small portion of your savings? The answers to these questions will shape your investment plan and everyone should be aware of this before dipping your toes in. Parse through the cryptocurrencies available, ranging from pennies to thousands of dollars per coin, and find the ones that are right for you.
Learn Market Trends
Instead of diving directly into the market and setting up crypto wallets, monitor prices of coins you want to invest in. Resources such as coinmarketcap.com are great places to start. Many web resources offer all the information you need to monitor the performance of the coins you’re interested in. Keep a journal or a portfolio and record any decision you are thinking and keep track of the current prices. Check the historical charts and analyze how the price has changed, taking note of any patterns between those that have seen substantial returns versus those that have depreciated.
At the end of the day, the goal is to grow your investments by introducing cash positions for coins that are expected to appreciate over time. As such, buying the dip is one of the best strategies to pursue when trying to grow your investments — but how do you know when prices are about to increase again? The answer lies in analyzing the charts and remaining informed about the performance of the cryptocurrency market.
News regarding the performance of specific cryptocurrencies and the market as a whole is readily available online, and it is typically the most accurate prediction of how it will do in the future. If prices are relatively high, you can likely expect a subsequent drop and vice versa, demonstrating a negative feedback loop in prices which is also present in the stock market. Once you look into the cryptocurrency market, you’re ready to start investing.
Start Small
With every investment opportunity, the golden rule must be followed: do not put in more money than you are willing to lose. This adage applies to the world of crypto more than any other industry, given how quickly a cash position can depreciate. Play around with a strict amount of money and test some of the strategies you’ve deemed successful in the past. Websites like Coinbase and Bitfinex are great places to start exchanging cryptocurrencies, but be aware of the fees you incur with each transaction.
Once you feel comfortable enough, create a crypto wallet to transfer and exchange Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies directly. Abra is an easy-to-use and safe app that will allow you to do just that. Create multiple wallets and accounts to keep your assets diversified and record your passwords for each on paper. As you continue to progress and grow more comfortable, you can start to invest more.
Tap Into Resources & Formulate a Plan
The internet is filled with free resources that can help support your decisions and improve portfolio value. Amongst the many news outlets and information providers, be sure to only rely on the sources that you trust and are credible. Subscribe to daily crypto news pages and always read up on market trends and performances to stay knowledgeable on your own standing cash positions. Regardless, you should still make a plan of when to part ways with a coin and when to not invest. Choosing not to invest is just as valuable as buying the dip. As long as you continue to read and monitor the market utilizing the resources online, you will ultimately become knowledgeable and successful at investing in the crypto market. | https://medium.com/coinbundle/crypto-for-beginners-how-to-get-started-254190125e5a | ['Coinbundle Team'] | 2018-10-10 23:15:19.707000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Crypto', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Beginnerscoinbundle', 'How To'] |
All Souls in Secret Saved | All Souls in Secret Saved
reluctant poem in blank verse
All souls seek hell or heaven, said the preacher
to the faithful gathered warm within the glass.
And we looked out and saw them gross, unloved,
despised, benighted; those who murder, those
who soil and twist, who steal and beggar; cheat;
befoul. How dare they claim humanity? we said.
Not Philistines; not Pharisees. Not those, and please,
not them. All souls do not include the ones
we do not like; must not embrace the ones we
do not know, or have not met or have not
cared for. (That one, that time, hurt our feelings;
others wore the colors we don’t like.)
All Hallows Eve means dress the wicked up
as ghouls; parade them through the living lights
and houses; show them forth as damned and doomed.
So give us candy, preacher, candy! We
are better than the wicked; we are saved
and holy; we are blood and bone and brain;
and they are cold and death and pain. | https://medium.com/notes-on-the-way-up/all-souls-in-secret-saved-125e0df761fd | ['Rev Dr Sparky'] | 2020-10-27 08:55:18.102000+00:00 | ['Religion', 'Christianity', 'Poetry', 'Halloween', 'Death'] |
Call to Action Button Examples Every UI/UX Designer Should Look For in 2017 | Let’s find out Call to Action Button Examples
1) Netflix
Netflix’s beautiful black tone layout tells all about itself. Netflix helps its users to overcome their fear of cancelling the subscription at any time. As you can see “Cancel Anytime” text above the call to action button. It’s a beautiful strategy to gain customer trust at the time of making them click on the CTA button.
READ Top 10 Must Follow UI/UX Design Instagram Accounts for Top Notch Design Inspiration
2) Firefox
If you are a Firefox fan you must have seen their beautiful website. I must say in the first look of their site you don’t have to find out their CTA. The green color button is appealing and more visible as it is placed in the centre of the screen. Hats of to their design team which comes up with the best combination of UI and UX.
3) OkCupid
OkCupid is one of the most popular product among youngsters having more than 50 million pageviews per month. Light blue color CTA looks cool as well as user-centric, It says continue which provides a positive hope to its users and makes them feel that signup process is short. This CTA gives us the feel of fun and enjoyment.
READ How User Centered Design Increases User Experience ?
4) Evernote
Evernote app helps you “Remember Everything”. As a designer, we always have to make the visitors understand about the product as soon as the land on the page. Evernote’s design does this job perfectly, visitors can easily understand what they can do with this app and what’s the worth of signing up on this product. | https://medium.com/freebiesmall/call-to-action-button-examples-every-ui-ux-designer-should-look-for-in-2017-d7f03f7c67c | [] | 2017-05-02 19:57:11.649000+00:00 | ['UI Design', 'Design', 'Marketing', 'UX Design', 'Product Design'] |
What is PPC Marketing: PPC Marketing Agency in Dubai | There are numerous ways to generate leads online, make business more visible and drive website traffic in digital marketing. While SEO focuses on unpaid and organic SERPs and traffic through strategized keyword placement and website optimization, PPC or pay-per-click is a form of a paid ad campaign that produces faster results in lead generation and higher search engine rankings. Like SEO, you need either a PPC marketing agency or a digital marketing firm with PPC experts to create a custom campaign for your business.
So, in this blog, we will talk about the basic attributes of PPC marketing along with PPC services in Dubai.
What is PPC?
PPC or pay-per-click is a form of online advertising where the advertiser pays every time a user “clicks” on the online ads. It is also known as a cost-per-click advertising model. Both search engines and social media channels are used as PPC mediums.
The pay-per-click ads come in multiple variants, such as banner ads, display ads, remarketing, etc. However, the most popular of all is the paid search ad. You will see these ads while searching on Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines, especially if it is something that you want to buy. Commercial searches are like magnets to PPC.
What are the Benefits of PPC?
Pay-per-click has several benefits as a marketing technique for businesses and is extensively used by marketers, especially if they need immediate results from lead generation to conversions through digital marketing. Here are a few benefits that a business can enjoy by hiring a PPC marketing agency.
PPC might be a paid form of advertising, but throughout the ad campaign, one remains in total control of the ad budget, meaning it is cost-effective.
It generates instant traffic for your website compared to organic marketing strategies.
PPC helps in the fast accomplishment of marketing and business goals.
Using Google Analytics along with Google Ads, one can track and measure the progress of PPC ads.
PPC is compatible with other marketing techniques like SEO and SMO.
It allows a company/business to garner more brand awareness and recognition.
PPC helps you to expand your reach to the target audience.
It will lead to greater ROI guaranteed.
Unlike other online marketing techniques, PPC remains unbothered by algorithm changes and updates.
PPC can be used for both search engines and social networks.
PPC Services in Dubai
In recent years, Dubai has experienced an accelerated digitization boom, with businesses going online and investing in digital marketing to reach out to the target audiences. It has given rise to the demand for PPC services as well. So what can you expect from a PPC marketing agency in Dubai?
The standard range of services includes:
PPC search engine ads
Display ads
Mobile banner ads
Affiliate marketing
Remarketing campaign
YouTube video marketing
Social media ad campaign
The professional protocol of attempting a PPC campaign involves:
Extensive analysis of competitor business websites.
Detailed analysis of own client business website.
Planning a scalable structure for the PPC account.
Create content for the PPC ads.
Keep optimizing the PPC account as per the evolving business needs.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a PPC marketing agency in Dubai that fulfills all that we mentioned above, then Digital Almighty is just the one for you and your business. They have a team of qualified and experienced professionals who will strategize result-oriented PPC campaigns for your business with guaranteed positive ROI in the least time. Visit their website for more details on their services and offerings.
Source: https://www.digitalalmighty.com/what-is-ppc-marketing-ppc-marketing-agency-in-dubai/ | https://medium.com/@digitalalmightyweb/what-is-ppc-marketing-ppc-marketing-agency-in-dubai-b23d21e28f49 | ['Digital Almighty'] | 2021-10-28 05:12:08.481000+00:00 | ['PPC Marketing', 'Ppc Management', 'Ppc Agency', 'Ppc Services'] |
My First Week of UX Course, Healthy Zone Application Project. | CASE STUDY
Team: Badiah Almutairi, Nojoom Alaqeel
Project Duration: 5 days
This project is part of Misk’s UX Bootcamp, and the goal of it is to design a solution based on the client’s needs.
During the first day, our first task was to pick the area of the research, and we ended up choosing healthy eating for college students.
For the second day, our main task was to start to search more about the topic either on the internet or interview college students to understand their behavior and problems.
DESK RESEARCH
Our desk research was split into two parts:
Part 1: Searching for studies focused on the relationship between healthy eating and college students.
We discovered an interesting study that revealed to us that it’s common for a variety of college students to have an eating disorder in one phase of their life. Moreover, a range of factors impacts their ability to do so, with time constraints, lack of energy, financial difficulties, peer influence, and availability of food is some of the most common.
Part 2: Searching for similar applications related to the same concept and get inspired by them. We aimed to observe some gaps such as subscription fees, no reminder options, and not having a food ordering feature.
Some Of these applications
USERS RESEARCH
We did six interviews with six users and all of them are college students.
We asked them these questions:
Describe your eating habits in a day as a college student?
What changes happened in your eating habits since you started college?
Did you consider having a healthy lifestyle before? if not why?
What different eating behaviors do you have between eating on campus and at home?
Why do you think most college students tend to eat unhealthy food?
What affects your appetite during the day?
AFFINITY MAPPING
Using affinity mapping, we have been able to categorize the user’s answers based on 6 categories, and we got key insights which are:
Most college students eat unhealthy food.
Most of them agreed on the limited healthy options inside the campus.
Their peers affect their food choices.
They thought that healthy food is expensive and it isn’t filling their stomach enough.
Time, pressure, and a busy schedule are common important factors that led to eating unhealthy.
Stress, depression, and exhaustion are common symptoms among students.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
After taking the pain points from research, as well as interviews. We defined the problem statement.
Nowadays most college students are having a busy lifestyle with a lot of responsibilities, and this leads them to get unhealthy choices. Most of the students wish to take care of their health, but they couldn’t manage their routine due many reasons.
On day three the main tasks were to design a user flow based on our insights then sketching the interfaces based on the user actions.
USER FLOW
After creating an account, the user can be either:
1- Order Food by selecting a restaurant, and being able to schedule the order by determining the time and date.
2- Prepare recipes by selecting a recipe, and being able to set a reminder to remind the user to prepare and cook the recipe.
SKETCHING
Sketching for setting a reminder
UI DESIGN
On day four, we did paper prototyping and testing tasks.
PAPER PROTOTYPING
TESTING & FINDINGS
We tested the application on 7 users, and here are their feedback:
After choosing the time and date, they preferred if there is a confirmation page showing the name of the recipe and the date.
On the home page, it is preferable to have a button for reminder alerts at the bottom of the app next to the favorites button.
To have prescheduled meal plans.
In the filter button, it is preferable to have more categories to choose from that indicate types of food allergy such as gluten, ex:(Gluten-free).
WHAT I LEARNED
This project gave me the basic skills of how can you search for a problem, understand it, and design a suitable solution to it. | https://medium.com/@lamaaldurayhim/my-first-week-of-ux-course-healthy-zone-application-project-22124f010182 | ['Lama Aldurayhim'] | 2021-09-15 17:52:49.758000+00:00 | ['Bootcamp', 'Ux Writing', 'UX', 'UX Design', 'UX Research'] |
Things You Can Do to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint (For Parents and Their Children) | Editor’s Note: This article is a post that comes from Greening Forward’s legacy blog. It was originally written by Tim Moore on December 17, 2019.
It’s all over the news and it’s all over social media — the world is in the midst of a climate crisis. While some may believe that is a hoax and that the situation isn’t as dire as it’s reported to be; there is still a need for all members of the planet to start practicing sustainability. We need to think of the future generations of the population and start working together on ways to reduce carbon footprints; both as a whole and individually. It isn’t too late to start living a greener lifestyle and it is definitely not too late to start bringing our children into it as well.
Our children are the ones who will inherit the Earth and all of her glory from us; so it is important that they start learning at a young age the benefit of living a sustainable lifestyle. Granted, some may be too young to truly understand why it is so important to live a green lifestyle that reduces their carbon footprint, but they know to look to adults for guidance. This is how we teach them to love and appreciate the earth by reducing waste.
So what are some ways or things we can do as adults, as children, as a society, and as a whole in terms of the population to reduce our carbon footprints? Let’s take a look!
Sustainable Water Usage
Teach your children how to conserve water and use water resources carefully. Don’t let them run the tap while brushing their teeth or washing the dishes but instead show them how they can use lower amounts by turning the tap off during scrubbing times.
Use a sturdy water barrel to collect rainfall and allow it to filter through a screen to avoid contamination. Rainfall can be collected through a freestanding barrel or from the runoff from your household gutters. Gutter guards can also help filter the water by capturing dirt and debris, so you might want to consider installing some — check out Backyard Boss for the best ones.
After this water is truly filtered, show your kids how to water the garden with it, allow them to help wash the car and fill buckets for rinsing from the barrel and if it’s clean enough; allow them to fill their kiddie pool with this recycled rainfall to teach sustainability and lower carbon footprints through fun!
Solar Energy
Solar energy is rapidly becoming the way of the future in terms of solar panels and windmills. This solar energy can light homes solely through the power of the sun and it doesn’t draw on a nonrenewable resource to do so.
You can place solar lights around the driveway and pathways of your home to reduce the strain on your electricity as it can eliminate the need for blinding patio lights. Enlist your children to help place the solar lights into position and offer them their pick of the best ones to be placed outside their window. Any children would love to look out their bedroom window and see the softly twinkling “fairy” lights that are solar-powered.
Use this as a lesson on energy and how you can conserve it rather than waste it. Use a lower number of lights in the evenings, set the temperature at a steady but conservative rate to reduce the need for furnaces in the home and unplug any appliances that are not in use. Make this one of your children’s chores in the evening time (with the supervision of course until they are older) and trust them with the task of unplugging gaming consoles, charging cords and whatnot.
Gardening for Produce and Greenery
One of the easiest ways to introduce children to a sustainable lifestyle that will reduce their carbon footprint along with your own is to teach them the skill, art and hobby of gardening. Gardening is a wonderful hobby with many positive physical and mental health benefits that reduce stress and tension in the body and soul. Gardening encourages people to get outside, soak up the benefits of nature and engage in physical activity without it feeling like a workout.
You can grow and harvest your own fresh produce right at home if you are determined enough and willing to take the time to maintain the garden beds. You can have a steady supply of fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs for your supper table. Teach your children the art of gardening, allowing them to cultivate their own small plot to grow whatever they desire. Not only will this love of gardening follow them through life, they will learn lessons regarding responsibility and sustainability.
Plant a tree break around your home with your children’s help and explain to them how trees take carbon dioxide from the air to transform it into oxygen. This oxygen will strengthen the ozone layer and repair the damage humans have done to it over the years.
Conclusion
You don’t need to drastically overhaul your entire lifestyle to live a greener one or change everything about yourself to preach sustainability but instead, as talked about today; small, simple changes can make a big difference.
By instilling these values into the younger generation; we are leaving the Earth in their capable and willing hands. Notable climate activists are getting younger and younger each year, so it is to be accepted and understood that they will help even younger children learn to live a sustainable lifestyle.
With a bit of effort and changes from each member of the population that calls Earth home, the changes could be breathtaking.
Tim Moore is the lead editor of Backyard Boss and is a lifelong backyard enthusiast. He grew up immersed in the outdoors, camping every weekend, and tending to the backyard with his family. Follow Tim and Backyard Boss on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for everyday inspiration for your backyard. | https://medium.com/@greeningforward/things-you-can-do-to-reduce-your-carbon-footprint-for-parents-and-their-children-3941a39eea1e | ['Greening Forward'] | 2020-12-18 22:26:51.856000+00:00 | ['Greening Forward', 'Sustainability', 'Conservation', 'Green', 'Greening'] |
The Second Amendment | The United States is the only developed country in the entire world that has the constitutional rights of its citizens to keep and bear arms. Throughout the years we hear ongoing debates and discussion on one of our basic human rights which is the 2nd amendment. But we must understand what exactly our second amendment is. The second amendment of the United States Constitution states, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
We as a country hear this and form different interpretations of what this means. Some argue that our second amendment rights are limited and point to the text “A well regulated militia.” They say that the government may regulate the sale of firearms and ammunition and that citizens can’t have the freedoms and leisure to own whatever guns or weapons they want such as fully automatic weapons or even nuclear weapons. They argue that at the time when the Constitution was being written, the guns that were used were less sophisticated and deadly as the guns and weapons we have today in response to the text, “shall not be infringed.” However others believe that the second amendment is clear and precise in its meaning which is “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” They argue that the founders who were writing our Constitution fought off tyranny from the British government in order to gain their independence and understood the importance of their citizens to keep and bear arms.
They believe that the American people are the “militia” and “well regulated” meant well-run or prepared for duty in context of the American Revolution. It is tempting to believe one way or the other on the second amendment especially when it comes to the discussion of gun violence and firearm related shootings that plague our country. However with this discussion we must go forward understanding what our second amendment is and what are its implications of protecting our civil rights to keep and bear arms.
Please share your thoughts on the future of the 2nd amendment in this fast-transforming world. | https://medium.com/@jeevakumararaja/the-second-amendment-d54cb7dee07b | ['Vasanthavel Jeeva Kumararaja'] | 2021-04-25 00:36:17.915000+00:00 | ['Firearms', 'Constitution', 'Second Amendment', 'Gun Control'] |
Send Christmas Cheer, with an Email Signature Banner | Creating a Christmas email signature banner for a business is a great way to send holiday wishes, build relationships and inform your customers and clients of your seasonal operating times.
Taking the time to humanize and make your staff emails shine this Christmas, create a memorable experience with a personal touch.
Keep your customers and clients in the know, a seasonal signature message can be great for:
Closing and opening times
Final shipping dates
Special promotions
Good wishes
Promotions and discounts
Christmas sales
Charity and good will gestures
Get creative and turn your every-day staff emails into a powerful selling tool.
Do you have a design ready to go? Would you like to easily roll-out Christmas banners company-wide?
See how Sigful’s unique white-label signature generators can implement signatures and banners across your business with minimal effort.
https://sigful.com | https://medium.com/@sigful/send-christmas-cheer-with-an-email-signature-banner-508afead36ae | [] | 2020-12-11 18:45:48.532000+00:00 | ['Email Marketing', 'Email', 'Marketing', 'Christmas', 'Sales'] |
Emotional Intelligence and Leadership go Hand in Hand | Emotional Intelligence (E.Q.) helps teams work better together, and creates exceptional managers. So is there enough E.Q. in your leadership style?
There are some roles for which Emotional Intelligence is an absolute must — school teachers, therapists, doctors and nurses, even journalists.
But it’s becoming increasingly obvious that high E.Q. is a common characteristic of the world’s greatest leaders, too.
Tim Cook (CEO of Apple), Barack Obama (former US president), and Jacinda Ardern (current New Zealand Prime Minister) have all spoken out about the importance of having empathy when working with — and managing — others.
So what is it about emotionally intelligent people that makes them fantastic, and successful, managers? And how can we all take a leaf from their book, to become more emotionally intelligent colleagues and leaders ourselves?
And are there any downsides to showing empathy when you’re the one in control?
Understanding Emotional Intelligence and empathy: it’s not about wearing your heart on your sleeve
To better understand how Emotional Intelligence and empathy can make a person easier to work with, and for, it’s helpful to look at the argument from the other direction — what is someone like when they lack these characteristics?
Low emotional intelligence is defined by an inability to perceive other people’s emotions, as well as your own. It’s also associated with unfeeling behaviors — acting in ways that either disregard consideration for those around you, or that actively go against the group’s common good.
This may manifest itself as being argumentative, making important and impulsive decisions (without input from other people), not listening, passing blame, or having emotional outbursts.
Would you like to work with that person?
How about working for that person?
Definitely not.
Absence of Emotional Intelligence and empathy makes someone almost impossible to partner with. Any scope for collaboration goes out the window, and if the goal is fostering psychological safety in the workplace, then that would be severely lacking as well.
Of course, the same could be said at the other end of the extreme. When an employee is overly emotional — perhaps they struggle to take feedback, worry too much about the quality of their input, and struggle to move on from mistakes — then this can be detrimental to a team as well.
But here’s where a crucial distinction needs to be made: being empathetic, and exhibiting Emotional Intelligence, is not the same as being fragile or vulnerable.
To use that much-cited Jacinda Ardern quote:
“It takes courage and strength to be empathetic, and I’m very proudly an empathetic and compassionate leader.”
And high Emotional Intelligence (or E.Q. / Emotional Quotient, as it’s often called) isn’t a female-only trait either — although there is evidence to suggest that these strengths come easier to women than men.
Both male and female leaders can be empathetic — it’s a learned skill, after all.
But why should we try?
When a leader shows Emotional Intelligence, everyone benefits
Harvard Business School breaks Emotional Intelligence down into four key behaviors:
Self-awareness: understanding your strengths and weaknesses, recognizing your emotions and how they impact others.
understanding your strengths and weaknesses, recognizing your emotions and how they impact others. Self-management: how well you can manage your emotions — rash, impulsive (and overly emotional) responses can cause relationships to fracture, and others to pick up on the vibe you’re giving out.
how well you can manage your emotions — rash, impulsive (and overly emotional) responses can cause relationships to fracture, and others to pick up on the vibe you’re giving out. Social awareness: our emotions affect other people, and self aware individuals can read the dynamics in a room or group, interpreting how other people are feeling, too.
our emotions affect other people, and self aware individuals can read the dynamics in a room or group, interpreting how other people are feeling, too. Relationship management: humans are social creatures, and the success of society relies on relationships being properly managed. Of course, in a professional context this becomes even more important — not just for internal relationships, external ones as well.
Seeing Emotional Intelligence laid out like this, it’s really no surprise that great leaders have E.Q nailed. But let’s take a look at some numbers to back the concept up.
Emotional Intelligence strengthens leadership performance
Emotionally Intelligent leaders — specifically those who master empathy — perform 40% higher in coaching, engaging others, and decision-making.
And in a slightly less recent but still incredibly meaningful study from 1982, 81% of the competencies that distinguished outstanding managers from adequate ones were related to emotional intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence helps create better teams
Of course, working with a high-performing leader brings a long list of benefits for the team. When emotionally intelligent managers lead by example, they help create a culture of empathy and understanding. This, in turn, trains and develops less senior colleagues to strengthen their E.Q.
As Daniel Golman, business psychologist and author of many books on the topic of Emotional Intelligence at work, says:
“In teamwork, emotional intelligence is the crucial social lubricant, providing the capacity to settle disputes well, brainstorm creatively, and work harmoniously. This is all the more true for great team leaders. It turns out that team members who scored higher on the ECI, a test of emotional and social competencies, were most likely to emerge as the natural leaders.”
Eventually, the entire organization is running on Emotional Intelligence — creating the right environment for innovation, collaborative communication, greater engagement and, ultimately, increased competitive advantage.
In this way, E.Q. can deliver a boost for business, too.
Emotional Intelligence impacts the bottom line (both directly and indirectly)
Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash
Leaders are often in the position of selling the company to other people — whether that’s during recruitment drives, or when trying to build up the client roster. With heightened E.Q., leaders can interpret what others are thinking and feeling far more accurately. They can flex their pitch; responding to questions and doubts before they’ve even been raised.
This is evidenced time and time again in sales teams. And, at L’Oréal, salespeople with high emotional intelligence out performed their peers by $91,370 each in just one year, creating an additional $2.5 million revenue.
Indirectly, E.Q. helps protect the bottom line by increasing retention rates — sometimes by staggering amounts. In one study, employees were 400% less likely to leave a job if their manager exhibited high E.Q.
Conversely, research from Georgetown University found that 63% of employees waste time by avoiding their low-EQ leader.
Knowing that businesses can waste millions of dollars on lost productivity and recruitment each year, the profit-driving value of a highly engaged, emotionally intelligent, workforce suddenly becomes very exciting indeed.
So we know how Emotional Intelligence and leadership go hand in hand. But what happens if E.Q doesn’t come all that naturally to you as a leader — are you a lost cause?
Far from it.
As we touched on before, E.Q. — empathy, self-awareness, acute social skills, etc — can be learned. Here’s how…
Emotional Intelligence is a learned skill — here’s 4 ways to increase yours…
Emotionally intelligent individuals regard self-development as an opportunity to be better at what they do. They believe that skills and abilities can be learned over time.
So, no matter whether you’re already rating high on the E.Q. spectrum or you feel you’ve got a way to go, these following four activities will support you in your journey.
Ask for feedback (and embrace it non-defensively)
Before we can take steps forward, we need to know where we are today. That’s why your first piece of E.Q. homework is to ask for feedback from your team.
Sure, it’s never easy to open yourself up to constructive criticism — some of us even find praise hard to swallow! But if you can drum up the courage required, there’s so, so much to gain.
Not only will you be hearing from those whose opinions matter most — the people you lead — but receiving even negative feedback is a fantastic way to develop the skills required for E.Q. Emotionally intelligent leaders can take critical remarks (and kind words!) and see them for what they are: direction.
If your team is calling out for you to consider their needs in team decisions, or to ask for their updates before setting deadlines, then you’ve got a clear route for development ahead. Similarly, if your team feels you’re already exhibiting many of the traits of empathetic leadership, then you know you should keep doing more of the same.
2. Be mindful of your emotional impact on others
Chances are, you won’t become a highly empathetic leader overnight. Developing E.Q takes time, and — if you’re doing it right — it’s a never-ending process.
But you can start assessing your impact on others right away.
How does the mood change in a room when you deliver a piece of disappointing news? If you come into work in a good mood, does it rub off on other people? What about if you’ve got caught in traffic, then split your coffee down you, and rushed into the team meeting in a huff?
There’s a delicate dichotomy between being honest, authentic and open with your teams and allowing your own mood to shift the mood of the group.
That’s why mindfulness is often associated with emotionally intelligent leadership. Unless the team would benefit from ‘catching’ your emotion — maybe you’ve got great sales results to share, or you want to galvanize them into action with a healthy dose of “here’s what our competitors have been up to…” — then give yourself a moment to get your emotions in check before you speak up.
As we said at the outset, there’s a crucial difference between being emotional and being emotionally intelligent. The clue’s in the name: E.Q. requires you to be smart with what you say and how you influence other people.
If you can listen to, manage, and then put aside your own emotional response to a situation, then you’ll be able to make emotionally intelligent and empathetic decisions that are still right for the business.
An overly emotional leader may let their anger or upset get the better of them. But you wouldn’t.
3. Use 1-to-1 to build empathy and really get to know your colleagues
If you really want to connect with the people you lead, there’s nothing better than a 1-to-1 conversation. Take away the group dynamics, and you’re able to have meaningful conversations about personal and professional development, without fear of what other people might think.
What’s more, by showing employees that you care what they think and feel, you can increase their engagement, satisfaction and productivity levels, too.
Armed with personal insight on each team member, you’ll be able to manage the team’s workload in a way that works for everyone. You’ll know that Rebecca needs to develop her client relationships, and that John needs to clock off early twice a week to pick his kids up from school — and you can organize accordingly.
Empathic leaders understand that their team works as whole, but is made up of individual needs, backgrounds, and skill sets coming together. Pan out to consider the sum, but don’t forget to look after the parts, too.
4. Never stop learning — always adopt a “growth mindset”
An emotionally intelligent leader’s work is never done — sorry!
And while we don’t mean you need to work weekends and evenings, you should always be in a “growth mindset”; ready to improve upon the skills you’ve developed already, and to nurture others to do the same.
As we’ve seen, E.Q. can be transformational for a business in all manner of ways. So, the sky’s the limit — if you choose to see it that way. | https://medium.com/duuoo-io/emotional-intelligence-and-leadership-go-hand-in-hand-f03c230e57e3 | ['Michael Sica-Lieber'] | 2020-09-09 10:45:15.523000+00:00 | ['Leadership Development', 'Emotional Intelligence', 'Leadership'] |
Generating multi-brand multi-platform icons with Sketch and a Node.js script — Part #1 | Well, actually it’s not that easy, but it can certainly be done. This post is a detailed explanation of how we did it, and what we discovered along the way.
The problem we were trying to solve
At Badoo we build a dating app. Actually, multiple dating apps. For multiple platforms (iOS, Android, Mobile Web, Desktop Web), across multiple teams.
We use hundreds of icons in our apps. Some of them are the same across different apps, some are very specific to the brands the apps reflect. The icons are continuously evolving, in sync with the evolution of the design. Sometimes completely new icons are added, while others get updated, and still others get dropped (although, they often remain in the codebase).
Our design team designs and maintains the icons, and until now the only way for them to provide the correct assets to the different teams, platforms and apps, was to send them via email, chat or dropbox. This is not only time-consuming, but but it’s almost always prone to error. In fact, we found that errors occurred every time (we’re human!): icons would be updated on one platform but not on another; or icons would be missing or in the wrong format or size. So, there was a constant back and forth between designers and developers; developers would export icons directly from the Sketch file, and the icons would get added to the codebase but with no check to see if similar icons already existed (and were available for reuse). I’m sure you know what I am talking about 😄
At Badoo we have a Design System, called Cosmos, and recently we introduced a library of Design Tokens across multiple platforms (Mobile Web, Android and iOS) both for our main app and its white-labels. Essentially, we are now able to communicate design decisions (like the border of a button, the background colour of a particular feature page, the font size of the Heading 1, or the duration of an animation for a popup) using elementary design values, all processed and delivered automatically to all the apps, and all the platforms consuming these design tokens in their apps.
How we are now able to transform a design idea, like for example a change of a colour, to real code in production, in just a few clicks and hardly any time at all, has really impressed product managers and designers alike.
So, their next question (and request) was: can you do something similar for the assets? And our answer was: yes, we (probably) can!
It was quite a leap of faith at the time, I have to admit. We had some ideas of how to do it, but we were not at all sure if it was technically doable, with all the restrictions we operate under. We agreed to start with an MVP project, but by the end everything had gone so well that it became our final product, with all the necessary features.
The requirements
The requirements for the MVP were very clear: create a pipeline that could take a Sketch file and export all the icons included in the file, in different formats, for different platforms, with each icon suitable for use in AB testing.
This is complicated because, in our products, one icon can have many different colours and/or different shapes for different brands/white-labels (although the codebase of the app is the same, as well as, the name of the icon).
Look at some of the icons used in our applications and you will notice that some are identical, some are very similar to each other but for a few details, while others are quite different, both in their shapes and colours:
A comparison of the icon for the different brands
Now, the colours used in the icons are not just plain colours, but match the exact colours stated in the design tokens for that brand and its specific features:
Comparison of the colours across different brands. The colour values are specified as design tokens.
So, our aim with this new assets pipeline was not only to automate the process of generation and delivery of the icons, for all the different platforms and brands, but rather to be able to “dynamically” colour the icons according to the brand/white-label.
Sketch and sketchtool
Sketch is the main design tool that our design team uses. Even though we did consider other options (Figma, mainly), we knew that Sketch was the format of the source files we were going to be using for this project (simply because it’s the tool our designers are more proficient in, and it’s the format of the files where the existing icons/assets are used, among other reasons).
The fact is that, at the beginning of the project we were not even sure what final formats the platforms were expecting. In our minds, the process was going to be pretty basic like this: export the icons in SVG format from the Sketch file and then consume the SVG files in Mobile Web and Android, and for iOS find a library that can convert SVGs to PDFs. And that’s it. That was the plan when we started, although we had no idea if it would work, or about the unknown unknowns we might encounter (hence, the MVP to see if it was even feasible, and, if so, how much effort it might entail).
I don’t know if you have ever worked with “PDF converters” but in my experience they are generally a pain. They “almost” do the job, but never to the 100% you really need. So, in the back of my mind, I felt we were treading a dangerous path.
Sketch has a way of exporting assets that is pretty much perfect, I’ve never had a problem with it (be it SVG, PDF, or other formats). So I wanted to see if there were any other ways to interact with Sketch, to use its engine to export assets directly via Sketch, possibly in a programmatic way (I was also wondering if a custom plugin could be built, although that would have meant a lot of work for me, not only because I have zero experience in that field!).
I knew that internally Sketch is no more than a zip file (if you rename a .sketch file to .zip, double-click to uncompress it, and open the resulting folder, you see a list of JSON files, and a bitmap used as preview):
Inner structure of a Sketch file, once uncompressed
So, I started to explore the different JSON files, trying to understand the connections and dependencies between them.
I realised that somehow, despite the JSON files being deeply nested (and quite large!), the relations between the different entities inside their objects is not too complicated: you have pages, artboards and layers; inside the layers you have the paths, and you can have shared styles between them; each one of these entities has a unique ID that is used to keep a reference between the different files; and all the “page” objects are saved in JSON files, stored in a sub-folder called pages, with the ID of the page used as name of the file.
One significant discovery I made, during this exploration, was that the names of the layers, pages, and styles are just labels, and they can be changed at any time, without compromising the inner workings of the Sketch file. The thing that matters is the unique ID assigned to them, and this is never exposed to the end user (although, can be read and referenced inside the JSON files). Here is an example of how the unique ID of a style looks like:
{
"_class": "sharedStyle",
"do_objectID": "49BA4E98-8D63-435C-81D9-E2F6CDB63136",
"name": "name-of/the-style",
"value": {
"_class": "style",
"endMarkerType": 0,
"fills": [
{
"_class": "fill",
"isEnabled": true,
"color": {
"_class": "color",
"alpha": 1,
"blue": 0.7176470588235294,
"green": 0.4627450980392159,
"red": 0
},
"fillType": 0,
"noiseIndex": 0,
"noiseIntensity": 0,
"patternFillType": 1,
"patternTileScale": 1
}
],
"miterLimit": 10,
"startMarkerType": 0,
"windingRule": 1
}
}
This gave me an idea: that maybe we could use specific conventions on the names of the artboards and of the pages, to declare some kind of meta-information about the relations between the different assets, and use them programmatically at build time.
Sketchtool
At this point, by the end of the initial explorations, the plan had changed from “let’s export the icons in SVG and then convert them” to “let’s build a plugin that, within Sketch, allows us to directly export the icons in their final format”. But even then, the plan was still very blurred (and the technical feasibility was still uncertain).
It was while I was looking at existing plugins, specially at their source code, to see if and how they might interact with the Sketch export APIs, that I came across a tool that I’d never heard of before: Sketchtool.
Sketchtool is an official Sketch tool (official as in: developed by Bohemian Coding), which according to the documentation:
… is a command line utility that’s bundled with Sketch, that allows you to perform some operations with Sketch documents, like inspecting them or exporting assets. It also lets you control Sketch from the command line to perform some actions (like running plugins, for example).
Hang on… a command line utility to perform operations like exporting assets? Just, what I was looking for! Also, being an official tool, there wouldn’t be any problems of versions, obsolescence, maintenance, etc.
I started to look into it immediately, and read the documentation, which amounted to just a single page on the Sketch website (I’ve found hardly any other resources or pages about it out there, so it’s understandable that I’d never heard of it :) )
Sketchtool is bundled directly with Sketch, and you can find it inside Sketch at this path: Sketch.app/Contents/Resources/sketchtool/.
When you launch it in your CLI with the command:
$ /Applications/Sketch.app/Contents/Resources/sketchtool/bin/sketchtool
this is the output you see on your terminal (I have simplified it a little):
Usage: sketchtool <command> [<args>]
[--formats=<string>]
[--use-id-for-name{=YES|NO}]
[--export-page-as-fallback{=YES|NO}]
[--serial{=YES|NO}]
[--context=<string>]
[--application=<path>]
[--without-activating{=YES|NO}]
[--item=<string>]
[--items=<string>]
[--safemode{=YES|NO} | --no-safemode | -S {<YES|NO>}]
[--max-size=<float> | -m <float>]
[--background=<string> | -g <string>]
[--compression=<float> | -c <float>]
[--new-instance{=YES|NO}]
[--reveal{=YES|NO}]
[--timeout=<float>]
[--include-symbols{=YES|NO}]
[--bounds=<rectangle>]
[--outputJSON=<path>]
[--filename=<string>]
[--wait-for-exit{=YES|NO}]
[--scales=<path>]
[--overwriting{=YES|NO}]
[--group-contents-only{=YES|NO}]
[--trimmed{=YES|NO}]
[--help]
[--progressive{=YES|NO}]
[--save-for-web{=YES|NO}]
[--output=<path>] Commands:
dump Dump out the structure of a document as JSON. export artboards Export one or more artboards
export layers Export one or more layers
export pages Export an area from one or more pages
export preview Export a preview image for a document
export slices Export one or more slices help Show this help message. list artboards List information on the document's artboards.
list formats List the supported export formats.
list layers List information on all of the document's layers.
list pages List information on the document's pages.
list slices List information on the document's slices. metadata List the metadata for a document.
run Run a command from a plugin, inside Sketch.
show Show the location of the various sketch folders. See ‘sketchtool help <command>’ for more information on a specific command.
As you can see, the tool has four main functions: to read/dump the metadata of the internal JSON files; to list the entities inside a file; to export these entities; and to run a command exposed by a plugin. In addition, each command has a lot of options available. In the case of the export command, almost all the options you find in the export panel are also available via Sketchtool’s command line:
“Export” panel in Sketch, with the available options
This means that Sketch can be used directly as export “engine” via sketchtool, without the need for external converters (from SVG to PNG or PDF, for example). Big deal! 🎉
A quick test using sketchtool and a simple Sketch file with a few icons inside, confirmed all the initial suppositions: just by using this simple tool, we can avoid both using third-party exporters and building our own custom exporters: Sketch does it all!
The Sketch file(s)
Once we knew that Sketch was the tool we were going to use, for both storing and exporting the icons, it was time to actually collect the icons used in our applications into a Sketch file.
Initially, we only planned to work with a limited set of icons, those for the MVP project, but we quickly realised that it would have been better to collected them all at once, to be able to immediately spot duplicates, inconsistencies, any omissions, etc.
Our designers did an incredible job and in just a couple of days a large part of the assets used in their Sketch files has been collected and organised into a single file. At this point, the Sketch file looked like this: | https://medium.com/bumble-tech/generating-multi-brand-multi-platform-icons-with-sketch-and-a-node-js-script-part1-82f438c7e16c | ['Cristiano Rastelli'] | 2019-07-23 10:57:24.183000+00:00 | ['Nodejs', 'JavaScript', 'Tools For Design', 'Design Systems', 'Sketch'] |
Well explained and easy to understand 👏 | Well explained and easy to understand 👏 | https://medium.com/@ahmedshafrazdilshan/well-explained-and-easy-to-understand-19f5bad81ab5 | ['Ahmed Shafraz Dilshan'] | 2020-12-26 03:08:33.529000+00:00 | ['Version Control', 'Git Commands', 'Github', 'Repositories', 'Git'] |
Being Muslim in Oklahoma: Reflections on My Time With CAIR-OK | Photo from CAIR-OK
Six months ago, I began a Community Outreach Fellowship at the Council on American Islamic Relations-Oklahoma Chapter (CAIR-OK). CAIR is the largest Muslim civil rights organization in America. Its mission is to protect civil liberties, enhance the understanding of Islam, and empower American Muslims. Despite being a native Okie and former intern for the organization, I was surprised to find my fellowship with CAIR-OK provided me an invaluable perspective on both the Muslim and non-Muslim community in Oklahoma. Little did I know that these past six months would turn out to be one of the best experiences of my life. At the events I organized, I witnessed Okies take the time to travel from rural parts of Oklahoma to volunteer at our CAIR-OK events and show their support for the Muslim community; At the same time, I also saw first-hand the deep-seated Islamophobia and hatred some have toward the Muslim community. Part of the mission of CAIR as a national organization is to build coalitions that promote mutual understanding, but this can be especially trying in a state as politically conservative as Oklahoma.
On March 2nd, CAIR-OK hosted the third Annual Muslim Day at the Capitol. This is one of CAIR-OK’s largest events of the year, attracting about 150 people. On this day, Muslims from across the state gather at the capitol to meet with their representatives and discuss issues affecting the Okie Muslim community. This year’s Muslim Day at the Capitol was unique in that it drew in more non-Muslims than the previous two years. As I walked toward the state Capitol that day, I initially encountered protesters holding signs that read “Go Home” among other hurtful things. Given the results of the recent presidential election, the CAIR-OK staff had prepared for protesters to gather outside of the capitol, but it was still discouraging to be greeted by protesters holding demeaning signs. As I entered the Capitol Rotunda, I watched in awe as I saw the protesters outnumbered by parents and young children holding signs of support that read “You Belong” and “We Love You.” It was especially heartwarming to witness this outpouring of support specifically for the Muslim community, given that 68% of voters in Oklahoma voted for Donald Trump this past November. Despite the presence of protesters, it turned out to be a successful event. Muslim youth from across Oklahoma met with their representatives, and many toured the state capitol for the first time. This event has been momentous in increasing civic engagement among the Okie Muslim community and amplifying the voice of Okie Muslims more generally.
Photo from CAIR-OK
In June, CAIR-OK hosted the first-ever “Revealing Ramadan” event in the Oklahoma City metro area in which 160 non-Muslims were welcomed to the Islamic Center of Greater Oklahoma City to learn about the month of Ramadan. People of all faiths and ethnicities flooded the mosque to learn about the month of Ramadan and tour the facility. The majority of those in attendance had never been to a mosque and many did not know a Muslim. I watched young children try baklava and biryani for the first time, turning to their parents to ask them what the various buffet dishes being offered were. I watched as my fellow colleagues and friends sat on a panel to explain Islamic teachings, offer their personal Ramadan experiences, and share stories of discrimination they have faced based on their faith. This was one of the most powerful events I had the pleasure of organizing during my fellowship. Through community organizing, I have found that it is often fear of “the other” that drives individuals to have negative views of Muslims in Oklahoma. Many of those who hold these negative views have never met a Muslim, and base their views on information gathered from mainstream media. The most personally rewarding experiences I have had during my fellowship have been speaking to adults old and young, from various backgrounds, about their views on Islam and Muslims, and sharing my own experience as an American Muslim with them.
Much of what has made CAIR-OK successful is the dedication of its staff. CAIR-OK Executive Director Adam Soltani works tirelessly, juggling raising his two young sons with the demands that come with serving Muslims in the most conservative state in America. While the majority of the CAIR-OK staff are actually not Muslim, they are committed advocates for the Muslim community. I saw first-hand the amount of time staff members spend working outside of the office, supporting the Muslim community through their involvement with many other local organizations also dedicated to promoting justice. The composition of the CAIR-OK staff in itself illustrates that race, age, religion, gender etc. do not determine one’s ability to serve and better their community. Rather, it is a person’s own will, drive, and character that determine the positive impact they will have on those around them.
As I begin graduate school at Yale and leave Oklahoma permanently, I feel a deep sense of fulfillment. This fulfillment stems from knowing that I was able to give back to the community I spent most of my childhood in. As I look back on this chapter of my life I have no regrets about the time I spent at CAIR-OK. This organization will always have a special place in my heart because it has introduced me to life-long friends, provided me with a platform to share my experiences as a Muslim American, and given me the opportunity to work with interfaith partners on bettering the state. The people I have met on this journey have taught me the importance of continuing the pursuit of justice, even in the hardest of places and times. | https://medium.com/two-dirhams/being-muslim-in-oklahoma-reflections-on-my-time-with-cair-ok-c37415509447 | ['Shehla Fazili'] | 2017-08-01 00:08:50.135000+00:00 | ['Muslim', 'Justice', 'Islam', 'Oklahoma'] |
August 2020 — End of the month update | Anyway, hi everyone 👋
August has just ended, I’m writing this on September 2nd. It was a great (possibly the best yet?) and very busy month for NativShark.
We started the month with a clear goal: Launch the product.
The full team went into overdrive and really pulled together. Our project management became something of legends. I think some may have had their doubts if you had seen where we were at on August 1st, but I believed in our team and knew we’d pull through.
I’m honestly blown away with what we’ve accomplished with such a small team. Every team member has grown in their abilities so much in the past couple months, and as a company we’ve learned a lot.
It’s a good feeling to see things actually come together after months of pushing and uncertainty.
But now we’re near 10,000 students and we have more than 1 year of student study time on the platform in such a short time! Amazing.
That said, this is only the beginning. After a short rest for the team, we got right into improving the performance on the site and planning our roadmap.
We’ve been receiving feedback and feature requests on our feedback site: https://feedback.nativshark.com/ which has been an excellent resource to help direct our planning. Hearing your direct comments on the experience of learning with NativShark is and will continue to be key in building the best language education platform possible.
We also put out some videos in August, one of which was a quick Q&A video with questions from around the first week of launch, take a look:
Now that it’s out, students are learning, and feedback is rolling, it’s time to perfect and scale. Speaking of which…
Where we’re at now
The core experience is online. People are learning Japanese.
That said, currently there are some issues and missing features that we’re addressing.
The biggest one currently is that kanji learning is not introduced well.
We’ve been looking at this very closely and have worked out a better introduction and a near-full redesign to the learning experience. We’ll be testing prototypes with the testing group soon.
Perhaps we could have an entire blog post on the new method once it’s ready… Let me know if you’d be interested.
Another issue we’ve identified is with the first 30 or so Units. Unless you’re completely 100% new to the language, or you have a ton of interest in travelling to Japan soon, we feel the choice to introduce nearly only travel lessons was misguided. While a lot of those lessons are amazing, having so many at once can be tiring.
We’re improving this as well.
The last issue I want to draw attention to is the lack of a level / placement test. This is largely because only Phase One is out, and we want to be careful with how we implement such a feature. It is done notoriously poorly in the learning community and we want our Level Check Mode to be meaningful.
That said, we’ve definitely always wanted to do it so I can say: “Level Check Mode” is coming eventually 👍
There’s a couple more minor things we’re adjusting like the in-Unit flow of Today’s Studies and how / where the “My Journey” circles can show up to let you know what part of the Unit you’re in.
We want to be able to see these lovely progress circles from more places!
All I can say is I’m so glad to have it released so we can get real data from thousands of students. I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has contributed to our feedback forums and in the discord community.
I think one of the best things about NativShark, and why I’m so thankful to be a part of it, is how much growth potential there is in the platform and how committed we are to constantly improving the platform over time. There’s no reason it should just sit and be static. It’s well past time for Language Education as Live Service. Thrilled to be the ones doing it ✨
Where we’re headed
So that’s where we’ve been and where we’re at. Time for a bit of a look at what’s down the line.
In the next week or so, we have some more performance optimizations coming out and minor improvements.
Then, we’ll be focusing on our Content Management Platform again so the content team can be much more efficient, even while they’re still such a small team. And because our engineering team is so small, it’ll take the whole team’s focus.
But, this time will give us the focus we need to clean up some of our architecture choices that were made to get the launch out 😅
The content team will be publishing some Phase Two content, and then working on their improvements to Phase One before going back to publishing loads of Phase Two content as they complete it.
During all that, we’ll have had time to finish designing and testing our nicely sized update to the Student Experience, bringing the solutions to what I mentioned in the previous section.
At this point, we’re far enough down the timeline that it’s hard to say exactly what will be next, but a native mobile app and prepping for going multi-lingual are high on the list.
As always, one step at a time.
See you in the next one 🌊
~ Caleb | https://medium.com/nativshark/august-2020-end-of-the-month-update-b1799b8c3249 | ['Caleb Andersen'] | 2020-09-03 06:29:24.593000+00:00 | ['Nativshark', 'Edtech', 'Launch', 'Language Learning', 'Japanese'] |
New Year’s Resolutions, Stoic Style | It’s that time of the year, folks! The entirely arbitrary (at least, astronomically) date of December 31st is approaching, and many of us are getting ready to celebrate the new year. And to make resolutions for the one to come.
According to “data journalist” Martin Armstrong, the three most popular resolutions for the new year are to eat healthier, get more exercise, and save more money. They are followed by more focus on self-care (i.e., get more sleep), read more, make new friends, learn a new skill, gew a new job, and take up a new hobby.
What would the Stoics say about these nine priorities, which, incidentally, most people will actually abandon a few weeks into the new year? Indeed, what would they say about the whole notion of New Year resolutions?
Stoicism is certainly about self-improvement, and yet, there are significant differences between the Stoic approach and the popular one. The obvious starting point is the oft-cited beginning words of Epictetus’ Enchiridion:
Some things are within our power, while others are not. Within our power are opinion, motivation, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever is of our own doing; not within our power are our body, our property, reputation, office, and, in a word, whatever is not of our own doing. (Enchiridion 1.1)
This passage is, of course, about the dichotomy of control, one of the crucial doctrines of Stoic philosophy. Let’s see how the nine resolutions mentioned above stack up against it:
As you can readily see from the last column, all resolutions fail the test of the dichotomy of control, since they are not (entirely) under our control. What, you say, how could they not be under our control? Let’s consider a few, to show that the Stoics were not crazy. You might think that eating healthier of course is under your control. The judgment that you should eat healthier certainly is, and so is the decision to act on such judgment. But circumstances may get in your way. You may live in a “food desert,” for instance, where it’s difficult to access fruits and vegetables. Or you may not be able to afford a better diet. Or your family may not go along with the plan, and loudly complain about your new habit, which gets in the way of their favorite outing to the local fast food joint.
Okay, but surely saving more money is under your control. Again, the judgment that this is a good idea is, and the decision to act following that judgment is too. But whether you will succeed or not actually depends on external circumstances. You may be hit by unexpected bills, like those resulting from a medical emergency, for instance, and not be able to save despite your best intentions and efforts.
Reading more depends on your ability to carve out more time for yourself, which in part depends on external conditions. The same is true, obviously, for getting a new job. Or making new friends. And so forth, you get the gist.
The above considerations may be part of the explanation for why so few actually stick to New Year’s resolutions. Apparently, only 8% of people achieve what they resolved to do at the beginning of the year.
What then? Should we give up the idea of improving ourselves? Not at all. But we we might want to consider the Stoic path, which shifts goals from external outcomes (which are not under our complete control) to internal judgments (which are under our control).
Each of the resolutions above can actually be rephrased in terms of internal goals: I will do my best to eat healthier; I will do my best to make new friends; I will do my best to read more; and so forth. The difference may seem subtle, or even just a mental trick (it is!), but is of the utmost consequence, because with things thus rephrased you are now in complete control of what’s going on. While external circumstances may get in the way of you actually getting a new job, nobody but you can get in the way of making your best effort to find a new job. That’s why Epictetus makes this promise:
If you have the right idea about what really belongs to you and what does not, you will never be subject to force or hindrance, you will never blame or criticize anyone, and everything you do will be done willingly. (Enchiridion 1.3)
Here’s another way to think about it. Each time you set yourself a goal, realize that the outcome is the result of two components: what is up to you (your judgments, your decisions, your efforts) and what is not up to you (anything external). If you successfully achieve the goal it means that the externals, lucky for you, aligned with your intentions. Don’t gloat too much about it, because in part you succeeded out of luck. If you failed to achieve the goal, despite doing your best, it means that Fortuna did not favor you this time. Well, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. You will probably have another chance in the future, and you can be serene in the knowledge that you’ve done everything that was in your power to do.
(Serenity was a big deal for the Stoics, they call it ataraxia, a state of contentedness resulting from the development of an attitude of equanimity toward externals.)
If you did not, in fact, really do everything that was in your power, then don’t reach out for the whip and start flogging your back. We are not Christians. Stoicism is a self- and other-forgiving philosophy. It’s okay, we are human beings, and very few of us are sages. Pick yourself up and try again.
Of course, for a Stoic practitioner the only New Year’s resolution truly worth making is to become a more virtuous person, improving oneself in the practice of the four cardinal virtues: prudence, courage, justice, and temperance. That’s because:
What is the goal of virtue, after all, except a life that flows smoothly? (Discourses I, 4.5)
Needless to say, becoming more virtuous is under your control. But why wait for that arbitrary date, January 1st? As Epictetus reminds us:
When faced with anything painful or pleasurable, anything bringing glory or disrepute, realize that the crisis is now, that the Olympics have started, and waiting is no longer an option; that the chance for progress, to keep or lose, turns on the events of a single day. (Enchiridion 51.2)
So forget New Year’s resolutions. Resolve every day to try to become better than you were yesterday, no matter what’s the date on the calendar. What are you waiting for? The Olympics have already started. | https://medium.com/stoicism-philosophy-as-a-way-of-life/new-years-resolutions-stoic-style-757143739504 | ['Massimo Pigliucci'] | 2020-01-10 12:13:48.404000+00:00 | ['Philosophy', 'Stoicism', 'Productivity', 'Epictetus'] |
Op-Ed: The Love of Learning and the Desire for God | When Professor Debra Sowell invited me early last year to deliver the Phi Kappa Phi lecture in March, a title sprang to mind: “The Love of Learning and the Desire for God.” Decades ago I had read a book of that name by a French monk describing Catholic monasticism in medieval Europe. It occurred to me that the title describes what we strive to do at Southern Virginia University.
The author, Jean Leclerq, argued that monastic culture revolved around twin passions: the passion to know, and the passion to know God. Monks cherished learning on its own merits, but also as an act of faith. Learning drew one closer to God.
No one can confuse Southern Virginia with a monastery. No abbey ever had a department of family and child development. Yet we pursue learning in a school consciously created in the context of a religious tradition. As most colleges seem nowadays to go in the opposite direction, that alone sets us apart.
There’s more. Elder Ronald Rasband, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, challenged the just-inaugurated President Wilcox in 2016 “to find ways to help students to include religious thought and study as central, and not just complementary, to their university experience.”
We embody his challenge in obvious ways, like our weekly Friday Forum, and the newly-intensified relationship with the Institute.
I’d go one step further and suggest this love of learning and the desire for God permeates our curriculum itself. Religious thought and study are already central to this university’s experience, in the courses professors offer and students take which, perhaps without our realizing it, promote that link between the love of learning and the desire for God.
Sometimes the link is obvious — in my courses on the Reformation or American religious history, or in Professor Hunt’s studies of Islam or Judaism. Sometimes it’s inherent, as in Professor Lambert’s course on Reformation devotional poetry, or when Professor Widzisz explores the biblical Greek of the Epistle of James, or Professor Dransfield examines the book of Job.
Yet there is so much more: Think of Professor Knudsen teaching astronomy, which constituted one of the four liberal arts of the medieval monastic Quadrivium. Or Professor Lee who in exploring evolutionary biology deals with fundamental issues of creation. Or Professor Whitehurst who in computer science considers artificial intelligence and thus the nature of human learning itself.
The most basic courses in English composition, or for that matter of any language, convey the vital monastic conviction that good writing leads to good thinking. Courses in art and music brim with religious works of the ages, and I suspect our philosophers and psychologists deal with matters of human existence before God with great frequency. Languages and explorations of other cultures explore the marvelous diversity of this world the Heavenly Father created.
Business professors convey more than the mechanics of the market or the principles of accounting. They aim as well to instill leadership, and with it, a sense of ethics — of right and wrong, of moral responsibility — rooted in religious understanding. Ethics, several tell me, can be a driving force not only in business decisions, but even in the decision of which business to pursue, that is, in the direction of one’s career.
To be sure, not every course may lift our hearts to the Heavenly Father. Like science or mathematics. Or maybe it can: Isaac Newton wrote Principia Mathematica as a means to comprehend the divine hand at work in the natural world.
In short, as the curriculum promotes a love of learning, it fosters the desire for God.
Which leads me to one last point. In the powerful combination of learning and faith, Southern Virginia can make a unique contribution to our society.
Many today seem to fear learning. Colleges have become suspect. To some degree they always have been, advancing new knowledge which can itself can challenge preconceptions or even challenge God. By uniting the two, we transcend such fears.
And many colleges seem to fear the love of God. Religion, for them, inhibits, imprisons, diminishes. We believe it liberates. Furthermore, at Southern Virginia, I have found this passion for learning combined with a dedication to God and to service to mark the “leader-servant” we hope to launch into our world.
We now begin another year of learning. We have the chance to pursue learning as an act of faith, trusting the promise of the one who declared [John 8.32], “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” | https://medium.com/theherald/op-ed-the-love-of-learning-and-the-desire-for-god-84b5141c2cd0 | ['The Herald At Southern Virginia University'] | 2018-10-09 13:47:50.329000+00:00 | ['Opinion', 'God', 'Christianity', 'Liberal Arts', 'Higher Education'] |
The End of Times | I am looking for a good book on the Jewish view of the End of Times.
Who fights who?
What happens and how does the fighting finally end?
Who will live and who will die?
Who from the dead will be resurrected?
What occurs in practical terms when the Mashiach arrives?
What does G-d’s revelation to the whole world look and feel like?
Where is Israel at each step in unfolding of the redemption?
How does the 3rd Temple actually get built?
Is world peace not only possible, but also enduring?
Wow, would love to read a layman’s book like this.
Can anyone recommend anything really good? ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal) | https://medium.com/@andyblumenthal/the-end-of-times-f85f6d982b5c | ['Andrew', 'Avraham'] | 2020-12-25 12:24:35.652000+00:00 | ['Apocalypse', 'Armageddon', 'Israel', 'Futurism', 'End Of Days'] |
Hi to all, | Hi to all,
My name is Hafsa Farooqui. I have just made my account on medium. I am hoping that I will write stories about it regularly. Or maybe I should say I will randomly share my thoughts, I am trying to improve my English secretly and I think writing will help a great deal. Let’s see how it goes. Usually, my day goes very busy with my kids and house. But I want to do something for me only also. It’s not at all easy when you have two toddlers who are with you 24/7. My kids don’t let me do anything other than taking care of them. But the truth is I don’t want life any other way. | https://medium.com/@hafsafarooqui2019/hi-to-all-f55f86e8423c | ['Hafsa Farooqui'] | 2020-12-25 20:54:49.900000+00:00 | ['Homemaker', 'Toddlers', 'Kids', 'Moms Life'] |
The Writer | Photo by J.S. Lender © 2021
Stephen King was once asked how he wrote so many amazing stories. His response was “one word at a time.” King may be a sincere individual, but I have often suspected that he was taunting me directly with that quote. What an asshole.
I wish it were that easy — one word at a time. I have spent day after boring day in the public library and all I have come up with is the title “JAMIE’S WILD RIDE.” It’s not exactly a unique title, but at least it provides me with a jumping off point.
What I want more than anything in life is to be a great writer. No, a magnificent writer. But I learned at a young age that what I want and what I have are like third cousins twice removed who have never met one another. So, I sit and wait for inspiration to strike. I hand write a line or two on a yellow legal pad, then I quickly cross out what I have written. The fancy black and gold Mont Blanc pen I bought for myself has not helped one bit. Nor have I gained any inspiration from countless writing seminars hosted by pretentious academic pricks wearing turtlenecks.
The lion’s share of my day is spent daydreaming about all sorts of things, including being a fantastic and famous writer. But when I use the term “daydreaming,” it would probably be more accurate if I said my mind was “sprint-dreaming.” Because that’s what it is — sprinting from one unrelated idea to the next without focus or order of any kind. One minute I am fascinating myself with a 20-year-old newspaper article I read about shark attacks in Florida, the next minute I am completely fixated on how many miles I can expect to get out of a new set of Goodyear tires.
I’m going to stand up from the library table now, and take a walk around the block. It’s nighttime, and the library is almost empty, so no one will steal my yellow notepad. I will carry my black and gold Mont Blanc pen with me in my pocket just to be safe. There was a suspicious looking character at the north end of the library earlier this afternoon, and I think he had his eye on my pen. He was wearing a dark trench coat with military boots, and he had not shaved for several days. The man may have been mumbling something to himself, but I could not tell. His eyes were squinty and old, and he walked with an exhausted shuffle.
Also, the front desk librarian has been shooting uncanny glances my way and I think she is whispering to the other librarians about me. The librarian wears black horn-rimmed glasses and her hair is a brown sloppy mess with a pencil stuck through it in an unfashionable manner. I have seen her pacing the halls in her long flowery Woodstock skirt and black Doc Martens, re-shelving books. Who wears Doc Martens anymore? The librarian keeps spying on me from the corner of her eye. I don’t like her.
I’m walking down the middle of the street now and I’m feeling hot. I bump my head into something. I can’t tell what it is, so I keep walking. I take off my blue t-shirt and toss it into the bushes because there is nothing wrong with a man walking shirtless in the heat of the summer. I’m still hot after removing my shirt, though, so I strip off my 501 Levi’s (they never go out of style) and my underwear too. I’m still wearing my purple Converse All-Stars and white socks though, so technically I’m not naked. It is a hot, sweaty night, and there is no breeze. I will make my own breeze by running. I’m running now and the breeze against my chest and legs does not cool me off one bit. I have not showered for three days, and I can smell myself. The last time I took a shower I felt contaminants in the water, so I thought it best to skip showers for just a little while.
Cars are starting to honk their horns. I don’t think they are honking at me, although it is possible since I am running in the middle of the road nearly naked. I run past a row of car dealerships with shiny reflective windows in front of the showrooms. Each time I glance at the car dealerships, I see a reflection of a naked man wearing only purple Converse and white socks running, with blood covering his face and chest. The blood is not just covering the man but is drip drip dripping onto his body like a gentle red waterfall. I can’t figure out how this man found his way into the car dealerships without clothes, and how he runs inside the glass. He looks like me, but I know he must be someone else because I am a faster runner than him. I am also much more thin and muscular.
That old, familiar feeling returns to me. I am now viewing all the world as if peering through the dark green dirty water sloshing inside an old pickle jar. Every sight, sound, and physical sensation is tainted with muddy hopelessness and nausea. The sharp fangs of the dark green dirty pickle water fasten to my Adam’s apple and won’t let go. Then, the pestering voices start whispering the bad things that no one wants to hear.
The red and blue flashing lights are dim at first, then they become brighter as I continue to sprint toward the busy lights of downtown Newport Beach. It’s them again. The men in the white coats. Yes, they still wear white coats after all these years. There will be two men, and they will both have incredibly strong hands like a couple of mountain gorillas. The two strong men at first will call me “Sir” as a courtesy, but their patience won’t last long. The forced injection of Haldol will not just call me down but will make me forget who I am for a few days. That may be to my benefit because I don’t want to be this person anymore.
After the Haldol wears off, I’ll find a notepad and a pencil in the mental hospital, and I’ll write something magnificent.
THE END
Find another story by J. Lender here: | https://medium.com/literally-literary/the-writer-5ca26c717aa8 | ['J.S. Lender'] | 2021-07-03 06:04:14.258000+00:00 | ['Literally Literary', 'Mental Health', 'Anxiety', 'Fiction', 'Short Story'] |
True love in the perfect family | Question from the Internet:
“What are the basic factors to focus on for developing a good environment at home?”
A good environment is based on positive, mutually responsible, mutually complementing relationships between people.
This is as true to greater society as it is true for a family.
At least in a family we get a kickstart by the natural love, connection that exists between family members. But this natural, instinctive love, connection is not enough.
We have to build “true love" which is based on mutual concessions, considering the desires, needs, viewpoints of the others as important as our own.
Then by fulfilling the desires, needs of the others as if they were our own needs, desires, we can create a constant, positive, mutual flow of care, service and love between the members of the family that glues people truly together above any problems, misunderstandings.
Then with the help of this “mutual guarantee" they can use even the problems, crisis situations as positive fuel to grow, strengthen the connection, life-force of the family even more.
Then when we can stabilize the family — as founding block of society — this way, we can rebuild the wider, greater society based on the same principles.
https://youtu.be/tKpbdv4DUls | https://medium.com/@samechphoto/true-love-in-the-perfect-family-da40e16e3cf0 | ['Zsolt Hermann'] | 2020-12-22 19:48:48.690000+00:00 | ['Humanity', 'Family', 'Connection', 'Love', 'Society'] |
How to Create a Dynamic Form Builder in Blazor | In this blog post, you will learn the procedure to create a dynamic form builder in Blazor with the EditForm class and data annotation validation. You will also learn the steps to generate form components based on data type and display validation messages using data annotation. Every step is explained with a working sample and simple code examples.
Dynamic form builder
Form input and its validation are very important for any application. In this blog, we will display employee details through a form design. This application will have a minimum of 10 user input entries in a form. We are going to create a form using data model classes and data annotation.
We will create components dynamically and render them in the edit form:
For string data type: TextBox component.
For string with multiline data type: TextBox with multiline (text area) component.
For number data type (integer, decimal, etc.): NumericTextBox component.
For DateTime data type: DatePicker component.
Let’s see the steps to create a dynamic form builder based on the data model class and implement data validation using Syncfusion Blazor form components.
Prerequisites
Steps to generate a dynamic form builder
1. Create a Blazor server application
Create a Blazor server app. Create a new model class file inside the Data folder with the name EmployeeDetails. In this class file, add the class definitions for the Countries and Cities classes with the required properties and methods to generate appropriate data for the Dropdown List.
Note: You can refer to this GitHub repository for the EmployeeDetails class.
2. Add data annotation’s DataType attribute in the form model
The dynamic form component will be rendered based on the data annotation’s DataType attribute in the model properties. The EmployeeDetails model has various properties and comes with built-in validation data annotation attributes like Required, EmailAddress, Phone, and Range.
Additionally, we should add DataType attributes for details like Text, MultilineText, Date, PhoneNumber, and custom types.
Refer to the following code example.
public class EmployeeDetails
{
[Required]
[Display(Name ="First Name")]
[DataType(DataType.Text)]
public string FirstName { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Last Name")]
[DataType(DataType.Text)]
public string LastName { get; set; }
[Required]
[Display(Name = "Email Address")]
[DataType(DataType.EmailAddress)]
[EmailAddress]
public string Email { get; set; }
[Required]
[Display(Name = "PhoneNumber")]
[DataType(DataType.PhoneNumber)]
[Phone]
public string PhoneNumber { get; set; }
[Required]
[Display(Name = "Date of Birth")]
[DataType(DataType.Date)]
public DateTime? DOB { get; set; }
[Required]
[DataType(DataType.Duration)]
[Display(Name = "Total Experience")]
[Range(0, 20, ErrorMessage = "The Experience range should be 0 to 20")]
public decimal? TotalExperience { get; set; }
[Required]
[Display(Name = "Select a Country")]
[DataType("DropdownList")]
public string Country { get; set; }
[Required]
[Display(Name = "Select a City")]
[DataType("ComboBox")]
public string City { get; set; }
[Required]
[DataType(DataType.MultilineText)]
[Display(Name = "Address")]
public string Address { get; set; }
}
We have added custom DataType attributes for the DropdownList and ComboBox, since we don’t have built-in data types for them. Based on the custom values, the components will be rendered.
3. Generate dynamic form components
After creating the required model classes, access them inside the index.razor component in the Pages folder. In that folder, we are going to design the dynamic EditForm with Syncfusion form components.
Add the following code to include the EditForm component. It creates an EditContext that tracks the fields that are modified in the dynamic form components and tracks the validation messages.
<EditForm OnValidSubmit=”@Submit”>
</EditForm>
2. Then, create an instance of the EmployeeDetails class for binding it to the model of the EditForm, like in the following code example.
<EditForm Model=”@employeeDetails” OnValidSubmit=”@Submit”> </EditForm> @code { EmployeeDetails employeeDetails;
protected override void OnInitialized()
{
employeeDetails = new EmployeeDetails();
}
}
3. Then, add the DataAnnotationsValidator component in the EditForm to validate the input fields.
<EditForm Model=”@employeeDetails” OnValidSubmit=”@Submit”>
<DataAnnotationsValidator />
<ValidationSummary></ValidationSummary>
</EditForm>
4. Now, render the form components based on the data type using the CreateComponent method call, as shown in the following code example.
<EditForm Model=”@employeeDetails” OnValidSubmit=”@Submit”>
<DataAnnotationsValidator />
@CreateComponent()
<ValidationSummary></ValidationSummary>
<div class=”form-group”>
<button type=”submit” class=”btn btn-primary”>Save</button>
</div>
</EditForm>
5. Then, render the Syncfusion form components based on the data type and bind the default value, placeholder, float label, and other properties.Refer to the following code example.
public RenderFragment CreateComponent() => builder =>
{
var proList = typeof(EmployeeDetails).GetProperties();
foreach (var prp in proList)
{
Type T = prp.GetType();
if (prp.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DataTypeAttribute), false).Length != 0)
{
var attrList = (DataTypeAttribute)prp.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DataTypeAttribute), false).First();
var displayLabel = (DisplayAttribute)prp.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DisplayAttribute), false).First();
// Get the initial property value.
var propInfoValue = typeof(EmployeeDetails).GetProperty(prp.Name); // Create an expression to set the ValueExpression-attribute.
var constant = System.Linq.Expressions.Expression.Constant(employeeDetails, typeof(EmployeeDetails));
var exp = System.Linq.Expressions.MemberExpression.Property(constant, prp.Name);
switch (attrList.DataType)
{
case DataType.Text:
case DataType.EmailAddress:
case DataType.PhoneNumber:
case DataType.MultilineText:
{
builder.OpenComponent(0, typeof(SfTextBox));
// Create the handler for ValueChanged.
builder.AddAttribute(3, “ValueChanged”, RuntimeHelpers.TypeCheck<Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.EventCallback<System.String>>(Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.EventCallback.Factory.Create<System.String>(this, Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.EventCallback.Factory.CreateInferred(this, __value => propInfoValue.SetValue(DataContext, __value), (string)propInfoValue.GetValue(DataContext))))); builder.AddAttribute(4, “ValueExpression”, System.Linq.Expressions.Expression.Lambda<Func<string>>(exp));
if (attrList.DataType == DataType.MultilineText) builder.AddAttribute(5, “Multiline”, true);
break;
}
case DataType.Date:
builder.OpenComponent(0, typeof(SfDatePicker<DateTime?>)); builder.AddAttribute(3, “ValueChanged”, RuntimeHelpers.TypeCheck<Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.EventCallback<DateTime?>>(Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.EventCallback.Factory.Create<DateTime?>(this, Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.EventCallback.Factory.CreateInferred(this, __value => propInfoValue.SetValue(DataContext, __value), (DateTime?)propInfoValue.GetValue(DataContext))))); builder.AddAttribute(4, “ValueExpression”, System.Linq.Expressions.Expression.Lambda<Func<DateTime?>>(exp)); break;
case DataType.Duration:
builder.OpenComponent(0, typeof(SfNumericTextBox<decimal?>)); builder.AddAttribute(3, “ValueChanged”, RuntimeHelpers.TypeCheck<Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.EventCallback<decimal?>>(Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.EventCallback.Factory.Create<decimal?>(this, Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.EventCallback.Factory.CreateInferred(this, __value => propInfoValue.SetValue(DataContext, __value), (decimal?)propInfoValue.GetValue(DataContext))))); builder.AddAttribute(4, “ValueExpression”, System.Linq.Expressions.Expression.Lambda<Func<decimal?>>(exp)); break;
case DataType.Custom:
if (attrList.CustomDataType == “DropdownList”)
{
builder.OpenComponent(0, typeof(Syncfusion.Blazor.DropDowns.SfDropDownList<string, Countries>));
builder.AddAttribute(1, “DataSource”, countries.GetCountries()); builder.AddAttribute(4, “ChildContent”, (Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.RenderFragment)((builder2) =>
{
builder2.AddMarkupContent(5, “\r
“); builder2.OpenComponent<Syncfusion.Blazor.DropDowns.DropDownListFieldSettings>
(6); builder2.AddAttribute(7, “Value”, “Code”);
builder2.AddAttribute(8, “Text”, “Name”);
builder2.CloseComponent();
builder2.AddMarkupContent(9, “\r
”);
})); }
else if (attrList.CustomDataType == “ComboBox”)
{
builder.OpenComponent(0, typeof(Syncfusion.Blazor.DropDowns.SfComboBox<string, Cities>)); builder.AddAttribute(1, “DataSource”, cities.GetCities()); builder.AddAttribute(4, “ChildContent”, (Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.RenderFragment)((builder2) =>
{
builder2.AddMarkupContent(5, “\r
“); builder2.OpenComponent<Syncfusion.Blazor.DropDowns.ComboBoxFieldSettings>
(6); builder2.AddAttribute(7, “Value”, “Code”);
builder2.AddAttribute(8, “Text”, “Name”);
builder2.CloseComponent();
builder2.AddMarkupContent(9, “\r
”);
}));
}
builder.AddAttribute(3, “ValueChanged”, RuntimeHelpers.TypeCheck<Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.EventCallback<System.String>>(Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.EventCallback.Factory.Create<System.String>(this, Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.EventCallback.Factory.CreateInferred(this, __value => propInfoValue.SetValue(DataContext, __value), (string)propInfoValue.GetValue(DataContext))))); builder.AddAttribute(4, “ValueExpression”, System.Linq.Expressions.Expression.Lambda<Func<string>>(exp)); break;
default:
break;
}
var defaultValue = propInfoValue.GetValue(employeeDetails); builder.AddAttribute(1, “Value”, defaultValue); builder.AddAttribute(6, “PlaceHolder”, displayLabel.Name); builder.AddAttribute(6, “FloatLabelType”, FloatLabelType.Auto); builder.CloseComponent();
}
}
};
Now, we have rendered the form components dynamically, and the inputs will be validated using data annotation, listing all the form validations when the Submit button is clicked.
Look at the following screenshot to see how the form is rendered and validation messages are displayed in the employee details form.
GitHub sample
You can download the complete source code of this example from this GitHub repository.
Conclusion
Thanks for reading! I hope you now understand how easy is it to build a dynamic form using Syncfusion Blazor components with data annotation validation. This will definitely reduce your code size and also enhance code re-usability.
Syncfusion offers the largest selection of components for the Blazor platform. It has popular components like Charts, DataGrid, Scheduler, Diagram, Document Editor, and Maps. It also provides unique file-format libraries for manipulating Excel, Word, PDF, and PowerPoint files.
Try our Blazor components by downloading a free 30-day trial or check out our NuGet package. Feel free to have a look at our online examples and documentation to explore other available features.
If you have any questions, please let us know in the comments section below. You can also contact us through our feedback portal, support forum or Direct-Trac. We are always happy to assist you! | https://medium.com/syncfusion/how-to-create-a-dynamic-form-builder-in-blazor-d14a43af6cbe | ['Rajeshwari Pandinagarajan'] | 2020-12-23 07:05:44.729000+00:00 | ['Blazor', 'Dotnet', 'Web Development', 'Productivity', 'Csharp'] |
A Framework for Doing Good | A Framework for Doing Good
Do good unless, to do so, you would have to sacrifice your long-term happiness.
In 1972, a 25-year-old philosophy student published an article in Philosophy and Public Affairs. His name was Peter Singer, and his Famine, Affluence, and Morality became a classic. In it, Singer asserted that it was our obligation to help those in need. He also provided a framework for evaluating the morality of one’s actions. While “rather draconian” seems like an appropriate description of the framework, it made me think — and come up with an alternative, something I (and maybe you) could use to make good decisions.
Go on, read the article, I’ll wait. The rest of this post builds on (and often disagrees with) Singer’s ideas, and you will have much more fun reading it if you bring your own opinions instead of relying on mine. By the way, that article is a beautiful, insightful piece of writing. It has significant flaws (some of which I have noticed and will happily point out), but its conclusion is powerful and, at its core, right (with caveats, read on).
(I am just starting to think about this topic, so excuse my cluelessness and naïveté. Ethics is a fascinating branch of philosophy that I know nothing about; instead, this post is about what feels right.)
The famous pond thought experiment
While Singer wrote the article against the backdrop of the Bangladesh Liberation War (I admit, I had to Google it), it’s the pond thought experiment that survived the test of our shared memory. It goes like this:
If I am walking past a shallow pond and see a child drowning in it, I ought to wade in and pull the child out. This will mean getting my clothes muddy, but this is insignificant, while the death of the child would presumably be a very bad thing.
Most people would agree that it is one’s duty to save the child. That’s when Singer delivers his slam dunk by turning the obligation to save the drowning child into an obligation to save the nine million refugees in East Bengal. To do that, he asks two questions:
Does proximity matter?
In other words, does your moral duty to prevent a bad thing from happening change with distance to the person in peril? Sure, there’s a much better chance you will be able to save someone from drowning when they are nearby, but distance has little effect on your ability to help those who are starving. So, assuming you can help someone far away as easily as someone nearby, does your moral duty change? When you put it like that, the answer seems obvious: why would it?
Of course, this idea disregards nationalism and the ever more prevalent us-versus-them rhetoric, and so is not trivial to implement in practice. Yet as a moral principle, it’s hard to argue against:
From the moral point of view, the development of the world into a “global village” has made an important, though still unrecognized, difference to our moral situation. Expert observers and supervisors, sent out by famine relief organizations or permanently stationed in famine-prone areas, can direct our aid to a refugee in Bengal almost as effectively as we could get it to someone in our own block. There would seem, therefore, to be no possible justification for discriminating on geographical grounds.
Does the number of potential saviors matter?
That is, does your moral duty to prevent a bad thing from happening diminish as the the number of people who have the power to help grows?
Singer notes that there is clearly a psychological difference:
One feels less guilty about doing nothing if one can point to others, similarly placed, who have also done nothing.
To prove that the number of people who can help is irrelevant, Singer returns to the pond example: would your moral duty to save the child lessen if there were other people who saw the child drowning and were as close to the pond as you? Hopefully the answer is a passionate no¹.
Singer does clarify that if everyone chipped in equally to prevent a bad thing from happening, one’s moral duty would lessen together with the scale of the problem. In practice, however, there will always be more bad things to prevent, and most people will not chip in. Your moral duty is thus to always do as much as you can.
The tragedy of the commons
Now here’s an important question: why do so few people help others? Singer offers two interesting theories², but I think I have come up with something better (there’s a good chance that thousands before me have had the same “unique” insight): philanthropy is a flipped tragedy of the commons (if you need to brush up on the tragedy of the commons, take a few minutes to read the seminal article by Garrett Hardin). Here’s why.
Bad things happen in the world (e.g., 10% of the world’s population lives in extreme poverty). Preventing bad things from happening is our moral duty. However, doing so requires time and money. Each actor in the system can freely decide how much time and money to give; there is no control mechanism. If everyone chipped in, bad things could be prevented. However, while you will bear the cost of doing good, the benefit will be entirely someone else’s.
In other words, not donating, not volunteering, not helping others at your own expense can be seen as a rational individual-level decision, even if it doesn’t stand up to an ethical scrutiny. Hardin asserts that there is no technical solution to the problem of the commons. To “fix” the world, we have to change the way we behave. However, eradicating poverty requires global cooperation of the sort that we seem incapable of. Just look at climate change: we have emitted so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that we might have already passed the point of no return. And global poverty doesn’t even threaten to kill us.
In short, cooperation is hard. And there might be no technical a solution. So I am going to propose a moral one.
The strong version
Now let’s get back to Singer. So far I’ve avoided talking about his exact definition of our moral duty to prevent bad things from happening. He offers two, and both of them, while theoretically well reasoned, would likely have disastrous results if implemented in practice.
The “strong version” is what Singer says is the correct definition³:
We ought to give until we reach the level of marginal utility — that is, the level at which, by giving more, I would cause as much suffering to myself or my dependents as I would relieve by my gift.
There are two important points to note here. First, inflicting suffering is acceptable as long as that suffering benefits the recipient. Second, such suffering should be inflicted as long as the benefit to the recipient is greater than the suffering, thus effectively reducing the giver to the state comparable to that of the recipient.
Now the reason the pond example is straightforward is that saving a life there is cheap. A much more appropriate illustration of Singer’s strong version would be the following example:
You are passing a minefield, the legacy of a recent civilian war. In the middle of the minefield, you see a girl. You have no idea how she got there, but you know that if you don’t help her, she will most likely die. You are her only hope. If you do decide to help her, however, there’s a 30% chance that you will be killed, and a 30% chance that you will be maimed for life. Your children watch as you calculate the probabilities and decide that it is your moral duty to try and save the girl (see analysis at the end of this post⁴). You don’t make it back alive.
In short, Singer’s strong version requires inflicting significant suffering unto oneself and others. If this was the accepted moral code, I would hate helping others. I would also end up being miserable, demotivated, and too poor to give. This is not an ethical theory — it’s a mutual self-destruction manual.
The moderate version
Alright, says Singer, here’s a more lenient proposal. It’s not right, but it’s better than nothing:
We should prevent bad occurrences unless, to do so, we had to sacrifice something morally significant.
The moderate version drops the marginal utility bit. In other words, you are no more obliged to reduce yourself to the level of suffering experienced by the refugees in East Bengal if (and only if) you consider that to be a morally significant sacrifice.
With this definition, we are getting closer to something we could work with. However, it still requires us to deny all pleasures and non-essential needs to ourselves and our families.
The simplicity of the two definitions is appealing, yet it is also why they will never work: they fail to recognize that their object is a human being. A human being who might believe in doing no harm, who has a moral duty to their family, and who assigns value to their own happiness and well-being⁵.
The human version
So here’s my moral duty theory. The Singer of 1972 might have called it the “weak version”. I’d rather prefer the “human version”. While it is inspired by my own values⁶, you don’t have to be a starry-eyed bookworm to make it work for you.
Alright, are you ready? Here you go:
We ought to do good unless, to do so, we had to sacrifice long-term happiness of ourselves or others.
Here’s what this one sentence is actually saying:
It is our moral duty to do good
Simply not doing bad things is not enough.
Doing good encompasses the prevention of bad things, the focus of Singer’s article. But it also includes other ways of benefiting those around us. It expands our options. (Note that when making big “do good” decisions, it is one’s moral duty to choose the most impactful cause⁷.)
It also provides a framework for one’s everyday behavior. Saving a life is a worthy, but costly endeavor. Making someone happy, even if only for a few minutes, is (almost) free. You can smile. You can open the door. You can say good morning, please, thank you. You can make them tea. It’s also something that everyone, regardless of their financial situation, can do.
Happiness is the universal currency
Human life does not have an obvious reason for existence (if it did, Wikipedia’s article on the meaning of life would not have 222 references). So we end up creating our own purpose, whether that’s being the best person one can be, following God’s will, or helping others. Whichever adventure you choose, happiness is the universal currency. It’s the ultimate success metric.
Happiness is easy to measure, you need only ask. It transcends individual differences — we each have our own definition. And it acknowledges that there is more than one way to live a good life.
Lifting others up instead of drowning together
Finally, I do away with the marginal utility nonsense. And I incorporate my belief in doing no harm. I could not inflict pain on one person to benefit another. I also could not ask one person to inflict pain on themselves to benefit another⁸. So I don’t.
Instead, the limiting factor to the good one can do should be the effect on one’s long-term happiness. In my previous post I touched upon the idea of hedonic adaptation theory (one’s tendency to revert to a previous level of happiness despite any significant positive or negative events). Buying new sneakers might lead to a short-term increase in happiness, but the feeling will pass in a day or two, leaving you at the pre-purchase happiness level (“the happiness set point”). Not all events lead to the reversion to the set point, however. For example, research suggests that you can buy long-lasting happiness, up to a certain point. Once you reach that point, however, you should start donating.
So here’s what I’m saying: when the choice is between a short-term happiness increase (or a short-term happiness loss) and doing good, you should do good. You should not, however, sacrifice your (or anyone else’s) long-term happiness.
So, to recap, do good unless, to do so, you would have to sacrifice your long-term happiness. Try it the next time you are thinking of buying that new pair of sneakers. Yes, you might genuinely need new shoes. But there’s a chance you don’t. There’s a chance that buying them would change nothing for you. There’s a chance that not buying them will help save a life⁹. | https://ernes7a.medium.com/a-framework-for-doing-good-5f3b4339d02 | ['Ernesta Orlovaitė'] | 2019-10-28 11:55:41.740000+00:00 | ['Society', 'Effective Altruism', 'Philosophy', 'Ethics', 'Philanthropy'] |
How to know who to trust with the cryptocurrency media hype or doom and gloom | A quick Google news search on “cryptocurrencies” gives you polar opposite news articles. Today I looked and found these news articles clearly reporting opposite findings:
Just like many newbie investors out there, much of the emotional rollercoaster of investing is hearing news stories either saying positive or negative statements about your investments. And no matter how many times you hear to not listen to the media, it still creates an uncomfortable uncertainty in the pit of your stomach.
And with cryptocurrencies, this pit is stirred far too many times, and with far too much confusion for the common individual investor.
Why are cryptocurrencies constantly reporting either extremely hyped or extremely bad news?
Being in the crypto industry, I have to go through the articles on a daily basis, and TBH, I am tired of sorting through the confusion and not knowing what is real anymore. But unfortunately, I see the impact this confusion does on the market.
The cryptocurrency market is not only highly volatile, heavily connected with Bitcoin, dominated by retail investors, emotionally driven communities for and against digital assets, but the speculative nature of the market is terribly influenced by the media. These elements make for a ripe environment for the media to see more attention driven to the over-hyped news — as the retail investors and emotionally driven communities are seeking some form of certainty, and any news that is against that is interesting to read.
So as a group, I feel like we are actually rewarding these conflicting and confusing headlines with our eyeballs and attention.
But what else can beginners do?
We aren’t experts, and we don’t have the time to do the research, so we have to trust people to bring us valuable information when we need it.
Unfortunately, the media knows this, which is why they are generally the loudest when it comes to spreading the news.
For the best results, you need to create your own collections and list of trusted sources.
This is how I would do it.
Step 1: Choose one platform, to begin with
Each of the big players, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter (don’t use LinkedIn — not worth it here) offers different pros and cons.
If you have time for videos and aren’t afraid of bold thumbnails, start your collection on Youtube.
If you would prefer to hear from more ordinary people, then start with Facebook Groups.
If you love information overload and split-second commentary, Twitter is for you.
Step 2: Know your goals
In the end, I will share my list of trusted sources, but these are specific to my goals of long-term outlook and industry strength.
Which is why you need to understand your goals when it comes to seeking cryptocurrency news.
Is it to know when breakouts occur for better day trading?
Is it to understand ICOs more?
Is it purely for basic understanding?
Once you know your goals for seeking information, write this down. Trust me, if you don’t keep yourself specific in what you want out of the information, you will quickly go down the rabbit hole of hype and doom.
Awesome, so now you know the type of content you like consuming, and what you are specifically looking for — now comes the painful process.
Step 3: Use Google instead of the platform search function
I found this step super useful in identifying not only the most popular but in some cases the higher quality sources.
Why does this work? Well, each platform search ranks based on different factors, where we know Google ranks based on delivering the best option at the top.
However, you want to use some advanced search parameters to limit the sheer volume of results.
My basic structure of a search is this:
inurl:{platform url} {main topic} “{goal}”
YT Example: inurl:youtube.com cryptocurrency “portfolio”
FB Example: inurl:facebook.com/groups cryptocurrency “portfolio”
With Twitter, my advice is to leverage off lists already created by individuals.
So the Twitter example would be: inurl:twitter.com inurl:lists cryptocurrency “portfolio”
Step 4: Syphon through the results
I would love to tell you that the list you are given is all you need, however, this screenshot illustrates that that’s not the case — especially with 28,300 results.
I can’t even tell you if the top 10 would be useful. All I can tell you is you need to go through them and work out what you like, who sounds trustworthy and what is useful.
Don’t filter yourself just yet, just start making a list in a spreadsheet and note what your gut is telling you.
Here is my example of the lists I would create:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B7QNYoFCz56ZFutYKMYi7bIIlavP7LSZ26YIvOZKJT0/edit?usp=sharing
It can help to explore the Youtuber or user to determine if their style of content is what you are after.
Step 5: Trial your Yes group
Now that you have a list of say 10 channels, groups or lists to subscribe to, it’s time to do some quality assessment over at least 7 days (sometimes you don’t need that long before you know it’s not the right fit).
Check in daily to your content list and take note what draws you in and why. The why is important as it determines if the articles drawing you in is the hype and doom content leveraging your greed and fear emotions, or if the content is actually relevant to your goals.
For me, I found a Facebook Group I thought would be good. It was active and seemed to be welcoming. However, after a week, I realised most of the posts were trying to draw me into some mining activity or was trying to sell me on some random strategy. These types of groups and channels don’t need a week to realise they aren’t the right choice.
In contrast, I found the Facebook Group, Crypto New Zealand Community Group.
This group had a supportive community, where many people ask a range of beginner to expert questions, warning users of scams and comments on the industry. Not only that, the creator of the group and admin’s are there to help out as well.
In these groups, the media articles still come in but they are analysed and discussed.
Step 6: Happy consuming trusted material
As a self-proclaimed information hoarder, I love consuming as much as I possibly can, so I have an entire Feedly account dedicated to cryptocurrency and blockchain news. However, this requires me to siphon through a lot of junk before I find the good stuff — I would not recommend this.
If you prefer to only get important or relevant information based on your specific goal and needs, then I recommend going through the above steps.
It will save you plenty of time and potential brain-ache from over-hyped and gloomy articles trying to get you emotionally stirred up and make a rash action in the market.
So remember: | https://medium.com/invsta/how-to-know-who-to-trust-with-the-cryptocurrency-media-hype-or-doom-and-gloom-6562e7fb3252 | ['Joel Smith'] | 2018-08-07 21:21:40.602000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency', 'How To', 'Media'] |
Who is FÜD? | Pronounced like food.
Geisel Library at UC San Diego.
We’re a group of four undergraduate data science students at UC San Diego who believe in the limitless potential of data science for social good. FÜD is for anyone who wants to eat healthy, but stay on a budget.
FÜD was created with communities who have limited access to healthy, affordable food in mind. The concept of maximizing nutrition while under the constraints of a budget ultimately sounded like an optimization problem to a group of math nerds like us. And we were right! It turns out The Diet Problem is one of the earliest and most well-known linear programming problem that involves optimizing a linear objective function (nutrition) that is subject to linear equality and inequality constraints (budget).
But, we asked ourselves how we could go beyond a simple optimization problem. We could take into account personalized body measurements, food allergies, weight goals, or the possibilities are truly endless.
The goals of FÜD are two-fold:
Research the “Optimum Meal”. What is the single most nutrient-rich meal you could create that would also minimize cost? Create an application that will help others make healthy food choices that fit within their budget.
If you’re interested in following our journey developing FÜD and researching nutrition, keep reading our blog and stay tuned! | https://medium.com/food-using-data/who-is-f%C3%BCd-94013f8bbbd5 | ['Rebecca Hu'] | 2019-04-22 21:24:51.472000+00:00 | ['Ucsd', 'Uc San Diego', 'Data Science', 'Optimization', 'Nutrition'] |
What I learned from Chris Do at the Birmingham Design Festival (Part 2) | Pricing Design Work & Creativity
This second workshop was less professionally relevant as a full-time employee of a global company, but still very interesting to me. I’m not a freelancer or a design agency who needs to sell and price my work. However, learning how to price design would also help me price my value.
First, Chris went through the basic formula to calculate a typical non-value based price:
The non-value based pricing formula
After building up the foundation, Chris taught us why we should charge by value and not with an hourly rate. He also gave us a few tips on how to handle money conversations:
Effort doesn’t count if there’s no result. If you can achieve amazing results fast without much effort. You shouldn’t penalize yourself by charging hourly.
A quantitative result is the only way to make the client let you do what you do.
If the CEO calls you, you know it’s a small budget project. Make it a point to talk about the budget early.
If it’s a project manager or a marketing lead who calls you, you know it’s a big project. Talk about the budget later on in the conversation.
The value conversation: Goal > Metrics > Value > Price > Scope > Solution
Following the presentation, we did an exercise to practice value pricing. Here’s how the exercise went:
Ask what the personal & project goal is.
We used creating a website for the business to increase repetition as an example. Find out what the success metrics are.
In our example, our success metrics were to build repetition so we can get $60k more freelance work in a year. Find out the value of it.
If we can 100% guarantee the success of the project, what would it be worth? How much would the client pay if we take all the risk and bring $60k more his/her business in a year. The answer in our example was $10k. Discount for uncertainty, and it becomes the value price.
The risk can vary and sometimes subjective. That’s why the percent of deduction should be determined through a value conversation. In our example, we decided to deduct 30% value for the uncertainty: $10k-30%=$7k. | https://medium.com/dallas-design-sprints/what-i-learned-from-chris-do-at-the-birmingham-design-festival-part-2-893543d89cc6 | ['Sandy Lam'] | 2019-06-19 05:36:33.608000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Writing Challenge', 'Kung Fu Writing', 'Value Based Pricing', 'Pricing Strategy'] |
Painting the Feeling | Painting the Feeling
Painting by John Diamond, M.D.
And I go by feeling and not form when I paint — and in every act of creativity.
What feeling? At times — when I am not deluding myself — that this, whatever it may appear to be, is an instance of God. Yes, everything is an instance of God, for there is no not-God. This I know in my mind, and at times in my heart.
I paint not the knowledge, but the feeling — the Feeling. | https://medium.com/change-your-mind/painting-the-feeling-41e14b36b570 | ['John Diamond'] | 2020-12-11 11:22:43.868000+00:00 | ['Feelings', 'Painting', 'Creativity', 'God', 'Philosophy'] |
Alfa-Enzo In a Nutshell | It’s not that we’ve been having a lot of trouble explaining to the world what we’re working on—we just didn’t know where to begin. Rightfully so, this project presents an entire body of work that spanned two years and focused the entirety of our high-caliber team’s collective experience into very simple consumer end products.
So what exactly is Alfa-Enzo?
Well for starters, we are the next Social Network. We believe the origin of social networking started at marketplaces—think Souq, Farmer’s Markets, Bazaars, Silk Road, Gostiny Dvor, Agoras, the Forums etc.—these places were the heartbeat of entire civilizations. So to us, who you’re connected to is technically not relevant. In fact, it might be unatural as we’re naturally networked creatures. To scale that down to 500 friends is totally off. Marketplaces are built on two things, Time and Place. We want to take things back to the roots of social connection by using today’s technology to enable markets to spring out from everywhere. Let there be Marketplaces‚ loads of them.
Marketplaces are built on two things, Time and Place.
The embodiment of social networking today is basically the equivalent of the client lists of ancient times—except today it’s electronic records instead of paper records. However, records of who was connected to who were the keys that enabled gigantic marketplaces to spring forth and tied civilizations together. Marketplaces were where people experienced our collective humanity at the scale it was meant to be. They were open, organic, vibrant, eclectic, profound, filled with wonders, and discoverable. No wonder today’s social networking services have made us lonelier. It practically screwed with the very fabric of how we’re socially intertwined. The good that social networks have done however, is that it made us realize once again we’re connected.We are network aware. Our children growing up are network-aware. They’re ready to experience the next evolution of social networking—we call it Instant Networking (instanet for short). We want to give users the power to tap into the heartbeat of any given area, wherever they choose to go. It should be mobile and not permanent — get what you need from that area and unplug from it simply by not being there. That’s how it’s supposed to be, but we don’t have it for two reasons 1) Social Networks are too busy turning us to feed-hoarding livestock and 2) No paradigm or model exists (yet) to enable this evolution.
We want to give users the power to tap into the heartbeat of any given area, wherever they choose to go.
What are we building that’s so cool?
Oh nothing much, only the Past, Present, and Future. No seriously, that is precisely we’re building. We’ve patented something call Fluid—it’s basically a true-time environment for you to post content in its correct context and easily experience and install dApps. Everybody’s talking about the future that dApps will bring forth but how many people have actually used one? The problem here is that there’s no common place like an App Store where people go to and download dApps and there’s no common platform like iOS for people to store those dApps. That’s where Alfa is the game-changer.
Everybody’s talking about the future that dApps will bring forth but how many people have actually used one?
Unlike every app experience out there where navigating feels like having blinders on, Fluid is a bi-axial navigation that takes time as a horizontal vector and distance as the vertical. At the center is the present, infinitely to the left is the past, and infinitely to the right is the future. Swiping up takes you farther away from your location. It’s taken us a lot to make it come to life, but all we wanted to do was simply give you Time and Place—isn’t that what they say life is all about? Well, if they’re righ then you now have it in your hands whenever you need it. The power this new construct possesses is beyond limits.
This is a one-app model that can deliver the core functionality of 90% of every apps that’s out there. It’s time to throw away those single use apps that’s eating up your life and mindshare.
And this is going to beat Facebook?
No, we’re not looking to beat Facebook. We believe Facebook will trip over itself as technology and society evolves anyway. We want to make right what Facebook and a bunch of other centralized organizations broke. They’ve broken their promises by abusing the way they use our data and the experience they’ve hooked us on. They’ve lost their founding compass, which is to enrich lives and make lives easier. They have been manufacturing a potent drug for the mind and they knew it all along. We want to show people a different way to look at the world. We want to give back to users who give to the network. We want to provide a better app and a far more useful experience. Through that, we will cut a wide swath across every centralized app out there.
Think of all the apps that uses time in Fluid’s solution. Let’s say you’ve just landed in Singapore and you’re looking for something good to eat. What do you do? Ask Google? Ask Yelp? All of those provide artificial algorithmically generated suggestions because their business is all about artificial suggestions. What you need is a friend that knows that area you’re standing at and all the great stuff right there. With Alfa, just turn it on, add the Food timeline, and you’re at the present day with all the food exactly where you’re standing. It’s there because it’s there, not because you’ve asked an algorithm to guess what you’d like to see. That is organic data—the future of information. One swipe up and you see things farther away. One tap takes you back. You can even see what’s good tomorrow, and the next day. Or what was good right there a year ago.
Or say you want to take your family to watch Black Panther next week and would like friends to come. Today, you coordinate through chat—but sometimes people talk you out of it and kill your enthusiasm. Waste of time. On Alfa, just add the Movies timeline, swipe to next week, select the movie and buy the tickets. It’ll add this movie poster to your personal timeline and all your friends can now see it also on their timeline, and also buy the ticket right there without any hassle. That’s it! No app gives you that.
So use the same Time + Place paradigm and pick something you’re looking for. Jobs? Used Goods? Travel Packages? Lodging? Entertainment? Recreation? Handyman? Discover anything and everything in a few swipes. Crazy right? It’s like Wakanda-level tech. Wakanda Forever! We believe it and that’s why we’ve patented the s* out of it. If you don’t believe us oh, you can actually head to our website and experience the beta today.
What else?
Wait, we’ve just told you we want to take on behemoths in a $40 Trillion Dollar market capitalization and you’re asking for more? Thankfully we do have more. What we’ve shared was the wow-factor, this is the important part.
You and everyone you know, are looking at the real world through clumsy spectables that big tech companies gave to you. You put it on and now you have trouble taking them off as you bumble around. While you’re hooked, they’ve turned the data you’ve created—essentially you and your time—into the world’s most valuable products. You’ve been consuming marketing feed for nearly 2 decades. It hasn’t done you physical harm, but mentally you’re believing whatever app you’re using and if it said everyone around you likes Trump, well you will too eventually. Let’s stop this brainwashing together, today, because the real victims will be the next generation tomorrow.
Alfa-Enzo wants to flip this around and tip the scale. We use our novel blockchain tech to let you earn from your data by locking it down. Whatever you create, we put a digital fingerprint on it so no one can check you out without paying you first. You can stay as private or as open as you want.
We’ll put you back in touch with the real world and provide you with fast, secure, and private peer-to-peer transactions. This means that you can immediately transact with anyone near you, wherever you are and also means you can transact with a craftsman half-way around the globe without having to trust him. We’ve invented a protocol call the Samaritan Protocol to help facilitate this. Our vision is to empower the little guys to join the global market in as few steps as possible.
Alfa-Enzo is easily the best blockchain project to date. We’re not saying this because we’re biased, we’re saying this because we know the space, and we have seen the crap out there. Almost every project claims to deliver some magic decentralized global economy. The fact is, that’ll never happen — especially in technology. You can’t just wave a blockchain stick in the air and problems are magically solved. It doesn’t work like that, and blockchain projects are a lot harder to think through and work out. We know that 90% of all tech businesses and probably 99% of all blockchain businesses fail in the first year. Blockchain businesses will fail because whitepapers are hardly ideas, ideas are hardly products, and products are hardly successful products.
There’s so much more to share and it has been lovely to get stuff off our chest, so until next time! Today though, join the movement and save your friends—our ICO is live!
Join us at our first blockchain event in Hanoi as we turn on the features that’ll make Alfa go! Binary is the first conference for consumer-focused blockchain. There’s going to be a huge surprise product announcement as well. If you can’t make it, would an airdrop make you watch it? Well, we’ll be broadcasting live and doing a massive global airdrop during the event if you tune in. Get more details by joining our chat at www.t.me/alfaenzoio | https://medium.com/alfaenzo/alfa-enzo-in-a-nutshell-107d44dde89 | ['Alfa'] | 2018-10-19 17:38:18.449000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Social Media', 'Token Sale', 'Airdrop'] |
The 21st Century Version of Hydropower | Hydropower, using dams and waterfalls to generate electricity was a major development in the 20th century. It takes energy directly from nature in a sustainable way but doesn’t have all of the negative impacts like pollution that traditional forms of generation have. But we’ve maxed out on hydro. So what’s the next all natural energy source that’s right for the 21st century?
I was in a conversation the other day when the topic of hydro-power came up. Under different circumstances, I’d be all over hydro like a cheap suit — in a good way, that is. What’s not to like about hydro? The discussion was over how to make more renewable power couldn’t we make more dams? Unfortunately, a good thing, like hydro, is not an infinite resource.
Hydropower is a good idea except that in many areas rivers are already dammed, so the prospect of creating more hydropower is remote. Hydro contributed 16.6 percent of the world’s total electricity and 70 percent of all renewable electricity in 2015. But in 2018 wind generated power surpassed hydropower in the amount generated for the first time according to the New York Times.
In 2015 hydropower contributed 25 percent of all power from alternatives in the US, however, alternatives only comprised 10 percent of all energy consumed. While it’s used extensively in the US, it’s difficult to suggest where we’d place more dams — that’s hydro’s first disqualifier and there are a couple more.
Take the major hydroelectric projects on the Colorado and Columbia rivers, for example. There are 60 dams in the Columbia River watershed and more than 45 in the Colorado River Basin. These dam systems provide significant hydroelectric power and fresh water to the northwest and southwest and without them these areas could not support the number of people living there.
But while the western river system is well dammed, global warming has reduced rain and snowfall, placing less water behind big dams and making them less effective for generating electricity.
Also, river ecology is on the front burner in many places, providing strong headwinds to hydropower expansion and some localities have begun destroying their dams and returning rivers to their wild states.
More to the point, hydroelectric generators are also among the country’s oldest power plants and they have working lives. Recent reporting suggests that America’s dams are, like much of its infrastructure, in poor condition. A New York Times article notes that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers keeps an inventory of 90,000 dams across the country and that 70 percent of these dams will be more than 50 years old by 2020. Almost 2,000 state-regulated, high-hazard dams in the US were listed as being in need of repair in 2015.
The Association of State Dam Safety Officials estimates that repairing all the dams would cost $60 billion. That’s a lot of money but cheap for what they represent which is a lot of power and water to support life in the northwest and southwest US.
Geothermal for the 21st century
The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that Enhanced Geothermal Systems or EGS might be the hydro-power of the 21stcentury, at least metaphorically. Think about it. Both approaches directly harness a significant natural energy source to produce clean, renewable electricity.
Hydro-power funnels high-pressure water through turbines that drive generators. EGS captures heat from earth’s crust through steam which is used to turn a different kind of turbine but the result is the same: alternating current. Better yet, there’s a great deal more energy available as heat than there is coming from dam projects.
In a way EGS is the natural successor to hydro-power for entities looking for a renewable source of clean base load power. Other power solutions like solar and wind don’t provide base load power because they cease when the sun goes down or if there isn’t enough wind. But hydro and EGS don’t have that problem which makes them very valuable. In one report the Department of Energy estimated there is one thousand times the amount of energy we need on an annual basis sitting under the Rocky Mountains.
Geothermal isn’t complicated. The center of the earth is molten rock and very hot, it’s kept that way due to radioactive materials that have been there since the earth formed about 4.6 billion years ago. The center is 4000 miles away but still heat reaches the crust from that distance. Geothermal taps into that heat and brings it to the surface as superheated steam. That’s what drives power generators. Think of earth as a natural nuclear reactor but without all of the overhead of refining and containing radioactive materials. It’s a cool trick and an incredible bit of natural engineering.
So the point of geothermal is that there’s a huge source of energy available to us for free. We just need to drill some holes in the earth, something we perfected in the oil business.
If you think that electricity only comes from hydro, solar, wind, nuclear, or burning fuels, there’s good news. You don’t have to mess with lethal radiation, solar or wind to be productive with renewables. The more you look at EGS, the more there is to like. | https://denispombriant.medium.com/the-21st-century-version-of-hydropower-926ac8991d45 | ['Denis Pombriant'] | 2019-04-19 15:13:39.117000+00:00 | ['Geoengineering', 'Climate Action', 'Energy', 'Climate Change'] |
Barn Find 1969 Road Runner Could Be Your Next Project Car | For many reasons people really get excited about barn find cars. It’s like finding pirate treasure buried on the beach, only it’s a car someone lovingly shoved into a barn or other structure for years on end without properly covering it. Sometimes they do absolutely nothing to preserve the car in any meaningful way and that can cause all kinds of problems. Then other people shell out big bucks for the opportunity to own the low-mileage, rough-condition vehicle. That brings us to this 1969 Plymouth Road Runner being sold on Motorious.
Check out a Road Runner with a Hellcat heart here.
photo credit: Speed Digital
As you can see from the photos, this classic Mopar muscle car hasn’t been touched up in the least, so it’s still in barn find condition. For many that adds value, although others will automatically want to wash it, do paint correction, detail the interior, etc. The beautiful thing is if you buy it, the car is yours to do with as you please.
photo credit: Speed Digital
This Road Runner is still wearing the factory-applied Bronze Fire Metallic paint and the vinyl roof. It rolls on 15-inch factory wheels but isn’t currently running. That’s right, the 426ci Hemi V8 under the hood needs some work, but it and the 3-speed automatic seem to be the original installed by Plymouth.
photo credit: Speed Digital
Even better, the interior is far cleaner and doesn’t show its age nearly as much. Plus, it’s loaded with the OE controls for a presentation that’s sadly becoming harder and harder to find these days.
Everyone will have an opinion about this classic muscle car, its condition, and the asking price. And while people can make up their mind, what really matters is what someone who has the ability to buy it thinks. We suspect someone will see a diamond in the rough, an original beauty that tells a story worth keeping around. Check out the listing on Motorious for yourself here.
View the Web Story
Barn Find 1969 Road Runner, Your Next Project Car? | https://medium.com/motorious/barn-find-1969-road-runner-could-be-your-next-project-car-9bd9a80eae71 | ['Sam Maven'] | 2021-04-25 17:00:04.275000+00:00 | ['American', 'Muscle', 'Newsletter', '60s', 'Handpicked'] |
Why You Should Trade Split Decisions for “Flip Decisions” | Why You Should Trade Split Decisions for “Flip Decisions”
Use Flipism to make in-the-moment choices.
Photo by Pocky Lee on Unsplash
In their book The Leading Brain: Neuroscience Hacks to Work Smarter, Better, and Happier, Friederike Fabritis and Hans Hagemannthat describe flipping a coin as a powerful way to make decisions. But not in the way we’d normally expect.
Usually, we have two options. Option A is heads and Option B is tails. We flip the coin, and whichever side the coin lands on, we go with that option.
But this is not the ideal way to make decisions. There is a better, more intuitive way and it’s more reflective of what the brain actually wants. In his article at Inc.com, Jeff Haden writes:
“If you’re torn between two choices of seemingly equal merit, flip a coin. If you’re satisfied or relieved by the decision the coin made for you, then go with it. On the other hand, if the result of the coin toss leaves you uneasy and even makes you wonder why you used a coin toss to decide such an important decision in the first place, then go with the other choice instead. Your ‘gut feeling’ alerted you to the ‘right’ decision.”
A study from researchers in Switzerland documented a similar process. They told participants that one side of the coin would allow them to take a job at a more prestigious firm with higher pay and longer hours, and the other side would be at a less prestigious firm with lower pay and more flexible hours. The coin was then flipped into the air, but it was never revealed which side it landed on. Research participants were asked to decide which choice their subconscious brain wanted more while the coin was in the air. This choice revealed their underlying desire.
While the flipping of the coin acted as the catalyst for decision making in this study, a second study was performed. In it, researchers suggested participants go for specific choices in a restaurant menu. It was clear that when certain menu items were suggested to participants, they formed stronger opinions about what they wanted. Their final decisions either leaned toward or strongly away from the recommended item.
Whether or not people followed the recommendation didn’t matter. What mattered was the fact that people became much more decisive.
This phenomenon is known as Flipism. Psynso describes Flipism as:
“[a] pseudophilosophy under which all decisions are made by flipping a coin. It originally appeared in the Disney comic “Flip Decision” by Carl Barks, published in 1953. Barks called a practitioner of “Flipism” a “Flippist.” Flipism can be seen as a normative decision theory, although it does not fulfil the criteria of rationality.”
Flipism should probably be taken with a grain of salt. However, when making split decisions or acting in the moment, it can be a really powerful tool.
In a piece about in-the-moment decision making, Neil Patel highlights the positive results he’s had using his instinct, and how those results compound when he became more and more confident in his gut. In fact, studies show that “the more you pay attention to the outcome of trusting your intuition in combination with facts, the better your future decision-making can become.”
The name “split decisions” simply reveals the conflict you face in those moments when you need to take them. The name doesn’t offer any solutions. “Flip decisions,” however, offer a valuable tool in deciphering which direction to go when you have a quick decision to make.
Toss the coin up in the air, forget about it, and your mind will be made. | https://medium.com/big-self-society/why-you-should-trade-split-decisions-for-flip-decisions-3f43034da5eb | ['Jordan Gross'] | 2020-11-20 14:10:58.770000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'Mental Health', 'Self Improvement', 'Psychology', 'Inspiration'] |
Why You Can’t Understand Bitcoin | Here are some of the reasons why people can’t understand Bitcoin. It’s taken years to dispel the many myths, misunderstandings and lies that have swirled around Bitcoin. Here is what ails the stragglers.
Computer Illiteracy
You can’t understand Bitcoin because you are Computer Illiterate. This means you have little to no understanding of how your devices or accounts work, and very probably have no interest either. You use Microsoft Windows, “Because its the Standard” . You don’t care how things work as long as they appear to work. You defend your ignorance like the Beavers shore up their dams.
This class of user is a massive problem, not only because they are computer illiterate; most people can get along without knowing the intricate details of the tools they use. They are a massive problem because they are computer illiterate, and they insist on “having their say” about Bitcoin, how it should be treated by market actors, by developers and how Bitcoin itself works.
Crypto Illiteracy
You can’t understand Bitcoin because you are Crypto Illiterate. You don’t encrypt your email, despite knowing that the State and other attackers can and do read all your emails and look at your photos. You prefer wilful, blissful ignorance to easily obtained absolute security, and when pushed to explain why you behave in this irrational way, have only platitudes, fallacies and learned by rote garbage as a response.
This user presents a cultural challenge to anyone who wants privacy to be the default. Many great efforts, aside from the writing of privacy enabling software like GPG, have been undertaken for years, and its only now that that work is bearing fruit in the form of mass adoption on Instant Messaging platforms. There is a long way to go before we achieve total blackout, but now the light at the end of the tunnel is approaching.
Monetary Illiteracy
You can’t understand Bitcoin because you are a Monetary Illiterate. Monetary illiterates come in serveral forms, but there are a small number that are the worst of the worst, and they are responsible for the majority of what’s wrong in this category; Keynesians and Statists. Keynesians believe that the money supply must increase forever. This is a lie. It’s like arguing that the number of numbers must increase over time because the number of things you need to measure is always increasing.
This user of government money is a problem to anyone who wants a stable economy and an end to the warfare state. The inflationary fiat currencies in use today are toxic to liberty, prosperity and peace, and this was one of the reasons Bitcoin was developed; to create a money that was separate from the State, economically sound, global and irrevocable. Monetary illiteracy is what stops people clamouring for sound money. They have no idea they are being robbed on a daily basis. If they understood what was being done to them, it would be pitchforks and bonfires in every world capital.
Statism
You can’t understand Bitcoin because you are a Statist. A Statist is a man or woman who believes that only the State should be the final arbiter of every activity man can engage in. In Bitcoin, Statists are a constant irritant and lethal toxin. Their belief that people should be forbidden from sending messages to each other over a public network is un-American and completely irrational. You don’t need to identify yourself to use WhatsApp, and its messages are fundamentally no different to Bitcoin; its encrypted with the same “tech” Bitcoin uses, yet these Statists can’t explain why the latter should require a passport to use and the former does not.
This user is delusional, violent and extremely destructive to human progress. She believes everyone must be dragged down to her level of base stupidity, and is very often a monstrous admixture of all the bad qualities listed above and below, increasing her toxicity. Once again, these people are not content to wallow in their own mud; they insist on dirtying and contaminating everything they touch with their error, making it increasingly difficult to get work done, make progress, integrate seamlessly with the market and help humanity. Eventually these people are always swept away by the flow of history, but when they are at their peak, they are a constant chafing, sore making irritant.
Clinical Paranoia
You can’t understand Bitcoin because you are Clinically Paranoid. People with paranoid personality disorder are very suspicious of other people. They often feel that they are in danger, and constantly look for evidence to support their irrational suspicions. They have trouble seeing that their distrustfulness is out of proportion to their environment. There are many people like this, who will (for example) immediately select only the perceived flaws in a new device or service, rather than the obvious benefits. In Bitcoin, an example of this would be immediately pointing out that it can be used by criminals to pay debts. Once again, this demographic overlaps with some of the other categories listed here.
This user is highly distracting and negative, and they exist in every generation. The same class of individual made bogus, unsubstantiated claims the State had broken PGP (it never did) and today, they claim that Bitcoin is broken (it isn't) or that some vendor with a radical new design is vulnerable to an abstract Straw Man Flaw (nonsense). It appears that we will be stuck with these types forever as there are always insane people in every generation, and the only way they can be shut up is if mass adoption of the trigger for their paranoia makes it socially unacceptable to spread FUD. There are only two good things about these types: 1) They sometimes provide healthy analysis. 2) They are powerless, since they don’t overlap with the State when talking only about the hardware and software. | https://medium.com/hackernoon/why-you-cant-understand-bitcoin-98a5e5f86241 | [] | 2019-01-17 15:02:01.717000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Bitcoin'] |
SITA Alums Win Fulbrights | What inspired you to apply for a Fulbright ETA fellowship to South Africa?
E: My experiences as an Associate Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow introduced me to South Africa. The fellowship is for undergraduates underrepresented in higher education interested in entering academia. In the summer of 2015 I worked and lived with students from the University of the Witwatersrand. The most impactful part of my summer was a class called “The Politics of Transforming the Academy” in which we discussed how race and class shape unfair access to education. This discussion got me interested in the South African educational system. It helped me see parallels between my perception of a post-Apartheid society in South Africa, and my Witwatersrand friends’ idea of a post-racial America.
In addition to all this, I should note that I’m a spoken word artist. The scene in South Africa for spoken word poetry is dope! I see poetry acting as a cultural bridge, with traditions on both sides of the Atlantic such as Saul Williams (American) and Mzawkhe Mbuli (South African). There are a lot of similarities in how their spoken word community and how the US spoken word community addresses issues of civil rights and social marginality. I can see myself becoming a better artist by contributing to and learning their scene.
How did your SITA experience help shape your personal statement/proposal?
E: As a part of my SITA independent study I taught spoken word workshops at two universities. Through this experience, I saw how poetry acts as resistance. It empowered others and created cross-cultural solidarity. Though the workshop participants didn’t talk about race explicitly, they did address gendered oppression, class distinctions, and other forms of marginality. By hearing the art of young writers, I learned more about the social systems in India in a way that would have been lost in academic writing. And in the long run, it helped create a sense of community. Spoken word will do that to you!
Without that experience, it would have been kinda difficult to bring my community engagement project together for the application.
Esther Nunoo, a spoken word artist and SITA student during the spring ’16 semester, shared some of the work she produced while in Madurai. The first piece, “Pesu, Akka [Speak, Sister],” was inspired by a spoken word workshop that Esther conducted at Lady Doak College in Madurai. The second piece, “Office Hour Reflections,” includes more general musings from Esther’s SITA semester.
What excites you most about your upcoming Fulbright ETA Fellowship experience?
E: I can’t chooseeeeee. Obviously, I’m excited about engaging with the spoken word community in South Africa. And then there’s the food, and the chance travel around one of the most beautiful countries in the world. | https://medium.com/sita-blog/sita-alums-win-fulbrights-4294cf64da09 | ['South India Term Abroad'] | 2017-12-11 18:56:46.368000+00:00 | ['India', 'Fellowship', 'South Africa', 'Spoken Word', 'Education'] |
Power-Steering Your Advent to Destiny | No matter if you celebrate Christmas, Hanukah and/or Kwanzaa, you notice the signs of change around us indicate that a new day has begun. I don’t mean from a spooky, Sci-Fi standpoint. Here, I speak of the Advent in reference to “new beginnings” and “fresh air”. Putting religiosity aside, 2020 has been a year of unexpected challenges, uncovering possibilities and the undone normal that we once knew. These are not limited to a global pandemic, the end of a political dynasty and the shift from traditional to virtual socialization.
It is quite interesting and even paradoxical that we will soon be closing out 2020. Many of us thought of “20/20” — equal vision, proportionate eyesight or a leveled cycle of karma. Yes, the year brought a new perspective on how we view and value our families, lives, jobs, and relationships. If you are anything like me, I envisioned that this year would go a certain way. Some of my friendships ended, unplanned detours presented themselves, and one toxic relationship ended while I entered into a more excitable and romantic one.
One of my favorite liturgical seasons is Advent. Advent, which began on November 30 and ends on December 24, emphasizes the call to prepare the reception of the Messiah — the Anointed One. The call to preparation constitutes bearing gifts of gratitude, cherishing the birth and reflecting on where, why and how of we all can experience new life in Christ. Without being super-religious, an advent of any kind anticipates the arrival or coming of someone or something. This term prompts an illustration I would like to employ, to which many of us can relate.
Air Travel. Although the CDC and other federal guidelines insist a more virtual style of gathering during this year’s holiday season, Americans have become rogue and stubborn in taking flight in the wintry skies. Granted, the lines will probably not be as long as usual; those of us who value convenience book airfare online so that the check-in process is quick seamless. In enough or too much time, others will await their turn at the counter for the next available window agent.
Once ticketing and baggage checks have been completed, there’s the area where everyone waits the longest: the security checkpoint. This part makes some of us uncomfortable as the TSA has meticulous security measures and procedures. Thanks to technology, wands are almost obsolete and pat-downs are the extreme last resort. Then, the terminal and airport concourses are the ‘oysters’ to explore until departure!
Fast-forward: We arrive to our selected destination! Whew — that was an adventure, whether pleasant or turbulent. Now, we have to get to the ultimate destination. Based on that analogy, I propose that consider that we indulge in focusing on a roadmap of reflection on life:
STEP 1: Determine how you are getting to your ultimate destination.
How do you plan to arrive to your ultimate destination? Start with writing a life road map. Create a vision board. Draft a game plan. It is not enough to dream of the destination, but it takes working the plan to bring the vision to past. Build a network of like-minded individuals who can help you in the manifestation of the vision. Figure out if you are ‘steering the wheel’ or if you will allow others to do it.
STEP 2: Calculate the cost of travel from the “connecting point”.
What are you willing to pay for it? For example, the “connecting point” contains paths to certification, educational advancements and job opportunities. Research eligible sources to fund your vision. Knowing the cost is vital to shifting us in the direction of our life’s sole purpose. Bridging the relationship between the “connecting point” and the ultimate destination determines the life or death of a dream or vision.
STEP 3: Identify who needs to accompany you during the trip.
Who’s traveling with you? Evaluate your inner circle. If you are the most dynamic, smart person in your circle, it’s time to part ways. Seek out experts and mentors to help encourage and guide you on your journey. Connect with individuals currently in the field you desire to pursue. The circle you dwell with determines the likelihood that you will reach your goals and achieve your purpose. Those who travel with you should either: a) recommend a more time-efficient, energy-saving route or b) warn you of safety precautions that lie ahead. Everyone who wants to ride with you does not deserve to do so.
STEP 4: Remove unnecessary baggage.
What do you need to release from your possession? “Dead weight” will not propel us into our purpose. Just as baggage affects the vehicle’s trajectory, traveling to the ultimate destination is impacted if we are mentally drained and inundated with multiple agendas, motives and priorities. Unnecessary baggage can be the root cause of an accident. When unaddressed, needless baggage creates further damage and can intensify previous trauma.
STEP 5: Stay focused on the road.
How badly do you want to arrive to your ultimate destination? The authority of the wheel is in your hands. The power-steering of your vision depends greatly on how well your discernment operates. You possess the keys to your own vision — which route you will take, how much interpersonal and individual energy it will require from you. Let wisdom be your guide and allow destiny to be your inspiration.
In the next season of destiny, the road ahead is not impeccable or fraught with challenges. We must embrace it in its fullness. How we engage the journey will produce fulfillment, prosperity and success within us. Bon voyage! | https://medium.com/@kevinjdaniels89/power-steering-your-own-advent-8fc872e27697 | ['Kevin J. Daniels'] | 2020-12-19 23:22:58.942000+00:00 | ['Motivation', 'Life Lessons', 'Advent', 'Destiny', 'Transformation'] |
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