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Sales Funnels Are All About YOU! | A little while ago, I was contacted by a sales funnel owner who was having terrible results with her sales funnel…
I took a look and immediately noticed that the copy was almost entirely written from the “I” perspective.
“I have X experience.” “I know how to help you.” “I have X to offer.”
Among the many personalized tips that we discussed…
I think there is one tip that’s relevant for all online business owners.
Frame everything towards your customer by saying “you” as often as possible.
So, instead of
“I will give you X.”
Have it be
“You will get X.”
Why?
Because when we talk to a person in real life, we use the word “you” naturally.
“When do you wake up in the morning?” “Where are you from?” “How much ice cream do you want?”
In fact, it’s almost impossible to have a conversation (in English) without using “you” at some point.
A funnel is a conversation.
…A pre-planned, multi-page, highly-visual, text-based conversation…
But a conversation nonetheless.
Nobody likes it when all you do is talk about yourself…
It’s just not cool.
This holds true for sales funnels!
Do you agree or disagree? | https://medium.com/@bradenchaselive/sales-funnels-are-all-about-you-15d8ea2d06f4 | ['Braden Chase'] | 2019-10-17 16:29:49.748000+00:00 | ['Second Person', 'Copywriting Tips', 'Marketing', 'Sales Funnels', 'Braden Chase'] |
Lessons learned about monitoring the JVM in the era of containers | Lessons learned about monitoring the JVM in the era of containers
Quick and easy things you can do to monitor JVM when it is being used in containers
Java Virtual Machine (JVM) has been around for a long time (1994) so it’s hardly a surprise there are hundreds of tools to monitor its health and performance. We could use profiler tools (like VisualVM) to track memory leaks, CPU usage, and memory consumption but they require a direct connection to the JVM: this makes it hard to execute in a containerized production environment with autoscaling (like ours).
Other tools (like Universal GC Log Analyzer) expect to use GC log analysis to auto-detect GC problems and recommend solutions to it, but it requires to enable GC verbose logs and this might have a cost and performance impact in a production environment.
So we faced the challenge of finding a simple way to monitor JVM instances and detect problems in the regular use of our applications or during special occasions such as peak load events. We also wanted to group metrics from multiple container instances of the same type to get an overview and also to be able to compare different types at a glance.
In a previous article, we described how we implemented our internal monitoring. This is a good starting point to use some JVM collectors provided to us by Prometheus.
GC compromise (latency vs throughput)
Latency represents the time that the user of the application waits for a response. In the specific case of GC tuning, this is the time that the JVM is paused because of garbage collection and cannot run the application. The duration of the garbage collection pause directly affects the way your application is perceived by end-users, so decreasing it results in a greater perception of responsiveness.
Throughput is the amount of time spent in productive work. Productive work is the time spent on processing customer transactions, non-productive work is the time spent on managing the application (es garbage collection). If we have evidence of low throughput, it means that the application is not optimally using resources.
The JVM garbage collectors can be configured to preferentially meet one between latency or throughput. If the preferred goal is met, the collectors will try to maximize the other.
Our containers run on Oracle JRE 8 where the default collector is Parallel GC. This GC is designed to be used by applications that need to do a lot of work (high throughput) and where long pause times are acceptable. This can cause latency, affecting the responsiveness of the application, not ideal in our case where our containers are API services so we switched to G1 Collector.
Garbage Collector G1 defaults have been balanced differently than either of the other collectors. G1’s goals in the default configuration are neither maximum throughput nor lowest latency, but to provide relatively small, uniform pauses at high throughput.
I think you should use G1 if you have no special needs, then tune to optimize performances. At the time of writing, we exclude new experimental GCs like Shenandoah GC in the production environment or other JVM like OpenJ9 (with Generational Concurrent policy) because we found no significant differences in our applications.
How to tune Latency and Throughput
To reduce latency, maximum pause time duration can be specified as a hint with the command-line option -XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=nnn (G1 default value is 200). In this case, the heap size and other parameters related to garbage collection are adjusted in an attempt to keep garbage collection pauses shorter than the specified value. These adjustments may cause the garbage collector to reduce the overall throughput of the application, and the desired pause time goal cannot always be met.
To improve throughput, the ratio of the time spent outside the garbage collection vs the time spent in the garbage collection can be specified with the command-line option -XX:GCTimeRatio=nnn (G1 default value is 19). The ratio of garbage collection time to application time is 1/ (1+nnn). The default value sets a goal of 5% of the total time for GC and throughput goal of 95%.
If the throughput goal isn’t being met, then one possible action for the garbage collector is to increase the size of the heap so that the time spent in the application between collection pauses can be longer. In a containerized application where only one java app runs, we need to adjust heap size and consequently the container memory in proportion 1/4 (https://docs.oracle.com/javase/9/gctuning/parallel-collector1.htm#JSGCT-GUID-74BE3BC9-C7ED-4AF8-A202-793255C864C4).
Variation of throughput of our containerized application with G1 with -Xmx 256m (at the left of the blue line) and G1 with -Xmx 128m (at the right of the blue line)
High throughput may accompany long, yet infrequent pause times.
Variation of GC duration of our containerized application with G1 with -Xmx 256m (at the left of the blue line) and G1 with -Xmx 128m (at the right of the blue line). As said before, left part with high throughput present some long pause times.
Aggregate metrics to make them understandable
If you are monitoring an environment with many instances, placing the metrics as they are provided into a chart can lead to a very difficult to read the result.
an example of the CPU time usage metric chart, hard to read, isn’t it?
One series per instance makes the graph unreadable, too much information, too much noise. For the same job, I suggest to pick the maximum value across all instances, to plot the worst-case scenario.
same data as before but worst case metrics only, much easier to detect trends and peaks
As we can see, trends and peaks are easier to track. Of course, this comes at a cost: this graph’s objective is to quickly detect high usage but it will not be useful to “debug” an issue.
Key performance indicators
GC Throughput
So, with the default configuration, we can consider an acceptable throughput any value above 90/95%.
In our sample data, there are low variations in most applications.
Throughput of our containerized app named “cdn-delivery”. The red line is the 95% threshold
The following graph shows a metric hinting that something is not working optimally:
Throughput of another containerized app “core-xadmin” is variable and well below 95%
This means there is an efficiency gain to be achieved here, we need to investigate! Or this type of graph it’s worth exploring the GC Frequency metric.
GC type
There are three types of algorithms for collectors:
serial, which use a single thread to perform all garbage collection work, best suited to single processor machines for application with small data sets (up to 100MB)
parallel, which use many threads to get the work done faster, to use when application performance is the priority
concurrent, perform mostly expensive work concurrently to the application, best suited when response time is important
More info in https://docs.oracle.com/javase/9/gctuning/available-collectors.htm and here for info about new experimental GCs https://blogs.oracle.com/javamagazine/understanding-the-jdks-new-superfast-garbage-collectors
Do not underestimate GC type impact, as seen in the following real example where we changed from Parallel GC to G1 GC:
Near 12:00 we switched to G1 GC from Parallel GC. Throughput of our batch application changes
Allocation size for new objects is different on Parallel GC (blue line) and G1 GC (orange line)
here the evidence how different GCs works on memory (green line show Old generation allocation with Parallel GC, red line show Tenured generation with G1 GC)
Near 12:00 we switched to G1 GC from Parallel GC and heap memory usage increase
GC Duration
To get an idea of the impact of the GC pause and possible problems, it is useful to compare the GC pause metric with the metric of the duration of the requests.
Latency increases as the duration of GC increases
The following graph shows a real case we encountered. We were plotting GC Duration for several different applications and found unexpected spikes.
GC duration. Yellow series is Full GC
From image, we see some spikes (yellow series) related to metric named “G1 Old Generation core-xadmin”. This means that the application is not healthy because this metric represents a full GC and ideally full GC should never happen in G1 because this type of collection performs in-place compaction of the entire heap. This might be very slow. The reason that a Full GC occurs is because the application allocates too many objects that can’t be reclaimed quickly enough. Often concurrent marking has not been able to complete in time to start a space-reclamation phase. The probability to run into a Full GC can be compounded by the allocation of many humongous objects. Due to the way these objects are allocated in G1, they may take up much more memory than expected.
Young and Mixed collections are counted in “G1 Young Generation”. G1 pauses the application during all three phases.
If GC pause time starts to increase, then it’s an indication that the app is suffering from memory problems.
For G1 you can specify the size of the young generation on the command line as with the other garbage collectors, but doing so may hamper the ability of G1 to attain the target pause time.
GC Frequency
Frequency is how many times the garbage collector runs in a given amount of time. Collection frequency impacts throughput and can be related to object allocation/promotion rate and the size of the generation.
The selected region shows an increment of GC frequency. This coincides with the decrease in throughput
Conclusions
The metrics described are a first step in highlighting performance issues. To analyze in detail and understand how to act to carry out the tuning of the JVM it is necessary to enable the logs of the GC which provides a detailed overview during and out of the breaks on the activity of waste collection. | https://medium.com/thron-tech/lessons-learned-about-monitoring-the-jvm-in-the-era-of-containers-47e7fe0b77dc | ['Mattia Barbiero'] | 2020-03-10 07:31:00.907000+00:00 | ['JVM', 'DevOps', 'Monitoring', 'Performance', 'Containers'] |
Value Through Innovation | Value Through Innovation
Mapping the Worldwide Holdings of the Catholic Church to Use the Land for Good World Ocean Observatory Feb 23·5 min read
Molly Burhans, a young activist and founder of GoodLands, is using geographic information systems (GIS) to map the worldwide holdings of the Catholic Church as an inventory of ownership and potential investment for society, health, security and ecological justice. Burhans and her group are mapping archived Vatican holdings that have never been recorded using GIS software — a revolutionary step toward committing them to ecological planning, environmental protection, climate mitigation, sustainability of natural resources, and a potential contribution to a global renaissance.
As we speculate on new forms of valuation of Nature, we can be easily intimidated by barriers to change, the dis-integrated connections between financial and social endeavors, between institutions and individuals, to the point that advocacy can seem often like a hollow cry, into an indifferent wildness where echoes never sound. Activists — myself among them — frequently, in the context of contradictory social and political organization, argue that change can only be accomplished one individual at a time. How do we move recalcitrant regulation and governance, established markets and financial institutions, associations, public and private, that when confronted with change fall back on doubt, lack of confidence, and defeat, intimidated by the prospect? I argue for a vast community of Citizens of the Ocean, a collective of the like-minded bound together by commitment to change; but, even if we were millions, what difference would it make in these troubled times?
Sometimes, the answer emerges just that way, from the mind and determination of a single person who puts forward an idea that represents just the kind of breakthrough expected by a fresh perspective and the transformative application of new technologies, new tools just right for work no one has dared to do before.
I give you the example of Molly Burhans, a young woman profiled in a recent issue of The New Yorker magazine, written by David Owen, entitled “How a Young Activist Is Helping Pope Francis Battle Climate Change.” Ms. Burhans has founded a small non-profit, GoodLands, to apply the emerging application of GIS, geographic information systems, to map the worldwide holdings of the Catholic Church, to includes place of worship, convents, schools, art, archives, as well as farms, forests, watersheds, and what some have estimated to exceed two hundred million acres, an inventory of ownership of, as David Owen describes, “probably the largest non-state landowner in the world.” If the value of these properties were invested in practical response and creative application, they would become a significant force for society, for health, for security and ecological justice.
Here is the GoodLands Mission statement: A fundamental way to address many of the issues we confront as a society today is to use the land and properties we already have more thoughtfully. GoodLands provides the information, insights, and implementation tools for the Catholic Church to leverage its landholdings to address pressing issues, from environmental destruction to mass human migration.
We combine community involvement, design, and mapping technology to reveal high-impact opportunities for land-use strategies that have a regenerative impact on environmental, social, and economic systems, while transforming a sense of ownership of land into a sense of stewardship among organizations through top-down planning efforts combined with bottom-up community involvement and education.
Catholic Church ownership of land, partial US map
Ms. Burhans, and her small group of often-volunteer colleagues, have attempted to map these holding using GIS software using records, ancient and disorganized in the Vatican and archives, that have never been recorded collectively before with accuracy, efficiency, and purpose. What she proposes is to visualize the location and inter-location of these properties as revolutionary steps toward valuing and committing them to ecological planning, environmental protection, climate mitigation, sustainability of natural resources, affirmation of the essential principles of Catholic Doctrine, and contribution to global renaissance. It seems so complicated, based on something so simple and true.
In 2015, Pope Francis published an encyclical, Laudato Si — On Care of our Common Home, in which he addresses the moral imperative to steward our natural world for the benefit of succeeding generations, and issued a call that speaks beyond Catholicism to every person on Earth. “I urgently appeal, then,” he writes, “for a new dialogue on how we are shaping the future of our planet… We require a new and universal solidarity…” The Pope speaks specifically and eloquently about the ocean as “a global commons…” “I am interested,” he continues, “in how spirituality can motivate us to a more compassionate concern for the protection of our world. A commitment this lofty cannot be sustained by doctrine alone, without being spiritually capable of inspiring us, without an ‘interior impulse’ which encourages, motivates, nourishes, and gives meaning to our individual and communal activity.”
Individual and communal. Science and technology. One young technologist and the leader of a global religion: consider the value inherent in the meeting of these two minds, the application of natural value by committing property to the purpose of renewal, the value of individual and collective behaviors, the value of the land and the sea and the people sustained, to peace and justice and civilization. So yes, one person can make a difference. Let’s help Molly Burhans and GoodLands make it so. | https://medium.com/@thew2o/value-through-innovation-7c80d92ef68a | ['World Ocean Observatory'] | 2021-02-23 16:14:02.455000+00:00 | ['Climate', 'Solutions', 'Land Use Planning', 'Catholic', 'Sustainability'] |
Viva La Vida Coldplay Chords Piano | [Intro]
C D G Em x2
[Verse 1]
Em C D
I used to rule the world
G Em
Seas would rise when I gave the word
C D
Now in the morning I sleep alone
G Em
Sweep the streets I used to own
[Interlude]
C D G Em x2
[Verse 2]
Em C D
I used to roll the dice
G Em
Feel the fear in my enemy’s eyes
C D
Listen as the crowd would sing:
G Em
“Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!”
Em C D
One minute I held the key
G Em
Next the walls were closed on me
C D
And I discovered that my castles stand
G Em
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand
[Chorus]
C D
I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
G Em
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
C D
Be my mirror, my sword, and shield
G Em
My missionaries in a foreign field
C D
For some reason I can’t explain
G Em C D
Once you go there was never, never an honest word
Bm Em
That was when I ruled the world
[Interlude]
C D G Em x2
[Verse 3]
Em C D
It was the wicked and wild wind
G Em
Blew down the doors to let me in.
C D
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
G Em
People couldn’t believe what I’d become
Em C D
Revolutionaries wait
G Em
For my head on a silver plate
C D
Just a puppet on a lonely string
G Em
Oh who would ever want to be king?
[Chorus]
C D
I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
G Em
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
C D
Be my mirror, my sword, and shield
G Em
My missionaries in a foreign field
C D
For some reason I can’t explain
G Em
I know Saint Peter won’t call my name ,
C D
never an honest word
Bm Em
But that was when I ruled the world
[Interlude]
C Em x3
D x2
C D G Em x2
(Ohhhhh Ohhh Ohhh)
[Chorus]
C D
I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
G Em
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
C D
Be my mirror, my sword, and shield
G Em
My missionaries in a foreign field
C D
For some reason I can’t explain
G Em
I know Saint Peter won’t call my name ,
C D
never an honest word
Bm Em
But that was when I ruled the world
[Outro]
C D Bm Em
Oooooh Oooooh Oooooh x2 | https://medium.com/@vanesacitra05/viva-la-vida-coldplay-chords-piano-5e8a1740f37 | [] | 2020-12-16 07:41:21.150000+00:00 | ['News', 'SEO', 'Videos', 'Love', 'Music'] |
Poor To Rich The First Decntralized Marketplace Combined Blockchain and AI A Powerful Duo 🔥 | Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence are the trending high these days. Even though these two technologies differ in many ways but when combined these technologies make a deadly combo. Blockchain is a distributed, decentralized, immutable ledger used to store encrypted data while AI acts as an engine or the brain that will enable analytics and decision making from the data collected. There is no divided opinion about the fact that every technology has its own degree of complexity. AI and blockchain, when in a combo, can benefit from each other and can take the exploitation of data to new levels. The integration of machine learning and AI into the blockchain can boost AI’s potential and architecture of blockchain.
Applications of Blockchain and AI
Smart Computing Power
To operate a blockchain with all its encrypted data on a computer a large amount of processing power is needed. AI tasks can be managed in a more intelligent and efficient way than in real-time. With machine learning-based algorithms, the fed data can be read in less time.
Data Protection
The progress of AI is completely dependent on the input of data – data feeds AI, and through it, AI will be able to continuously improve itself. Blockchain allows the encrypted storage of data on a distributed ledger. Such data is secured and access is provided only to authorized persons. A backup system can be created for highly sensitive data by combining blockchain and AI. Storing medical or financial data that is highly sensitive to handle can be stored on the blockchain and accessed by AI only. This gives the advantages of personalized recommendations and the safety of sensitive data.
To Create Diverse Data Sets
Blockchain technology can build transparent networks that can be accessed by anyone around the globe. Blockchain networks are now being applied to many industries for decentralization. Blockchain technology helps ensure the future development of artificial intelligence and the creation of decentralized A.I. Blockchain networks can host diverse data sets by creating an API that allows for the intercommunication of all AI agents. This results in the creation of diverse algorithms that can be built on diverse data sets.
For Data Monetization
Another disruptive innovation is the monetization of data by using a combo of these technologies. Monetizing collected data is a huge revenue source for many businesses. Blockchain cryptographically protects our data cryptographically and we can use this data as we see fit. Without compromising our personal information it lets us monetize data personally. This plays a vital role to combat biased algorithms and to create biased data sets. AI networks are needed to buy data directly from owners through data marketplaces. The entire process is fair and seamless. The data marketplace will also help smaller companies.
So the crux is that these technologies when combined together open many doors. This combo gives birth to innovative pathways and has many applications. Both blockchain and AI are very useful for businesses across the globe.
Poor To Rich Official Socials 👇
Telegram Channel | Twitter | Medium | Telegram Chat | https://medium.com/@poortorich/poor-to-rich-the-first-decntralized-marketplace-combined-blockchain-and-ai-a-powerful-duo-a0291245e737 | ['Poor To Rich Token'] | 2021-12-30 23:04:19.253000+00:00 | ['Bsc Token', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bscgem', 'Bsc News', 'Bsc'] |
Surviving the Subsequent Pandemic of Sadness | To say that these are wild and uncertain times we are living in would be a gross understatement. At the time of writing this, there are 145,339 confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) across 137 countries. The confirmed death toll stands at 5,416. Given the huge dearth of testing kits in countries (like here in the U.S.) and the lack of streamlined screening and central reporting mechanisms in other countries, these numbers are almost certainly a vast underestimation. Understandably, the World Health Organization declared it a pandemic earlier this week and the White House just declared a National Emergency.
I truly believe that the overarching goal for everyone at this moment must be containment. Although the vast majority of cases are and will be mild, there is a significant minority of people for whom contracting the virus will be fatal. Additionally, if we don’t “flatten the curve” our health care system will become quickly oversaturated, likely leading to a host of other health problems. The two recommendations are consistent, frequent, and thorough hand-washing and social distancing. The former is no problem for most of us, but the latter is causing major upheaval to the daily lives of people all over the world. Schools are closing. Major industries are closing up shop or mandating employees to work from home for the foreseeable future. A plunging stock market is wreaking havoc on people’s retirement accounts and investment portfolios. Major events that bring immeasurable joy to people and are essential to the economic prosperity of many have been canceled.
Given all of this, it is unsurprising that acute anxiety abounds. Research shows that perceptions of uncertainty and uncontrollability fuel worry and fear. And there are few things more uncertain or uncontrollable than a global pandemic. And the uncertainty is certainly not helped by the fact that we can’t rely on even our own government to give us accurate information about what is going on, let alone a sound plan to contain things.
Although panicking is almost never productive, the anxiety we are experiencing is normal and healthy. It makes sense that we are worried about our own health and the health of our loved ones. It makes sense that people are scared of economic ruin. And it makes sense that not knowing whether schools will be open, grocery stores and drug stores will be stocked, travel will be canceled, or how long this will all go on for provides major daily stress that accumulates quickly.
I believe that the steps we are taking with social distancing are absolutely essential and, in fact, I think that many people are not taking the recommendations seriously enough. But these measures are hardly without cost. Certainly economists, CEOs, and journalists will continue to churn out regular analyses of the financial costs, but I am almost certain that far less attention will be paid to the emotional costs. | https://medium.com/rants-and-raves/surviving-the-subsequent-pandemic-of-sadness-6e890a99fd8a | ['Richard Lebeau'] | 2020-03-19 01:57:01.558000+00:00 | ['Culture', 'Health', 'Media', 'Mental Health', 'News'] |
CoinList CEO: Quiet Year for Crypto in 2019 Will Lead to Innovation | www.synapsecoin.io
Cryptocurrency markets in 2019 are “going to be quiet for a little bit” while firms focus on building the crypto space, the CEO of CoinList Andy Bromberg told Yahoo Finance on Jan. 31.
Following record highs at the end of 2017, cryptocurrency markets in 2018 were mostly bearish. Major coins took large losses and at the end of the year, Bitcoin (BTC) was down by 74 percent while both Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) fell by 84 percent.
The first month of 2019 has also seen major losses among top cryptocurrencies. At press time. those same coins, BTC, ETH and XRP, are all down 9.5 percent, 22 percent, and 15.5 percent on their monthly charts, respectively. However, in Bromberg’s view, slower markets mean that companies and entrepreneurs will start developing the space with more useful services and products:
[In 2019] it feels like people are focused on building… I think the market is going to be quiet for a little bit, while people focus on actually creating things. It feels like a little bit of a Mesopotamia, ‘cradle of civilization’ moment, where everyone has the ingredients they need, needs to focus in and start to build out those empires, and create what the future is going to look like, and that’s what this year is going to be about.”
Bromberg noted that there was less hype surrounding the cryptocurrency space. Sinking prices and low volatility drove many speculators to leave cryptocurrency in the last quarter of 2018. Some in the space of also welcomed the bust of the initial coin offering (ICO) bubble, as many projects have failed to turn out successful products, or were outright scams.
To date, CoinList has listed five ICOs: Filecoin, Blockstack, Props, Origin and TrustToken, none of which have yet launched a token, according to Yahoo Finance. CoinList picks and vets each project itself, and only sells tokens to accredited investors (individuals with an annual income over $200,000 or net assets over $1 million, excluding their primary residence).
Bromberg’s statements echo those he made earlier this month, when he told the Wall Street Journal that the next step for crypto was figuring out “how we can turn this technology into products for people to use.” Per Bromberg:
“Building consumer products is really hard. The developer tool kit isn’t there.”
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#synapsecoin #synapse #coin #crowdfunding #tokensale | https://medium.com/@synapsecoinico/coinlist-ceo-quiet-year-for-crypto-in-2019-will-lead-to-innovation-ded07f7c0698 | ['Synapsecoin Ico'] | 2019-02-01 22:08:09.947000+00:00 | ['Synapse Coin', 'Smart Contracts', 'Blockchain', 'Token Economy'] |
by The Good Fight (5x07) Episode 7 On "Paramount's+" | ⭐A Target Package is short for Target Package of Information. It is a more specialized case of Intel Package of Information or Intel Package.
✌ THE STORY ✌
Its and Jeremy Camp (K.J. Apa) is a and aspiring musician who like only to honor his God through the energy of music. Leaving his Indiana home for the warmer climate of California and a college or university education, Jeremy soon comes Bookmark this site across one Melissa Heing
(Britt Robertson), a fellow university student that he takes notices in the audience at an area concert. Bookmark this site Falling for cupid’s arrow immediately, he introduces himself to her and quickly discovers that she is drawn to him too. However, Melissa holds back from forming a budding relationship as she fears it`ll create an awkward situation between Jeremy and their mutual friend, Jean-Luc (Nathan Parson), a fellow musician and who also has feeling for Melissa. Still, Jeremy is relentless in his quest for her until they eventually end up in a loving dating relationship. However, their youthful courtship Bookmark this sitewith the other person comes to a halt when life-threating news of Melissa having cancer takes center stage. The diagnosis does nothing to deter Jeremey’s love on her behalf and the couple eventually marries shortly thereafter. Howsoever, they soon find themselves walking an excellent line between a life together and suffering by her Bookmark this siteillness; with Jeremy questioning his faith in music, himself, and with God himself.
✌ 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 procedure of delivering or obtaining media this way.[clarification needed] Streaming identifies the delivery approach to the medium, rather than the medium itself. Distinguishing delivery method from the media distributed applies especially to telecommunications networks, as almost all of the delivery systems are either inherently streaming (e.g. radio, television, streaming apps) or inherently non-streaming (e.g. books, video cassettes, audio tracks CDs). There are challenges with streaming content on the web. For instance, users whose Internet connection lacks sufficient bandwidth may experience stops, lags, or slow buffering of this content. And users lacking compatible hardware or software systems may be unable to stream certain content.
Streaming is an alternative to file downloading, an activity in which the end-user obtains the entire file for the content before watching or listening to it. Through streaming, an end-user may use their media player to get started on playing digital video or digital sound content before the complete file has been transmitted. The term “streaming media” can connect with media other than video and audio, such as for example live closed captioning, ticker tape, and real-time text, which are considered “streaming text”.
This brings me around to discussing us, a film release of the Christian religio us faith-based . As almost customary, Hollywood usually generates two (maybe three) films of this variety movies within their yearly theatrical release lineup, with the releases usually being around spring us and / or fall respectfully. I didn’t hear much when this movie was initially aounced (probably got buried underneath all of the popular movies news on the newsfeed). My first actual glimpse of the movie was when the film’s movie trailer premiered, which looked somewhat interesting if you ask me. Yes, it looked the movie was goa be the typical “faith-based” vibe, but it was going to be directed by the Erwin Brothers, who directed I COULD Only Imagine (a film that I did so like). Plus, the trailer for I Still Believe premiered for quite some us, so I continued seeing it most of us when I visited my local cinema. You can sort of say that it was a bit “engrained in my brain”. Thus, I was a lttle bit keen on seeing it. Fortunately, I was able to see it before the COVID-9 outbreak closed the movie theaters down (saw it during its opening night), but, because of work scheduling, I haven’t had the us to do my review for it…. as yet. And what did I think of it? Well, it was pretty “meh”. While its heart is certainly in the proper place and quite sincere, us is a little too preachy and unbalanced within its narrative execution and character developments. The religious message is plainly there, but takes way too many detours and not focusing on certain aspects that weigh the feature’s presentation.
✌ TELEVISION SHOW AND HISTORY ✌
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A television show may also be called a tv set program (British EnBookmark this siteglish: programme), especially if it lacks a narrative structure. A tv set Movies is The War with Grandpaually released in episodes that follow a narrative, and so are The War with Grandpaually split into seasons (The War with Grandpa and Canada) or Movies (UK) — yearly or semiaual sets of new episodes. A show with a restricted number of episodes could be called a miniMBookmark this siteovies, serial, or limited Movies. A one-The War with Grandpa show may be called a “special”. A television film (“made-for-TV movie” or “televisioBookmark this siten movie”) is a film that is initially broadcast on television set rather than released in theaters or direct-to-video.
Television shows may very well be Bookmark this sitehey are broadcast in real The War with Grandpa (live), be recorded on home video or an electronic video recorder for later viewing, or be looked at on demand via a set-top box or streameBookmark this sited on the internet.
The first television set shows were experimental, sporadic broadcasts viewable only within an extremely short range from the broadcast tower starting in the. Televised events such as the 2020 Summer OlyBookmark this sitempics in Germany, the 2020 coronation of King George VI in the UK, and David Sarnoff’s famoThe War with Grandpa introduction at the 9 New York World’s Fair in the The War with Grandpa spurreBookmark this sited a rise in the medium, but World War II put a halt to development until after the war. The 2020 World Movies inspired many Americans to buy their first tv set and in 2020, the favorite radio show Texaco Star Theater made the move and became the first weekly televised variety show, earning host Milton Berle the name “Mr Television” and demonstrating that the medium was a well balanced, modern form of entertainment which could attract advertisers. The firsBookmBookmark this siteark this sitet national live tv broadcast in the The War with Grandpa took place on September 5, 2020 when President Harry Truman’s speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in SAN FRAThe Good Fight CO BAY AREA was transmitted over AT&T’s transcontinental cable and microwave radio relay system to broadcast stations in local markets.
✌ FINAL THOUGHTS ✌
The power of faith, love, and affinity for take center stage in Jeremy Camp’s life story in the movie I Still Believe. Directors Andrew and Jon Erwin (the Erwin Brothers) examine the life span and The War with Grandpas of Jeremy Camp’s life story; pin-pointing his early life along with his relationship Melissa Heing because they battle hardships and their enduring love for one another through difficult. While the movie’s intent and thematic message of a person’s faith through troublen is indeed palpable plus the likeable mThe War with Grandpaical performances, the film certainly strules to look for a cinematic footing in its execution, including a sluish pace, fragmented pieces, predicable plot beats, too preachy / cheesy dialogue moments, over utilized religion overtones, and mismanagement of many of its secondary /supporting characters. If you ask me, this movie was somewhere between okay and “meh”. It had been definitely a Christian faith-based movie endeavor Bookmark this web site (from begin to finish) and definitely had its moments, nonetheless it failed to resonate with me; struling to locate a proper balance in its undertaking. Personally, regardless of the story, it could’ve been better. My recommendation for this movie is an “iffy choice” at best as some should (nothing wrong with that), while others will not and dismiss it altogether. Whatever your stance on religion faith-based flicks, stands as more of a cautionary tale of sorts; demonstrating how a poignant and heartfelt story of real-life drama could be problematic when translating it to a cinematic endeavor. For me personally, I believe in Jeremy Camp’s story / message, but not so much the feature.
FIND US:
✔️ https://onstream.club/tv/69158-5-7/the-good-fight.html
✔️ Instagram: https://instagram.com
✔️ Twitter: https://twitter.com
✔️ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com | https://medium.com/@thegoodfight-5x07/the-good-fight-series-5-episode-7-5x7-full-episode-ac694d2d3a34 | ['The Good Fight', 'Episode On', "Paramount'S"] | 2021-08-05 05:00:24.641000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Technology', 'Plise Sineklik', 'Politics'] |
Progressive Enhancement with WebGL and React | These days, it’s very common to mix creative technologies like WebGL with traditional HTML/CSS when building websites. In this post, I will try to outline how we at 14islands approach this trend to ensure the content is still available to as many visitors as possible. All of these techniques were used on our new company website 14islands.com.
Thoughts on accessibility
Go back just a few years and responsive web design, progressive enhancement and mobile-first were all the rage. Here’s the thing — they are still valid practices, and just because we have access to new shiny toys doesn’t mean we get a free pass to only build websites for desktop screens and the latest browser technology.
Assumptions made by most WebGL websites
Everybody loves a cool loading animation — Having a preloader allows the browser to download all assets before showing the website. Large images are known to cause lag as they are uploaded to the GPU for the first time. For this reason, it’s common for WebGL apps to preload and pre-render textures before showing the website.
Everybody loves to scroll — Having only one long page means the WebGL canvas can create all objects for the whole website on page load (during the preloader animation), and there are no requests to load new pages or new assets to worry about.
Everybody has a modern browser — Building for advanced browsers and adding polyfills for missing features. Some websites even lock the user out if the browser lacks support for a modern feature.
Because of these assumptions, it’s common to create and position all content using Javascript (e.g. https://github.com/react-spring/react-three-flex). Sometimes, text content is rendered only as WebGL textures, which makes the content essentially images.
In reality, it depends™️
If you’re doing a cool campaign site or interactive experience, many of these assumptions might be correct. However, for many projects, having quick access to the content, a high level of accessibility and SEO are equally important to delivering a memorable creative experience.
Not all websites can afford a long loading animation. Visitors have short attention spans, and it can impact conversion rates and sales.
A progressively enhanced experience
We usually use Gatsby.js on our projects. It’s fast, has a good ecosystem of plugins to speed up common tasks, and offers server-side rendering out of the box.
As any fan of static websites knows, server-side rendering is great for SEO and accessibility since the content can be accessed without executing a bunch of Javascript. We also want to make sure text content is available even if WebGL isn’t supported.
In fact, our javascript heavy React and WebGL website even renders without Javascript support: 😲
With Javascript enabled but no WebGL support, you get some fancier hover states and the ability to play our showreel in a cool dark cinema mode: 😎🍿
And if the browser supports WebGL, you get all the gooey blob magic: 🎩🐇
When feature detection falls short
Unfortunately, some browsers will gladly say that they support WebGL, but they are simply too weak to run the code with good performance.
There’s no good way to feature-detect powerful devices. Some try to measure the frame rate over time or use a combination of other features, but none of them are very robust. In our case, we simply base it on screen size and assume that a larger screen corresponds to a more powerful device (which may or may not be true).
React & Three.js
We like to use the Three.js WebGL library. The pace at which it updates and introduces breaking changes is mind-blowing. Any third-party react library that tries to provide a 1:1 mapping of Three.js objects to React components will probably not be maintained for long.
react-three-fiber takes a different approach by hooking into the React reconciler and proxies JSX tags to Three.js objects. It doesn't even care what version of Three we are using, which makes it future proof. Having said that, there are definitely pitfalls and enough performance gotchas for a future blog post. 😬
Enhancing with WebGL
We created a framework on top of react-three-fiber that enables us to add WebGL functionality to any existing React component on the website.
At the core we have one global shared WebGL canvas that stays in between page loads:
export const wrapRootElement = ({ element }) => (
<>
{element}
<GlobalCanvas/>
</>
)
Each UI component can opt-in to use this global canvas using a custom useCanvas() hook:
const Image = () => {
const ref = useRef()
// add webgl component to global canvas while mounted
useCanvas(<WebGlImage image={ref} />) return <img ref={ref} src={...} />
}
When the <Image> component mounts, it tells the global canvas to render <WebGlImage> . It will also automatically remove the WebGL mesh and clean up resources when it unmounts.
This keeps our code modular and hides the details of the WebGL implementation from regular UI components.
The <WebGlImage> is responsible for hiding the normal image element and draw a WebGL mesh in its place.
Syncing DOM content with WebGL canvas 🔮
A big challenge is to sync the fixed canvas elements with the scrollable HTML content. The technique we use largely follows an approach that tracks “proxy” elements in the normal page flow and updates the WebGL scene positions to match them.
Since Javascript is inevitably slower than native scrolling, this can make the WebGL scene feel laggy. The most common way to fix this is to have some easing on the WebGL position update.
Here’s an example of a WebGL image with easing next to some normal content. Notice how the image all of a sudden feels more smooth than the DOM content because of the easing:
To fix this, most websites also introduce a virtual scroll on the HTML content with a matching easing function. This makes the whole page move with the same feeling, and while it’s for sure less performant than a native scroll, it still perceived as being smoother when all items move at the same speed:
A virtual scroll means that we move all HTML content with Javascript, and it’s a known source of many accessibility issues. For some projects, it’s worth the trade-off, while other projects might require a higher level of accessibility.
There are many libraries for virtual/smooth scrolling available. We suggest you pick one which at least retains the browser’s native scrollbar.
Closing thoughts 💡
To be honest, if load time and maximum device support is your highest priority, you shouldn’t use WebGL at all. But for some websites (like ours), there is a good middle ground.
By adding WebGL to existing HTML elements on the page, we can split up the work better. Some developers can focus on building a solid responsive website layout, and the WebGL can be added on top in a second iteration. Of course, everything needs to be thoroughly tested together, as there are many performance pitfalls when using this technique.
There are downsides to this approach. Loading large images might cause scroll jank, and it becomes harder to achieve smooth page transitions when everything isn’t preloaded. Accessibility also takes a hit due to having virtual scrolling of the DOM.
Let us know if you have ideas on how to improve this even further, we’d love to hear more how others approach this! | https://medium.com/14islands/progressive-enhancement-with-webgl-and-react-71cd19e66d4 | ['David Lindkvist'] | 2020-09-10 12:12:53.525000+00:00 | ['Development', 'React', 'HTML', 'Webgl', 'Threejs'] |
UPDATED Q3 2021: Passing CKAD with flying colours | I have recently passed the Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) exam with a score of 91%. In this blog post, I will walk you through the most important things you need to know to nail it.
Why you may need CKAD?
CKAD is the Certified Kubernetes Application Developer certification which mostly focuses on the development part of Kubernetes applications. It’s part of a program developed by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) to help expand the Kubernetes ecosystem through standardized training and certification. It is one of three CNCF Kubernetes certifications, with the others being Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) and Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS).
But who are CNCF? They are an association that brings together the world’s top developers, end-users, and vendors, and run the largest open-source developer conferences. According to CNCF, passing the CKAD exam certifies and guarantees that a certification holder has the knowledge and practical experience on designing, building, configuring, and exposing cloud-native applications for Kubernetes. This leads to such developers being able to work with basic resources to create, monitor and troubleshoot applications in Kubernetes.
This can help you find a better-paid job or keep your skills relevant. This could represent a new project opportunity or a boost to your resume. Although you can attempt both exams, CKA is more suitable for administrators, while CKAD is more inclined towards developers. It’s up to you to decide and take the exam that you think will be of greater benefit to you. Of course, nothing is stopping you from trying both!
CKAD — main facts
1. It is a remotely proctored exam
CKAD is a fully online exam. During its time, you are monitored by a PSI proctor, who provides you with all the necessary information and controls what you do and how you behave. The availability of exam hours is determined by the availability of spare PSI proctors who can monitor the exam during this time.
You’ll need to take the exam in a quiet and private place, keep the camera on and share the screen all the time, and show the proctor your room before the exam begins, so that he/she can ensure that there is no conflict with the exam rules. All instructions for taking the exam can be found in the official certification documentation.
Note that you must read and accept all the rules before taking the certification and speaking with the proctor! The proctor only provides you with the shortened version of the rules in the chat. Also, note that even if you have a microphone, you should refrain from speaking to the proctor, either before or after the exam begins. The proctor can only message you via the chatbox and end the exam if you speak during the exam (you can’t even cover your mouth).
2. It has to be completed within 2 hours (120 minutes)
The estimated time to complete the exam is 2 hours. However, you can finish earlier and stop the exam with the appropriate button in the on-screen menu.
The proctor will let you know that you have 15 minutes left before the time ends.
3. It consists of 19 practical tasks
There are no true/false questions.
There are no multiple-choice questions.
There are no open-ended questions.
There is only YOU, the terminal, and kubectl.
The best thing about the exam is that it is completely hands-on. All you get is a VM with access to Kubernetes (K8s) clusters. You have the tasks written on the left, and the terminal on the right. You have admin rights on all machines and within the K8s contexts, so it’s all up to you what you do. Remember that YOU are responsible for completing your tasks on correct K8s clusters, contexts and namespaces!
Note that there is an official CKAD curriculum. According to the documentation, all subjects from the curriculum must be tested. The higher the weighting of the topic, the more likely it is that a very important question from this topic will appear on the exam. You can find the up-to-date curriculum on the CNCF GitHub.
4. The pass mark is 66%
On average, you have to answer 2 out of 3 questions correctly. In reality, it is not that simple, as questions can have different levels of complexity. You may feel that some questions are not weighted correctly, i.e. the easy questions are weighted higher, while long or difficult ones have less importance.
This is completely normal! Not everyone has the same knowledge as you. The weighting of the questions is usually between 3% and 13%. Looking at this from a time perspective, you will get around:
6 minutes per question 1 minute per 1%
(I like to round the time down so that at the end of the exam if I am on time, I get 20 more minutes). Assuming the questions are proportionally weighted, you will need to correctly complete approximately 13 questions to pass the exam. Please note that a partial assessment is possible. It means that for an incomplete task you can still get, for example, 3% out of a possible 8% for the task.
The key thing is to stay focused, and most importantly: be fast and don’t waste time!
5. It allows you to use your browser wisely
The entire exam is taken entirely in your browser. Surprisingly, the terminal provided is of high quality — it does not slow down, it does not disconnect, and the machines are good enough to work with kubectl with ease.
What’s worth noting is that you are allowed to open one additional tab, on which you can only refer to the official Kubernetes documentation. It contains information about everything you may need during the exam, i.e., many code samples you can copy, and theoretical information about every aspect of Kubernetes. For some of the Kubernetes topics, you don’t have to remember every little detail. For this, you just need to know how to quickly look it up in the documentation.
One of the most useful tricks is to set your bookmarks so that you can quickly get to the relevant part of the documentation. You can find a list of my bookmarks later in the article.
6. It provides you with a cert
After you complete the exam, you will receive a short survey about your experience during the exam, alongside information that it can take up to 36 hours to obtain the results.
The CNCF certification program was created in conjunction with The Linux Foundation, which is why they are the authority that issues the certificate. You can always view your attestation at credly.com and see your certification on the training portal of The Linux Foundation.
The CNCF certifications are valid for 3 years (36 months) from the day of certification. Although they expire after this period, you can subsequently recertify.
7. The registration and scheduling for the exam are straightforward
The preparation steps can be summarised in 4 main points:
You will need to create an account on the CNCF certification page. You must register for the exam. It costs $375 and this price includes one retake in case you fail on your first attempt. You need to prepare a suitable PC with a browser (Chromium-based), acquaint yourself with the rules, install the PSI extension, and pass the compatibility check on the PSI site. You must choose the time for your exam and schedule it on the same site.
You cannot schedule the exam any earlier than 24 hours after the current time. So, for example, you can schedule the exam on Friday morning for Saturday morning, not earlier. This is explained by the fact that they have to prepare the infrastructure and find a proctor. Keep in mind that once you register, you have one whole year to schedule the exam.
When it comes to a strategy for approaching the exam, my recommendation would be to schedule it when you are ready. I scheduled it the day before in the afternoon, but everyone is different so choose the time that best suits you. Some may need to plan it months ahead so that they are motivated, some people think better in the mornings, etc. Ultimately, this is your exam so choose what works best for you.
Hints and tips for the exam
The most important things for the CKAD are:
time management
knowledge of basic Kubernetes API objects
fluency with kubectl
fluency with a command-line editor
In other words, the time limit forces you to become familiar with standard Kubernetes objects (what they do, how to create them, their most popular keys/fields), and become fluent with kubectl and at least one command-line editor (Vim is recommended).
The main challenge of this exam is time management, so you have to manage it very well. This is the biggest struggle people have with their CKAD exam. You have to be able to work swiftly in the exam environment, yet without rushing and making reckless mistakes. You cannot use any IDEs with a GUI, like IntelliJ, Lens or Octant — it’s you and the command line. This is why you must learn to do everything with the CLI only.
The second most important thing is to not write YAML manifests from scratch. It is always faster to either use the kubectl run / kubectl create commands or copy the basic manifest from the documentation and tweak it. Doing this will save you valuable time during the exam.
To become proficient, you need to practice with the Kubernetes CLI a lot. You need to learn about all possible subcommands and flags. You need to know what flag can be used with which object so that you don’t lose time checking it in the documentation. Practice is the only thing that makes you get faster.
Learn Vim or an alternative editor. You will have to deal with a lot of YAML files in the exam and many of them will need editing. Remember that you have admin rights, so you can install whatever you want on the machines. I’d steer clear of using Vim unless you know your way around it. Using arrow keys and the spacebar dozens of times won’t pay off under time pressure. What you should do is read about using visual block mode (multiple-line edits), paste mode (auto-indent reset), finding strings within a file, cutting lines of text and pasting them. Don’t forget about indentation inside Vim — spaces and tabs are not the same! In fact, you are not supposed to use tabs at all.
You may also learn how to add new content by copying it straight from the documentation. You may use the cat EOF approach to save the content to a file or even apply it in one line. This is a superior option because you don’t even need to open Vim. For other purposes, except for cat, you may want to use Unix ls, tail, and grep commands.
You can also enable kubectl word completion to save you some time. Although many people recommend this, I haven’t used it myself. Writing kubectl in my case only takes a second, and in real-life you would use stuff like fish and fzf, so here it’s best to stick to kubectl.
kubectl explain pod.spec.containers.livenessProbe — recursive
Use the reference part of the documentation or kubectl explain to see what keys you can use inside your manifests. I preferred using the former method for the one tab that is allowed during the exam. It’s quick and clear, and if you have your bookmarks prepared — then it’s a killer feature for the exam.
Kubernetes API Reference from documentation
Be sure to read the questions very carefully, and try to understand what exactly is required. Read the task description in full. Sometimes they point out that the YAML file is already prepared in a given path. Sometimes they tell you to put your answer in a given file. These things can be at the end of the question, so don’t start doing anything before having glanced through the whole task!
If you have any problems with the task, or you get stuck and don’t know what to do, you can just flag the question and move on. The same applies to very long and complex tasks and those related to parts of Kubernetes you don’t know much about. Remember that you have approximately 6 minutes per question, so try not to go beyond this! Don’t spend too much time on one question, but also try to avoid picking the most obvious questions for you too many times. You can always come back to flagged questions at the end.
Once you think you’ve solved the question, do a quick verification of your answer. Make sure that all aspects of the task have been addressed. Remember to check it quickly, as taking too much time for verification after attempting each question will slow you down. You should also reserve some spare time (at least 10–15 minutes) to verify all the answers again at the end of the exam.
Remember that every part of the question matters, and every word matters! You need to be sure you are working in the correct context and namespace. Make sure you copy-paste and run that kubectl context command at the beginning of the task before each question to ensure you won’t waste time carrying out the specified task in the wrong cluster. If they ask you to put the file in a certain location, you need to put it exactly there. If they don’t specify the namespace, you should use the default one, and if they tell you to create a Pod, do not create a Deployment.
At the end of your preparations, remember to test whether you can do typical tasks quickly. Check websites with sample exam questions and complete them. See if you’ve covered all of the material from the curriculum. You need to be sure you will not get surprised on the exam by something you haven’t come across before. Try to improvise in your free time, play around with kubectl to see what it can do. Who knows? Maybe you will discover something that will come in handy for the exam.
Familiarise yourself with the official Kubernetes documentation and be sure to practice all the questions using your bookmarks. This will speed you up during the exam since you will know where to find what you’re looking for. Be aware that you won’t be able to read all the documentation, even just that related to the curriculum — it’s just too broad.
Kubectl tips
There are 2 ways of creating Kubernetes objects. You can either do it in a declarative way, by writing the YAML manifests and applying them, or you can do it imperatively. The latter is much faster and is the recommended way of working during the CKAD exam. Thanks to this, you don’t have to necessarily write your YAML files.
However, you can combine this approach with the declarative method by creating dry-run manifests, updating them according to the task, and applying them as normal manifests. This idea to combine two approaches becomes a killer combo that lets you nail all the tasks easily. All you need are kubectl run, kubectl create, and kubectl apply commands.
Creating a manifest for a Deployment
In the picture above you can see the kubectl way of creating the “base” for our manifest. Isn’t it much easier to start adding our settings to this template, rather than writing it from scratch? It wouldn’t be possible if it hadn’t been for the — dry-run=client (makes it not apply to the cluster) and -o yaml (changes the output to yaml) flags. In this case, adding a second container or setting the correct probes becomes easier, as the main part of the task is already done by the CLI. Now all you have to do is to edit the file in a command-line editor like Vim and apply it with kubectl apply -f. This way, you can save a multitude of time compared to writing your files and it helps you avoid making any syntax errors.
If a Kubernetes API object already exists, you can edit it with kubectl edit and make changes in the editor (defaults to Vim). It either lets you save and overwrite the manifest or copy it to the /tmp directory, from which you will need to apply the new manifest (and sometimes delete the current one). Even though this approach doesn’t resemble real work at all, it still does the job for the exam and teaches you that you don’t need to write code from scratch.
kubectl expose deploy/test — port=80 — target-port=8000 — type NodePort
Remember that the kubectl expose command creates a new Service connected to the existing Deployment. You just need to specify the ports and the name of the creating Service. You can also provide the service type if needed. This is the preferred way of creating Services, as it takes away the need to check the correctness of labels and selectors — you select the Deployment that you want to expose and the CLI does it for you.
The kubectl create command is especially useful for creating new Secrets and ConfigMaps, no matter whether you create them with text or binary content. You can use it to create such manifests from the .env file, add the path to the binary file that you want to have, and name your keys appropriately without any need to mess with the manifest.
Also, bear in mind that nothing stops you from copying and pasting YAML files from the documentation website. However, given the time constraints involved, I would recommend optimizing this process a bit more.
Other subcommands worth mentioning that you should become familiar with are: kubectl set / label / annotate / scale / rollout / describe / logs. You will likely have to set an image or set resources for a Pod at least once during the exam. When it comes to changing labels and annotations, you should not change them manually but with kubectl subcommands. Scaling and rolling your Deployments back and forth is also meant to be done through the CLI. If you do not know the cause of an error from a Pod or Service, you can use describe to see the message errors, and/or logs to check any logging information. You can also use them to ensure that you have done your task correctly.
Changes in the CKAD 2021 Curriculum Q3 2021
The Linux Foundation has announced some major changes to the CKAD exam starting in Q3 2021. Although the release date of the new version of the exam is currently unknown, we are aware of the new content of the exam, as specified in the updated curriculum.
If you decide to take the exam, it is best to do so before September 2021, as this is a likely date for new changes to take effect. A new curriculum means new questions, which means a less predictable exam.
But what’s new?
Define, build and modify container images
The exam candidates may need to write Dockerfiles and build their images for use in the cluster. It is not explicitly stated that knowledge of Docker or a similar tool is required. It also says nothing about using custom image registries and using them within the cluster, but it doesn’t hurt to have such knowledge.
Use Kubernetes primitives to implement common deployment strategies (e.g. blue/green or canary)
The examinee may need to change labels and selectors within Pods and Services to behave like major deployment strategies. It doesn’t say whether knowledge of a service mesh like Istio or Linkerd is required, but learning at least one of them before taking this new version of the exam will likely pay off.
Use the Helm package manager to deploy existing packages
The examinee may need to use some official Helm Charts by, for example, adding existing repositories, installing new releases, listing releases, updating releases, or deleting releases. We don’t know if editing YAML manifests with Golang Templating will be required, but judging by the name of this point — it won’t be.
Understand API deprecations
Examinees may need to understand different API versions for popular API objects. This probably has a lot to do with introducing Ingress objects in the exam — in the past, there were 2 different versions of Ingress APIs (networking.k8s.io/v1 and extensions/v1beta1), which had some major differences when creating Ingress rules.
Use provided tools to monitor Kubernetes applications
The examinee may need a basic understanding of the Kubernetes dashboard, kube-state metrics, or in-depth knowledge of the kubectl logs/describe/get events commands.
Discover and use resources that extend Kubernetes (CRD)
The examinee may be required to apply Custom Resource Definition manifests, create objects of their type, and query them with kubectl.
Understand authentication, authorization and admission control
The examinee may need to demonstrate a basic understanding of the possible means of authentication as a specific group or user, such as X509 certificates or tokens. He may also need to prove his understanding of Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) concepts and configure the cluster’s access controllers.
Understanding and defining resource requirements, limits and quotas
Candidates may be required to set ResourceQuotas that limit the number of resources used, and the number of API resources created within a given namespace.
Use Ingress rules to expose applications
The exam candidates may need to create Ingress objects that control external access to the Services in a cluster using the HTTP or HTTPS protocol.
Creating Kubernetes API resources cheatsheet
It’s important to be familiar with the Kubernetes object’s short names! If you type kubectl api-resources, you will see a list of all API objects with their short names. This will save you a few seconds on each command, but adding all of them will save a good amount of time.
Below I present my cheat sheet list for all of the resources needed for CKAD, along with suggestions on how to deal with them. I’ve tagged all of the new aspects that will be evaluated on the upcoming new version of the exam with the colour blue.
Kubernetes API resources cheatsheet for CKAD
Sources of knowledge and preparation
You may be wondering if you need experience working with Kubernetes to pass the exam. The more experienced you are, the better. To get high marks, you have to be aware of the whole complexity of Kubernetes, and also have some contact with it first — it certainly helps.
Although CKAD is a completely practical exam, knowing some theory and perfectly knowing the latest versions of kubectl CLI (with all the details) can bring you the desired success. For me, the exam was quite easy as I didn’t have to study much. Don’t worry, the same level I’ve reached is achievable for you too! All you need is to learn, study and practice!
That said, I believe that you can just practice for the exam by yourself. It is quite easy to set up your small local Kubernetes cluster like k3d. It only takes two lines of code to have a fully working cluster, provided you have Docker installed. If you’re already familiar with the basics of Kubernetes, but still not sure where to start, there are plenty of free or paid courses.
The place with the environment that resembles the real exam the most is supposedly the https://killer.sh/ simulator. According to this announcement, the Linux Foundation now grants access to two attempts for those who have decided to sit one of their three Kubernetes certification exams. I didn’t try this simulator as it wasn’t such a big thing back in the days I was taking the exam, but looking at how it has developed, it seems that it’s a must-have to complete before taking the real exam.
Other sources that prepare specially for CKAD are A Cloud Guru courses, Udemy courses, edX courses, the TechWorld with Nana YouTube channel, etc. Also, watching Vim tutorials on YouTube in the last 3 days before the exam may save you a lot of time during the exam itself.
The most important thing for you is to learn step by step. You shouldn’t jump right into the deep end after you begin your Kubernetes journey. For example, don’t bother learning the details of storage classes until you understand the need for persisting the state of your ephemeral containers. Moreover, if you know and understand everything from the exam curriculum, it means that you are ready to take it!
While you have access to the Kubernetes documentation, time is a big challenge, so I’d wager that you won’t have enough time to read it thoroughly. Therefore, familiarize yourself with the structure of the documentation, including the sample code, so that you can copy and paste it to your terminal with minimal adjustments. One thing that can be especially helpful is using bookmarks. With the link below, you can find the list of bookmarks that I used during my exam. Please, note that you can use their names as helpers even if you are not going to open these websites.
Once you’ve completed one of the online courses, try to find practice/mock exams to test yourself, just as if you were taking the exam, and remember to do this a few times if possible. If you have problems with some aspects, don’t rush, but spend a little more time getting the hang of this topic.
Conclusion
You can start the exam 15 minutes before the scheduled time, which is the time it takes to talk to the proctor. Make sure your desk is clean on exam day. You have to activate your camera, show your surroundings to the proctor, and share your screen. You will also have to keep sharing your camera throughout the exam.
Remember which node you are in and what the selected namespace is so you don’t get confused. Always check if you are performing the task in the correct context.
Time management is the most important consideration. Don’t spend any more than 6 minutes on a single question.
Use the kubectl + Vim combination wisely. Try to do as little manual work as possible.
Remember about using your bookmarks. They can be like cheats if used properly.
That’s all I have to say. I hope you enjoyed reading this article and that it proves to be helpful. Don’t forget that these exams require a lot of practical skills and a fresh mind. Even if you don’t make it on your first attempt, there is one free resit possible.
Take it easy and good luck! | https://blog.datumo.io/updated-q3-2021-passing-ckad-with-flying-colours-e82ccf42fa3a | ['Damian Fiłonowicz'] | 2021-07-16 07:09:33.003000+00:00 | ['Cloud Computing', 'Kubernetes', 'Ckad', 'Certification', 'K8s'] |
Is Apple Going to Make the (Advertising) World Better? | Is Apple Going to Make the (Advertising) World Better?
Photo by zhang kaiyv on Unsplash
So, what is going to change? Let’s go back and remember that Apple targeted the online advertising industry with an update that was first introduced in iOs13. At that time, Tim Cook decided it was time to strike again with iOs14 and announced the introduction of explicit IDFA opt-in, essentially giving more power to the user and enhancing their privacy. Since then, the change has been delayed to early 2021 after the backlash from Google and Facebook, but the change is coming no matter what, and it’s now just around the corner.
What is IDFA and explicit opt-in in a single sentence? IDFA is an unique identifier that lets advertisers create groups of users based on their interests and subsequently target them with their ads.
Basically, this will change the advertising landscape, at least for the mobile Apps’ world. Audiences based on users’ navigation history & interests won’t be available anymore — or they won’t be available with the actual data richness and size. Google, Facebook & the programmatic industry rely heavily on this kind of data which is part of why this is such a big deal in the industry, and why so many people have been constantly talking about this topic, which is complex and involves many players.
Is this about privacy? Behind Apple’s move there’s a simple reason, the competition with Google & Facebook. But this is not the only reason, I believe Apple is really trying to innovate the advertising industry by leveraging user privacy, which has been a hot topic for quite some time now.
Is there a limit to this approach? Obviously there’s one: the world of mobile web is way bigger than apps themselves and Apple is unable to change advertising on mobile sites. But wait, there’s more! The most widely used apps are social networks & games: social apps won’t be affected by Apple’s change, since they inherently rely on users’ data (i.e. login + demographic data) for targeting purposes. Games are a whole different world, where advertising is mostly video. I don’t have particularly deep knowledge of the gaming world, but I suppose there won’t be significant changes in that realm.
Some of the side-effects. As already mentioned, the leverage Apple has on the whole mobile ecosystem is limited. But IMHO less targeting won’t mean less ads. I will however speculate that less targeting will reduce the CPMs (known as the cost-per-thousand, a.k.a. the cost advertisers are willing to pay for ads to be displayed), but will results in more ads. “Less Targeting = More Ads” is an equation that could become true very soon.
As I’ve said in another post, Apple’s move could push advertisers towards spending more money on mobile web campaigns, where cookies are still available (at the moment) and targeting will be more effective.
Conclusion. I started writing this post after reading this article on DataArt’s blog. Max Kalmykov’s take is interesting: he says that users are lately more concerned about privacy, Apple will shift the entire ecosystem towards contextual targeting (context-appropriate ads you see will be based on the page/app you’re visiting/using, not on your interests). I’m not sure this will be the situation when IDFA explicit opt-in arrives in a few week. I suppose we will simply see lower CPMs and more ads. Facebook & Google won’t be deeply affected by this change. They rely on login data to target ads. This means that Facebook will be able to target ads like it used to before (inside their own apps). The external audiences (i.e. Facebook Audience Network) probably won’t exist anymore. It’s true however, as Facebook says, that some small app developers will have less options for monetizing their properties.
From an advertiser perspective, we will get used to lower conversion rates very very quickly. This is because less data will be fed into the algorithms. And that’s just the way the mobile tech cookie crumbles.
You might also like:
Stay tuned for more! | https://medium.com/@mapendomobile/is-apple-going-to-make-the-advertising-world-better-b8ef60d41e15 | [] | 2020-12-17 03:07:38.772000+00:00 | ['iPhone', 'Privacy', 'Mobile Marketing', 'iOS', 'Apple'] |
Analyzing Voting Patterns in the 32nd Dáil Éireann with poLCA in R | Ireland is a parliamentary democratic country; it has Dáil Éireann as the lower house and Seanad Éireann as the upper house of the Oireachtas. The elected members of Dáil Éireann are called TDs — Teachta Dála (or Deputies). The people directly elect TDs to the Dáil in a general election. The Dáil is part of the legislative (or lawmaking) branch of the Irish State.
In this short research, we want to investigate the voting patterns in the 5th session of the 32nd Dáil Éireann using poLCA function in R. There were several votes in Dáil Éireann by the set of elected TDs.
The summary of the main topic for each vote as below.
Table 1. Voting Topics Details
How do we Manipulate the Data?
The term ‘poLCA’ stands for Polytomous Latent Class Analysis, and it generally is used to a categorical data. A latent class model uses different response patterns in the data to find similar groups. The model aims to identify groups that are ‘conditionally independent.’ In these groups, there is zero correlation between the variables (meanwhile sometimes a relationship can be explained by examining the group membership). For example, there will be a tendency for TDs from a particular party will vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ based on their party’s manifestos.
As a result of analyzing the data, there are two latent classes can be identified.
Figure 1. Estimated Two Latent Classes Model using the Bin.votes Data
Out of the total 156 TDs in this voting data, the first latent class contains 37.2% of the members (56 to be precise), and the second latent class includes the rest (62.8%, 100 members). Each group of red bars in Figure 1 represents the conditional probabilities of a topic being voted ‘yes’ (in favour of), by a latent class. Taller bars indicate the conditional probabilities are closer to 1.
In Figure 2, we can compare the probabilities of further discussion on topics by each class. ‘Gambling and Lotteries’ topic has an equal probabilities accumulation between the two classes. However, since the population of the second class is larger and more members voted for ‘no’, it will not be discussed any further.
Figure 2. Probabilities of Yes and No for Selection Topic
The first latent class tends to vote ‘yes’ for the further discussion of ‘Environment topic’, while ‘Rent Freeze ‘, ‘Housing Minister ‘, ‘First Time Buyer ‘, and ‘Social Welfare’ topics tend to be voted yes for further discussion by the members of the second latent class. These last four topics were carried (see table 1) because they were considered as important by most of the TDs. Let us examine the membership of each class.
Figure 3. Class Memberships
In the first class containing 56 members, FG (Fine Gael) accounts for most of the membership, with 45 out of 49 FG representatives present. As for the second class consisting of 100 members, including all of the SF (Sinn Féin) representatives, and 41 out of 43 of the FF (Fianna Fáil) representatives are included. This data shows a higher tendency probability that the SF and FF parties have similar manifestos influencing their voting.
Now from the report of function:
Figure 4. poLCA Output
Figure 4 provides the estimated class population shares, corresponding to the percentage of observations belonging to each latent class. The other way to determine this is through its ‘modal posterior probability’, the result of which is provided as ‘predicted class memberships’. Both results have close resemblance and indicate a good fit of the model to the data.
The rest of the report discloses the number of observations, the number of estimated parameters, residual degrees of freedom, and maximum log-likelihood. Lastly, is the output of goodness of fit statistics. Before two latent classes are chosen for further analysts, there were pre-analysis on a few models.
Table 3. Models containing 2–6 Clusters
In this case, a model with 2 clusters has the lowest BIC, and the model with 4 clusters has the lowest AIC.
In general, it might be best to use AIC and BIC together in model selection. Here, in selecting the number of latent classes in a model, if BIC points to a two-class model and AIC points to a four-class model, it makes sense to select from models with 2, 3, and 4 latent classes. In this research, the lowest ‘Bayesian Information Criterion’ (BIC) is then employed to choose the optimal model, since it induces a higher penalization for models with an intricate parametrization of the value 989.68 (model with 2 clusters). | https://medium.com/@eveline-surbakti/analyzing-voting-patterns-in-the-32nd-d%C3%A1il-%C3%A9ireann-with-polca-in-r-21a12118f976 | ['Eveline Surbakti'] | 2021-01-05 17:10:43.377000+00:00 | ['Voting', 'Ireland', 'R Programming', 'Polca', 'Politics'] |
Bull > series > 5 Episode ~ 2 [s5e2] “full ep” [The Great Divide] | Bull > series > 5 Episode ~ 2 [s5e2] “full ep” [The Great Divide] eric Follow Nov 22 · 4 min read
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❏ 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 identifies the process of delivering or obtaining media in this manner.[clarification needed] Streaming refers to the delivery method of the medium, instead of the medium itself. Distinguishing delivery method from the media distributed applies particularly to telecommunications networks, as almost all of the delivery systems are either inherently streaming (e.g. radio, television, streaming apps) or inherently non-streaming (e.g. books, video cassettes, music CDs). There are challenges with streaming content on the Internet. For instance, users whose Internet connection lacks satisfactory bandwidth may experience stops, lags, or slow buffering of the content. And users lacking compatible hardware or software systems may be unable to stream certain content.
Live streaming is the delivery of Internet content in real-time much as live television broadcasts content over the airwaves with a television signal. Live internet streaming takes a form of source media (e.g. a video camera, an audio tracks interface, screen capture software), an encoder to digitize the content, a media publisher, and a content delivery network to distribute and deliver the content. Live streaming does not need to be recorded at the origination point, although it frequently is.
Streaming is an option to file downloading, a process where the end-user obtains the entire file for this content before watching or listening to it. Through streaming, an end-user can use their media player to get started on playing digital video or digital sound content before the complete file has been transmitted. The word “streaming media” can connect with media other than video and audio, such as live closed captioning, ticker tape, and real-time text, which are considered “streaming text”.
❏ COPYRIGHT CONTENT ❏
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.[1][2][3][4][5] The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is intended to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself.[6][7][8] 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 often 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][9][10][11][12] These rights frequently include reproduction, control over derivative works, distribution, public performance, and moral rights such as attribution.[13]
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 extend 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 inconsistent.[14]
Typically, the public law duration of a copyright expires 50 to 100 years after the creator dies, depending on the jurisdiction. Some countries require certain copyright formalities[5] 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.[15]
❏ 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.[1] In other words, credit is a method of making reciprocity formal, legally enforceable, and extensible 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 extended by a creditor, also known as a lender, to a debtor, also known as a borrower.
FIND US:
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✓ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ | https://medium.com/bull-2020-5x2/bull-series-5-episode-2-s5e2-full-ep-the-great-divide-32b15fa55940 | [] | 2020-11-22 11:46:10.204000+00:00 | ['HTML'] |
I was a Teenage Were Panda: Chapter 3 | Teenage were panda image by Doug Ecks
“So what’s his deal?” Magnus asked Aiko who was sipping her beer and frankly wincing at the taste. A desire to be allowed adult beverages didn’t necessarily translate as a taste for them.
“Oh, he wants to be in charge of the city. Thinks he’s ‘the biggest and the strongest’ that kind of thing.
“Well he might be, decked the ogre with one punch” Magnus said with a bit of awe.
“Yeah, claims he’s the son of a titan. Might actually be for all I know. He wanted to challenge the Rakshasa who ran the city. Never did though.”
“Why not? Afraid he wouldn’t win?”
“That one? He’s not smart enough to be afraid. Just whenever he got stirred up enough Singh, that was his name, would find a distraction for him, you know a little war, or a new girl, or a monster truck rally. I think by the fourth or fifth time he didn’t really even want to take charge anymore, he was just making noises to get a new toy.”
“And now?”
“Well the new guy took charge, which has to upset his pride, since he figured he had dibs. And of course the parade of new toys has stopped.”
“Interesting. You think it’s a challenge or that the new president just doesn’t have even a rudimentary sense of diplomacy.”
“I don’t even think he knows shit about the supernatural community here and cares even less. All he wants is the tithes of money and a bunch of people to genuflect when he comes in the room. Our old leader wouldn’t have let that ogre terrorize my family.”
“He didn’t allow extortion?”
“Of course he did. How’s a city to function without a little grifting and graft. He just would have made sure it was kept at a sustainable level. This turd for brains only cares about his percentage and doesn’t give a shit how short term the operation is.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right” Magnus agreed.
“So what’s your power? Am I saying that right? I don’t know, should I say what species are you?”
“Wow that’s racist” Aiko said.
“Well I’m trying not to be. I said I don’t know how to say it.”
“I’m just giving you shit, white boy. I’m a were panda.”
Magnus spit out his beer. “That’s a thing?”
“Y’up. I can turn into a panda at will. And of course when it’s a full moon. Then whether I want to or not, I grow the black and white fur and claws and start fiending for bamboo shoots.”
Phil had recovered from being thrown and wandered back to the table, getting a drink that looked like a ‘Bloody Mary’ from the bartender.
He looked down at 6 foot six inches of sprawled good ol’ boy. “He’s going to wake up soon and wake up pissed.”
“Probably” Magnus conceded. “But Aiko can just sit on him til he sees reason.”
“Hell no, he’d just pick me up and toss me, even as a panda.”
“Anyway Aiko was just telling me about the ambitions past and present of Zeus here.”
Phil had discussed the matter with both Aiko and her parents before taking on the ogre on their behalf so immediately caught the conversational drift.
“So what do you think would happen if the Trumpster started supplying him with distractions and toys again?”
“I think we’d be fighting a two front war” Aiko said.
Magnus and Phil shared a look. That’s the way they read it as well.
“Great, an extremely powerful, volatile and unreliable ally. Just the change of pace I needed” he said rolling his eyes skyward to show his sarcastic appreciation for whatever gods had seen fit to manage his fate.
“Been down this road before?” Aiko asked.
“Far too many times. Though in my experience they usually came in the unbelievably hot variety.”
“Speak for yourself, I think he’s pretty hot.”
“You’ve just spent the last five minutes explaining why he’s an untrustworthy egomaniac.”
“And that’s incompatible with being hot how?” she asked.
“It’s not” Magnus conceded. “In fact it’s practically de rigeur.”
“You talk pretty” the asian teen said batting her eyes at him.
“You’re way too young and besides, I now know you like the bad boy type” he said with a jerk of his head at the slowly recovering giant who had made it to his knees and then levered himself to his feet.
“Bad boys come in all types” she said with a glance at his missing hand. “That’s pretty strong evidence you were a jerk to at least one girl.” She smiled brilliantly and gave him the eyelashes again. | https://medium.com/@theecksfactordefense/i-was-a-teenage-were-panda-chapter-3-3ea8809d8760 | ['Doug Ecks'] | 2020-12-26 03:51:49.780000+00:00 | ['Urban Fantasy', 'Shapeshifters', 'Paranormal Romance', 'Fiction', 'Science Fiction'] |
WINNER, WINNER, TURKEY DINNER | See what I did there? Too corny?
We do have winners to crown. And for the Salad game we had 2 people tie for the win. Prayformojo and Seanfarrell both tied with 759 points for the win. They will split the combined 1st and 2nd prize. The math works out to 8.75 SBD per person.
Also congratulations to Docortho who finished third with 753 points and will win 2.5 SBD.
Tomorrow I will announce the Salad 100% Prize qualifiers.
Now we are at the point in your day where you go vote for today’s question. Good luck!
All the best,
Jason | https://medium.com/daily-emails/winner-winner-turkey-dinner-1c6bcb81fda7 | [] | 2018-11-20 15:09:03.093000+00:00 | ['Questions', 'Games', 'Crowdini', 'Steemit', 'Steem'] |
Port Barton: Island Hopping | The most popular activity to do across Palawan is island-hopping tours. Some of the coastal towns are beautiful in their own right, but the true beauty of this region lies in the thousands of small islands that scatter across the bays, which you can’t see without a boat.
Port Barton is no exception. When in the town, you will see plenty of these tours advertised. Similar to El Nido, they are advertised as Tour A, Tour B, etc. These all include buffet lunches, life jackets, and mask & snorkels (depending on the locations).
We booked our group tour with our guesthouse, Sunset Colours, as we had read reviews stating theirs was excellent. Their tour takes just one route, which they believe showcases the best that Port Barton has to offer.
On the day, we got very lucky and discovered that it would just be the 2 of us on the tour. Essentially getting a private tour for the cost of a group one! This would be the first island-hopping tour of our trip, so we were ecstatic that it was off to such a good start.
After stepping through the water, avoiding numerous large rocks and climbing up onto the boat, we were on our way. We would get quite familiar with this feeling of being out on sea. Sailing past unbelievable natural beauty at every moment. To finally be doing it for our first time felt amazing and set the tone for what the rest of our trip would look like.
German Island
German Island
We hadn’t asked about our itinerary. So weren’t quite sure what we were going to be seeing on the day. This added a nice element of surprise to each destination.
Our first stop was at a coral reef for a brief stint of snorkelling. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see much fish here (just lots of coral).
Next, we were on route to German Island. We were supposed to stop for more snorkelling just outside the island, but our guide said we should come back after lunch as there were a lot of boats in the area, and that the turtles and fish would be scared away.
Approaching German Island
We spent the next couple of hours on German Island. Part of the island has been turned into a resort where you can camp overnight. There is also a small bar where you can buy drinks. The beach and views here are beautiful, and we had a great time swimming and wandering around. However, it was soon overrun with other happy visitors ready to enjoy the small island.
Our lunch during the tour
Our boat crew prepared a delicious lunch for us including rice, grilled chicken, Filipino eggplant and salad. With the tastiest pineapple I’ve ever eaten for afterwards.
Next, it was off to enjoy the snorkelling while everyone else who came enjoyed their lunch. (The benefits of not being in a massive group!)
Snorkelling (Round 2)
Sea turtle spotted just off German Island
Our boat crew had the right idea beforehand, and we ended up having the area to ourselves. We were lucky enough to see this sea turtle casually swimming around. It’s certainly special seeing animals in their natural habitats!
Double Island
The sand bar in the middle of the island
As the name suggests, our next destination was famous for being two islands connected by a narrow stretch of sand. Here too, there was opportunity to camp overnight. Plenty of seating areas too. I suspect this is a popular place to come for lunch for other group tours if German Island is too busy.
The part that connects the islands was quite rocky. Shoes were needed. Nearby though, there was a beautiful stretch of sand just inches under water that was fun to walk out on and sit in.
We were fairly exhausted by the sun at this point in time, so enjoyed a break of saying nothing to each other and resting our eyes in one of the beach huts. Until our crew came over and let us know it was time for our last stop for the day.
Sand Bar
On the sand bar, surrounded by islands
Our luck for the day continued and we were the only ones here when we first arrived. On arrival, we weren’t quite sure what the fuss was all about. It just looked like a patch of sand in the middle of the ocean. ‘What were we meant to do here?’ we thought to ourselves as we jumped off the boat.
We soon realised that it extended out more than 100 metres (Wouldn’t be able tell you the exact amount as we turned back at a certain point.).
It’s quite a feeling to be able to keep walking out and feeling like you’re standing on top of the ocean. Being surrounded by such natural beauty with such beautiful, colourful tones of turquoise and emerald was the highlight of the day.
Last thoughts
No one will regret doing an island hopping tour in Port Barton. Our only fault was not spending more time in this charming town and getting out on the boat for one more day.
Read more about our time in Port Barton here. | https://medium.com/@afutureaway/port-barton-island-hopping-f38dd9aefc60 | ['A Future Away'] | 2019-02-01 22:53:24.577000+00:00 | ['Travel', 'Palawan', 'Philippines', 'Trip', 'Tourism'] |
Assess but not stress! | Assess but not stress!
“Empathy is the medicine the world needs”- Judith Orloff
Reread this quote and take a minute to understand it. This is the time we can understand this quote better than ever.
We as an individual, as a nation, as a human race are all going through this tough pandemic and all we can do for each other is empathize at this time. It’s a core value that one needs to take account of. One way to do it is to understand the difficulties and problems of others and put yourself in their shoes.
Undoubtedly, this pandemic has been miserable for all of us. Whether it be elders or youngers, teachers or students, parents or children, we all have gone through a tough time. But I empathize the most with the students at this time. They are the pillars of our society and due to the chaos their education has been affected the most. I personally have seen a lot of students who have no idea what their future is going to be they aren’t even sure of which path to take. and the worst thing is they are now also getting deviated from their studies and are losing attention hence I wanted to find a way such that I can help them in directing towards their goal and motivate them.
I being a student can feel the peer pressure each student has on him even at normal situations. Due to this pandemic every student has now to take online classes and most of the students don’t even take the online session due to the unavailability of gadgets or internet connection hence they are missing so much stuff and guidance.
One of the major issues I realized when interviewing a few kids of higher secondary classes was the mismanagement and unfair examinations. Almost all the students don’t take online assessments seriously and have to cheat for the sake of marks and grades. The teachers are also not used to such assessment systems and the markings done don’t prove to be helpful for the students.
Hence, considering the above situation I thought of an idea. When I recalled my time, when I was doing intermediate, I used to take different tests that were not marked and had nothing to do with my grades just so that I can improve and someone can point my mistakes out so that I won’t make these mistakes in my exams. So, I thought of a solution and of taking an initiative. I plan on making a platform for the students where I can prepare mock tests for them according to their grades and syllabus on the same pattern as of the board and ask my teachers, professors and somewhat to my own understanding to assess their responses. A proper feedback will be given to them. Each exam will be virtually invigilated and proper attention will be given to each student within strict time limits.
Conclusively, This idea will help students (especially the ones having their board exams this year) to realize how much they have prepared and how much more they need to. They will also be participating in it for the sake of their improvement as they won’t have the pressure of doing the exam correct and cheat as their tests won’t be graded but only the feedback will be given so that they can perform well in their final board exams. I really wish all of them a very good luck and hope we all get past this situation safely and soundly. Amen. | https://medium.com/@syeda-ariba176/assess-but-not-stress-3db31e4f1a4b | ['Syeda Ariba'] | 2020-12-25 18:38:30.478000+00:00 | ['Pandemic', 'Amal Fellowship', 'Amal Academy', 'Students'] |
Use these three words when dealing with conflict | 👂 Tip: De-escalate a potentially heated interaction with the phrase “That sounds frustrating.”
Ian Rowe, who has talked to approximately 3,380 upset customers throughout his life (he did the math!), shares this advice for communicating with an upset human: Acknowledge their feelings early on. In his Medium story on elevating your conflict game, he writes that a “magic phrase” you can use is “That sounds frustrating.” The words, he explains, do three things: 1) acknowledge the other person’s truth, 2) don’t place any blame on either party, and 3) allow you to start the conversation already agreeing about something. Use the phrase with the goal of finding a solution you both feel good about. “Conflict is not a bad thing,” Rowe writes. “It is integral to any group creative process, and part of how people who disagree find alignment. Since it happens all the time, you are better off to embrace it.”
🤝 More from Forge on transforming your relationships:
10 Conversational Hazards to Avoid During Conflict
Read more >>
Stop Trying to Win an Argument
Read more >>
Go to Bed Angry
Read more >>
The Forge Daily Tip is sent every morning via email. ☀️ Subscribe to the Forge Daily Tip here.
You’re subscribed to receive emails from Forge. You can adjust your settings via the link at the bottom of this email. | https://forge.medium.com/use-these-three-words-when-dealing-with-conflict-2fd81fc1ab6a | ['Michelle Woo'] | 2021-06-08 11:02:36.357000+00:00 | ['Conflict', 'Relationships', 'Conflict Resolution', 'Arguments'] |
Staking Derivatives Is About to Explode | With the launch of the ETH 2.0 deposit contract, the market’s attention to the staking economy has gradually increased. The original writer of this article has been following this track for some time. Today let’s have a closer look at the participants of the Staking Economic Track and how they work.
In order to protect network security, the PoS public chain will be equipped with a staking module, and a high collateral rate can effectively prevent 51% attacks. At the same time, for long-term token holders, a stable risk-free return can be obtained, which is a mutually beneficial thing.
Currently, the majority of public chains in the industry use PoS consensus, and most of the newcomers also choose PoS consensus. According to Staking Rewards, the total market capitalization of PoS assets is currently $36 billion with staking assets of $16 billion. With an average collateralization rate of 43% and an average yield of 20%.
A simple calculation shows that the average revenue of the staking market is $3.2 billion per year, or $320 million per year if the service providers take a 10% commission. With the launch of ETH 2.0, with the current market capitalization of $53 billion, a collateralization rate of 30% would double the amount of staking assets.
Staking increases the security of public chains and allows users to gain benefits. However, there is generally a time limit for removing staking, which will make users bear a large opportunity cost and market risk.
With the rise of DeFi, it provides users with more high-yielding channels, and at the same time, there will be competition between ‘DeFi’ and ‘Staking for assets’; low income from staking will lead to tokens flowing to DeFi, reducing network security; high income from staking will increase inflation and cause multiple negative impacts.
Currently, there are many players in the market exploring solutions to the above problems, both centralized and decentralized solutions. We believe that decentralized solutions are likely to be more widely accepted. Specifically, the user stakes through an intermediate layer, which issues a certificate corresponding to the collateralized asset, which can be traded and circulated in the market while receiving the revenue from staking. The more important point is that this process is implemented by a decentralized network because a decentralized solution will probably be more acceptable to the market due to the uniformity of standards and decentralization than an incompatible solution from different institutions.
Staking and DeFi will no longer be competing for assets, and more importantly, we need to make the network more attractive to those who do not want to participate in staking.
And more importantly, we need to know where the liquidity of these staking assets will go after they are released. As of now, there is no other place to go but DeFi. Currently, staking has $16 billion in assets locked up, and the amount of assets locked up in staking through liquidity solutions is expected to continue to climb. So let’s think about how these new assets entering the DeFi domain will affect the existing DeFi ecosystem. You should know that the real locked-in volume of the DeFi market has just exceeded $10 billion.
Now let’s take a look at who the players are in this space and how they work. | https://medium.com/bifrost-finance/staking-derivatives-is-about-to-explode-9cd6865bbfc9 | ['Bifrost Finance'] | 2020-11-19 07:47:27.713000+00:00 | ['Defi', 'Polkadot', 'Bifrost', 'Stakingderivative', 'Staking'] |
Strategies of affiliate marketing, 2020— AFI Digital Services Noida | If you’re like most people, you apparently wouldn’t mind making a little more bucks from your website. But sometimes, it can be hard to identify where to start. This is why we’re going to show you how to get started with affiliate marketing. It is one of the most successful ways to earn money from a website.
Affiliate marketing is when you sell other people’s products and services, making a small cut of the income for every resulting purchase made. It’s amazingly popular, with 81% of viewed brands using affiliate marketing in one research. And the advantages of penetrating into this market are many. It’s a mostly passive income stream and has a low wall to entry.
So here are few strategies to make affiliated marking successful. Let’s dive in:
The advantages of affiliate marketing
The main ideas to get started with affiliate marketing should be obvious from the preceding example:
You don’t have to build your own commodities, and in many cases don’t require building extra content. Alternatively, you only include affiliate references in your current content.
You can sign up for as many affiliate plans as you’d like. This is good news, as selling popular goods is a clever way to attract more business to your site and increase your brand presentation.
How to get started with affiliate marketing
For most places, the profits of affiliate marketing exceed the drawbacks. It’s especially well-suited to blogs and other sections that publish new content regularly. If you desire to get started with affiliate marketing, just follow these steps.
View your site’s focus
To get the maximum out of affiliate marketing, you’ll want to advertise products and services that will be of benefit to your website’s visitors. That means being transparent about your site’s niche and the requirements of your target audience. People will have to be fascinated enough to both clicks on your affiliate links and make investments.
This suggests you’ll need to consider what obstacles your target viewers have, and what sorts of products can give solutions. You may also want to talk to your present audience directly. Try asking issues through comment prompts and discussions, or even building assigned surveys.
Pick your affiliate programs thoroughly
Once you understand what to look for, you’ll still want to put attention into which stocks you promote. If you choose the wrong ones, you will notice little interest, or even turn people away by bootlegging low-quality items.
You should follow these suggestions whenever feasible when taking affiliate programs:
Start by selling only the products and services you’ve especially used, so you can guarantee their quality.
Thoroughly examine the terms of any affiliate program you’re considering — some require you to disclose the terms of your relationship.
Try to get reviews from different affiliates who’ve operated with the business or company.
If you’re having difficulty getting affiliate programs, consider the goods and services you currently use. For those, you find helpful — and are in conversation with your audience’s requirements — check to view if there’s an associate option. You can also verify out Amazon’s affiliate plan, which gives access to a huge archive of products.
Install affiliate marketing tools on your site
You can manage affiliate marketing on any website, but WordPress users have a definite advantage. There are a lot of wonderful tools out there to assist you to get the maximum from your associate links — several of which are plugins. Adding a dedicated associate marketing tool to your site is one of the best techniques to help guarantee success.
Take ThirstyAffiliates, for example. This plugin supports you add affiliate connections to your site and then build and manage them. You can also add similar images, and follow your links’ statistics. Pretty Links allows many of the same characteristics but concentrates on optimizing your affiliate connections. Both plugins have premium variants giving even more functionality. There are also lots of alternative opportunities to choose from.
Produce quality content
Remember that people won’t click on your affiliate links if you don’t inspire them to. This indicates you should produce high-quality content that improves your conversion rate.
Show your viewers how the affiliate product or service will quickly change their lives. Include extended, carefully-designed Calls to Action (CTAs) that boost clicks. View creating full reports for each affiliate thing, with lots of pictures and complete information. You can also check out thriving examples of existing affiliate content, which you can work as inspiration when running on your own site. The more work you put into your promotional content, the greater the outcomes you’ll see!
Conclusion
Affiliate marketing can seem frightening at first, particularly if you have no knowledge with this kind of monetization. However, it’s really a beginner-friendly way to collect money from your site. The bar to entry is low, and the policy won’t cause any frustrating downtime. If you have no experience in it- don’t worry, just contact the best Affiliate marketing service provider like AFI digital and you are done! | https://medium.com/@DigitalMarketingAnalyst/strategies-of-affiliate-marketing-2020-afi-digital-services-noida-e7bc6cc95e7a | ['Tanishq Singh'] | 2020-06-05 08:39:50.327000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Affiliate Marketing', 'Digital Marketing', 'Marketing Strategies', 'Business Strategy'] |
Batteries & Applications: an overview | When I started working with storage, the need for a good understanding of the different types of batteries became imperative. With time I managed to know and compare the different chemistries, but I lacked a method to choose between them. That is why I decided to propose a simple ranking comparing the different chemistries & analyzing their suitability for different applications.
Just to clarify, the batteries that I am talking about here are the ones used in storage combined with renewable energy, excluding mechanical storage (like pumped hydro storage, compressed air energy or flywheels).
I will be comparing the chemistry functionalities for the following three main applications:
1. Grid services (e.g. frequency response, energy shifting)
2. Behind-the-meter (e.g. solar self-consumption, peak shaving, community storage)
3. Off-grid (e.g. nano-grid, village electrification, island grid)
Types of batteries
The first step in my analysis will be to list the most common types of batteries I have encountered during my years in the market:
1. Lead-based. Lead acid batteries were the first rechargeable battery for commercial use. Depending on some production specs, the battery can be designed as:
a starter battery to crank an engine or
as a deep-cycle or stationary battery which our focus is on. They are composed of grids of lead (normally alloys, except the technology TPPL which stands for Thin Plate Pure Lead), and a deposit of sulfuric acid. Depending on the medium where the acid is in, the lead batteries are classified as:
1.a. Flooded batteries (OPzS) whose main characteristic is that it requires a constant maintenance by regularly filling it with distilled water.
1.b. Sealed AGM batteries. AGM stands for Absorbent Glass Mat. The electrolyte is obviously held in the glass mass. Those batteries have the capacity of recombining hydrogen and oxygen into water and do not require maintenance. Not available in big capacities.
1.c. Sealed gel batteries, or commonly known as VRLA (valve-regulated lead acid) where the electrolyte is gelified. Same advantages as the AGM batteries, but with wider variety of capacities. This type will be our main focus among the lead-based batteries.
1.d. There are other technologies I have heard of such as lead-crystal or lead-carbon batteries but I do not have enough experience or knowledge about them to share more information. If you do, please do not hesitate to contact me and share with us the info that you might have.
2. Lithium Iron Phosphate. Lithium-ion batteries (to not confuse with lithium-metal) are based on the same concept as lead-based batteries. They contain a cathode, an anode and an electrolyte. The cathode is normally a Li-Metal-Oxide and the anode consists of porous carbon. Many metals have been used, but the most famous alloy is the Iron Phosphate (LFP or LiFePO4).
3. NMC. Another type of Lithium-based batteries, with Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide as the metallic alloy.
4. NiCd. Nickel-cadmium batteries were the next batteries invented after the lead acid ones. They offer several advantages, like good performance in high ambient temperatures, although they are expensive (compared to lead).
5. Flow. A redox flow battery is a battery based on two components dissolved in liquids separated by a membrane. The concept behind it is like fuel cells but the ionic solution or electrolyte is not stored in the cell itself and rather in other storage tanks. They are named redox batteries due to the electrochemical reaction of reduction-oxidation. The most known flow battery is the vanadium redox battery that uses vanadium ions for the redox reaction.
Am I missing any other important storage chemistry? Please let me know.
What should I compare?
Now that I have defined the list of batteries that I would like to work on and analyze, the first question that arises is: what are the parameters that I should compare? And moreover, what is the purpose for choosing each parameter?
1. Number of cycles. A cycle is the process of discharging and charging the batteries. The no. of cycles directly affects the life span of a battery. For example, a good VRLA cell can reach up to 3 000 cycles. This value is highly dependable on the Depth of Discharge (DoD) of the battery and the temperature. The deeper we discharge a battery and the higher the temperature is, the fewer cycles the battery will have.
2. Specific power. Specific power is a power-to-weight ratio. Some batteries as we will see have a high specific energy but they are incapable of providing high currents in short times. Loads that require inrush currents like pumps or motor-based systems can damage batteries that are not suitable for high demand of power.
3. Energy density is the ratio between the energy that the battery can provide and its volume. It is also common to analyze the specific energy, which is the ratio between the energy and the mass of the battery. Many applications require our attention regarding the required space for the storage system, for example, in household applications or in cases when the logistical part of a remote rural area project.
4. Efficiency. Efficiency has an important role in two aspects: economical & environmental. Any Wh of energy that is not used to power a load is an amount of money that has not been earned. But it is also an amount of energy that is only transformed to heat. This in turn increases the energy demand which might result in increased CO2 emissions.
5. Cost. Price is and will always be a sensitive and crucial requirement. We need to provide solutions that can be affordable and competitive, with a reasonable return of investment (RoI) rate.
Comparison
Now that I have listed the parameters and the different chemistries, below you can find some graphs to visualize and compare the results.
VRLA batteries
Lead-acid batteries are the best solution for cost-sensitive projects. They are robust and with a long record of robustness and reliability. Unfortunately, their cycling is low compared with all new developed technologies like Li-ion or flow batteries. I would highly recommend them for rural areas electrification projects, remote areas and some small telecom systems. | https://medium.com/@mezzouji/batteries-vs-applications-an-overview-1992dbea7256 | ['Sulaimane Mezzouji'] | 2020-12-27 18:46:54.935000+00:00 | ['Batteries Market Trends', 'Energy', 'Grid', 'Batteries Industry', 'Renewable Energy'] |
Public domain for climate | Public domain for climate
Frame from the #ZEROWASTECULTURE Animation, CC-BY SA 4.0.
During the summer of the 2020 pandemic, Centrum Cyfrowe (Polish think tank working with digital culture) partnered with the Polish School Strike for Climate and the hip-hop collective Kompost to create three viral animations explaining the cause and potential effects of the drought in Poland. The animations appeared on the social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, Youtube) of the organization. In the videos, we made use of graphics available through Creative Commons licenses and the public domain.
#ZeroWasteCulture Animation,
CC BY-SA 4.0.
Culture, especially pop culture, is based on, reproduces, and sublimates social fears. It’s hardly surprising that people reach for topics about the end of the world and the coming climate crisis. One of the challenges the modern world poses to our culture is not how to talk about the crisis, but rather how to wade through a glut of discussions. The United Nations has developed a list of sustainable development goals that cultural institutions can use to guide their operations and work for the public good, and the Museums for Climate Manifesto likewise discusses these realities. The recommendations include taking control of the waste created by the organization, as well as larger points about ethical management. One example of responsible recommended actions (in the digital sense) for cultural institutions is to avoid overproducing content, and instead partner with other organizations and focus on what your organization can bring to the table in terms of resources while letting your partner handle their end.
These above-mentioned inspirations led to a collaboration between Centrum Cyfrowe, the School Strike for Climate, and the musical group Kompost as part of the #NoWorries campaign. Instead of creating our own content, which would only compete with information already available, we decided to take part in a different way, strengthening the message of a different organization and including a context that was important to us.
#ZeroWasteCulture Animation,
CC BY-SA 4.0.
“Today our problem lies — it seems — in the fact that we do not yet have ready narratives not only for the future, but even for a concrete now, for the ultra-rapid transformations of today’s world.” – Olga Tokarczuk, Nobel Lecture
The public domain includes resources (available physically and on the Internet) that can be used without any limitations — these limitations usually stem from the creator’s economic rights, which expire (in Poland) 70 years after the death of the creator. Along with works available through free licenses, the public domain is a common good, or commons, belonging to anyone who wishes to make use of it. We believe that entering a creative dialogue with the past, making use of its riches — especially artistically — can help us create new and important works that are a direct response to the issues we face today. Making use of open resources to discuss the climate crisis is one such example — it encourages people to recycle already existing resources, and to creatively think about how the past can be material for today’s burning issues.
Promotional video for the campaign explaining what about Public Domain is (you can turn English subtitles on!), CC BY-SA 4.0.
The videos, whose keyframes were created by Ewelina Gąska Studio, and then animated by Tomasz Kuczarczyk, have been viewed over 46,000 times. The #NoWorries campaign, which we are now wrapping up, was aimed at promoting open resources and their ease of use, as well as explaining the ins and outs of copyright law to young creators. As part of our Internet campaign, we also created AR Instagram filters, which transport users into paintings from the National Museum in Warsaw and the National Gallery of Denmark. We sincerely hope that our works will continue to reach users, virally increasing our message of the public domain and the artistic possibilities available.
The Polish language version of the above text has been originally published on the website dedicated to the #NoWorries campaign and you can find it here. | https://medium.com/@alicja-peas/public-domain-for-climate-58396ff6b850 | ['Alicja Peszkowska'] | 2020-12-10 14:30:04.737000+00:00 | ['Climate Change', 'Digital Culture', 'Climate Action', 'Public Domain'] |
There’s No Way to Know Until You Go | If you can’t stop thinking about:
that job
that love interest
going somewhere you’ve never been
starting something, anything.
By all means, do your due diligence. Hunt down every fact, research and double-check facts and stories. Speak with others who were there, are there, can offer a perspective.
Prepare. Be smart. Have a plan and a back-up plan and a back-up plan for the back-up plan if that’s what you need.
Ask for advice. Seek out experts and advisers who are either impartial or neutral to you and what you want to know.
Learn as much as you can — as wide and deep and far as you want to go.
But don’t confuse anticipation, preparation, imagining for the actual doing.
There is no way to know without doing. What they saw, felt, learned may not align with your experience.
You’re different individuals at different points of time, coming at this adventure from different life experiences, dreams, and expectations.
Stay open.
Live your own experience. Learn your own lessons.
Some day when someone asks you about the adventure, share what you experienced, learned, wish you did differently. Ask them smart questions. Wish them well — and ask them to pay it forward when it’s time to share their own adventure stories. | https://medium.com/@louisefoerster/theres-no-way-to-know-until-you-go-156b50b082bb | ['Louise Foerster'] | 2019-03-21 04:16:01.138000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Creativity', 'Risk', 'Work', 'Travel'] |
Future of Cryptocurrency | The recent cryptocurrency boom and it’s parent technology-blockchain is hard to overlook. Though this technology is breaking different historical thresholds, have you ever wondered what will be the future scope of cryptocurrencies? Where will be it 5 years down the line?
Future of Cryptocurrency
By far, we know that bitcoin is a decentralised ledger which uses peer to peer technology and is free from any central authority. This makes it different from fiat currency. Currently, the worth of any cryptocurrency depends on what investors can shell for it at this point of time. Also, if a crypto exchange shuts down, clients with existing crypto balances have no recourse to get them back. This is what the current scenario says.
Let us look at some facts and figures by a few crypto enthusiasts
Famous Venture capitalist Tim Draper predicts that bitcoin will reach $250,000 by 2021. He had earlier predicted that it would reach $10,000 by 2017. He predicted these values based on the future prospect of cryptocurrencies-they can be easily used by everyone.
The present value of traditional currency around the world is $80 trillion. Analysts believe that by 2024, the worth of crypto would rise to $100 trillion and that of base currencies would come down to $30 trillion.
With the increasing popularity, users forecast that in the next 5 years there would be many different forms of cryptocurrency released.
NASDAQ is open and in talks with the Federal Reserve to open a government headed crypto exchange.
The efforts taken by the government and various predictions by analysts and experts clearly depicts that the primary currency is going to be under test and we may experience a revolution over a decade’s time.
A peek into the future.
In the past few months, we haven’t seen any major changes technologically. But we for sure know that the industry is maturing. With more number of people learning to build blockchain projects, increasing numbers of ICOs and the obvious fact that has seen an increasing number of funds being invested in this space has increased multifold. With all these changes the market seems to be maturing with each passing day.
Looking at the future 12–18 months, it is believed that the technology will upgrade itself. Bitcoin will be made more powerful, by increasing its transaction speeds and lower costs. Useless projects from the ICO industry will start to disappear as the investor starts becoming more cautious. The day when crypto currencies become a part of our daily lives is not far.
All we wish to look at is the future with DApps and tokens where every project holds real value and the technology to be stronger than today. With so many corporates opening up crypto cells today, it is evident that these digital currencies are not here to be a bubble. Maybe a few major names may wash of but the underlying technology and the concept will not bid farewell. It is here to set its base and haunt is for a few more decades to come.
If you are looking at any development or an idea you want to convert into a blockchain project or an ICO, reach out to me at [email protected]. We can help you realize your vision. | https://medium.com/blockinventors/future-of-cryptocurrency-3da9775dac8f | ['Akshay Gokalgandhi'] | 2018-05-15 08:46:01.311000+00:00 | ['Future Of Crypto', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'Blockinventors', 'Dapps'] |
Who Invented the Hard Hat? | There is not a visitor or worker on a construction site that you won’t see wearing one of these, a hard hat! If you haven’t worn one, they are actually very fun to wear. Light in weight, there is a special crank including that adjusts to your head size, ensuring it is snug to your head for safety. Hard hats protect from falling objects, debris and head injuries.
DID YOU KNOW: A 100 years ago — in 1919 — Edward W. Bullard invented the hard hat, which today is one of the most recognized safety products in the world and is responsible for saving thousands of lives over the past century.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_hat
#constructionhistory #constructionlife #construction #constructionsafety #safety #sitesafety #constructionfacts | https://medium.com/@harbr/who-invented-the-hard-hat-ae96e532c670 | ['Harbr Inc.'] | 2020-12-23 18:27:10.395000+00:00 | ['Hard Hat', 'Site', 'Construction', 'Site Safety', 'Safety'] |
Tech & Telecom news — Jul 15, 2019 | RETAIL
Amazon is holding its annual “Prime Day” today, looking to increase the number of Prime subscriptions, a “vital tool” that is increasingly at the core of the company’s strategy, as a way to increase loyalty and customers’ lifetime value (current US Prime subscribers, 50–60% US households, would have a net value of approx. $190bn, or $3,000 per subscriber) (Story)
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
E-sports
In spite of live streaming games having become a much more competitive field, with Google, Facebook and Microsoft having recently entered the space, Amazon’s Twitch continues to lead the market by far, with a 72.2% share of the total hours watched in 2Q19 (2.7bn hours in the three months) vs. YouTube Live (19.5%) and Facebook Gaming (5.3%) (Story)
Enterprise
A big win for Amazon in the enterprise market, after a US federal judge has ruled against a demand by Oracle on potential conflicts of interest in the award of the massive $10bn “JEDI” cloud computing contract for the Pentagon. Now it seems AWS will get the deal, but Congress is also asking the Defense Dept. to commit for a later transition to a multi-cloud solution (Story)
The top AI executive from Cloudera, a Software-as-a-Service analytics company, claims that the current low success rate of enterprise AI projects is related to data scientists and technologists having too much decision power, when this should actually be in the hands of product managers, with deeper knowledge of the actual business problems to be solved (Story)
Regulation
Shift of regulation to a more active attitude against tech giants looks like a structural change, at least in the US, where even after the FTC imposing a $5bn fine to Facebook for violations of promises to protect users’ privacy, new investigations are being launched on the company, about antitrust issues and about the implications of their new cryptocurrency, Libra (Story)
HARDWARE ENABLERS
Components
South Korea’s enormous dependence on semiconductor exports, which represented 92% of the country’s export growth in 2018, is now backfiring, as trade conflicts and a cyclical fall in chip prices are hurting the country’s commercial balance to the point of reducing the total number of exports and slowing down GDP growth (Story)
Quantum computing
IBM continues its “educational” campaign about the big opportunity of quantum computing, In a chip manufacturing industry event last week, they presented their IBM Q system and explained their current efforts to reduce “noise” and enable more powerful sets of qubits, but also recognized that it could take years before quantum computers can beat classical ones (Story)
SOFTWARE ENABLERS
Artificial Intelligence
Elon Musk’s Neuralink, the company which is building brain-computer interfaces with the vision to better integrate humans and increasingly powerful AI systems, will present an update of their activities this week. Apparently, they have been concentrating on “easier” initial targets, like addressing medical conditions like epilepsy or depression (Story)
In a webinar last week, AI “celebrity scientist” Y LeCun claimed that the future of the field is in unsupervised learning, a technique by which algorithms learn to extract patterns in data entirely on their own. These systems have been increasingly used in natural language processing, to find how different words are interrelated, but are still rare in other applications (Story)
Privacy
“Smart cities”, where sensors and cameras collect data for algorithms to improve daily life, e.g. increasing vehicle safety or controlling pollution, are becoming a reality. Only in China, up to 500 projects would be under way. But, as this opinion piece at the FT points out, this has implicit privacy trade-offs, with data-collection systems also enabling mass surveillance (Story) | https://medium.com/tech-telecom-news/tech-telecom-news-jul-15-2019-371a5e901ae5 | ['S Winwood'] | 2019-07-15 06:55:39.702000+00:00 | ['Artificial Intelligence', 'Cloud Computing', 'Smart Cities', 'Privacy', 'Semiconductors'] |
Machine Learning and Plastic Surgery | The following is from a press release on my recent publication on the applications of machine learning in plastic surgery. Full article available here.
With an aim to improve patient outcomes and medical care, researchers continue to explore the use of machine learning.
Considered a subfield of artificial intelligence, machine learning could be a way to handle the growing volume of electronic data information present in the healthcare industry. The May issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), provides an overview of machine learning and a glimpse of how it could contribute to advances in plastic surgery.
“Machine learning has the potential to become a powerful tool in plastic surgery, allowing surgeons to harness complex clinical data to help guide key clinical decision making,” Jonathan Kanevsky, MD Plastic Surgery resident of McGill University, Montreal, and colleagues say in a media release from Wolters Kluwer Health. “They highlight some key areas in which machine learning and Big Data could contribute to progress in plastic and reconstructive surgery.”
Machine learning uses historical data to create algorithms with the ability to acquire knowledge, according to Kanevsky and colleagues in the release. Examples of successful machine learning include the IBM Watson Health cognitive computing system and the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program used by the American College of Surgeons.
AI can be used to classify skull abnormalities in infants. Click here for the video
The authors believe plastic surgery can also benefit from “objective and data-driven machine learning approaches” and hope to apply machine learning with the ASPS’s Tracking Operations and Outcomes for Plastic Surgeons’ database.
Five areas show particular promise in improving efficiency and outcomes in the industry. These areas include burn surgery, hand and peripheral nerve surgery, microsurgery, craniofacial surgery, and aesthetic surgery.
AI could be used for the automatic quantification of the surface area of a burn
Another application of machine learning could be in the area of plastic surgery training, but the authors stressed computer-generated algorithms will not replace the human eye.
AI could be used to classify and quantify facial features to assist in aesthetic and reconstructive facial surgery.
“These are tools that not only may help the decision-making process but also find patterns that might not be evident in analysis of smaller data sets of anecdotal experience,” Kanevsky and co-authors conclude, per the release. “By embracing machine learning, modern plastic surgeons may be able to redefine the specialty while solidifying their role as leaders at the forefront of scientific advancement in surgery.” | https://medium.com/health-ai/machine-learning-and-plastic-surgery-95a8d75a631d | ['Jon Kanevsky', 'Md'] | 2017-09-20 18:09:56.068000+00:00 | ['Plastic Surgery', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Machine Learning', 'Health', 'Big Data'] |
Energi Security Press Report — Masternode Scammer Identified Feb. 2019 | The anatomy of scammers.
If you think you aren’t at risk of being scammed, then you’re likely at risk of being a victim. Anyone can be caught in a financial scam, but some people are in greater peril than others. The most vulnerable people are those who would least expect to be scammed.
The UK Scammer’s PM to a victim, posing as a Support member of a separate project.
People think of the stereotypical financial fraud victim as a frail elderly person living alone who probably have reduced cognitive functions. The fact is that type of person is likely to be a victim of financial abuse, usually by a caretaker or relative. Financial abuse is different from fraud. Research done in the last few years, including a study sponsored by AARP, indicates fraud victims are far from that stereotype. The research presents both a profile of those most likely to be scammed and also the times when each of us is most vulnerable.
What to do if you are a Scam target?
1. Don’t Be Embarrassed
Unless you posted your private key on a public forum for everyone to see, you have nothing to be ashamed about if you get scammed.
With so many victims each year, the odds are high that you will be one too eventually.
2. Containment.
When a breach is first discovered, your initial instinct may be to securely delete everything so you can just get rid of it. However, that will likely hurt you in the long run since you’ll be destroying valuable evidence that you need to determine where the breach started and devise a plan to prevent it from happening again.
Tip:
“Don’t delete conversation history or any data, as it may provide valuable evidence”
Instead, contain the breach so it doesn’t spread and cause further damage to your business. If you can, disconnect affected devices from the Internet. Have short-term and long-term containment strategies ready. It’s also good to have a redundant system back-up to help restore business operations. That way, any compromised data isn’t lost forever.
This is also a good time to update and patch your systems, review your remote access protocols (requiring mandatory multi-factor authentication), change all user and administrative access credentials and harden all passwords.
3. Eradication.
Once you’ve contained the issue, you need to find and eliminate the root cause of the breach. This means all malware should be securely removed, systems should again be hardened and patched, and updates should be applied.
Whether you do this yourself or hire a third party to do it, you need to be thorough. If any trace of malware or security issues remains in your systems, you may still be losing valuable data, and your liability could increase.
4. Report the Crime
It’s important to report the scam to the proper authorities or someone who can help. Though it may be difficult to overcome the shaming, reporting the crime helps agencies and cybersecurity experts that fight fraud to understand what scammers say and do to catch their victims.
Over half of reported scams to Energi’s EBI are solved.
Most crimes reported crimes to Energi’s EBI are solvable where an “Action Fraud report” can be submitted to police authorities on a real criminal investigation. If you have been the victim of a scam, it can be extremely distressing.
It won’t always be possible to get your money back if you’ve been scammed, but if you are ashamed and stay silent about it, you are further helping out the scammers. As they can continue scamming the next victim.
For more information on The Energi Bureau of Investigations and to read our Security Press Report, please visit the links below:
Energi Security Press Report — February 2019 | https://medium.com/energi/energi-security-press-report-masternode-scammer-identified-feb-2019-8120d7234b6 | ['Energi Cryptocurrency'] | 2019-02-24 19:39:59.894000+00:00 | ['Announcements', 'Security', 'Blockchain', 'Energi', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Who Do You Trust? | Who Do You Trust?
By Mark
The Flint Water Crisis is an ongoing crisis that started way back in 2014. It was decided that, to save the city of Flint some money, they would switch the source of the drinking water from the great lakes they had been using, to the river that ran through the city.
You might shrug and say, ‘so what’? Well, the problem with this was that the Flint River hadn’t been used as a water source for many years and now contained old tyres, shopping trollies and god knows what else.
Shortly after the switch, residents began complaining that the water coming out of their taps was brown. Then things began to get really serious.
Children, and adults, where coming out in rashes, people where ending up in hospital with pneumonia type symptoms, that would later be revealed as Legionnaire’s disease.
Miscarriages went up, reading scores amongst children went down, and more and more health issues were raised in the years following the switch. In some homes the tested level of lead in the water was 13,500 parts per billion (ppb). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends levels be no more than 15ppb and water contaminated with 5,000ppb of lead is classed as hazardous waste.
So, obviously, this being a Western country, one of the richest nations on Earth, the government swiftly stepped in and solved it all, right? Wrong, oh so wrong. This crisis is still ongoing, the people of Flint still do no trust the water supply that comes into their homes.
It was residents who opted to bring in an external scientist from Virginia Tech to sample the water. But when he suddenly switched sides and began helping the governor, who many blamed for the crisis in the first place, a new group stepped in to be the saviours.
Enter stage right, Water Defense, the group backed by actor Mark Ruffalo, and their “scientist” Scott Smith. I say scientist because, as many point out, he wasn’t a scientist, isn’t a scientist, he’s an inventor and is terrible at backtracking and apologising.
It’s also telling that Water Defense no longer exists, gone to the great scrapyard in the sky, probably for the best.
Flint is directed by British director Anthony Baxter and written by Richard Phinney with narration by Alec Baldwin. It’s the latter who, after seeing an early cut of the film, decides to visit the residents of Flint, shocked as he is about the lack of action from the government, wondering why these people stay in the city.
Flint is a shocking story, something you can’t quite believe would happen in one of the richest countries in the world. The lack of input from the government, the fact that the governor kept his job, wasn’t sent to jail, the whole thing stinks. If that’s what the ‘land of the free’ looks like, you can keep it. | https://medium.com/@ocmoviereviews/flint-review-20da6dde6f6e | ['Oc Movie Reviews'] | 2020-11-22 21:00:50.395000+00:00 | ['Movie Review', 'Film Review', 'Documentary', 'Flint'] |
European / London Session News Wrap | Big day ahead for North American traders!
Headlines
UK’s Gove: There can be scope for compromise on fisheries (8:20 GMT)
Ireland deputy PM, Leo Varadkar, also says he thinks Boris Johnson is also willing to make concessions.
Brexit: Johnson, Von Der Leyen meeting expected to start at 19:00 GMT later on today (9:07 GMT)
In the meantime, it’ll just be more about going through the rumour mill.
Ireland’s Coveney: UK has sent signal that it wants to rebuild trust (10:10 GMT)
Referring to the deal “in principle” on the Northern Ireland border checks from yesterday.
Summary
It was another European session riddled with Brexit headlines, with the main event yet to come in Brussels later today. GBP rose on hopes of a significant breakthrough.
As we see more of a risk-on tilt in the market ahead of North American trading, we saw risk currencies gain strength across the board against safe haven like currencies.
What are we looking for ahead
Brexit is still the key focus but we will also have the Bank of Canada (BoC) decision later on as well as more US stimulus talks. | https://medium.com/@maroun4x/european-london-session-news-wrap-dc5db4fc2332 | ['Alexander Hannoun'] | 2020-12-09 14:01:18.932000+00:00 | ['News', 'Forex', 'Money', 'Brexit', 'Forex Trading'] |
Autoencoders: Neural Networks for Unsupervised Learning | Thus far, we’ve covered a very simplistic example; however, auto-encoders in practice are not far off in intuition. Recall that the blue and green arrows are simply functions that convert a large set of features into a smaller set of features and vice versa. Since neural networks are essentially complicated functions (recall Part 1a), we can use neural networks as the blue and green arrows! And that, in essence, is an auto-encoder!
An auto-encoder uses neural networks for the blue and green arrow that compresses and reconstructs the data respectively.
Just for terminology sake, we call the blue arrow the encoder and the green arrow the decoder. The smaller set of features that represent the data is called the encoding.
Now that we understand what the auto-encoder is trying to do, how do we train it? After all, we said at the start that labels are required to train our neural network! For this, we require some clever engineering based on some astute observations.
The first thing that we might have tried to do is to try to train the encoder and decoder as separate neural networks. However, we soon face the problem that we do not know the ground truth of what the encoding (compressed set of features) ought to be. There is no label to say that the input features should correspond to this particular encoding. Thus, it’s impossible to train our encoder! Without the encoder, we will not have the encoding and thus we have no input features to the decoder! This makes it impossible to train our decoder as well!
The problem of training a neural network for a blue and green arrow separately: we do not have the label for the encoder nor the input data for our decoder.
You might be wondering why I say that the decoder has labels in the table above. Where did these labels come from? After all, we do not have any external labels.
We must ask ourselves: What is the objective of the decoder? What is the ‘ground truth’ value that we are trying to output?
Let’s take an example. Suppose we wish to encode an image of a cat into some compressed set of features. The point of the decoder is to reconstruct the image of the cat. What is the ‘ground truth’ label for the decoder? The original image of the cat!
The ground truth label of the decoder is the original image of the cat, since the decoder is trying to reconstruct that image from the encoding.
Ok, so we have a label for the decoder. But that doesn’t solve our initial problem: we don’t have the label for the encoder and the input for the decoder.
To address this problem, we train the encoder and decoder as one large neural network rather than separately. The input features for our encoder is the input features for our large neural network. The label for our decoder is the label for our large neural network. This way, we have both the input features and label necessary to train our neural network:
From our above table, we saw that we had no label to the encoder and no input data to the decoder. By combining them, we get both the input data and label to our larger neural network.
It is not by accident that I called the encoding a “neuron” in the simplistic example I gave earlier. The output of the encoder is a set of neurons that forms the encoding (compressed set of features). The input of the decoder is the very same set of neurons in the encoding (compressed set of features). Since the input of a layer in the neural network is the output of the neurons in the previous layer, we can combine the encoder and decoder into a giant neural network like this:
A simplistic auto-encoder, where the three input features in blue are encoded into two features within the encoding, and then reconstructed to the three features in green.
Notice that while the encoder is on the left side and the decoder is on the right side, together they form one big neural network with three layers (blue, orange and green).
Of course, auto-encoders in practice have more layers in the encoder and decoder. In fact, they don’t even have to be fully-connected layers like we’ve shown above. Most image auto-encoders will have convolutional layers, and other layers we’ve seen in neural networks. The one thing they must have, however, is a bottleneck layer that corresponds to the encoding.
The point of the auto-encoder is to reduce the feature dimensions. If, in the above diagram, we had four orange neurons instead of two, then our encoding has more features than the input! This totally defeats the purpose of auto-encoders in the first place.
So now that we’ve got our large neural network architecture, how do we train it? Recall that the label of the decoder is now the label of this large neural network, and the label of the decoder was our original input data. Therefore, the label for our large neural network is exactly the same as the original input data to this large neural network!
For us to apply our neural networks and whatever we’ve learnt in Part 1a, we need to have a loss function that tells us how we are doing. We then find the best parameters that minimizes the loss function. This much has not changed. In other tasks, the loss function comes from how far away our output neuron is from the ground truth value. In this task, the loss function comes from how far away our output neuron is from our input neuron!
Given that the task is to encode and reconstruct, this makes intuitive sense. If the output neurons match the original data points perfectly, this means that we have successfully reconstructed the input. Since the neural network has a bottleneck layer, it must then mean that the fewer set of features in the encoding contains all the data it needs, which means we have a perfect encoder. This is the gold standard. Now, the auto-encoder may not be perfect, but the closer we can get to this gold standard, the better.
In essence, training an auto-encoder means:
Training a neural network with a ‘bottleneck layer’ within our neural network. The bottleneck layer has less features than the input layer. Everything to the left of the bottleneck layer is the encoder; everything to the right is the decoder.
The label that we compare our output against is the input to the neural network. Since we now have a label, we can apply our standard neural network training that we’ve learnt in Part 1a and Part 1b as though this was a Supervised Learning task.
And there we have it, our auto-encoder!
Summary: An auto-encoder uses a neural network for dimensionality reduction. This neural network has a bottleneck layer, which corresponds to the compressed vector. When we train this neural network, the ‘label’ of our output is our original input. Thus, the loss function we minimize corresponds to how poorly the original data is reconstructed from the compressed vector. | https://medium.com/intuitive-deep-learning/autoencoders-neural-networks-for-unsupervised-learning-83af5f092f0b | ['Joseph Lee Wei En'] | 2019-02-18 07:09:20.531000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Deep Learning', 'Introduction', 'Unsupervised Learning', 'Autoencoder'] |
The Most Uplifting Piece You’ll Read All Week | I love you. I want you to know that. I don’t say it often enough. You are a wonderfully unique and beautifully realized individual of infinite worth whose essence will echo throughout the halls of eternity. I am me and you are you and nothing could be more perfect. Life presents challenges for us, as life will do, but we are resilient and we are agile and we are wise and we will navigate these challenges with our wide array of skills that we’ve accumulated over a lifetime of noble struggles. We will not be defeated. We will be knocked down and we will stand back up. We may suffer, but we will endure and we will turn that suffering into empathy for our brothers and sisters. We will breathe in the pain and breathe out compassion. There is nothing we cannot accomplish if we set our minds to it. You may not think you are a smart person. You may fancy yourself a genius. Either way, you have the tools necessary to build a life of meaning and purpose for yourself. You have the tools necessary to paint the contents of your soul on a canvas and watch it all come to life before your eyes. We are soldiers. We are heroes. We are sinners and we are saints. We are angels and we are demons. We are our own best friends and our own worst enemies. We are complex and hypocritical and flawed and sublime and unsurpassed in our likeness to God. Shame stalks us and we refuse to give it space. We have nothing to be ashamed of. Every day we do our best to be our best. Our mere presence in this world is an affirmation of God’s love for us. We are alive, baby. Ain’t it grand?
Your mind may already be attempting to dismiss or diminish these words. I would ask that you, for a few minutes at least, relinquish your cynicism. Let’s be earnest for a change. The world is drowning in irony. You may have nay-sayers who tell you all the reasons why your dreams will never materialize, why you can never manifest your deepest desires. Shut them out and shut them down. You are a spark of divine inspiration and you are capable of creating miracles. You are forever more-than. Achieving your goals takes time, patience, determination, courage and a tremendous work ethic, but if you want it, it’s yours for the taking. No one else in this world can do what you can do. Maybe you don’t want to found your own successful startup or write the great American novel. Maybe you want teach 5th grade, write poetry on the side and raise your three kids, and you want to knock it out the park. There is no judgment. It all comes down to this: are you being the fullest expression of yourself? Because that’s what the world needs right now. It needs people to step into their own. If more people honored their true selves, the self that is unfailingly honest, kind, noble, loving, accepting and brave, then we would not be living in madness and social decay. We can do this. As individuals and as a society, we can do this. Our lives and the future of our civilization are at stake. Be the person that scares you because of how loving and generous they are. They may intimidate you with their unfettered altruism and highest regard for others, but don’t push them away, embrace their light. When your true self is finally revealed you may think it is an impostor. That is how far we’ve been led astray by our culture of greed, deceit and amoral mayhem. Stated simply, you are good enough to be the best version of yourself.
Hope springs eternal. We must have faith in ourselves, faith in our species and faith that fate is not out to destroy us. The universe is not inimical towards us. It wants to see us thrive. It supports all the life that resides within it. We should reserve a night for star gazing and we should look up at the twinkling firmament and be grateful that we are here, inextricably bound to this celestial majesty. Someone dreamed us up one day and now we are citizens of eternity. Now we hold the keys to intelligent infinity. We get so bogged down in the details of daily living that we end up staring at our toes instead of considering that we are an indispensable part of a glorious creation that extends beyond all knowing. You may not be a spiritual person and you don’t need to be, but you can’t deny that we came from stardust and to stardust we shall return. I think there is a God. I’ve felt Her exactly twice in my life. Both times She snuck up on me and both times I experienced awe, and I’m not an ‘awe’ type of person. But I also felt awe the other day when I was staring up at skeletal oak trees. It was early morning, the street was quiet and I just looked up at these towering trees and I thought to myself, ‘They’re so patient, they’re just standing there in their stoic silence, so calm and so patient.’ Then I considered the fact that they were life. They were life climbing out of the ground and sprouting up over the rooftops. What marvelous specimens! How lucky are we to share space with these ancient artifacts of nature? I planted a tiny tree in the backyard when I was nine. It’s well over fifteen feet tall at this point. It’s an impressive tree and the fact that it will still be there when I’m dead and gone provides me with an enormous sense of relief. I left behind something that will outlive me. Isn’t that what everyone wants?
Now let me get super-serious for a moment, if I may. I have something to tell you that you need to hear. You are not alone. Did you catch that? If you are reading this and you feel isolated because of the virus, or if you’re alone because of your lack of solid relationships to your family and friends, just know that we’re in this together. If you’re feeling depressed, I feel you. I am too. If you’re feeling anxious and overwhelmed, I got you. I am too. If you’re feeling irritable and angry, I have your back. I am too. If you’re feeling sad, hopeless or downright sick of yourself, don’t beat yourself up about it. I am too. I stand with you in solidarity and I just want you to know that I’m here for you. You’re not random strangers on the internet to me, you are people who are choosing to generously donate their time to me and I want to make sure you get your money’s worth. And I want to make sure that you know that I care what happens to you. I care about how you’re feeling. If it’s a shitty day for you, I’m sorry for that. If it’s been a string of shitty days, I hope that soon you’ll see the light peeking through the storm clouds.
You can do anything. You can reach inside yourself and pull out exactly what you need to get the job done. You have what it takes. Don’t let others define you. Get to know yourself better so you become the ultimate authority on you and no one can ever bring something to your attention that will pull the rug out from underneath you. Be ruthlessly honest with yourself. And don’t judge yourself for anything that comes to light. We all deal with darkness. It’s part of the human experience. Don’t let it scare you off from doing the internal work necessary for getting to know the real you. Remember, you were built to be here. You belong here. You’ve earned your seat at the table. Earth is the school of hard knocks and it takes a brave soul to come here voluntarily. But you came here to learn. Everything is a lesson. The lesson you will learn today is that you are the most exceptional person you will ever meet. People pay 80–100 bucks, sometimes more, to stand in a long line and have their picture taken with a celebrity at a convention. You are a celebrity. You should be giving yourself chills. What a thing it is to be human. What a thing it is to be the only you in all of creation. People should be grateful for having met you. Realize that every day spent with yourself is a day spent with a living miracle.
It’s time to step into your power. It’s time to claim your inner godhood. Our time here is limited, so there is no reason to hold back. Honestly, we have only death to answer to. What is there to be afraid of? Transient, arbitrary authority? A system designed to crush souls? The fatuous depiction of a wrathful God? We are all peers, no matter what the ranks and titles say. We all move through the same spaces, we all want, more or less, the same things, and we are all temporal corporeal entities with immortal souls dwelling within us. Fear no one. Life is too short. Give it everything you have. Push, push and keep pushing. Keep your conscience clear by being kind to yourself and others. Sometimes life is a war and we feel like we’re losing. But we are all one. That is the truth. Thus love is the truth. Thus in the end love always wins. We just have to take a few detours along the way there. Do something nice for yourself today. Something special. You deserve it.
Peace and love,
Timothy | https://medium.com/grab-a-slice/the-most-uplifting-piece-youll-read-all-week-8eae00453316 | ["Timothy O'Neill"] | 2020-12-12 23:37:31.955000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Self', 'Self Improvement', 'Nonfiction', 'Love'] |
Flutter on the web の 2019年末時点での現状まとめ🎄 | [cloud_firestore] Add support for web · Issue #45293 · flutter/flutter
You can't perform that action at this time. You signed in with another tab or window. You signed out in another tab or… | https://medium.com/flutter-jp/web-e5e971ba2a2f | ['Mono'] | 2019-12-27 06:56:33.011000+00:00 | ['Software Development', 'Flutter', 'Web', 'Dart', 'Flutter Interact'] |
“I wanted to do the deal but i couldn’t convince my partners” isn’t an Explanation, it’s an Excuse | While this hasn’t happened to any of our portfolio CEOs in a while, there’s one reason for a VC passing on a funding round that just sets me off: “I wanted to do the deal but couldn’t convince my partners.” This isn’t an explanation, it’s an excuse.
If you are a check-writing partner at a venture fund and you offer up this sentence to a startup CEO it means one of three things:
a) You blew the process by not enrolling your partnership
b) You didn’t want to put your neck on the line in the face of some resistance
c) You never believed in the first place, and are blaming your partners versus just passing
When I’m on the cap table I can help a founder navigate this to try and avoid going the distance with a potential investor. And if you’re a GP with tough firm dynamics, I can maybe help you navigate those. But if you put founding team through a full diligence and take them to a partner meeting, only to come back with this, RIP.
On the flip side, I do think it’s is fine for a VC to honestly say things like “we’ve got a lot of institutional scarring around your vertical so I’m going to need a little more time and help to get my partners comfortable.” Or, “I’m not going to be able to move as quickly as you need because of some firm dynamics, so unless you can stretch your timeline a bit, it might not make sense for us to take this forward.”
That’s all part of building trust and visibility for a CEO into the way you operate. And a founder working in an industry that has some hair on it, or is otherwise less understood by the generalist investor, is of course going to need to help their sponsor and her partners. Maybe I’ll write a separate post at some point about the process with investors who have a “prepared mind” for your startup versus those who are still developing their own thesis. | https://hunterwalk.medium.com/i-wanted-to-do-the-deal-but-i-couldnt-convince-my-partners-isn-t-an-explanation-it-s-an-excuse-d972f0cdfd4e | ['Hunter Walk'] | 2019-07-20 19:37:57.029000+00:00 | ['Startup'] |
Hedging Bets | Images of a view from the 1015-foot point along the Lafayette Rim Trail, one image of the author running along the trail, and one of the author’s foot as a blur on the same trail, on the same day (12–20–2020)
The following is an ekphrasitic poem inspired by the 12–06–2020 postcard from David Agasi, who will be coming out with a postcard book to which you may be as affected.
“More surface,” I must be a rapist
Wanting to dry hump your words.
“To the sky today,”
I look up with you,
But not as a friend,
But as an frenemy,
Which sees the beauty you possess,
And jealous of your pickiness.
You haven’t worked for years
And the jobs I have done are beneath you.
You have the beautiful wife.
Her capacity to love you,
Just as I do,
Because I see my naiveté
Or is it purity
In you?
My body has nearly given up.
I sleep for a few hours and then wake.
There is no follow through.
I think my body is on red-alert.
It writhes, it’s painful,
Muscles are tearing and literally
Both arms are either separated
And/or their musculature is torn.
I can’t sleep on either side.
To get any rest, I have to stay in bed
And try to fall asleep again.
I do this over and over until
It’s nightfall.
The only thing I can get done
From time-to-time is run.
And when I run, I carry my
Body at an angle,
Its like I am pulling it:
“Please, please, this will help you.”
I am fragmented. I am in terrible pain,
And I feel like I might be dead by
Next year.
I shiver.
I ache.
And I have nothing to look forward to.
My job is going to run me into the pavement
Or I am going to get that virus.
Its like I am finally greeting that bear
In the forest.
There is just no language or argument
And you know how I argue,
I put everything into it.
How I play music,
Write lyrics,
Record myself singing.
There is just nothing left.
I see that I am irrelevant.
I thought I could see it all
And people would know
What I was talking about,
But there is no one listening.
I am in the forest alone.
I haven’t loved anyone
For so long, I can’t remember.
It was literally 1999 when I broke
With the Flight Attendant.
She simply stopped communicating.
Every woman I have ever loved
Is gone, and they were short-lived.
My coins are spent.
I have nothing left.
No ideas.
You say, “That’s just a play of words.”
“It’s cold.”
It’s not that cold,
I am just weak, tired, under fed.
You say “nearly everyone” you have “known is either
“A disappearance…or else an afterthought.”
Like me, they are all gone.
I have dreams of people I have known,
Who were friendly, but they never really
Followed through.
They kept their distance.
And I think I know why.
Everyone is hedging their bets.
Like you, by the first of the year,
I will have to reassess, who is still with me.
I don’t blame them.
I am a screech owl.
I know those black birds.
We have them here,
And I feel like they know
We are all going to start eating each other.
This is where the feeding is going to be good,
“Just watch,” they say to each other.
Do you remember when we saw those birds here?
There were hundreds of them on the electric lines.
I agree, as the depression hits, we will be forced to move,
To try to make some living wherever we can find it,
But it is going to be different this time.
I feel like we are going to drop to the bottom,
From first-world nation to forth.
Insanity will overcome us
In our desperation.
“Plagues of thought gone under by the dawn.”
You say it so well.
I don’t have the words anymore.
Things are too desperate
For me to wax nostalgic.
You watch James Turrell.
Attendance is down, so
You have time to write.
I am so glad you got more Bolaño.
Yes, you have a month off too!
It’s like this cruel gift.
We have, as you say, to
Create “imaginary platforms”
Upon which to move our social lives. | https://medium.com/@savioni/hedging-bets-e5c8b6f6b5c4 | ['Mario Savioni'] | 2020-12-31 10:45:26.731000+00:00 | ['Dystopia', 'Awareness', 'Pain', 'Jealousy', 'Ekphrastic Poem'] |
“23 things I didn’t learn in college or grad school” — By D. Sivakumar | Frank’s Note: I recently stumbled upon a wonderful list of wisdom written by D. Sivakumar. I found the twitter thread a little bit hard to read, so I’ve put the twitter collection into a singular readable blog here. All the content below is written by D. Sivakumar. Please check out his twitter collection: https://twitter.com/dsivakumar/timelines/1328255107599802368
“23 things I didn’t learn in college or grad school”
Two years ago I realized I had been in the workforce for 23 years; assuming I learned one thing a year, I made a list of “23 things I didn’t learn in college / grad school”.
These are mostly behaviors rather than tips and tricks, mostly relevant for CS engineering / research lab settings, but might apply well for academic settings, possibly well outside the computing field.
#1: Be present
“Presence” is a catch-all term to describe being involved mindfully in whatever unit of work / play one is involved in. Not distracted by other stimuli; not going off on a tangent mentally. If it’s useful, keep a notebook to record things you wish to follow up later.
I encountered this principle in many places, most recently in marathon training; the phrase “run the mile you’re in” proved very useful. Don’t worry about how you ran the previous miles too fast or too slow, don’t overthink how you’ll run the remaining miles. Just run this one.
#2: Listen
The biggest reason to listen well is that it is possibly the most important step in building trust. Honing your listening skills makes you a good communicator, a good colleague, a good leader, a good friend.
Like presence (#1), listening can be practiced. It is a special case of being present, and is a great concrete way to practice being present.
Whether it’s a student or a junior colleague asking for help; a friend disclosing their distress or pain; a colleague describing a technical idea; good listening demands that we learn to see it from their perspective, as THEY describe it.
In technical matters, it’s often useful to restate what you heard, but in most other situations, it’s just enough to acknowledge it.
When listening, avoid the temptation: to finish the other person’s sentences; to live-compose your response in your head; to indulge in problem-solving; to judge; to get distracted. Rephrasing and fixing can all come later. First, listen.
#3: Be curious
The weak ties between ideas, topics and fields enable numerous breakthroughs, small and large; being curious is how you tap into the strength of those ties.
In my most productive decade in research, I was fortunate to do substantial work in at least five distinct areas in CS, and simple curiosity about a paper or talk was my invitation to each of those areas.
Conversely, I attribute nearly all my “what might’ve been” regrets to lack of curiosity about topics, fields, and people. I think this lack of curiosity was due more to bias than being busy or poor with time management. Unconscious bias inhibits curiosity, watch out for it.
Think about how good a mental map you have of the broad area that you work in or the organization you work for. Think about how often you listen to people at varying distances from your daily topics of work.
Like presence and listening, curiosity can be practiced. Unlike those, curiosity is also measurable. Think about how you can practice curiosity systematically, and measure it periodically.
#4: Be the go-to person for something
Striving to be an expert at something helps distinguish oneself — from one’s peers, teammates, collaborators — in a special way. It brings a certain polish to your team’s output in a predictable and reliable sense.
It takes time, it takes a lot of tinkering, a lot of deliberate practice, but the sheer act of achieving mastery in something, however narrowly scoped, is one of the most rewarding journeys one can take.
Sports have many examples of specialists — base stealers, rebounders, free-kick takers, slog-overs specialists, serve-and-volleyers. Elizabeth Warren is a great example of an academic whose specialist knowledge propelled her to stardom.
Whether it’s code-reviewing or proof-checking (of any kind) or LaTeX-hacking or tail bounds or making killer presentations or latency-optimizing, being an expert at something is a source of well-earned pride, and opens doors in unexpected ways.
#5: Show up
Really restating Somerset Maugham’s famous line: “I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.”
The easiest way to lose steam on any effort — writing a book, taking a Coursera class, training for a marathon, setting up a weekly collaboration — is not to show up. Maybe it’s daunting or you haven’t done your homework, but not showing up only makes it worse, not better.
If running 5 miles on a cold morning feels too hard one day, walk 3 miles. If you didn’t do your homework to prepare for a meeting with a colleague, still show up and tell them you are unprepared, and use the time wisely perhaps to recap the state of the discussion.
New year resolutions around gym and exercise are famous examples of people not showing up for what they signed up for (see https://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-16/here-s-how-quickly-people-ditch-weight-loss-resolutions ). But if you’re constantly “flaking”, it’s a sign you’re over-committed. Be honest with yourself and reduce your commitments.
Anybody can sign up for things. Showing up is the really important part. Good luck!
#6: Learn for the long haul. Understand the basics. Really well.
Learning for the long haul means you pick carefully what to invest time in learning, and how to learn it.
The ‘what’ is easier: foundational ideas, truly profound insights, the core of powerful developments that will last years or even decades.
The ‘how’ is trickier: sometimes it means revisiting the basics many times, even over years; usually this means building connections between new ideas and old ideas, sometimes between old ideas and older ideas. Almost always this means deliberate practice.
The ‘how’ says something about the ‘what’: if it’s not going to be worth relearning, maybe it’s not worth learning at all. The ‘what’ says something about the ‘how’: it’s really to internalize the ‘why’.
#7: Be aware of where your field is going
One of the constants of every field is that almost every decade, the field looks substantially, even entirely, different.
I’ve seen this in algorithms, computational complexity, broader theoretical CS, Web search, information retrieval, web-based systems, software engineering, machine learning, artificial intelligence, … but these fields are not unique by any means.
Sometimes I’ve kept abreast, mostly I’ve played catch up (sometimes at significant cost). Knowing where your field is going is not the same as jumping on the latest bandwagon. It is an opportunity to reexamine your own work in a newer broader context.
One reason to pay attention is to keep your toolkit fresh, to keep yourself sharp with new challenges. An equally important reason is not to fall behind. Even if you decide not to shift the course of your work, it is vital that you make it a conscious choice.
Awareness of where your field is headed, at various zoom levels, helps you develop good peripheral vision. As you see change, evaluate its depth and longevity from first principles; then make a conscious choice of how much you’ll steer your course in the new direction.
#8: Acquire, practice, and polish new skills
These could be related to your core work, could be tangential in your broad area, but also orthogonal, along new dimensions.
The ones with immediate value are productivity skills — think command-line hacks and scripting languages for programmers, or LaTeX and slide-making skills for all scientists — and tools of everyday use, whether they’re classic theorems or detailed APIs.
There is another set of timeless skills that have big returns over time: examples include discrete mathematics, statistics and programming, which are fundamental skills that everyone in STEM fields — even those outside of it — can benefit from.
Communication skills have the biggest return on investment. Clarity of thought is often inextricably linked to clarity of language — not just the English language but also good mathematical formulations or clean code and APIs. These take practice.
All three — acquisition, practice, and polishing — are key. The sources you consult to acquire a skill matter. The context in which you practice them matters. Re-visiting, revising and polishing skills makes your thinking nimble and improves your ability to connect concepts.
#9: Put your hand up
This is equal parts: eagerness (to participate enthusiastically, or what @angeladuckw would call “zest”); initiative; volunteering (to be less selfish, to do things that “someone should do”); embracing vulnerability (not standing on the sidelines).
The opposite of this quality is indifference. Indifference (or worse, passive-aggressive behavior) is certainly toxic, but here I am also urging you to avoid the “quiet genius” model.
We all admire the quiet genius who goes about their work and does nothing to build fellowship around their team, work group, professional community, or any cross section of these. That genius is selling themselves short.
A common refrain is: “I’m shy / introverted” Fortunately — like mindfulness or curiosity — you can practice zest and initiative intentionally. “Putting yourself out there” regularly in small ways teaches you to deal with criticism or failure graciously.
The teammate who starts a reading group shows initiative; the first speaker shows zest and embraces vulnerability. The active Tweeter, newsletter writer, professional society chapter founder — the list is endless. They all seek a better community and are willing to work for it
One long-term benefit of practicing initiative and zest is that when an opportunity arises for a role with increased responsibility, you know how to ask for it. Leadership begins — at a microscopic level — with enthusiastic participation, volunteering, and initiative.
#10: Work on being a reliable colleague
Two phrases best describe the people I think of reliable colleagues: consistent and even-keeled.
Even if the mean value of what your colleagues can expect from you doesn’t increase very much year over year, it is very useful if the variance is low.
Let’s face it — most of us aren’t mercurial geniuses. When we work in teams, consistent performance and a steady temperament are way more valuable than an unreliable genius. I’d say a team of 10 can afford no more than one of the latter (provided they aren’t a nasty person).
Being over-committed leads to being an unreliable colleague. (I struggle a lot with being over-committed — with apologies to all my colleagues who have borne the brunt of it; at least I now know what I’ll say when asked about my biggest weakness in my next job interview)
Equally, on the other end of the spectrum, lacking intrinsic motivation and depending too much on your colleagues to derive your motivation to work well makes one an unreliable colleague. Find the middle path, be someone your colleagues can trust to be a good teammate.
#11: Be generous with your time
Especially with your colleagues, students, friends, members of your professional community: as a resource for help with technical problems; as a sounding board for ideas / career topics; as a source of bits of wisdom; even as a target to rant a little about the world but especially for technical / professional matters and work-related semi-technical matters
Not because, in some woo-woo sense, it makes you feel good — which it certainly does. Nor because it’s a transaction and the other person might help you one day — which they possibly might. But because it is a good opportunity to learn.
When you help, you reinforce a skill/concept for yourself, you learn what makes it hard and how to explain it better. When you brainstorm, you absorb new ways of thinking about things. When you listen, you internalize what behaviors cause distress so you can avoid them.
When you generously give your time for 1:1 conversations or small-group discussions, what you learn is worth several multiples of the time you invested.
#12: Be very protective of your time
Time is your most precious resource, and how you treat it says a lot about where you’re headed. Look back at your week (or month). Which hours do you wish you can take back? And why?
The most important question to ask yourself is: how intentionally are you spending your time? We all need time to decompress, binge-watch something on Netflix mindlessly, or otherwise “waste” time. But let it be intentional.
At work, think twice before you commit to a meeting that has more than 3 people in it. Any meeting that has more than half the people staring into their laptops for more than half the time is not worth anyone’s time.
Another common way we all spend time poorly is “thrashing” on some task — mindlessly trying things without making any progress. Watch for signs of this, especially when you’re tired. Sleep is a better investment of time than any activity done when you aren’t fresh and mindful.
Protect your time so you can use it intentionally, mindfully. Protect your time so you can be generous with it.
#13:Get a mentor. Be a mentor.
There are many models of mentors: the mentor who walked in your shoes not long ago; the mentor who’ll share with you their mistakes so you can make new ones; the mentor who’ll listen to you and ask questions that you don’t need to give them the answers to. They’re all good.
Mentors aren’t meant to solve your problems. A good mentor will help you identify your options. A great mentor will help you identify your goals and frame them to optimize your potential. Remember: ‘help’ is the operative word here.
The hardest thing about mentoring is to accept that your mental picture of the goals, preferences, and experiences of the mentee might not be accurate. Consequently, a mentor should not give “advice” to the mentee; and a mentor should never project their biases to their mentees.
The hardest thing about getting a mentor is acknowledging the value of getting one. The next hardest thing is not to let the search for a perfect mentor stop you from finding good ones.
If you can’t find one great mentor, find three good ones — individuals who are not cynical or judgmental but are willing to be open about what worked and what didn’t work for them in the organization / field / at a similar stage in their career.
Always ask your mentor how to think about a situation, not what to do. This slight change in the framing will help your mentor list your options / the criteria you could consider, and pull them away from telling you what they would do in your situation.
In the five stages of my post-undergraduate career, each between four and seven years, I’ve never sought a mentor. Always too sure of myself. And almost always wrong, occasionally lucky.
With hindsight, I feel that a good mentor would’ve helped me avoid nearly every career mistake I made. But then, if I didn’t make those mistakes, I wouldn’t be writing this thread, so maybe there’s a silver lining after all
#14: Strive for clarity
As you plan your next project, a body of work for a quarter or a year, ask yourself: do I know what I’ll be doing, why I’ll be doing it, and how I’ll do it? Focus especially on the ‘how’ — do I know how the numerous pieces of that puzzle will fit together?
If the answer to any of these questions is a ‘No’, stop and think again. I’ve found — both from personal experience and by numerous observations — that in an overwhelming fraction of failed projects, muddled thinking is the predominant reason for the failure.
When you plan a project — a software system or a mathematical proof or a presentation or writing a book — do you see what the components are and how they work with each other?
Can you explain your project at both levels — at higher levels of abstraction and from first principles? Can you isolate the core idea that makes or breaks the project? Can you state your assumptions precisely and completely?
Achieving clarity takes tremendous effort and honesty. Effort to visit and revisit ideas to test if they fit together, if they hold up. Honesty to isolate assumptions and hypotheses and unknowns and then revisit and verify or solve them.
A good test for whether you’ve achieved clarity in your thinking about a project is to see if you can describe it in 2–3 sentences; in a paragraph; in a one-pager; in a two-pager; in a four-pager, etc., in greater and greater levels of detail.
#15 Work on your social intelligence
‘Social intelligence’ is an Internet-era phrase that encompasses tact, empathy, and self-awareness. How often have we observed a colleague act in a way that’s tactless, unempathetic, indiscreet, rude or tone-deaf? How often are we aware — before, during, or after — that we acted in one of these ways?
The trust and respect you earn/maintain: increases additively every time you display good social intelligence; and decreases multiplicatively every time you display poor social intelligence. Thus the cost of poor social intelligence is higher as you grow in your career.
When I trained to be a soccer referee, I learned a tip that’s relevant: when a foul happens, wait just a fraction of a second to process it before you blow the whistle. It usually leads to better judgment: either not stopping play for “advantage” or cautioning the perpetrator.
Acts of poor social intelligence can usually be avoided by activating your inner referee to provide better judgment, so it’s worth working on sharpening that referee.
#16: These behaviors impose a ceiling on your career growth: bitterness, cynicism, insecurity, jealousy, pessimism, pettiness. Avoid them
Most of us have experienced one or more of these at one time or another. The challenge is to ensure that they don’t consume us. There is always an inner voice that tells you when you embark on one of these paths. It’s your internal honesty. Listen to it. Observe the feeling neutrally, acknowledge it; over time, you’ll find yourself refusing to indulge in these behaviors.
#17: Framing matters. Be fearless, dream big, don’t sell yourself short
There’s an awesome “inspirational” poster by Nike featuring the runner Mo Farah that has the words: “Don’t dream of winning. Train for it”. I love that poster, BUT… if you don’t dream big, if your goals aren’t framed ambitiously enough, your conviction, drive, and effort are unlikely to be strong enough to reach “escape velocity” to propel you to greatness.
Any teenager who plays a sport at a competent level dreams of playing in the Olympics or in a World Cup. The fearless among them start working hard for it. If you don’t frame your goals seriously, nobody else will.
I’ve had the fortune to work closely with some giants of CS and the tech industry. One characteristic common to them all is fearlessness. Most of them are also ‘normal’, like you and me; they just dared to dream big. That dream gives their hard work focus, purpose and direction.
An alarming number of junior scientists, engineers, artists and business people frame their ambitions too narrowly and often without deliberate consideration. In my opinion, they are limiting their potential unnecessarily. What’s the arc of your hard work?
#18: People overestimate what can be done in a year, and underestimate what can be done in five years*
(* popularized by Bill Gates, but likely goes to the 1960s, see https://quoteinvestigator.com/2019/01/03/estimate/)
While this is certainly a message about the optimism / assured-ness bias in the near term and our general inability to make accurate predictions about the longer term, there are two valuable messages here.
The first message is about the power of compounding. Using compounded calculations in planning doesn’t come naturally to us. If we work each year to set ourselves up for bigger / more valuable accomplishments in the next year, we will achieve amazing things in five years.
The second message is about the danger of impatience. If we focus on near-term gratification and cut corners, we risk building something that cannot be built upon further.
Compounding comes from many sources: a solid foundation helps you build higher-value things in subsequent years; with each milestone, the number of people involved and the number of directions of improvement can both grow dramatically.
If you’re a student, build a great foundation in the first years and keep your eyes on potential directions to explore and skills to acquire. If you’re leading a team project, build the core components well with a small team in the early years and scale intentionally.
Think of your project as a polyhedron. Start with a small tetrahedron as a core. Expand it over time, add a few vertices — people, skills — each year. Keep it well-rounded by always expanding the convex hull maximally. You’ll achieve great volume in a few years.
#19: Bias toward action. Use milestones.
One of my favorites, because I tend to dream a lot, think endlessly, compose essays or theorems or documents in my head, keep seven browser tabs open to buy a $20 thing. The main reason not to overthink things but start doing something is to get feedback. The feedback can be internal (you find gaps in your thinking) or from others (a colleague who gives a counterexample) or the environment (a clever idea that doesn’t work).
A common reason for “analysis paralysis” is lack of clarity about a large nebulous body of work. If that happens, try to define a few milestones — either in the core of the work, or if you’re hopelessly stuck, on the periphery. But be concrete so you can see progress.
Concrete milestones lead to reusable artifacts. They often find value in their own right. My favorite technique to overcome overthinking a large project plan or complex presentation is to write out the “API”s for the parts This forces me to examine the assumptions we make about the parts.
Milestone one is usually a list of tweet-length descriptions of the units.
#20: Communicate early and often
Many of us struggle with giving negative news (a delay in a project, unable to join for dinner, etc.) and end up making it even worse: we delay communicating it. Which is about the worst thing we could do with that information.
Some of us are habitual procrastinators: we end up squeezing a lot of work in at the last minute. It might be fine if we’re ready to burn the midnight oil as needed. But if we procrastinate communication, we end up disrupting someone else’s schedule. Never goes well.
A third reason many of us are poor communicators is letting perfection get in the way of “good enough”. With the very best of intentions to send a detailed thought-through response, we fail to send a short timely response that might be much more valuable to the other party.
Start and / or end each work day with 15–30 minutes dedicated for nothing but quick, brief communications. It could become one of the most useful habits you develop. And if you think of other ideas, please share — I could use all the help Slightly smiling face
#21: Communicate well
In my opinion, this is the single-most underrated (and hence underdeveloped) component in all our education systems, especially for STEM students, across the spectrum — from kindergarten through PhD degree programs.
Every medium — face-to-face conversations, prose / documents, presentation / PowerPoint, code, email, etc. — offers plenty of opportunity to polish our (technical) communication skills. Each comes with its unique benefits and challenges.
Communication can be designed to inform, illuminate, inspire, educate, entertain, move, convince, or persuade. The style, the language, and the organization should fit the specific goals of the communication. In all scientific/technical situations, clarity is paramount.
Good technical communication displays: units that are succinct and focused; organization that enhances flow and clarity; and language that is simple and direct to maintain a light touch and a tight narrative.
Two things one can do to improve communication: Read articles, documents, and code written by the best scientists and engineers; watch — and observe — presentations and lectures by the best speakers and teachers. Practice your writing and speaking. Do a lot of both.
Wigner’s famous essay “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences” is really a tribute to the role that mathematics plays for the natural sciences — as a vehicle of communication that’s at once precise, rich, and succinct.
Can your writing match (Newton’s) F = G m_1 m_2 / r² ? This one is such a pet topic of mine, so please allow me some indulgence with a few extra tweets… It isn’t entirely true that I didn’t learn this in college / grad school. In college, we had a class on “Technical English”, a class I enjoyed as much as any CS or Math class. We wrote and critiqued cooking recipes, shampooing instructions, and generally learned to focus on clarity and precision over flowery language. Two of my favorite resources: “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser. “Style: Toward Clarity and Grace” by Joseph M. Williams.
Comedy writing, in general, requires extraordinarily sharp skills, the careful set up, and the perfect choice of words. Oscar Wilde, PG Wodehose, and Jerry Seinfeld are all such masters of this, and their craft deserves close attention. Jerry Seinfeld supposedly wrote and rewrote every comedy bit of his numerous times. And he practiced them many times — in front of a mirror, in front of small audiences in nightclubs before he’d take something to a big stage.
#22: Get perspectives. Know your biases. Break Axioms
If you try to solve a problem using the same tools and perspectives that didn’t work the first time or the second time, you’re unlikely to make any progress. Often creativity lies in being able to change perspective.
The Wright brothers succeeded where others failed because they didn’t believe they needed to solve the problem of balance — as bicycle mechanics, they could see that the human operator could solve the balance problem. They broke an implicit “axiom” that had blocked others.
The biggest breakthrough in theoretical CS since NP-completeness was interactive proofs. Instead of a proof that is published, what if you’re given access to the prover whom you can probe interactively? This rule-breaking has revolutionized complexity theory and cryptography.
I’ve found that changing the perspective or bringing new perspectives is often the most powerful way to solve the thorniest of problems. I’ve seen it in all three flavors of work I’ve done — science, engineering, and management. To do that, it is helpful to know and acknowledge your biases. It begins with self-awareness.
#23: Be kind to yourself
As we strive to be better, to do better, it’s easy to fall into the trap of judging ourselves harshly. If we don’t measure up to an ideal version of ourselves, let’s treat ourselves kindly, take a deep breath, and work toward it. Slowly. Consistently. We can do it in 23 years. | https://medium.com/@yaboyfrankieliu/23-things-i-didnt-learn-in-college-or-grad-school-by-d-sivakumar-1c09d9241d6e | ['Frank Liu'] | 2020-12-11 05:23:38.782000+00:00 | ['Learning', 'Insights', 'Schools', 'Advice', 'Careers'] |
10 Questions That You Need to Ask Your Web Developer! | If you’re running a business or plan to in the future, a good website is a must. Not only do websites have huge marketing potential, but clients also use websites to size up companies and decide if they want to do business with them. We’ve created a list of 10 questions to ask web developer. These questions should weed out the phony offers and ensure that your future cooperation is smooth.
What should do you ask a web developer?
You’ve decided to hire someone to build, or remake, your website. Naturally, you’re business savvy, so you’ve been shopping around. Luckily, looking for a web developer is almost exclusively done online. So you can field several offers without investing a lot of your time.
I recommend negotiating with developers within the full range of your budget and a few developers outside your budget. Why?
Developers need to sell themselves to you. So by negotiating with developers you can’t afford you can see what answers to look for from the developers you can afford. You can even ask the expensive developers flat out: “how does your service justify your price?”
When they give you the old: “Well you see, we A, B, C the D, and always E before we finish F and in all our days developing never had a Z become an X…” Just take that and flip it on the cheaper guys, as a question, to see if they can keep up.
We intend two goals with these questions.
One: Quickly disqualify developers that you shouldn’t work with.
Two: Give you a better understanding of what goes into having a website built, on your end, and future tasks/costs of having a website.
Let’s get down to it.
The nice thing about these questions is that you can simply copy and paste them and email all the developers you’re dealing with.
It should look like this:
Hello,
I’m writing in response to the offer you have sent to build our website. Would like to ask a few questions regarding the proposal you’re offering:
Will I have access to CMS? If so, which one and is it possible for me to test it? Will you add all my materials to the site right away? Will my site be custom made for me or will a template be used? Which elements of the page will be custom and which will come from the template? This will be checked by me in the page code. How much will it cost me in the future to add a new subpage, new product, service or news if I order it from you? Will any valuable applications will be installed on my website? Are they included in the price? If not, what do they cost? Can you provide links to your previous projects? Then is it possible to contact your company by phone? How long will it take to create the website? Are the domain and hosting fees included in the price of the website creation? What are the annual operating and updating costs of the website (backup and updating to the latest version of the CMS)?
The worst of the worst won't even respond, Awesome, scratch them off the list. Good riddance.
#6 & #7 are potential deal-breakers. Unwillingness to provide a portfolio or line of contact is red flags. Moving forward we will discuss in more detail the strategy behind each question.
QUESTION 1: Will I have access to CMS? If so, which one and is it possible for me to test it?
What will you find out?
You will verify if you can actually use the CMS they will install.
The CMS (Content Management System) allows you to make changes and updates to your website.
Without a CMS you´ll need to write code to make any changes. And you can’t code! So make sure you’re getting a CMS. (And you’ll want to test drive it, see below)
Basically, the CMS is the editor of your website. If you plan to make updates to your site frequently (more than twice a year) you’ll need a CMS that’s easy to use. A website without a CMS means you’re always dependent on a developer to make any and all changes to your website. Convenience is paramount here, you don’t have time to learn new, complicated tools.
Ok, now that you have an idea at what a CMS is about, what’s next? It’s time to test drive that puppy. Not all CMS are created equally. Yes, having a CMS is better than not having it BUT a developer telling you “you’ll get a CMS” is like recommending a restaurant because “they have food”.
What you need to do is test the CMS. Ask the developer if you can try it. Remember: they are selling to you, no request is unjust. Wow! they said yes, and set you up with the CMS… what now? Ask them if they have any instructional videos or training on how to use the CMS. Maybe they can even show you themselves? More popular CMS has a lot of tutorials on youtube showing basic functions, you can check these out depending on the CMS offered. Then the moment of truth…
Try adding a new product or service and see how long it takes. After all, you’ll be adding content to your site semi-regularly and it’s important to verify that it’s realistic to do so yourself. You want to keep your site up to date, don’t you? Remember that inactive websites rank lower in search results and it’s not very assuring to potential clients when you still have Y2K safe computers on your product page.
So keep your website current. Over time, small changes will have to be made, i.e. your address, prices or phone number may change. It’s better to update this information yourself, instead of paying, and waiting for the developer to make these small updates.
The more unique the page code, and thus less-known CMS, the better. Many people consider WordPress to be the best system for creating and maintaining websites.
The advantage of WordPress is its popularity, hence a large number of tutorials and interesting functionalities devoted to it.
However, there are drawbacks including code repetitiveness, susceptibility to hacker attacks, and time-consuming/overly complex page editing. There are a lot of websites made using the WordPress platform, and most of them are the same templates duplicated thousands of times, resulting in plenty of not so original looking pages.
QUESTION 2: Will you put all my materials on the site right away?
What will you find out?
What materials you will receive/and provide to be uploaded?
It’s best if you’re responsible for producing/providing the high-quality materials yourself, such as team photos, portfolio, written content etc.
Nobody knows your company and brand image as well as you So why leave it is someone else’s hands to produce the “brand sensitive” materials for your website. A reliable developer will add materials sent by you included in the price of designing the website or inform you about the additional costs.
When it comes to cheaper offers, you can create a bare-bones website, but you will need to complete all the content yourself and this can take a long time. In addition, cheap offers often aren’t actually for creating a website, but simply taking a template and changing a few colors and pictures. Meaning your company will receive exactly the same, ill-considered, non- personalized website that thousands of others are using.
In BOWWE, thanks to a simple graphic editor, you’re able to insert all your materials in a few hours, without bearing any operating costs, and the inclusion of a page template takes just a few seconds and doesn’t cost extra.
QUESTION 3: Will my site be designed individually for me or will a template be used to create it? Which elements will be copyright? This will be checked by me in the page code
What you want to know:
If your website be created from a template
Using ready-made templates is a very popular way to create cheap websites. Publishing a template and replacing texts and photos is just a few hours of work, does not require specialized knowledge and the achieved effect is usually good looking enough.
Most often, unreliable developers only replace texts and photos, sometimes colors, and they’re finished. The result is thousands of websites that are almost identical apart from a few color changes and of course different text describing the company. If you want to attract potential customers it helps to have a website that isn’t cookie-cutter but instead reflects your company’s uniqueness. All that talk about brand image, target audiences etc. it doesn’t make sense not to apply the same strategies to your website.
Ask the contractor if they use templates, and if so to what extent are they changed? The uniqueness of the page code is important for its effectiveness and how eye-catching the page will be. Deciding whether to use a template or not also depends heavily on your budget. Yes, it’s much cheaper to build by template…
Using a template isn’t inherently bad, after all, you can save some money, but when using templates, try to modify them as much as possible. If budget dictates using a template, customize it as much as possible. Try to find a middle ground between a more expensive custom page and a cheaper template page.
Another common practice is the illegal use of purchased templates, intended for single-use, to design and create several websites. Your website may be one of them, which often has serious consequences.
Using BOWWE templates, you’ll quickly create your own website for free.
An example of professionally designed web pages based on templates is the BOWWE platform. All you need to do is choose one of the available templates and adapt it to your needs. You don’t need to program in HTML or CSS, you will do all the work in the page creator by drag and drop elements you choose for your project.
If you don’t have time to build your own website, BOWWE team will create a professional website for you from scratch. Worst case scenario is that a developer is offering you a template without adding your materials (photos, content, etc.) Basically they are downloading a template and changing some colors and elements to fit your needs. This is the lowest level of service and you shouldn’t expect a very helpful relationship with these developers in the long run.
With BOWWE you can edit pages in a few minutes and you do not have to pay service costs. Plus you save a lot of time needed to replace sample texts, photos and other content related to your company.
QUESTION 4: How much will it cost in the future to add a new subpage, new product, service or news?
What will you find out?
How quickly you can add new information and content
Updating your website will be a pretty common task (new product, new hours, sales, etc) so you should be able to do it very quickly and easily. Most entrepreneurs managing websites have problems because CMS systems, such as WordPress, Joomla or Drupal are too complicated/time-consuming for them.
Be aware and look for the possibility of adding information about promotions and products to your site yourself. In the case of service companies, it’s a basic need to publish customer reviews and completed projects on a regular basis. You should also consider running a blog or adding news.
Why?
New content like longer entries about recent projects or participation in trade fairs, help maintain high search engine rankings and, in a case of two birds with one stone, win the trust of potential customers by making websites much more effective.
Make sure you can add/change your portfolio or a new service to your website quickly and easily. If the developer can provide you with a video or demo of how to use the CMS you should check it out. Think about what content you should regularly update on your website and ask the contractor about the cost of such future updates. They’ll show you how much you will have to pay for it and whether you’ll be able to quickly update it or not. If adding a product/service is, as the contractor claims, quick and easy, it shouldn’t cost as much as $30-$50.
It is much better to have an application in which you can make changes yourself, it takes less time than providing information to the contractor and checking their results, plus payment for your work time. Our experience says you should be able to edit content in just a few minutes if you’ve purchased the correct app. If you’ve already prepared photos and texts, with BOWWE adding a product, portfolio or update will take you up to 3 minutes. The good news is that all the applications normally cost less than $150 a year. Heads up. Unreliable contractors will tell you that adding a product, portfolio or other information in WordPress will take you a few minutes and you do not need a CRM. (Customer Relationship Manager).
This isn’t entirely true, because in reality any product or portfolio needs to be put in its the correct place, in a specific category for example or list of projects or products that can be sorted by price.
If you publish all new information in the form of posts, it will be difficult to maintain even a minimal level of organization on the site. Your clients will have a hard time finding what they are looking for, and the lack of a transparent structure (See more about Information Architecture) will negatively impact your site’s ranking in search results.
QUESTION 5: What valuable applications will be installed on my site. Are they paid? If so, what are their costs?
What will you find out?
What additional functionalities are included in the offer
What do you need applications for?
They will save you a lot of time and make it easier to manage content on your website. Thanks to applications, you’ll be able to quickly make necessary changes to 5 your website and focus on running the business, and your website will always remain as active and attractive as your company.
Think about the functionalities that will be useful on your website and, above all, which ones will confirm your professionalism in the eyes of a potential client. Will it be a portfolio? News? Opinions of existing customers? Promotions?
Ask yourself what you need to update regularly on your website and choose the right applications.
The most popular functionalities of websites include:
Adding and displaying opinions/reviews,
Adding products and services,
Possibility of using discount coupons,
Updating price lists,
Adding a portfolio,
Publishing news,
Possibility of booking visits,
Creating photo galleries.
Bowwe Booking Engine
The possibility of leaving reviews about a company by customers who have already benefited from their service is particularly important. This is a very positive signal for visitors of the website and encourages the use of services by potential customers. A good place to collect real opinions issued by real people is Honaro — an online development platform for companies.
How to choose applications?
If you want to present products, you’ll need the ability to filter them by categories, sort them and have a search function. If you want to show that the company is active, follow current market trends or engage multiple channels, a news section will be important.
Do you have a lot of interesting projects? Get recognition and add them regularly to your portfolio. Your website will be active, rank higher in Google, and above all, you will earn the trust of potential customers. Are you planning to organize promotional campaigns to get your customers attention? Then you need a coupon app for your services. If clients arrange appointments and services, it’s advantageous to run an online booking system.
All these things affect potential clients’ trust in your company and the results of your website, in turn, your sales. That’s why you need to be sure that you’ll be able to edit them without hindering the site and its graphics.
Unreliable website developers will tell you that “everything can be done” using CMS. Although true, in practice even small changes using CMS systems can be extremely time-consuming. Adding news or a new project in the portfolio should be as fast as posting on Facebook. Choose your photos, input the title, add a short description, press “publish” and users can immediately view the content.
The best solution is to use applications that will simplify and speed up the process of introducing such changes and offer additional value to your clients. Ask what applications will be installed on your website and what their cost will be. If they are offered for free, find out if they will be fully-effective for your company’s results in the free version.
Applications usually cost around $40-$80 per year but will save you a lot of time, allow you to update the website efficiently and attract customers because there is nothing better than regularly added projects, products or promotions. The site will display much higher in Google’s search results, which attracts, and gains the trust of a lot more customers who are actually interested in your offer. The applications you chose to meet your needs are an investment definitely worth considering.
QUESTION 6: Can you provide links to your previous website projects?
What will you find out?
If the contractor’s previous pages look good and operate well.
The easiest way to check a website developer’s work is to review their portfolio. If they don’t have a portfolio yet or don’t want to show you — it’s not grounds for automatic dismissal. However, make sure that their price justifies your risk and you protect yourself in the contract before signing. If you like the websites in their portfolio, ask about the details of the terms of cooperation. Make sure that the designer will design a responsive website for you, that is, a website that looks good on every device.
Check how websites from the web developer’s portfolio look when you open them on mobile, tablet, laptop etc.. Over 50% of website visitors, globally, come from mobile devices. If your site looks bad on mobile, you’re missing out on a lot of customers. If you’re designing a website that is inherently not responsive, ask if they can make a mobile version of the site.
Look at the animations, buttons and graphics used in their portfolio. Check if they are consistent, well designed and interactive. The positioning of previously made pages is also important. Do they show up on google? Which page of the results? Remember that it’s harder to get some businesses on the front page of Google than others. Most of the websites in the developer’s portfolio should at least show up on Google when you search for their company/brand name.
You have three seconds for your webpage to load before people start jumping ship and looking elsewhere. Don’t take my word for it, more info here. Test the speed of pages in their portfolio with tools like tools.pingdom.com Enter the site address from the portfolio and select the nearest server location.
A well-made website should achieve a performance rating of at least 85. For comparison, also test completed pages in the Google tool, PageSpeed Insights. Do the websites in the portfolio inspire confidence in the companies they present? It’s important that the site isn’t just pretty, but more importantly, gains the trust of potential customers visiting it.
It doesn’t hurt to review references or opinions available on the contractor’s website. Don’t be afraid to ask them.
QUESTION 7: What time can I call you?
What will you find out?
How easy will it be to communicate with the contractor?
A good developer will probably need to talk with you in order to hash out the details of your project. At minimum developers should be reachable, if needed. Speaking by phone, skype, whatever, is always easier, faster, more precise and cheaper. Be careful if the company only wishes to contact via email. It’s easy to ignore your emails or put you off till’ later, but phone calls demand immediate attention. You’ll also have problems in the future, during the execution of the website build and during further cooperation. Remember: time is money.
Don’t be afraid of remote cooperation if you have a good relationship with the web developer. Getting in touch or worse, meeting, costs money; and in the end, the customer always bears the costs. Pay attention to whether the web developer is fully answering your questions.
Your cooperation most likely won’t be over once your completed website is handed over. You will need to optimize, promote and position it.
If the company does not have time for you now, it certainly won’t in the future.
QUESTION 8: What is the project time frame?
What will you find out?
When should your website be delivered
If it only takes a couple of days for your site to be built, then most likely a template was used to create it, and the changes to the template were minimum. You will get a page that is ill-conceived and unadjusted to your company, you just might just end up losing customers. This is especially true of new customers who visit your website for the first time as a means of verifying your company.
Designing a unique website and performing the due diligence (a thorough business analysis) usually takes at least 2 weeks. You should also take into account the time to implement the corrections you will submit before the final version.
Great websites that accurately represent companies require the participation of the business owner during the building process. If you want a great website expect a decent amount of ‘back and forth’ with the developer to get it done right.
Long project deadlines aren’t always a bad thing so don’t be overly critical. They could be a result of the website’s complexity level or the developer having a lot of customers (a good sign) it could push the deadline back for your project. The time to create a very high-quality page for individual orders can be several months easily. So don’t freak out.
QUESTION 9: Are the domain and hosting fees included in the price of the website?
What will you find out?
Will you pay extra for the domain and hosting
Be careful that a low price isn’t because the offer is lacking hosting and domain. Some companies that create websites may offer a free domain but think carefully before getting on board with this deal.
Avoid little-known, hard-to-remember domains with extensions such as .net, .biz, info, org. Choose a site in the national domain, e.g. .us, .uk, .en or in the .com domain, because they are much easier to remember by customers.
Don’t fall for this: developers often buy a domain for their clients, but they do not give their clients ownership. It making the clients dependent on the developer that has built the website, since as the business owner you never got the rights to your domain. Make sure you will have ownership of the domain.
Also, don’t cheap out on hosting, the costs aren’t high anyway (usually under $50 a month). As a result, the site will work quickly and efficiently. It’s important that your website loads in under three seconds, after three seconds you start to drastically lose visitors. As mentioned before, most people will not wait more than three seconds for your website to load.
You can’t afford an unstable website: it will significantly reduce your position in search engines, which translates to fewer visitors to your site, fewer queries… and ultimately fewer customers. In addition, with more reliable developers, the site is safer, you will have backups and servers that almost never crash. Saving a few bucks a year is not worth having low-quality hosting, you gotta pay to play in this game.
Users find it easier to remember website addresses on popular domains
QUESTION 10: What is the annual cost of operating and updating the website (backing up and updating to the latest version of the CMS)?
What will you find out?
What is included in the price of creating the website
Before you sign on the dotted line, find out which products and services they’re offering. Will you get a website built on a template, with some photos, colors and texts replaced, or more? Will you receive applications that make editing the page fast and easy, or will you have to change everything at the CMS level — which takes much more time, generate errors, spoils the look of the page and discourages you from updating your own website?
The web developer who only exchanges photos and texts may offer a very attractive price, but when converted into the time he spends for your company (time/cost), it turns out to be the highest. A better choice is a more expensive, reliable offer, which will include, very extensive template changes, publishing your provided texts on-page, analysis and advice on what should be on your site, a selection of applications that suit your needs, designing graphics and optimizing the site for search engines.
Other important, often overlooked, services that should be included are system updates and backups. Manually updating the system requires some knowledge and time and costs about $60 every time you need to update. Do not believe anyone who tells you that no updates are needed — they protect you from hacker attacks, or at least significantly limit them. Inadvertently you can pay by losing your data or sending spam from your website without knowing. As a result, you can lose your position in the search results and you may even be fined.
Limiting the costs of running a business is important, but always save strategically. Remember that a website is a place where customers have the first contact with your company and develop their opinion about the products and services that you offer. A website is an investment that will pay off very quickly if you choose a good web developer- the received quality is remembered for much longer than the price.
Have you found anything to look out for when buying a website?
Share this knowledge with us and help out other entrepreneurs.
BOWWE — Sites that sell
Do you need a website? Send us a message at [email protected]. We’ll get back and find the best solution for your company. | https://medium.com/@k-andruszkow/10-questions-that-you-need-to-ask-your-web-developer-4f08f5dd39f3 | ['Karol Andruszków'] | 2020-08-20 14:22:12.524000+00:00 | ['Website Building', 'Web Design', 'Strartup', 'Website Development', 'Website'] |
How to Do Text Search in MongoDB | 1. Create a Text Index
This is the first approach that you’ll find if you Google “full text search in mongo.” It’s the most efficient way to implement text search according to MongoDB’s documentation. As an example, consider the following data:
Now create the index because the index will make it happen!
> db.names.createIndex({ name: "text" })
Now try the following queries:
As you can see, if you search for Army , it brings all the documents that had the exact word Army or any known variation of that word in the names column. But it doesn’t work for Arm .
So, our text search is smart enough to match Armies when we search for Army but not dumb enough to partially match Arm with Army or Armies .
My product manager was hoping (or rather expecting) that if I searched for Arm , it would bring up the three results that came up when I searched for Army .
To solve this, I thought it would be a good idea to understand why the two documents did not match when I searched for Arm instead of Army .
Like I suspected, tokenisation! The text index breaks the data (in this case, Army Ants and Army of Ants ) by the white space into tokens. So Army Ants becomes [Army, Ants] and Army of Ants becomes [Army, of, Ants] . And when you search for Army , the word matches with one of the tokens in both documents, which is the reason why you see both documents in the results when you search for Army .
Note: I’m oversimplifying here. The actual process of tokenisation includes so much more (e.g. the stripping of insignificant words like of ).
So it seems like it would be next to impossible to satisfy our PM’s “hopes” with a text search. You might think we’ll have to venture into the world of autocompletes. | https://medium.com/better-programming/text-search-in-mongodb-34c1f70ab86d | ['Varun Bansal'] | 2020-09-24 14:59:02.814000+00:00 | ['Database', 'Mongodb', 'DevOps', 'Data Science', 'Programming'] |
How to overcome examination fear? | Exam fear is one of the familiar pieces of stuff which one can find in the majority of student who is going to appear for the exams. However, examination fever is not very uncommon but can give birth to an unfavorable consequence when you write your exam sheet. A handful of the primary reasons are stress, high expectations from parents and teachers, and competition from peers.
Fear imposes a negative impact on results or scorecard and is the chief reason leading to stress, anxiety, depression, forgetful habits, and reduction in memory or grasping power. Parents pressurize students by talking about the societal status and school by their previous rank.
Effective ways to overcome examination fear are as follows:-
1. Commence revising early instead of 16th hour
Studies have shown that students revising their syllabus before their examination have higher chances of excelling and getting good grades.
2. Make and follow your timetable table
Every student has a different approach to subjects, their preparation, and daily schedules. So, it is essential to follow a personal schedule.
3. Chalk out a proper schedule for yourself
Not everyone has similar schedules. Only, you can understand and put extra effort into your weak areas. Hence, chalk out a perfect schedule that meets your requirements without compromise or loss.
4. Spare time for each subject daily instead of focusing on only one subject at a time
It becomes monotonous to read a subject for a day. Try mixing up topics of different subjects to remember them for a longer duration.
5. Include study breaks in your timetable
A short study break can refresh and relax your body. Your alertness and grasping power also increasing after a short break.
6. Relax your body, sleep for 8 hours a day
Studying all day and night before the exam is not good for the body and mind. Lesser sleep can induce negative effects on memory power. You may tend to forget the things you have learned for the exam.
7. Try making last moment, quick reading notes
These quick notes can save both energy and time before the exam. You can revise all the important and challenging points at one glance.
8. Decorate the answer sheet with your legible handwriting
Its obvious teachers give more attention to beautiful and neat handwriting. Use your best handing in the exam. Write point-wise and do not cut the wrong sentences harshly, you may use a pencil to strike off things rather than a pen.
9. Highlight the important points with a highlighter or underline them neatly with a pencil.
By highlighting the important points, your answer sheet looks more informative and eye-pleasing. The teacher does not have to search for the key points between the lines.
10.Present clearly, add requisite headings and sub-headings
Differentiate between the main headings and sub-headings, it adds points to your neatness and presentation. You may use color pens to highlight them separately.
Exams are given primary importance because it is the test that determines your understanding and knowledge about a particular topic. It is the medium to differentiate between one’s ability and awareness. It also distinguishes one student from another based on academic performance. So, be careful while writing and studying for the exam! | https://medium.com/@mentormitrblogs/how-to-overcome-examination-fear-6a2d441ea7b7 | [] | 2021-06-17 14:59:50.392000+00:00 | ['Study', 'Careers', 'Exam', 'Test', 'Exam Fear'] |
Extracting image features without Deep Learning | Image is a matrix of numbers, let’s convert the knowledge into features.
Introduction:
One of the hottest fields in data science is image classification, in this article I want to share some techniques for transforming image to a vector of features that can be used in every classification model after then.
As a data scientist in VATbox I usually work with texts or images, in this article I’ll combine them both and we will try to solve text problem using only image.
Problem definition:
VATbox, as the name suggests, deals with VAT problems (and a lot more) one of the problems in the invoices world is that I would want to know how many invoices are in one image? To simplify the question, we will ask a binary question, do we have one invoice in the image or multiple invoices in the same image?
Why not use the text (TF-IDF for example)? Why use only the image pixels as an input?
So, sometimes we don’t have a reliable OCR, sometimes the OCR costs us money and we are not sure we want to use it..and for this article of course, to demonstrate the power of classical approaches for extracting features from an image.
Some python code for getting started:
import cv2
gray_image = cv2.imread(image_path, 0)
img = image.load_img(image_path, target_size=(self.IMG_SIZE, self.IMG_SIZE))
image reduction:
imagine that you are staring at the image very closely, you can see the pixels up close..so if we have image that contains text we can see the white pixels between the words and between the rows. If our intention (at least in this case) is to decide if we have a single invoice in the image, we can look on the image from some distance — it will help the “boring” white spaces in the image to be neglected.
# scale parameter – the relative size of the reduced image after the reduction. image_width = int(gray_image.shape[1] * scale_percent)
image_height = int(gray_image.shape[0] * scale_percent)
dim = (width, height)
gray_reduced_image = cv2.resize(gray_image, dim, interpolation=cv2.INTER_NEAREST)
cv2.imshow('image', resized)
cv2.waitKey(0)
So..which features we are going to use?
Image Entropy:
we can think about it like this — the difference between multiple invoices or single invoice per image can be translated to the amount of information in the image, thus, we can expect different mean entropy score in each class.
Where n is the sum number of gray levels (256 for 8-bit images) and p is the probability of a pixel having gray level i.
from sklearn.metrics.cluster import entropyentropy1 = entropy(gray_image)
entropy2 = entropy(gray_reduced_image)
DBscan:
Dbscan algorithm has the ability to find dense areas in our image space and assign them to one cluster. Its biggest advantage is that it determines the number of classes in the data by itself. We will create 3 features from the dbscan model:
number of classes (the assumption here is that a high number of classes will indicate a multiplicity of invoices in the image). the number of noisy pixels. silhouette score from the model (the silhouette score measure how well each pixel has been classified, we will take the mean silhouette score — over all the pixels)
from sklearn.cluster import DBSCAN
from sklearn import metrics thr, imgage = cv2.threshold(gray_reduced_image, 0, 255, cv2.THRESH_BINARY + cv2.THRESH_OTSU) img_df = pd.DataFrame(img).unstack().reset_index().rename(columns={'level_0': 'y', 'level_1': 'x'})
img_df = img_df[img_df[0] == 0]X = image_df[['y', 'x']] db = DBSCAN(eps=1, min_samples=5).fit(X) # plt.scatter(image_df['y'], image_df['x'], c=db.labels_, s=3)
# plt.show(block=False) core_samples_mask = np.zeros_like(db.labels_, dtype=bool)
core_samples_mask[db.core_sample_indices_] = True
labels = db.labels_ # Number of clusters in labels, ignoring noise if present.
n_clusters_ = len(set(labels)) - (1 if -1 in labels else 0)
n_noise_ = list(labels).count(-1)
image_df['class'] = labels # print('Estimated number of clusters: %d' % n_clusters_)
# print('Estimated number of noise points: %d' % n_noise_)
# print("Silhouette Coefficient: %0.3f" % metrics.silhouette_score(image_df, labels))features = pd.Series([n_clusters_, n_noise_, metrics.silhouette_score(image_df, labels)])
Compute zero crossings:
Each pixel in our (gray scale) image has a value between 0–255 (in our case zero is taken to be white, and 255 is taken to be black). If we want to compute “zero” crossings we’ll need to threshold the image — i.e. set a value such that a higher value will classify as 255 (black) and lower value will classify as 0 (white). In our case I used Otsu thresholding. After we will perform image thresholding, we will get zeros and ones as pixels, we can look at this as dataframe and sum each column and each row:
Example rows/cols pixels summing, it’s easy to see that the sum line creates an useful histogram for our usage.
Now, imagine that the 1’s stands for areas with text (black pixels) and the 0’s for blanks (white pixels). We now can count the numbers of times that each row/col sum changes from any positive number to zero.
img = img / 255
df = pd.DataFrame(img)pixels_sum_dim1 = (1 - img_df).sum()
pixels_sum_dim2 = (1 - img_df).T.sum() zero_corssings1 = pixels_sum_dim1[pixels_sum_dim1 == 0].reset_index()['index'].rolling(2).apply(np.diff).dropna()
zero_corssings1 = zero_corssings1[zero_corssings1 != 1]num_zero1 = zero_corssings1.shape[0] zero_corssings2 = pixels_sum_dim2[pixels_sum_dim2 == 0].reset_index()['index'].rolling(2).apply(np.diff).dropna()
zero_corssings2 = zero_corssings2[zero_corssings2 != 1]
num_zero2 = zero_corssings2.shape[0]features = pd.Series([num_zero1, num_zero2])
Normalized image histogram:
If we will treat our image as a signal, we can use some tools from the signal processing toolbox. We will use the re-sampling idea to create some more features.
How to do so? First, we need to convert our image from matrix to one dimensional vector. Second, since each image has a different shape we need to set one re-sampling size for all the images — in our case I used 16, what is it mean?
Using interpolation we can represent the signal as a continues function and then we will re-sample from it, the spacing between samples is
where x denotes the image signal and C denotes the number of points to resample.
in this example you can find plot of several resampling methods of the function f(x) = cos(-x²/6)
from scipy.signal import resample
dim1_normalized_hist = pd.Series(resample(df.sum(), 16))
dim2_normalized_hist = pd.Series(resample(df.T.sum(), 16)) print(dim1_normalized_hist)
print(dim2_normalized_hist)
DCT — Discrete Cosine Transform:
A discrete cosine transform (DCT) expresses a finite sequence of data points in terms of a sum of cosine functions oscillating at different frequencies. DCT unlike DFT (Discrete Fourier Transform) has only real part.
The DCT, and in particular the DCT-II, is often used in signal and image processing, especially for lossy compression, because it has a strong “energy compaction” property. In typical applications, most of the signal information tends to be concentrated in a few low-frequency components of the DCT.
We can compute the DCT vector on the image and on the transpose image, and take the first k elements.
from scipy.fftpack import dct dim1_dct = pd.Series(dct(df.sum())[0:8]).to_frame().T
dim2_dct = pd.Series(dct(df.T.sum())[0:8]).to_frame().T
dim1_normalize_dct = pd.Series(normalize(dim1_dct)[0].tolist())
dim2_normalize_dct = pd.Series(normalize(dim2_dct)[0].tolist())
print(dim1_normalize_dct)
print(dim2_normalize_dct)
Conclusion
These days the use of CNN’s is growing, in this article I tried to explain and demonstrate some classic ways to create features from the image in the old fashioned way, it would be good practice to know the basic of image processing because some times it easier and more accurate than just pushing it into a net. This article is an introduction and maybe a brain stimulation for what we can do with images and how we can use and extract knowledge from the pixels. | https://medium.com/@yuvalcohen-44381/extracting-image-features-without-deep-learning-1b560d09400b | ['Yuval Cohen'] | 2020-11-08 15:42:18.507000+00:00 | ['Feature Engineering', 'Image Processing', 'Data Science'] |
Connecting with Your Ancestors | Every person is a quotation from all their ancestors. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Autumn is built to honor the places within yourself where are you drawn to connect with those who’ve come before. It is a time well suited for reaching back across time and space in search of connecting with your ancestors, whether blood relatives or cultural ones.
We, women, have unique cultural and ancestral lineages.
Some are far-reaching — like those brave women who fought and suffered to get American women the right to vote.
Some are closer to heart and home — like a great-grandmother who left everything behind seeking a better, safer life in a new country.
As women, much of our cultural lineage is weighed down by suffering and pain, and by the oppression of our rights and the suppression of our voices. One way to honor all the women who’ve suffered before us is to use our voices, as we are able, to speak up for justice.
Some questions you can explore in your journal are:
What lessons have your ancestors taught you?
In what ways have they let you down?
In what ways do you benefit from their hard work?
In what ways might you have let your ancestors down?
And in what ways might you be a blessing to those that have passed before?
You can, of course, free-write in whatever ways feel best and most natural to you. You can also simply sit or lay still while you ponder these questions one at a time, listening for your inner knowingness to bubble up as it is ready.
This post is an excerpt from the Complete Self-Care for Autumn System Guidebook. You can learn more about this offering by clicking here. | https://medium.com/grace-and-magic/connecting-with-your-ancestors-2e74abe5ecc0 | ['Katherine Grace'] | 2020-10-31 19:39:09.879000+00:00 | ['Halloween', 'Self-awareness', 'Journaling', 'Samhain', 'Ancestors'] |
4 Weird Places to Get Viral Content Ideas | 1. The Kitchen Sink
Dishes, I hate doing them. However, whenever I get my hands to work while doing the dishes, I can’t seem to focus. It’s either I’m in my fantasy world or I’m listening to music, but I’ve noticed that’s when 10 writing ideas pop up at the same time.
My brain would tell me, “hey, write about ‘10 tech innovations that can solve the washing dishes problem’ or ‘how to get a hardworking husband that can do the dishes while you cook.’” My brain goes ahead to tell me it wouldn’t be that hard to write and it would totally have a lot of responses. The funny thing is, I believe my brain, but by the time I’m done with the dishes, I can’t remember what brainy told me.
2. Sleeping
Yes, writers are bound to get overwhelming ideas whilst being asleep. I doubt I’m any different from such writers. Many writers go through sleep deprivation which can be very toxic, it could be worth it sometimes.
I love my sleep, I don’t give it up. I take naps and sleep at night, and if at all I’m up by 1 am — it’s because I’m having a movie marathon wrapped in a blanket or reporting homophobic and racist accounts on Twitter or even more — bothering with student work. Nonetheless, my sleep brings ideas. I could dream about writing 17 fantastic pieces in 2 days, the ideas are not your usual cliché. I believe my body loves the comfort of my bed so much that my sleep generates ideas that are “out of this world.” That’s why I can’t remember the ideas when I wake up on earth.
Sometimes, the unexpected happens. My late-night ideas won’t let me sleep so my eyes keep twitching. If that’s not the case, I’m dreaming about how I met my man-crush on Medium.
3. The Ultimate Pooproom
Pooproom is my personalized term for a writer's idea generator. It’s a Pooproom, basically, the John, where you get the shit down — I’m 97% sure this room and the home office are competing for the best inline to favor a writer.
Believe it or not, most writers sit in their home office for 5 hours getting absolutely nothing but ideas they don’t tally with. This leads to starting a piece and not finishing it. Sorry, it’s going to be in your drafts for ages.
However, when writers like myself take a break and connect with the Pooproom, writing ideas keep flowing and the decision on which to write first becomes a hard choice. I’m certain there’s a portal that lets writers communicate with writing gods, only that the price for it is to be left in a trance. In other words, you’re most likely to remember 1 out of 33 ideas.
4. Bizarre Shower Adventure
It’s the bizarre nudity spot — the shower. It’s where all the erotica utopia comes to life. Hold on, don’t shy away.
That’s not the case for writers. Writers are different in one way or the other; while others are having lewd thoughts as the droplets influence their minds, writers control the water like they’re Avatar and rather think of the next viral content idea. Boring!
Well, since writers have uncontrollable idea magic, it’s really easy coming up with ideas. As a million droplets hit the shoulder, five ideas like “Tim Denning’s Writing Routine Beginner Guide” fill your brain and yes, it’s probably going to be the article of the season. It’s sweet knowing the title of a “soon to be written” article. Wait till you step out of the shower and get a laptop with a blank page on; no idea for the body because you don’t know Tim Denning’s writing routine. But you could do research though, so the shower is worth it. | https://medium.com/wreader/4-weird-places-to-get-viral-content-ideas-552b14e981b | ['Winifred J. Akpobi'] | 2020-11-11 14:10:35.531000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Marketing', 'Satire', 'Humor', 'Writing'] |
Now more than ever, focus on impact: Expert advice to guide your end of year giving. | In 2015, I surprised many by leaving a flourishing career in the tech sector to lead a nonprofit organization dedicated to facilitating impactful philanthropy. My experience in tech and a lifelong involvement with charitable causes had convinced me that data held the key to smarter, more impactful giving. I still believe this to be true.
My mission, both professional and personal, is to encourage donors to harness the power of data to make the best investments possible in the causes their hearts are called to support. In this era of extreme need and economic disarray, giving with impact has never been more important.
Combining heart and science, here are my top three pieces of advice to guide your charitable decision-making during this most unusual of giving seasons:
1. Give with passion
The coronavirus pandemic has had an uneven effect on the nonprofit sector and the causes and constituencies it serves. Organizations responding directly to the pandemic, including food banks and homeless shelters, have reported record levels of funding as Americans step up to support those hit hardest by the pandemic–but that’s not the whole story. Overall, the philanthropic sector is experiencing a painful contraction as organizations whose missions are less central to the current climate suffer from severe losses in revenue.
My advice to donors conflicted about where to channel their funds this giving season is this: Follow your passion. If the plight of those impacted most severely by the COVID-19 pandemic is your most pressing concern, donate to groups that are working to alleviate the pain. If the racial justice movement that coalesced this summer has inspired you, that’s where your funds should go. As for the causes that have long been close to your heart–the environment, the performing arts, education–they need your funds, too–desperately. In a time when you may have less to give to the causes that are meaningful to you, stay true to the ones you love.
2. Follow the data
Following your passion doesn’t mean giving indiscriminately to organizations whose missions align with your values. Not all nonprofits are equally effective–and with studies showing that only a third of donors research an organization before making a donation, you could well be throwing away your hard-earned money with nothing much to show for it in the way of real impact.
Thanks to our increased ability to access digital nonprofit data at scale, we now have more information than ever with which to evaluate a nonprofit’s effectiveness. And the tools that aggregate and distill this data for donors are increasingly sophisticated.
Earlier this summer, Charity Navigator (the organization I currently lead) added 150,000 new nonprofits–many of them smaller and more recently established than those we have traditionally rated–to our nonprofit assessment platform. We also acquired the ratings startup ImpactMatters, which developed a straightforward methodology that allows an apples to apples comparison of nonprofit impact–that is, the amount of good achieved per dollar spent. For example, want to know which food bank in your city is most cost effective at distributing meals to those facing food insecurity? This methodology will tell you.
A group photo of the Charity Navigator team in 2019.
Charity Navigator is not the only organization working to promote intelligent giving: Givewell, Candid, and BBB Wise Giving Alliance all provide useful information to prospective donors.
3. Ask the right questions
Related to the point above, I encourage all donors to ask the right questions when considering a contribution. Rather than asking “where is my money being spent?” try asking, “what has my money accomplished?” Think of your gift as an investment, which you track over time.
To determine whether a particular organization is a sound investment, look for how it articulates its impact–quantifying outcomes and sharing stories from beneficiaries, for example. If the difference the organization is making isn’t readily available or easily understood, you may want to consider supporting a different organization in the same cause area.
I hope that these steps will help you feel confident in your giving decisions in this challenging time, and when many have less money to give to the issues they care about. Remember, charitable giving is an investment one makes in an organization and a cause. It’s easier than ever to ensure that the return on one’s investment is high. So, this giving season: follow your heart, use your head, and make a difference.
Michael Thatcher is the President & CEO of Charity Navigator, the world’s largest nonprofit assessment platform. He was previously Microsoft’s Public Sector Chief Technology Officer (CTO) responsible for technology policy initiatives and engagements with government and academic leaders in the Middle-East, Africa, and Asia. | https://medium.com/@mthatch/now-more-than-ever-focus-on-impact-expert-advice-to-guide-your-end-of-year-giving-bd5e82ff13db | ['Michael Thatcher'] | 2020-12-23 14:03:37.291000+00:00 | ['Impact', 'Charity Navigator', 'Charity', 'Nonprofit', 'Philanthropy'] |
A Journal of the Corporate Plague Year | A Journal of the Corporate Plague Year
A Survivor Reminisces
(Author’s Note: The following is an excerpt from a business diary that was discovered in a discarded file cabinet during the cold case investigation into the disappearance of Malinda Flagstaff. )
Having already overcome predicted Armageddon twice in my life so far, I consider myself a seasoned survivor, albeit without the toned upper arms of cinematic dystopian heroines. I resemble Sigourney Weaver only in the stoicism I present when confronting the life force sucking shape-shifting humanoids stalking the corridors of the headquarters of the global conglomerate where I have managed to maintain a decades old sinecure.
I unflinchingly faced down Y2K in my corner office with the window view, comforted by the fact that my file drawers were filled with beef jerky and dried fruit and the knowledge that I had stashed away an old Royal manual typewriter and a boxful of ink ribbons. When others faced having their computers turned into paperweights, I would still be able to crank out the mind-numbing training bulletins and updates that were my professional bailiwick without interruption. I also managed to secure a vintage mimeograph machine the city was auctioning off from the contents of an asbestos ridden elementary school it was forced to finally knock down when it became known as PS Mesothelioma.
As we all know now with the benefit of hindsight, my preparations were superfluous. My fellow management caste even got off a few ripostes at my expense at the executive retreat that year, when I rolled out my Power Point presentation on “THRIVING, Not Just Surviving, in a Darwinian Corporate Environment”. The point of my treatise was basically how to take the delivered daily rotten lemons of bureaucratic peonage and turn them into personal challenges and inspirational goal setting lemonade.
It turns out the word “Darwinian” was impolitic of me and was taken by most to be a negative aspersion on our corporate character and culture. So ironic, in that I had taken some care in selecting that adjective, having rejected “Sadistic” and “Cannibalistic” as being accurate but distancing. It seemed to me that our company, based as it is on the dispassionate setting of ever insurmountable sales goals, was clearly Darwinian, a world where only the strongest and the wiliest survived.
Oh well, they all disappeared in the corporate merger, leaving me to have the last laugh. I was scheduled to disappear as well as a “redundancy” as they helpfully label it in order to cushion the blow, when the Training Director of our “sister company”, who had greater seniority than I, was discovered to have pilfered her budget in order to cover some cosmetic surgeries she felt were required to order to maintain her youthful mien. “Youthful” interpreted to mean her skin being stretched so tightly that her eyes were migrating flounder-like to her temples and her lips being permanently bloated as if she were suffering from an ever-present shellfish allergy and needed to be stuck immediately with an Epi-pen by some helpful bystander.
She actually did have a shellfish allergy, I recall it being discussed when we were selecting the entree choices for the merger luncheon, inspiring a brief reverie on my part imagining her being mistakenly served the Shrimp Newburg instead of the Chicken Divan. I pictured her gasping and clutching her throat after swallowing a first gluttonous forkful and slumping from her chair to the carpet. If I am being brutally frank, I will confess that she could lie gasping at my feet,and if I held the antidote in one hand and a prawn in the other, I would press the pink crustacean to her lips given the choice. Fortunately, her little embezzlement peccadillo saved us all a lot of time and misguided energy.
Then I survived, as did we all, The Mayan End of the World predicted for 2012. Having learned my lesson in 2000, I held off on the jerky and dried fruit this time around. I really couldn’t see why there was all the fuss about their calendar ending on December 31, 2011. For heaven’s sake, didn’t the court calendar guy do more than anyone could have possibly expected by carving dates out through 2011 in the first place? He must have been totally sick of whittling those weird jaguar gargoyles in stone and felt like, “There! That should hold them for awhile”.
Isn’t it so typical that an unprecedented outlay of frenzied calendar carving should prompt only a belief that he should have done even more but must have been prevented by an apocalyptic vision of the pointlessness of continuing? Most of us realize that the daily gerbil activities that we engage in, in order to purchase gerbil food, are pointless but at least we aren’t accused of reducing the universe to flood and ashes if we cease.
But I digress. I feel quite sure that I am facing Armageddon yet again, and as they say in the movie trailers “This time it’s personal”. My own personal Armageddon, unshared by the multitudes, but which threatens to bring down my own little comfy and secure universe. It’s not much, but it’s all I have and I have discovered that I have untapped reservoirs of strength within myself that I am fully capable of tapping should they be required. I realize that I have hit that invisible age of mature womanhood, when no one but no one pays any attention to me and what I do or what I think or where I go. Good. So much the better.
The threat to which I refer has appeared in the form of a many headed hydra, a chameleon, a multiple-personality disordered schizophrenic Sybil of a woman known to others in my milieu as The Human Resources Director. Her name sadly, is not Sybil. Since her parents did not possess the ability to peer into the misty future and foresee the chaos resulting from her tragically underdeveloped frontal cortex (likely the result of tobacco, alcohol and artificial sweeteners ingested in utero), they christened her Malinda.
From the first day she was introduced at our monthly management meeting, I sensed the potential danger from the interloper. She was charming in a Ted Bundyesque fashion, displaying superficial bonne homme but with strangely black and opaque eyes which did not mirror the smiling upturns of her mouth. We shook hands cordially and surveyed one another.
I may as well confess that I fancy that I have certain gifts of empathic intuition and a tie to the rhythmic cycle of history and heritage and all that has gone before. I sensed somehow that I had met Malinda previously in another time and place and that we had been adversaries and that one of us had emerged victorious and the other had been vanquished. I could not tell at this initial meeting who had been Mary Stuart and who had been Elizabeth Tudor. Not that I am that vainglorious to imply such a momentous re-incarnation; for all I know our ancestors had squabbled over a fish bone in the Middle Paleolithic. I will only say that as we ceremoniously clasped fingers that a look of recognition passed between us and one of us may have well as spoken aloud the words, “So, it is you.” | https://medium.com/thecabbagegarden/a-journal-of-the-corporate-plague-year-2bdb09888a3d | ['Valerie Kittell'] | 2018-12-20 15:10:01.598000+00:00 | ['Mystery', 'Fiction', 'Writing', 'Short Story'] |
ETH2.0: Staking for Starters | ETH2.0: Staking for Starters
Everything you need to know about staking in Ethereum 2.0
November 4th saw the deployment of the staking deposit contract, which required a minimum of 524,288 ETH for a successful launch of the first phase of Eth2 on December 1st. This threshold was met, and the launch (genesis) of the beacon chain went smoothly. More than 1,000,000 ETH has since been deposited for staking.
We previously published a glance of how Proof of Stake works in our ETH2.0: Everything You Need to Know article, which we highly recommend you read first, that covers a wide range of topics within Eth2 and should give you a good foundation for what we detail here.
With so much ETH already being staked at this time, you might be inclined to get started with staking as well. However, is staking at this moment in time a good idea? And what are the risks involved? The following is included in this article:
What is staking?
Should I be staking?
What are the risks, and how can I get started?
What is staking?
Right now, Ethereum works with a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism, just like many other blockchains, such as Bitcoin. In this system, miners perform difficult mathematical tasks in order to form blocks and mine transactions.
This process is insanely resource-intensive and consumes an enormous amount of electricity. Proof of stake (PoS) tries to solve these issues, aiming to provide even more decentralization than proof of work is currently able to achieve.
With staking, so-called validators keep an eye on the network and propose new blocks in which transactions will be included. These validators work together to keep the network as secure as possible, and any bad actors will be penalized by having their stake “slashed.” Slashing is a mechanism by which part of someone’s stake will be removed if they deliberately try to attack the network, and in the worst case, even one’s full stake (up to 32 ETH) can be slashed.
For more information regarding the differences between PoW and PoS, and the various other new exciting things that are introduced with Eth2, I highly recommend you to read our ETH2.0: Everything You Need to Know primer.
What is the genesis event?
The genesis event occurred on December 1st, and refers to the creation of the first (genesis) block of the beacon chain. This means that the first phase of Eth2 succeeded and that the validators can propose new beacon chain blocks.
These validator clients will be working on keeping the beacon chain running smoothly. Now usually, the beacon chain is there to keep track of all the shard chains (see primer) in the network, but these are not yet implemented in the current phase of Eth2 and are expected to launch at a later stage.
So the validators maintain the beacon chain, but what is its purpose right now? At this time, not a whole lot. The beacon chain itself doesn’t actually do anything for the time being, but it’s a crucial foundation for the rest of Eth2 updates to come. If this foundation proves stable and functions well, future upgrades will have a much bigger chance of succeeding.
Should I be staking?
Withdrawing your staked ETH and staking rewards will not be possible until Ethereum has fully transitioned to proof of stake.
This might take until 2021 or 2022, or even later than is currently anticipated. Withdrawing will only be possible once future upgrades are deployed to the network during an upgrade called “docking.” To allow the Ethereum network to “dock,” firstly both phase 0 and phase 1 will need to be deployed, which will allow beacon chains and sharding chains to operate with each other. Phase 0 has already just launched, and phase 1 is expected to be launched in 2021.
Docking is also known as phase 1.5, and only then will the Ethereum network as we know it be able to transition to a full proof-of-stake system, managed fully by the validators, beacon chains, and sharding chains. The Ethereum network as we know it today will become its own shard within this new system.
You will have to make the decision for yourself whether you are in a comfortable position to stake your Ether for this amount of time, especially when it’s still unclear when in the future you will be able to withdraw.
Can I make money from staking?
By participating as a validator, you will be able to receive awards for your efforts, just like with mining. The amount of ETH that you can expect to earn will depend on the amount of ETH that is staked in total. The less ETH that is staked by the ecosystem as a whole, the higher the rewards for individual stakers will be on a per-year basis, and vice versa.
The Eth2 Launch Pad has a nifty tool that allows you to see what kind of returns you can expect based on how much ETH is staked in total.
For example, if 1,000,000 ETH is locked up for staking, you can expect a yearly return of 15.7%. Keep in mind that even though you will be able to receive rewards, you will not be able to withdraw these until Ethereum has fully transitioned to proof of stake.
The benefit of the staking mechanism, as opposed to mining, is that you are not required to invest in expensive hardware and high electricity costs. Anyone could become a validator as long as they have the minimum amount of required ETH to stake and can keep their validator client up and running.
What are the risks?
First of all, you need to keep in mind that your ETH will be locked up, therefore illiquid, for an indefinite amount of time.
Second of all, staking requires you to maintain a bit of infrastructure, namely your validator client. Stakers can face being penalized if they aren’t able to keep their validator client up and running consistently enough. You might have to try and keep your client running for years, which is not a small commitment.
If your client is offline, you will lose roughly the amount of money that you would’ve been able to earn in that timeframe if the client was online. This means that if you were set to earn X amount of ETH in a set period, you would instead be penalized roughly that amount instead.
You can avoid this by joining a staking pool, in which the validator client and infrastructure will be maintained for you by someone else. However, this brings other risks along with it, as you might have to give up custody of your assets, so another party can handle the staking process for you. If the staking provider is not to be trusted or gets hacked, you might end up losing your funds, as we’ve seen countless times before with cryptocurrency exchanges.
Some popular exchanges are already introducing the possibility of staking ETH on their platforms, such as Coinbase, Kraken, and Binance.
Additional, indirect risks with ETH2 are the potential for new scams to pop up. When the ETH2 contract deposit address was revealed, a handful of mimics appeared shortly thereafter.
There will be many more ETH2-related scams that appear as the development progresses and releases occur, and you’ll need to look out for those. The most important thing you can do is always verify everything at the source.
How can I stake?
To get started with staking, you will firstly need 32 ETH. This is not a small amount, and is equal to roughly $19,000 at the time of publishing this article.
However, you can still participate with fewer funds by contributing a smaller stake to exchanges that have staking functionality, or by joining a staking pool. You can find a list of these pools here, but do keep in mind that you have to do your own due diligence to find whichever pool works best for you.
If you would like to stake 32 ETH, you can head over to launchpad.ethereum.org to start the staking process. This will require you to run an Eth2 validator client, such as Prysm, Lighthouse, Nimbus, or Teku.
Conclusion
The decision of whether to stake or not isn’t an easy choice to make at this time, and there are lots of different factors to keep in mind when choosing to do so. If you are comfortable with not being able to access your stake for most likely years, and you are confident that you can keep your validator client running for all that time, you might be able to earn a decent profit with the staking rewards.
It’s not an easy choice for now, and I would highly recommend you to continue reading about this topic to make an informed decision. You can find a great amount of information on the official Ethereum website. The knowledge base maintained by beaconcha.in is also a great resource, albeit a bit more technical.
To get started with staking, you can visit Ethereum’s staking launch pad.
Talk To Us & Share Your Thoughts | https://medium.com/mycrypto/eh2-0-staking-for-starters-7b620c764ecb | [] | 2020-12-08 20:33:04.080000+00:00 | ['Ethereum', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Crypto', 'Bitcoin', 'Blockchain'] |
Merry Christmas | “The true meaning of Christmas is, “He will save His people from their sins””
“You will be saved because He was born”
Matthew 1:21 — She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” https://www.blueletterbible.org/nkjv/mat/1/1/
Light bulb invention is considered to be the greatest invention of all time. Many scientists tried creating one but is was Thomas Alva Edison who succeeded by inventing a light bulb that stood burning for 1200 hours. This invention saved many who lived in the dark. Even today we are awake and even sometimes without sleeping because there is light. It removes the dark world and the fear we have towards the dark. Saves us from fear. Now we live in a world without darkness, we light a night lamp while we sleep. Our mobile phones and computers function because of light. Television because of light. Light is present everywhere and has removed the fear in us. That is the power of light. In the book of John 8:12, Jesus said.
John 8:12 — “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”” And in John 9:5
John 9:5 — “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Why did Jesus tell this? He did not say this to differentiate between the light and the dark. He said this because he wanted to explain sin and salvation. He said this because Jesus is the way to salvation and anyone who believes in Him will never die in sin to be punished. They who believe in Him will be saved from hell and will go to be with the Lord. They will have Eternal life.
Read the book of Romans 10:9
Romans 10:9 — “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Jesus will create a light in you and you will be the light to this world. You will be a witness for Christ and also minister to people to preach the gospel. The gift you received for free will be given to others by you. You will fall in God’s plan and never be put to shame. Ask Jesus this Christmas to help you get delivered from sin and He will forgive your sins. This is the purpose of Christmas and not anything else. | https://medium.com/@vinodkumarj_12583/merry-christmas-2e96cc729294 | ['Vinod Kumar J'] | 2019-12-22 13:49:05.585000+00:00 | ['Christmas', 'Christianity', 'Christian Living', 'Jesus'] |
A Complete Guide on How to Deposit Fiat on NaijaCrypto | A Complete Guide on How to Deposit Fiat on NaijaCrypto
Welcome to Naijacrypto, the exchange with limitless possibilities. By now you must have opened an account with Naijacrypto, done your email verification and look forward to trading your favourite cryptocurrency pairs (if you have not opened an account click Here). That great step starts with first making a coin/fiat deposit from another exchange or making a fiat deposit to your Naijacrypto wallet.
Here are some tips to make you understand fiat deposits better;
A fiat deposit is the process of moving Naira (fiat) from your bank account to your Naira wallet on Naijacrypto for subsequent trading. Interesting right?
To initiate a fiat deposit, sign into your Naijacrypto account, click on deposit from the array of options on the topmost corner of the exchange, from the list of options, select NGN since you want to deposit Naira.
There are three ways to make Naira (fiat) deposit on Naijacrypto; Instant Deposit, Bank Transfer and Paystack.
These three methods of fiat deposit are examined below.
Instant Deposit: This is the first deposit option you find when you get to the fiat deposit page. Here are a few things to note;
The instant deposit page provides a unique bank name, bank code, account number and account name.
The details provided here are unique to your account and helps to process your deposit request immediately. It can be initiated through a bank transfer on the bank app or over the bank counter.
This fiat deposit method is instant; you can however change to the other two options by clicking on the arrow beside the "Instant deposit".
2. Bank Transfer: This deposit method makes use of the usual bank and USSD transfer we use in everyday life via our bank app and mobile phone numbers. These are the important things to note.
The details to receive the transfer amount including the bank name, account name and account number are displayed on this bank transfer page.
After completing the bank transfer, a clear screenshot of the transaction notification must be uploaded to the upload page provided.
Naijacrypto then examines and confirm the transaction, once this is done, it is approved. This deposit method may take some time before it reflects.
3. Paystack: This method of payment is also incorporated into Naijacrypto for easy card payment. Here are things to note:
To initiate a fiat deposit through paystack, locate the paystack option and enter the intended deposit amount.
A payment gateway is opened, where the necessary card details are provided to facilitate the payment.
These details includes ATM's serial number, CSV and ATM pin to authorise the transaction. The payment method reflects instantly.
Now that you have learnt how to make deposits on Naijacrypto, it’s time to make that deposit, place some trades and make some profits.
Get started with the All in One Exchange, Naijacrypto
Written by: Akeju Abiola | https://medium.com/@Naijacrypto/a-complete-guide-on-how-to-deposit-fiat-on-naijacrypto-77fd3606d1af | ['Naijacrypto Exchange'] | 2020-11-12 12:48:16.544000+00:00 | ['Nigerian Economy', 'Cryptocurrency Exchange', 'Bitcoin Trading', 'Blockchain Startup', 'Fiat To Crypto'] |
Super Mario Maker: a learning design pattern | LEARNING DESIGN PATTERN
Imagine a student is in their first year of university. They haven’t narrowed down a major area of study yet, so their classes are still quite varied.
On a particularly busy day, they are asked to consider the following four problems in four different tutorial sessions.
Write a program that accepts 10 test scores from a student, removes the highest and lowest scores, and then calculates the average of the remaining scores. Discuss whether Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby is great, and why. Work out what basic cipher is being used in this message, and decipher it: NFFU NF BU UIF TUBUJPO A class has to vote in a secret ballot to select a class president, a vice president, and 4 (equally ranked) prefects. There are 10 nominated students up for election. What is the probability that two randomly selected students vote the exact same way?
Many people would agree that one of these four tutorials stands out clearly against the other three. The Gatsby question probably came up in a literature subject, whereas the other three would appear in STEM-based classes.
Building on that, we can unpack the differences a little further, to three (very related) ways the Gatsby challenge diverges from the others.
Difference #1 The Gatsby question would easily spark a lot of discussion — and probably even some fierce debate — in the tutorial. The others might prompt some quiet working out with each learner’s own pen/paper/device. Sure, they might work together if they were made to…
Difference #2 As they stand, the three STEM questions don’t naturally prompt the learners to build their understanding together. Learners in these classes might work together to try things out, to think creatively, and to teach each other while they learn. Or, they might not. In contrast, the Gatsby question starts with a word that is powerful in any tutorial: Discuss.
Difference #3 All of the questions — other than the Gatsby one — essentially have a correct answer that isn’t up for debate. | https://medium.com/learning-designers-toolkit/super-mario-maker-a-learning-design-pattern-480ec0e2de1c | ['Shaun Thompson'] | 2020-08-21 05:11:06.351000+00:00 | ['Instructional Design', 'Videogames', 'Education', 'Design Patterns', 'Learning Design'] |
Artificial Intelligence Research: The Octopus Algorithm for Generating Goal-Directed Heuristic Feedback | Originally published on July 1, 2018 at Blogger; Revised on January 24, 2019.
During the 2010 FIFA World Cup eight years ago, a common octopus named Paul the Octopus drew worldwide attention because it “accurately predicted” all the results of the most important soccer matches in the world (sadly it died by natural courses shortly after that). Perhaps Paul the Octopus just got extraordinarily lucky. Eight years later, as reported by the MIT Technology Review, artificial intelligence has been used in its stead to predict the World Cup (which I doubt would achieve the 100% success rate as the famous octopus did marvelously).
While my research on artificial intelligence (AI) has nothing to do with predicting which team would win the World Cup, octopuses have become one of my inspirations in the past few days. My work is about developing AI techniques that support learning and teaching through solving vastly open-ended problems such as scientific inquiry and engineering design. One of the greatest challenges in such problem-solving tasks is about how to automatically assess student work so that we can automatically generate instructional feedback. Typically, the purpose of this kind of feedback, called formative feedback, is to gradually direct students to some kind of goals, for example, to achieve the most energy-efficient design of a building that meets all the specs. Formative feedback is critically important to ensuring the success of project-based learning, a common pedagogy for teaching and practicing scientific inquiry and engineering design. Based on my own experience, however, many students have great difficulties making progress towards the goal in the short amount of time typically available in the classroom. Given the time constraints, they need help on an ongoing basis. But it is unrealistic to expect the teacher to simultaneously monitor a few dozen students while they are working on their own projects and provide timely feedback to each and every one of them at the same time. This is where AI can help. This is the reason why we are developing new pedagogical principles and instructional strategies, hoping to harness the power of AI to spur students to think more deeply, explore more widely, and even design more creatively.
Although this general idea of using AI in education makes sense, developing reliable algorithms that can automatically guide students to solve massively open-ended problems such as engineering design is by no means a small job. Through three months of intense work in this field, I have developed genetic algorithms that can be used to find optimal solutions in complex design environments such as the Energy3D CAD software, which you can find in earlier articles published through my blog. These algorithms were proven to be effective for optimizing certain engineering problems, but to call them AI, we will need to identify what kind of instructional intelligence of humans that they are able to augment or replace. In my current point of view, an apparent class of AI applications is about mimicking certain teaching capacities of peers and instructors. In order to create an artificial peer or even an artificial instructor, we would have to figure out algorithms that simulate the interactions between a student and a peer or between a student and an instructor, in particular those related to heuristics — one of three keys to the mind according to German psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer.
In teaching, heuristics generally represent scaffolding methods for inspiring and guiding students to discover knowledge step by step on their own. In computer science, genetic algorithms are also called metaheuristic algorithms, variations of heuristic algorithms. Heuristics generally represent computational methods for searching and optimizing solutions step by step based on updated data. The similarity between heuristics in teaching and heuristics in computing is that the answer is not given right away— only a suggestion for understanding or solving a problem based on currently available information is provided. The difference is that, in the case of teaching, we withhold the answer because we want students to think hard to discover it by themselves, whereas in the case of computing, we don’t really know what the optimal answer may be.
Fig. 1: An illustration of the Octopus Algorithm
Despite the commonality, there are many things to consider when we try to use computational heuristics to build educational heuristics. In teaching, an optimization algorithm that yields the best solution in a long single run is not very useful as it doesn’t provide sufficient opportunities for engaging students. You can imagine that type of algorithm as someone who does something very fast but doesn’t pause to explain to the learner how he or she does the job. To create a developmentally appropriate tool, we will need to slow down the process a bit — sort of like the creeping of an octopus — so that the learner can have a chance to observe, reflect, internalize, and catch up on their own when AI is solving the problem step by step (“give some help, but not too much” — as an experienced instructor would act in heuristic teaching). This kind of algorithm is known as local search, a technique for finding an optimal solution in the vicinity of a starting point that represents the learner’s current state (as opposed to global search that casts a wide net across the entire solution space, representing equally all possibilities regardless of the learner’s current state). Random optimization is one of the local search methods proposed in 1965, which stochastically generates a set of candidate solutions distributed around the initial solution in accordance with the normal distribution. The graphical representation of a normal distribution is a bell curve that somewhat resembles the shape of an octopus (Figure 1). When using a genetic algorithm to implement the local search, the two red edge areas in Figure 1 can be imagined as the “tentacles” for the “octopus” to sense “food” (optima), while the green bulk area in the middle can be imagined as the “body” for it to “digest the catches” (i.e., to concentrate on local search). Once an optimum is “felt” (i.e., one or more solution points close to the optimum is included in the randomly generated population of the genetic algorithm), the “octopus” will move towards it (i.e., the best solution from the population will converge to the optimum) as driven by the genetic algorithm. The length of the “tentacles,” characterized by the standard deviation of the normal distribution, dictates the pace in which the algorithm will find an optimum. The smaller the standard deviation, the slower the algorithm will locate an optimum.
Fig. 2: Learning through a human-AI partnership
I call this particular combination of random optimization and genetic algorithm the Octopus Algorithm as it intuitively mimics how an octopus hunts on the sea floor (and, in part, to honor Paul the Octopus and to celebrate the 2018 World Cup Tournament). With a controlled drift speed, the Octopus Algorithm can be applied to incrementally correct the learner’s work in a way that goes back and forth between the human and the machine, making it possible for us to devise a learning strategy based on human-machine collaboration as illustrated in Figure 2. Another way to look at this human-machine relationship is that it can be used to turn a design process into some kind of gaming (e.g., chess or Go), which challenges students to compete against a computer towards an agreed goal but with an unpredictable outcome (either the computer wins or the human wins). It is our hope that AI would ultimately serve as a tool to train students to design effectively just like what it has already done for training chess or Go players.
Fig. 3: Finding an optimal tilt angle for a row of solar panels
How does the Octopus Algorithm work, I hear you are curious? I have tested it with some simple test functions such as certain sinusoidal functions (e.g., |sin(nx)|) and found that it worked for those test cases. But since I have the Energy3D platform, I can readily test my algorithms with real-world problems instead of some toy problems. As the first real-world example, let’s check how it finds the optimal tilt angle of a single row of solar panels for a selected day at a given location (we can do it for the entire year, but it takes much longer to run the simulation with not much more to add in terms of testing the algorithm), as shown in Figure 3. Let’s assume that the initial guess for the tilt angle is zero degree (if you have no idea which way and how much the solar panels should be tilted, you may just lay them flat as a reasonable starting point). Figure 4 shows the results of four consecutive runs. The graphs in the left column show the normal distributions around the initial guess and the best emerged after each round (which was used as the initial guess for the next round). The graphs in the right column show the final distribution of the population at the end of each round. The first and second runs show that the “octopus” gradually drifted left. At the end of the third run, it had converged to the final solution. It just stayed there at the end of the fourth run.
Fig. 4: Evolution of population in the Octopus Algorithm
When there are multiple optima in the solution space (a problem known as multimodal optimization), it may be appropriate to expect that AI would guide students to the nearest optimum. This may also be a recommendation by learning theories such as the Zone of Proximal Development introduced by Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky. If a student is working in a certain area of the design space, guiding him or her to find the best option within that niche seems to be the most logical instructional strategy. With a conventional genetic algorithm that performs global search with uniform initial selection across the solution space, there is simply no guarantee that the suggested solution would take the student’s current solution into consideration, even though his/her current solution can be included as part of the first generation (which, by the way, may be quickly discarded if the solution turns out to be a bad one). The Octopus Algorithm, on the other hand, respects the student’s current state and tries to walk him/her through the process stepwisely. In theory, it is a better technique to support personalized learning, the number one in the 14 grand challenges for engineering in the 21st century posed by the National Academy of Engineering of the United States.
Fig. 5: Finding an orientation of a house that results in best energy saving.
Let’s see how the Octopus Algorithm finds multiple optima. Again, I have tested the algorithm with simple sinusoidal functions and found that it worked in those test cases. But I want to use a real-world example from Energy3D to illustrate my points. This example is concerned with determining the optimal orientation of a house, given that everything else has been fixed (Figure 5). The orientation will affect the energy use of the house because it will receive different amounts of solar radiation through the windows at different orientations.
Fig. 6: Using four “octopuses” to locate four optimal orientations for the energy efficiency of a house.
By manual search, I found that there are basically four different orientations that could result in comparable energy efficiency, as depicted in Figure 6.
Fig. 7: Locating the nearest optimum
Now let’s pick four different initial guesses and see which optimum each “octopus” finds. Figure 7 shows the results. The graphs in the left column show the normal distributions around the four initial guesses. The graphs in the right column show the final solutions to which the Octopus Algorithm converged. In this test case, the algorithm succeeded in ensuring nearest guidance within the zone of proximal development. Why is this important? Imagine if the student is experimenting with a southwest orientation but hasn’t quite figured out the optimal angle. An algorithm that suggests that he or she should abandon the current line of thinking and consider another orientation (say, southeast) could misguide the student and is therefore unacceptable. Once the student arrives at an optimal solution nearby, it may be desirable to prompt him/her to explore alternative solutions by choosing a different area to focus and repeat this process as needed. The ability for the algorithm to detect the three other optimal solutions simultaneously, known as multi-niche optimization, would be helpful but may not be essential in this case.
Fig. 8: “A fat octopus” vs. “a slim octopus.”
There is a practical problem, though. When we generate the normal distribution of solution points around the initial guess, we have to specify the standard deviation that represents the reach of the “tentacles” (Figure 8). As illustrated by Figure 9, the larger the standard deviation (“a fatter octopus”), the more likely the algorithm will find more than one optima and may lose the nearest one as a result. In most cases, finding a solution that is close enough may be good enough in terms of guidance. But if this weakness becomes an issue, we can always reduce the standard deviation to search the neighborhood more carefully. The downside is that it will slow down the optimization process, though.
Fig. 9. A “fatter octopus” may be problematic.
In summary, the Octopus Algorithm that I have invented seems to be able to accurately guide a designer to the nearest optimal solution in an engineering design process. Unlike Paul the Octopus that relied on supernatural forces (or did it?), the Octopus Algorithm is an AI technique that we create, control, and leverage. On a separate note, since some genetic algorithms also employ tournament selection like the World Cup, perhaps Paul the Octopus was thinking like a genetic algorithm (joke)? For the computer scientists who happen to be reading this article, it may also add a new method for multi-niche optimization besides fitness sharing and probabilistic crowding. | https://charlesxie.medium.com/artificial-intelligence-research-the-octopus-algorithm-for-generating-goal-directed-feedback-116b87cff2a5 | ['Charles Xie'] | 2019-01-24 22:14:24.022000+00:00 | ['Genetic Algorithm', 'Artficial Intelligence', 'Engineering', 'Design', 'Educational Technology'] |
Making an escape game inside Amsterdam’s most secure museum | We dove right into finding a storyline by interviewing different curators at the museum and learning their unique perspectives on Rembrandt. This year was the year of Rembrandt, so the game had to have some connection to the Dutch Master. In one of these conversations however, we were nudged in the direction of a different artist who was mentioned in the same breath as Rembrandt. His technique was as groundbreaking as Rembrandt’s and his works were often so realistic that people at the time suspected him of sorcery. This, along with a debaucherous lifestyle and his alleged involvement with a secret order, eventually got him jailed, tortured and sentenced to death. Miraculously, he managed to survive, but all of his paintings were destroyed by his prosecutors.
All of his paintings, but one. One hanging in the Rijksmuseum today.
That is when we knew we’d found our story.
Of course, to say more would be to divulge too many details about the experience we’re making. Instead, we’d like to share a few experience design principles that we employed in this project.
We don’t take the time to reflect upon these processes as often as we like, so if you’d like to encourage us to do this more often, please leave a message in the comments.
The Art of Inception
Photo credit: Warner Bros
As game designers we continuously face the difficult task of creating challenging-but-conquerable obstacles.
Make the obstacle too challenging, and a player will experience a sense of failure, frustration or even anger with the game. Make it too easy, and a player will feel bored or even insulted. On top of this balancing act, as designers, we’re always dealing with different levels of intelligence, knowledge and life experience that can create massive differences in thought patterns.
One trick for making a satisfying challenge is to ‘give’ people the answer in a way they don’t realize it’s a clue, or at a time when they don’t know what to do with it yet. We call it priming and it’s basically what the characters in the movie Inception are doing: planting a thought in someone’s subconscious so they will think of it themselves when the moment comes.
The goal here is empowerment. If you give people a difficult-enough challenge ánd the tools to overcome it, magic happens. They’ll enjoy both the obstacle as well as the triumph.
Beware: Moving Parts
Photo credit: Murder at Riddlestone Manor
As we raced to design the experience, we quickly came to realise that creating a game in a heavily secured museum comes with a special set of design constraints.
For instance, the Rijksmuseum -massive as it is- has limited space and a vastly larger collection. Therefore it continuously changes its selection of what’s on display. This could mean that, after creating a puzzle around a particular piece of art, that piece could get moved or sent away for restauration.
Similarly, walking routes through the museum have to be carefully calculated to ensure the game’s expected 20.000 visitors won’t cause traffic jams in busy spots. This gave us the challenge to create a storyline centered around Rembrandt while also physically avoiding the spaces where Rembrandt’s works are located, the busiest spots in the museum.
It’s poetic justice that the development of a puzzle experience is one big puzzle in its own right. Everything is connected and all the moving parts can drive one mad if not careful. When multiple stakeholders are involved and you’re dealing with an iconic cultural institution like the Rijksmuseum, things are bound to change along the way and obstacles will pop up unexpectedly.
One thing that’s absolutely crucial in this, is having a project leader with an elephantine memory who keeps track of every change and can access, both from documentation as well as memory, how and why every particular decision got made. This allows for quick iteration and guards the team against wasting time on ideas that have already been explored, or ideas that are impractical due to interdependences.
Test Early, Test Often
Our first ‘paper prototype’ run through with Sherlocked’s game hosts
“If you’re not embarrassed by your first version, you’ve launched too late”
Reid Hoffman, founder of Linkedin
As creatives, we’re often afraid to show our work to other people while we’re not completely satisfied with it. It’s human nature. We’re afraid to ‘fail’.
When you make experiences that people interact with, like we do in the escape game industry, you can’t start testing soon enough. Until you do, the majority of your design is based on what is often referred to as the mother of all screwups: assumptions.
Of course we have our best experience-informed intuition, some best practices, theories and (somewhat) proven frameworks, but as every experience is different, assuming too much for too long will burden your process later on with rewrites. You can’t assume that a player will think of the solution to a puzzle when you want them to. Or, that they will have the right insight at the right time. You have to test it.
Since starting Sherlocked 5 years ago, we’ve gradually learned to start testing our projects earlier and earlier in the design process. With this project, we forced ourselves to orchestrate the first ‘paper prototype’ runthrough a full five weeks before launch. It was uncomfortable, and we had to say “imagine this here” and “we don’t know what happens here yet” a lot, but we learned heaps from it.
“No plan survives first contact with the user”
Steve Blank, startup guru
Immediately after the first test, we could separate fact from assumption. Since that run-through we’ve changed our design a lot. And we keep testing: every Tuesday morning we invite a fresh team of testers to go through the experience, and every time we discover new things.
Now that we’re happy with the general game flow, we have to start testing with different types of players and different age groups. This is a lot of work, but thankfully, an immense amount of fun. Tomorrow’s our next test game and we can’t wait to find out if the changes we made worked out!
The Rijksmuseum Escape Game will run from July 13 to August 31 and you can book it at www.rijksmuseum.nl/escapegame
Sherlocked is always looking for adventurous play-testers of all ages, experience levels, and player types. If you’re interested in testing our games along with us, email us at [email protected]
NB: we’re now hiring Experience Guides for this adventure. | https://medium.com/@sherlocked/making-an-immersive-adventure-inside-amsterdams-most-secure-museum-dab0a93740d4 | [] | 2019-07-02 14:25:34.721000+00:00 | ['Museums', 'Experience Design', 'Escape Room'] |
Reactionary Sensationalism | One minute headlines
Skewed perspectives
Journalism has lost its integrity
Sensationalism must be it
People buying in
10 second attention span
Enraged without the whole truth
Integrity has gone to hell
Making judgements
Starting wars
Round and round in circles
Fighting with the ones you love
What are you achieving with your pointless debates
And continuation of the media circus
Who’s perspective have you expanded
Who have you made more aware?
Cutting each other down
Dividing all of us up
Drawing lines in the sand
Building walls around your mind
Your heart has grown all cold
You have lost your sight
Thinking you are love and light
Your ego has made you blind
You will never be found
If you do not let go and open your eyes
Against extremism
Or are you the new-age version of it?
No critical thinking
Only judgement and brute force
Your voice
Above all
Calling yourself woke
While talking from your slumber
Saying you are doing this for the truth
All I see is inquisitiveness beyond measure
Taking away someone’s privacy
To expose the ‘’truth’’
Who have you appeased
With your knowledge of a half-baked truth?
Cutting in half
Whoever disagrees with you
Girl have you seen who you are speaking to?
Get off of your high horse
Disguising your stubbornness as righteousness
Calling names
Defaming your guides
How dare you say you are doing this for a better world
When all you have done is divide?
Wisdom, age and experience can go to hell
Everyone wearing their own crown
Declaring themselves God, let me know who you’ve found
You will never measure up
If you don’t learn
Be courageous and step out
Or you will burn
Respect has no place
Self-importance is all there is
Bending lies and the truth
To make it fit your version
You will learn when you live
And experience the other side
If you don’t wake up
Life will force you up
Till then I will pray
And hold you in my loving space
Your jagged blade cannot penetrate
What is impervious | https://medium.com/@zartaj/reactionary-sensationalism-81ec8b83610f | [] | 2020-12-15 10:49:56.520000+00:00 | ['Reactionary', 'Bias', 'Fake News', 'Media Criticism', 'Sensationalism'] |
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Gmail: [email protected] | https://medium.com/@madhurised12/by-greenply-plywood-hyderabad-b867c763af7d | ['Madhuri Alisitti'] | 2021-08-27 08:37:51.287000+00:00 | ['Woodwork Projects', 'Home Furniture', 'Greenply Plywood', 'Greenply', 'Home Decor'] |
What is the best cryptocurrency to invest right now in 2021 for Longterm ? | What is the best cryptocurrency to invest right now in 2021 for Longterm ? Wbupdatesteam Feb 20·4 min read
Cryptocurrency
If you know the answer to this question, you will soon be a millionaire (or may be a billionaire). My answer to the question is BITCOIN but lets also try to understand why and which are the best and most stable cryptocurrencies in existence today.
As you may be aware, cryptocurrencies have not been in the market for too long (just more than a decade) and yet managed to catch global attention.
The first cryptocurrency — Bitcoin was launched in the year 2009. Since then Bitcoin have come a long way and is now considered to be “Digital Gold”. [1]
Bitcoin remains a benchmark and every cryptocurrency portfolio needs to include some Bitcoin, may be as an unsaid rule.
As can be seen from the previous article[2], Bitcoin was priced at around under 1 $ in 2011 and rose to approximately 46,000$ last week (Feb 2021).
PC: Statista.com
*How we made a small bet of $1000 on cryptocurrencies and potentially turn into as much as $271,445- Click here to know all the tips and tricks.
But why has Bitcoin grown so fast or Why is it SO GOOD?
The answer is simple:
The demand & supply determine the price of Bitcoin or any cryptocurrency .
. Like other precious metals, Bitcoin and a few many other cryptocurrencies are scarce or rare. Bitcoins are limited to 21 million in count and around 18.5 Million have already been mined (out of which another 3–4 million have been lost forever due to the loss of private key). This leaves only around 13–14 million in circulation.
As the demand is rising, the investors are buying the shrinking supply of an already scarce commodity, and this cycle keeps continuing, and hence the value of Bitcoin may keep growing.
The market capitalization of Bitcoin is almost 8 times bigger ($121 billion) than the second-best cryptocurrency in the world, Ethereum.
than the second-best cryptocurrency in the world, Ethereum. In terms of trading volumes, Bitcoin has the highest daily trading volume with more $40 billion worth of crypto being traded . This makes it easier to go in and out of the digital currency.
. This makes it easier to go in and out of the digital currency. Another reason is that many companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Spotify etc.. have started accepting Bitcoin payments which is making it a more acceptable currency.
Further, few companies like Real Vision have started converting their holdings into Bitcoin , making it rarer.
So for me, Bitcoin remains to be the leader of cryptocurrencies and we can probably call it the Apple of the cryptocurrencies.
Some other cryptocurrencies that look promising are:
1. Ethereum
Ethereum was not one of the first cryptocurrencies to be launched, but once Ethereum set its foot, the cryptocurrency market has never been the same. Because it isn’t just a payment cryptocurrency, much like the first assets to come onto the scene, but it is a full-fledged supercomputer that enables smart contracts for developers to take advantage of and build decentralized applications on top of. It takes full advantage of blockchain. Investment in Ethereum is like an investment into the future of finance. The smart contract platform has been positioned to replace Wall Street’s aging archaic back end and has already begun replacing company shares and bonds with tokens bound to smart contracts as part of certain business transactions. The growth of this currency can be steep, however, one must watch out carefully the trend.
2. Ripple:
Ripple as a company works directly with some of the world’s biggest banks. As Ripple starts seeing a massive adoption by the banks, the price of XRP is expected to rise significantly (as can be seen, it has grown 3 times this year). Ripple has been designed to move currency in an instant. With Ripple XRP, one can transfer money instantly anywhere in the world in under 4 seconds. Also the fee for such transfers is miniscule in comparison to the commission paid to the local bank. By comparison, Bitcoin transactions can take over 1 hour to be confirmed XRP can handle over 1,500 transactions per second. In contrast, Bitcoin can only handle 5 transactions per seconds.
There are various other cryptocurrencies like Litecoin, Dash etc, each having its own pros and cons, but the most important part is stability and acceptability and these 3 currencies mentioned above (Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple XRP), seem to fit the bill perfectly.
PS: However, please exercise caution and understand the risks involved while investing in any instrument.
Disclosure : We are affiliated wit some of the resources mentioned in this article. We may get a small commission if you buy a course through links on this page. Thank You. | https://medium.com/@wbupdatesteam/what-is-the-best-cryptocurrency-to-invest-right-now-in-2021-for-longterm-ab9f368eb4f4 | [] | 2021-02-20 05:18:26.962000+00:00 | ['Ethereum Blockchain', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Dogecoin'] |
The Page From the Diary | He was in his thirteenth year when he met Darlene Timmons. She was a law student and member of a group researching the sentences of prisoners sentenced to life. Dave’s case fascinated her due to the paucity of evidence. She informed him that the group was going to take it up. Things moved quickly after. Darlene found evidence that was withheld by the prosecutor. She got DNA studies done. The DNA did not match Dave’s. Darlene filed for a retrial. The state decided not to retry Dave and released him.
Fifteen years after he was arrested for a crime he did not commit, he was free. His sister picked him up. She was the only living relative he had since their mum had died six years earlier.
Dave had landed a job as a programmer since he came out. He was one of the lucky ones. His life was slowly coming back together, but he needed to do this. He needed to exorcise the pain and anger. A wrong had to be made right.
Just then, he heard a rustling sound behind him. He spun around quickly to see two shiny eyes starring at him in the darkness. He lost his balance and fell against an empty bookcase that stood against the wall. The bookcase rocked like it was going to fall, but it did not. Instead, a lone book fell from the top onto his head, making him groan. The eyes kept starring at him. He reached for the flashlight in his pants and turned it on. It was a rat, and it scurried off as the light hit it.
“Damn rat!” Dave cursed, and suddenly he thought of Salim and his rat story.
He got up and spun the flashlight around. Soon the light fell on the book that had fallen on his head. He picked it up. He turned the light around some more. He saw a piece of paper that seemed to have fallen out of the book lying close to where he stood. He picked that up too. With the flashlight, he made out a note on the paper.
It read:
“So much time has gone by since that fateful day since Amy left me standing alone at the altar. So many dark and lonely years. I have hated her every single day since. I have wished her ill and cursed her. I have shunned love and affection and thought only of how to get back at her for ruining my life. For years, bitterness has engulfed my life, and now that I am dying, I realize the folly.
While I hated, she loved another. While I stopped living, she carried on.
If only I had known…”
Dave reread it. He then opened the book. It looked like a diary and had several entries. The page seemed to have been torn from the diary. He heard the rustling again. It was a rat. He wondered if it was the same. It scurried off again. He thought of Salim again and his rat story. Salim claimed a rat had saved his life. He told the story of how he had been lured into a trap at a drug house once. A rival dealer wanted to have him killed. He was waiting in a room where a deal was supposed to occur when a rat suddenly appeared from nowhere. It startled him so much he lost his balance and fell. Just then, the room was riddled with bullets. Bullets that missed him because he had dropped down due to the rat. He forever felt he owed every rat for that and had a pet rat in prison called Charlie.
Dave suddenly remembered what Salim had told him before he left:
“Son, not many of us here get another chance. You have another chance. Let the past be and make the most of it. Get a job, find yourself a good woman, have some kids, and settle down. Let the past be the past.”
It was almost midnight. Dave sat in that dark room, thinking.
The rat, the note, the diary, Salim’s words, his yearning to avenge the wrong done him. The two entries he had read from the diary were full of regret and depressing. For the first time in over fifteen years, he wondered if it was worth it. He pondered if killing Greg and Denise was worth it. He had watched them for two weeks, and they made a sorry couple. All he did was drink, do drugs, and beat her. She looked miserable and battered. Was it worth throwing away his second chance for revenge? Was the damn rat trying to save his life? That made him chuckle. He hated rats. | https://medium.com/@ndghansah/the-page-from-the-diary-ccfe192e5cc3 | ['Nana Dadzie Ghansah'] | 2020-12-17 04:29:44.444000+00:00 | ['Short Story', 'Short Fiction', 'Regret', 'Short Read', 'Second Chances'] |
If Your Year Could Talk, What Would It Say? | If Your Year Could Talk, What Would It Say?
Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash
Here’s a confession. I’m a personal development junkie.
It all started back in 2008 when I studied Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). Books, courses, quotes, podcasts — you name it. I devour them. Not endlessly. I need time for reflection and digestion in between. I’m the one who buys a recommended book, especially if the title resonates with me (Flourish by Martin Seligman is an example). Always game for a suggested exercise or quiz and intrigued by personality tests. And forever interested in learning something new about my own personality and psychology in general.
Life is a journey and not a destination. Sometimes we have to make pit stops to refuel, change course, ignore a compass and decide whether to take a road less travelled. Life is also one big learning opportunity. And that’s why I believe it’s important to wrap up your year before you can be totally ready for the next one. The only person you should benchmark yourself against is you, your growth, your desires, your goals, and your achievements.
Why? Comparison is the thief of joy. | https://medium.com/@karin-75074/if-your-year-could-talk-what-would-it-say-5defba07efb7 | ['Karin Weiser'] | 2020-12-17 20:43:30.608000+00:00 | ['Personal Development', 'Goal Setting', 'Personal Story', 'Storytelling', 'Personal Growth'] |
4 LEGIT WAYS TO GET NETFLIX FOR FREE | Everything comes with price but sometimes we can try to avoid this rule. Netflix — the most popular streaming service with a ton of great tv shows and movies that you can watch anywhere you are. Between increasing membership fees, and tough economic times, not everyone can afford to subscribe, but there are a few ways to watch Netflix for free (or for smaller charge). In this article I’m gonna provide my TOP 4 ways to do it.
Honeygain for Netflix!
Yes, you heard me right — gain money online and use it to cover your Netflix account expenses. According to Honeygain website it is an app that provides proxy services to third parties like data scientists, Fortune 500s, and other businesses and to do so they need your unused internet traffic for which they will pay you some sweet money. How to get it? Well the most difficult part is downloading it (you have to press one button)! So after you download it you just leave it running on your device background and the app “rent’s” your unused internet traffic. For example, you can go to any place that have public wifi that you can log in and after doing it start your Honeygain app. By doing so you won’t even be using your own data. All the earned money on app you can transfer to your PayPal account and then cover your Netflix fee. Sounds too good to be true? But that what it is!
You can now use coupon for extra 5$ to your Honeygain account — SECRET5! Happy surfing!
Free first month (every month!)
Yes, everybody knows that first month on Netflix is completely free BUT if you are stubborn — try to sign in with new every month after free trial and have access to Netflix for several months completely free. To sign up for a Netflix free trial, you need a credit card, debit card, PayPal account, or Netflix gift code. Sounds good enough?
Additional free Netflix trials
Yes it is possible! If you’re patient and don’t care about not having Netflix for several months, you can actually get multiple free trials. This isn’t a guaranteed method, but it is completely legitimate. When you sign up for a free trial on Netflix but cancel before your trial ends, Netflix will eventually reach out to you to try lure you back to them. It will take at least several months for them to send this email. If you do receive an email from Netflix, all you need to do is select the start your free trial link they provide and this will take you to a page on the Netflix site where you can renew your free trial.
Sharing is caring on Netflix
I bet you have heard that a lot of members share their Netflix account with multiple people. The basic Netflix plan only allows you to watch one show or movie at a time, but the standard (you can watch up to two things at once) and premium (allows you to stream up to four shows or movies at the same time) plans allow you to watch multiple things on multiple devices at the same time. Yes, it won’t give you Netflix for free but it will cost you much much less!
In conclusion, everything have its price and Netflix are not different. So if you are stubborn like myself and have crateful mind you’ll always find the way to bend any rule! | https://medium.com/@alisakerrt18/4-legit-ways-to-get-netflix-for-free-1892a1b163c5 | ['Alisa Kerrt'] | 2020-01-20 14:17:50.728000+00:00 | ['Free', 'Netflix', 'Free Netflix'] |
Stuck in the Cold War Between America and China, Venezuelans Have No Recourse but Bitcoin | Stuck in the Cold War Between America and China, Venezuelans Have No Recourse but Bitcoin
Image: Adobe Stock
The price of Bitcoin has been recovering since the beginning of August 2021. This is the green that gives hope to all those who were shaken by the Bitcoin price crash of May 2021.
It doesn’t take much for some people to lose their faith in the Bitcoin revolution.
These people probably still don’t understand why Bitcoin exists. In fact, they cannot understand why the success of the Bitcoin revolution is essential for the world of the future.
Many of these people live in the West and therefore do not have to deal with the problems that Bitcoin addresses with its people-owned system.
The Venezuelan authorities devalue once again the local currency the bolivar
In Venezuela, the situation is completely different. Millions of people are suffering the full brunt of the current system’s shortcomings. This has been going on for many years, and it continues to get worse month after month unfortunately for Venezuelans.
The latest news that has gone almost unnoticed in the Western world is the removal of six zeros from the local currency of Venezuela.
The president of the Venezuelan central bank announced the news at the beginning of August 2021 as if nothing had happened:
“All monetary amounts expressed in national currency will be divided by one million.”
This decision will take effect from October 1, 2021, with the issuance of new currency notes.
The dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro continues to bring the Venezuelan people to their knees
This is something dramatic for millions of Venezuelans who are already living in hell for years under the presidency of Nicolas Maduro. However, Venezuela was until recently a prosperous nation due to its huge oil reserves.
Then, the arrival to power of Nicolas Maduro and the implementation of his socialist policy made the country plunge into the most chaos. The total corruption of the successive Venezuelan governments has caused more than 5 million people to flee to neighboring countries.
Colombia is the first country to receive all these exiles who can no longer survive under the dictatorship of Maduro.
The country’s infrastructure is collapsing, the population lacks water and health is a major problem. Add to this the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and you have a fourth year of hyperinflation for Venezuela, which is in eight consecutive years of recession.
Between January and May 2021, prices rose by +265%.
The people trade mainly in US dollars since the bolivar is really worthless. Those who have been able to access Bitcoin can live better in the face of this dire situation.
Venezuelans find themselves caught in the middle of the America-China Cold War
The problem here is that the situation goes beyond Venezuela.
The country is caught in the middle of the cold war between America and China. On the one hand, we have the United States leading a campaign to remove Maduro, increasing the pressure on the country through significant economic sanctions.
The United States continues to refuse to recognize Nicolas Maduro as president of the country. The Americans have even managed to put together a coalition of 60 nations that support opposition leader Juan Guaido as the true president of Venezuela.
They argue that Maduro’s election in 2018 was a disgrace because most of the opposition candidates were banned and could not run freely in the election.
Maduro and Guaido are scheduled to meet during August 2021 in Mexico to try to find a way out of these problems. The dictator Maduro explains that he is ready to negotiate with the opposition, but that the sanctions weakening Venezuela must be lifted by the United States.
In contrast, Guaido wants to use his talks with Maduro to get guarantees for free and fair elections. Unfortunately, the talks may once again lead to nothing concrete, since Maduro will not want to give up his position as head of the country.
The Venezuelan people have no other recourse than to use a neutral and apolitical currency like Bitcoin
Behind him is the anti-American coalition that is taking shape around the world with China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba.
These countries support Nicolas Maduro militarily and internationally. A good way to oppose the American interventionist tendencies all over the world for this front.
Unfortunately, the people of Venezuela are stuck in the middle of this endless cold war.
For them, the essential is obviously elsewhere. They want to stop just surviving and start really living their lives. That’s where Bitcoin changes the game for them. Bitcoin is a neutral, apolitical currency that protects people’s purchasing power from the hyperinflation that is ravaging the country.
So Bitcoin is already a plan A while the bolivar has been worthless for years.
Final Thoughts
The situation that Venezuelans are experiencing is far from unique in the world. Many other citizens around the world also find themselves brought to their knees by an unfair monetary and financial system in the hands of America. Bitcoin gives them a way out to regain control over their lives.
This is something essential that you need to have in mind when studying the Bitcoin system. It is a system that is already changing the lives of millions of people around the world. Bitcoin is already the only real hope for a better life in the future for all these people.
So by buying Bitcoin and becoming a Bitcoin HODLer no matter what, you are supporting a system that will enable these people to change their lives. This is where Bitcoin is totally different from anything we’ve seen before, as it reconciles individual interests with those of the collective. | https://www.inbitcoinwetrust.net/stuck-in-the-cold-war-between-america-and-china-venezuelans-have-no-recourse-but-bitcoin-7959c468b444 | ['Sylvain Saurel'] | 2021-08-10 09:54:33.002000+00:00 | ['Venezuela', 'Economics', 'Finance', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Khám phá thư viện Pandas - P1 | in Both Sides of the Table | https://medium.com/lehuynhduc/kh%C3%A1m-ph%C3%A1-th%C6%B0-vi%E1%BB%87n-pandas-p1-4be83bb22f9c | ['Lê Huỳnh Đức'] | 2020-06-05 09:46:32.289000+00:00 | ['Data Manipulation', 'Pandas', 'Dataframes'] |
Eat that Frog with a Pomodoro | Tackle your procrastination
Getting things done on time can be frustrating especially when you are a procrastinator. Nowadays there are so many distractions that cause us humans time management issues. Especially when smartphones were introduced and the World Wide Web became more accessible. We have become a servant of technologies rather than being their masters.
I am a procrastinator and used to think that there are two kinds of people procrastinators and non-procrastinators.
One day I stumbled across a TED talk, “Inside the mind of a procrastinator” by Tim Urban and after watching it, I realized that everyone is procrastinating on something in their life. The procrastinator system does work but the problem occurs when there is no specified deadline confined to a task.
So, to reduce procrastination I will discuss a time management technique, called the Pomodoro Technique, and my experience with it. It is an Italian word called a tomato. This technique was invented by Francesco Cirillo. He named this technique Pomodoro because he had a small red time clock which looked like a tomato. He used to apply his time management technique in his workflow.
The Pomodoro technique has six core steps.
Choose a task that you want to get done Set the Pomodoro timer of 25 minutes Work on task till Pomodoro rings When Pomodoro rings, put a checkmark on the paper Take a short break After every four Pomodoro, take a longer break.
Photo by Icons8 Team on Unsplash
The task I chose for application of this technique was the second section of an online course that I was doing recently on edx, an online platform for education and learning. The course was, Assessment of Work-Related Injury Risks using RAMP I.
So, I set the timer to 25 minutes after making my mind and setting myself for complete focus. Go! I started doing the course. It was going fine, there was some progress going on and then the timer went off. I stood up and went on the roof to catch some fresh air and thought about the first phase of this technique. Although I was expecting a little more work-done I realized that it depends on many factors like the person under consideration, the task being done, the time at which the task is being done or the surrounding environment. Also, I do want to acknowledge that I was not distracted much except some questions, that popped in my mind, related to material I was studying.
Second Pomodoro was set and again I managed to do work consistently. It felt nice achieving the productive results by the Pomodoro technique. I was fascinated by results but I toned down my excitement and set the third Pomodoro.
In third Pomodoro I felt a little difficult to focus, just a little, that meant my stamina was being tested but completed the third round successfully. I was surprised because usually after half an hour my focus used to be depleted but due to those small five-minute breaks, I was able to work 25 minutes consistently again and again. If you do the calculations, that is around 50% more amount of work in one hour than doing it without a break for an hour.
The real challenge was the fourth Pomodoro. After all, I was starting to feel a little stressed because I was not used to this synchronized and disciplined style of workflow. I was freer, go with flow, kind of person.
In the fourth Pomodoro, I was mentally glitching and my focus was out for 3–4 minutes. I did complete around 86% section of the course.
After that, I thought it is a good idea to have a longer break around half an hour to let my brain catch its breath. It was very productive and I save almost 90 minutes approx. that is around more than 40% of improvement.
I repeated this after an hour and a half (need to work on smaller break), it was pretty much the same experience with a little more efficiency. that is a good sign which means my brain’s stamina is increasing.
I will end it one note, if you are a pro-level procrastinator then the first and major thing you need to care about is, no matter what don’t break your focus and the time limit. Make your self accountable for your focus and time. | https://medium.com/@themuneeb250798/eat-that-frog-with-a-pomodoro-6db2925af774 | ['Muneeb Ahmad'] | 2020-03-08 22:35:49.049000+00:00 | ['Pomodoro Technique', 'Time Management Tips', 'Time Management', 'Pomodoro', 'Procrastination'] |
The Sopranos episode review — 1.13 — I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano | Original air date: April 4, 1999
Director: John Patterson
Writer: David Chase
Rating: 8/10
Tony realizes that Pussy isn’t the FBI informant, but it’s the recently released from prison Jimmy Altieri (Joe Badalucco, Jr.). He’s promptly killed.
Dr. Melfi brings up the possibility that Tony’s mother might be behind his attempted assassination, and at first, Tony flies off the handle.
But after some time, he realizes she’s probably right. And he suspects that her dementia is actually her faking it all. It helps that he also hears an FBI recording of her talking to Junior.
Tony’s gang goes on a rampage, killing a couple of Junior’s underlings.
This episode is pretty damn exciting. It’s faster paced than most of the episodes in the season, and it still packs the drama and fine acting that you’d expect. | https://medium.com/as-vast-as-space-and-as-timeless-as-infinity/the-sopranos-episode-review-1-13-i-dream-of-jeannie-cusamano-9fcd82616f37 | ['Patrick J Mullen'] | 2020-12-21 05:47:42.973000+00:00 | ['The Sopranos', 'Drama', 'Thriller', 'TV', '1990s'] |
Press Release distribution service canada | ACL Airshop Making Steady Advances in ULD Air Cargo Technology Innovations, Teamed with Descartes
ACL Airshop, a technology driven global leader in air cargo “ULD” logistics solutions, is using the occasion of the annual ULD Care Conference in Montreal to announce and discuss continued progress with innovative technologies such as Bluetooth tracking & tracing, “ULD Control” proprietary logistics programs, and their latest “FindMyULD” free app, all in the context of the Company’s continued arrangement with Descartes through its acquisition of CORE Transport Technologies. Descartes is an Ontario headquartered Canadian and US publicly traded company with FY19 revenues of $275 Million (US). Descartes has over 20,000 customers worldwide according to its latest Facts Sheet.
Jos Jacobsen, ACL Airshop’s Managing Director-Global Leasing & Chief Technology Officer, who is also a Board member of ULD Care and attending in Montreal, said: “We have all arrived at a new era for real-time air cargo visibility. Despite current tariff wars, long-term the air cargo sector is increasing in volume, value, and even as a percentage of total world trade shipments. Tracking ULDs and their contents in real-time not only can reduce costs, it helps answer shippers’ questions about where their goods are, and their status along the supply chain. We are seeing new ways to add value for our customers with these initiatives.”
ACL Airshop and CORE Transport Technologies teamed up several years ago, announcing in September 2017 during the ULD Care Conference in Budapest their ambitious strategic alliance plans. Since then, as the first-to-market technology leaders for ULD innovations of this type, the two companies have made good progress. Wes Tucker, ACL Airshop’s Executive VP for The Americas who helped ink that initial partnership, said: “We are in actual implementation of Bluetooth, ULD Control, and FindMyULD with multiple airlines. Like most first adopters, we are continuously improving the service product as we go along. We will actually demonstrate FindMyULD for any airlines clients attending ULD Care who wish to check it out, it’s intriguingly effective.” He continued: “We believe the strength of Descartes as CORE’s new globally-networked parent bodes well for continuing advancements.”
ACL Airshop is one of the corporate signatories to the ULD Care CODE OF CONDUCT. Pieter van Calcar, ACL Airshop’s Managing Director-Asia Pacific, said: “It’s always about quality, safety, and service with us, for our hundreds of airlines and air cargo clients. ULD are flight safety critical and costly items of aircraft equipment. The Code of Conduct creates a foundation for all players in the air cargo industry worldwide to deliver safe, sustainable, cost-effective ULD operations.” Maurice van Terheijden, ACL Airshop’s Managing Director-EMEA, also attending, said: “The 10 points in the ULD Care Code of Conduct are important hallmarks for all of us in our company. Plus, our new technologies and the enhanced transparency, with data analytics, can help air carriers manage better their ULD inventory, balancing supply and demand with the location of the assets, thus reducing costs, increasing efficiency, even doing more with less investment.”
ACL Airshop is sponsoring the Women in ULD Networking Breakfast during the ULD Care Conference. Ms. Halima Hodzic, ACL Airshop’s General Manager at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (“ORD”) is the featured speaker during that breakfast event, the first of its kind at a ULD Care Conference. She said: “Our new technologies are a game changer for us, and for airlines who adopt. IATA estimates that up to $475 Million in industry-wide savings is possible by better managing the movement of ULD’s. We want to help deliver those savings for our customers.”
For more information, visit www.aclairshop.com or www.core-tt.com. The companies will be meeting with airlines customers at the ULD CARE symposium in Montreal.
Forward Looking Statements: The Companies mentioned in this News Release from time to time may discuss forward-looking information. Except for factual historical information, all forward looking statements are estimates by the Companies’ management and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that are beyond the Companies’ control and may cause actual results to differ materially from management’s expectations | https://medium.com/@pressreleasepower/press-release-distribution-service-canada-5c82aee4574b | ['Pressrelease Power'] | 2019-09-14 06:21:32.482000+00:00 | ['Pressreeasecanada', 'Press Release', 'Canada'] |
8 full-forms that every programmer should know | 8 full-forms that every programmer should know
Acronyms are words created from the initials of other words. Nowadays, they are everywhere, and one area in which they proliferate to the maximum is in the technical world, where we are especially given to specifying and simplifying.
In fact, they are so common that there is an acronym to describe the acronyms, the mythical — TLA ( Three Letter Acronym ), or three-letter acronym, which is the most common. When you see TLA out there, you already know what that means.
Although there are hundreds of them, there are a few that are essential. We should know if we dedicate ourselves to the world of application development without excuses. We will see the most basic ones below.
1.OOP or POO
This is the Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). It is necessary to know both as they are commonly used. It refers to a programming paradigm in which code is created by defining “objects” that simulate real objects and their behavior and interaction with other objects.
For example, there would be a class (a pattern object) in a billing application representing the invoices and another class that would serve to represent the different invoice lines. When creating an invoice, an object of type Invoice would be created from the previous class, and a series of type Invoice Line objects to represent each line.
To calculate the amount of the invoice, a method of the object that represents it would be called (for example, ‘CalculateTotal’ that would, in turn, call a method of each line that would transparently calculate the partial amount taking into account amounts, taxes, etc., and who would be in charge of adding all of them to give the total amount.
2.SCM or VCS
No self-respecting programmer should work without using a source code control system or Source Control Management, also known as Version Control System. You will see that the two terms are used interchangeably, but they refer to the same thing in both cases.
It is a system that allows us to store the source code of the programs and any other related file that we use and monitor and saves all the changes and different versions of each file that have been explicitly saved.
It is a potent tool essential when collaborating with other programmers on the same project, but it is also almost mandatory even if we work alone. Thanks to its use, we can go back to any point of the past in our applications, trace the changes until we find the one that has caused something to fail, work separately on new features without influencing the main product until they are finished, etc.
If you don’t master at least one, you’re already taking the time. In any company, they will ask you for it, and if you work alone, you can get a lot out of it.
The best known are Git, Mercurial, and Subversion. The first two are also distributed systems. This means that it is possible to work with them without connection to a central repository, and they are more flexible.
Git, created by Linus Torvalds, is undoubtedly the one that is leading the way and the one that is being used the most around the world, thanks, among other things, to the GitHub project, where everyone has open source today.
3.WYSIWYG
This is used to describe any system that allows you to create content while seeing how it will work. The most common case is a rich text editor in which, as we write, we see exactly how the final result will be when we go to print or convert it to a portable format.
4.GUI
It is the abbreviation of Graphic User Interface or graphical user interface.
It is any graphic artifact that allows users to interact with an application using icons, buttons, visual indicators, etc. In contrast to the more traditional interfaces based on text or the most advanced currently based on voice or interaction through movements.
By the way, it is pronounced “güi” (as in “pin güi no,” that is, the “u” is not mute, as in Spanish).
5.API
Refers to application programming interfaces or Application Programming Interfaces. It is any set of functions and methods exposed by a programmer for other programmers to use, either directly referencing a library or exposing it through some protocol (HTTP to access through the internet).
An important feature of an API is that it is independent of the implementation underneath. An API is like a black box for the programmer who uses it so that as long as the exposed part does not change, what is done underneath and how it is done is indifferent.
In this way, if we create an API in a language (for example, Java) and expose it through HTTP as a REST API (another nice acronym a little more advanced, which means Representational State Transfer, we will not see it today), if we change later the way it works or we even write it again from scratch with a different programming language, as long as we do not change the exposed part (that is, the functions and their parameters and the way to access them), for all intents and purposes it remains the same API for programmers who use it.
6.IDE
An Integrated Development Environment or IDE ( Integrated Development Environment ) is an application for developing applications beyond what a simple editor offers. It offers many advanced tools to help us in our work, such as debuggers, visual design, performance analysis, application testing, collaboration tools, object and class inspectors, and other tools.
Some IDEs are suitable for working in several languages , and others are focused on a specific platform (such as Java). The best known are Visual Studio, Eclipse, Netbeans, or IntelliJ IDEA. An IDE will be your best friend in your work, so choose one well and learn to take full advantage of it.
7.TDD
This term refers to test-driven development or Test-Driven Development.
A test-driven development involves testing/testing all the code you write to ensure that it works, covers all cases, and does not interfere with other parts of the application that you may not have considered in principle.
But TDD goes beyond that, as it is a philosophy that implies that development actually begins with testing. That is, a TDD development would imply following, more or less, these steps:
Think about the functionality we need for a function or a class
Create the test that will validate that you are doing your job, including all the casuistry. Before writing the code!
Implement the function or class.
Pass the tests. We do not end development until it passes them.
Although it may seem counterproductive to follow this process, many studies show that in the long run, it is more efficient than the traditional method since it helps to design the code better, better take into account all cases, and have fewer errors. This makes the code more robust and easier to maintain, and time is saved because there are fewer bugs to fix, increasing quality.
8.SDK
An SDK is a software development kit (Software Development Kit). It is a set of APIs, code samples, and documentation that software manufacturers provide to other programmers to develop for a platform.
As a general rule, SDKs are released for an operating system (Windows, iOS, Android), a development platform (such as .NET, Java), or a game console (Xbox), to give common examples. We could think of an SDK as the middleman that a manufacturer puts between their systems and the applications that third-party developers create. | https://medium.com/@krushilkoshti/8-full-forms-that-every-programmer-should-know-855dd8519048 | ['Krushil Koshti'] | 2021-04-01 05:44:32.029000+00:00 | ['Developer', 'Design', 'Development', 'Designer', 'Programming'] |
Indonesia Actioncam Community Logo and Visual Identity | bproid is an independent community that is a collection of fans of an action camera product from the brica company. This community wants to bring together hobbyists with freedom, fun, and adventure.
The logo that I made is quite simple, at the request of the client itself. just want to display the text of the community name itself and add the shape of the action camera in the logo. the letter “o” in the design is made into the camera lens itself. which contains the Indonesian flag symbol which contains various kinds of things that we can take pictures of from the Indonesian state
Software to use Adobe Photoshop CC & Adobe Illustrator CC
Art Director & Graphic Designer: Fatih Annuri
Behance & Dribbble: Fatihannuri
Instagram & Facebook Page : fatihannuridesign
Project Year: July 2015
#graphicdesign #graphicdesigner #logodesign #designer #logodesign #logo #designer #creative #branding #design #brand #coffee #logodesigner #visualidentity #brandidentitydesign #brandidentity #designcommunity #graphicdesigners #behance #freelance #marketing #project #graphics
See my other portfolio :
Hire Me on Fiverr : | https://medium.com/@fatihannuri/indonesia-actioncam-community-logo-and-visual-identity-7f28591e7ad7 | [] | 2020-12-14 07:25:06.648000+00:00 | ['Logo Design', 'Visual Design', 'Graphic Design', 'Branding', 'Brand Identity'] |
Where Do We Go From Here? | Where Do We Go From Here?
As we approach the end of the 2020 election season, it seems increasingly difficult to find hope for the future of civil life in America. To be clear—by “civil life”, I don’t mean a sense of politeness or unity that we enjoyed in some mythical yesteryear. I mean instead the idea that we, as citizens, have a role to play in building and maintaining our democracy.
Many Americans feel alienated by both major parties. While Donald Trump and the Republican leadership embrace deceit and criminal mismanagement in an authoritarian descent to irrelevance, the Democrats pat each other on the back and refuse to address their own failure to stand up for, much less deliver, meaningful change. There’s a feeling that, even if we could come to an agreement on what is best for the country, there is no path forward that could make it happen.
So we have to ask ourselves: What do we want from our government? Are there values we can all agree on? When we talk about America, we talk about “freedom”, or “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”—“democracy” and “equality”. These foundational concepts are defended and codified in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, but do we have a common understanding of what they mean?
It’s not an easy question to answer, in large part because America’s founding fathers had a complicated relationship with the ideals of democracy. The words that form the basis for our cultural and legal traditions, including “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”, were not, in reality, applied universally. This was no accident. John Jay, making a case for the Constitution in Federalist №2, states that:
“…Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people — a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs…”
From the beginning, the United States of America was built to realize the enlightenment ideals of liberal democracy and private property for a very specific population—namely, white male Christian land owners. While there’s no doubt these men took the challenge of building a system of representative government seriously, it’s also clear they only gave consideration to a certain class of free men. This was not only intentional, but a necessary pretext for accumulating wealth on stolen land with stolen labor.
Does this mean, if we want true equality, we have to throw it all out and start from scratch? I don’t believe so. But it is important to acknowledge that our legal, economic, and cultural present are built upon an explicitly exclusionary past.
Now, some may say these past injustices are irrelevant to our current reality, that the decades and centuries since our country’s founding have seen a sufficient level of correction and reform to address these original sins. While this may be a tempting argument, it is based on an improper characterization of the systems our country is built upon. To state it simply, our institutions of representative democracy and capitalism compound power and wealth—those who have the most will realize the greatest benefit. With this view, it’s possible to see that the longer these systems are in place, the more likely they are to entrench those who had the most to begin with.
In a system that, by its very nature, concentrates the benefits to those who already hold them, it’s impossible to remove the “bad parts” and expect things to self-correct. Either the system needs to be augmented to include mechanisms for correction, or it needs to be overhauled. Ideally, our democratic process allows us to do both—address the inevitable inequities while fixing the structural failures that made their existence possible. But for this to work, we would first need to acknowledge the extent of our failures, something we as a nation have been unable to do.
An honest assessment of our collective record on equality would require us to admit we owe an unpayable debt. From the founders’ violent displacement of Indigenous peoples and open support of slavery, to the continued acceptance of treaty violations, mass incarceration, and systemic institutional racism, we have excluded more people than we could possibly count from the protections guaranteed by the Constitution. There is no way we could settle our accounts, but this does not mean we can ignore them. A debt of this nature binds us to a relationship with those we have wronged, one in which we have a continuing responsibility to restore the possibility of full participation in our society.
When we begin to see government from this perspective, as a recognition of our social relationships and shared responsibilities, it’s easier to agree on a common understanding of our American values. The notion of liberty as an unchecked license to do as you please does not hold weight in an interdependent society of equals. A free society is measured instead by the degree to which everyone has the opportunity to fully engage in the life of their community. A democratic society demands vigilance and active work to remove barriers to participation. A just society depends on the extend to which its laws and customs are derived from the will of all its people.
This vision helps us better define the role and scope of government. It helps us see that democracy is most vital at the community level, as a dynamic account of the interactions between those who share a common space. A collection of equally empowered neighbors or colleagues can do the work to build consensus around their shared needs, which makes it possible to respect the dignity and worth of all those involved. In the end, this leads to a better chance of finding broadly acceptable solutions than the assignment of winners and losers prescribed by majoritarian politics.
Of course, there are logistical difficulties with scaling up a government based on consensus, which provides the rationale for a representative form of government. And there is an important role for a government that represents as wide a range of citizens as possible, one recognized by the framers of the Constitution. James Madison lays it out in Federalist №10:
Extend the sphere, and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests; you make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens.
The whole structure of representative government, with its broad jurisdiction and separation of powers, is justified by its ability to protect individual rights. As the scope of representation increases, the proper role of government moves away from addressing the needs of any one community and towards the promotion of full and equal social enfranchisement for all its citizens.
Now it’s worth pausing to note—if you take these arguments seriously, it implies the federal government should not play a direct role in dictating policy on anything other than national concerns. At the same time, it does not imply the federal government can properly execute its role by taking a laissez-faire stance. As I mentioned above, you cannot fix a system that concentrates privilege by letting things take their course. In a democratic society, there should be one primary national concern: restoring and maintaining the rights of all citizens to fully participate in society. And this requires actively assessing and removing implicit and explicit barriers to inclusion.
These ideas are not new, nor do they sound too radical at first glance. But if they are to be taken to heart, they require reckoning with the persistent myth that America is a land of equal opportunity. There are countless anecdotal and empirical examples that refute this myth, and the logic we’ve already established can help explain why. A nation cannot offer equal protection under the law when portions of its population have been systematically denied representation. An economy cannot provide an equal chance to build a livelihood when the surest way to generate wealth is to already own it. Equal opportunity for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” depends upon the restitution of rights and resources to those who have been denied, so that they may come to the table with the fullness of their humanity.
In most spheres, the political discourse has strayed far from this understanding of what it means to live in a democracy. We’ve put a premium on presidential elections and ideological purity tests, investing our hopes in the electoral success of whichever party we can most easily stomach. We’ve given inordinate cultural and political clout to our representatives rather than demand it for ourselves and our disenfranchised neighbors.
This state of affairs is not due to a collective failure on our part to be better citizens, but rather an understandable outcome of a system that invests power in the powerful. When we recognize this, when we begin to see the real threats to democracy, we can stand against them. We can call out the billionaires that gut labor and environmental protections while trying to save face with philanthropy. We can reject the validity of judges and legislators who use the will of the privileged to deny the rights of the disenfranchised. We can acknowledge our failures, listen to those we have wronged, repair our relationships, and stand with those building inclusive structures of community power.
The work is already happening, and there are policies across the political spectrum that can help support it. In some cases, we need to task our government with addressing a history of oppression—revival of the Voting Rights Act, reparations for Black Americans, and restoration of Indigenous land rights present a few obvious opportunities. In other areas we need to push back against government excess, including subsidies and bail outs for the wealthy and the hyper-criminalization of the poor. But most importantly, we need to focus less on party platforms and more on the people who are keeping democracy alive.
Democracy is not easy. It calls us all to take on the responsibility of dialogue, of inviting participation, and of protecting the environments which support our social and material lives. If we can do this, there’s some hope we can live up to the American ideal of a “government of the people, by the people, for the people”. | https://medium.com/@zwalchuk/where-do-we-go-from-here-a33393b67027 | ['Zach Walchuk'] | 2020-10-16 20:08:58.203000+00:00 | ['Civic Engagement', 'Democracy', 'Politics', 'Responsibility', 'Equality'] |
Your Life Purpose Is Waiting For You At Rock Bottom | Your Life Purpose Is Waiting For You At Rock Bottom
Hitting your life’s low point will help you see it
Photo by Oz Seyrek on Unsplash
Oh, I don’t really know what I want to do with my life or what my life purpose is.
I want to earn a good living…
Maybe travel the world…
Maybe run for political office….
I do like helping people…
When I was married and working in my legal career, I was drifting through life, doing what I needed to do. I earned a living, worked on a marriage, and made plans on our future together.
I thought I was already living my purpose.
And even if I wasn’t, who cares?
I thought living your purpose was for people who were either lost or had too much time on their hands. | https://medium.com/journey-to-self/your-life-purpose-is-waiting-for-you-at-rock-bottom-ca59e41995b | ['Vishnu S Virtues'] | 2020-07-15 13:33:15.395000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Life Lessons', 'Self', 'Self-awareness', 'Writing'] |
Generalized Virtual Reality (GVR) | Generalized Virtual Reality (GVR)
Present Virtual Reality (VR) systems like Facebook’s Oculus, are limited and inaccurate; limited because they simulate only some of our senses, mostly sight and sound; inaccurate because these simulations are, at best, approximations. When we look through a VR headset, we know that we are looking through a VR headset. Because images are blotchy and sounds are artificial.
But what if we had “Generalized” VR?
By “Generalized” VR (GVR), I mean a VR system that was unlimited and accurate. Unlimited because it would simulate all our senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, pressure etc. Accurate because it would affect a reality that was so real, that a human wouldn’t be able to recognize that it was virtual.
Is GVR possible? And if so, what types of experiences could it credibly simulate? For example, could it simulate the experience a human (say me) walking about some space (say my house)?
If I were walking about my house, I would experience several things. I would see a changing landscape. As I pass a window, I would see the window passing. I would also experience different sounds. As I walk towards the window, the traffic outside would sound louder. If it was a sunny day, I might even feel the heat of the sun through the window. As I walk towards the kitchen, I would smell the aromas of lunch. And so on.
While we are probably years away from systems that can simulate all these experiences, it is still possible to imagine how we might get there.
But is this all that I experience?
There is one thing that I experience while walking around my house, which might be more difficult to simulate. It is the sense of “doing”.
An accurate simulation of the sense would give me a realistic experience of being. For example, I’m “being” next to the window. But would a VR system give me the experience of “doing”? For instance, “doing” the act of walking towards the window?
Is it possible to “simulate” the “feeling of doing”?
Believers in “free will” might say “no”. But Neuroscience is tending in the direction of a cautious “yes”.
Evidence indicates that when I raise my foot, to walk towards the window, the feeling that “I must will my foot to rise” does not precede, but proceeds my foot rising. In other words, my foot rises first, and I post-rationalize the action that I “I willed my foot to rise”, or “I raised my foot”.
Hence, while I don’t know exactly how, it might be possible to induce a sense of “free will” through some electro-chemical hacking of the brain.
All this leads to the much bigger “Matrix” question: Are we already in some GVR system? And if so or if not, how can we know for sure? | https://medium.com/on-technology/generalized-virtual-reality-gvr-f43e980d4792 | ['Nuwan I. Senaratna'] | 2020-12-17 06:03:19.121000+00:00 | ['Oculus', 'VR', 'Virtual Reality', 'Reality', 'Facebook'] |
Node.js + MySQL 部署 Heroku | 部署
我們會以上一篇聊天室專案做範例，專案資料夾目前長這樣：
專案資料夾
Git Ignore
在 Git 上傳前需要做的一件重大事。
專案裡有個 node_modules 資料夾是不需要上傳的，因為他容量較大，一般來說 Heroku 會自動根據 package.json 檔去安裝所需套件。因此我們需要先創建好 .gitignore 檔案並新增忽略規則。
.gitignore 新增忽略規則
創建 Git
再來為專案創建 Git 版本控制：
// 進到專案資料夾
$ cd chatroom $ git init
$ git add .
$ git commit -m 'first commit'
新增/連結APP
新增 Heroku APP，如後面不帶名稱 Heroku 會自己給予 APP 隨機名字。
$ heroku create [app-name] Creating ⬢ thef2e-chatroom... done
https://thef2e-chatroom.herokuapp.com/ | https://git.heroku.com/thef2e-chatroom.git
注意，如果要跟改專案名字的話，在官網上的 setting 改完他的兩個網址並不會做變更，因此輸入以下指令是比較保險的！
$ heroku apps:rename --app [old-name] [new-name]
現在，我們得到了 APP 網址以及 Git 資料庫網址。我們使用 Heroku 指令把本地的專案與遠端做連結：
$ heroku git:remote -a [app-name] // 查看
$ git remote -v
heroku git.heroku.com/thef2e-chatroom.git (fetch)
heroku git.heroku.com/thef2e-chatroom.git (push)
部署 Heroku
連結後 push 到遠端上：
$ git push heroku master
Counting objects: 100% (6/6), done.
Delta compression using up to 4 threads
Compressing objects: 100% (6/6), done.
Writing objects: 100% (6/6), 10.87 KiB | 5.44 MiB/s, done.
Total 6 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
remote: Compressing source files... done.
remote: Building source:
remote:
remote: -----> Node.js app detected
remote:
remote: -----> Creating runtime environment
remote:
remote: NPM_CONFIG_LOGLEVEL=error
remote: NODE_ENV=production
remote: NODE_MODULES_CACHE=true
remote: NODE_VERBOSE=false
remote:
remote: -----> Installing binaries
remote: engines.node (package.json): unspecified
remote: engines.npm (package.json): unspecified (use default)
remote:
remote: Resolving node version 12.x...
remote: Downloading and installing node 12.13.0...
remote: Using default npm version: 6.12.0
remote:
remote: -----> Installing dependencies
remote: Installing node modules (package.json + package-lock)
remote: added 123 packages from 102 contributors and audited 239 packages in 3.359s
remote: found 0 vulnerabilities
remote:
remote:
remote: -----> Build
remote:
remote: -----> Pruning devDependencies
remote: audited 239 packages in 1.408s
remote: found 0 vulnerabilities
remote:
remote:
remote: -----> Caching build
remote: - node_modules
remote:
remote: -----> Build succeeded!
remote: ! This app may not specify any way to start a node process
remote:
remote:
remote: -----> Discovering process types
remote: Procfile declares types -> (none)
remote: Default types for buildpack -> web
remote:
remote: -----> Compressing...
remote: Done: 23.1M
remote: -----> Launching...
remote: Released v3
remote:
remote:
remote: Verifying deploy... done.
To
* [new branch] master -> master Enumerating objects: 6, done.Counting objects: 100% (6/6), done.Delta compression using up to 4 threadsCompressing objects: 100% (6/6), done.Writing objects: 100% (6/6), 10.87 KiB | 5.44 MiB/s, done.Total 6 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)remote: Compressing source files... done.remote: Building source:remote:remote: -----> Node.js app detectedremote:remote: -----> Creating runtime environmentremote:remote: NPM_CONFIG_LOGLEVEL=errorremote: NODE_ENV=productionremote: NODE_MODULES_CACHE=trueremote: NODE_VERBOSE=falseremote:remote: -----> Installing binariesremote: engines.node (package.json): unspecifiedremote: engines.npm (package.json): unspecified (use default)remote:remote: Resolving node version 12.x...remote: Downloading and installing node 12.13.0...remote: Using default npm version: 6.12.0remote:remote: -----> Installing dependenciesremote: Installing node modules (package.json + package-lock)remote: added 123 packages from 102 contributors and audited 239 packages in 3.359sremote: found 0 vulnerabilitiesremote:remote:remote: -----> Buildremote:remote: -----> Pruning devDependenciesremote: audited 239 packages in 1.408sremote: found 0 vulnerabilitiesremote:remote:remote: -----> Caching buildremote: - node_modulesremote:remote: -----> Build succeeded!remote: ! This app may not specify any way to start a node processremote: https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/nodejs-support#default-web-process-type remote:remote: -----> Discovering process typesremote: Procfile declares types -> (none)remote: Default types for buildpack -> webremote:remote: -----> Compressing...remote: Done: 23.1Mremote: -----> Launching...remote: Released v3remote: https://thef2e-chatroom.herokuapp.com/ deployed to Herokuremote:remote: Verifying deploy... done.To https://git.heroku.com/ thef2e-chatroom .git * [new branch] master -> master
如果你是照著我聊天室步驟建立專案的話，會發現終端機有一行顯示驚嘆號，那是因為 Heroku 需要一行 Start 指令去建置專案，而我們的 package.json 檔內並沒有明確指令才報錯。
因此我們需要在 JSON 檔內多新增一行 start，並重新 push 一次，Heroku 就可以成功建置環境了。
"scripts": {
"test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
"start": "node index.js"
},
MySQL 配置
接著我們來到第二大關，要準備把本地端資料庫也 push 上去，這次使用的服務是 ClearDB。
我們要先為專案新增一個 Add-ons：
$ heroku addons:create cleardb:ignite Creating cleardb:ignite on ⬢ thef2e-chatroom... free
Created cleardb-octagonal-43734 as CLEARDB_DATABASE_URL
Use heroku addons:docs cleardb to view documentation
也可以在 Heroku 網站做新增：
Heroku 新增 Add-ons
透過以下指令，我們可以得知 ClearDB 資料庫配置：
$ heroku config | grep CLEARDB_DATABASE_URL CLEARDB_DATABASE_URL: mysql://be6c96a165xxx0:[email protected]/heroku_e8d000339887xxx?reconnect=true // 補充
// username: be6c96a16xxxd
// password: c504fxxx
// host: us-cdbr-iron-east-05.cleardb.net
// database: heroku_e8d000339887xxx
接著打開 MySQL Workbench，並新增新的連線就可以和剛剛新增的資料庫做連結，再把本地端的 database 輸出，引入到遠端資料庫就 OK 了！
MySQL Workbench 新增連線
對了，因為新增了遠端的資料庫，因此我們原本程式碼內連結的本地端資料庫，也須要換成遠端資料庫哦！
Session Store
最後，如果你有引入 Session 在專案裡的話，也會需要新增一項配置屬性為 store，也就是 Session 儲存的地方，在 express-session npm 最下面可以找到很多儲存的方法。
express-session store
我們選用 express-mysql-session，一樣先安裝：
$ npm install express-mysql-session --save
並且引入並使用 (設置在 Session 上方)：
const MySQLStore = require('express-mysql-session')(session); const options = {
connectionLimit: 10,
host: 'us-cdbr-iron-east-05.cleardb.net',
user: 'be6c96a165xxx0',
password: 'c504fxxx',
database: 'heroku_e8d000339887xxx'
}
const sessionStore = new MySQLStore(options); // 此處為 session 設置
app.use(session({
secret: 'thef2e_chatroom',
resave: false,
saveUninitialized: false,
cookie: {
maxAge: 60 * 60 * 1000 * 3,
},
}));
報錯處理
在 APP 網站的右上角可以打開 APP (饒舌，如果看到此頁面代表有報錯。
Heroku APP 報錯
此時可以用以下指令查詢 (使用 ctrl+c 退出)：
$ heroku logs --tail
更詳細的報錯可以參考延伸閱讀第一個文章。
後記
報錯的話多看終端機，看仔細點絕對會找到問題的！
以上是這次部署死都不看報錯的最大心得。
參考資料 | https://medium.com/@jedy05097952/node-js-mysql-%E9%83%A8%E7%BD%B2-heroku-f07a2d75e72f | ['集點送紅利'] | 2020-02-04 21:14:08.778000+00:00 | ['MySQL', 'Nodejs', 'Heroku'] |
Advantages of betting on Andar Bahar Online Odds | Betacular’s online Andar Bahar vary depending on the game provider version you’re playing at an online casino. We’ve highlighted the three primary groupings to give you a clearer sense of which Andar Bahar side bets are available. It expressed the probabilities as a chance of occurring. So, if a bet has a 25% chance of winning, it will happen 1 out of every 4 times. Cards dealt, cards dealt single digits, and joker card bets are the three types of side bets available.
It just require only a single deck of cards to play, and unlike Blackjack, it was exceedingly simple to master. There was also no requirement for specialised equipment such as Roullete wheels. The player merely had to estimate whether the card “matching” the centre card would be drawn to the “left” or “right” of the middle card after it was drawn.
What is the best way to play Andar Bahar online?
One card is chosen at random from the deck and placed in the centre.Before the game begins, the players must choose whether to bet on Andar (Left) or Bahar (Right).If the middle card is red, the dealer begins by placing the first card on Bahar (or Right), followed by Andar (Left). If the initial card drawn is black, the dealer will begin by placing the next card on Andar, then on Bahar. This is only significant with awarding prizes to the winners. It dealt alternately the cards to the right and left, and the round ends when a card of similar rank to the very first card is dealt.it will give none of the players a card. They are merely watching as it dealt cards right or left, hoping that the corresponding card will fall on the side on which they have wagered. Payouts change slightly depending on where the first card pulled (after the introductory card, of course) was put. The payout is 90% if it dealt the initial card to the left and the winning card was likewise dealt to the left. The reward is 100 percent if they hand the winning card to the other side.
Betacular is one of the best online casinos in India to play Andar Bahar
Because it primarily played Andar Bahar on best betting sites in India, online casino players from India may find variants of this game at online casinos that cater specifically to Indian players. Betacular’s #1 online recommendation was simple: not only do they have live versions of the game, but they also have dealers from India. Not to mention a fantastic bonus to improve the odds strongly in your favour. | https://medium.com/@listdomain6/advantages-of-betting-on-andar-bahar-online-odds-4b170e6ce225 | ['Betacular India'] | 2021-12-15 09:00:29.960000+00:00 | ['Onlinebets', 'Casino'] |
Why Video Games that Close the Social Distance Gap are More Important Than Ever | Why Video Games that Close the Social Distance Gap are More Important Than Ever
Come together for the Holidays with friends and family for a socially distanced Zoom Game Night
Family gaming has gone long-distance — along with socially distanced holiday celebrations. Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
With Thanksgiving 2020 in our rearview mirror, we now have time to reflect on the coming Holiday season what what it means to us. With the resurgence of Covid-19 cases in the United States and other countries, many families were left separated, to have celebratory dinner and game night apart. Even those who travelled for Thanksgiving are now facing the stark reality that we may need to be locked down to our homes in December.
Video games, particularly casual games, are taking a new place in today’s society. They have a new importance and objective — to provide much-needed interaction over the internet. I mention casual games specifically because they are typically more accessible to all ages and demographics. Look at “Among Us” — the game has taken over due in part by the times and it’s way of catering to casual players. It can be argued that if 2020 did not have gamers stuck at home, “Among Us” would not have become such a hit.
Twitch Streaming gamers have gotten together to make Among Us the #1 game to play during the Pandemic. Source, https://www.talkesport.com/guides/how-to-enable-discord-overlay-in-among-us/
The design of casual games is more important than ever. Games that do not take advantage of online multiplayer are missing out on a massive opportunity. Local or “couch” co-op and multiplayer are less likely to grab players that are starved for connection to their estranged friends and family. Games also need to put focus on designing great user experiences, along with ease of use and accessibility. For example, your grandmother doesn’t have the same computer literacy that you or your children do, so naturally user interfaces need to cater to them. I can say from personal experience that a game with complicated, confusing and clunky UI puts me off almost immediately.
Successful games that can be played on a smartphone are usually the most accessible and user friendly. Photo by William Iven on Unsplash
Lowering the barrier to entry is another key factor. Games that are PC only, force you to login or install a huge application are less likely to catch on. Making a (free) mobile port, or better yet a web-based game, creates an ease of use and accessibility solution that fits just about anyone with a phone, tablet or laptop. Take for example the acclaimed Jackbox Games Pack — it is designed perfectly for gameplay remotely via Zoom or Google Hangouts. Only one player needs to purchase the pack, and all participants play from a browser on their phone.
Another great design improvement comes from a purely game design standpoint. Games that invite conversation via voice and video are more important than ever. Think about the last time you played Scrabble, Dominion, or even Uno. These are great games, by the way! But they are just not designed to spark conversation — at most, players comment on the last move, then continue to focus on their own strategy. On the flip side, games like Cards Against Humanity, Codenames, One Night Ultimate Werewolf and Betrayal at House on the Hill force you to co-operate or plot against each other with heated debates, strategy meetings, and rancorous heckling. Games are more fun when you can talk to other players like they are right there with you.
Virtual Reality headsets like Oculus and Vive give you the ability to play in a virtual world with those you can’t visit in person. Photo by Maxim Hopman on Unsplash
Lastly, I think a renewed interest in Virtual Reality (VR) will help people create social gatherings that are safe but still have many of the personal elements of real-life parties and events. Games like Social Club, PokerStars VR, Rec Room, and (of course) VR Chat put very little emphasis on the actual VR controls, instead putting focus on just having fun in a shared 3D space.
Conclusion
While social distanced holidays are a bummer, there are game designers out there that are attempting to create experiences that can help lessen the sadness and isolation through gaming. Game creators will definitely need to keep in mind design patterns that work in today’s society in order to be successful!
Are you interested in how games are evolving and changing with the times? Then you may be interested in some of my other articles on the topic: | https://cjames1.medium.com/why-games-that-close-the-social-distance-gap-are-more-important-than-ever-4291cf4c903 | ['C. James'] | 2020-12-04 03:11:28.066000+00:00 | ['Gaming', 'Game Design', 'Party Games', 'Virtual Reality', 'Pandemic Diaries'] |
All I Want for Christmas is . . . | All I Want for Christmas is . . .
The narcissistic-sociopath with a Cluster B personality disorder desires three essential things required for survival.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) suggests that approximately 9.2% of people in the United States meet the criteria for a personality disorder which includes narcissism and anti-social personality disorder, also known as sociopathy. Often the conditions exist together as co-morbidities, hence the new term narcopath. It is imperative that we understand the underpinnings of this disorder in order to recognize it and steer clear of it.
Narcissism exists on a spectrum and most of them are unaware of the logistics that make them tick. Acknowledgment of these inner mechanisms rarely happens because it would require some degree of self-reflection and honesty, and the Cluster B disordered person is not capable of either. But there are three common things that every narcopath (narcissistic-sociopath) requires simply to survive. Their whole life is about the acquisition of these three things, and they will do absolutely anything to get them.
Number One: The Acquisition of Fuel and Supply
Number Two: The Acquisition of Residual Benefits
Number Three: The Acquisition of Character Traits
The Acquisition of Fuel and Supply
eluoec @ unsplash
The narcopath cannot survive without fuel. He is an addict who is addicted to narcissistic supply. Delicious, delightful, decadent supply. Generous amounts flowing like a never-ending waterfall of fuel. They will murder their mothers, eat their children, and suffocate their spouses to get that life-sustaining fuel.
The majority of narcissists seeking fuel can be converted to the quest for sadistic supply when they discover that humiliating another individual is even more gratifying and thus they become converts who become addicted to the stronger addictive drug of psychopathic supply. It is almost like an epiphany or religious experience from whence they seldom return.
Various kinds of fuel can be obtained in a number of ways.
Fuel is the emotional energy and food that is given to the narcopath that feeds them and keeps them going. It is derived from various forms of contact and once they have depleted one source, they must move on to other sources to provide this sustenance. They are constantly on the hunt for sources of fuel and have both primary, secondary, and even tertiary sources of fuel in a multi-tiered system. They love to create a reaction, whether good or bad, as long as they have the power, control, and spotlight.
Attention is like water for a person suffering from a narcissistic-sociopathic disorder. They must have it daily and in copious amounts in order to stay alive. Positive attention is preferred; however, any kind of attention will do as long as all eyes are on them.
Affection is another important component to fuel acquisition. They thrive on being on the receiving end of affectionate gestures which could be anything from a hug to a massage or a cuddle under a blanket. They love being touched and petted, stroked and held. And not only physical affection, they also love gestures of affection: little gifts and surprises, acts of kindness and service, acts of sacrifice and sweetness. It’s as if he wants you to be his mother which is an apt dynamic for unresolved issues with parental figures from a painful past. He expects the “parentified partner” to soothe him and provide him with safety, and this time expects a different outcome because by converting the partner into the parent, he can create a different ending to what was a failure with the parent of origin. It is a no-win situation.
Adoration is one of the best sources of fuel. They love being elevated to the status of a god. They want to be the highest deity in your own personal temple who holds all the power and wonder and awe. Their sense of entitlement makes it understandable that the need for a cadre of worshipping groupies is irresistible to the narcopath.
Narcopaths try to elicit admiration from those around them by exuding a sense of superiority and an air of being special, unique, and powerful. They are actually quite charming and create a sense of “stickiness” as they ensnare their victims, much like a spider in a web. He expects his partner to become his parent, co-conspirators, fellow adventurers in his fantasy world created by the false self. Partners usually succumb and join a shared fantasy world where they live beside the narcopath in an illusory world of delusion until the abuse cycle continues on to the final discard stage.
The Acquisition of Residual Benefits
The narcopath is the world’s greatest opportunist. They are survivors of the highest caliber. They intuitively seek what they need and will do whatever it takes without conscience or remorse to obtain it. So what are these residual benefits that are so important to the narcissist?
Residual benefits are anything and everything that you have that the narcopath wants. Since they are entitled and have no boundaries, they believe that these resources you may have to offer are theirs for the taking. These are the perks that the narcissist enjoys as a by-product of their relationship with you.
I was a college professor, dance teacher, and esteemed member of the academic community when I met my ex-husband who was young, uncultured, and trapped in poverty. He saw an opportunity and took it. For the next fifteen years, he developed into everything he had aspired to be and even more than he could have imagined. When he had taken everything I had to offer and contaminated every relationship I had with those most valuable to me via his many transgressions throughout the many years, he decided it was time to get fresh fuel, thus he discarded me without warning. After sixteen years together, I thought we were bulletproof. We were planning a move and a future and the next steps of our lives right up to the minute he turned on me and ripped my soul right out of my body. Even now, I can’t believe he could be capable of such savage butchery.
If you have something they deem valuable, you become a prime target. It could be money, connections, career assistance, social status, a meal-ticket, or lifestyle. They are glib, charming, charismatic predators who are highly manipulative, Machiavellian even. The ends justify the means. So if you have something that will benefit them in some way, watch out. These are the residual benefits they seek when hunting for the perfect partner.
The Acquisition of Character Traits
The narcissistic sociopath or psychopath has no inner core or authentic identity, so they must stitch one together from their main source of supply they have coupled with for the purpose of assimilating their personality and character traits. One common feature that occurs is dissociating which essentially means that they erase memories that challenge their grandiose self-perception and false narrative that justifies their exploitative, anti-social, and cruel behavior. They suffer a type of amnesia because their contact with others is conducted through a fictitious construct called the false persona or the false self. Narcissists never experience reality directly but only through a distorted lens tempered by magical thinking, projection, blame-shifting, revisionist history, entitlement, and numerous pathological constructs designed to create and protect the false self. The beautiful, charming mask remains firmly in place as they move through life.
In an attempt to compensate for the yawning gaps in memory, narcissists and psychopaths confabulate: They invent plausible fillers and scenarios of how things might, could, or should have conceivably occurred. To everyone else, these fictional stopgaps appear as lies, but the narcissist fervently believes in their own distorted reality. He may not actually remember what actually happened, but it simply could not have happened any other way! So if they think it must be true, it is their truth.
These fabricated fantasies are frequently revised as their inner world and external circumstances change over time. The result is that they often contradict themselves. Today’s confabulation often negates yesterday’s which doesn’t match up with tomorrow’s. They can’t keep their stories straight because they don’t possess the emotions or awareness that are necessary components of real memories. They are easily adaptable to change and constantly imitate and emulate.
So if their lives exist in a bubble of delusions fueled by magical thinking, false narratives, and a fluid reality defined by a mercurial history, how do they acquire character and personality traits that weave a personal identity?
The narcopath’s sources of fuel and supply serve as external memories and whose function is to maintain a constant flow of affirming and cohering data that grounds them and makes them seem real. As a result of early childhood abuse and trauma, he has had to invent himself, and therefore sees no problem in re-inventing something on an ongoing basis since he designed it all from scratch in the first place. The narcissist is his own creator. He is his own God. But how does one invent himself if there is nothing in their inner landscape to draw from? They are empty and hollow and never developed healthy emotions, so how do they cobble together an identity?
They assimilate yours. Like a sponge. Like a shape-shifter. Like the chameleon they are. Piece by piece, bit by bit, they absorb you until their new persona is complete. It’s easy to think you have met your dream come true, your soul-mate, your energetic twin flame destined for you and you only. But you are only in love with yourself and that familiarity is you being reflected back at you like a mirror. With each new partner, they cannibalize their former construct and replace it with a shiny new one. They may be unrecognizable as you search for the person you knew and loved and slept beside every night for years or even decades. They become completely different people with completely different identities so quickly that you cannot believe what you are witnessing. The old false self is gobbled up by the new one and their memory of the previous life evaporates like it never existed.
That is the most painful part of the recovery from malignant narcissistic/sociopathic abuse — the fact that they hit the erase button and your whole life together is instantly annihilated and forever extinguished as if it never happened. Every memory, every precious moment spent together. . . the whole thing just burned to the ground. It is invalidating and inhumane. It crushes the heart and soul of those who believed it was all real, and like any dead thing, it should be treated with respect and reverence.
There is no hope that the narcopath can ever be healed.
The narcissist has no past and no future. He occupies an eternal present that is fluid and knows no rules or boundaries, reality or connection, emotion or hope. He is an artifact, a tragically beautiful corpse floating in the dark frozen sea of a tempestuous childhood.
__________________________________________________________________
photo by Benjamin Pesqueda @Pompadou Centre, Paris 2019
Prajinta Pesqueda is a veteran of a war against trauma-induced C-PTSD caused by a 15-year marriage to a covert somatic mid-range narcissist-sociopath and addict. She is a recovery facilitator and holds a Master’s degree with an emphasis on guidance and counseling.
Follow her at www.pesqueda.medium.com
Check out her podcast channel on all major platforms at https://anchor.fm/pesqueda
Join the upcoming workshop: https://teahna.com/warriors-path-to-wholeness/
#narctroopers, #narcissisticabuserecoverycollaborators, #betrayaltrauma, #NARCtroopers, #NPDSurvivors, #PesquedaRecoveryFacilitator | https://medium.com/@pesqueda/all-i-want-for-christmas-is-a9fef3b25987 | ['Prajinta Pesqueda'] | 2020-12-24 08:36:13.865000+00:00 | ['Narcissism', 'Mental Illness', 'Relationships', 'Narcissistic Abuse', 'Emotional Abuse'] |
<Full-EPISODES> Watch A House Divided Season 3,Episode 1 [EP.1] Online.Stream ! | Film, also called Episode, 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.[1] The word “cinema”, short for cinematography, is often used to refer to filmmaking and the film The Flight Attendant, 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 identifies the process of delivering or obtaining media in this manner.[clarification needed] Streaming refers to the delivery method of the medium, instead of the medium itself. Distinguishing delivery method from the media distributed applies particularly to telecommunications networks, as almost all of the delivery systems are either inherently streaming (e.g. radio, television, streaming apps) or inherently non-streaming (e.g. books, video cassettes, music CDs). There are challenges with streaming content on the Internet. For instance, users whose Internet connection lacks satisfactory bandwidth may experience stops, lags, or slow buffering of the content. And users lacking compatible hardware or software systems may be unable to stream certain content.
Live streaming is the delivery of Internet content in real-time much as live television broadcasts content over the airwaves with a television signal. Live internet streaming takes a form of source media (e.g. a video camera, an audio tracks interface, screen capture software), an encoder to digitize the content, a media publisher, and a content delivery network to distribute and deliver the content. Live streaming does not need to be recorded at the origination point, although it frequently is.
Streaming is an option to file downloading, a process where the end-user obtains the entire file for this content before watching or listening to it. Through streaming, an end-user can use their media player to get started on playing digital video or digital sound content before the complete file has been transmitted. The word “streaming media” can connect with media other than video and audio, such as live closed captioning, ticker tape, and real-time text, which are considered “streaming text”.
❏ COPYRIGHT CONTENT ❏
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.[1][2][3][4][5] The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is intended to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself.[6][7][8] 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 often 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][9][10][11][12] These rights frequently include reproduction, control over derivative works, distribution, public performance, and moral rights such as attribution.[13]
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 extend 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 inconsistent.[14]
Typically, the public law duration of a copyright expires 50 to 100 years after the creator dies, depending on the jurisdiction. Some countries require certain copyright formalities[5] 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.[15]
❏ 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.[1] In other words, credit is a method of making reciprocity formal, legally enforceable, and extensible 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 extended by a creditor, also known as a lender, to a debtor, also known as a borrower.
FIND US:
✓ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/
✓ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/
✓ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ | https://medium.com/on-umc-a-house-divided-s3e1/full-eps-a-house-divided-series3-episode-1-ep-1-online-stream-6e33ef46a872 | [] | 2020-12-23 11:37:35.460000+00:00 | ['Rio De Janeiro', 'Human Rights'] |
Generation Gap (Tiyambuke 2014 Youth Service) | The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines Generation Gap as “difference in values and attitudes between one generation and another, especially between young people and their parents”.
The Multi-Lingual Free Encyclopaedia defines Generation Gap as “a disconnect between members of one generation and members of the next based on the later generation developing habits, attitudes, and preferences inconsistent with the experience of the former”.
Underlying factor: Paradigm Shift/Change
Each generation will always be unique in their ways of thinking, seeing things and how they respond.
Bishop Noel Jones, in his message titled; Be Careful For Nothing (13 August 2014); says: “The current generation has been good in inventing instruments and technology but no longer know how to love”.
Advantages enjoyed by the current generation over their predecessors
1. Diverse opportunities — scholarships, bursaries, schools, sporting activities.
2. Global connectivity — internet, laptops, i-phones, tablets, smartphones.
3. Professionalism — dress-codes, manners in eating, specialised ministers of the Word of God (e.g. music pastors, Christian book writers), visual enhanced preaching, and communication and public speaking skills.
4. Quality events and services — weddings, birthday parties, conventions and conferences, medical and dental check-ups, warranties, insurance, funeral policies.
5. Constitutional rights — protected against any possible exploitation (e.g. child soldiers, child employment, child marriages)
6. Security enhancement — national level, household level, neighbourhood. | https://medium.com/@tapiwazuze17/generation-gap-tiyambuke-2014-youth-service-142cf6761eda | ['Tapiwa Zuze'] | 2019-06-25 22:24:26.958000+00:00 | ['Parenthood', 'Children', 'Fatherhood', 'Christianity', 'Generation Gap'] |
Confessions of a Worrywart | Confessions of a Worrywart
Photo Credit: Ekaterina Bolovtsova for Pexels.
The root cause of this manifestation of uneasiness most likely stemmed from childhood: abandonment and trauma.
Bubbling inside…
That child grew-up.
And what was once perceived as a little shyness had been re-wrapped into social inadequacy. Something weird or strange, that needed to be fixed.
“You worry too much, you know,” countless people have told me.
But with statements like this, people often stop before they can examine the ‘why’. I do not blame them. Everyone’s life is filled with a personal set of obstacles. They have their own set of worries, so who would want to share or carry the burden of another’s?
So, I lugged this boulder of anxiety around with me, until I faced the prospect of the unthinkable reflected in the shattered glass: Lose the person I love the most right in front of me and have to live beyond their lifeline, or if they survived, leave them on this earth to carry on alone. None of these options were desirable, so I chose none. Lady luck granted me a second chance at life. My loved one and I survived.
Shedding a few packages off my back, going through all that taught me how valuable time is. To sit and allow the think-lice to infest your mind beyond recovery is a disservice to your own physical and mental well-being. | https://medium.com/sober-confessions/confessions-of-a-worrywart-6d1558038720 | ['Lexus Ndiwe'] | 2021-02-01 18:41:21.406000+00:00 | ['Anxiety', 'Worry', 'Mental Health', 'Thoughts', 'Confessions'] |
How to Save Your Marriage When Your Partner Mentions Divorce | How to Save Your Marriage When Your Partner Mentions Divorce comes at a time when divorce rate is so rampant. So please take advantage not to become a statistic.
There are numerous reasons why a once committed relationship would degenerate to one partner asking for a divorce. It could have been:
an affair
having been separated by a long distance for lengths of time
conflict
behavioral issues or psychological problems of one spouse
even unmanaged addictions.
Whatever of these problems may be what is seen on the surface, the bottom line is that usually, barring any abuse or psychological problems that are best handled by a professional, a couple find themselves in danger of divorce when there is a loss of:
in the marital relationship.
Conflict or anger — how to save your marriage from divorce
Conflict or anger itself does not have to cause an irreparable rift between partners. With good communication skills and a shared commitment to a marriage, even these are surmountable. However, at that point where one partner is at the brink of abandoning the relationship, how can the remaining partner save their marriage? If you are at the point where your spouse has asked for a divorce, what can you do?
You must realize first that, YOU DO HAVE A CHOICE. Often, when confronted by a crisis, we find ourselves backed into a corner thinking we have no choice in the matter.
How can we change the situation when it involves another person’s feelings or decisions? While we cannot, MUST NOT and IN NO WAY manipulate, blackmail or threaten our partner into changing their mind, we can actually control how we react to the situation.
If anything, you must realize that you still have control over yourself. You have the opportunity to look inward and take responsibility for your own feelings and actions. And even have the chance to take personal inventory of what your partner is trying to tell you. Are there points in your marriage that must be changed? If so, respond appropriately and proactively.
Here’s the thing. You can choose to wallow in pain and anger or choose to become even more positive and loving towards your spouse. You can choose to blame and shame your partner or you can choose to take stock. Be accountable for where your marriage is and move on towards a more fulfilling, happy you. Yes, you heard me. Choose to be fulfilled and happy in the midst of crisis.
Even if your spouse is stubborn and unresponsive, you can still change yourself and become as engaging, positive and proactive as you were when you first fell in love.
Usually, at the struggling stage of a relationship, one or both couples would look back and miss the good old days. Where it was easy to be together. You can capture those days again ‘ and even add to them with your own current maturity and growth. After all, you did not spend those years after the wedding for nothing.
RELATED ARTICLE: The Ultimate Guide to “Mend The Marriage” Reviews by Brad Browning
A huge investment
You and your spouse have made a huge investment into this partnership. And your intention to stay in the marriage through positive loving actions, through open communication and strengthened commitment can help your spouse refocus his view on what you once committed to.
Become a loving person again by caring for your spouse in the little everyday things. Be there for him or her when before you may have been too much of a workaholic. Set aside intimate time just for your partner alone whereas previously, you may have let the kids take up too much of your time.
Then, when the time comes that you are able to open communication with your spouse and actually sit down and discuss the crisis you’re in ‘ask him or her if he or she realizes just how much effort a divorce could entail? Does your spouse actually realize that a divorce has emotional, financial, logistical and physical consequences?
Divorce brings CHANGE and it is definitely not to be taken lightly. If your spouse wants a divorce, is he or she prepared to embrace this change?
Finally, you also have the option to involve a third party or mediator to help you and your spouse through this situation. If the situation is truly serious then by all means, get help. This is not the time to let your pride get in the way.
A professional counselor, trusted elder or neutral friend can help in putting things into perspective. Between you and your partner and may even help unlock deep seated concerns or issues. For all you know, it may be as simple as your partner wanting more attention or more ways to open up to you.
This article is brought to you by “ Save My Marriage Today “.
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A Father, Husband, Brother, Uncle and a Full Time Blogger. | https://medium.com/@sean-obuseng/how-to-save-your-marriage-when-your-partner-mentions-divorce-8dbbcd3b059b | [] | 2020-12-15 06:25:56.686000+00:00 | ['Infidelity', 'Relationships', 'Marriage Equality', 'Marriage', 'Divorce'] |
Illustration with Python: Central Limit Theorem | This blog uses knowledge of Chebyshev’s inequality and weak law of large numbers, you can review those topics by visiting on the links.
The theorem states that the distribution of independent sample means is an approximately normal distribution, even if the population is not normally distributed. In other words, if we independently sample from population many times and plot a mean of each sampling the plot will be a normal distribution, regardless of the population distribution.
I will use python to demonstrate the theorem with the following steps
Step:
1.) Create a population of 1,000,000 values, I use a gamma distribution with shape = 2 and scale = 2 to show that theorem work with non-normal distribution
# build gamma distribution as population
shape, scale = 2., 2. # mean=4, std=2*sqrt(2)
s = np.random.gamma(shape, scale, 1000000)
2.) Sample from the gamma distribution with 500 sample size, calculate the mean and repeat the step 1,000 times (this is a number of sampling). I repeat this step but increase the number of sampling until the number is 50,000 times.
## sample from population with different number of sampling
# a list of sample mean
meansample = []
# number of sample
numofsample = [1000,2500,5000,10000,25000,50000]
# sample size
samplesize = 500
# for each number of sampling (1000 to 50000)
for i in numofsample:
# collect mean of each sample
eachmeansample = []
# for each sampling
for j in range(0,i):
# sampling 500 sample from population
rc = random.choices(s, k=samplesize)
# collect mean of each sample
eachmeansample.append(sum(rc)/len(rc))
# add mean of each sampling to the list
meansample.append(eachmeansample)
3.) Plot each sample mean.
# plot
cols = 2
rows = 3
fig, ax = plt.subplots(rows, cols, figsize=(20,15))
n = 0
for i in range(0, rows):
for j in range(0, cols):
ax[i, j].hist(meansample[n], 200, density=True)
ax[i, j].set_title(label="number of sampling :" + str(numofsample[n]))
n += 1
We can see from the plots that as the number of sampling increases, the distribution becomes smoother. This theorem is extremely powerful because we can apply to any population, so if we have tools to work with normal distribution, we can use that tool with the sample mean of any distribution such as calculate probability using an area under a normal curve.
Standardize the Sample Mean
We can change sample mean distribution into standard normal distribution by subtracting each sample mean with an expected value and dividing by a standard deviation.
Step:
1.) Using the distribution from the last sampling
# use last sampling
sm = meansample[len(meansample)-1]
2.) Calculate the mean and standard deviation of the sample mean.
# calculate start deviation
std = np.std(sm)
# set population mean
mean = np.mean(sm)
3.) Subtract each value by mean and divide it by standard deviation, so the mean and standard deviation of the sample mean is 0, 1 respectively.
# list of standarded sample
zn = []
# for each sample subtract with mean and devided by standard deviation
for i in sm:
zn.append((i-mean)/std)
4.) Plot the result.
# plot hist
plt.figure(figsize=(20,10))
plt.hist(zn, 200, density=True)
# compare with standard normal disrtibution line
mu = 0
sigma = 1
x = np.linspace(mu - 3*sigma, mu + 3*sigma, 100)
# draw standard normal disrtibution line
plt.plot(x, stats.norm.pdf(x, mu, sigma),linewidth = 5, color='red')
plt.show()
the red line is standard normal distribution line, the mean of the blue distribution is 0 with a unit standard deviation
One of the reasons we standardize the sample mean is the complexity of a normal distribution function. We have to integrate the complicated function which can take hours to do, so instead, we standardize the distribution and use the Z table to find an area under the function.
Sample size
The rule of thumb of sample size is that it should be larger than 30 to make the sample mean distributed normally. However, the theorem still works if the sample size is less than 30 but the population is normally distributed. I will illustrate what will happen if the sample size is less than 30, 30 and greater than 30.
Step:
1.) Sample from the same gamma distribution with 1 sample size, calculate the mean and repeat the step 25,000 times. I repeat this step but increase the sample size until it reaches 1,000 sample size.
## sample with different sample size
# list of sample mean
meansample = []
# number of sampling
numofsample = 25000
# sample size
samplesize = [1,5,10,30,100,1000]
# for each sample size (1 to 1000)
for i in samplesize:
# collect mean of each sample
eachmeansample = []
# for each sampling
for j in range(0,numofsample):
# sampling i sample from population
rc = random.choices(s, k=i)
# collect mean of each sample
eachmeansample.append(sum(rc)/len(rc))
# add mean of each sampling to the list
meansample.append(eachmeansample)
2.) Plot each sample mean.
# plot
cols = 2
rows = 3
fig, ax = plt.subplots(rows, cols, figsize=(20,15))
n = 0
for i in range(0, rows):
for j in range(0, cols):
ax[i, j].hist(meansample[n], 200, density=True)
ax[i, j].set_title(label="sample size :" + str(samplesize[n]))
n += 1
From the plot, the distribution of sample size that is less than 30 is not normally distributed.
I will combine this theorem with Chebyshev’s inequality and the weak law of large numbers, but before we go there, let’s look at the expected value and standard deviation of sample means.
The expected value and standard deviation of sample means
Suppose that X is a random variable that is independent and identical distributed with the expected value μ and standard deviation σ. If we sample the X n sample, the expectation and variance of X will be as follow. | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/illustration-with-python-central-limit-theorem-aa4d81f7b570 | ['Chaya Chaipitakporn'] | 2019-11-04 12:26:35.935000+00:00 | ['Central Limit Theorem', 'Probability', 'Data Science', 'Matplotlib', 'Python'] |
The Impacts of Gold Mining | Sponsored Post:
Mining activities, including prospecting, exploration, construction, operation, maintenance, expansion, abandonment, decommissioning, and repurposing of a mine could impact social and environmental systems in a range of positive and negative, and direct and indirect ways. Mine exploration, construction, operation, and maintenance might result in land-use change and might have associated negative impacts on environments, including deforestation, erosion, contamination, and alteration of soil profiles, contamination of local streams and wetlands, and an enhancement in noise level, dust and emissions. Mine abandonment, decommissioning, and repurposing might also result in similar significant environmental impacts, such as soil and water contamination. Beyond the mines themselves, infrastructure built to support mining activities, such as roads, ports, railway tracks, and power lines, could affect migratory routes of animals and heightened habitat fragmentation.
Mining could also have positive and negative impacts on humans and societies. Negative impacts include those on human health and living standards, for example. Mining is also known to affect traditional practices of Indigenous peoples living in nearby communities, and conflicts in land use are also often present, as are other social impacts including those related to public health and human wellbeing. In terms of positive impacts, mining is often a source of local employment and might contribute to local and regional economies. Remediation of the potential environmental impacts, for example through water treatment and ecological restoration, could have positive net effects on environmental systems. Mine abandonment, decommissioning, and repurposing could also have both positive and negative social impacts. Examples of negative impacts include reduction of jobs and local identities, while positive impacts could include possibilities for new economic activities, e.g. in the repurposing of mines to become tourist attractions. (1) Visit here! As these other industries might also have some prominent impacts on the community as they explore new places for their gold mining.
The World Gold Council’s Members operate in many of the world’s lowest-earning countries, which often lack developed health care services, and face the enormous task of dealing with poor nutrition and communicable diseases, including HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria. As well as the human cost of these epidemics, there is also a considerable economic one. Responsible mining industries see shared value in helping host countries to tackle public health challenges and improve the quality of life for their employees and host communities through corporate social responsibility programs and occupational health initiatives.
In much of the developing world, a lack of access to power, clean water, and transport infrastructure is a significant barrier to economic development. Gold mining often takes place in remote areas where there is little existing infrastructure, so sectors venture heavily in building power supplies, piped water, and roads, which could create important benefits for local communities. Infrastructure, from roads to power stations, is part of the legacy that responsible miners leave beyond the life of their mines and is a major component of their beneficial impact on developing and middle-earning economies. (2) Lay eyes on these other industries as they might be capable of exploration and acquisition of gold! Get additional info here.
Responsible gold mining industries acknowledge that they could have a wider impact on the societies they operate in, beyond the jobs and ventures that they bring to communities. Community development programs are designed to meet local needs and priorities and include ventures in sectors including education, entrepreneurship, and healthcare. Other industries often work with community-based organizations or non-government organizations to plan and implement these programs. Do you believe gold to be a safe refuge as well? More information is available here! Check the disclaimer on my profile and landing page.
Source 1: https://environmentalevidencejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13750-019-0152-8
Source 2: https://www.gold.org/about-gold/gold-supply/gold-development | https://medium.com/@cyrillmonedo/the-impacts-of-gold-mining-ec401d75d9fc | [] | 2021-07-06 11:27:27.506000+00:00 | ['Mining', 'Gold', 'Stock Market', 'Invest', 'Stocks'] |
Coupon Site Promo Code Accuracy Study By CouponBirds — Feb 4, 2021 | Coupon Site Promo Code Accuracy Study By CouponBirds — Feb 4, 2021 CouponBirds Feb 7·4 min read
The fifth coupon site promo code accuracy study comes on time in 2021. We still hope all customers who choose CouponBirds will save more money and time, more than this year.
Top 5 Coupon Sites Promo Code Accuracy Study
The coupon sites promo code accuracy study still conducted among CouponBirds, RetailMeNot, Honey, Slickdeals and Groupon. Our team spent one day doing promo code accuracy. We manually verified 4,905 promo codes from 100 popular online stores at random. Each popular store we choose offers promo codes and each promo code is manually checked according to the verification information from merchants.
Started on Feb 2, 2021, the verification work involved 10 CouponBirds specialists. We copied each promo code of the 100 popular stores, and then we added items to shopping carts and applied codes to see whether it is working based on the information provided by stores. Conclusion of this study accompanying data have been published here in this article below. At the same time, watch our latest official video on Youtube if you want to learn more.
Promo Code Accuracy
Coupon sites included in the study scores 62.98% on promo code accuracy
CouponBirds gets the validation of 77.37% accompanied by 1,400 valid coupon codes. CouponBirds always keep the high quality and quantity.
RetailMeNot ranks tailender with 45.31%, increasing 15% compared to last week.
Slickdeals and Groupon are very close to the validation rate, reaching about 60%.
The validation rate of Honey gets up, reaching 71.93%.
Number Of Working Coupon Codes
We wiped off all coupon codes that were marked as expired. There are 4,905 coupon codes verified across 5 top coupon sites.
The five coupon sites offering valid codes are much more than last week because the number of working coupon codes depends on different stores. Some stores offer a lot of valid coupon codes.
Same as last week, CouponBirds ranks №1 with 1,400 valid coupon codes.
RetailMeNot ranks second with 1,063 valid coupon codes, which is much less than last time.
Honey doesn’t change too much with the number of working coupon codes for 264.
Slickdeals and Groupon offer valid codes for only 220 and 86.
Brand Coverage
We chose 100 stores at random from top 1,500 popular retail stores based on the traffic. We verify brand coverage by checking whether the top 5 coupon sites offer promo codes for the given 100 stores.
CouponBirds gets №1 in brand coverage.
RetailMeNot offers 99 stores.
Slickdeals still ranks second with 87 popular stores.
Honey and Groupon improve a lot and reach the store coverage of 69 and 65.
Common Store Coverage
CouponBirds behaves preponderant in store coverage, which may result in more valid codes of CouponBirds. To make the data more convincing, we do another specific analysis on account of common stores.
RetaiMeNot is the only one who has the comparability with CouponBirds on the number of working coupon codes.
CouponBirds and RetailMeNot have 99 common stores. CouponBirds offers 1,389 valid codes and 1,172 unique valid codes, while RetailMeNot owns 966 valid codes and 749 unique valid codes.
We have the common valid coupon codes for 217.
As for validation rate, Groupon and Slickdeals get some competitiveness based on previous study. Our team chose 49 stores we have in common to get a specific analysis.
Within the 49 stores, CouponBirds stands out with 518 valid codes and 468 unique valid codes, while Honey and Groupon only reach one third of the total.
38.4% of valid codes of the two top coupon sites can be found at CouponBirds, in addition, CouponBirds has an extra unique valid code more than 3.6 times as much as. | https://medium.com/@couponbirds/coupon-site-promo-code-accuracy-study-by-couponbirds-feb-4-2021-e71b00c9ad13 | [] | 2021-02-07 01:43:44.677000+00:00 | ['Retailmenot', 'Coupon', 'Couponbirds', 'Promo Code', 'Code Study'] |
I hate to be stucked… | I hate to be stucked…
usually I am most lovely and happiest person of this world. but sometimes, something that we hold so long in our heart, fell out without any warning.
same thing happened when I started talking with my old friend Rohan. he is my graduation friend and we hardly talk. one night he calls me, we just mesmerizing our college life, how I used to dream big,and how he just want to get a job in bank and wants to marry his childhood love.
he - look at me now, how I end up lossing everything. a failed love life which cause depression and I end up nowhere.
I -what you think rohan, where I am, one thing that I dreamed my whole life to start a business, but I am failed in that business too, even I tried hard still I lost. I am just a pathetic loser. a loser who wasted her parents money and become a burden on them.
he - you know what,you choosed to be failed. you were successful there but you have no control on your emotions, you can’t handle when your partners whose were your friends too, started get jealous from you, and starting cheating on you. so you choosed easy way of escaping. I told you not to do, but you never listend.
I -I am not brave like you, who got cheated by his love still spend 3 years there in same college. for me it’s difficult to breathe there. and I hate to be stucked. I just fucking hate to be stucked.
he -you always run away,seema. if someone start liking you, even if you like them, still you run away..
I -I know you are right, maybe this is my nature. may be I don’t want to be stop.
he -no, madam you are too scared of people, you never let in anyone in your life.tell me, one thing, how many friends you have?
I -alot
he -how many people you calls. if I am right then, no one. you don’t even text anyone. I am your friend from last 6 years still you never called me once.
I- maybe this is my nature
he -no you’re fucking scared from everyone, you just hate to be attached. if you will remains like this,seema you will end up alone. trust me
I -I know I will end up alone and I excepted it and you know what I am happy in this way.at least I am never gonna stucked on anyone ever. no one gonna hurt me ever again
he- this “no one gonna hurt you again”, this is your fear, and you know what you still stucked. just promise me one thing, if you ever find something worth holding for, then you are not going to run away from it.
I -I will try
he- you have to
me -it’s 3am now, I think now we have to sleep, so good night
he -ok take care, goodnight
That night i was not able to sleep,he told me my reality, that even I was scared to face. or that self realization changed everything. after 6 months I meet arjun, we became friends, he was funny, optimistic person. the person who share every part of his life with me and one day when he proposed me. I rememberd the promise. and I said yes to him. this turns out best decision of my life.he was very supportive, he helped me to setting up my business.after 3 years when we were getting married,I just saw rohan in mall. he saw me and said -I think someone keeps the promise, then I smile and said -I think I have to thanks someone…
we both laughed and a with a cup of coffee shared our lives with each other
now he is banker and having a beautiful wife. we both made it
I think sometimes we just need to heard our reality even if it hurts us. still it makes us better person, heal those honds which hunt us from years. we have to let go things and move on with life. a beautiful future is always waiting for us but ya we don’t know it yet. | https://medium.com/@bhardwajreema4/i-hate-to-be-stucked-d1d0e3eb8cf0 | ['Reema Bhardwaj'] | 2020-12-25 19:19:47.585000+00:00 | ['Breakups', 'Life Lessons', 'Life Stories', 'Love', 'Motivation'] |
Corvette Heroes Is Finding A New Home for 36 Corvettes | Corvette Heroes Is Finding A New Home for 36 Corvettes
Everyone loves to see a classic Chevrolet Corvette, whether it’s cruising down the road or sitting in a parking lot. Now you have the chance to be the owner of a head-turning ‘Vette thanks to a group called Corvette Heroes. Through the organization, 36 classic Corvettes will be given away to 36 lucky people through a national sweepstakes you can enter now.
Just imagine cruising down Main Street behind the wheel of a 1967 Chevy Corvette or dropping the top of a 1956 Corvette convertible. You could even win an extremely rare and highly-coveted 1953 Corvette and be the star of any show.
All of the cars being given away in the sweepstakes are part of what some call the ultimate barn find. You might have read about the Peter Max Collection, a group of Corvettes collected by an eccentric artist and hidden away in New York City for years on end. The collection has one of every model year the Corvette was made, starting with 1953 and ending with 1989. It was originally the grand prize for a giveaway on cable TV network VH1. Max bought the cars off the winner and planned to use them in an art project that never came about, and so they sat in one location and then another since the late 80s.
Corvette Heroes is run by New York parking garage and real estate professionals, plus the co-owner of the Gotham Comedy Club. The group is dedicated to finding loving homes for these historic cars so they are proudly displayed and driven. The Corvettes have been restored by Dream Car Restorations in New York and are ready to be driven.
There are some unique aspects to this sweepstakes. Because there will be 36 winners, your chances of getting a car are better than in some other sweepstakes.
All proceeds go to American military veterans through the National Guard Educational Fund, which is very much a worthwhile cause.
So, now is the time to sign up for the sweepstakes and hopefully win one of the 36 Corvettes.
Related Articles…
Win these dream giveaway Corvettes
Imagine garaging these two beauties.
Steven SymesMotorious
Enter To Win This Dream Giveaway 1970 Chevy Chevelle SS454
Wake up to the holy grail of muscle cars parked in your garage.
Amie WilliamsMotorious | https://medium.com/motorious/corvette-heroes-is-finding-a-new-home-for-36-corvettes-23222a736a63 | ['Sam Maven'] | 2020-04-23 12:00:08.106000+00:00 | ['American', 'Win', 'Sports', 'News'] |
Spring Boot — Developing First Microservice | Spring Boot — Developing First Microservice
In this article, we will develop our first microservice based on the spring-boot framework and the fundamentals of microservices architecture. This is exercise-driven and segregated into four areas — Design, Development, Test, and Deploy. Lal Verma Follow Dec 13, 2020 · 9 min read
Photo by Alexander Dummer on Unsplash
As the topic is very wide, I do not intend to distract you with the details. Rather, I am covering the bare minimum on this topic here. Just good enough for you to start on the journey of Spring Boot Microservices. This is an exercise-driven article and I have segregated them into four areas. Each of these areas is mapped to the phases of the development lifecycle, which we all are accustomed to.
Designing First MicroService — We will conceptualize and define our first Microservice here based on the typical characteristics of Microservices and Spring Boot.
Developing First MicroService — We will develop the first Microservice in this part.
Testing First MicroService — We will test our first Microservice here with the integration tests based on Spring Boot.
Deploying First MicroService — We will deploy our first Microservice in this part and briefly understand advanced options.
Designing First MicroService
We will follow three simple steps to chalk out our microservice definition.
Aligning Microservice Principles Defining Business Context Defining Technology Context
Aligning Microservice Principles
The fundamental goals for a Microservice are simple -
To be Independently developed
To be Independently tested
To be Independently deployed
There are many theories to make it possible but we will focus on just the two fundamental principles -
Single responsibility principle
Common closure principle
Let’s assume we have an e-commerce store and one of the primary business functions is — “product catalog management”. We can define a service that can focus on implementing the related operations like create, update, delete, and read product definitions. All these functions are helping out to offer one business responsibility which is “product management”. We are not worried about how other business functions are implemented. Following the “single responsibility principle” helps in defining the scope and boundaries of the microservice.
The principle of “common closure” also helps us decide “what’s in and what’s out”. Assume that we have a class representing the Product data entity in our Product Catalog Service. If a new attribute is added to the product entity, we must update our functions (create, update, delete, read) to align with the new product definition. Keeping all the code related to these functions together, in one service, ensures we are following the common closure principle. If we implement them in separate services, we would need to update all of them with the change in product definition.
We will stick to these principles to implement our first microservice which can be independently developed, tested, and deployed.
Defining Business Context
We took the reference of the e-commerce domain in the previous section. We will continue this example and develop our first microservice called — Product Catalog Service. We will implement the functions to manage product definitions — “Create Product”, “Update Product”, “Get Product Details”, “Get Product List”, “Delete Product”.
We will keep the product definition simple having few attributes — title, description, image path, unit price. Each of the definitions will have a unique identifier “id”.
Defining Technology Context
We will be using Spring Boot, as the primary technology, to develop our service. Spring Boot makes it easy to create stand-alone, production-grade Spring based Applications that you can just run. In our “Product Catalog Service” all of its CRUD (create, read, update, delete) operations will be exposed as API through HTTP. The request(s) and response(s) will be exchanged through JSON format. Spring MVC will help us in building the restful service. We will be using a simple Map function to provide an in-memory storage mechanism. I have deliberately skipped using any database to ensure we stick to basics only.
Before we get our hands dirty, we need to ensure our machine has a compatible platform to run Spring Boot applications. To build the first microservice we need — JDK 11 and Maven 3.x. Install the specific JDK and maven versions, if it’s not present in your local environment.
JDK download — https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/javase-jdk11-downloads.html
Maven download — https://maven.apache.org/download.cgi
Our exercises are independent of any editor, so feel free to choose your favorite editor. Be it Eclipse, NetBeans, IntelliJ IDEA, VisualStudio, or something else.
Developing first Microservice
Setting Up
To generate the required structure and configuration, go to https://start.spring.io/. Stick to the default options and Spring Web as the dependency. Click on the GENERATE button to start downloading the archive. Unzip it at your preferred location. The folder structure looks similar to a typical maven based web project. Let’s peek into the core features we are getting out of the box.
If you see pom.xml you will find an entry of spring-boot-starter-web . This is the starter library helping in getting all the libraries related to the “Spring Web” module. This cuts down significant effort on the developer front to resolve and capture dependencies one by one.
As I provided the artifact name as “Product Catalog”, it generated ProductCatalogApplication.java which implements the main method.
@SpringBootApplication
public class ProductCatalogApplication { public static void main(String[] args) {
SpringApplication.run(ProductCatalogApplication.class, args);
} }
You can see that the class is annotated with @SpringBootApplication . This is an umbrella annotation that is equivalent to a combination of @Configuration , @ComponentScan and @EnableAutoConfiguration annotations. @ComponentScan and @Configuration are the standard spring annotations to read bean definitions across the source code.
@EnableAutoConfiguration attempts to guess and configure the beans you most likely need. Auto-configuration classes are usually applied based on your classpath. For example, we have tomcat-embedded.jar on the classpath of Product Catalog Service (dependency of spring-boot-starter-web ), so it will initialize TomcatServletWebServerFactory .
Another interesting part of this class is the main method. The following statement helps in starting the Spring Boot application.
SpringApplication.run(ProductCatalogApplication.class, args);
Developing Product Catalog Service
In this section, we will add a custom class — ProductCatalogService.java and implement the APIs for Product Catalog Service. Here is the code for ProductCatalogService.java .
@RestController
public class ProductCatalogService {
private static Map < String, Product > productCatalog = new HashMap < > (); public class ProductCatalogService {private static Map < String, Product > productCatalog = new HashMap < > ();
public String addProduct(
productCatalog.put(product.getId(), product);
return "product added successfully";
} @PostMapping ("/product")public String addProduct( @RequestBody Product product) {productCatalog.put(product.getId(), product);return "product added successfully";
public Product getProductDetails(
return productCatalog.get(id);
} @GetMapping ("/product/{id}")public Product getProductDetails( @PathVariable String id) {return productCatalog.get(id);
public List < Product > getProductList() {
return new ArrayList < Product > (productCatalog.values());
}
public String updateProduct(
productCatalog.put(product.getId(), product);
return "product updated successfully";
}
public String deleteProduct(
productCatalog.remove(id);
return "product deleted successfully";
} @GetMapping ("/product")public List < Product > getProductList() {return new ArrayList < Product > (productCatalog.values()); @PutMapping ("/product")public String updateProduct( @RequestBody Product product) {productCatalog.put(product.getId(), product);return "product updated successfully"; @DeleteMapping ("/product/{id}")public String deleteProduct( @PathVariable String id) {productCatalog.remove(id);return "product deleted successfully"; }
Spring Web starter by default enables Spring MVC to develop RESTFul services. I have used the following Spring MVC annotations —
RestController — Spring MVC annotation to tag a class as restful service
— Spring MVC annotation to tag a class as restful service PostMapping , GetMapping , PutMapping , DeleteMapping are the Spring MVC annotations to represent REST operations — POST, GET, PUT, and DELETE.
We are using basic storage based on HashMap to store and read the product definitions.
private static Map<String,Product> productCatalog = new HashMap<>();
In the code above, we are referring to another class, implemented through Product.java , which represents the data entity for products.
public class Product {
private String id;
private String title;
private String desc;
private String imagePath;
private double unitPrice;
}
Running and Accessing Service
Now we are ready to run our first Microservice based on Spring Boot. Run the following maven command and access the restful service at http://localhost:8080.
mvn spring-boot:run
This command has started the embedded tomcat server at port 8080 and deployed our web-based service (Application) on top of it. All the magic has happened behind the scene. The embedded web server makes it possible to deploy our web-based services anywhere.
It’s time that you create some sample product definitions and play around with the service APIs. You can use API tools like Postman to create and execute the HTTP requests. Here are the illustrative inputs for our service APIs.
Create Product API
Endpoint: http://localhost:8080/product (POST)
Request Body:
{
“id”: “test-product-1”,
“title”: “test product 1”,
“desc”: “test product 1”,
“imagePath”: “gc://image-path”,
“unitPrice”: 10.0
}
Get Product API
Endpoint: http://localhost:8080/product/test-product-1 (GET)
Get Product List API
Endpoint: http://localhost:8080/product (GET)
Update Product API
Endpoint: http://localhost:8080/product (PUT)
{
“id”: “test-product-1”,
“title”: “test product 1 updated”,
“desc”: “test product 1 updated”,
“imagePath”: “gc://image-path”,
“unitPrice”: 10.0
}
Delete Product API
Endpoint: http://localhost:8080/product/test-product-id (DELETE)
Testing First MicroService
Overview
In this section, we will test our first microservice with the tools provided by Spring Boot. We will build the integration tests to test our service APIs, end to end. With Spring Boot we can perform the integration tests without deploying the service to any external infrastructure. This gives immense power to validate the end to end functionality without worrying about the deployment platforms.
If you look at the service’s pom.xml you will find “spring-boot-starter-test” as one of the dependencies. This package automatically gets the well-adopted utility libraries including — Junit, Mockito, Spring-test, Assertj, Hamcrest, JSONassert & JsonPath. We will be using some of these APIs to enable integration tests for us.
Developing Tests
Here is the test class — ProductCatalogApplicationTests.java which carries our sample test cases. Each of the test cases maps to the APIs implemented in the Product Catalog Service.
We are using @SpringBootTest annotation, which does many things behind the scenes. It initializes the context loader and automatically searches for the Spring Boot configuration. It loads a web ApplicationContext and provides a mock web environment. This annotation also provides advanced options to initialize other web environments including the real-time web server.
As we are interested in testing our web endpoints, we are also using @AutoConfigureMockMvc . This enables us to do mock-based testing of our restful service. In our case, we are using Spring MVC to implement our restful APIs. @AutoConfigureMockMvc automatically configures the MVC-based application context. If you have only Spring WebFlux, it will detect that and configure a WebFlux-based application context instead.
We also used optional @TestMethodOrder and @Order annotations to ensure APIs are tested in order. We can test the “get product details” API only when an order is created through the “create product” API.
With the sample tests, we are able to validate
Create Product API (API returns a successful response) Get Product API (API returns a successful response, API returns correct product definition ) Get Product List API (API returns a successful response, API returns the correct list of product definitions ) Update Product API (API returns a successful response) Delete Product API (API returns a successful response)
Running these tests is as easy as running a Maven or Gradle command. In our example, we are using Maven as our build tool. We can run these integration tests with the following command.
mvn test
As the tests can be run through the build tool( mvn ), we can easily include them in our build process and speed up our deployments.
SpringBoot provides multiple options to enrich the testing experience. This includes providing “multiple web environments”, “mocking” and “auto-configuration” for JSON, Spring MVC, Spring Data, etc.
Deploying first microservice
Earlier we did a local run of our service with the maven command ( mvn spring-boot:run ). This approach is useful for development purposes only. Production environments do not have the build or development tools. To run our service in such an environment, we need to follow a different approach.
If you use the Maven build ( mvn install ) command, this will generate an executable jar file. This jar includes the embedded web server as well as all the other dependencies, required to run the service. You can run our microservice without any build tool, setup, or web server. You can directly execute the following command.
java -jar target/product_catalog-0.0.1.jar
With the help of this command, you can run the service in any environment, be it a Physical Machine, Virtual Machine, Docker Container, or the Cloud Platform. The most popular deployment platforms for Spring Boot based services include Docker, Kubernetes, and Cloud platforms.
Spring Boot also provides options to “production ready” features, such as health, auditing, and metric REST or JMX end-points, based on the spring-boot-actuator module.
Summary
I captured the bare minimum to develop, test, and deploy our very first Microservice. To explore more on Spring Boot Microservices, check out my exercise-driven series. | https://medium.com/swlh/spring-boot-developing-first-microservice-fbe6d8be9f | ['Lal Verma'] | 2020-12-14 06:40:41.747000+00:00 | ['Spring Boot', 'Microservices', 'Software Engineering', 'Java'] |
How Onlyfans Is Ushering the Creator Economy into a Prosperous New Era | If I told you that Starbucks and OnlyFans hold a lot in common, there’s a fair chance you would look at me like I was crazy.
Yet both companies completely revolutionized their respective industries — coffee and pornography — and altered entire economies. Starbucks pioneered American coffee culture, providing personalized premium beverages within beautifully designed lounges which became the world’s second home office. OnlyFans developed a platform that transformed the pornography star from employee to business owner by offering paywalled subscriptions to its creators.
OnlyFans rose to stardom for similar reasons to Starbucks. Yet OnlyFans stands to make an even deeper impact within our culture — financially, economically, and socially — than Starbucks, because it has provided a necessary building block to bolster the creator economy.
In fact, I’d bet that in a few years we’ll look back and think to ourselves, “Can you believe OnlyFans was originally just for porn?”
We’ll see estheticians, authors, motivational speakers, botanists, bakers, and everything in between utilizing the platform.
Content creators had been asking for a platform like OnlyFans for a long time, hacking old social media platforms to provide them the tools that OnlyFans now officially provides.
Now, OnlyFans continues to pave the way for the future of work, allowing creators to take control of their content. And with such autonomy, these creators are opening the floodgates to an entirely new economy and changing the meaning of having a career.
The rise of OnlyFans
Every day, more than 115 million users virtually flock to Pornhub to get their fix, free of charge.
In other words, porn is free.
So why do people pay for pornography on OnlyFans?
This is where we compare the reasons for Starbucks ' rise to popularity to OnlyFans’ to understand the power of offering a premium, personalized product.
Coffee then and now
Back in the 1970s, there was no option to order a caramel-mocha frappuccino with whip cream and skim milk. In fact, most commercially available coffee was just instant coffee which had been freeze-dried and would contain bitter robusta coffee beans (as compared to the higher-quality arabica coffee beans we use today).
Long story short: it was cheap, low-quality stuff.
Fast-forward to today, and consumers now spend tens of billions of dollars on coffee every year.
This surge in popularity has partially to do with laws and agreements which allowed for the export of Brazilian coffee beans in the late 1980s, but Starbucks founder Howard Schulz played a major part in the coffee renaissance.
In 1982, Schulze was hired to act as the director of retail operation and marketing at Starbucks. About a year later, he jetted off to Milan and was introduced to the world of leisure cafés, and was completely blown away by these stores which not only served high-end, treasured beverages but also had dedicated customers.
Baristas would have vivacious, full personalities. They would take the time to ask customers about their children. Oftentimes, they’d know their customer's orders by heart, facilitating a truly seamless and personable interaction.
Schultz was completely enamored by what Italian cafés had created, and he decided to take this concept to Starbucks. Upon his return, he stressed the emphasis on the creation and presentation of the beverage. Starbucks underwent a complete makeover to transform the stores into an inviting, luxurious buying environment.
Each barista’s job requirements shifted to prioritize personalization and connection. In fact, if you look at a Starbucks Barista application, it says, “deliver legendary customer service…and connecting with the customer.”
It makes sense now why the barista asks for your name after ordering, doesn’t it?
Different products, same framework
We can agree on the same thing: Starbucks is expensive.
Is it the best coffee you’ve ever had? Probably not. Yet we flock in droves to Starbuck’s moody brown lounges, idly standing in line while listening to refined jazz humming softly in the background. We order mindlessly, having memorized our order over the years, and then take a deep sip of our drinks that barely justifies the ridiculously high price point.
Starbucks moody brown lounges are America’s second work office and living room (Via RR_arbrot on Unsplash)
We enjoy the familiarity and find solace in a product that’s nicely presented. We’re willing to pay more for a “better” product.
Porn is the same thing.
Yes, you can get pornography for free thanks to behemoths like Pornhub and Bellesa. Yet, it’s been proven that people are willing to pay more for a premium product. In this case, sex actors providing quality content that truly suits a customer's needs and fulfills their desires.
You see, people were already willingly paying for pornography long before OnlyFans came to fruition. They were just doing so ‘unofficially.’ And OnlyFans provided a brilliant solution that sex actors and content creators were already asking for.
Making it ‘official’
Before OnlyFans arrived on the scene, content creators were hacking their own ways to create a metered paywall. We first saw this with premium Snapchat accounts, where popular pornstars would advertise their “private Snapchat.” If you were willing to pay, you could get access to their (explicit) Snaps.
This then materialized itself once Instagram copied Snapchat’s Stories model and eventually launched the ‘Close Friends’ feature. Once payment was processed, they’d be included in a user’s circle and could watch exclusive content that was unavailable to the general public.
This unofficial guarded metered paywall gave porn stars their first taste of autonomy as they had full control of what they wanted to post for that day. Gone were the days of being on a set all day long, being paid a sliver of their earnings while heeding to a director’s orders.
Now they were the ones who had control.
However, Instagram and Snapchat aren’t made for pornography. These private corners of the internet would be continuously shut down by moderators, leaving pornography actors increasingly frustrated as they would have to build their audience anew.
OnlyFans was silently watching this unfold and came up with a solution for the frustrated content creator that would revolutionize the future of the creator ecosystem.
The ultimate platform for modern-day content creators
When operating behind a metered paywall, both creators and consumers win.
With the middleman now dismissed, the creator can stand to make a lot more cash. This possibility for a larger income — paired with a sense of autonomy — invigorates the creator to produce extremely high-quality content that’ll appease their viewers.
Anyone can be an influencer
OnlyFans also allowed for the democratization of the playing field by allowing anyone to become a creator on their platform.
If these creators can gather a distinct audience that they actively engage with and end up influencing their purchasing decisions, they technically become “an influencer.”
Gone are the days where “influencers” were roles exclusively reserved for the uber-rich celebrities where they’d promote skinny tea detox solutions while tucked away in Malibu mansions. Now, anyone can become an influencer if they forge direct and authentic connections within their niche communities.
These “micro-influencers” (1,000–10,000) followers often report having much higher rates of engagement due to catering to more specific, narrower audiences. In such, they end up housing “true fans,” which is someone who benefits from their content so much that they willingly pay for their creations.
According to Kevin Kelly’s highly referenced essay 1,000 Fans, it only takes around 1,000 of these true fans who are willing to pay you $100 bucks to make a pretty decent living (we’re talking six figures). Kelly believes that if creators embrace their online networks, they could get paid directly from their superfans.
This would consequently eliminate the need for traditional gatekeepers and middlemen who usually take a decent chunk out of the creator’s labor. Right now, OnlyFans takes a 20% cut from a creator's income stream.
The unfair advantage
For every company, their “unfair advantage” is the biggest asset in being able to differentiate themselves from the competition. An “unfair advantage” cannot be easily copied or purchased by competitors and acts as a moat around your company, harboring it from sabotage and allowing it to remain unmatched.
OnlyFans’ has an exceptionally unfair advantage: their lax censorship policies.
Having the ability to post uncensored content and being able to monetize that content wasn’t something that was readily available until OnlyFans arrived to the scene.
Because OnlyFans was built to accommodate uncensored content, they made sure their safety regulations were up to par.
OnlyFans was built with security in mind, allowing pornographic content to flourish as creators were reassured that their content was secure, watermarked, and valued. This security encourages creators to post without fear of their content being wrongly distributed or having to deal with copyright infringement.
Not only this but being able to post content with much lower barriers to entry is a huge advantage for creators.
Having the ability to post uncensored content and being able to monetize that content wasn’t something that was readily available until OnlyFans arrived to the scene.
Esthetician Hadiyah Daché is one of these creators who’s taking advantage of OnlyFan’s model by posting content that would usually get her banned ASAP.
Daché makes a living providing waxing and sugaring services from her beauty studio in the San Francisco Bay Area. A usual day for her would include waxing someone’s bikini lines before finishing it off with a happy trail trim. Daché recently joined OnlyFans to promote her services and educate viewers by creating videos that demonstrate the waxing and sugaring process.
The content isn’t inherently sexual. But because it features genitalia, content like Dachés would get immediately censored if shown on any other social platform.
Daché isn’t used to this newfound freedom but is already playing around with how to promote her business and is planning to create “a mix of tutorials for other estheticians and voyeuristic/ASMR content for intimate services like Brazilian waxing/sugaring.”
And it’s not just the beauty industry which could profit from these breezy censorship guidelines. Consider the medical field, which wouldn’t be able to post a video of an OBGYN changing a women’s Mirena IUD or performing a colonoscopy. Sex toy companies who could use OnlyFans’ to promote their product in detail and showcase their effectiveness. Morticians breaking down the embalming of a human body.
There’s an infinite amount of content that could be newly released to the platform and continue to educate viewers in new ways as they’ve never experienced before.
Other Perks
OnlyFans’ doesn’t have a completely revolutionary platform per se. The company Patreon, for instance, was built for the creator in mind after its founder Jack Conte received a measly $400 payout from a Youtube video which racked up millions of views.
He realized there had to be a better way for a creator to be compensated for their efforts. And in 2013, Patreon was born.
Patreon is one of OnlyFans’ direct competitors yet the two have their marking differences. What OnlyFans does well in comparison to Patreon is:
Charges subscribers on the 30th day of their subscription, regardless of the day they signed up, while Patreon automatically charges the first day someone subscribes. Allows for creators to run promotional sales, discounts, and bulk buys which is helpful for acquiring new subscribers. Lets subscribers decide if they want to be a recurring subscriber, whereas Patreon automatically assumes the subscription is recurring, meaning it saves the creator the hassle of having to handle its fanbase.
However, OnlyFans definitely over-performs the mega-platforms like Youtube and Instagram in terms of allowing creators to monetize their fans.
Creators are already suffering in the hands of Youtube. The creator F*ckonomics who introduced this brilliant analogy between porn and coffee had her video demonetized shortly after it was posted (apparently, for showing too much cleavage). Seriously. Other videos are subject to demonetization for cleavage slip-ups or cursing aloud.
And even if a creator’s Youtube video isn’t demonetized, placing six advertisements in a 20 minute-long video is taxing. Every single time an ad pops up, it subconsciously nudges the viewer to ask themselves, “why am I still here? Do I care?” If the answer is “meh, I’d rather be on TikTok,” they’re out in a heartbeat.
Attention span is waning. Having to force potential fans to sit through advertisements doesn’t make it easy for creators who post on Youtube. Not to mention, the Instagram algorithm is challenging as well. It’s changed to favor celebrities, sponsorships, and advertisements. Creators have noticed.
OnlyFan’s Future is Already Materializing
OnlyFans is continuing to pave the path for the creator ecosystem. It is also serving as inspiration for other startups who seek to also allow creators to directly monetize from their audience.
Take the ironically named OnlyTweets, a spin-off from OnlyFans that aims to let top Twitter users monetize off their tweets. OnlyTweets provides separate, locked Twitter accounts only accessible to users who are willing to pay.
Even the branding of OnlyTweets seeks to mirror that of OnlyFans
This is an exceptionally interesting idea as OnlyTweets is trying to ensure seamlessness between the two platforms.
For instance, every time a Twitter creator says, “click this link to join my Patreon,” they are nudging the viewer to a different platform. This leap can be a transition that many users are simply too lazy to bother with. OnlyTweets seeks to make the process harmonious and uninterrupted.
Creators are also leaning towards Substack, OnlyFans literary cousin. A platform built for independent writers, creators can start building and nurturing their audience by publishing free newsletters. If they’d like, writers can put certain newsletters behind a paywall, giving them more autonomy over their own email list.
Not to mention, Substack also allows for relatively uncensored content, a win for audacious journalists.
OnlyFans and Substack share a similar unfair advantage: uncensored content
Granted, OnlyFans isn’t without its own challenges.
A 20% pay cut is still pretty significant and can be difficult for a creator to swallow. Plus, OnlyFans has a pretty shaky money withdrawal system that works on a rolling basis of eight days. OnlyFan’s competitor, Patreon, allows for creators to take out and transfer their payments anytime. This convenience is huge for creators who oftentimes would like to receive their funds immediately.
And most glaringly, OnlyFans has a heavy stigma enshrouded around itself. It’s associated exclusively with pornography and content of an overtly sexual nature. No doubt, it would be difficult for a botanist to say, “Come check me out on OnlyFans!” without their audience thinking that they’ve suddenly converted to creating sexual content somehow incorporating bonsai trees.
Definitely, the mental block that would allow us to associate OnlyFans with holistic, wholesome content rather than exclusively pornographic would be a difficult one to budge. However, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
Think about Uber which started off as a tiny company dedicated exclusively to providing expensive black car services in San Francisco. Now, Uber is synonymous with the transportation industry as a whole.
If OnlyFans is successful at facilitating the transition between porn stars, to OBGYNs, to estheticians, to botanists (so on and so forth), they could create the foundation of the creator ecosystem. It would become a home for the modern-day creator who makes a living off of their creations.
It’s a rosy world up ahead. Content creators being able to make a living creating the content they actually want for viewers who genuinely want to buy it? We’re all for it.
Does this mean you should create an OnlyFans account and start making money from your passion?
As concluded at the end of F*ckonomics video, “that’s entirely possible.” | https://medium.com/swlh/how-onlyfans-is-ushering-the-creator-economy-into-a-prosperous-new-era-296dda7fad9d | ['Alice Lemée'] | 2020-11-03 12:02:58.964000+00:00 | ['Social Media', 'Onlyfans', 'Future Of Work', 'Digital Life', 'Technology'] |
Navigating the WFH Waters: Parenthood Edition | Navigating the WFH Waters: Parenthood Edition
Is WFH really all hunky-dory? Beneath the sheen of convenience & flexibility, we uncover inspiring stories of resilience & unsaid hardships. Pamela Chan Follow Feb 17 · 5 min read
Meet Hapsari Muthi Amira — or Happy for short. She’s our Head of Data and Business Intelligence for GoPlay.
Happy lives with her husband and homeschooling toddler in Jakarta, Indonesia. With Gojek’s Indonesia offices closed for the next few months, she shares her experience balancing work and parenthood responsibilities under the same roof. 💻 🏠
Teamwork makes the dream work 🤝
“We don’t want screens to take care of our toddler instead of us.”
Like a tag-team, Happy coordinates with her husband to take turns looking after their toddler. “We know the first six years [of a child’s life] really matter to brain and body development,” she explains.
Happy’s son, Elrond, with all his books!
They conducted several iterations of staggered shifts, factoring in their meetings and heavy work natures with household and childcare responsibilities. Once the foundation was set, they blocked their work calendars to let their colleagues know of their unavailability — slots that are specifically allocated for non-work tasks.
“It’s important to clearly set expectations to key stakeholders early on,” Happy says, “I’m not hiding the fact that I’m parenting. When these stakeholders approve, other people will do the same.”
If she experiences any push back, you best believe Happy will stand her ground. 💪
While reading a book about a snail and a whale who venture around the world, Happy uses a globe to introduce her son to the various places the characters travel to.
Schedules aren’t just for work 🗓
“The system doesn’t have to be ideal, but procedural/sequential enough.”
Take a peek at Happy’s Homeschool Yearly Planner
Along with adjusting her work schedule, Happy has established a well-oiled system for her non-work tasks, including meal prep, online grocery shopping, toy & book rotations, homeschooling reviews, and activity planning. With these two interlocking schedules, Happy is able to deepen and separate the boundary between work and home responsibilities.
“No matter how boring or tiring, [these tasks] need to be done as it’ll affect your work/home time if they aren’t completed.”
Know thy limits and adapt 🚧
“I’m able to set expectations and adapt accordingly.”
With her introverted personality (she scored “90% introvert” on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test), Happy finds her managerial duties and constant meetings a challenge at times. Recognizing that most of her big, more intensive meetings occur from Monday to Wednesday, she schedules her 1-on-1 meetings on Thursdays. Organizing her schedule in this order helps her understand the nature of her meetings for the day ahead, and position herself mentally as each day begins.
Balance is something you create ⚖️
“If you rest, you can work much better.”
Actively participating in hobby groups and fun discussions helps Happy stay sane. During team Zoom calls, she allocates time to catch up on non-work-related happenings with her colleagues.
“Sometimes, it’s just about new shows that are airing… it kinda gives the vibe that we’re working while chatting. Work feels so much more manageable that way.”
On a more personal front, Happy and her husband would have several date nights a week pre-COVID — a task that’s proven difficult since working from home. They make it a point to have at least an hour of uninterrupted “couple time” each day, where they’ll talk about anything not related to work, big decisions, or urgent matters.
Do less with more focus 🎯
“I always try to be present in any of the small things that I do.”
Naturally, being the Head of Data and Business Intelligence for GoPlay comes with substantial responsibility. At times, Happy feels pressured to work odd hours to finish all of her tasks.
This pressure comes to a head when she notices how mindless she becomes whilst doing household or parenting chores, “Sometimes I don’t even remember if I’ve done the entire bath sequence for my child.”
Exercising mental discipline, she’ll remind herself to focus only on the task at hand, and not on the thoughts fighting to the top of her conscience.
The reality of it all 🔬
With all that said, Happy stresses that while she may have her system down, not all days are ideal: when she or her husband falls ill, when a whole slew of time-sensitive work suddenly gets piled on her desk after hours, or when she’ll have to sacrifice some of her sleep time to get things done. 😑
“Sometimes, I have meetings when I should be watching my son,” she explains, “He ends up having to sit with me. I’ll show my video on our Zoom calls so that people know I’m tending to my child, which may cause a delay in response.”
These scenarios reiterate the blatant truth that some things are simply out of our control. And that’s part and parcel of life. “I tell myself that, ultimately, it’s my choice how I use my time. Changing my mindset helps to remind me that I’m in charge and not be pushed by work.”
While we can’t predict what life will throw at us, like Happy, we can better prepare ourselves to deal with what may unfold. Thank you for being an inspiration, Happy. 💚
To read more GoTroop stories, click here. To join us, check out the open positions. | https://medium.com/gojekengineering/navigating-the-wfh-waters-parenthood-edition-585c0c6eefec | ['Pamela Chan'] | 2021-02-17 06:01:58.740000+00:00 | ['Parenthood', 'Women In Tech', 'WFH', 'Work From Home', 'Culture'] |
This is Service Design (Remotely) Doing | In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit India. The very next month, I began working with a public health organisation Noora Health.
If you’re a Service Designer or if you’re familiar with the field, you’ll know that it is highly collaborative and co-creative. As the pandemic struck, we were thrown into the deep end and had to change overnight, having to rapidly find remote ways of doing what we usually did. For example, we couldn’t do simple things that we relied on like writing on and then sticking paper post-its on walls while facilitating multiple live conversations!
It’s been over a year. I’ve worked collaboratively with other internal and external stakeholders to conduct design research, design new service models, improve existing services, design the experiences of individual touchpoints within a larger service, run rapid experiments to test out prototypes and pilots and what not!
It’s been hard, but we’ve been learning and adapting.
As the third wave slowly creeps upon us, here’s a gist of what I learnt while being a remote Service Designer. Hopefully, it will help some of you with tools and methods, and maybe give the rest of you the feeling that there’s some hope in the world to do good work even when you’re sitting at home in front of a Zoom video call in PJ bottoms and a work shirt.
1. Remote Research
How does a human-centred Service Designer learn anything about their users remotely? We interviewed people on phone calls and video calls, and sent them surveys. Naturally, understanding body language was impossible, so we had to rely on what people said, and their voices. How did they sound? Sure, or unsure? Happy or sad? Wait a minute. Was that the sound of someone’s voice shaking like they’re about to cry?
When video calls were possible, we paid attention to facial expressions as long as the quality of the video was decent. Guaranteed, it is difficult to dig deep with remote design research, but it is possible to learn quickly, and it helps service designers make more informed design decisions.
Listen and learn.
2. To Mural, or not to Mural?
I am grateful everyday for Mural, and I know a few other people who are too. Mural allows me to think in colourful digital post-its, using arrows and icons to draw out user journeys, make service maps and blueprints, spotting pain points and ‘wow’ moments alike. It’s the closest thing to what we as service designers did pre-pandemic.
But for most other stakeholders I was working with, it was a real difficulty at first. Visualising journeys, maps and blueprints in ways that people can understand them has been the absolute need of the hour throughout my journey as a remote service designer. Writing on paper post-its with markers and sharpies while other people are seeing you do it in person is one thing, but it is much harder to hold someone’s attention on a digital platform like Mural even if you’re sharing your screen. Many people I needed to collaborate with wouldn’t understand Murals if they were shared after completion either. They wouldn’t know where to look or what to do. So while one solution was to train people on Mural (something we eventually began to do organically, and it has helped), the other, quicker solution was to just copy paste! Some of us found it easier to think on Mural, so after we were done our thinking, we would copy relevant content from our digital post-its to Google Sheets and Docs and sometimes Slides too. Visualisation for collaboration has to be contextual for the people who will consume it — make it easy for them to understand, and only show them what they need to see! It is double work to create multiple versions of the same thing, but in the end, it’s much quicker than training if you want more people to collaborate faster.
Just copy, and paste.
3. Experiments for the win!
How will you really know what works remotely unless you try? So we tried. And we keep trying. Apart from user-facing experiments, we also ran multiple experiments internally as well.
A good example of the same was when we conducted an on-the-spot role-play on Zoom. Role-playing is a great way to prototype services, and they’re usually done with optimum eye contact, name tags and cardboard cutouts. Remotely, all we had was a scenario on a slide and some of our faces (depending on whose internet was working that day, of course), but this helped us focus on the words that were being said — the conversation. The remote role-play provided us with insights that would have been different from an in-person one, I think, but they were useful nevertheless.
Run ALL kinds of experiments!
4. Zoom in, zoom out, document. Repeat.
Zooming in and out of a service model, journey or blueprint is a rule of thumb for Service Design, but it is challenging to do this remotely. In-person, the service designer can easily reach out to people working on various touchpoints, artefacts and channels that form a service. Usually, everyone is in the same room or building at the very least, and peeking into someone’s laptop (with permission, of course) or hijacking a meeting (again, with permission) is relatively easy. Remotely, I have had to find people on Slack, reach out to them within virtual meetings and set up calendar invites with individuals and smaller teams just to track the status of and understand how they’re thinking about various touchpoints. This is where documentation comes in. While this is great practice for in-person service design (or anything else, really) as well, it is particularly useful for when you’re zooming in and out of a service remotely.
Reach out to people as mentioned above to zoom in, put it all together in a blueprint / map to zoom out, and then document everything you heard and did. Definitely repeat.
Maybe it’s time you call Bezos to get that view from the spaceship.
5. Making Decisions
As mentioned earlier, Service Designer is hugely collaborative and one definition of ‘collaboration’ says, “(it is) the act of working together with other people or organisations to create or achieve something”. Remotely, this basically means a lifetime of calls. While Slack, Zoom, Gmeet, Teams, WhatsApp and even Mural either adapted quickly to make way for audio and video calls or had already preempted the need, it is simply exhausting to be on calls all day. And honestly, how many calls do we attend that are actually useful? While doing service design remotely, one of my biggest learnings was that collaboration is only useful if (a) the collaborative session is planned ahead, and (b) someone decides to be the decision-maker and makes final decisions after hearing everyone else out. This is probably true for non-remote situations too, but absolutely imperative for remote ones. If you’re leading the service innovation process, make the decisions.
Ok some people might. But it’s OK!
6. Communicate, don’t just Slack
I first learnt and then participated in creating a culture that has begun to use Slack fruitfully. We try to name channels better, copy paste Google Drive folder links under “channel topic”, describe the channel as needed, use threads for conversations around specific topics, and pin necessary things of course! This is great and every team or organisation should create their own Slack etiquette, but we can’t rely on it. There are many internal stakeholders in the organisation I work for who do not understand and use Slack the way we want them to. And no amount of training really helps — they just work differently! So what’s the solution(s)?
Having to DM people outside of Slack channels repeatedly can be painful, but it helps.
Regular check-in calls for projects work as long as someone always has an agenda.
Slack reminders help me remember when to communicate with who and about what. Also, scheduling messages in advance is my new favourite thing to do.
My last resort is picking up the phone and calling individuals directly… because with the kind of collaboration service design expects, we’ll all be calling people 24x7.
What she said.
7. Don’t forget to connect!!
Especially when you’re new to an organisation (like I was in April 2020), it is incredibly important to connect with people, even if you are remote. And work-related, pre-planned Zoom meetings just don’t cut it. Find (virtual) time to talk about non-work stuff too. They’ve got to eventually trust you to collaborate, communicate and visualise as needed. And then believe in you to make good, practical, creative decisions. So, connect!
Sigh. We all do, don’t we?
Well, that’s all, folks!
How have you done Service Design remotely? | https://medium.com/noora-health/this-is-service-design-remotely-doing-a74eac25d636 | ['Nupoor Rajkumar'] | 2021-08-23 10:34:24.812000+00:00 | ['Service Design Thinking', 'Remote Working', 'Service Design Tips', 'Human Centred Design', 'Service Design'] |
Globalization and the erosion of geo-ethnic checkpoints | Understanding the ecology of complex adaptive systems, such as organisms, societies, and languages, poses many challenges. Dr Chris Girard, Associate Professor of Sociology with the Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies at Florida International University, has developed an evolutionary model, known as coevolving informatics, that offers a transdisciplinary approach to understanding complex adaptive systems. Coevolving informatics employs complexity and evolutionary theories to examine the processing of information within systems and demonstrates how racial and ethnic signals can coevolve with society’s geospatial dynamics.
Understanding the ecology of complex adaptive systems, such as organisms, societies, and languages, poses many challenges. A thorough understanding of all of the individual components necessitates an understanding of the system as a whole, given that the whole system is more than the sum of its parts. Dr Chris Girard, Associate Professor of Sociology with the Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies at Florida International University, has developed an evolutionary model: coevolving informatics. This paradigm offers a transdisciplinary approach to understanding complex adaptive systems. Throughout this research, Dr Girard adopts an informatics perspective, employing complexity and evolutionary theories to examine the processing of information within natural and artificial systems.
Three coevolving dimensions
Dr Girard explains how complex adaptive systems are made up of three coevolving dimensions: spatial boundaries, thermodynamic-economic specialisation, and signal processing, which are central to major transitions in evolution.
Spatial boundaries
When a system becomes more complex, its spatial boundaries are realigned. These systems undergo extensive growth, increasing their size, or the number of component parts, which in turn increases the system’s complexity. Consequently, the system’s spatial boundaries go through an intensive process of realignment, resulting in the system boundaries becoming more open or porous.
Thermoeconomics
In line with thermodynamic-economics specialisation, when a system’s complexity increases so does the exchange of resources required in order for the system to grow and reproduce. Initially, during the extensive phase, these exchanges tend to be vertical, or hierarchical. Later, the system moves into the intensive phase and these exchanges become progressively more horizontal.
Signal processing
When entities interact with each other they produce new information, or signals, increasing the system’s total information. The system’s signal processing facilitates its adaptation to a changing environment. Dr Girard comments: “Indeed, major evolutionary transitions in complex adaptive systems are based on new ways of storing, transmitting and processing information. Most significantly, this transformation allows information processing to become more independent from physical location.”
Cybernetic parallelism
The uncoupling of signal processing and physical locations allows for more location-free signal topology. Computer science has shown that this enhances the ability to adapt to new situations with spatially independent coevolving competitors learning from each other’s developments. Dr Girard refers to this feature of signal processing as ‘cybernetic parallelism’ as it allows numerous simultaneous entities to be processed in parallel, and describes how independent agents, such as scientists, organisms and immune systems, learn from their mutual exchange of information. Furthermore, this free exchange of ideas enhances the independence and creativity in a system’s adaptive process.
This learning process is the foundation for successful ecological adaptation, but it is also constrained by path dependency and probability, since learning relies on how things have been done previously and is somewhat built on trial-and-error. Charles Darwin recognised this in his principles of descent and divergence, when he recorded that different adaptations are capable of existing simultaneously.
Coevolving informatics provides a digital-age view of the forces propelling racial-ethnic hierarchies infused with racism, nativism, and ethnocentrism.
Entropic disorganisation
Dr Girard draws attention to how a system’s adaptive responses may neglect to address pollution and environmental damage. This can result in environmental chaos or entropy debt, such as global warming, causing the collapse of an entire system. Racial-ethnic barriers can also incur system-taxing entropic debt resulting from costly boundary conflict. The collapse of colonial empires after World War II is a prime example of this entropic disorder.
Coevolving informatics
Taking the three coevolving dimensions together with his concept of cybernetic parallelism, Dr Girard has developed ‘coevolving informatics’, a model that “provides a digital-age view of the forces propelling racial-ethnic hierarchies infused with racism, nativism, and ethnocentrism.” He explains how racial and ethnic signals can coevolve with society’s geospatial dynamics. The signals carry information about the system dynamics and are only able to draw meaning from the systems that process them. The hierarchies are embedded in spatial challenges over scarce resources during a system’s extensive growth period. These resources, which are essential for a system’s growth and reproduction, are situated within spatially bounded sites, such as land or human bodies. Coevolving informatics links the construction of racial-ethnic boundaries to zero-sum contests over fixed-site resources. Such contests were integral to the unequal ecological exchanges of resources, such as sugar and cotton, during colonialism.
Spatial boundaries limit resources, so as social systems coevolve there are winners and losers in the zero-sum contest of resource extraction.
Signal processing complexity
In the context of this research, signal processing controls whether racial-ethnic groups pass through geospatial checkpoints in socially bounded domains such as workspaces, neighbourhoods and countries. The central motivation is evolving signal-processing complexity that realigns global geospatial barriers. With his focus on evolving complexity in signal-boundary systems, Dr Girard puts forward two interconnected proposals. Firstly, if rivalrous resources cannot be separated from their specific geophysical location, as with fixed-site resources, zero-sum contests ensue for control of this location and its resources. If a particular ethnic group is consistently denied full spatial access to the location and its resources, the group is subject to racialisation. This proposition imbeds racial-ethnic signals in socio-ecological systems enclosed within geophysical boundaries. Secondly, during the post-industrial era, racialised cleavages will be diminished by the coevolution of signal-processing complexity and non-territorial system adaptation. This proposition suggests that barriers entrenched by their geophysical location, such as racial-ethnic barriers, can be penetrated or realigned by a society’s signal-processing complexity.
Cybernetic parallelism has generated epistemic and geopolitical challenges to formal apartheid and racialising immigration policies, but not without friction or reversals.
Spatial partitioning
Spatial boundaries limit resources, so as social systems coevolve there are winners and losers in the zero-sum contest of resource extraction. This leads to the extensive phase with the vertical exchange of resources demanding the costly use of force e.g. European firepower enabling the conquest of ethnically distinct landscapes in order to acquire tropical resources. This results in racialisation because such spatial segregation restricts the inhabitants’ decision-making independence, mobility, and access to resources located within these captured landscapes. Dr Girard describes how “spatial partitioning has been integral to enslavement, policing, and incarceration of racialised populations.”
Post-industrial erosion
Information processing becomes more independent from physical location as post-industrial society undergoes intensive growth. This coevolution of signal processing complexity and non-territorial adaptation challenges racial-ethnic hierarchies and diminishes racialised cleavages so geo-ethnic boundaries erode and become more permeable. This results from both the increasing cost of resource-holding hierarchies, such as wars, policing and prisons, and a more horizontal division of labour involved in the production of knowledge. The boundary-penetrating soft power of cybernetic parallelism increases as information becomes a larger part of a system’s produced value. Cybernetic parallelism’s hierarchy-levelling power is derived from the growth of education and global expert communities, together with the growth of information and communication technologies, Nevertheless, the growth of digital-age entropy debt, or entropic disorganisation, is still apparent in displaced heartland communities and global warming. Dr Girard observes that “this generates costly boundary clashes over local cultural sovereignty and material resources, reinforcing traditional ethnic hierarchies.”
Dr Girard’s ‘coevolving informatics’ model “provides a digital-age view of the forces propelling racial-ethnic hierarchies infused with racism, nativism, and ethnocentrism.”
Conclusion
Within complex adaptive systems, signal and physical topologies are becoming more distinct. Cybernetic parallelism drives this uncoupling with independent agents learning from their mutual exchange of information. Dr Girard explains that from a coevolving informatics perspective, the progressive detachment of society from geophysical location does not bring about greater independence from the surrounding ecological system. Contrarily, this separation calls for more innovative, information-driven social adaptations, necessitating the crossing of boundaries in order to acquire suitable resources from separated networks. Moreover, it “promotes cybernetic parallelism: increasingly interactive, independent power centres enabling multi-ethnic globalism.”
While racial-ethnic barriers have been reduced through cybernetic parallelism and racial-ethnic hierarchies levelled, the current turf-defending nativist resurgence could reinforce geo-ethnic boundaries and provoke more ‘racially’ contentious, authoritarian governance. It is unclear what course this unfolding chaos will take as, in accordance with the fundamental conjecture of coevolving informatics, not all signal-boundary systems will successfully adapt. Dr Girard concludes that “cybernetic parallelism has generated epistemic and geopolitical challenges to formal apartheid and racialising immigration policies, but not without friction or reversals.”
Personal Response
Given your research into coevolving informatics, what would be your advice to social policy makers wanting to avoid entropic debt?
From the standpoint of coevolving informatics, reducing entropic debt requires financing and otherwise promoting global epistemic (expert) communities and multi-ethnic global citizenship. Full citizenship requires dismantling spatial segregation of racial-ethnic groups with regard to residence and workspaces. This will reverse rising entropic debt from policing, mass incarceration, and border enforcement. Full citizenship also requires more investment in human capital among disadvantaged groups regardless of geographic origin. At the same time, displaced homeland populations must be compensated for the entropic costs incurred by the information revolution, globalisation, and professionalisation. Ultimately, deracialised citizenship and global ecology are inseparably intertwined.
Article References
Girard, C. (2020). Globalization and the erosion of geo-ethnic checkpoints: evolving signal-boundary systems at the edge of chaos. Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, [online] 17, 93–109. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40844-019-00152-2 [Accessed 15th July 2020]. | https://medium.com/@researchoutreach/globalization-and-the-erosion-of-geo-ethnic-checkpoints-6edb6d156a4d | ['Research Outreach'] | 2020-12-09 20:02:20.080000+00:00 | ['Chris Girard', 'Coevolving Dimensions', 'Evolution', 'Coevolving Informatics', 'Spatial Boundaries'] |
📚Do You Remember… | 📚Do You Remember…
When I was just about murdered by books?
Illustration by Rolli
The very first thing I ever posted on Medium was a humorous essay, with drawings, called “I Was Just About Murdered by Books.”
The piece did well. It was curated by Medium in several categories, reached a wide audience, and earned some decent $.
Those days, of course, are over. Endless, unwanted, cost-cutting algorithm changes now ensure that creative writing earns nothing, and is seen and read by practically no-one.
For the sin of criticizing Medium, as well, I’ve been blacklisted from further curation.
These are grim times, indeed. I’m still happy with my first essay, though. Have a look:
Here’s to the good old days, friend.
Cheers,
Note №1
Due to Medium’s constant, baffling and unwanted algorithm changes, whose apparent purpose is to drive creative and/or intelligent people from the platform forever, this post will earn no money. If you enjoyed it, please consider buying me a coffee. More coffee=more posts for you to enjoy.
Note №2
My latest book is The Sea-Wave. You might like it. Grab a copy at your favorite independent bookstore. Or Amazon (Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Amazon UK).
Note №3
NEVER MISS A POST. Subscribe to my monthly newsletter. It’s free. | https://medium.com/pillowmint/do-you-remember-720d79a14a97 | ['Rolli', 'Https', 'Ko-Fi.Com Rolliwrites'] | 2020-12-27 04:28:51.413000+00:00 | ['Other', 'Humor', 'Medium', 'Life', 'Books'] |
What to do in Crypto Bear Markets 📉? | The crypto space is subject to massive volatility. If you have had a rough start by getting in at the peak, you could be left wondering “where lambo” ? “where moon” ?
In the meanwhile you can learn what to do in the crypto bear markets. The next rally may be a while away. I am not here to predict the market and say it’ll happen 2 days later or 2 years later. Laws can change, there will be a lot of FUD being pushed around. But we know it’s coming one way or another.
1. HODL
One strategy is just to #HODL your coin. Just forget about crypto, go take a nap or whatever, and come back when there is the next bull run. While this sounds dumb, it’s actually proven to be a very effective strategy. Let the dust settle, let the whales play out their games. As long as we don’t interact with our portfolio, we’re not subject to any loss. Loss if any will only be there if and when you decide to sell.
2. Move to POS
If you’re like me and want a shred of control over your future, you can switch from your current holdings to coins that offer Proof of Stake rewards. The idea is you join a stake pool like miners join a mining pool and you can get rewards just for holding the coins. By the time the next bull market arrives, you might have just increased the number of coins you own and that way be in much better profits. This is by no means guaranteed returns because the price of the coin you’re holding may go down also, but at the same time, it does give you control on what you want to do with your staking rewards.
Staking rewards, what are they ?
Proof of stake basically means you get some new coins just for holding some coins in your wallet. How many new coins you is proportional to how many coins you already have in your wallet. Popular currencies you can stake are BNB, ADA, CAKE, TRX. Check stakingrewards for a full list. While staking BNB, TRX is quite straightforward in trust wallet, CAKE can be more complicated. We will cover it in a future post.
Example Scenario
Suppose you stake BNB which is about 23% APR, you should be doubling the amount of coins you have in roughly 3.1 Years. That means if the next bull run is 3 years from now, you can participate with about double the amount of coins !
Let’s say 1BNB = 300$ for example sake. As i mentioned before, you now have control over how you want to spend the extra 1 BNB that you receive over the next year 3.1 years. You may choose to buy real world assets like stocks with the profits you’re making just by staking your coins, not disinvesting your crypto capital at all. Bitcoin or Doge cannot do this for you.
Hmm maybe, but not convinced yet…
Some coins like CAKE offer upto 130% APR. That means the math we did before completely changes. 130% APR will mean a doubling rate of 0.55 years, this means you double your coins twice a year. Let’s say you buy CAKE of 100$, assuming at 15USD/CAKE, that would be 6.66 CAKE. If you stake all of it, you should have 6.66 * 2 * 2 ≈ 26.6 coins by the end of the year.
So we have now made insane gains in the number of coins we hold, but how does that convert to $ value ?
If Value of CAKE remains same 🤷🏼♂️:
your portfolio value should be at 15 * 26.6 = 397$
If Value of CAKE decreases 50% — bear market 🐻📉 :
your portfolio value should be at (15 * 0.5) * 26.6 = 198.75$
If Value of CAKE increases 50% — bull market 🐂📈:
your portfolio value should be at (15 * 1.5) * 26.5 = 596$ 🚀 🌕
Convinced ?
Ok so now When is a good time to switch ?
We cover this topic in a good amount of detail in this post. Take advantage of this free tool c2cratio.com and figure out the best time to switch your current holdings to CAKE or even BNB.
Laying it all out
So as you see, you’re actually shielded decently well by market volatility simply based on the fact that the staking rewards are so high. There are risks with this approach however, CAKE is based on Binance Smart Chain and in case binance goes insolvent, your investment value will become 0. But this is unlikely to happen. CAKE can be subjected to a new form of smart contract hack / attack, and that could potentially rob you of your cake. Always do your own research before investing. But this does provide an alternate way to survive even a bear market while secretly compounding on the amount of cryptos you hold throughout the time.
The plus side is, the Extra rewards have no lock-in period and can be cashed out regularly to invest in real world assets like stocks or you may leave it in crypto space to further increase your growth. I would however advice to regularly take out profits and put them in real world assets so you don’t lose everything if a major attack does happen someday. | https://medium.com/@itsteknas/what-to-do-in-crypto-bear-markets-f418f48e4a4c | ['Sanket Berde'] | 2021-06-01 10:56:07.892000+00:00 | ['Investment', 'Trading', 'Bear Market', 'Proof Of Stake', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Automate web server configuration and reverse proxy with Ansible | Load-Balancer Automation
What is HAPROXY?
HAProxy or High Availability Proxy is used by RightScale for load balancing in the cloud.
HAProxy is installed with RightScale load balancer ServerTemplates. Load-balancer servers are also known as front-end servers. Generally, their purpose is to direct users to available application servers. A load-balancer server may have only the load balancer application (HAProxy) installed or, in rare cases, it may be an application server in addition to a load balancer, which is not a recommended configuration.
Each load-balancer server has its own public IP address (typically an Elastic IP address in the case of Amazon EC2 clouds), but shares the same fully qualified domain name (e.g. host.domain.tld) as the other load-balancer servers in your configuration.
HAProxy structure
So, What are we going to do in this task?
✨ Use Ansible playbook to Configure Reverse Proxy i.e. Haproxy and update its configuration file automatically each time a new Managed node (Configured With Apache Webserver) joins the inventory.
✨ Configure the same setup over AWS using instance over there.
Pre-requisite:
👉 You should know how to configure web servers(manually).
👉 How to configure HAProxy(manually).
So, Let’s get started…
First, On Virtual Machine
In this tutorial, We are going to use two RHEL8 images and one Ubuntu 20.04 image on Oracle Virtual Box.
All VMs that we are going to use
✔ rhel8: Control Node
✔ rhel8_cli_mn1: HAProxy Managed Node
✔ rhel8_cli_mn2: Webserver 1
✔ ubuntu: Webserver 2
Note: I could have used ubuntu as an HAProxy server but I used it for a web server for just a fun thing :) P.
yum_config.yml, we will use it in proxy-server-automation.yml for yum configuration because we are going to use two different OS and ubuntu doesn't require yum configuration so I write a whole different block for yum and it will execute if RedHat OS comes up.
- name: “Creating directory for yum config”
file:
state: directory
path: “{{ yum_dir }}”
- name: “Mount the cdrom with folder”
mount:
src: “/dev/cdrom”
path: “{{ yum_dir }}”
state: mounted
fstype: iso9660
- name: “Base URL for AppStream”
yum_repository:
baseurl: “/dvd/AppStream”
name: “dvd1”
description: “AppStream”
gpgcheck: no
- name: “Base URL for BaseOS”
yum_repository:
baseurl: “/dvd/BaseOS”
name: “dvd2”
description: “BaseOS”
gpgcheck: no
proxy-server-automation.yml
First, We’ll configure the webserver. For this task, the “Web Server configuration” task will help us. We have RedHat and Ubuntu images, So for installing any software on RedHat, the yum command must be configured first because of this I wrote the yum_config.yml playbook. The when will works as if the condition here. If RedHat OS comes up then yum will configure as won’t.
Now Installation of software. In the RedHat Linux, The software name is httpd while apache2 in Ubuntu. So, Again here when keyword helps us to do it right. Then webpages and after that starting the services in respective OS.
In this way, We can automate the web server configuration in more than one OS.
---
- name: "Web Server configuration"
hosts: webserver
vars:
- yum_dir: "/dvd"
- document_root: "/var/www/html"
- port: 80
- os_name: "{{ ansible_facts['distribution'] }}"
tasks:
- include: yum_config.yml
when: os_name == "RedHat"
- name: "Installs the httpd"
package:
name: httpd
state: present
when: os_name == "RedHat"
- name: "Installing apache2 server"
package:
name: apache2
when: os_name == "Ubuntu"
- name: "Copying html files"
copy:
dest: "{{ document_root }}/index.html"
content: "Automation with ansible!!!
IP is {{ ansible_facts['default_ipv4']['address'] }}"
- name: "Restarting httpd service"
service:
name: httpd
state: started
when: os_name == "RedHat"
- name: "Restarting httpd service"
service:
name: apache2
state: started
when: os_name == "Ubuntu"
- name: "Enables the firewall"
firewalld:
port: "{{ port }}/tcp"
state: enabled
permanent: yes
immediate: yes
when: os_name == "RedHat"
- name: "UFW - Allow HTTP"
ufw:
rule: allow
port: "{{ port }}"
proto: tcp
when: os_name == "Ubuntu"
HAProxy automation
We used RHEL8 as an HAProxy server. Again it is mandatory to configure yum the first. So, we’ll use the yum_config.yml file again and after that installed the haproxy software.
Next step, configuration of the haproxy file. To configure it, we just have to make changes in /etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg file. The haproxy.cfg.j2 has already required changes, it will take the webservers IPs from the inventory with webserver group.
- name: "Setup proxy server"
hosts: proxy
vars:
- yum_dir: "/dvd"
- port: 80
tasks:
- name: "Yum configuarion"
include: yum_config.yml
- name: "Installing haproxy software"
package:
name: haproxy
- name: "Copying haproxy"
template:
dest: /etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg
src: /root/ARTH/ansible/files/haproxy.cfg.j2
- name: "Starting haproxy service"
service:
name: haproxy
state: restarted
- name: "Installing httpd software"
package:
name: httpd
- name: "Starting httpd service"
service:
name: httpd
- name: "Enables the firewall"
firewalld:
port: "{{ port }}/tcp"
state: enabled
permanent: yes
immediate: yes
haproxy.cfg.j2 file | https://medium.com/@urvishtalaviya667/automate-web-server-configuration-and-reverse-proxy-with-ansible-3b34a57aedbc | [] | 2020-12-18 09:19:59.435000+00:00 | ['Vimal Daga', 'Arth', 'Ansible', 'Haproxy', 'Righteducation'] |
De-Commoditizing UX Design by Charging More | A commodity is a well-known good that lots of producers sell to lots of buyers for a standard price.
Wikipedia defines it as:
In economics, a commodity is an economic good that has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them
The market assumes that a commodity good from producer A is just as good as the one from producer B. Therefore, buyers tend to buy from the producer that offers the lowest price.
You must be wondering what the heck all of this has to do with UX agencies. Bear with me just a second.
UX Design is a Commodity
Suppose a skill is widely known in an industry, sold by many sellers, bought by many buyers, and standardized, i.e., taught in schools. In that case, its quality is regarded as equal regardless of who offers it.
This is the case with UX design. There are dozens of free and paid programs, certifications, and degrees one can get to become a UX designer. There’s a great demand for it, but there’s also plenty of people offering it.
Photo by v2osk on Unsplash
This puts UX design in the category of commodity. Its price will be roughly the same regardless of who sells it and will tend to be low because there’s a lot of competition.
The Problem With Low Hourly Rates
As a client, if you go on a site like Upwork and search for UX agencies, you’ll need a way to filter among the hundreds of results. So what you do? You filter by the hourly rate.
This makes UX agencies think that having a low hourly rate will make them more competitive, attract more clients, and help them make more money.
Wrong.
You can’t out-compete everyone on price, for two reasons. One is, there’s always someone willing to do it for less. Two is, you’ll end up working 80 hours a week to make ends meet.
Lowering your hourly rate will only put you on the same proverbial page of results as those willing to charge dirt-cheap prices. It’s a race to the bottom.
Yes, you might attract more clients. But they’ll be the wrong type of client looking for the cheapest option. You’ll have more work, but you’ll make less money.
How to De-Commoditize UX
As a small firm, being competitive and profitable long-term is a 3-variable problem. The variables are:
High Quality
Profitability
Low Price
You can only optimize for two out of the three variables.
If you offer high quality at a low price, eventually, you’ll burn out. Your low margins will force you to take on more work than you can sustain. It will affect your mental and physical health.
You can offer low prices, as many bottom-feeders in Upwork do, however in order to remain profitable in the long run, you will have to sacrifice quality.
Lastly, the route I recommend for small UX agencies is to consistently offer high quality at a high price. This is by far the most profitable option and the most satisfying as well.
If you want to break out of the commodity game, you need to offer great quality at a higher price.
Wealthy Clients Prefer A Higher Price
Photo by Jonathan Francisca on Unsplash
This might seem counter-intuitive, but raising your prices filters out bad clients and attracts good ones. I’ve written about bad clients before here.
As a client, if a problem is making me lose money, and I have the budget, I want to work with the best specialist to solve my problem.
Let’s say I have to decide between two UX agencies to help me fix my onboarding flow. Both have comparable experience and seem professional, but one of them is almost 30% more expensive.
Guess what, if I have the budget, I’m going to hire the one I like even if it’s the most expensive option. Why? Because a higher price tells me they only work with a certain level of clients. It tells me that they value profitability over quantity. Frankly, it just makes me feel like they are the better option overall.
Leverage Your Content Strategy
Of course, you won’t attract the clients with the right type of mindset and budget if your online presence is all over the place, or worse, you’re nowhere to be found.
We live in a world dominated by content and search results. The better your content strategy is, the easier it’ll be to find you.
You have to make sure your online content aligns with the type of clients you want to work with and the kind of work you want to do for them.
Choose a Niche
Photo by Ricardo Arce on Unsplash
In terms of content, yes, quality is important but more so is specificity. You need to choose a niche and direct all your content to that niche.
Let me give you an example.
Imagine you’re a client that has an app for purchasing tickets to online events. You are looking to hire a UX agency to fix the usability of your mobile checkout flow. You have two options:
OPTION A
We are a UX agency offering web development, SEO, logo design, branding, web design, graphic design, business card design, mobile app development, online marketing, social media ads, and community management for small and large firms in fintech, healthcare, automotive, food & beverages, construction, blockchain, AI, and information architecture.
OPTION B
We are a UX agency, and we help business audit and improve the usability of their mobile app checkouts.
Who are you more likely to call?
I’m willing to bet not only you would call Option B but that they also would be able to find a solution to your problem way faster than Option A ever could. Even if Option B is the most expensive one, it is far more likely they are worth the higher price.
When budget is not an issue, we tend to favor specialists.
The fastest way to be perceived as a specialist is to create highly specific online content sharing your expertise.
The right type of content cements your authority in a particular subject, establishes your credibility, and attracts the right type of clients.
Conclusion
You can position yourself as the best option for a specific problem by carefully crafting your online presence in a specific niche. When you are the best option for a particular situation, price stops being an issue. Higher prices mean less work but more overall revenue and profit.
Chose a niche, create content around it, raise your prices, and live a happier life, running a more profitable UX agency. | https://medium.com/swlh/de-commoditizing-ux-design-by-charging-more-b3789be5241d | ['Ed Orozco'] | 2021-01-27 12:26:09.717000+00:00 | ['Competitive Advantage', 'UX Design', 'Marketing', 'Business Strategy', 'Content Strategy'] |
Day 5 (36 to 40) | Day 5 (36 to 40)
By L. David Stewart, PhD-c
#35to40
So it is pretty well known I am trudging toward completing my PhD. What isn’t known is the backstory of how I got to this point.
My initial career was in architecture. Worked in architecture starting at 16. (Got my first job calling in a phone book til someone said yes). 17, won a HS competition that got me an internship for the summer that I parlayed into a 2.5 year position. Went on to get my B.A. in Architectural Studies in 2003. Moved to Toronto to start my Masters of Architecture degree and tragedy struck, with my mom passing. Came back and worked at various firms til the market crashed in 2009.
At that time I was getting a Masters of Science in Real Estate (Yes I have an entire degree focused on real estate!), but the market was so bad I couldn’t do nothing with it. After starting my own consulting firm, which was decent for 3 years (mostly out of survival as I was “overqualified” and was even denied a job at Burger King, when I was literally trying to pay rent). I realized I wasn’t as fulfilled. I am good at a lot of things but it wasn’t the same passion I once held for architecture.
2013, by fluke application applied for a teaching job. I NEVER saw my self as a teacher let alone a professor. I was too much a smartass for it in my thought In fact i came to the interview not dressed properly. (Bright tangerine polo, causal loafers and some slacks that needed an iron). The Director was like: “Oh you already had the job I just wanted to meet you in person!” I was floored: I asked him as I was fighting my own impostor syndrome at the time: “Why did you hire ME?” He stated: “You had the perfect background for what we needed.” That did something for me! I went on teach at the university til it closed and had fun doing some innovative things. (Oh between 2011 and 2012 to make myself more marketable, I picked up an MBA in marketing too, no one wanted someone with a real estate degree at that time).
PhD application: What most dont know is I was denied 3 times PhD admittance: (Twice from IIT and one from Georgia Tech). In hindsight, understanding what is required my applications were TRASH. But my ego wasn’t hearing that at the time. When I finally got accepted to a program in 2016. My interest had shifted. Goal. DEAN. DEAN of a business or design program. I had done my time as an adjunct and wanted job security. SO. I trudged through the main courses, and did my Doctoral Qualification Exam, two days after Hurricane Irma hit in Miami and got no reprieve, had to do it. Passed. A 7 day test is a special breed of evil lolbvs.
Worked on research courses, and was cleared to start dissertation Sept 2018. Shortly after my university closed because it was a For-profit, and had to migrate with NO HELP from the university (Shout out to Argosy and Betsy Devos for the grimey, I aint forgot). Followed my dissertation chair, after waiting a year to pay off debts to National Louis to finish this up and here I am now. Chapter 4, pushing to be done by Spring 2021.
While I still fight impostor syndrome at times, after all I been through, including this year, I know its a purpose in me becoming Dr. Stewart, besides just getting it. So I hold my head high and march on.
Oh yeah, WHEN I’m done, I will be skating per my tradition in that gown again and with the big floppy Donny Hathaway hat.
#RoadToDrStewart | https://medium.com/@ldavid_45971/day-5-36-to-40-d3f429d93ba9 | ['L David Stewart'] | 2020-12-19 16:27:32.976000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Mental Health Awareness', 'Higher Education', 'Education', 'African American'] |
7 Common Web Development problems which every developer from Beginners to Experts should know [with multiple solutions] | 7 Common Web Development problems which every developer from Beginners to Experts should know [with multiple solutions] Yogi Follow Feb 2, 2019 · 10 min read
Web Development can be a complex task because it involves working in many technologies and languages like HTML, JavaScript and PHP, ASP.NET, My SQL and AJAX. There can be some problem where you can get stuck from a few hours to a few days. It may be very frustrating since there happens to be no place to go, and find your solution. In my web development career I happened to stuck on many problems but fortunately I got their solutions on time.
I therefore decided to write this tutorial to point out 5 Common Web Development problems which every Beginner, intermediate or Expert developer should know to solve. So without wasting any further time let us start with them one by one.
Problem 1: Apply CSS to half of a Character
Most of us can think that CSS can be applied to any character but never to half of a character. But you are wrong as there is a way to apply CSS to half of any character.
You can use the Plugin called HalfStyle which can be downloaded from GitHub
Using this plugin you can style style each half or third of a character (and even full paragraph of text), vertically or horizontally, in a very simple manner.
Installation
Download the plugin zip file from GitHub and extract the folder to your website.
Next add the reference to HalfStyle CSS an JS, and jQuery to your webpage’s head section like:
<link href="HalfStyle-master/css/halfstyle.css" rel="stylesheet" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="HalfStyle-master/js/jquery.min.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="HalfStyle-master/js/halfstyle.js"></script>
Now you are ready to use it.
For a single character
Add the classe ‘.halfStyle’ to the element containing the character you want to be half-styled. And give attribute data-content="character" to it (replace character with the character you want to style like ‘X’ or ‘Y’).
Example 1: Character X is styled horizontally half
<span class="halfStyle hs-horizontal-half" data-content="X">X</span>
Horizontal Half
Example 2: Character Y is styled horizontally third
<span class="halfStyle hs-horizontal-third" data-content="Y">Y</span>
Horizontal Third
Example 3: Character X is styled vertically third
<span class="halfStyle hs-vertical-third" data-content="X">X</span>
Vertical Third
Example 4: Character Y is styled vertically half
<span class="halfStyle hs-vertical-half" data-content="Y">Y</span>
Vertical Half
The CSS Classes — ‘ hs-horizontal-half ’, ‘ hs-horizontal-third ’, ‘ hs-vertical-half ’, ‘ hs-vertical-third ’ are custom CSS class which are defined in HalfStyle.css file.
You can change their properties like color, font, etc inside the ‘ : before ’ and ‘ :after ’ classes accordingly to your needs.
For a Text
Add .textToHalfStyle class and data attribute data-halfstyle=“[-CustomClassName-]” to the element containing the text.
Example 1: Text styled vertically half
<span class="textToHalfStyle" data-halfstyle="hs-vertical-half">Half-style, please.</span>
Text Styled Vertical Half
Example 2: Text styled vertically third
<span class="textToHalfStyle" data-halfstyle="hs-vertical-third">Half-style, please.</span>
Text Styled vertical third
Example 3: Text styled horizontally third
<span class="textToHalfStyle" data-halfstyle="hs-horizontal-half">Half-style, please.</span>
Text Styled Horizontal Third
Example 4: Text styled horizontally half
<span class="textToHalfStyle" data-halfstyle="hs-horizontal-third">Half-style, please.</span>
Text Styled Horizontal Half
Problem 2: How to modify the URL without reloading the page
As every beginner JavaScript programmer knows that ‘ window.location.href ’ reloads the page. So in order to change the URL of the page without reloading it, you should use the the ‘ pushState() ’ method.
Example: Create a button which on click will change the URL:
<button onclick="changeURL()">Click here</button> <script>
function changeURL() {
window.history.pushState('page2', 'Title', '/about.html');
}
</script>
I used the pushState() method to change the URL to about.html. This method has 3 parameters:
1. state — The state object is a JavaScript object which is associated with the new history entry created by pushState() . Whenever the user navigates to the new state, a popstate event is fired, and the state property of the event contains a copy of the history entry’s state object.
title — A short title for the state to which you’re moving.
URL — The new URL is given by this parameter. Note that the browser won’t attempt to load this URL after a call to pushState() , but it might attempt to load the URL later, for instance after the user restarts the browser.
Note that you can reload the contents of the new URL by using the jQuery Load method - load(). The .load() method is an AJAX method that is so powerful that it can not only fetch full HTML contents of another page but also contents of elements based on their CSS class and Ids .
Problem 3: Give text a transparent background
There are 2 ways to solve this problem, which are:
1. Make a transparent background image
Here you create a small 1px*1px transparent dot image in .png format. I have this image created in Photoshop and it’s size is just 95 bytes . This image is in light grey color and is shown below:
Transparent Image
Now, to use this image as a background, I have to use the URL value of background property of CSS like this:
background: url("Content/Images/translucent.png") repeat;
Let us see an example for this.
Create 2 divs like this:
<div class="containerDiv">
<div class="transparentDiv">
How is the weather in your city?
</div>
</div>
Now add the CSS for these divs to your stylesheet as shown below:
.containerDiv {
height: 200px;
width: 500px;
background-color: blue;
position: relative;
} .transparentDiv {
color: orange;
font-size: 38px;
padding: 30px;
background: url("Content/Images/translucent.png") repeat;
position: absolute;
left: -25px;
width: 100%;
top: 40px;
}
Note that the ‘transparentDiv’ is situated over the ‘containerDiv’ by providing it with position: absolute property. Also note the background property where I have set the image as the background for the ‘transparentDiv’.
When you run this code in your web page then it will look like:
Transparent background using transparent background image
2. Use CSS 3 Background Color property
Instead of using the background transparent image (explained above), you can use CSS 3 backgound-colo r property. All you have to do is add this property to the ‘.transparentDiv’ CSS and comment out the previous background property like shown below:
background-color: rgba(240, 240, 240, 0.5);
/*background: url("Content/Images/translucent.png") repeat;*/
I have specified the light grey background in rgba color format as 240, 240, 240 and also used 0.5 as opacity to bring the desired transparent look.
Transparent background using CSS3 background-color property
Problem 4: Vertically center text with CSS
There are many ways to vertically align text. You can do it using line-height property of CSS or by using absolute positioning. In my opinion you can do this very easily by using only the ‘display’ property. The 2 ways for doing this are:
1. Using the display: flex property
Here I will use the Flexbox and give the element the following CSS properties:
display: flex;
align-items: center;
Example: Add the following div in your web page
<div class="box">
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh
</div>
Also add the CSS that will vertically align the text contained in the div.
.box {
height: 150px;
width: 300px;
background: #CCC;
color: #000;
font-size: 24px;
font-style: oblique;
text-align: center;
display: flex;
align-items: center;
}
Note: The last 2 properties does the vertically alignment of the texts.
Now run the code in your web page and you will see the texts aligned vertically center as shown below:
Vertically Center Alignment of text using display flex
2. Using the display: table property
In this approach, using CSS I simulate table behavior since tables support vertically center alignment. Here the parent div is provided with display: table property while the child elements are provided with 2 properties which are:
display: table-cell;
vertical-align: middle;
Example: Let me show an example that contains 3 div (aligned side by side). Each div have different lengths of text which are all aligned in vertically center manner.
Add the following code to your page:
<div class="verticallyCenter">
<div>First</div>
<div>This is the Second div</div>
<div>Third div</div>
</div>
There is one parent div having CSS class called ‘verticallyCenter’. This div contains 3 child div.
Next add the following CSS to your page:
.verticallyCenter {
background-color: red;
display: table;
height: 100px;
} .verticallyCenter div {
font-size: 25px;
display: table-cell;
vertical-align: middle;
width: 33%;
padding: 5px;
}
Notice that the ‘verticallyCenter’ div contains is display: table while the 3 children are given the following 2 important properties:
display: table-cell;
vertical-align: middle;
Now run your web page in your browser and it will look like:
Vertically Center Alignment using display table
Problem 5: How to make a div 100% height of the browser window
You can do this by using the viewport-percentage lengths which are relative to the size of the initial containing block (i.e body tag). When the height or width of the window changes, they are scaled accordingly.
These units are vh (viewport height), vw (viewport width), vmin (viewport minimum length) and vmax (viewport maximum length).
We can make use of vh: 1vh is equal to 1% of the viewport’s height. That is to say, 100vh is equal to the height of the browser window.
So the follow div (given below) is equal to the height of the browser window, regardless of where it is situated in the DOM tree:
<div style="height: 100vh">Some content</div>
How is 100vh different to 100%?
Consider the below example:
<div style="height:200px">
<p style="height:100%;">Hello, world!</p>
</div>
Here the ‘Hello world’ paragraph element gets the height of 200px because of the parent div has been provided with the height of 200px.
Now change height to 100vh for the p element, as shown below:
<div style="height:200px">
<p style="height:100vh;">Hello, world!</p>
</div>
Now the paragraph element will be 100% height of the body regardless of the div height.
Problem 6: How to know which radio button is selected
For finding out which radio button is selected you can use either jQuery or JavaScript. Suppose there are 3 radio buttons for selecting the sex of a person. All of these radio buttons have a common name called ‘sex’.
<input type="radio" name="sex" value="Male" />Male
<input type="radio" name="sex" value="Female" />Female
<input type="radio" name="sex" value="Unspecified" />Unspecified
Now in your jQuery code create the click event of these radio buttons. Then use the .val() method to find out the value of the selected radio button. This code is given below:
$("input[name='sex']").click(function () {
alert($(this).val());
});
The checkbox is a similar control like radio button except that you can select more than one checkbox for an option. The jQuery Checkbox Checked tutorial is the place where you can learn all the ways to work with checkbox’s checking or un-checking.
Problem 7: Align Text and Elements in Horizontally Middle manner
Use text-align: center to place the text in the horizontally middle in the element. For example add the following div in your web page:
<div class="container">
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
</div>
Also add the below CSS to the stylesheet:
.container {
width: 500px;
background-color: brown;
color: orange;
font-size: 38px;
text-align: center;
}
Notice that I have given text-align as center in the CSS. When you run this in your browser the text will be placed in the center of the div. This is shown by the below image:
Using text-align: center
When you want to align a whole element to the center of its parent then you use the ‘margin: auto’ in the CSS. This approach is used to align whole of the websites content to the middle of the page.
Now update the above div to include a child div which will be placed in the center. The code is given below:
<div class="container">
<div class="centerDiv">
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
</div>
</div>
Add the following CSS for the centerDiv:
.centerDiv {
background: #67b91e;
width: 200px;
margin: auto;
}
Notice the margin: auto given to the centerDiv.
Now run the web page in your browser and you will see the centerDiv aligned at the center of it’s parent. Check the below image:
Align Child in the middle of the parent
Conclusion
I hope you found something new to add to your web development knowledge in this tutorial. If it is so then don’t forget to clap for a few times to show your like. It will not only bring a smile to my bad face but also motivate me to write more and more good articles to web developers.
And as always, follow me to get notified whenever I publish a new article on Medium.
Also check my other article in HACKERNOON— ASP.NET Core — How to use Dependency Injection in Entity Framework Core | https://medium.com/hackernoon/7-common-web-development-problems-which-every-developer-from-beginners-to-experts-should-know-with-47a7d2e9367f | [] | 2019-02-02 17:11:01.058000+00:00 | ['Coding', 'JavaScript', 'Programming', 'Web Development', 'HTML'] |
How to export whatsapp group contacts to an excel file | There are times when we(users) wish to export Whatsapp group contacts to a file for future use, marketing or networking.
This article will guide you on how you can export contacts to an excel file.
In other to achieve this, we’ll be using the dedicated web version of whatsapp….
Step 1: Access Whatsapp web on your PC
launch whatsapp on your mobile device, tap the three dot icon from the top, and select “whatsapp web” option.
now head over to your favourite browser [mine is Chrome] on your pc and simply visit web.whatsapp.com. This will display a unique generated QR-code, which you have to scan on your mobile device to connect it to your whatsapp account.
whatsapp web
Step 2: Copying the group contacts
Once you are in the web view of whatsapp, you can access your whatsapp account on your pc.
Select the group which you want to export its contacts , right click on the title of the group and choose the “inspect” option.
inspect
This will display a window showing the Html code of the page.
now right click on the highlighted part of the code with phone-numbers. Choose copy , then copy element to extract the contacts.
Awesome!
Step 3: Pasting copied contacts to Excel
Now go ahead and open Excel and paste the copied contacts in a row
now we need to make sure that numbers are displayed in different columns.
click on the “Data menu”, followed by “text to column” option, then a display window is shown. Click next
After clicking next, another display window is shown. now you have adjust one number into one column, by dragging the arrows to the right, forming one column for each number.
before adjusting
After adjusting, you should have something similar to this
after adjusting
Now click finish. Great! all numbers are fixed in a different column
Step 4: Display Each Number on a Different Row:
now hit “ctrl + a” to select all the columns then right click and choose the copy option
click on a new row and right click, choosing the “paste special option”
A display window comes up. make sure the “Transpose” box is checked. Then click ok
Hurray!!!!..we did it
Your result should look like this
Thanks for reading… | https://medium.com/@mallamshuaib/how-to-export-whatsapp-group-contacts-to-an-excel-file-f9a40107ee31 | ['Shuaib Oseni'] | 2020-11-25 00:46:45.832000+00:00 | ['Excel', 'Export', 'WhatsApp'] |
Why Samsung’s OneUI is a piece of art | Why Samsung’s OneUI is a piece of art
From a hardcore critique to head over heels in love ❤️
Why did I hate Samsung soo much?
Because Samsung had soo less to offer in their budget range compared to other brands. All of their budget smartphones were slow, not so user-friendly, looked boring and offered fewer specifications (like RAM, storage, camera megapixels). Well, that was 2014, and since then Samsung has come quite far offering a tough competition at each price segment. Not just because of their specs, but also because of the experience.
And since every brand is offering competitive specs for a price range, the decision to buy boils down to usability, aesthetics, and after-sales service. With One UI, Samsung is killing it. It is a huge improvement over its predecessors, Experience UI and TouchWiz. It is simple but interesting. It is accessible, but not boring. It is the same android but fresh. It is just pure beauty! Give it a try and you will know what I am talking about. Here are a few things that I loved in One UI, which may help Samsung take over the market again or at least make the experience better for users:
1. Everything is accessible from your thumb 🖐️
So you don’t have to exercise your thumb trying to reach the top left corner of your phone while drinking that coffee. We are just using a phone, not doing some yoga duh! Common action should be within the reach of your thumb. And One UI doing that in the best possible way. As the name suggests “One”, it’s meant for one-hand use. Even the navigation bar, when scrolled, drops its icons down to thumb level. This makes even the 6.5-inch brick easy to use.
One UI navigation menu
2. Everything is in text 📜
Sometimes, what seems obvious to the developer may not be for a normal not so tech-savvy user. In the settings menu of most the phones, you will generally see things that don’t make any sense. For example, what does the “do not disturb” settings do? Will my alarms still work? What about notifications from important apps? How would I know if you don’t spell it out for me? This was for a fairly straight forward setting. For some settings, I have to turn it off and on again and again to see the effect.
But that’s not the case with One UI. You will see a brief description even for things as simple as “flight mode”, it says “Turn off calling, messaging and mobile data”. So you don’t have to do the guesswork and you know what to expect. This also helps increase the accessibility.
There is a description along with each setting
3. Visual Clues to guide you 🧩
There are small clues hidden within the UI to guide you through any process. The one thing I liked the most is the “N” symbol which shows up on new features, that a user might want to explore.
By showing the N symbol, it guides the user as to where to click. And if the user likes the feature, he will connect more to the experience. People from customer success background will know the value this holds.
N for new I guess 🤷♂️
Then there is this flash of light something like a ripple. I am not sure what to call it, but when you go to settings from somewhere else, there is this ripple effect which lets you know where to look next.
Another good use of visual clue is that if your auto-rotation is off and if you rotate your phone 90deg, an icon shows up at the bottom right of the screen (Did you notice the placement? Cool right?). Which when pressed rotates the screen. So you don’t need to disable your auto-rotation again and again.
4. No Advertisement 🚫
Yes, I know it’s an obvious one. Since you have already paid for the device, why would there be any advertisement in between the experience? It is annoying to see these things pop out of nowhere. But some companies have been notoriously pushing advertisement in their UI, just to make a little more money out of you. And that is almost like you are paying to use your phone. For example, Xiaomi started slyly pushing advertisements in its MIUI. You can see advertisements while installing a new app or creating a new folder.
Advertisements in MIUI. (Source)
This is one of the reasons I switched from my old phone.
5. Aesthetically pleasing 🍭
Small beautiful experiences that made me smile inside:
It uses some really sick color combinations to show up against your contacts if you haven’t saved their image.
Colors 😍
Micro animations are on a whole new level, making the experience very smooth.
You can set multiple lock screen wallpaper, so it’s never boring to look at it. Also, there is “lock screen stories” by Glance, which I am not particularly a fan of but it's good to know it’s there.
6. Some lit Features 🔥
Which you may not use or notice, but they help build the usability:
A list of Bluetooth devices pops up when you tap the Bluetooth icon in the navigation bar. Same with wifi. So you don't have to go to the settings to connect to a device.
You can swap the position of your back button and multitasking button. So that you don’t go nuts while switching from a different phone.
Button order in One UI
If some app is spamming you with notification, you simply have to swipe the notification from the navigation bar and disable it. Easy-peezy.
The keyboard is amazing, you can change the size, position, layout and what not?
Other android features like dark mode, digital wellbeing, at-a-glance, battery saver are also seamlessly integrated (especially the dark mode it’s beautiful).
What I didn’t like?
Almost all of the themes in galaxy theme app are paid. And even the paid ones don’t look so good. So you are stuck with out-of-the-box themes (unless you are planning to make one of your own, which by the way I am).
Is there something else you didn’t like about One UI? let me know in the comments. It’s okay to criticize, but it is also important to notice the good.
That’s it.
Done and done. That’s my review on Samsung One UI. And like every iPhone users says “you have to try it out to feel the difference”, same is the case here, just that it will cost you half the price. | https://uxdesign.cc/why-samsungs-oneui-is-a-piece-of-art-60b507ae2f5f | ['Kalpesh Prithyani'] | 2019-07-26 00:02:45.114000+00:00 | ['Android', 'UI', 'Samsung', 'User Experience', 'User Interface'] |
What Writers Can Learn From Other Creatives | What Writers Can Learn From Other Creatives
Start messy! Photo by Tara Winstead on Pexels
Over the years, I’ve worked with or interviewed thousands of creatives from many different fields — many of them at the very top of their game. As a journalist and as a magazine editor. As a collaborator. And more recently as a coach working with experienced creatives of all kinds. Here’s what I’ve learned.
From photographers: organization
Photo by Skye studios on Unsplash
Photographers have lots of gear that they often need to access quickly. They also don’t want to leave expensive equipment behind, on location.
So most of the photographers I’ve worked with pack their bags in the same way, every time. They know exactly which pocket contains a certain lens, a power pack, a flash. They can access what they need in the dark, when they’re jet-lagged, or in stressful situations. And if they see an empty pocket, they know just what is missing as they pack up to leave.
The lesson: Have a place for everything you might need quickly, and always put it back after using it. I now take the same bag whenever I travel, with my passport and travel documents in the same pocket, money, pens, notebook, recorder all in their regular places. My desk at home is similar: everything I use regularly is within easy reach.
I always thought that my creativity thrived on chaos. But scrabbling about in my bag to find my digital recorder before a quick interview or spending 20 minutes looking for a hole punch, stapler or scissors actually kills spontaneity. Get organized!
From artists: play and explore
Photo by Alice Dietrich on Unsplash
I’ve never met a successful artist who isn’t playful and curious, willing to explore, to try new things — and fail spectacularly, at times.
In interviews, I never ask creatives where they get their ideas from. It’s one of the most irritating and difficult questions to answer. But I do sometimes ask if they remember where they were when the idea first came to them.
Artists tend to tell me about the inspiration that came during an aimless stroll through the British Museum, on a bike ride or an early morning swim, while watching a film or flicking through random books.
Quality play is as important as hard work if you want a good supply of ideas. You make something new by being open and interested in a wide variety of things, then connecting some of those things together in ways that haven’t been seen before. It won’t always work — but failure is just another part of the process.
From other writers: start messy
I used to think I was doing something wrong, with my endless drafting and redrafting, that ‘real’ writers simply moved their fingers across a keyboard and the words were there, fully formed and in the right order.
But there is nothing more disempowering than staring at a blank screen or page and expecting your first sentence to be extraordinary. Striving for perfection right away — without rewrites, editing, polishing — is a recipe for getting blocked. This is why so many writers call their first attempt something like Draft Zero or Shitty First Draft. It’s getting out of your own way, giving yourself permission to be awful.
So just dive in and get your ideas down. Start in the middle, at the end, or with the one bit you know how to write. Or just write anything that comes into your head — even if it’s nonsense — until it starts to flow.
Fear is an issue for all creatives, but resistance is especially strong for writers, who usually work solo and don’t need a lot of preparation to begin. Which makes it ridiculously easy to keep procrastinating. The answer is almost always to start now, and start messy. You can improve it later!
From designers: always keep the user in mind
Photo by Kumpan Electric on Unsplash
As a journalist and magazine editor, I’ve been lucky to work with and interview some brilliant designers. What they taught me is to always keep the end-user in mind.
A good fashion designer thinks about how a garment will make the wearer feel. How it will hang on the body, how the fabric will feel against the skin.
A graphic designer isn’t just using whatever colors, fonts, and logos look cool: they’re thinking about what the brand, magazine, client is trying to communicate, what will attract or connect with their audience.
A product designer will consider how the item will be used, and they will try to make that as easy and intuitive as possible.
All creatives can benefit from giving some thought to their intended audience. Who are you making this for? How will they use it/enjoy it/interact with it? How do you want them to feel as they do that?
From actors (and dancers): it’s all in the preparation
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
No theatre performance is exactly the same, two nights running. I’ve been on film and TV sets countless times, and seen how each take of a scene is slightly different — and the best ones often involve improvisation or happy accidents.
But they only work if the actor responds completely in character. If whatever she does is consistent with what we already know about that character — and what will be revealed later.
This takes thorough preparation. Not just knowing your lines, memorizing the movements, but knowing everything there is to know about your character.
As for dancers: it takes years of consistent work and training to make those movements seem so fluid, natural, and effortless.
It’s a fine line to tread. We all can get lost in too much prep, and use that as a way of delaying. There comes a point when we have to commit, to take action. But it helps if you’re ready.
As a journalist, I learned that if I researched thoroughly for a big interview, then it could turn into a much more spontaneous conversation on the day.
Thorough preparation gives you the freedom to go with the flow, to respond in the moment. It looks easy. But only if you’ve put the work in!
From architects: it’s the space that matters
Photo by Gtography from Pexels
Architecture is all about detail. The way the window meets the wall. The window fittings. The direction the floor ties run in. The light and shadows. Everything has to be considered.
But what surprised me, interviewing some of the world’s top architects, is how many of them talk more about the empty bits, the voids. Not about the building, or the materials, but about the spaces they’re creating, and how people might use those spaces.
So a cut-off corner of a new public building creates a new public square to give the local community a sense of ownership and belonging. A huge window pulls people through a series of galleries in a museum towards the view. An atrium in a factory gives common space for workers and managers to mix, eat and drink together.
It seems to me that pause, silence, white space is just as important in other creative fields. The spaces you create, the things you miss out, the distractions and clutter you cut away, the gaps you leave for the imagination to fill: they’re often as important as the details you include.
From musicians: surrender
Photo by Martin Lopez from Pexels
I’ve always loved the alchemy of music, its power to transcend and transform. The way a perfectly ordinary person with all the normal fears and anxieties can walk onstage and become something other, something bigger, perhaps even something possessed.
You write, record, rehearse. You do all the work. But there’s a point, on stage, in performance, when you just have to let go and let the music move through you. Let it take control. James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, used to call these moments ‘getting out of your skin’.
For all creatives, these moments of flow are crucial. When the paint tells you where it needs to go. Or the characters in your novel start saying and doing things you didn’t plot out or expect. When you have an idea and just act on it, without over-thinking. This is when the magic happens.
From comedians: accept feedback
Comedy has always seemed to me the most lonely and courageous form of performance. The feedback is instant, and it’s brutal. There’s a reason comedians refer to a bad show as ‘dying’. Yet the only way to learn is to keep doing your routine, in front of an audience, and refining it until it works.
I’ve met comedians who, after exhaustive research in front of live audiences, have decided they’re funnier when they wear brown cords, a plaid shirt, or a floral dress. They’ve learned that a Curly-Wurly is somehow intrinsically funnier than a Mars bar. Or that a mildly amusing line suddenly becomes hilarious with a pause in the right place and a subtle lift of an eyebrow.
Most of all, they’ve learned how to read the room, to adjust their material to the energy of the audience for maximum impact.
Feedback is tough. Our instant reaction is to get defensive, or to hide. But if we can face it, and learn from it, it’s also invaluable. | https://writingcooperative.com/what-writers-can-learn-from-other-creatives-3b199ba289e1 | ['Sheryl Garratt'] | 2021-09-11 17:02:43.412000+00:00 | ['Success', 'Writing Tips', 'Life Lessons', 'Writing', 'Freelancing'] |
The Gift of God | The Gift of God
Christ for Youth International
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23
God is a giver of good things, and He cheerfully gives gifts to His children. There is nothing you have today that you did not receive from God. However, we compare all the wonderful gifts God has given to us, the greatest is Himself. God offered Himself for us when we were without strength. In that, while we were yet sinners Christ Jesus died for us.
His life introduced to us eternal life and also brought us into the presence of God. The veil which separated us has been torn, and by His death on the cross and His resurrection, He became our righteousness. We live today justified before the Father because of the gift of righteousness that Christ Jesus gave to us.
As believers, it is our responsibility to fully accept the work of Christ and not be ignorant of what we have received. There are many believers who have been deceived by the enemy to think Christ is not enough for them. Many are looking for happiness and satisfaction in other places, oblivious of the fact that Christ is enough.
In this Christmas season, there is nothing better than to receive Christ and all His goodness in your heart. Do not allow ignorance or pride to withhold God’s blessings from you. Allow Christ to have His full work in your life so that you will be a blessing to others.
Thank You, Jesus, for offering Yourself for us. Help us to acknowledge Your goodness in our lives.
Further Reading: 1 Peter 1:3–4 / John 3:14–17
Prophetic Declaration: Psalm 91 | https://medium.com/christ-for-youth-international/the-gift-of-god-39ed76d79f81 | ['Precious Moment'] | 2020-12-31 17:09:50.490000+00:00 | ['Gifts', 'Youth', 'Precious Moments', 'Family', 'Christ'] |
Kubernetes Deployments | Prerequisites
I recommend you know the basic knowledge of Kubernetes Pods before reading this blog. You can check this blog for details about Kubernetes Pods.
What Is A Deployment
Normally, when working with Kubernetes, rather than directly managing a group of replicated Pods, you would like to leverage higher-level Kubernetes objects & workloads to manage those Pods for you. Kubernetes Deployments is one of the most common workloads in Kubernetes that provides flexible life cycle management for a group of replicated Pods.
A Deployment is a Kubernetes object that provides declarative updates, such as scaling up/down, rolling updates, and rolling back, for a group of identical Pods. In other words, A Deployment ensures a group of identical Pods to achieve the desired state.
ReplicaSets v.s. Deployments
Rather than directly managing Pods, Deployment utilizes ReplicaSets to perform declarative updates for a group of replicated Pods. The following picture demonstrates the relationship between ReplicaSets and Deployment:
ReplicaSet ensures that a specific number of pod replicas are running at a given time, based on replica number defined in a ReplicaSet manifest. Although it provides an easy way to replicates Pods, it lacks the ability to do rolling updates on pods.
Deployments are built on the top of ReplicaSets. A Deployment essentially is a set of ReplicaSets. It rolls out a new ReplicaSet with the desired number of Pods and smoothly terminates Pods in the old ReplicaSet when a rolling update occurs. In other words, a Deployment performs the rolling update by replacing the current ReplicaSet with a new one. You can check this doc for more details about rolling update or rolling back Deployments.
A Deployment Example
The following is an example of a Deployment configuration for creating an Nginx server with three replicated Pods.
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: nginx-deployment-demo
spec:
selector:
matchLabels:
app: nginx
env: demo
replicas: 3
strategy:
rollingUpdate:
maxUnavailable: 0
template:
metadata:
labels:
app: nginx
env: demo
spec:
affinity:
nodeAffinity:
requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
nodeSelectorTerms:
- matchExpressions:
- key: failure-domain.beta.kubernetes.io/zone
operator: In
values:
- us-central1-a
- us-central1-b
- us-central1-c
podAntiAffinity:
preferredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
- weight: 100
podAffinityTerm:
labelSelector:
matchExpressions:
- key: app
operator: In
values:
- nginx
topologyKey: kubernetes.io/hostname
containers:
- name: nginx
image: nginx:1.15.3
ports:
- containerPort: 80
Metadata
The field metadata contains metadata of this Deployment, which includes the name of the Deployment and the Namespace it belongs to. You can also put labels and annotations in the field metadata .
Deployment Spec and Pod Template
The field spec defines the specification of this Deployment and the field spec.template defines a template for creating the Pods this Deployment manages.
Pod Selector
The field spec.selector is used for the Deployment to find which pods to manage. In this example, the Deployment uses app: nginx && env: demo defined in the field sepc.selector.matchLabels to find the pods that have labels {app: nginx, env: demo} (defined in the field spec.template.metadata.labels ). The field sepc.selector.matchLabels defines a map of key-value pairs and match requirements are ANDed.
Instead of using the field sepc.selector.matchLabels , you can use the field sepc.selector.matchExpressions to define more sophisticated match roles. You can check this doc for more details about the usage of the field sepc.selector.matchExpressions .
As you can see, a Deployment relies on pod labels and pod selector to find its pods. Therefore, it is recommended to put some unique pod labels for a Deployment. Otherwise, Deployment A may end up managing the pods that belong to Deployment B.
Replica
The field spec.replica specifies the desired number of Pods for the Deployment. Kubernetes guarantees that there are always spec.replica number of Pods that are up and running.
It is highly recommended to run at least two replicas for any Deployment in Production. This is because having at least two replicas at the beginning can help you keep your Deployments stateless, as the problem can be easily detected when you are trying to introduce “stateful stuff” to a Deployment with at least two replicas. For example, you will quickly realize the problem when you are trying to add a cron job to a two-replicas Deployment to process some data on a daily base: the data will be processed twice a day as all replicas will execute this cron job every day, which may cause some unexpected behavior. In addition, a singleton pod may cause some downtime in some cases. For example, a single-replica deployment will not be available for a moment when the single Pod is triggered to restart for whatever reason.
Rolling Update Strategies
The field spec.strategy defines the strategy for replacing old pods with new ones when a rolling update occurs. The field spec.strategy.type can be Recreate or RollingUpdate . The default value is RollingUpdate .
In general, it is not recommended use Recreate in Production based on the consideration of availability. This is because Recreate will introduce downtime when a rolling update occurs: All the existing pods need to be terminated before new ones are created when spec.strategy.type is Recreate .
You can use maxUnavailable and maxSurge to control the update process when you set spec.strategy.type == RollingUpdate . The field maxUnavailable sets the maximum number of Pods that can be unavailable during an update process, while the field maxSurge specifies the maximum number of Pods that can be created over the desired number of Pods. The default value is 25% for these two fields. Moreover, they cannot be set 0 at the same time, as this stops the Deployment from performing the rolling update. you can set the field maxUnavailable 0 as this is the most effective way to prevent your old pods from being terminated while there are some problems spinning up new pods.
Pod Affinity
The field affinity inside the field spec.template.spec allows you to specify on which zones/nodes you want to run your Deployment's Pods. As shown in the following picture, the ideal scenario of running a Deployment is running multiple replicas in different nodes in different zones, and avoid running multiple replicas in the same node. You can check this doc for more details about how to assign your Pods to proper nodes.
What Is Next
I recommend you read this blog if you are curious about how to utilize Kubernetes StatefulSets to run stateful applications in Kubernetes.
I recommend you read this blog if you are curious about how to utilize Kubernetes Services to load balance traffic to your applications in Kubernetes.
Reference | https://azhuox.medium.com/kubernetes-deployments-d04263c67b24 | ['Aaron Zhuo'] | 2020-11-30 16:59:10.920000+00:00 | ['Entry Level', 'Kubernetes'] |
Light Painting with Light Tubes and Burning Steel Wool | One good reason to join a photo club is to learn from other club members who know more about some parts of photography than you. I knew only a little about light painting with light tubes or burning steel wool, but we have someone in the club who did it many times before and knows what he is doing. So he organized a field trip for us all to try it out and to teach us how it works. Thanks, Adrian Jefferson-Brown , it was great fun!
Safety
First things first: safety! There was a reason we went to the beach: there is not much that can burn. Quite the opposite. In the dark, you are not so much aware of the tide coming in and get your stuff wet.
So, safety: Be absolutely sure that everyone involved knows what is going on: when you burn steel wool, the sparks (burning matter/ember) fly around and can hit things and people. The sparks can burn sometimes longer than you expect, they can damage your lens (put a UV filter in front of your lens as a protection) or put holes into your clothing. Wear old stuff and keep your distance from the flying fiery sparks. The person whirling around the steel wool should cover up as much as possible to prevent OUCH! Wear a hat, gloves and eye protection. I hope you get the idea. Be safe.
Disclaimer: Act at your own risk, I take no responsibility for any harm done while you practice light painting with burning steel wool. You are responsible for the safety of the area you are affecting. There should be nothing flammable anywhere near. If you are unsure if it is safe, don’t do it. Take precautions for the event of fire, have a fire extinguisher ready to use and know how to use it. And don’t try this at home!
This article is for entertainment/illustration only.
OK, that out of the way, how does it work? We tried two different ways of light painting, one was using burning steel wool as the light source, the other one was moving light tubes as the light source. Images you can expect look like this: | https://medium.com/the-global-photo-club/light-painting-with-light-tubes-and-burning-steel-wool-c1e61bd0df6e | ['Frithjof Moritzen'] | 2020-10-02 05:16:28.018000+00:00 | ['Photography Tutorial', 'Light Painting', 'Camera Club', 'Photography', 'Photography Tips'] |
Self-Love Meditation | Welcome to this self-love meditation, brought to you by PickCreation, the place to discover. Our goal is to get you inspired, so why not subscribe. Please show us you like this video by liking it. If you’re new to this channel, be sure to subscribe and activate the notification bell so you don’t miss out on our next video.
Meditation is a wonderful practice to ease your mind. By focusing your attention on your inner self, you can find peace and acceptance… and you can reduce your stress.
We need to show love to ourselves throughout every day… many of us don’t do so often enough.
To start this meditation, bring yourself into a relaxing position in a space with little distraction. Make sure you are comfortable and not tense, so that you do not need to keep repositioning yourself. Close your eyes… and mentally scan your body for tenseness from your head to your toes.
Take a step towards greater self love now by paying attention to your breathing, to how it happens without effort.
Your breath is always there, and it changes with the demand of different situations, such as being excited, and slows down naturally when you rest.
Taking intentional full and deep breaths every day can do well for our bodies and minds.
Start talking some full and deep breaths now, filling your lungs with air, expanding your belly, and spending more time to exhale the air.
Now, breathe in deeply, expanding your belly and lungs as much as possible…..
Hold it for a few seconds…. And slowly exhale.
Breathe in… taking in oxygen that will go into your bloodstream….hold the breath….and let it out slowly.
Breathe in… feeling energized by the breath….hold it in….and exhale slowly..
Breathe in… noticing how easy it is to take in the air….hold the breath….and let it out slowly along with any tension in the body.
Breathe in deeply one more time, filling yourself with love….pausing to appreciate that love… let go the breath with all worries.
Now, breathe naturally without effort, at your own pace.
Your breathing itself is an act of self-love.
Deep breathing increases the supply of oxygen to the body and stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which brings relaxation by slowing down your heart rate and breathing to that of a resting state.
By practicing intentional deep breathing, you are causing your body to rest and relax.
This type of practice is self care and love that you can bring about throughout your day.
Let’s care for ourselves by becoming more relaxed now.
You may have a million thoughts coming up in your mind and going. Some thoughts you may not even be fully aware of, such as thoughts about what you are constantly seeing around you. You may have fleeting thoughts about what you might hear around you. Focus now on what you can hear, the smallest noises around you. Your breath…. Perhaps you can hear sounds of birds or insects coming from outside… or the wind or rain… cars passing by… people talking in another room… focus on each of the sounds you hear, one at a time.
Now, be aware of all of those sounds at once, and imagine that these sounds are relaxing you as the sound waves enter your ears… your mind is becoming more relaxed.
How do you feel? You see, can relax your mind by focusing your senses on something.
Let’s now visualize our self-love. Imagine filling yourself with love. What comes to mind?
Imagine practicing self-care… visualize choosing healthy foods at the store, cooking food for yourself, and eating with great nutrition and health.
Imagine how you have a strong will to avoid junk food and drinks most of the time, which do little to nourish you… and you can enjoy eating and preparing whole foods.
Nourishing yourself well in a way that you enjoy is an important component of self-love.
Self-love also comes in the form of positive thoughts. In showing yourself love, you should give greater regard to everything you appreciate about yourself. When negative thoughts come up, challenge them… there is no need or use in feeling negative about yourself.
Imagine saying these things, or say them out loud:
“Only when I love myself can I show love to others. Therefore, loving myself is the first, most important thing I should do. I let my self-love grow every day, because I’m worthy of love, and I know that it brings happiness to me and those around me. I decide to love myself unconditionally, no matter what, and I deserve that love and self respect. When I love myself, I have self-esteem and confidence. I just love and accept myself completely, and always more than yesterday. True self-love is easy, and the choices I make in loving myself are good for my health. I exist, therefore I love myself.
All parts and aspects about me are loved, unconditionally. My unconditional self-love radiates out of me and becomes love towards others.
Great. Does that not feel wonderful?
If you would like to meditate for a bit longer now on that feeling and promise of self-love, go ahead and pause the video.
If you’re ready, slowly open your eyes and see your surroundings again. Take a nice breath, ready to continue your day with decisions of self-love always in your mind, knowing that as long as you love yourself, you will encounter love in life.
Thank you for listening to this self-love meditation. I hope you enjoyed it! Stay tuned to our channel for more amazing guided meditations and more beautiful videos. Have a great day. We hope you will be safe. | https://medium.com/@pickreation/self-love-meditation-99790b12024e | [] | 2020-12-21 07:28:20.460000+00:00 | ['Self Love Meditation', 'Yoga', 'Meditation', 'Méditation'] |
Behind the Learning Curve | After two and a half years of absence, I am now back writing again with many stories in my pocket. And yes, I already feel like I am a different person than some years ago. Struggle and comfort shaped my resilience. Sadness and happiness sculpted my peace. It is difficult to resist the urge of telling all details of stories. However, details are not always crucial as the helicopter views will be probably more meaningful.
For me, life is a result of passing the learning curve. My curves were difficult, important, and significant in these past years, not to forget to mention the pandemic as it is undoubtedly significant to everyone. These all started when I moved abroad solely to a country I have never been to before. It is exciting, yet terrifying. Stepping out of the comfort zone has never been easy. But it is a sign of growth, which always comes with a wave of uncomfortable feeling during the process. I can keep whining over it, but instead, I picked the golden leaves and moved on.
Survive
Early Spring 2018 brought me to my first impression of blooming season. The wind breeze felt warmer, the flowers bloomed everywhere, the days were longer, although the sun was still shyly shining through the clouds. The continuous of life, I would say. The survived one would start enjoying the season’s beauty and restoring the warmth from a mad winter. But my love did not survive a season. It did not survive the storm of the cold. The distance was furiously disconnecting the warmth we have stored for so many years. Even trust and respect were no longer genuine as we expect. The words came back itself, but this time stabbed right at our chests. Never have I thought to be miserable on my knees by a betrayal in such awakening season.
Behind the cheerful blossoms, the wind breeze brings the pollen to reach out the right flowers naturally. Sometimes, it is even after the hurricane that more plant buds grow. As long as the roots attached to the ground, life will be going. I stood still, gulped all the bitter truth, and felt the massive loss of my love. I dazed for a while, losing my compass and my purpose all of a sudden. Then questioning, “why would I still exist? what is behind all of this?”. All possibilities felt so abstract. The more I think, the more I hope to change the situation, the more I lost. A vicious cycle of sadness. After all, the hurricane will be over. So does the grief. The rain has to stop to let the sunshine in, to give another chance to live. I closed the grief boxes to give myself another opportunity. To feel the remaining joyful of the season, and to forgive myself for what it was. I survived, and I learned that I’m not too fond of Spring.
Strive
Women and ambitious are often perceived as a negative perception. But, feeling ambitious is what keeps me running from time to time. The process of chasing something was incredibly satisfying, though most were exhausting. It is the source of my professional fulfilment. The closest relevancy here perhaps with cooking. I start the cooking process because the ingredients do not cook themselves. The vegetables do not cut themselves too. What if I do not find suitable and authentic herbs? Then I think about the replacement. Well fair enough, I could have just ordered the food online though. But, I would lose the striving moment where my excellence is needed to solve the problem. Of course, not in the kitchen, but a professional manner. There would be no instant way to be an expert, also the chef would not be able to achieve a Michelin star by making a signature dish with an instant curry paste. I am a chef of my career’s plate. It is my responsibility to serve the tasty dish, eventually.
Striving forward gives me an excuse to fight my anxiety. Go toward a realistic goal is the key. But gaining the key does not mean the end of the journey. Instead, the challenge just began. Studying abroad was a goal, sustaining the academic level here was more than a strive. The struggle contains constant tries, improvement after improvement, bounces back from negative feedback, and sleepless nights. It often comes along with disappointment too. There was a period when my countless job applications were denied. I started feeling down. Well, giving up or being patience were options, but sometimes the line was blurry. So, why don’t you back up a little bit and try again?
Surrender
The defence is a natural response of human being towards an attack or a threatening situation. Human beings are very clever in putting up a defence mechanism to strengthen their position or cover their views. The word ‘tired’ exposes weakness sometimes, but mind would say the opposite. I think body and spirit would agree too. Body, mind, and spirit need a break. I repeat, they need a break from constant striving and responding to the situation. ‘Stop and surrender. Let the Almighty do the rest.’ Never doubt of this quote. I learned the hard way to understand every inch of the Almighty’s graces. Being far from my homeland makes me an arrogant dwarf claiming to conquer the world. Instead, it was because of Him allowing these all happen. I surrender to Him, but I do not give up. I surrender to Him to seek upon His grace. I surrender to Him for blessings. | https://medium.com/@sekargaluh/behind-the-learning-curve-aa60a34c0822 | ['Sekar Galuh'] | 2020-12-25 01:03:11.584000+00:00 | ['Personal', 'Surrender', 'Survive', 'Strive', 'Values'] |
Vulnerability and Strength: Black Mothers Raising Free Black Girls | This piece is part of our Spark series: Celebrating Black Women and Girls — 50 Years of Black Women’s Studies
“I hate you!” I look down at my daughter — so much red-faced anger bottled up (and now released) in her 40 pound, five-year old self — and I feel the tension drain from my body. I look up at the ceiling and take a deep breath…look back down at her…and open my arms. She runs into them and starts crying — her anger from a moment ago, dissipating into the underlying reason for this outburst. “Mommy, you hurt my feelings.” My response? “I’m sorry I hurt your feelings. Mommy was feeling stressed out from so many things in my head at one time, but I should have listened to you. What were you trying to tell me?”
This scene isn’t from one particular moment, but instead, highlights the ongoing cycle of emotional recognition and reconciliation that my daughter and I have been cultivating since her birth. On the surface, this moment may not seem radical. I can remember being a young Black girl, hurling angry words at my own mother. Yet, in responding to my daughter’s anger with understanding and an explanation of my own limitations (i.e., Mommy was feeling stressed), I allow her to bear witness to my humanity. In apologizing to her and being accountable (i.e., I should have listened to you — what were you trying to tell me?), I demonstrate that her feelings matter…her words matter…she matters. This is one of my birthrights to my Black daughter — a commitment to our emotional wholeness and her free expression.
Photo by author Seanna Leath
As a Black woman scholar who examines positive identity development among Black girls and women, I return to these questions often, “What does it mean to be a healthy Black girl? How do we raise whole Black girls — free Black girls?” Bringing my daughter home from the hospital brought a new sense of urgency to my queries. I could not go to work every day to advocate for the holistic development of other Black girls and women, and neglect my own little girl at home. Unexpectedly, a lot of this work has involved me unlearning emotional habits that portray emotional repression as “strength” — I had to learn to be more vulnerable.
Black mothers are often the earliest, and arguably, one of the most important role models of emotional well being for their daughters. Yet, research suggests that many Black girls “have never seen their mothers cry” — one potential manifestation of the Strong Black Woman schema, a cultural trope of Black womanhood that praises Black women’s “unrelenting grace under pressure” and “ability to withstand significant adversity.” Studies are beginning to highlight how internalization of the “Strong Black Woman” stereotype has negative implications for Black women’s mental and emotional health, which may extend to Black girls’ beliefs about how to express strength and resilience. This stereotype of invincibility is one way that Black mothers may try to prepare their daughters to survive within the racist, sexist, and heteronormative cultural norms of U.S. society, but it may unintentionally hinder Black mothers’ ability to model emotional vulnerability and wellness for their girls.
In writing this piece, I spoke with Black mothers who were willing to share their journeys with emotional socialization from Black girlhood into Black motherhood. I asked them — “How did your mother model emotional wellness? How do you model it for your daughter(s)? What concerns do you have about your Black girls’ emotional wellbeing in our society?” Their responses were telling — both in their simplicity and the profundity of what they shared.
Pattie, a 29-year old mother of two girls (7 and 5 years old), reflected:
“My mom showed a range of emotions — happiness, worry, fear, sadness, and anger. She didn’t stay angry long, and she is a good listener and empathetic. But there were only a few instances when my mother cried in front of us. So when it happened, we knew it was a big deal. In my earliest memory, we had just pulled into the driveway. I was impatiently waiting to get out the car — I was like 3 or 4 — and I noticed she was crying silent tears. When I asked her what was wrong, she told me that she missed her mommy. My grandmother died in a car accident in December 1990. I was a year old, my sister was 9 years old, and my mother was a 29-year old single parent. Besides that time, she didn’t cry much. As for me, I don’t fall apart (publicly at least). I am a silent crier. I hold stuff in and try to process and “out think” my emotions — which is challenging and may not be the best way. But I also really fight against the “Superwoman” stereotype. In the words of Cardi B, I’m just a regular, degular, smegular woman — feelings, insecurities and all. I want my girls to understand that it is okay to be frustrated, mad, and upset. So when I am thinking through emotions, and my daughter asks, “What’s wrong, Mommy?” I try to tell her that I’m <insert emotion here> because of “xyz.” I want my daughters to express their feelings to me — even when my mom or an auntie might find these feelings “disrespectful.” I don’t want them to feel censored and think that certain emotions are inappropriate. I think all emotions — if you have them — are appropriate. But how you handle them is important.”
Shontay, a 30-year old mother of a 9-year old girl, shared:
“My mom had an extremely odd way of modeling emotional wellness. She hid her emotional trials and tribulations from us and encouraged us to put up a front when things weren’t the best to keep up an image of perfection. I feel like I am the picture of a strong, Black woman to most people around me, and that’s all I ever hear — mostly as a compliment. I cry in privacy, mainly in the shower. It’s hard to be vulnerable in today’s society (thanks, Ma). But I let my daughter express herself as openly as possible to me — even the bad things she may not think I approve of. I don’t make her mute herself, and we talk it out after she’s done going through the emotional part. I want her to know it is okay to feel — feelings are normal. We’ve talked about the expectations and stereotypes that society has for her and will try to force on her. I’ve given examples of times where my emotions were taken out of context and mishandled. She’s very strong-willed and passionate, so I’m certain that she will face the “angry, Black woman stereotype.” My biggest wish for her is that she remembers that other people’s projections onto her are a reflection on them, rather than her. I tell her that as long as she is Black, beautiful, and brilliant — others will try their hardest to find fault in her. I tell her — make no apologies for who you are.”
Sherrie, a 42-year old mother of two Black girls (13 and 8 years old), asserted:
“My mother didn’t model emotional wellness. She embodied the “Super Women Syndrome.” She was everything to everybody, and often neglected her own needs and wants. I grew up seeing how she reacted to stressful and challenging situations. Oftentimes, it was negative communication (e.g., yelling) and based on that, I knew to give her space. Over time, I am unlearning that and taking care of my needs. I make sure that I am okay so I can be the best me — not only for myself, but for my daughters. When I experience hardship, I push through because of them. However, this can be a double-edged sword because there are times that “pushing through” causes significant stress that impacts my relationships with others. I recognize that I have to be vulnerable. Asking for help when I need it has been a life saver for me. Knowing that I can’t be everything to everybody has been healing. I am modeling (and this is a work in progress) that it is important to express yourself in healthy ways and to make time for yourself. Owning vulnerable moments is important. I am teaching them the airplane saying, “You have to secure your own oxygen mask before you help secure others.” I want them to be able to own their feelings — whether good, bad, or indifferent. My goal is to raise healthy Black girls and it is important for me to do the work because they are watching. If I set the foundation for them in understanding who they are and loving themselves, I push back against racist and sexist messaging in society about Black girls and who they can be. I often get the question, “What do you want your girls to be when they grow up?” My response is always — to love who they are and to be happy.”
Finally, Yaya, a 53-year old mother of a 26-year old woman, expressed:
“I had to get in contact with my emotions. I didn’t allow my children to see me get upset because I had to handle everything. It was just me and them. When I turned about 40-something, I said to hell with it — I am not superwoman. I do not have to go in my room and wait until they are asleep to cry. When I fell in love with myself, that’s when I stopped caring about how everyone else felt and what everybody else thought. With my mom, we were not allowed to talk about emotions — it was just “shut the f*** up.” I believe she was like that because her great grandmother died when she was 10. My grandmother didn’t get to go to school — no one ever told her that they loved her. No one ever kissed her — so she didn’t know how to show emotions when she had my mom. I wanted to do something different. I’ve always told my children that I loved them. If there was a problem, we tried to talk it out. I allowed them to voice their opinions. With my daughter, she knows our bond is strong and we can talk about anything. I can’t talk to my mom, but my daughter and I talk about any and everything. We don’t hide from each other. I think it’s good because if she has a little girl, she can show her daughter things that I didn’t show her. She can try to improve on the emotional stuff that I didn’t do.”
Photo by nappy from Pexels
Their responses highlight the intergenerational transmission of strength and emotional wellness from Black mothers to their daughters. As Sherrie says — our girls are watching us. While few in number, their stories are consistent with broader conversations on the power of Black mothering (e.g., “We Live for the We,” “Revolutionary Mothering,” “Rise up Singing,” “Mothering while Black,” and “Motherhood so White,” to name but a few). As we move forward into the next 50 years of studying Black girlhood and womanhood, we must continue to challenge harmful stereotypes about Black mothering and resilience that can undermine the development of healthy vulnerability and expressiveness in Black girls. For Black moms, this may involve freeing ourselves from unrealistic expectations of strength and emotional fortitude. As these narratives demonstrate, we are uniquely positioned to support our girls in denouncing harmful expectations of excessive care-taking, emotional repression, and an invulnerable strength that epitomizes racist and sexist expectations for Black women in U.S. society. Contemporary social media communities (e.g., Parenting Decolonized, Conscious Parenting for the Culture, and Moms of Black Daughters) highlight how Black mothers are advocating for change — both in how they think about their emotional accountability to their daughters and in how they encourage their girls to take up space in the world. In academia, this involves conscientiousness in how we depict Black women and their mothering practices, which should include being critical of the questions we ask and how we frame our results and conclusions. To what extent are we complicating, nuancing, and rendering Black mothers as fully human — both in their strengths and limitations?
For instance, in her book, Spare the Kids: Why Whupping Children Won’t Save Black America, Dr. Stacey Patton challenges us to acknowledge and address how some Black mothers inflict emotional and physical harm on their children by using corporal punishment as a form of discipline. However, rather than characterizing Black mothers as deviant and “less than,” she situates corporal punishment within a broader understanding of how Black mothers may be trying to protect their children from the violence of racism in U.S. society. As she writes, “We put Black mothers on a pedestal and hesitate to call them out because they’re holding up our families, often by themselves. We live in a society where a [Black] girl can be yanked out of her seat by her neck and tossed across a classroom by a school resource officer. But that doesn’t make it okay for her to beat the Black off us.” (p. 2–3) Most academic scholarship would stop short at — “Black mothers beat their children”— but fail to: (1) recognize the concerns that Black mothers have for their children in light of the physical violence inflicted against Black bodies in our country, (2) acknowledge that physical discipline is not inherently a Black cultural practice, and (3) overlook the myriad of other parenting practices that Black mothers employ to help raise healthy and whole Black children. We see a few examples of critical and affirming forms of scholarship on Black motherhood in the work of Drs. Marie Dow and Camille Wilson Cooper.
After apologizing to my daughter, I talk with her about the power of her words and how “hating Mommy,” may have seemed like what she meant, but that she was actually trying to tell me was something else — something even more important — that I hurt her. Equipping our Black girls with the ability to name and claim their emotions is a radical way to prepare them to thrive in U.S. society, and in many ways, it begins with our ability to name and claim our own. I have had to learn to honor my emotional growth (e.g., practicing self-compassion and allowing myself to receive support). I give myself permission to take a break when I am overwhelmed. I let myself “feel my feelings,” and not just the ones that are convenient for others. I allow my daughter to see my sadness and joy…my anger and delight. In modeling emotional vulnerability in this way, I pray that I am giving her the freedom to embrace her own. | https://medium.com/national-center-for-institutional-diversity/vulnerability-and-strength-black-mothers-raising-free-black-girls-97c935138568 | ['National Center For Institutional Diversity'] | 2020-07-20 22:23:03.635000+00:00 | ['Black Motherhood', 'Public Scholarship', 'Family', 'Black Girl Magic', 'Motherhood'] |
Dear Amy Poehler | Dear Amy Poehler,
My eight-year-old daughter, Ali, told me to write you this letter.
I was telling her about a dream I had, where you and I were hanging out.
“That’s ALWAYS your dream, mommy,” she said.
She wasn’t wrong. I frequently dream that we are BFFs; I have for years. When I tell my husband, “I dreamed that Amy Poehler and I…” he says, “Of course you did.”
Sometimes, you’re telling me how funny or talented I am. Other times, we just, you know, chill. Once in a while, Tina Fey makes an appearance.
I can’t help it: I have this feeling, deep down, that if we knew each other, we would be best friends.
I realize that this is the kind of thing that crazy fans both think and say. If you’re reading this, which is an enormous “if,” you are now probably THIS CLOSE to closing this tab in your browser, because hearing adulation from yet another stranger who thinks she knows you is almost certainly very low on the list of things you’d like to do today. But I’ve started and stopped this letter so many times over the years; I’m just going for it, this time.
“Why do you like her so much?,” Ali asked. She was in her “sleepy unds” at the time, which is what we call the underpants she sleeps in at night, in lieu of jammies. What can I say, the girl likes to be naked(ish). It was that sweet moment before bedtime, when the household slows down, and is dimly lit, and we murmur random things to each other. I remember that in your book, you talked about the pleasure you take in rubbing Aquaphor on your boys after a bath. I rub lotion on Ali, too, because otherwise, her skin gets dry and itchy. She has ADHD and sensory issues, which make her extremely sensitive to touch, so putting on lotion is one of the few times I get to put my hands all over her.
She looked up at me with big, curious eyes. “I admire that Amy Poehler is a leader,” I told her, “while making everyone around her look brilliant.” (You are probably wondering, “How could this woman have any insight into whether or not I am a leader?” While I obviously have not seen you in action on set or in any area of life beyond the stage, I saw you perform improv a few times at UCB back in the day. An improvisor myself, I could see you making moves that made other people look brilliant, while also lighting up the stage with your own brilliance. So few people can do this: Shine, while making others shine, too. This is the kind of leadership the world needs more of: Not leading by trying to control people, but leading by bringing out the best in them.)
Now I was on a roll. As Ali moved to the dog’s bed to cuddle our lovable, high-strung rescue mutt, I told her how I admired that you were kind, but not a pushover — that you stood up for yourself and for the people and things you cared about. How you used your platform for good, between Smart Girls and your work with the Worldwide Orphans Foundation. And how you’re just really, really funny.
“She sounds like you, mommy,” Ali said.
To describe a person you admire deeply, and have your daughter hold up a mirror and say, “You’re describing yourself,” is a really powerful thing. Especially because my daughter has zero capacity for bullshit.
What I didn’t tell Ali was how I also related to what you say in your book about using charm to disarm people, and how that can become something to hide behind. How I loved the anecdote in Rachel Dratch’s book about how you yelled at the waiter when he shamed her for drinking wine while pregnant, and the one in Yes, Please about yelling at the business dudes from first class. It’s not that I admire yelling. But I admire people who by all indication value kindness and yet refuse to take any shit. (“Do no harm, but take no shit,” goes the saying on the mug that I saw advertised on Instagram. Amen.)
My daughter isn’t the first person to say that you and I have a lot in common. A number of my friends have said as much over the years, nodding as I explain my obsession with you. Oops, did I say obsession? Rest assured, I’m no crazier than the next person — I swear. I realize there’s no way of proving this to you, but I hope you’ll take my word for it. And yet, for years, I’ve had this feeling that I’m supposed to know you. What is that? I know that we’re strangers. I know that even though I’ve read your book, seen you host awards shows, watched you on SNL and Parks & Rec, and consumed interviews with you, that I only have access to a persona you share with the public, and that that is as far from actually knowing a person as you can get.
I wonder who you’re obsessed with.
To be fair, we did actually meet, once. It was at the Del Close Improv Marathon in…2008, I want to say? We were in the green room. You had just been onstage as part of “the UCB four” and I was abusing the backstage access I had as a performer in the festival to use a bathroom without a line. I came out of the bathroom and there you were. I said it was an honor to meet you, and you said it was an honor to meet me. You were so gracious — and tiny, I remember thinking (isn’t that the cliche, that the celebrities we admire look smaller in person?).
Anyway, fueled by only good intentions, I proceeded to be overly familiar with you. Your co-stars had basically spent their entire time onstage making a big deal about how you were the famous one, to the point where the four of you never actually got to do any improv. I felt like I could tell this was annoying you. So I said, “I’m sorry those guys were giving you such a hard time out there.” I feel like I could see you have this moment of reaction, like, “I’m not going to get personal with this woman I’ve never met before.” And you said, “So, are you performing?” and I told you I was, with an all-female group from Washington, DC, called The Shower (RIP), and you seemed genuinely interested and happy about that, and then we said goodbye.
I was talking about this moment years later with Betsy Stover, a teacher of mine at UCB, and she said you’re big on boundaries. I respect and understand that; I am, too, and I can’t imagine what I would feel like in your shoes, in that moment or so many others, when strangers have presumed to know you. (And yes, I fully realize the irony of saying that in a letter in which I say that we’re destined to be best friends.)
I almost met you one other time, and this story is embarrassing to share. It was in 2013 or 2014, and my husband and I were on “date night” in the West Village — a rare chance to enjoy the city as grown-ups since having our daughter. And there you were, walking past us in the crosswalk. My husband said, quietly, “That was Amy Poehler,” and I got so excited, I turned around right away and started walking after you. You were talking on your cell phone and you turned away and turned your body into this kind of protective armor, and I was so ashamed to have been “that person.”
Now it’s 2020 and my 8-year-old tells me I should write to you. I accept her calculus: We have a lot in common, and I think you’re awesome, so, we should meet.
My fantasy, of course, is that this letter will go viral. Someone will forward it to you, and you’ll read it and think, “I have to meet this woman!” Your people will reach out to me and we’ll set up time to meet on Zoom. The next thing I know, Amy Poehler and I will be on a video call together. After some initial nervousness, we’ll hit it off. Things will really click when I start talking about the work I do helping women tell their stories, which will genuinely interest you. Soon, we’ll be working on a project together. We’ll become friends and collaborators. I’ll inspire you, and you’ll inspire me.
But I wonder: Who, then, will I hang out with in my dreams?
Warmly,
Amanda Hirsch
P.S. In case you want to respond. (A girl can dream.) | https://medium.com/@amanda-hirsch/dear-amy-poehler-ee1c938a4f1 | ['Amanda Hirsch'] | 2020-12-23 15:20:06.188000+00:00 | ['Letters', 'Improv', 'Amy Poehler', 'Fandom', 'Celebrity'] |
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