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First Chapter: Why Elections Fail by Pippa Norris | Below is an excerpt from Pippa Norris’s book, Why Elections Fail. Paul. F. McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics at HKS, Pippa Norris is a long-time friend and Faculty Affiliate of the Ash Center, where she gave a book-talk last fall.
Electoral integrity, the set of international norms governing the appropriate conduct of elections, is more complex than the popular focus on ballot stuffing and vote buying. In Why Elections Fail, Norris argues that the rules preventing political actors from manipulating electoral governance are needed to secure integrity, although at the same time, officials need sufficient resources and capacities to manage elections effectively.
In the below excerpt of Why Elections Fail, Norris explores the notion of electoral integrity as derived from human rights treaties, not principles of democracy. Rooted in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1976, electoral integrity has garnered widespread support — even from states such as Russia, China, Syria, and Zimbabwe. However, as with most international norms, electoral integrity suffers from weak enforcement and a slew of interpretations.
Heading the Electoral Integrity Project, Norris explores the results of a new survey that evaluates 113 recent national elections in 97 independent nation states. She unpacks why some elections are far less successful than others in meeting international standards. For example, why are elections in Norway and Iceland rated higher than those in Italy, Japan and the US?
In attempting to theorize why some elections fail, Norris considers the usual suspects: sociological theories, that claim that modernization (economic development, level of education, culture) is key to providing a conducive environment to organizing elections; international relationship theories, which point to the role of multilateral and donor organizations in strengthening democracies through global norms; and power sharing theories, that stress the importance of institutional structures and capacities of a government to shape the performance of electoral authorities.
Listen to the full conversation with Pippa Norris here
Norris also assesses the short and long-term policy implications for each of these theories. She does not consider these theories in a vacuum. Rather, they are part of a comprehensive framework in which both structural conditions and international forces affect conditions for electoral integrity. Equipped with this new vision, Norris offers an enriched roadmap for practitioners seeking to strengthen electoral integrity around the world.
This post is part of an occasional series highlighting the first chapters of recent books by speakers and participants in the Challenges to Democracy series. Many thanks to the Cambridge University Press for allowing us to re-print the first chapter of Why Elections Fail.
INTRODUCTION: WHY DO ELECTIONS FAIL?
Numerous types of flaws and failures undermine elections. In some, opponents are disqualified. District boundaries are gerrymandered. Campaigns provide a skewed playing field for parties. Independent media are muzzled. Citizens are ill-informed about choices. Balloting is disrupted by bloodshed. Ballot boxes are stuffed. Vote counts are fiddled. Opposition parties withdraw. Contenders refuse to accept the people’s choice. Protests disrupt polling. Officials abuse state resources. Electoral registers are out of date. Candidates distribute largesse. Votes are bought. Airwaves favor incumbents. Campaigns are awash with hidden cash. Political finance rules are lax. Incompetent local officials run out of ballot papers. Incumbents are immune from effective challengers. Rallies trigger riots. Women candidates face discrimination. Ethnic minorities are persecuted. Voting machines jam. Lines lengthen. Ballot box seals break. Citizens cast more than one ballot. Laws suppress voting rights. Polling stations are inaccessible. Software crashes. “Secure” ink washes off fingers. Courts fail to resolve complaints impartially. Each of these problems can generate contentious elections characterized by lengthy court challenges, opposition boycotts, public protest, or, at worst, deadly violence. In some, failures are intentional; elsewhere, they arise through happenstance, although it is tricky to nail down which is which.
Today all but a handful of countries around the world hold parliamentary elections, but contests can be marred by all these problems — and many more. Flaws corrode democratic governance. As the previous book in this trilogy demonstrated, lack of integrity has many serious consequences, with the capacity to undermine the legitimacy of elected authorities, to erode satisfaction with democracy, to reduce public confidence in political parties and parliaments, and to weaken electoral turnout. Violent protests can destabilize states, especially in hybrid regimes lacking the coercive powers of absolute autocracies and the legitimacy of mature democracies. In emerging economies such as Kenya and Thailand, disputed procedures have generated instability and undermined investor confidence. Competitive multiparty elections are the bed- rock for democratic accountability, linking citizens and the state, empowering electors to “throw the rascals out” if dissatisfied by unpopular leaders. Where contentious elections are seriously flawed, or even failed, however, this mechanism is far from sufficient to rid the world of corrupt, venal, or incompetent rulers, prompting critical citizens to resort to the barricades rather than ballots. The vertical chain of electoral accountability linking citizens and authorities becomes corroded or broken. Elections alone are not sufficient guarantees for democratic governance, where other horizontal channels of public account- ability remain weak, but they remain the foundation.
To understand these issues, the first part of this chapter presents the conceptual framework and evidence used to compare electoral integrity around the world. The second part outlines the theoretical argument and the roadmap for the rest of the book.
I: The Concept of Electoral Integrity
The core notions of “flawed” or “failed” elections, which lie at the heart of this book, require clear standards and consistent benchmarks against which to judge the quality of any contest. To lay the groundwork, as conceptualized and defined by this trilogy, the overarching notion of electoral integrity refers to contests respecting international standards and global norms governing the appropriate conduct of elections. These standards have been endorsed in a series of authoritative conventions, treaties, protocols, case laws, and guide- lines by agencies of the international community. Authority derives primarily from resolutions and treaties passed by the UN General Assembly, the UN Security Council, and UN human rights bodies, supplemented by agreement reaching within regional intergovernmental bodies such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Organization of American States (OAS), and the African Union (AU), and the European Union.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides the broadest guarantees of the rights to political participation, including the right to self-determination (Article 1) and the right for everyone to take part in the running of the public affairs of his/her country (Article 25), among others. The treaty has been in effect since 1976 and today 168 countries, out of 193 UN member states, are parties, including the Russian Federation, China, Syria, Belarus, and Zimbabwe. Following ratification, international standards apply universally to all endorsing countries throughout the electoral cycle, providing legal obligations for states, including during the preelectoral period, the campaign, on polling day, and in its aftermath. Treaties formalize agreement among sovereign states. As in any binding contract, upon endorsement states voluntarily limit their sovereignty by accepting international obligations. Of course, in many cases endorsement may simply exist on paper, and electoral rights continue to be repressed, if countries sign to avoid punishments for not going along with the international community, without experiencing any effective sanctions for non-compliance. Critics charge that many basic principles are widely flouted, and even some established democracies transgress, where the lofty language of human rights is coupled with weak enforcement mechanisms. Many factors may influence how far states act in accordance with their treaty obligations, including international pressures and institutions, the prior values and preferences of particular governments, the capacity of the courts, and the strength of local human rights activists. One of the main reasons why ratification strengthens human rights is through domestic mechanisms; endorsement of international treaties empowers citizens to pressure government to meet their international obligations. Where the world has agreed on the legitimacy of certain minimal standards of electoral rights, then activists can appeal to these principles when organizing to protest against domination and oppression. Survey evidence demonstrates that citizens’ demands for democracy and human rights are universal today, although there is also widespread dissatisfaction about how far states observe these principles in practice, generating an expectation gap. Transitions from autocracy, and the expansion of competitive elections around the world, have strengthened the public’s capacity to mobilize when challenging power. The international community has also become increasingly active, by providing technical assistance and aid to reform movements seeking to strengthen democratic governance. Thus states face growing pressures at home and abroad to realize electoral rights and to respect international jurisprudence. How abstract principles are interpreted and translated into domestic laws and administrative procedures, however, is a complex process. Textual interpretations differ among countries and cultures, so that what one society regards as appropriate standards may be seen elsewhere to violate fundamental human rights — such as practices concerning whether polling should be voluntary or compulsory, whether registration should be an individual or state initiative, or whether voter identification should be required to be presented before casting a ballot. The notion of “electoral integrity” founded on international human rights agreements is therefore far more powerful, comprehensive, and complex than the popular focus on electoral fraud, implying specific malpractices occurring on polling day such as illicit acts of ballot stuffing, vote-buying, or rigging the count.
What electoral rights are recognized in international treaties? International IDEA, working in conjunction with the Carter Center, has compiled the most comprehensive and systematic set of obligations derived from international jurisprudence, as listed in Table 1.1. The foundation for these standards rests upon Article 21(3) in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR 1948). This specifies that “The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.” This statement has become the blueprint for subsequent standards. Agreement about the norms governing the conduct of elections was further specified in Article 25 of the UN International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR of 1966), which came into force a decade later. International standards continued to evolve, including through international conventions on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (ICERD 1966) and discrimination against women (CEDAW, 1979), the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC 2003), the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD 2006), as well as agreements secured in the 1990 Copenhagen Document of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) and the 2002 Venice Commission’s Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters.
This framework provides the legal mandate for electoral assistance by UN agencies and bureaus. Until the late 1980s, the role of the UN in elections was mainly to observe, supervise, and sometimes certify the results. After the end of the Cold War, however, the UN’s role expanded in different contests, by pro- viding more aid and technical assistance and also by directly organizing several elections in peacekeeping operations, such as Cambodia in 1993, Namibia in 1989, and the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006. The Electoral Assistance Division (UNEAD) in the UN Department of Political Affairs coordinates electoral assistance within the United Nations and formulates policies and guide- lines. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in liaison with UNEAD, serves as the main UN agency that deploys technical assistance and aid when member states request help with the legal, operational, or logistical management of elections. The UNDP reports to its executive body and ultimately works within the broader mandate established by the UN General Assembly. Regional intergovernmental organizations have also expanded their roles in updating electoral standards and issuing practical guidelines, notably for observers to assess the quality of elections, as exemplified by the OSCE Election Observation Handbook.
International standards are not static, however, as illustrated by the evolving language used in the UN General Assembly resolution 63/163 on “Strengthening the role of the United Nations in enhancing periodic and genuine elections and the promotion of democratization” passed every two years since 1988. For example, the agreement on state responsibilities for organizing elections was strengthened in 1991, while the notion of an “electoral cycle” rather than event was added in 1993. Norms continue to evolve at different stages of acceptance, like widening concentric circles rippling from a stone dropped in a pond. The classic international conventions of human rights have been widely internalized today, regarded as appropriate guides to conduct elections around the world. For example, the principle of universal franchise for all citizens is now universally accepted, without restrictions of voting rights based on sex, class, caste, race, ethnicity, disability, or religion. Other standards continue to diffuse around the globe, as more and more countries adopt these norms, exemplified by the spread of gender quotas for elected office following CEDAW in 1979 and the 1990 Beijing Declaration adopting a target of 30 per- cent of seats for women. Yet other canons are not yet entrenched in international jurisprudence, although principles are advocated by norm entrepreneurs, such as those governing political finance regulations proposed by Transparency International, the OAS, and the OSCE.
Thus, in defining what is meant by elections that are free and fair, genuine, or democratic — some of the most commonly used terms in news headlines and observer reports in the international community — accounts typically emphasize a checklist reflecting the classic principles. The International IDEA guidelines identify the twenty international obligations, listed in Table 1.1, which are regarded as the key building blocks. Based on this understanding, states are obliged to protect the voting rights of all citizens, to safeguard opportunities for all candidates and parties to campaign freely, to hold contests at regular intervals, to protect candidates and citizens from threat of political violence or intimidation, to provide transparent processes of electoral administration, and to offer timely and expeditious judicial processes adjudicating complaints and disputes. In practice, however, as mentioned earlier, how these abstract principles translate into national laws and detailed administrative procedures remains a complex process. For example, the concept of a “universal franchise” is widely agreed as a basic human right, yet states continue to differ in their legal definition of citizenship, minimal age requirements, qualifications to vote, and the exclusion of certain categories, such as prisoners or overseas populations. Even greater controversy continues to surround several important issues where there is no global consensus. Normative values clash even among Western democracies, such as the appropriate standards guiding political finance regulations and thus the use of disclosure requirements, spending caps and donor limits, and public funding of political parties. The obligations endorsed in international treaties therefore provide a minimum basis for electoral integrity and, while not absolutely relative, the abstract principles are open to differing legitimate interpretations when translated into national laws and practices.
To clarify the basic foundations, and avoid common misunderstandings, it is worth emphasizing at the outset how this conceptualization differs in several important respects from other common approaches.
Firstly, in this study normative authority is understood to derive from the body of human rights treaties and conventions in the international community; not directly from principles of democracy per se. Thus, while multiparty elections are essential for contestation and participation in liberal democracy, contrary to other scholars, democratic theories are not referenced as the authority for the origins of these ideas. Instead, in line with the approach endorsed by such organizations as the Carter Center and International IDEA, the quality of elections is evaluated by principles and procedures derived from international jurisprudence. As a result, one admitted limitation is that the core concept of electoral integrity used in this study is less coherent than tighter or minimalist scholarly notions, since electoral rights have not been codified in a consistent fashion. One major counterbalancing advantage, however, is that the universality of the concept applies to all independent nation states holding national elections. In practice this means that the empirical analysis measures the quality of national elections held around the world, including in one-party states such as Vietnam and Cuba, as well as in long-established democracies such as Sweden and Canada. Ultimately, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights can be traced back to underlying notions of democracy reflecting deeply held values among the Western great powers, following the end of the Second World War. But the legitimacy of human rights treaties derives from endorsement by UN member states in the world community, not from political philosophy. Diplomatically, this powerful notion also means that human rights obligations are regarded as legally binding and applicable to autocratic states that have endorsed international treaties even if they reject liberal democratic principles. Analytically, this also means that the book uses global comparisons and it does not focus on any particular regime type. This approach diverges from the conventional literature, which has evolved in two parallel streams during recent decades focused, respectively, upon electoral malpractices through the intentional repression of human rights in hybrid regimes such as Russia and through maladministration in established democracies such as the United States.
The turn of the century saw growing recognition among comparative and area scholars of the persistence of many hybrid regimes that are neither absolute autocracies nor consolidated democracies. The end of the “transition paradigm” spurred renewed attention on how contests function to preserve the power of ruling elites in “electoral authoritarian” regimes in Latin America, Asia, and Central and Eastern Europe. From this perspective, studies assume that the key “puzzle” is to explain why and how ruling parties in these types of regimes intentionally manipulate the outcome to preserve their legitimacy and power within a façade of nominally competitive multiparty contests. The main remedy, from this perspective, lies in how to restrict the abuse of power and fraudulent electoral acts by ruling parties, both domestically through strengthening transparency, accountability, and inclusive participation, as well as externally, from diplomatic pressures, including through the deployment of international observer missions.
By coincidence, in the aftermath of the Florida debacle in the 2000 Gore versus Bush presidential election and the 2002 Help America Vote Act, another distinct stream of literature evolved simultaneously among scholars of American politics with a flood of contemporary studies analyzing the quality of electoral administration in the United States. Drawing upon the disciplines of public sector management and electoral law, political scientists examined the technical problems of organizing and managing American elections, such as flaws in state-level electoral registration, provisional ballots, advance voting, and polling facilities. These problems are conventionally framed as largely managerial issues, where technocratic solutions–better performance indices, legal reforms, and procedural amendments–are typically proposed to improve the efficiency of the electoral process.
By contrast, rather than limiting the comparison to any particular type of regime, this study rejects the assumptions underlying these conventional approaches and adopts a global comparative framework. The book starts from the more agnostic position that electoral malpractices in any country around the globe can arise from limitations of democratic governance, that is to say, from either restrictions on fundamental human rights and violations committed by the regime or its opponents, and/or from lack of state capacity by electoral authorities to manage contests effectively. Democracy and governance should be understood as separate concepts. It remains to be determined empirically whether problems are due to violations of basic human rights or failures of governance, or indeed, in many cases, to some combination of these problems. Established democracies such as the United States are not immune from partisan restrictions of electoral rights, just as many hybrid regimes have limited capacity to run flawless elections. Thus a skeptical approach to the precise reasons behind any electoral malpractices, open to the evidence, is more comprehensive and realistic than starting from the a priori assumption that any flaws must arise either from intentional manipulation or from administrative happenstance and incompetence.
There is another important reason to avoid using levels of democratization or regime types as possible explanations for the quality of elections; namely, this procedure raises serious risks of generating spurious correlations and tautological explanations, since the quality of elections is already baked into most conceptualizations, continuous measures of democratization, and typological classifications of democratic and autocratic regimes. As discussed more fully in the next chapter, the standard continuous concepts and measures of democracy and autocracy generated by Freedom House and Polity IV, as well as dichotomous classifications of democratic and dictatorial regimes, rely heavily upon the quality of elections. Therefore even though the Perception of Electoral Integrity Index is strongly correlated with standard measures of democracy, this book scrutinizes other types of explanations.
Sequential Stages in the Electoral Cycle
The overarching concept of electoral integrity remains highly abstract, so that in practice, to measure and monitor standards, it can be usefully broken down into its component parts. In an influential framework, Andreas Schedler has previously suggested that problems of democratic elections involve a “menu of manipulation” that ranges sequentially in a series of steps, from restrictions on the range of electoral offices through the formation and expression of preferences to the consequences of voting choices for office holders. Conceived in this way, breaking any single link in the process is capable of undermining the legitimacy of elections. Almost a decade ago now, the international community also moved toward understanding that electoral assistance and monitoring should not be focused purely upon election day, or even on the short-term period of the official campaign. Instead, each election should be understood as a cyclical process involving a long series of sequential steps. The idea of an electoral cycle has now become the “gold standard” for the international community seeking to strengthen the capacity of Election Management Bodies and to invest in long-term sustainable development.
To operationalize the core notion, in this book the electoral cycle is deconstructed into a series of eleven sequential steps, illustrated schematically in Figure 1.1. This approach acknowledges that flaws can arise at any stage of the process. This includes from the design of electoral law, such as the use of overly restrictive or cumbersome nomination requirements for gaining ballot access or the adoption of excessively high vote thresholds. Electoral procedures can also be problematic, arising from the actions of partisan or incompetent local officials. Integrity is also undermined by partisan gerrymandering or by malapportionment favoring incumbents in the process of redistricting constituency boundaries. Voter registration processes may exclude many citizens, such as rural or illiterate populations, or specific minority groups, exemplified by inaccurate and incomplete electoral rolls or by intentional acts of voter suppression through onerous requirements. Party and candidate registration processes are also critical, with restrictions illustrated by courts banning specific political par- ties or by regimes imprisoning prominent opposition leaders. Campaign media can fail to provide a level playing field, such as patronage appointments eroding the independence of broadcasting regulatory bodies or uncritical coverage of government officials on state-controlled television channels. Political finance regulations pose another range of challenges, especially lack of equal access to state resources for government and opposition parties. Voting processes in polling places come under considerable scrutiny, including ballot irregularities, broken machines, or cases of fraudulent impersonation. Inaccurate counts or insecure ballot seals can undermine the vote tabulation process. The credibility of the results can suffer from undue delays in their announcement or by lack of transparency and audit processes in voting records. And finally, Election Management Bodies are vital to administering electoral processes and implementing the rules, and problems can commonly arise at any stage of the electoral cycle from authorities lacking capacity, resources, or impartiality.
II: Measuring Electoral Integrity
Given this conceptual framework, how do we know when elections are flawed–or even failing to meet international standards and global norms? What evidence is available? As discussed fully in the next chapter, previous studies have utilized several techniques and sources of data, each with certain strengths and weaknesses, including content analysis of observer reports, randomized controlled experiments, forensic autopsies of polling results, indices constructed for related proxy concepts, event analysis derived from news media reports, and analysis of public opinion polls.
To supplement these sources, and to generate more reliable and authoritative evidence, the Electoral Integrity Project has established a new rolling survey gathering evaluations of electoral integrity from independent elections experts. Using a comprehensive instrument, the project seeks to assess whether contemporary national parliamentary and presidential contests meet international standards throughout the electoral cycle, including during the pre-election period, the campaign, polling day, and its aftermath. The questionnaire includes forty-nine items monitoring the quality of elections. The overall PEI Index is constructed by summing the separate items for each election and each country, with the results standardized to one hundred points. Similar standardized indices are constructed for each of the eleven components of the electoral cycle. In addition, the PEI Index is ranked and categorized by thirds into contests with high, moderate, and lower levels of electoral integrity.
This book presents the first results of the Electoral Integrity Project’s expert survey of Perceptions of Electoral Integrity Index (PEI-2.8), providing evaluations for all national parliamentary or presidential elections held in independent nation states from mid-2012 to end 2014. PEI-2.8 facilitates comparison of a representative cross-section of 113 contemporary elections worldwide. The study covers ninety-seven of the globe’s nations, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, with the exclusion of microstates (with a population less than 100,000) and those countries without any national contests during this period. In cases of simultaneous legislative and executive elections, the survey monitored the latter. In countries using second ballot (run-off) electoral systems, the survey assessed the final contest. Around forty domestic and international experts were consulted for each election, generating an overall response rate of 28% from in total 1,251 election experts. Data derived from the PEI expert survey is supplemented by information from many other sources, including from the sixth wave of the World Values Survey, providing public assessments of the quality of elections at microlevel in more than forty counties. Several aggregate datasets with cross-national time-series observations monitoring the quality of elections facilitate comparison of annual trends during the third wave era of democratization, since the early 1970s. The next chapter discusses the methodology and research design of PEI in more detail, along with robustness checks to see whether the PEI results are consistent with other independent sources of related measures.
To give an initial sense of what the book is trying to explain, Figure 1.2 provides a snapshot of the estimates derived from the overall PEI hundred-point index. The results are compared with a standardized measure of democratization derived from the combined Freedom House and Polity IV estimates. Any measures can be questioned, as discussed fully in the next chapter, but if this initial cut of the data is treated for the moment as broadly correct, the key question that arises is: what best explains why some contemporary elections are seen by experts as far less successful than others in meeting global norms and inter- national standards? The answers are not immediately obvious; for example, as shown in Figure 1.2, certain states, such as Mongolia, Georgia, and Lithuania are ranked substantially higher today, according to the PEI Index, than some other countries sharing a communist legacy, such as Armenia and Ukraine. Why? Similarly in sub-Saharan Africa, the election in Ghana is rated more positively according to the PEI experts than the contest in Angola, for reasons that are not immediately obvious. In Asia, why does Bhutan out-perform Pakistan and Cambodia? And among long-established democracies, why do expert evaluations place the quality of contests in Norway, Germany, and Iceland ahead of those in Italy, Japan, and the United States?
III: Theories Explaining Flawed and Failed Elections
Given that broader processes of democratization are closely linked with the spread of multiparty elections, intellectual frameworks derived from democratic theory can be ransacked as the steel girders and concrete foundations to construct plausible explanations and empirically testable propositions as to why elections may be flawed or failed. The fall of the Berlin Wall triggered exaggerated Western hopes for the triumph of democracy worldwide. The waves of democratization following the implosion of the USSR, the color revolutions, and then the Arab uprisings, appeared to many contemporary commentators to be an unstoppable tsunami capable of toppling autocratic regimes in diverse parts of the globe. These hopes subsequently faltered, and a more realistic perspective developed following the failure of several fledgling regime transitions, exemplified by military coups in Thailand and Egypt, instability in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq, bloody civil war in Syria, state repression in Bahrain, a reassertion of autocracy, and nationalism in Putin’s Russia, destabilizing Ukraine, and the forces of the Islamic State generating new turmoil in Iraq, Syria, and bordering states. The stubborn persistence of autocracy in several parts of the world, notably in China and throughout large swathes of Central Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, defied early over-optimistic predictions. Today the contemporary political globe displays a checker-cloth of democratic, autocratic, and hybrid regimes scattered across Africa, South East Asia, and post-Communist Europe, exemplified by the sharp contrasts observed between the neighboring states of Poland and Belarus, Benin and Togo, or North and South Korea.
The extensive body of research literature offers three alternative perspectives, which can throw light on processes of democratization and thus also, by implication, the phenomena of electoral integrity. This includes sociological theories (discussed in Chapter 3), emphasizing the importance of processes of modernization that can provide a more hostile or favorable terrain for organizing competitive elections in each society. Chapter 4 turns to accounts rooted in international relations that underscore the role of external multilateral organizations and donor agencies seeking to strengthen processes of democratization. Both of these are treated in this book largely as conditions that either con- strain or provide important opportunities for domestic reformers seeking to strengthen electoral institutions. Chapter 5 focuses upon power-sharing theories, emphasizing the role of institutional design. Power-sharing arrangements are often thought to provide two decisive advantages, both negative and positive. Firstly, the classical liberal argument emphasizes the importance of executive constraints, suggesting that maximizing the number of veto players through institutional designs provides checks and balances on the power of any single actor, curbing the potential danger of governing parties and incumbents putting their thumb on the scales by manipulating the rules of the electoral game permanently in their favor. Secondly, the consociational argument emphasizes the need to build a reservoir of political trust and tolerance, suggesting that maximizing the number of parties and candidates gaining elected office broadens the number of stakeholders and thus engenders confidence in the rules of the game among elites and their supporters. Nevertheless, while preventing abuse, checks and balances also limit the capacity of governance agencies to get things done. Chapter 6 therefore deepens the institutional perspective by examining how far the performance of electoral authorities is shaped by their organizational structure, governance capacities, and bureaucratic ethos. Each rival perspective, supported by a wealth of research literature, generates a series of plausible propositions worth investigating through empirical analysis to establish the exact role of these determinants on the quality of elections, with certain important implications for public policy.
Rather than treating these alternative approaches as rival theories, in straw-men artificial debates, they are understood in this study more realistically as nested components operating within a comprehensive framework, as illustrated schematically in Figure 1.3. In the book’s core theoretical framework, both structural conditions and international drivers are seen to exert a direct role on the broader conditions that are favorable or unfavorable to electoral integrity, serving as constraints on the effectiveness of constitutional arrangements and administrative agencies at the heart of electoral governance. Chapters seek to unpack these arguments in more detail, drawing upon what is known from the previous research literature comparing patterns of democratization and electoral integrity, before providing fresh empirical evidence analyzing these issues. The book seeks to determine the relative importance of structural conditions, international forces, and institutional designs on electoral integrity using both systematic cross-national evidence analyzed through rigorous and well-specified models, as well as selected national case studies illustrating changes over time within specific countries.
IV: Plan of the Book
To unpack the evidence in more detail, Chapter 2 starts by discussing the cross-national indicators from the PEI Index and its eleven subcomponents. These provide broad insights into the general patterns observed among con- temporary elections in many parts of the world. The overall scorecard for electoral integrity through the PEI Index provides summary. The evidence can also be examined by scrutinizing any of the forty-nine disaggregated indices, which allow detailed comparison of specific issues within each component of the electoral cycle, such as pinpointing particular problems of district gerrymandering, weak campaign finance regulations, or inaccuracies in the voter register.
The PEI dataset provides more detailed and comprehensive evidence to com- pare all dimensions and components in the quality of contemporary elections than previous attempts to measure this phenomenon. Unfortunately, at the same time, data about the overall quality of elections observed at a single point of time, no matter how thorough and accurate, remain limited when it comes to identifying and determining causality. The problem can be illustrated by considering which societal conditions should properly be regarded as “fixed” conditions where complex interactive processes muddy the water. Therefore, the PEI dataset is supplemented in this book by drawing upon several selected national case studies that provide thicker and richer descriptions tracing the impact of structural conditions, international determinants, and power-sharing institutions on electoral integrity.
Modernization Theories: Structural and Cultural Constraints
Chapter 3 starts to analyze the evidence by drawing upon modernization theories which form the oldest tradition in the literature seeking to understand regime transitions from autocracy and the consolidation of democracy. This approach is rooted in theories of developmental political sociology and comparative politics that emerged in the mid-twentieth century, exemplified by the long tradition established by Seymour Martin Lipset. Over the last six decades, an extensive literature has linked societal modernization with processes of democratization; simultaneous patterns of development, economic growth, industrialization, urbanization, the spread of communications, and wider access to education, are theorized from this perspective as the standard “usual suspects” to either drive democratization and cultural change, or else to sustain democratic regimes once societies reach a certain tipping-point of socioeconomic development. The long tradition of research has also expanded well beyond comparing simple and crude levels of a country’s per capita GDP to embrace many other related structural and cultural macro-level factors loosely linked with the “modernization” paradigm, including the role of class and income inequality, the historical imprint of religious values, the “curse” of natural resources, the physical size and geography of states, the role of cultural values, and divisions across diverse ethnic communities.
Structural constraints are treated in the mainstream tradition of political sociology and development studies as largely immutable social forces within each state and as path-dependent constraints for actors operating within the space of an election; thus many societies inherit colonial legacies, religious cultures, and national boundaries from historical events occurring many decades or even many centuries earlier. Similarly, the spatial relationships of each country’s geography are treated as fixed antecedents, including national borders shared with neighboring states, mountainous terrains, or island shores. The physical distribution of natural resources such as oil, gas, gold, diamonds, and natural minerals, are not treated as amenable to short-term intervention. The accumulated experience of living for decades under either autocracy or democracy, and the deep-rooted cultural values acquired from this experience, are also not possible to change by actors within the period of an election campaign. For all these reasons, fixed inhospitable conditions — exemplified by deep-rooted poverty and inequality, a legacy of inter-communal violence in deeply divided multicultural societies, or the curse of natural resources — can be expected to hamper well-meaning efforts by reformers to strengthen transitions from autocracy and the consolidation of democratic regimes. Thinking along similar lines, given the close links between democracy and elections, the logic of the classic “Lipset hypothesis” suggests that many observed problems of electoral integrity are probably best explained by the challenging socioeconomic and cultural conditions under which many contemporary contests have been attempted in recent years, such as in Afghanistan or the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Moreover, from a policy perspective, while constraining the effectiveness of positive interventions, path-dependent structural and cultural constraints in the most intractable cases are thought to remain largely outside the realm of short-term social engineering by either domestic or international actors. After all, social structures and values, which cultural accounts suggest provide the bedrock support for democratic institutions, evolved over decades or even centuries in Western Europe. From a policy perspective, explanations based on structural conditions carry conservative implications of social determinism, suggesting that stakeholders need to be highly strategic and realistic in their specific choice of interventions, as there is little which can be done in the short term to improve electoral standards in a contest held under inhospitable conditions, such as to counter pervasive corruption in Afghanistan, the abuse of human rights following the military coup in Sisi’s Egypt, or violence and instability in Libya. Therefore, it would be foolhardy to expect that war-torn countries and fragile states could transform societies and governance within the space of a few years in the run up to an election. To consider modernization theories in more detail, Chapter 3 examines the comparative and historical evidence and considers the most plausible interpretation of the results.
International Engagement
Chapter 4 turns to understanding the international community’s attempts to uphold global norms and universal electoral standards. This provides an alternative argument seeking to explain why some elections succeed while others fail, and a perspective that has becoming increasingly popular in the research literature during the last decade. The most common strategies used by prodemocracy multilateral organizations and bilateral donors involve opening barriers to the diffusion of global norms through the free flow of information across national borders, targeting the provision of technical assistance and development aid invested in electoral processes and building the capacity of electoral management bodies, and supporting domestic and international teams of observers to monitor elections, combined with diplomatic pressures threatening or punishing regimes that violate standards. These standard repertoires of “soft power” are designed to improve the quality of multiparty elections and thereby strengthen transitions from autocracy and consolidate processes of democratization in developing countries. Globalization through cosmopolitan communications, opening trade barriers and membership of regional organizations, can be understood as the most general long-term process, while the provision of development aid and assistance functions as a medium-term strategy over successive contests, and electoral observing is the most specific short-term activity in a particular contest. A wide range of multilateral organizations are engaged in strengthening democratic governance and elections through these strategies including the UNDP, the International Federation of Electoral Systems (IFES), OSCE, the European Union, the Commonwealth, the OAS, International IDEA, and the Carter Center, as well as bilateral donors such as USAID, DFID, and CIDA.
Evaluation of selected cases suggests that development assistance can strengthen the quality of elections, not least through providing resources, transferring knowledge, and building technical capacity among electoral bodies. At the same time there are several reasons why the overall impact of international engagement may prove limited. Heated debate continues over the general question of whether aid “works” by strengthening regime transitions and processes of democratization. The most thorough research has explored whether the deployment of monitoring missions by regional organizations committed to global norms discourages ballot box fraud and count tampering in the observed polling place. Work suggests that this intervention generally has a modest impact on local polling places but this does not necessarily carry over to generating greater honesty elsewhere around the country; instead, dis- placement (whack-a-mole) effects have been spotted. Moreover, monitoring organizations have proliferated in recent years, with some missions committed to upholding international standards while others prove indifferent to these values. As a result, governments can now pick and choose whom to invite to observe their contests, with authoritarian regimes likely to select monitoring organizations sharing their cultural ties and values. The result has been to diminish the authority and impact of critical reports published by regional organizations such as the OSCE, OAS, and EU.
Even where international monitors report problems, however, this does not mean that states necessarily have the willpower, resources, or capacity to address them. At least in the past, efforts by the international community often focused most attention and aid upon the high drama of transitional elections, providing a short-term fix, such as spending on equipment, vehicles, temporary personnel, and consultants during the 2004 Afghanistan elections. The international community has not always had the commitment to invest in sustainable capacity building for election management bodies over successive contests and even decades.
Less is known about the impact of technical assistance and development aid invested in programs designed to strengthen electoral processes. Due to competing foreign policy considerations, however, realists suggest that donor countries are likely to use electoral aid to further their foreign policy interests, such as trade and security, rather than pressuring governments to adopt democratic reforms and strengthen human rights and electoral integrity. One of the clearest examples concerns the Obama administration’s vacillating position toward Egypt following the military coup ousting an unpopular but freely elected President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. By continuing to give billions of dollars of military aid to Egypt, despite major human rights abuses by the Sisi regime, US foreign policy conveys an ambivalent signal, which may overwhelm any positive attempts to strengthen democratic governance through providing development assistance to countries such as Tunisia. Moreover, violating the “first do no harm” principle, studies have found that overall levels of development aid spending may have unintended consequences, by serving to prop up electoral support for entrenched incumbents, especially where governments divert funds to benefit their political supporters or punish those favoring the opposition.
The international argument, therefore suggests that multilateral organizations and the donor community commonly use several types of “carrots and sticks,” with some degree of modest success in strengthening electoral integrity, although the impact of observer activities and technical assistance remains highly constrained. Most previous research has focused upon determining the short-term effects of international electoral observers, such as whether the deployment of observers across different polling areas limits ballot box fraud within a country. Far less is known with any certainty about the more complex medium-term or long-term impact of technical assistance and aid spending on institutional capacity-building initiatives over successive contests, such as the effectiveness of training workshops for electoral authorities or journalists covering the campaign. To consider the arguments in more depth, Chapter 4 examines the theoretical claims and analyzes new cross-national evidence to assess the impact of international forces on electoral integrity. The chapter focuses upon analyzing the effects of cosmopolitan communication flowing across national borders, technical assistance and development aid, and observer missions, understood to range from the most diffuse to the most specific types of international factors.
Power-Sharing Constitutional Checks and Balances
A growing body of research has examined the effects of structural conditions and international electoral observers on alternative indicators of the quality of elections. What has received far less systematic attention, however, concerns the institutions of electoral governance, including the overarching constitutional framework in any regime, and the more specific regulatory agencies that establish electoral governance in each state. On this basis, Chapter 5 seeks to understand the role of constitutional checks and balances in curbing the abuse of power and manipulation of the electoral rules and processes by any single actor, especially the governing party. The concept of “electoral governance” has been usefully defined by Hartlyn et al. as: “…the interaction of constitutional, legal, and institutional rules and organizational practices that determine the basic rules for election procedures and electoral competition; organize campaigns, voter registration, and election-day tallies; and resolve disputes and certify results.” The notion therefore refers to two nested levels and it is valuable to maintain this analytical distinction. The higher-level constitutional arrangements in any state, which provide the broadest context for electoral integrity, are exemplified by the type of regime, the electoral and party systems, the role and powers of the legislature and executive, and the independence of the courts and judiciary. But electoral governance is also shaped by the role of the core administrative agencies exercising authority directly over the implementation of electoral laws and procedures, commonly known today as electoral management bodies (EMB), as well as a wide range of administrative agencies responsible for regulating specific dimensions, such as boundary delimitation, political finance, and campaign communications, all of which are embedded within the broader constitutional arrangements. One of the key questions arising from this distinction is whether EMBs can be designed to be effective in strengthening the quality of elections, even in autocracies that have unfavorable constitutional conditions.
What institutional framework in any state is most likely to strengthen electoral integrity? One of the most important concerns electoral systems including, among other features, rules determining the electoral formulas, district magnitudes, constituency boundaries, and assembly size. These rules structure electoral competition over votes and seats. Competitive laws serve to provide procedural agreement about the rules of the game while also securing uncertainty about the electoral outcome. Strong and effective parliaments can be important as oversight agencies. In addition, the rule of law and the powers of the judiciary can also play a critical role in the electoral process, especially through deterring illegal acts, adjudicating complaints impartially, and resolving electoral disputes in a timely fashion. Civil society actors linking citizens and the state, notably the independent news media and watchdog organizations of domestic observers, can strengthen accountability and transparency among electoral authorities.
To understand the role of constitutional arrangements, drawing again upon the broader literature on democratization, insights can be derived from classical liberal theories that suggest that the more veto players are involved in electoral governance, the more safeguards exist against the potential abuse of power by any single actor, especially incumbents. Through curbing Leviathan, it is thought that the electoral process becomes more trustworthy for losers as well as winners. This argument is supplemented by theories of “power-sharing” or “consensus” democracies. This general perspective has a long and distinguished intellectual pedigree, developed theoretically most fully in the ideas of Arend Lijphart. Providing all parties with a stake in the process of electoral governance is thought to encourage buy-in from party elites, encouraging trust among rival communities. Building upon this foundation, Chapter 5 seeks to test the effects of several types of power-sharing constitutional designs on electoral integrity, including the propositions that electoral integrity is usually stronger in states with proportional representation electoral systems, an independent judiciary, effective legislatures, and freedom of the independent media. The chapter tests whether any institutional effects remain in properly specified models even after controlling for the external role of the international community (encouraging greater transparency and providing assistance designed to reform electoral malpractices), and the role of fixed and enduring social conditions such as levels of economic development (which serve as constraints on institutional effectiveness).
The Role of the Electoral Authorities
Finally the quality of a range of regulatory and administrative agencies responsible for implementing electoral laws and procedures is also expected to prove highly significant. Chapter 6 turns to compare the structure, functions, and culture of the administrative agencies involved in electoral governance. Election Management Bodies (EMBs) are the central electoral authorities responsible for administering legal regulations and electoral procedures within the broader constitutional context. Electoral governance involves a complex set of constitutional provisions, legal statutes, and administrative procedures established to regulate many specific dimensions of competition throughout the electoral cycle, including the demarcation of constituency boundaries; the rules governing political finance and party funding; the legal status, funding, and registration of candidates and political parties; the regulation of the news media, political advertising, and campaign broadcasts; the provision of gender quotas and special arrangements for minority representation; and the process of dealing with election complaints and dispute adjudication.
In terms of the formal or de jure structural organization, two types of electoral governance can be distinguished, although in practice many countries have mixed arrangements rather than falling neatly into either category.
On the one hand, governmental types of arrangements exist where the senior officers heading the electoral authorities are typically permanent civil servants working in an elections unit within an official department of state, such as the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice, or Home Office, reporting directly to a minister and cabinet, and indirectly accountable to parliament. Regulations are commonly implemented by staff working in local and regional agencies, including employees in state and local governments, with lower level agencies accountable to the central authorities. In terms of mandates, under this model the government department is usually responsible for many core tasks involved in regulating elections at national level, such as maintaining the electoral register, establishing guidelines for voting procedures, and standardizing local arrangements. Governmental departments may also fulfill multiple functions beyond the minimal role, including regulating candidate and party ballot access, monitoring political finance, determining boundary delimitation, allocating party political broadcasting, and dealing with dispute resolution. Alternatively, separate dedicated administrative and regulatory official bodies may be responsible for these matters, such as Boundary Commissions and Broadcasting Authorities.
As an ideal type, by contrast, the national electoral management body may be established legally as an autonomous administrative agency, although beyond the label, exactly what “autonomy” means in practice, and how de facto independence is determined, varies widely among countries. Independent administrative agencies typically have considerable control over the appointment of their own staff and control over their own budget, with security of tenure and lengthy fixed term appointments for senior commissioners so they do not need to fear dismissal by the party in government. Agencies may report directly to parliament rather than the executive. In composition, the chief commissioners are not permanent civil servants but they may instead be drawn from the judiciary, representatives nominated by political parties, or outside experts. To supplement the role of the national electoral agency, several electoral functions and roles may be dispersed among a variety of specialized administrative agencies so that broadcasting and telecommunication authorities are allocated primary responsibility for implementing a wide range of communication policies to serve the public interest, which may include regulating political advertising, party and candidate political broadcasts, campaign debates, the publication of opinion polls, and the partisan balance of campaign news coverage. Party funding and political finance may also be regulated by the national electoral management body, or this function may also fall under the remit of a specialized agency established for this purpose, such as the Federal Election Commission in the United States. Similarly the functions of dispute adjudication and legal electoral challenges may be delegated to civil and constitutional courts, not least to deal independently and justly with complaints directed against the electoral authorities. Under decentralized arrangements, which are particularly common in federal countries, state and local agencies have considerable regulatory authority and administrative discretion to organize elections.
Given these distinctions, the core questions addressed by this study are whether the agency model of electoral governance is indeed associated with greater electoral integrity than the governmental model, as commonly assumed in the technical guidance issued by the international community, and also how far the actual performance of electoral authorities is influenced more by functional capacities and administrative cultures than by formal legal organizational structures. The answers have not yet been clearly established, in part because of the dearth of reliable evidence classifying the degree of de facto EMB independence. Indeed, some comparative research contradicts the claim that the autonomy of EMBs matters; Birch found that formal EMB independence (as classified by International IDEA) had no significant impact upon the degree of electoral malpractice.
Further research is required because, despite a recent resurgence of interest, the study of electoral governance has largely been neglected, like an unfortunate uncle at a Christmas party. The most comprehensive research has examined the organizational structure of EMBs in reports produced by international agencies, notably by IFES, International IDEA, and regional organizations. The UNDP has also evaluated several cases using programmatic interventions and technical assistance designed to strengthen the capacity of EMBs. The influence of electoral management bodies on violence has also been examined, with African case studies suggesting that more inclusive EMBs are important for reducing electoral conflict. Researchers have also sought to understand the impact of the type of EMBs on public attitudes toward the electoral process. Studies have also examined the proposition that the structural independence of EMBs has a consistently positive effect on processes of democratization, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Building upon the logic already developed, this chapter classifies types of electoral governance from data in the ACE project on http://aceproject.org/, the Electoral Knowledge Network, and then examines evidence to understand whether the structural organization, functional effectiveness, and predominant public administrative culture have strengthened electoral integrity (measured by PEI). Models control for the broader context of power-sharing constitutional arrangements, and whether any institutional effects remain even after controlling for the external role of the international community and the role of fixed and enduring social conditions.
Finally, the conclusion in Chapter 7 recapitulates the overall theoretical framework, summarizes the main findings, and considers their implications for theories of electoral integrity as well as for the policy-making community. Concern about electoral integrity is hardly novel, indeed it raises centuries-old problems. Nevertheless, the electoral revolution has renewed interest in the topic during the last decade. The rapidly growing literature remains somewhat scattered across many subfields, however, and often focused relatively narrowly upon ballot box fraud occurring in polling stations in electoral autocracies, and the role of international observer missions seeking to stamp out these practices, rather than on understanding these cases as part of a far wider range of problems, which happen throughout the electoral cycle in many types of regimes. This study seeks to present a richer and more comprehensive theory, demonstrated through systematic evidence and selected case studies.
Therefore, several main schools of thought have long dominated the literature seeking to explain electoral failures. This study seeks to deconstruct these arguments, and then reassemble them to generate a more comprehensive theory capable of accounting for the complex phenomenon of electoral integrity and malpractice. The book’s conclusions summarize the overall lessons for understanding electoral integrity, as well as the insights useful for stakeholders and practitioners seeking to strengthen the quality of elections around the world. This volume therefore aims to lay the foundation for the final book in the trilogy, which addresses and evaluates policy interventions and “what can be done” most effectively to strengthen electoral integrity around the globe.
Copyright © 2015 Pippa Norris. Reprinted with permission of Cambridge University Press.
Readers can purchase the book here. | https://medium.com/challenges-to-democracy/first-chapter-why-elections-fail-by-pippa-norris-3797f2b84ad8 | ['Harvard Ash Center'] | 2018-08-22 11:53:03.104000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Operations', 'Voting', 'Elections', 'Department Of Justice'] |
The Narrowing Rift: Voice UI and Conversational UI | The Narrowing Rift: Voice UI and Conversational UI
If today’s voice operated devices AREN’T conversational, what does “conversational” even mean?
This is the second in a series of posts inspired by my time as a workshop speaker and attendee at Interaction 17 (February 2017, New York City).
In my last post, we talked about the state of voice user interfaces (VUI) at this moment in time. Voice user interfaces have gone mainstream and are changing lives and increasing accessibility for many consumers.
At the same time, today’s voice user experiences (best known as Cortana, Alexa, and Google Home) remain rooted in a very simple, command-and-control methodology. We can only call the current experiences “conversational” in the broadest sense of the word — as spoken words exchanged.
A popular and sometimes contentious topic during the Interaction 17 proceedings was conversational UI (CUI). In general, this currently refers to chat bots and other written-input user interfaces. A frequent question raised: is Alexa conversational? How do these devices fall short of human standards?
Conversing with Alexa during my time on the Alexa voice design (VUI) team.
Facebook’s Messenger Bots are the most well-known example of conversational UI these days, although several public Twitter and Slack bots fit the CUI description. Notably, chat bots are almost universally implemented via graphical output and text input, rendering them still fundamentally different from voice UIs… for the time being.
Defining Conversation
How do we define conversation after taking it for granted our entire lives? Paul Grice published 5 maxims for conversation in a fairly dense paper on the subject.
In his IxD17 talk “Conversation is More than Interface”, Paul Pangaro applied Gordon Pask’s Conversation Theory to define conversation as Context, shared Language, Exchange, Agreement, and Transaction.
Paul Pangaro sets a conversational tone during his #IxD17 CUI talk.
Further, the typical outcome of conversation is beyond direct action: it is often the building of a shared history and trust.
This is where we fall short in today’s voice systems: they are fairly ignorant of a shared history, and have no concept of how they might engender trust.
On the subject of trust, researcher Christina Xu shared an important insight regarding Chinese digital culture in her talk “Convenient Friction: Observations on Chinese UX in Practice.” In that environment, conversational interfaces are routinely used for commerce, since they perceived as more trustworthy. And yet, those interactions in China are still generally run by actual people. What could we learn about trust in commercial conversation transactions in other cultures to inform conversational UI?
Christina Xu walks us through the extensive use of WeChat in Chinese culture for conversational transactions.
Back to Paul Pangaro’s talk: he further expanded on Gordon Pask and Hugh Dubberly’s work, describing four basic conversational frames. Two of those frames can be easily found in the current generation of VUI.
Controlling: specifying a goal with means of achieving it (“Play my Prince station on Pandora.”)
Delegating: asking for an outcome without specifying how to achieve it (“Play some uptempo music.” )
At the same time, two other conversational frames were described that go beyond most voice user interfaces today:
Guiding: discussing the means of achieving a goal (“I want to hear some music. How should I do it?”)
Collaborating: mutually deciding on goals between both participants. (“What should we do?”)
These less-common frames would be more helpful in situations where the customer is less experienced with the system, and indeed training and onboarding are big hurdles for today’s systems. And what if the customer’s goal is simply to be entertained? There’s still a certain something missing.
Craftsmanship in Conversation
Once we’ve built a framework for conversation, we must paint in the details — writing the actual text delivered in the exchanges.
Later in the CUI session, researcher Elizabeth Allen walked us through how Shopify uses cross-channel bots to emulate a marketing employee’s exchanges back in North America. These bots reach out via text based channels to offer to launch Facebook ad campaigns based on sales trends. Even though these were strictly graphical/text interactions, some customers began to reply to these bots as if they were actual people.
And yet, Elizabeth brought a few key cautions that can shatter this suspension of disbelief. In particular, customers can find these bots pushy if the timing and length of responses are not carefully tuned.
Our brains don’t give text-based conversational UI the anthropomorphizing “benefit of the doubt” that we apply to voice-delivered user interfaces. This puts greater pressure on CUI designers to be writers, keeping an eye towards creating the illusion of engagement. Voice UIs with good text-to-speech synthesizers sometimes get this illusion largely for free.
In a later talk in the CUI track, designer Whitney French called out 5 metrics for creating engaging conversational UI: intelligence, flow & cadence, helpfulness, personality, and utility. While these are all subjective metrics, the most difficult to emulate is personality; humor in particular is highly subjective. These metrics can also be applied to today’s voice UIs, but the burden of brevity is greater for spoken UI.
These metrics do give us a good framework for building what may be a (subjectively) engaging conversation. And it’s a fine line to walk. Most conversational UIs probably seek to be comfortable, but not fully anthropomorphized. Yet for spoken UI, it is extremely hard to prevent the brain from viewing the source of the conversation as human. What does this mean for the coming collision of conversational UI and voice UI?
Cautionary Creepy Dolls
Let’s take a VERY recent example: My Friend Cayla. This toy doll is now banned in Germany as illegal to sell, and the government has gone so far as to order parents to destroy the toy. What went wrong?
Cayla functions in a very similar way to other voice user interfaces on the market. To understand childrens’ speech, she transmits audio files over the Internet to a cloud service. Once she understands the speech, she generates a response in a synthetic voice using a text-to-speech system, and that audio file is sent back to the toy for playback.
My Friend Cayla, a doll with a voice user interface that has come under fire at a governmental level as a tool enabling illegal espionage (image from the Google Play store)
Unfortunately, Cayla doesn’t seem to adhere to the same stringent security standards that Amazon, Microsoft and (I hope and assume) Google applies to these conversations. They intentionally do not market to children since there are significant ethical issues when a child conducts conversations that can be recorded. Furthermore, the doll’s Bluetooth connection was found to be insecure, allowing attackers to use the toy for monitoring or even communication with the child.
Some of the lessons learned here are simple infosec lessons: be cautious when taking input with children, and make sure that any device equipped with live microphones or cameras CANNOT be controlled by third parties.
But there’s also an important lesson for CUI designers here: if we are too good at our jobs, could we put our customers at risk? Elizabeth Allen mentioned in her speech how Shopify observed their CUIs occasionally eliciting more information than is necessary. One presumes this is thanks to the sucessful illusion of a human conversation. Children are faster to suspend disbelief, so the ethical issue is more pronounced. What might they tell a doll (or a digital assistant) that they trusted? Their address? Financial information? Or worse?
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
To quote the fictional Ian Malcolm from one of my favorite films, Jurassic Park:
“ …Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
Every important discussion is improved with a little bit of Jeff Goldblum.
As our voice-based digital assistants move beyond rudimentary voice exchanges and begin to move towards more conversational spoken UI, we as designers will confront more ethical considerations.
Just a few of the questions we’ll face as VUI and CUI collide:
When is it appropriate for these systems to behave in a “human” way, and what does that mean?
How up front should conversational systems be about their synthetic nature?
How much control should customers have over what information about them is tracked in a conversational context?
What damage could be done if a customer overdiscloses to a voice UI capable of surveillance, believing it to be human?
For privacy-minded customers who will not consent to long-term learning and tracking, how can conversational UIs still provide value?
Can anyone truly trust a conversation partner who is designed ultimately to drive sales?
Can an assistant that customizes its personality to suit the customer be trustworthy? Are we trusting the brand, or the adapted personality?
While I believe we should continue to pursue a more conversational world in voice UI, I also believe it should be done responsibly. In these challenging times, how can we use the great power of voice user interfaces and conversational understanding to do the most good?
Wading into Deeper Waters
In the last post, we talked about how empowering voice user interfaces are to a wide variety of customers underserved by visual/physical UI.
A key takeaway from Interaction 17 for me was a more formal taxonomy of the parlor tricks that can make our VUIs seem more conversational in nature in the short term. For voice UI designers looking to improve the craftsmanship in their system’s spoken replies, the conversational UI insights above provide a good starting point.
But in many ways, the sessions raise more questions than they answered. In my next post, we’ll dive even deeper into several of the blind spots that current voice user interfaces must address if they seek to become truly conversational beyond command and control.
May the voice be with you. | https://medium.com/ideaplatz/the-narrowing-rift-voice-ui-and-conversational-ui-7d5c95cf086c | ['Cheryl Platz'] | 2017-02-24 01:21:20.820000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Alexa', 'UX', 'Voice Recognition', 'Design'] |
Today I launched my first mobile app. Here’s what I learned | I’ve been writing a fair bit on Medium recently, sharing valuable design and development knowledge I gained from working on my first app, Crypto Price Tracker that I just launched today, on 28th Jan.
I wanted to share my story of working on this app from the day I started until today. I hope this post helps and inspires other young programmers (or really anyone who’s interested in making tech products!) to acquire valuable technical skills, identify market needs, build great products with their skills that solve those market needs.
A bit of background on me: I’m a 16-years-old homeschooler. I’ve been learning digital design and programming since I was 13. I was the youngest intern at Salesforce in Bangalore in winter 2016.
I attended MIT Launch summer program in 2017 summer where my team and I launched Universeaty. That was the first time I tried my hands at iOS apps and loved how much faster it was to build tangible products and see results of my work when building mobile apps. Bringing my ideas to software was much easier and more fun!
I started learning Swift and iOS app development from online courses on Treehouse, Udemy, watched videos on YouTube and practiced building basic apps. That laid out my programming foundations. I started building more serious and complex apps after a few weeks of learning and practice.
Around 20th November, 2017 I decided that I wanted to work on a cryptocurrency price tracker, alerts, and portfolio management app. I’ve shared a bit of the story about my motivation here. I recently realised that sharing my story and some of the lessons I learned along my journey is indeed helpful to others!
Getting Started
It was hard to get started: uncertainty, unknown unknowns, things to think about, and decisions to make. No clue what to start with and where. But I knew my first step was conducting some market research to know exactly what my target audience wanted — the features, the design, and just about everything that I’d build in the app.
I posted on Reddit, Facebook groups, Quora, and asked a few friends who were invested and interested in cryptos. I got some solid feedback on the idea and was much more educated about the needs of my target users.
The next step was to design the app. I started with drawing the user-flow diagrams and wireframes. I then moved on to using design software to create mock-ups and a prototype. I’ve written a different story about designing mobile apps from scratch, and I’ve shared pictures of every design stage of Crypto Price Tracker app.
And the end result of this process was this:
A delightful design :)
Developing Crypto Price Tracker
I was pretty afraid of reaching this stage, because I was (and still am) a programming beginner. I didn’t know a lot of Swift and had no clue how I’d set up the server for notifications, among many other technical hurdles. I had so much stuff to do for the app with little technical skills. But I was confident I could figure out things and learn along the way as I build each feature. And, in hindsight, I can say I did :)
I started out with importing all the designs in Xcode and setting a raw build for every screen. I divided my coding work based on features I’d need in the app. Quite a few times, I had to scrap things off my spec (and edit designs) because they seemed time consuming to develop (especially if it seemed that they’d offer little functionality).
I wrote the networking code to display data from the APIs I was using and built the main interface of my app. I then moved on to the “Wishlist” feature of the app. Now, to save data locally in a user’s phone, you need to create Core Data models — something I had never worked with before. And more technical gaps and challenges came up.
But I kept on learning. When I needed something, I’d Google it. Usually, there were helpful answers, code snippets, or video tutorials for almost everything. Whenever I got stuck, I would ask on StackOverflow or email my mentors for help. Slowly, I started becoming much more comfortable jumping into unknown things.
At the end of the three weeks that I spent coding the app, I improved a lot as a programmer. I learnt concepts and got to actually practice by building a real app. I got to work with a number of interesting iOS technologies, libraries, and frameworks.
I still need to improve a lot as a developer. My app sometimes loads slow. It’s not the most optimised or the fastest app out there. But I’m still pretty glad I was able to build something useful and valuable.
The next step I had planned was that I’d localize my app in 10 languages. I thought it was easy since my app isn’t text-heavy. Boy, I was wrong! Localization is a very time consuming process for apps. I’m writing a separate story to explain how to localize technically.
At the end of 8 weeks (from the day I started market research), I had fully designed and developed an app that showed real-time prices of over 1000+ cryptocurrencies from 18 exchanges in 32 fiat currencies. There were price graphs (showing historical prices from 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 1 year), portfolio management, time-based and threshold-based alerts. It was localized in 10 languages. I also optimised my app for iPhone X.
Once my build was ready, the next step was to invite users to test and give feedback on the app.
Testing and Submitting the App
I was quite proud of my app and was super excited to put it out there on TestFlight and invite all of my friends and users to test it! After a long wait of two days, the beta app review was finally approved. I invited my friends to test it and they loved the app. All of them shared feedback, ideas for features to have in future updates, and much more. The app had zero crashes!
The v1.0 build was all ready for submission. My 100 screenshots (5 screenshots for iPhone 5.5 inch and 5 for iPhone 5.8 inch for each language) were ready, my metadata was localized too, and my video preview was done.
There were some unexpected challenges in uploading the video preview because the fps (frames per second) was too high. By this point I had grown to embrace unexpected challenges and was able to handle them effectively. I was able to finish everything and submit the app for review on time.
Here’s a short video preview of Crypto Price Tracker.
Two days later, at 4AM, I got the rejection email.
This made me extremely anxious. So many thoughts were rushing through my head before I read the reasons for rejection. Apple rejected the app because the design didn’t look good when viewed on iPad. I had no clue that iPhone-only apps had to be compatible with iPads as well. In the next few hours, I read some guides and fixed all the constraints and Auto Layout issues, tested the app on iPad simulator and it worked. I submitted the build for review again.
One day later, I finally got the approval! It was a relief, and now I could focus back on the product. I had gotten a ton of feedback and bugs reported from testers. I made those small bug fixes and some translations edits, and uploaded the final build. It got approved in just 12 hours! My app was now a whole lot better and I’m glad so many people tested it and reported bugs that would have otherwise gone in the app reviews by angry customers.
In the days leading up to launch, I put together this story from the notes I made and my daily journal so I could share the lessons with everyone.
Some Lessons I Learned
Localization is a great idea. Until now, I was regretting my decision of localizing my app in 10 languages. I’d written some Quora answers on how it was the most time-consuming thing I did for my app and I’d not advise any indie developer without the budget to outsource to localize. But now my opinion has changed. Localizing your app in 10–12 languages using Google Translate and having friends proofread it is a great way to reach a larger audience for your app. Apple also loves localized apps more. You can’t always get everything right and every possible string localized. But you can get 80% of the results (i.e., text translated) with the 20% of the work. People are much more willing to help you than you think. I am very grateful to have a number of friends and mentors who helped me a lot in this journey. But I was simply astonished how so many strangers responded to me when I reached out to them and helped me. Very early on in my journey, when I just had a little prototype of the main interface of my app, I reached out to Carla White after I had read her amazing book. She mentored me and helped me with her advice for the app. As I was localizing my app, I needed proofreaders for each language to make sure the translations (done using Google Translate) are good and context specific. Pascal commented on my story on Medium offering his help with German translations. I reached out to him and on a really short notice, he really did edit my German translations! And many more complete strangers offered their help.
One important key takeaway from this would be: People are willing to help you. Reach out to them, be sincere, and they will help you in any way they can! :D User feedback early on is super critical. Not only do the kind words from your fans or believers motivate you, but a lot of your early users will give you ideas for features, for design improvements, and much more valuable feedback. One of the mistakes I made was testing very late. I uploaded my build for TestFlight testing only ~1 week before planned launch when the app was pretty much ready and I couldn’t make major changes. If I had asked my users to start testing weeks ago when I just had the main interface, I’d have gotten lots of feedback and would have improved upon it. And iterated that for every major feature, my app would have been a whole lot better. Quite a few testers have mentioned things that could have been fixed in 2–3 days if I had sent out the build for testing earlier. So my advice to everyone would be: Get your app in the hands of your users and have them test it asap and get feedback!
Some Helpful Tools I Used
AppLaunchPad for creating multiple sets of screenshots (for many localizations) faster. Cocoapods. SwiftyJSON and Alamofire for writing better networking code, Charts for creating price graphs. There’s a cocoapod for almost everything! Firebase for the push notifications server and for the caching server to store prices every 5 mins to update the price graphs. Two APIs for prices: cryptowatch and CoinCap. This API for currency rates for conversion.
It feels great to be able to share the lessons I learned and my journey with a large audience. I hope this serves as an inspiration to other people to try out learning programming and building apps or really anything they’re interested in. I’m personally going to start out with learning ML and data science after my app — so don’t be afraid of experimenting with different fields! Try out something difficult and something that makes you uncomfortable. The things hardest to do are usually the most interesting and rewarding in the end. :)
If you liked reading this and have feedback or any thoughts to share, don’t hesitate to email me at [email protected]. And if you like my app, you can download it from the App Store here. :) | https://medium.com/free-code-camp/today-i-launched-my-first-mobile-app-heres-what-i-learned-6fc25c14eee6 | ['Harshita Arora'] | 2018-01-28 14:22:33.465000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Programming', 'Design', 'iOS', 'Startup'] |
Erotic Tails. A AAMBC Review - The AAMBC Journal | It’s fall into reading season, and here at the AAMBC, we were craving a book that would keep us warm on the cold nights. That was when we received Erotic Tails by Mz. Suepreme.
Erotic Tails is an anthology comprises of six short erotic stories. None of the stories seem to be connected, which is gives the readers a new experience with each one. From revenge tales to threesomes, from BDSM to friends-to-lovers, this collection seems to have something for everyone.
We give Erotic Tails three out of five stars. A typical, middle of the road erotic anthology, this collection of stories neither disappoints nor outshines the competition. The love scenes, though hot, were predictable for anyone familiar with the genre. The writing style didn’t create an immersive experience for the reader. On the other hand, some of the characters were memorable, the dialogue was engaging, and the sex scenes’ creativity kept us turning the page. | https://medium.com/the-aambc-journal/erotic-tails-a-review-694ff310ce0f | ['Aambc Review Community'] | 2020-11-06 21:45:49.126000+00:00 | ['Black Books', 'Erotica', 'Black Women Writers', 'Anthology', 'Book Review'] |
Mindfulness is natural to the state of being alive |#13 | Podcast name: Trained by Nike
Host: Ryan Flaherty
Guest: Andy Puddicombe
Episode: Andy Puddicombe | Meditation in Times of Crisis
The brand name Nike is associated with performance, innovative technology, self-empowerment and inspiring among many other powerful characteristics. Our physical health is important for our well being but our mental health is equally impactful in our daily lives. I have been personally practising guided meditation for over a year and have seen its benefits first hand. I am not only able to maintain clear thinking but have also seen my relationships improve because I found myself having a sense of positive energy that sets the right tone for my day.
However, just like any muscle in our body that needs to be worked upon and conditioned, the mind also needs to be continuously trained. In the beginning, it was a lot harder to sit still than I had anticipated because my mind was always racing with a constant avalanche of thoughts and emotions. It has been especially hard this year that feels like a never-ending decade. So, in the spirit of building a new habit for next year and to reflect on what has been a challenging year for all of us, I revisited an episode from the Trained by Nike podcast featuring Andy Puddicombe, author, public speaker and the co-founder of the guided meditation app: Headspace.
The host Ryan Flaherty is the senior director of performance at Nike and it sounds soo right as a position for a brand like Nike. His experience working with world-class athletes clearly translates into the insightful questions he asks his guest. Conditioning the mind is vital to increasing performance on the field but not all of us are athletes, so why should we care so much? Andy describes meditation as a skill or tool to help us step out of our mind and be comfortable with our thoughts, whatever they may be instead of resisting them. He describes our minds to have two sets of emotions: good and bad. We often get a sense of joy from our good emotions but we also get a sense of anxiety with our bad emotions. Meditation helps us to spend time with these emotions, understand them and get comfortable with their presence. The greatest athletes know their mind and have befriended all the emotions that come along which manifests itself in the high levels of concentration they are able to have on the job.
Andy also mentions that the practice is backed by research and is linked to the brain’s ability to change a.k.a the brain’s characteristic of neuroplasticity. Research has shown that just like how there is more blood flow in the muscles we work on at the gym, the parts of the brain that help us experience happiness and well being receive more blood flow as we practice mindfulness. Andy describes mindfulness as the ability to be present without any distractions and with an open mind. It is hard. I have tried it but it can certainly be achieved.
We all need an opportunity to be away from our lives and meditation allows us to do that. By removing ourselves from the busyness and focusing on our breath, we can experience mindfulness and become comfortable with our state of being. It is a journey for the rest of your life and by having a clear mind, the possibilities of what you can do become endless. I hope if you are reading this, I have convinced you to give guided meditation a shot. If you do, I would love to hear about it as I have had profound experiences by incorporating meditation into my daily life and I would be delighted to hear some of your stories. 🙂 | https://medium.com/@harshapallapotu/mindfulness-is-natural-to-the-state-of-being-alive-13-2ec80572cd63 | ['Harsha Pallapotu'] | 2020-12-16 09:45:33.652000+00:00 | ['Meditation', 'Performance', 'Trained', 'Habit Building', 'Mindfulness'] |
#Podcast Le Breakdown: France, Macron and the American Media | SUBSCRIBE AND LISTEN TO LE BREAKDOWN on:
iTunes, Spotify, Deezer, Google podcast, Stitcher, Radio Public, Breaker, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Podbean and all major podcasting platforms.
Lindsey Tramuta is an american journalist who has been living in Paris since 2006. She is a culture & travel journalist, author, podcaster, and editorial consultant.
Lindsey also wrote The New Paris: the People, Places & Ideas Fueling a Movement (Abrams, 2017) which made it to the Amzon bestseller list and The New Parisiennes: the Women & Ideas Shaping Paris.
Listen to Le Breakdown on AnchorFM, Applepodcasts, Google podcasts, Spotify and most streaming platforms
In this episode, we discussed the ongoing turmoil in France as Emmanuel Macron’s administration is going from one crisis to another.
The latest episode of his calling the Financial Times to have them take down an article critical of his policies and his public outrage at the New York Times or refusal to give an interview to the Washington Post have indeed shocked many obeservers of French society including Linndsey Trramuta.The massive rallies of the pas two years from the yellow vest movement to the black lives matter marches in June and the recent ones against the global security bill have only confirmed the drift towards more authoritarianism and disdain for accountability.
The contrast between the runnning candidate of 2017 who posed as fresh promise of change has become so striking that Emmanuel Macron lately even declared that he may even consider not running for reelection.The conversation covererd issues of race in France, social upheavals and how the interarction between politics and journalism in France is strikinlgy different from what can be observed in the US or the UK.
https://anchor.fm/yasser-louati1/episodes/France--Macron-and-the-American-Media--Guest-Lindsey-Tramuta--Paris-based-american-journalist-enfhma | https://medium.com/@yasserlouati/podcast-le-breakdown-france-macron-and-the-american-media-a2f9422ece74 | ['Yasser Louati'] | 2020-12-07 21:50:22.609000+00:00 | ['Podcast', 'France', 'Emmanuel Macron', 'Laïcité', 'Islamophobia'] |
Happy Women’s Day | Days are changed we are seeing much change in people attitude towards women and opportunities for women are better now. This women’s day I would like to speak about certain traits of women that needs improvement.
Women should be bold and independent enough to handle themselves. There is no need to smoke or drink to show that we are equal to men. We are actually tossing our health in doing so.
Wearing comfortable is important but wearing sensible is much more important. We have to dress according to place we go and the mode we travel.
I don’t understand why we need company to go anywhere? It might be due to practice in our home where our parents send a girl with someone even smaller in age than sending them alone even to next street. Do we really need company to go somewhere? Company for going to washroom also? Lol . Don’t take it wrong I saw many who do so.
Try to enjoy your own company you don’t need someone to accompany you all the time. You can do anything by your own. You can only give birth to someone bearing unbearable pain. You can only bleed 20% of your lifetime still doing all your chores exceptionally.
Dear women you are much more powerful than you can imagine. You don’t need to show anyone that you are powerful because you are already powerful.
Happy Women’s Day | https://medium.com/@lalitha1729/happy-womens-day-b7d71f2cc500 | ['Lalitha Bharathula'] | 2020-03-03 10:26:48.071000+00:00 | ['Women', 'Lifehacks', 'Lifestyle', 'Life Lessons'] |
Meet The Model Who Lied About Being Transgender | After Model Carissa Pinkston was caught making transphobic statements on twitter, she responded to the controversy by coming out as transgender herself… except she wasn’t.
Pinkston, who has graced the pages of VOUGE and is represented by the legendary Elite Modeling agency in the US and Premiere Model Management in the UK, made the now deleted anti-trans posts back in May, insisting that “Trans women are not women.”
Backlash to the remarks immediately ensued, even from fellow models. In the aftermath, Pinkston alleges she retrieved hate mail, death threats and was fired from her job once her tweets went viral. In an attempt to salvage what remained of her spiraling career, she took to her Instagram and made an unexpected move- she came out as a male-to-female trans person.
As bizarre as it may seem, a minority exists of Anti-Trans trans people. It is quite a phenomenon, but the likes of Journalist Debbie Hayton and Fionne Orlander, both of whom routinely attack the trans community and campaign against the rights of transgender folks, specifically women. A common theme in the public efforts is to accuse transgender women of being a threat to women. Orlander describes herself as a “Trans identifying Male (TIM) and both align themselves with radical anti-trans activists. Many members of the transgender community have accused them of being quislings who may not be actual transgender women, but vehement transphobic men masquerading as trans with the sole intent to misinform the public and sabotage the progress of activists they frequently condemn. Or maybe it’s because they post photos wearing attire with this type of messaging:
Being transgender while simultaneously criticizing Trans women, Fionne Orlander (Left) and Debbie Hayton (Right) don “Trans Women Are Men. Get Over It.” shirts.
That we, as a community, have had to work to repair the damage done by anti-trans activism courted by transgender public figures who are given public platforms is jarring. But, it happens.
Pinkston, however, wasn’t committed enough with maintaining her deceptive declaration of being a trans woman, especially after her colleague, Model Aleece Wilson, also of Elite Modeling Agency, called her bluff on her “coming out” post under her screen name @ Oddfreckles:
After being challenged on her honest, Pinkston posted a live muted broadcast of herself crying inconsolably. While none of her viewers could hear her speaking, it was clear she was distressed. This lead to Wilson coming under fire from Pinkston’s fans and being labeled, unjustly, as transphobic for questioning the authenticity of the statements made by Pinkston.
And shortly afterward came the confession, one that lacked sincerity and appeared to give herself a pass being “Panicked” and “Only 20.”
She wanted to make things better for herself, she says, by lying to cover up her anti-trans rhetoric in an era where 12 black trans women have been murdered this year alone. While Pinkston isn’t wrong that people- of all ages- make some pretty heinous mistakes- especially when it comes to preserving your job and livelihood, they don’t typically co-opt an identity that isn’t their own for sympathy and support. The claim that her anti-trans sentiments stemmed from years of insecurity is a real psychological result for a very small pocket of trans women who feel they can never achieve social acceptance, thus forcefully denounce trans women altogether as a form of rebellion. Self hatred manifests in way where the victim chooses to lash out and bring down others in their own community as vengeance for their own painful feelings of inadequacy or internalized anger. It is true that Transgender people are indoctrinated into the belief that we must hate ourselves to suit a cis-normative culture that rejects any identity that is not binary.
Pinkston exploited that in pursuit of her own career redemption, ultimately incurring far more harm, both to herself and the community whose people she leveraged for sympathy. | https://phaylen.medium.com/meet-the-model-who-lied-about-being-transgender-ceeee597931d | ['Phaylen Fairchild'] | 2019-07-29 15:37:15.329000+00:00 | ['Equality', 'LGBTQ', 'Culture', 'Social Media', 'Transgender'] |
BBMTrade broker joins Serenity | We are pleased to announce that yet another brand — BullBearMarkets (BBMTrade) partners with Serenity.
BullBearMarkets is a forex and CFDs broker which provides traders with safe, easy and low-cost access to financial markets. BullBearMarkets is a company that has a professional, dedicated and diversified management team from many different cultures and years of experience in the market. The company provides its services to a great number of traders all around the world.
Serenity is the first blockchain escrow for financial and cryptocurrency markets. FX industry receives multiple benefits using Serenity platform that ensures the security of traders’ deals and funds by placing them on smart contracts and recording trades to blockchain. The project provides added transparency for customers and brokers alike. The combination of functions within the Serenity platform allows customers to quickly and efficiently manage their trading results and funds while having an exact snapshot of all trading activity conducted on the brokerage account. This technology reduces commonly associated financial risks for traders.
BullBearMarkets always stands for efforts that increase transparency and safety of trading. Serenity mission to bring greater transparency and security to financial markets is reflected in the philosophy of BullBearMarkets. Therefore, the company decided to support the Serenity platform. | https://medium.com/serenity-project/bbmtrade-broker-joins-serenity-883d967d249e | ['Serenity Financial'] | 2018-04-11 14:41:58.903000+00:00 | ['Trading', 'Forex', 'Escrow', 'Blockchain', 'Forex Brokers'] |
BBC in Texas | So the BBC has moved to texas actually I mean a boy from the billionaire boys club — Elon musk has moved to texas personally. Maintaining major work in California. “If a team has been winning for too long, they do tend to get a little complacent, a little entitled, and then they don’t win the championship anymore. California has been winning for too long,” Musk said at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council summit, repeating an analogy he has used many times before to express his displeasure with California’s regulatory environment.
Elon Musk
Tesla and his tunnel start-up Boring Company have operations, and a coastal village called Boca Chica, home to a SpaceX facility. SpaceX started operating in Texas in 2003. | https://medium.com/@world-123/bbc-in-texas-489d6476904a | ['Attitude World'] | 2020-12-08 22:17:58.061000+00:00 | ['Tesla', 'Spacex', 'Austin', 'Texas', 'Elon Musk'] |
The CEO in a Time of Crisis | Part One: Preparing for the Unknown
Uncertainty is a mainstay of modern business. But while we may not be able to predict the future, we can prepare for it. For the CEO, preparation begins with the acknowledgement that future events will occur over which we have no control and for which we receive no warning.
During the past few weeks, we have been forced to confront the Coronavirus and the enormity of the threat it represents.
Yet the rise of a global pandemic is but one of the many unknowns for which the CEO must prepare. These run the gamut from economic recession to disasters such as 911 and Hurricane Katrina. On a more micro level they might include the loss of a major client, pressure from a new competitor, or a government ruling that suddenly shuts off important export markets.
Because these events lurk somewhere in the future, they usually remain off the CEO’s mental radar. Often, even when they are known, far too many CEOs will succumb to a phenomenon called normalcy bias — the tendency to believe that things will function in the future in the same way they have in the past. Doing so causes us to underestimate both the likelihood of a threat and its possible effects.
Think of natural disasters. Follow-up to events such as Hurricane Katrina and Tropical Storm Sandy reveal that most companies were unprepared for these events. Would you have been?
If tomorrow, a natural disaster struck your business, what would happen in the days and hours that follow? Would you be ready operationally? Logistically? Financially? Do you have an emergency plan that addresses all of the contingencies? Most companies do not.
Another example of unpreparedness is businesses that continue to ignore the scale and immediacy of the cybersecurity threat. According to the World Economic Forum, security breaches increased by 67% over the past five years. By 2023, approximately $5.2 trillion in global value will be at risk from cyberattacks with the average costs of an attack coming in at more than $1 million.
The risks to both corporations and investors are large. Yet research shows that most companies continue to ignore the threat. Small and medium-sized business are particularly lax in addressing the threat, preferring to fall back on a logic that says “It’s a problem for the big corporations, not us.”
It’s a baffling response, especially when you consider that more than 60% of small businesses fail within six months after a cyberattack while larger organizations suffer from the loss of reputation as well as steep fines.
Preparation Begins with Cash Reserves
One of the CEO’s key pursuits is to get and spend money in the right way. Often missing from these considerations, is how to also save money in the right way.
During the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, nearly every business owner across the United States faced dire circumstances.
As the economy ground to a halt, the just-in-time revenue that many businesses relied upon to fund their operations during times of prosperity dried up. Hardly anyone was buying anything, and even the most loyal customers stopped buying products or using services because they did not have the money to spend.
Everyone was making difficult decisions at this time. The businesses that survived often did so largely because of their cash reserves.
Nearly everyone tried cost-cutting and layoffs. That helped. But the recession was so deep that simply trimming expenses was not enough. That experience affected me deeply, and it showed me that part of a CEO’s responsibility for the numbers is to have a contingency plan in place if the bottom should fall out.
In chess, there is a word for placing your opponent in such a position that you remove every single option she has except for the move you want her to make. In other words, you decide her moves in advance based on the circumstances you create. This is called zugzwang.
I never want to have my options as a CEO decided for me.
The only way to maintain your positional freedom in difficult business circumstances is to have a cash reserve built up for emergencies. If you are able to endure hard times, you will not be forced to choose to lay off half your workforce to avoid bankruptcy.
In practice, cash reserves can intimidate some CEOs because they believe that capital should be put to use. The cash reserve does not necessarily prevent you from leveraging it, but when I suggest that a business set aside a full year’s worth of operating expenses, I often see looks of astonishment.
Building up that reserve might be difficult to do, but having that capital locked away is incredibly freeing. Even under the worst business conditions, no one will ever be able to force your hand. That cash reserve, even if you never touch it for any reason other than emergencies, is a huge source of freedom and autonomy.
An accountant will never look at you and say, “You have to fire someone if you want to keep the doors open.” Instead, you have a cushion to brace for problems and solve them long before the wheels fall off.
When you are not staring down a recession, your cash reserve gives you a springboard for pursuing growth. With capital on hand, you can seize opportunities more quickly, better calculate the potential reward of taking a risk, and use your reserves as a negotiating tool to open new opportunities.
Underlying the benefits of a cash reserve is the idea of acting intentionally and not reactively.
If the cash reserve is in place, you can make educated, well-reasoned business choices. When you take the net from under the tightrope, however, looking beyond the step directly in front of you can be more difficult and can handicap your business.
Building up the cash reserve is a matter of disciplined savings.
Look at your KPIs, and determine how much you can save each month without compromising the stability of the business. Then begin to move money into the reserve.
Though I recommend setting aside 12 months of runway — built up gradually over time — I often encounter business owners who cannot possibly imagine a future where they set aside that much capital. Six months of runway or even three months of runway are less ideal, but some cash reserve is better than no cash reserve. | https://medium.com/the-ceo-brief/the-ceo-in-a-time-of-crisis-d099e6ad1fa8 | ['Trey Taylor Trinity-Blue'] | 2020-04-04 13:44:17.754000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneurship', 'Startup', 'Management', 'Leadership', 'Business'] |
Privateum 2021: Year Review | Looking forward to our vision and objectives for the year 2022, we also look back proud of everything that we achieved and all the milestones accomplished in 2021.
To fully grasp how much we have grown this year, here is our recap of 2021 in a nutshell.
PVM Token
The Privateum Initiative token (PVM) deployed this year on Binance Smart Chain, achieving monumental 10,000 + holders, 41,769 BSC transactions, 50M + in total volume and reached the rank of top 1100 cryptocurrencies in the world. The Token set its all time high value to 2.6$, growing by 1200%.
Wallet Launch
This year the biggest milestone for us, was the beginning of the Privateum Initiative Platform, with the official Privateum Public Wallet being launched!
The current version of the wallet allows users to:
Send and receive cryptocurrencies in seconds
Store and swap cryptocurrencies in one place
Protect digital money with industry-leading security
Exchange Listings
PVM Token saw both numerous DEX and CEX listings in its first year, with the token being listed on:
Pancakeswap DEX
1Inch DEX
XT.com Exchange CEX
HitBTC Exchange CEX
Partnerships
It has been exciting to share our vision and see the same excitement for the Privateum future, from others. This year, we added 6 new partners to our list, and are thrilled to envision the upcoming accomplishments to be achieved together. The new partnerships will accelerate Privateum’s growth, which are strategically designed to leap forward the project to the top of the industry.
Certik Audit
Certik Foundation successfully completed the Privateum Security Assessment Audit, underlining the Privateum code as robust. The objective of the audit was to uncover any vulnerabilities and provide protection for the future of the KYB and KYC platforms on the Privateum platform.
Whitepaper 1.0 and 2.0 Release
2019 saw several research teams, analysts and companies from legal industries, fin-tech, marketing and sales, who joined together on an endeavour to research the possibility of providing private assets management and secure crypto processing.
Finally, Privateum released the long-awaited Whitepaper 1.0 along with the research, which was followed by an updated version of Whitepaper 2.0, which was more focused on project specifics.
Crypto Licensing and Legal Opinion
Privateum received a Legal Opinion dedicated to the PVM Token utility verification. In addition, relevant Crypto Licensing has been successfully attained.
Largest Asset Management Project on BSC
Privateum Initiative became and still continues to be the largest Asset Management project on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) by Market Capitalization. | https://medium.com/@privateum/privateum-2021-year-review-78c48a837445 | [] | 2021-12-31 19:29:13.213000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Bsc', 'Crypto'] |
Live Free or … | It is perfectly perfect she feels discontent!
When malignant power demands she be pent.
It is perfectly fine to shout: This is not fine!
It is her right unspoken to draw the Stop line!
The curve of her nature so beautifully swirls.
Her Choice is her Lord in the New Normal World!
The colorful quirks pen the might of her goal —
No dread-foisted netting would flatten her soul!
Her body, her judgment, her personal flavor —
“My wholeness is sacred!”, her voice would not quaver.
The intimate moments amidst jolly sociable —
Stealing this wealth would be never negotiable!
Her elements work in a synergic coherence,
To counter the novel life-changing appearance.
Her mind punctures holes in the petty, false tale!
The shield of her reason would not ever fail.
She doesn’t feel threatened by invisible prowlers!
Ending the folly and exposing the crawlers
Is a lifelong commitment — she never would stray.
None of her liberties she will ever betray! | https://medium.com/no-crime-in-rhymin/live-free-or-279c981bf56b | ['Tonia Nem'] | 2020-05-16 03:18:36.552000+00:00 | ['Creative Writing', 'Pandemic', 'No Crime In Rhymin', 'Freedom', 'Poetry'] |
Trapezoidal Rule: A Method of Numerical Integration | Using a simple trapezoid we can solve integrations (best part is we can even let computers use this method and with some restrictions, we can also some some of the usually unsolved integrations) numerically with a desired level of accuracy.
Why Trapezoid for Integration?
We know that if we plot a given function its integration is equal to the area closed by the function’s curve with the independent variable axis.
Fig-1: Our function f(x) plotted in the coordinate plane with horizontal axis as x axis
Suppose we have a function f(x) and x is the independent variable. Let’s plot our function. After plotting f(x) vs x, if we take two points like x = a and x = b . Then, what is the value of the integration between in the limit of a and b ?
Fig-2: First pointer is at x= a and 2nd one is x=b. The pointer takes on all values of x as it goes.
As you can see, I have taken a two random point on x axis(x=a and x = b), corresponding to those x values we will get two y-values ,which are y = f(a) and y = f(b). We will get the y values for all x values between the linear region. Now what we can do is draw rectangles using consecutive points on x axis and points on the graph (As we do to define the integrations itself).
Usually we use rectangular boxes to approximate area under the curve (making width of each rectangle = dx as small as possible to get result as accurate as possible) which works fine . But in this case we’ve to use many terms(rectangles) which is not that efficient. .
Fig-3: Left side represent area approximation using rectangle and Right side shows the area approximation using trapezoid (here a = 0)
As you can see, I’ve used same number of rectangles and trapezoids in both cases with same width . Now it’s clear that trapezoids approximates the area better than rectangles which is the main idea behind using Trapezoids instead of Rectangles.
Calculating Area
Suppose we have a function f(x) and we are interested in the integration in the linear range of x = a and x = b. Then the value of integration is:
See figure 2
We have divide the x axis uniformly into small lengths ,each having a width of h = (b-a)/n . Here n(no. of trapezoid) is a huge number. The larger n will give us better result.
As the length is equally divided into n equal parts , hence we can write any point on x axis as
Remember we have created n equal lengths that means we have n + 1 points. As an example see your hands. You have 5 fingers(If you have 6 then error🤣) but It contains only 4 gaps.
Corresponding to each of those x values , If we draw lines parallel to y axis , then the points at which they intersect the curve are the corresponding function values and hence the length of each dotted lines.
Hence each purple dot on the red graph represent (x_r,f(x_r)) and here x_0 = a is used.
Fig-4: Here h = 2 unit. As you can see when we move along the arrows from 1st x to 2nd x, we add a h.
You may ask why x_r has such a value ? You can see in the figure-4, As we move from x_0=a to the end of the first trapezoid, we add it’s width to our x value. Hence, each time we cross a trapezoid , we have to add a h with the a. So, to reach the r-th point on x axis(r-th x value) we have to add h , r-times with our x_0.
As you can see each shape is a trapezoid. Hence we just need to find the area of each trapezoid and adding them will give us total area under the curve.
Fig-5: r-th trapezoid of the area approximation, which parallel sides of length f(x_r) and f(x_(r+1))
Now you see we take two point x_r and x_(r+1). For those two points we have two lines parallel two y axis, whose lengths are f(x_r) and f(x_(r+1)) . You can see clearly it is indeed a trapezoid with a height of h(x_(r+1)-x_r) and the length of 2 parallel sides are the length of the lines which are parallel to y axis. Using just normal geometric area formula of trapezoid, we get, | https://medium.com/cantors-paradise/trapezoidal-rule-a-method-of-numerical-integration-5772838657b3 | ['Kazi Abu Rousan'] | 2020-07-02 12:15:16.092000+00:00 | ['Science', 'Integration', 'Numerical Analysis', 'Mathematics', 'Math'] |
Why Personalization Is Your Secret Marketing Weapon | When we talk about personalization in marketing, we’re not just talking about adding someone’s name to an email. Ok, yes, that does help. But it’s more about curating the user’s experience with your brand to make them feel included, considered, and truly a part of your brand’s marketing process.
In the past, marketing was sort of a ‘blanket statement’ — ads said ‘Here’s our product, here’s what it does, buy it!’ But nowadays, people require a little more attention. Even though we live in a world that is largely digital and automated, people are still looking for a genuine connection with the companies that they choose to interact with. In fact, a whopping 90% of users view personalized marketing in a positive light when it comes to brands they want to buy from. And though that number might be shocking, it’s not surprising. Personalization allows users to ‘cut to the chase’ and see content that will appeal to their buying habits, demographic, etc., without all of the extra fluff that doesn’t apply to them. Getting straight to the point will make it more likely that a customer will start to build a relationship with you instead of glossing over and moving on to the next.
USERS WANT TO KNOW THAT BRANDS ARE LISTENING.
If you’re just getting started with your personalized marketing strategy, try starting with email campaigns, social media, or blog posts. The key to personalization in these mediums is speaking with your audience in a way that relates to them. Oftentimes in marketing, companies may send out blanket emails or social media ads advertising a product to an audience that can’t relate. Not only does this tactic hurt your brand on the outside, but it can hurt you on the inside, too — not targeting the correct audience can hurt your marketing budget and decrease your ROI.
Emails in particular are the main culprits here (though social media is not free from blame!). 71% of consumers say that personalization plays a big factor in whether or not they open the email — which means not including a personalized subject line can result in a lot of unopened emails. Additionally, generic emails from companies, especially those that are unsolicited, can end up filtered out of Gmail’s primary box to the promotions folder, social folder, or worse — the dreaded spam folder never to be seen again.
Personalization can also be as simple as using the right tone of voice and targeting the right audience. Consumers aren’t looking to be bombarded by digital ads and social media posts that don’t have anything to do with them — they are looking for ads that add value to their search. Defining your audience will also help you in the long run, because again, you don’t want to waste a big budget advertising to an audience who doesn’t have any use for your product or service. You’ll also want to speak in the tone of voice that your audience will relate to — and this is extremely important when it comes to social media and blog posts (and any type of marketing you’re doing, really). As much as people want to feel like they are being heard, they also want to feel like a brand is truly connecting with them. Yes, that means exactly what you think it means. Try talking to your audience, not at them. You’ll be surprised how your engagement stats change.
91% OF CONSUMERS PREFER COMPANIES THAT OFFER PERSONALIZED RECOMMENDATIONS.
Speaking of stats, have you been checking yours? If you haven’t, consider starting. Data is an important part of marketing personalization. There are times where you may feel like you know your audience inside and out, but if they aren’t engaging with your content, try turning to your data to get specifics.
Data and analytics are just as integral to personalization as the creative ideas are. They will help you identify which audiences you are connecting with, what types of content they are engaging with, and help you nail down the best times and what channels to use to reach out. Looking at your audience’s habits and behavior on your brand’s website and social media can help you create more of the content that matters to them, resulting in an audience that keeps coming back to your site for more information. Consumers will feel like you are considering them through your marketing, which can also result in better conversions. 91% (that’s nearly all!) of consumers actually prefer companies that provide them with relevant content and personalized recommendations. That’s an incredible amount of opportunity to miss out on. Take advantage of those analytics and seriously consider them when building your strategy.
A PERSONALIZED MARKETING STRATEGY GIVES CONSUMERS A SENSE OF IDENTITY.
Ok, ok — we know you’re curious about how this affects the relationship with your customer. The fact of the matter is that, yes, people know that a brand is probably in touch with hundreds of people each day. Still, no one wants to feel like a faceless person in a crowd. Using a personalized strategy helps your audience with their sense of identity — meaning that they feel as if you see them as a person instead of just a customer number.
Take the time to really get to know your audience, what they need, and what they’re feeling. That includes feedback! You don’t just want to have superficial relationships with your consumers; you want to build brand loyalty. You want people to see your brand as their go-to so that they come back. Brand loyalty can bring in other customers as well; after all, good word spreads fast.
But what if you want to build these relationships and you don’t know where to start? Simple — ask your audience what you want to know. It works (trust us)! Social Media Polls, Customer Surveys, and just generally asking for feedback is a great way to tap into your audience’s mind and get the information that you need. Throughout this post we’ve talked about how the majority of people prefer personalized experiences. 83% of consumers say that they would happily share information that would lead to a more personalized marketing experience. It never hurts to ask!
There you have it! Personalization is probably one of the most useful tools in your marketing bag, so don’t let it fall by the wayside. Here at Creative Juice, we are avid users of personalized marketing because we believe that building great relationships are the first step to a successful marketing & branding strategy. If you are curious about how personalization can help you develop a better marketing strategy and build better relationships, contact us. We’ll be happy to help! | https://medium.com/@saiydah/why-personalization-is-your-secret-marketing-weapon-9a05a5e2ac8b | ['Creative Juice'] | 2020-12-18 15:58:24.543000+00:00 | ['Advertising', 'Branding', 'Graphic Design', 'Agency', 'Marketing'] |
Here are 4 things you need to do for a spacious life | There are times in our lives when we all get narrow. we feel the same and monotonous every day. In this article, I have collected the small things that you can apply every day but will have big effects on your mood under 5 headings.
1. Be Punctual
Photo by Khadeeja Yasser on Unsplash
The number one rule is timing. time is one of the few things that we can not change. Even if we cannot change it, we can manage it. Being successful in time management takes you one step further everywhere, from implementing your plans to making your dreams come true. and also arriving at the meeting point on time shows your respect for the other person.
To manage your time more effectively:
2. Cleanroom, Clean Mind
Photo by Francesca Tosolini on Unsplash
Cleaning is an action that requires continuity in daily life. It may look tiring but definitely refreshing when you do it. Instead of devoting one day of the week to cleaning, make small attempts every day of the week, such as tidying around, so there is less room to gather the next day. So you can focus on your work with the happiness of fulfilling your duty and feel the lightness of cleaning every day.
3. Take Care Of Your Clothes
Photo by Angela Bailey on Unsplash
At first sight, we all notice external appearance.
a person’s clothes show the self-care. Also, having a style makes you strong and increases your self-confidence. Wear clothes that express your spirit and maintain your upright posture. But taking care of your clothes doesn’t require you to be addicted to fashion.
4. Implement Your Decisions
Photo by Jens Lelie on Unsplash
We direct our lives and our decisions guide us. Determine the path you need to follow to reach your goal. What kind of life would you like to live? Change starts with decisions but ends with determination. Use your determination and willpower for the person you want to be.
See you for the next post! | https://medium.com/@franceslennon/here-are-4-things-you-need-to-do-for-a-spacious-life-c95e157b2ca | ['Frances Lennon'] | 2020-12-15 09:44:39.254000+00:00 | ['Time Management', 'Life', 'Cleaning', 'Decision Making', 'Self Improvement'] |
When are you going home? | Cheers to 2020. This has been a difficult but most important year for many of us. A most maddening and unpredictable but unforgettable year.
Photo by Christian Lue on Unsplash
During these last days, many of us either long for or have been blessed enough to be able to spend precious time with those we love. Our family and our friends at home.
I hold the belief that everybody belongs somewhere. We are all searching for something. Some find it in the village, town, city or country of their birth, others seek it out elsewhere. Some people eventually find it but tragically most do not. Home is not a place, its a knowing. An assurance.
As we pursue our dreams, as we journey across this land and seek to become, to integrate, continually we are asked a variation of two questions:
Where are you from? When are you going home?
The first question is understandable and it’s always triggered by the lack of blindness in our eyes and a loss of deafness from our ears.
There’s no reason to be surprised at this question, no temptation to take offence since we all do it and probably always will.
However, the second question. “Home?” What exactly does that mean?
This is a question that is sometimes raised out of innocent curiosity, as a means of small talk but on rare occasions, is it used by some to remind you to “know your place” and emphasise that “you don’t belong here”.
This isn't always true but these thoughts and feelings tend to linger. I’ve been told by people who are much wiser than myself that sometimes, it lingers for a lifetime.
Intent matters
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Unfortunately, however pure or otherwise the intent may be, it subconsciously triggers in you, the question. “Do I really belong here?”
For me, I always answer with a variation of “I’m already at home” although I understand it's not as black and white for many. Home sounds simple but it’s actually a very complex word. Oddly enough, most 4 letter English words are complex in their context, but I digress.
As far as I’m concerned, Country of Origin is where you or your forebears were born but “Home” is and will always be where you choose to live and with the people you choose to trust — the people who have accepted you.
The only way this place can become your home is if you find another 4 letter word — “Love”. The love of a city, a group of people and even a coffee shop.
Like, most things in life except your place of birth and your family, Love is always a choice. When you adopt a country, even before becoming a citizen, you’ve chosen to make that country your home. Whatever the initial reason for moving here, as long as your residency is legal and your intention is noble, then isn’t this your home?
Think of it this way, you might own 10 houses, you may have lived in 18 cities but you’ll only really have one home and that’s where you build your most treasured memories. That's where your heart calls for. It’s your anchor.
It doesn’t matter where you were born or how many decades you lived there.
So, are you going home?
Photo by Sebastian Staines on Unsplash
When are you going home is a question that’s become inconsequential if you know you’re already here. What matters more are…
Where do you feel at home? Where do you believe you belong?
I understand that some will agree with this, others will strongly object and perhaps many more will even take offence. Opinions are a dime a dozen, I have mine and you have yours.
As for me and my family, we are already Home. | https://medium.com/@herodownunder/when-are-you-going-home-419f790d3381 | ['Ola Tawose'] | 2020-12-23 22:46:50.019000+00:00 | ['Christmas', 'Covid 19', 'Home', 'Life', 'Immigration'] |
7 Data Challenges in Autonomous Driving | Image created by author using Pixabay
Understanding Data Challenges in the Autonomous Driving Domain
There are numerous data challenges in the autonomous vehicle value chain, a lot of it impacts specific use cases and outcomes. This article highlights the nature of challenges and their impact across the data value chain.
Introduction
Automotive data is of high interest due to the diverse and complex nature of data, its multiple sources as well as high volume of the data continually generated. Within an autonomous driving context, real-time requirements around navigation, safety and revenue models create new challenges.
General AV Data Challenges
As vehicles advance to higher levels of autonomy, the deep learning models utilize high volumes of data for decisions e.g., from sensors, cameras, lidars, pedestrian behaviors, road conditions etc. There are a multitude of different challenges when it comes to the data value chain within autonomous driving and we will examine a few key themes here.
AV business models are driven by the ability to understand and overcome data challenges.
Real-time and Scale Challenges
A fleet of just a few dozen cars with cameras will generate more than a million hours of video in a few months which, once captured, needs to be transmitted, stored, tagged, and processed for training via deep learning neural networks. Dodging every object, pedestrian, car, obstacle etc. can become a mammoth task if data is not decomposed in a modular way. Huge data sets e.g., driving conditions, weather, behaviors, local laws etc. and extreme computational and power requirements create challenges to operate in real time.
Debugging/Troubleshooting Challenges
Massive data sets, complex weighted features, non-deterministic AI models and real time processing is
a mix that is difficult to diagnose and interpret. Quality, completeness, interdependencies, and correlation of data including coverage of all outlier and corner use cases, are much harder to detect, predict and correct if machine learning models fail. Neural networks can become unreliable and sensitive to changes e.g., Changing of lighting conditions, resizing of images, cropping at different angles making it hard to address all safety aspects in a standardized way and to troubleshoot them in real time.
Accuracy Challenges
Safety systems require real-time detection, accuracy from non-deterministic AI models with complex compute and communication constraints — these requirements can strain the systems of today. These systems are expected to accurately operate across diverse weather conditions, visibility, infrastructure quality and external pedestrian behaviors.
Lifecycle Challenges
The scale, accuracy, logging, monitoring, reporting of data must consider the entire data management lifecycle i.e., creation, acquisition, collection, modification, processing, transmission, sharing, storage, and disposal. Given nonstandard formats of data collection e.g., differences between camera and lidar, proprietary analysis by companies across the value chain, volume, and velocity of data — we risk losing out on many important attributes of data towards completeness i.e., perishable insights or dark data.
Collaboration Challenges
The lack of standardized live and test data sharing between AV companies, infrastructure companies, regulators and other stakeholders who want to control their narratives, limit proprietary information, expand competitive advantages and not incur costs to share, makes it harder to inform and develop safety features quickly and with repeatable results.
Other Miscellaneous Challenges
1.Optimal synchronization of simulation and real data from the field, replicating driving algorithms and vice versa
2.Handling operational and supply/demand data to maximize revenue while minimizing dead miles e.g., automotive health, battery levels, fleet management and fleet positioning data etc.
3.Passenger real-time data during each of the four critical rideshare phases (pre-board, boarding, transit, disembarking), to ensure passenger safety and health, payments, luggage, child safety etc. require complex and secure interplay of real-time decisions from sensor data, 3rd party integrations
4.Aggregating and managing real time data from the ecosystem i.e., vehicle edge and cloud to monetize mobility services through APIs
The solution to these data challenges is being focused on the specific autonomous use case being addressed — and not let the large amounts and velocity of data overwhelm the system. Specific use case focus enables decisions on value of data, reduced scope, addressing challenges in a more surgical manner and will help with architectural, partnership, safety, regulatory decisions that will ultimately result in a valuable and profitable autonomous service.
Image created by author using Pixabay
AV Data Value Chain Challenges
Each of these data challenges manifest themselves differently across the autonomous driving data chain. The table below attempts to map challenges to the data value chain. The challenges with accuracy have the highest impact across the value chain all challenges impact AV decisions. Figure 1 below provides a summary of the data challenges mapped to use cases.
AV Data Challenges Mapping (Framework by Authors)
Conclusion:
Automotive and autonomous data is diverse and challenging to manage since it is used for real time and safety critical decisions, and since the data has impact across a wide variety of use cases. The point to note is that the challenge is not a lack of data, but understanding data, its challenges and effectively prioritizing AV data requirements and system design to operationalize specific autonomous use cases.
Other Relevant Articles:
1. The Autonomous Driving Technology Stack
2. Autonomous Driving: Why Big Data Value is a Myth
3. Seven Data Challenges in Autonomous Driving
4. Seven Autonomous Driving Business Models
5. 12 Technologies Enabling Autonomous Driving Business Models
6. Pathways to Adoption For Autonomous Driving Infrastructure
About the Authors:
Nitin Kumar
Nitin Kumar is a 20-year veteran in the Hi-Tech industry. He is currently the CEO of Appnomic but played a variety of hands on executive roles ranging from CEO, Chief Growth Officer, Chief Transformation Officer, M&A Integration/Separation Leader, BU Head and Management Consulting Partner (corporate and PE portfolio companies). Nitin Kumar is a member of the Forbes Technology Council and shares his ideas and thoughts on the forum regularly. In his role as a former Management Consulting Partner, Nitin has done multiple strategy and M&A engagements for Software, Hardware, Semiconductor and AutoTech sectors gaining invaluable insights in the value chain, technologies, and business models. He is also a Certified Autonomous Driving Professional.
Manu Namboodiri
Manu Namboodiri has for 20 years worked across industries such as autonomous vehicles, security, IoT, software and has broad experience ranging from strategy, product, marketing, and ecosystem development. He resides in the San Francisco Bay area and advises companies in various stages of market adoption.
Gain Access to Expert View — Subscribe to DDI Intel | https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/7-data-challenges-in-autonomous-driving-e21d05dacc3a | ['Nitin Kumar'] | 2020-12-27 12:14:23.043000+00:00 | ['Big Data', 'Autonomous Cars', 'Business', 'Selfdrivecarsmauritius', 'Innovation'] |
Software development with IT solutions | Software development means interactive reasoning activity that aims to create a programmed software to meet the business objectives, goals, and purpose. Software development is the activity of conceiving, identifying, designing, arranging indulge in creating and maintaining other software components.
10 different types of software development:
Software development is unbelievable in demand and indemnifies to be a part of today’s competitive market. According to David “software development means to set of computer science processes committed to the activity of creating, scheming, deploying and supporting software.” so below shows the ten different types of software development:
Web development: web development is the work indulge in developing a website through the internet. Web development can extent from developing a single static page to a web-based internet application, electronic work, and social electronic services.
2. Mobile development: it is the movement by a versatile application is produced for cell phones, for example, computerized colleagues or cell phones. These applications can be preloaded on telephones during assembling stages to give an application-like encounter inside the internet browser. Application programming engineers likewise ponder a long exhibit of screen sizes, equipment articulations inside every one of the stages.
3. Data science is an interdisciplinary field that uses a scientific process to extract understanding and insights from many structured and unstructured facts. Data science is related to data mining, machine learning, and big facts.
4.Application development: this is the real type of programming. These are standard applications that perform their responsibility on traditional desktop operating systems such as windows, mac, or Linux.
5. Back-end development: back end development is the work that goes on behind the scenes to make positive the frond-end program agitate behind half of the computer to stand still. The backend of a website is where the data is collected and it usually involves three parts: a server, an application, and a database. Back end developers required to understand databases, as well as server logical languages and architecture.
6.Software tools development: not used by most customers but evaluative in the software development industry this type of development construct tools for other software developers to check their code with. Beyond simply testing developing this software will ensure other designers.
7. API development: the development of application programming interfaces is the art of constructing something extensible. Developers build programs that act as puzzle pieces with different operating systems on desktop, mobile, and app.
8. Embedded systems development: with the increase of the internet of things and just about everything except the kitchen sink being connected to the internet these days embedded systems development has to resound. Embedded systems are a computer system a mixture of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices.
9. Security software development: As a rule, a safe SDLC includes coordinating security testing and different exercises into a current advancement measure. Models incorporate composing security prerequisites close by useful necessities and playing out an engineering hazard investigation during the plan period of the SDLC.
10. Cloud Computing: cloud computing is the on-demand accessibility of computer system resources specifically data storage and computing power without direct active management by the user. | https://medium.com/@analaticg/software-development-with-it-solutions-956a4e359487 | ['Curve Infotech Software Solutions'] | 2020-12-18 05:41:36.399000+00:00 | ['Search Engine Optimizati', 'Information Technology', 'Software Development', 'Onpage Seo', 'Cloud Computing Services'] |
Managing Complexity | How to manage projects with no predefined outcome?
Natalie Verheggen — Project Director at CLEVER°FRANKE
Every agency has their own approach to creating solutions for their clients. Some may be fairly straightforward or follow the usual beats expected within a project; for instance, creating an e-commerce site generally has some must haves. Others wade through muddied waters; you know you need to reach dry land at the end, but until you do, you try to find a solid path that supports you through to the other side.
Most large-scale projects also bring complexity with them. This can stem from dealing with cross-disciplinary teams, cross-sector clients and emerging technologies that you may not fully grasp, or from the process itself and having to define a trajectory without knowing all the steps upfront.
In this article I will share a few insights I’ve learned through the years, that help to manage complex projects and environments to achieve the right solution for the client and, ultimately, the end user.
No need to be brief
As data and technology proliferates and penetrates every aspect of today’s businesses, our clients will often approach us with data they’ve collated over the years and ask us to ‘do something’ with it. They may not have a clear idea of the solution they want, but may have an idea of what they want solved, and it’s our responsibility to get to the bottom of that. Without a clear objective you might spend a lot of time solving the wrong problem.
Between the lines of every brief lies the real issues that every client is pleading for you to solve by providing a solution to ease their woes. What they formulate on paper may not necessarily be what they envision in their minds. Getting to the core of what really pains them, and the solution that will actually make an impact for them, requires hard work, patience and diligence.
You need to thoroughly interrogate the client (and ideally their end users) to get to the bottom of their wants, desires and needs, and define an end goal that captures that as closely as possible.
You need to manage the client’s expectations of what is feasible, what they want to achieve and what the outcome will be.
This is not a quick process so make sure there is enough time in the project scope to really delve into this and enough flexibility to change direction if the brief changes based on this investigation.
And one more thing: don’t forget to also consider what your team’s goal is. An internal vision helps drive ownership within the team. Speaking of teams …
Build the team you need, with the expertise that’ll get you to your end goal
Once you have an end goal in mind, you’ll need to assemble a team with the right expertise that’ll be able to build what you need. Complimentary disciplines, which support each other’s work, help guide the process naturally through their synergy and collaborative natures. They are able to maintain focus on the best desired outcome for the client while also ensuring alignment with the agency’s own needs.
Build buy in early by sharing the project goal and exploring together the best way to tackle it. Allow for fluid collaboration, with shared working spaces, walls for project documentation and regular touch points.
This collaborative approach is an attitude you should train your team in over and over again so it becomes part of the agency’s culture.
Creating the framework
Flexibility is key to creating a process that will work moving forward. You don’t want to have clearly defined steps that are later deemed unnecessary or unrelated to everything you’ve accomplished up until then, but you do want to guide the process and have contingencies in place.
Having a clear project framework sets the path and stops the team from reinventing the wheel each time they start a project. But allow for flexibility: the framework should be a guide but activities within it should be adaptable.
Experiment early on
Give room for creativity and experimentation in the project plan. Allow the team to uncover new and impactful ways to address a brief, from data, content and technological perspectives. Especially when working with new technologies or unclear data sets let your team prototype as much as possible early on. You want to weed out the solutions which aren’t going to be relevant to the project, and double down on the elements that show promise. Facilitate collaboration with the client to make sure you’re leading your team down the right avenues and exploring paths the client is comfortable with.
In trust, we trust
Part of dealing with the uncertainty of projects that don’t have a clearly defined product at the other end, is giving yourself over to trust. A way to gain trust is by continuously iterating on the framework you use to factor in unforeseen events as much as possible. But eventually the most important thing; you need to trust in the skills and capability of your team, allowing them the freedom to follow their ideas. Trust = freedom.
You also need to trust in your own instincts; that you have what it takes to put together the right team, the experience to lead them, and the courage to make those bold decisions. Doubt is a natural part of the process, after all you’re dealing with a lot of uncertainties, but focus on the certainties that you can place your trust in.
To allow your team to thrive you also need to build trust with the client. Involve the client along the way, build their confidence that your team is an expert partner and be clear on deliverables and expectations. If the path needs to change you want the client to be right there with you.
Milestones vs. deliverables
During the exploration phase, teams may follow divergent paths. You need to set the parameters of the project and the constraints, know how much leeway you can afford them, and when you need to corral them back on track to focus on moving forward.
To maintain productive forward momentum, focus on the milestones you want to achieve along the way. Setting deadlines and deliverables may sound logical, but if you don’t know what the final outcome will be, it can be devastating to a teams’ moral. By focusing on achieving certain elements by a set milestone, you mitigate this deadly trap. The client has to understand this and shift his focus from deliverables to delivered ‘value’ for their end users.
Track progress but focus on feedback
A check list is great to have but if you’ve gathered anything from the above, it should be that as a ‘PM’ you’ll need to fight your natural instinct for control and replace it with an open, flexible mindset that is comfortable with a dynamic process and the uncertainties that arise. One way to make sure you’re on track with client wishes is to take them along with you in the process. Incorporate a frequent feedback loop that acts as the checks and measures you’d usually have in place. Managing expectations, meeting desires and gaining client buy-in of the process/solution/outcome can be a more powerful means of validation than a standard, rigid checklist. Build in contingency in planning to allow for new, more fruitful paths to be explored without a change request around every corner.
Conclusion
The digital landscape is continuously changing and there’s no end in sight. A mindset and attitude equipped for change and uncertainty, with confidence in one’s leadership, the team and the process, will overcome the challenges every agency will face in the years to come and drive the delivery of real value to the client and their end users. | https://medium.com/clever-franke/managing-complexity-fdd7a85e9d09 | ['Natalie Verheggen', 'Clever Franke'] | 2019-03-21 12:28:49.206000+00:00 | ['Project Manager', 'Project Management', 'Digital Project Manager', 'Scrum', 'Digital Design'] |
Why my mom and I rarely say ‘I love you’ | Why my mom and I rarely say ‘I love you’
Saying these words is easier done than said, for an Asian anyway.
My mother is a tough woman. By that, I mean literally and figuratively. She’s been a working mom my whole life, therefore instilling the importance of women working outside the home in a time when women were expected inside the home. She’s retired now, and spends her days in the presence of God, trips to the grocery store, and my home. She gives my kids money for their birthdays and Vietnamese holidays, such as Tet. And every once in awhile — a hug and a kiss.
This behavior is by far the opposite of what I experienced growing up. As a child of the nineties in Vietnam, I was part of a traditional Vietnamese family, where respect for elders, hard work and dedication in school as well as faith were by virtue, a demonstration of love and required of every child. We simply didn’t show our love by kissing or hugging each other, and we definitely did not say, “I love you” very often. Even saying “thank you” on a regular basis were uncommon.
It’s no surprise then that my mom fell into the category of the unaffectionate. She has never been one for showing affection. The closest I ever felt to her showing love for me was through her actions. She worked hard so that we could have food on the table and clothes on our bodies, but growing up, as a daughter, I yearned for love. Like most humans who crave social connections, I longed for her to hug me, kiss me, and touch me in a loving, tender way. That never happened.
I know that she loves me, but she has a hard time showing it. Instead, she’ll say things like, “You bring a child into the world, and you love them, but how do they repay you? By doing what you don’t want them to do.” Her words reminded me of a recent article in the New York Times, written by a fellow Vietnamese, an English professor named Viet Thanh Nguyen called, “Why We Struggle to Say I Love You.” In it, he wrote:
“…many of us children are not expected to say it either, but instead are expected to express love through gratitude, which means obeying our parents and following their wishes for how we should live our lives.” — Viet Thanh Nguyen
I am, by far, a rebel. Perhaps because I spent the majority of my childhood in America, the same way that the author did, I felt a higher inkling towards affection. Common phrases such as, “please” and “thank you” have been deeply ingrained in my mind. And yet, I still can’t find the courage to say, “I love you” to my mom and neither has she. The feeling is there, just not the words.
Photo by Ali Yahya on Unsplash
When my daughter was born, I felt an enormous amount of affection the first moment I held her in my arms. After being cleaned and measured, she was brought over to me by my husband, and as I gazed at her on my hospital bed, I was overwhelmed with emotion. It was what I would call “love at first sight.” I wondered if my mother ever felt that way about me.
As luck would have it, my daughter is an incredibly affectionate child. Where I lacked in receiving love from my mother, I made it up by receiving it from my daughter. There’s never a shortage of “I love you mommy,” drawings filled with hearts and smiling faces, and hugs. Being a mom to such a child has been a learning curve for me.
We Asians are complicated creatures. After being alive for 34 years, I still have yet to understand the ways of my elders. Be humble, work hard, bring home the money, and the rest is history — we equate love with stability. Sacrifice and humility are major tenets of Asian cultures, and no doubt will continue well into future generations. Of course, not every Asian family is like that — just mine. | https://hoangsamuelson2.medium.com/why-my-mom-and-i-rarely-say-i-love-you-111c59f98dd4 | ['Hoang Samuelson'] | 2019-03-30 14:33:41.658000+00:00 | ['Culture', 'Asian American', 'Motherhood', 'Love', 'Feelings'] |
The Euler-Mascheroni Constant | Remember the harmonic series?
More often than not, it serves as one’s first encounter with a series wherein individual terms diminish successively yet the series diverges to infinity. The below quote nicely sums the up notoriousness of the harmonic series:
Today I said to my calculus students, “I know, you’re looking at this series and you don’t see what I’m warning you about. You look and it and you think, ‘I trust this series. I would take candy from this series. I would get in a car with this series.’ But I’m going to warn you, this series is out to get you. Always remember: The harmonic series diverges. Never forget it.” — Source
Indeed. Never forget. The harmonic series diverges. Flirting continuously with convergence all the way, yet slowly but surely making its way to infinity. Increasing ever so slowly. In your grasp, yet out of it. Coldly tantalising its suitors.
By now, the series’ divergence has been confirmed via myriad different proofs, though none more beautiful than the very first one, which stands out for its simplicity. However, in this article, we would be concerned with the question
Is there any function which provides a decent approximation to the partial sums of the harmonic series?
Here, by partial sums, we mean the first n terms of the series, ie, -
It turns out there is one, the natural logarithm function. As n gets larger, the difference between the partial sums and ln(n) approaches a finite limit. This limit is known as the Euler-Mascheroni constant, γ (gamma).
First appearing in 1734, the constant derives its name from two mathematicians — the ubiquitous Leonhard Euler, and Lorenzo Mascheroni, an Italian mathematician. The notation γ was adopted most probably because of the constant’s connection with the gamma function (extension of the factorial function). Despite being around for almost 300 years, gamma’s rationality is an open question. Also, it is unknown whether gamma is algebraic or transcendental.
How does the harmonic series relate to the logarithm function? That, precisely, is the content of this article. The process followed here relies on geometrical intuition, and is an archetype of a well established test for series convergence, the integral test.
Let
Then,
For better understandability, the article has been divided into four sections | https://medium.com/cantors-paradise/the-euler-mascheroni-constant-4bd34203aa01 | ['Ujjwal Singh'] | 2020-12-14 14:45:04.695000+00:00 | ['Science', 'Math', 'Mathematics', 'History'] |
React Libraries You’ll Want to Check Out for Your Next Project | As someone looking to create beautiful, responsive, web applications with react it can be a little daunting trying to decide what libraries to pick when you are planning out your project. There are so many & picking out the libraries that best fit your project idea can be pretty difficult. This is why I decided to create a list of react libraries that are worth checking out.
Libraries For Styling
Styling libraries can save hours of time for developers who are not worried about having completely custom components on their site. In fact even for developers that do want custom components, many libraries (including all the libraries I have in this list) provide a lot of options for customizing their components.
This library provides a ton of styling choices & themes that developers can choose from to help build beautiful applications. The library’s main features are its themes. Themes allow the developer to easily specify the color of the components, darkness of the surfaces, level of shadow, appropriate opacity of ink elements, etc. They offer plenty of free themes however have an even larger supply of themes available for purchase. Material UI’s documentation makes it very easy to implement into your react app because they give very clear examples using react hooks on how to use the library on your app.
2. AntDesign:
Much like material-ui, ant design provides stylized react components that allow you to customize the components to your liking. The library’s documentation provides categories of components that you can add to your project. The documentation is very easy to understand & is organized in a way for you to easily find the components you would like to use in your project. Ant has less options available than material-ui does however, there are some benefits. All components on AntDesign are free & they provide instructions on how to use these third party libraries that you may need in your application.
3. Tailwind-UI:
Tailwind UI is a bit different than other styling libraries in a couple of ways. The first difference is in how they make many of their components. Many of the components on tailwind are designed for specific large scale uses, for instance they have specific components built out for entire pricing sections on a web page or a blog sections on a web page. This is different than other libraries because most other libraries focus on smaller scale, more customizable components like a card component that you can use for what you want. Having large scale components that can be used for entire pages is nice because not only does it save the developer time but Tailwind makes sure that these larger components are beautifully put together. The downside to this is that you will need to customize your own smaller components, however tailwind does also provide some smaller components.
Libraries For DataCharts
I believe all react developers who want to work with data visualization often should have a basic understanding of D3, however there are many libraries that can do a lot of the work for you & save you a lot of time trying to understand what is happening on a low level with data charts. It’s worth noting that having a strong understanding for D3 will give you the best options for data visualization & the libraries in this list will not be as powerful as D3, but will provide an easier to understand options.
Nivo provides hundreds of data visuals with customization options. This is a great option that allows developers to create beautiful charts to represent their data. On top of this nivo is known to render its visuals much faster than other data visual libraries. However, in terms of popularity, Nivo is actually quite low compared to other libraries in terms of downloads. This could be due to a lot of factors but the most obvious reason is that, like D3, there is a large learning curve involved with using this library. But when you look at reviews for developers who have used nivo, it is one of the highest rated because of its customization and fantastic visuals.
2. Victory:
Much like Nivo, victory provides robust, flexible charts. Victory is much more popular than Nivo & provides many of the same services with easier to understand documentation. This is a great option to provide great data visuals with a bit smaller of a learning curve.
3. Recharts:
Lastly, we have Recharts. Recharts is one of the most popular data visualization libraries for react & is vastly more popular than both Nivo & Victory. It provides well put together charts that are also fairly easy to understand & implement. This is a phenomenal library to use if you want easy to understand documentation & fewer issues trying to get the charts working the way you intend. The biggest downsides to recharts are obviously the customization & performance. While the learning curve is much lower, it is not as powerful or customizable as Nivo or Victory. | https://medium.com/swlh/react-libraries-youll-want-to-check-out-for-your-next-project-d7180edd40e8 | ['Kevin Sheehan'] | 2020-11-17 20:22:47.187000+00:00 | ['React', 'Data Visualization', 'Programming', 'JavaScript', 'Web Development'] |
ㅁU.S. troops pull 10,000 people out of Kabul Airport in 24 hours.A total of nearly 40,000 people. | ㅁU.S. troops pull 10,000 people out of Kabul Airport in 24 hours.A total of nearly 40,000 people. Babaqkqh Aug 23·2 min read
The White House said 10,400 people were evacuated from Afghanistan during the 24-hour flight from Kabul airport by noon on Sunday.
Announced early in the morning on Sunday 23rd, President Joe Biden said in a speech to the White House 10 hours ago that 11,000 people were withdrawn from the U.S. military over the weekend.
In many ways, the number of U.S. military aircraft withdrawal from Kabul has increased significantly. The U.S. military flew 28 transport planes a day to send them to nearby bases in the Middle East and Central Asia.
In addition to the U.S. military, the White House added that 5,900 people were evacuated from the NATO coalition 61 times in the same period. Apart from the White House, the British Department of Defense said it had transported 1,821 people in a 24-hour period. British military transportation has been second only to the United States among NATO.
On the same day, the White House did not tell how many U.S. nationals were among the transportation personnel 먹튀검증업체and how many Afghan and NATO nationals were, respectively. In the past, it is highly likely that the majority of 10,400 people are Afghans.
The number of U.S. nationals was 2,500 when the number of U.S. troops withdrew from the 14th (Saturday) to the 21st (Saturday), which began a day before the fall of Kabul.
The White House said about 37,000 people were withdrawn by U.S. troops from the 14th to the 23rd noon. The daily withdrawal of 1,0400 people exceeds the Pentagon’s earlier target of 5,000 to 9,000 people a day.
Since late July, withdrawal transport for SIV issuers and applicants has begun, and 5,000 people have left Afghanistan before emergency withdrawal on August 14. Most Afghans who fled Afghanistan on a U.S. military transport plane passed the SIV application, with the U.S. State Department still having a strict visa screening process.
https://muk-119.com | https://medium.com/@babaqkqh/%E3%85%81u-s-troops-pull-10-000-people-out-of-kabul-airport-in-24-hours-a-total-of-nearly-40-000-people-1597f1e4d236 | [] | 2021-08-23 14:16:57.392000+00:00 | ['먹튀검증사이트', '먹튀검증', '먹튀검증업체', 'Corona', 'Casino'] |
Rooting Out Conflict | Rooting Out Conflict
Photo by mcarrel on depositphotos
One of the most obvious ways of preventing conflict lies in attempting to eliminate the causes of conflict in the workplace. This simple recipe is based on the assumption that if you remove the causes of conflict, then it will not occur.
Causes of conflict
But despite its apparent simplicity, eradicating the causes of conflict is in fact a more complex process. As a manager, you need to be analytical and practical in deciding which causes of conflict you can and should attempt to remove.
The three categories of causes of conflict are:
causes that result in beneficial conflict, causes that you cannot control as a manager, and causes that you can control and do want to eradicate because they lead to negative conflict
The first two categories you either should not or cannot eliminate. You should not try to eliminate the causes of conflict that have a positive value. This sort of conflict, caused by high professional standards, for example, challenges complacency and slipshod working practices.
Some causes of conflict you cannot eliminate because they are outside your sphere of influence. For example, you cannot remove conflict caused by pay comparisons among workers if you do not set the company pay rates.
Eradicating negative conflict
Instead you need to concentrate on the third category: causes you control and want to eradicate. In this category, the major factor is role conflict. Role conflict occurs when duties performed by a worker clash with those of other workers.
1. Getting roles right
As a manager, you can expect to exercise a considerable amount of control over the roles your employees play, so you can have great influence in eradicating this cause of conflict. You need to avoid the following problems associated with roles:
Role uncertainty — role ambiguity occurs when workers are uncertain of their actual duties. A task may not be completed because no one knows who is responsible for it, or workers may argue with each other over who is responsible.
Role too demanding — when workers have either too many or too few expectations placed on them, they may end up in conflict situations because they cannot complete the tasks assigned to them or because they feel unchallenged.
Role incompatibility — occurs when contradictory expectations are placed on workers. They are expected to perform certain tasks, but at the same time conflicting demands are placed upon them. This usually results in poor performance.
As manager, it is your responsibility to sort out these problems.
2. Resolving role ambiguity
You can resolve role ambiguity by precisely defining all roles and making sure that individual responsibilities are clearly communicated. Roles develop spontaneously, so you need to update this information on a regular basis.
3. Resolving excessively demanding roles
To ensure that roles are not too demanding, you need to examine each employee’s quantity of work and distribute it evenly. You must explain the way that tasks have to be prioritized and insist that workers stick to this pattern.
4. Resolving role incompatibility
To safeguard against role incompatibility, you need to make sure that A always knows what B is doing — so get them talking about what they expect of each other. Then you will know what the hidden problems are, and you will be able to sort them out.
By tackling role conflict head-on, you can eliminate one of the major causes of conflict that lies in your direct sphere of influence as a manager. | https://medium.com/@sorin-dumitrascu/rooting-out-conflict-303e11b6b65f | ['Sorin Dumitrascu'] | 2020-12-25 19:02:14.577000+00:00 | ['Conflict Management', 'Management', 'Organization', 'Ledership', 'Conflict Resolution'] |
Picking Up The Pieces | Photo by Hans-Peter Gauster on Unsplash
The rhythmic clapping began at the back of the restaurant, and Bryan knew it was for him. A sheepish grin crept onto Julie’s face, while Kyle’s was more of the shit-eating type. Bryan, meanwhile, was doing his best not to give his friends the satisfaction of having been thoroughly embarrassed.
“We heard it was your birthday, so we came out to say…”
Bryan crossed his arms over his chest, being careful not to dislodge the bandage on his thumb. Kyle had begun to clap in time with the wait staff while Julie bobbed her head back and forth. A piece of Grand Marnier infused cheesecake was placed in front of him, a single lit candle stuck in the thick layer of chocolate on top. The room clapped and whistled as the song finished and he blew out the candle.
“You guys are the fucking worst,” Bryan said once the hubbub had died down. “And I’m not sharing my cheesecake.”
Kyle said, “Come on, dude, how long have we known each other? You knew this was coming.”
“And this,” said Julie, digging her fork into the cheesecake before Bryan could stop her. Not that he would have. Julie’s eyes crinkled up as she smiled at him, her little dimples bobbing up and down as she chewed. He looked down at his thumb again. You’ve got to tell her, man. You’re running out of time.
“Thirty-five,” Kyle said, a little too loudly. “How does it feel to be in your mid-thirties?”
“What, have you forgotten already, old man?” Kyle was six months older, a fact that Bryan never let him forget. “I don’t know. I don’t think it would bother me so much if it wasn’t for…” He sighed, leaving his sentence unfinished.
“It’s just a thumbnail,” said Julie, patting his arm. “No one will even notice.”
“I just can’t believe you lost it,” said Kyle, laughing.
Some part of Bryan knew this was coming. It was just a part of life: you get older, you start falling apart. If you paid enough attention, you could tell when it started happening to people. As a kid, his mother had worn flip-flops everywhere. “Closed toed shoes are like a prison for your feet,” she’d said, preferring the free and easy feeling of air between her toes. Then one day, she’d come home upset for some reason, never saying why, but the next day she was wearing sneakers and the flip-flops had gone in the trash. It wasn’t until years later that he found out she’d lost the tip of her second toe while at the grocery store. Some little kid picked it up and made a fuss over it, the way kids do, but from that day forth Mom was taking no chances.
Still, his own disintegration had just been a looming specter until he’d lost his thumbnail. It had happened without warning while brushing his teeth. No blood, no pain, no nothing. One second it was there, the next it was stuck in the hair catcher in the drain of his bathroom sink. He hadn’t even noticed until after he’d already unleashed a mouthful of thick mint-flavored spit. The nail sat there like a little cup of slobbery, fragrant foam while he stuck his fingers down the hole, afraid it would get knocked loose if he turned on the water. But his fingers had been too big and too clumsy, and the nail had disappeared into the darkness anyway. The bandage had worked well for the past week, but it was a temporary fix at best. Maybe I could get a prosthetic…
“Okay, tell me the truth,” said Bryan. “You guys haven’t lost anything yet?”
“Nope,” Kyle said quickly. Julie gave him a look. “What?” She continued to stare him down. “Ugh, fine.” He leaned forward and turned his head, exposing his ear. Reaching up, he tugged gently on his earlobe. A little split in the skin appeared, a straight line that ran neatly across from end to end. “I’ve been gluing it on for two months,” he confessed.
“Holy shit,” said Bryan. “Wait a minute, is that why you’ve been growing your hair out?” Kyle took a sip of his drink and said nothing. “What about you, Jules?”
“A lady never reveals her secrets,” she said, winking. “Here, we got you something.” She pulled a small decorative box from her purse. Bryan shook it, hearing nothing but the muffled crinkle of tissue paper. Opening the gift, he found a tube of cosmetic glue and a pair of tweezers. “It was Kyle’s idea,” she said, giggling.
“Clearly, you’re a neanderthal who hasn’t figured out tools yet,” said Kyle, smirking. “Who knows, maybe it’s still stuck down there if you poke around a bit. And if you do find it, you can stop wearing that ridiculous bandage. It’s starting to smell.”
“No it isn’t,” said Bryan, hiding his hand under the table.
“Hey, you boys play nice while I’m gone,” said Julie, standing up. The two of them watched her as she wandered off to find the restroom. “Seriously, though,” said Kyle. “It’s time to rip off the band-aid, don’t you think?” Bryan turned to look at his friend and saw that he wasn’t talking about the thumb. “Come on, we all know. I think she just needs to hear you say it.”
“I’m just scared of screwing this up, you know? We’ve got a good thing, here, the three of us.”
Kyle picked up the tweezers. “What, did your balls fall down the drain too? It’s already begun. You’re falling apart. There’s no time to let fear hold you back anymore.” He dropped the tweezers back on the table and stood up. “I’ll toss you some cash tomorrow. You’re welcome.” He patted his friend on the shoulder and walked out.
Alone in the middle of the restaurant, Bryan looked at the people around him. The signs of decay stood out in exquisite detail. Long sleeves. Sunglasses at night. Is her nose on crooked? But there was something else, too. He saw smiles and tender looks. Hands held across the table. Arms around shoulders. With a sigh, he pulled the bandage off his thumb and looked at the flat square where his nail used to be. If I’m going to fall apart, I don’t want to do it alone.
Julie gave him a quizzical look when she returned. “Where’s Kyle?”
“I don’t know. He said he had somewhere to be.” He put his hands on the table, his nailless thumb on full display. “Julie, can we talk?”
Her dimples reappeared on her cheeks. “Yes. It’s about time.” | https://medium.com/lit-up/picking-up-the-pieces-969da03f0d14 | ['J. Brandon Lowry'] | 2019-05-04 08:32:17.493000+00:00 | ['Short Story', 'Fiction', 'Love', 'Time', 'Aging'] |
Meet The NYC City Council District 1 Candidates: Sean Hayes | Meet The NYC City Council District 1 Candidates: Sean Hayes
Hayes was among several District 1 candidates to share their platform at a forum hosted by NYU College Democrats ahead of the June 22 election. Morgan Pryor Follow Apr 5 · 6 min read
Graphic by author.
NYU College Democrats hosted a Zoom forum with City Council District 1 candidates in March, which included seven of those in the running for the district’s soon-to-be-open seat — Susan Lee, Sean Hayes, Gigi Li, Jenny Low, Christopher Marte, Denny Salas, and Tiffany Winbush.
This year’s primary election, which will take place on June 22, is especially noteworthy; 35 out of 51 Council seats are open due to members terming out or not running for reelection. As a result, over 300 candidates are vying for seats across the city.
There are ten candidates in the running for District 1, according to a map by THE CITY, which was last updated March 9. Not in attendance at the forum were Maud Maron — who RSVP’d but cited a family emergency as her reason for cancellation earlier that day, according to an email sent to NYU College Democrats — Jacqueline Gross, and Susan Damplo.
Top row, from left to right: NYU College Democrat Policy and Communications Director Mikey Lampel, Candidate Denny Salas, and Candidate Gigi Li. Middle row: Candidates Jenny Low, Christopher Marte, and Sean Hayes. Bottom row: Candidate Susan Lee, Candidate Tiffany Winbush, and NYU Dems member Aaron Stein.
One of the candidates in the running for District 1, which includes most of Lower Manhattan up to Washington Square Park, will take the place of current Democratic incumbent Margaret Chin, who has represented the district since 2010.
“The City Council controls many issues that have a profound impact on New Yorkers’ lives,” said moderator Mikey Lampel, NYU College Democrats’ Policy and Communications Director and a CAS senior studying Environmental Studies and Public Policy.
NYU Democrats members had several questions prepared; some could only be answered with a yes or no and others allowed for a minute-long response. Today’s installment of “Meet The NYC City Council District 1 Candidates” will focus on Sean Hayes and his stance on the city issues brought up during the forum.
Hayes, an international attorney and law professor, is an Irish-Italian first-generation American. Until recently, he has been overseas and was traveling between New York City and Korea. He was the head of a team of lawyers that was rated the top Dispute Resolution Law Firm for disputes in Asia, is one of the top international lawyers in the world, and has led multinational companies in the past two decades.
Pandemic recovery
Hayes began by saying that he thinks the issue is not just spending, but a problem of government accountability. “We spend money but we waste a heck of a lot of money,” he said.
He added that he thinks officials need to look at how difficult it has become to open a business in NYC, and consider why that is. “The focus cannot only be on small businesses,” he concluded.
Housing and the SoHo/NoHo proposal
Hayes said that there are problems and tweaks needed in regard to the SoHo/NoHo rezoning — which would which add about 3,200 apartments to the two wealthy neighborhoods — and thinks that the problem is more “fundamental.” He gave some examples of his experiences visiting people in housing complexes, where he saw issues like leaks and rats in the buildings, yet no steps were being taken to fix the problem. “Our housing projects in of themselves are the problems, and what can we do to get beyond that?” Hayes said. “The first thing is accountability [in government].”
Criminal justice reform and closing down Rikers Island
Hayes thinks Rikers needs to close, but slowly. “There’s some jails that are OK, and there’s some jails that are dumps,” he said during the forum. “So that’s the actual issue: can we fix up those jails that are dumps, and if we can’t, they should definitely close.”
Hayes wants to help young people that have gotten out of jail get paid to work through a city-wide Peace Corps program, which he began to describe before his minute time slot was up.
On his website, Hayes writes more on the topic, saying that though “the bad cops need to be punished, the police should be supported. We are losing good cops and respect in our law enforcement, because of the hate filled rhetoric of politicians that polarize us in order to gain political street cred and motivate voters to vote.”
He says that the police budget and accountability should increase if crime also increases. “We need to, however, consider transitioning some of the increased police budget to social workers and mental health specialists that can work under law enforcement to handle the issues caused by the mentally ill,” Hayes wrote. According to his website, he also wants to wipe criminal records of convicts after five years of no further criminal charges, but increase sentences for repeat offenders.
Bike routes, bus lanes, and open streets
During the forum, Hayes’ answer followed fellow candidate Denny Salas’, and he expressed his support for Salas’ transportation plan, which calls for the creation of superblocks, which originated in Barcelona in 2016. They transform “streets into walkable public spaces, where pedestrians, cyclists, and citizens mix safely,” according to Salas’ website.
“I think that the plan is what we need, and I think all of us here should also look at the other plans that other people have on their actual websites,” Hayes said. “I think we can all learn here; we’re all on the same path.”
He made note of Seoul, South Korea — where he lived for 18 years — and their use of satellite cities, which are smaller, partially self-sufficient towns in close proximity to a larger, parent city. Their bike and bus lanes are set with curbs; in New York, “while some of them have a curb, other ones don’t so people park in them.” Though Hayes didn’t mention his own plan for transportation and bike and bus lanes, he concluded by again encouraging listeners to consider Salas’s.
NYC schools and desegregation
Hayes said that NYC should keep the admissions test required to get into public schools, and “have a minimum score on that test that you need to get to get in and then use a holistic approach to choosing people that would go to that school.”
Hayes elaborates on his website, explaining that improvements are needed in NYC’s education system, though progress has been made in the past 20 years. “However, recently our politicians have pushed our school curriculums too far, while trying to breakdown what made our educational systems great,” he concedes.
Hayes advocates for “a return to value-based education along with work-study opportunities,” and increased opportunities for less fortunate youth to be integrated into the business world through internships.
Supports reducing the NYPD’s annual budget and shrinking the scope of its work? No.
Supports the City Council’s use of member deference for land use decisions? (With member deference, a Council member decides whether or not to vote yes or no on a proposal in their district and the rest of City Council follows.): No.
Supports staff unionization? Yes.
Supports the establishment of the 10 Wooster Street homeless shelter? Yes. | https://nyulocal.com/meet-the-nyc-council-district-1-candidates-sean-hayes-da5e6102ad88 | ['Morgan Pryor'] | 2021-05-17 17:02:55.309000+00:00 | ['City Council', 'Elections', 'NYC', 'City', 'Politics'] |
Celer Network Partners with Binance Labs as a Mentor for the Binance Labs Incubation Program | We are very excited to announce that Celer Network partners with Binance Labs as a mentor for the Binance Labs Incubation Program.
Binance Labs is the venture arm of Binance and an initiative to incubate, invest, and empower blockchain and cryptocurrency entrepreneurs, projects, and communities. Binance Labs Incubation Program is a 10-Week On-Site incubation program designed to identify and help top early-stage blockchain projects deliver something that has strong product market fit. This partnership will allow Celer Network team to share experiences and lessons learnt in the early product growth phase, technically empower the new projects with Celer Network’s advanced layer-2 scaling platform and organically grow Celer Network’s ecosystem.
Celer Network shares the same vision of product market fit with a proven track record. Recently, Celer Network launched Sirius Testnet along with CelerX, the user entry point to Celer Network on mobile platforms. Within one month, CelerX quickly acquires 22,000 monthly active users, has more than 20% 7-day retention ratio and engages each active user for more than 12 mins per day. One interactive game application, Gomoku, in CelerX is played 110,000 times monthly, generating more than 4 million transactions on the testnet. Even though Gomoku is the only decentralized application on Celer Network and still runs on testnet, it has become one of highest-DAU blockchain applications and achieves the level of user engagement statistics resembles centralized applications. What’s more, Celer Network’s growth is truly global with users coming from 58 different countries.
“Mo will be a valuable mentor at the Binance Labs Incubation Program as Celer has been focusing on product market fit and user adoption since day one. We also expect to see and will support synergies and new growth points amongst Celer Network and the project teams through their interaction during the program,” said Ella Zhang, Head of Binance Labs.
Dr. Mo Dong, CEO and Cofounder of Celer Network comments: “We truly appreciate and applaud the efforts and vision shown by this great incubation program from Binance Labs. This is exactly what blockchain industry needs right now. We thank Binance Labs for the opportunity to onboard us as a mentor. We look forward to meeting all the new teams and sharing our experiences on product growth, marketing, community and technology. We will also look out projects that are good fit for Celer Network ecosystem.”
Together, we hope to bring mass adoption to blockchain technology. | https://medium.com/celer-network/celer-binancelabs-d4b9a1593bc6 | ['Celer Network'] | 2019-04-02 04:01:01.041000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Celernetwork', 'Celerpartners'] |
Back to basics — company law 101 for startups | Starting a business is a risky endeavor and requires courage. It is also an opportunity. Whether this opportunity will materialize depends on how well the aspiring entrepreneur is prepared and how adaptable the startup is. Equally important is the policy and legal framework that can mitigate the risk and increase chances of success.
What legal form to operate in is one of first decision points for startups. This decision has important implications on fundamental issues such as personal liability, taxation, financing of activities, innovation. A strong companies law can help entrepreneurs navigate this process and makes starting a business more predictable. However, the companies law often falls short. Many countries are still missing the basics, including the context needed to form an entity that will give the entrepreneur proper legal protection.
Without a strong companies’ law, navigating company legislation is not straightforward. As a consequence, entrepreneurs face significant uncertainty and do not have the basic elements to decide which legal form is appropriate for their needs.
Some common issues we observe are:
Excessive and discretionary government controls of business entry and business activities .
Uncertainty as to how long and when an entrepreneur can enjoy limited liability.
Corporate governance provisions that are too complex and costly for small companies but insufficient for public shareholding companies. Simple company forms such as LLC’s are required to have complex governance structures such as general meetings, board of directors, company secretaries. On the other hand, public shareholding companies are not required to comply with good corporate governance principles such as disclosure, division of power between executive and non-executive board members.
Insufficient or missing provisions on the relationship between the company and its stakeholders and shareholders.
This influences the entrepreneur’s decisions and can significantly impair the ability of a startup to operate grow, innovate, recruit and retain talent. In short, without a proper company law framework that governs the formation, operation and corporate governance of companies in a country, there can be no entrepreneurship.
The World Bank group is currently working with many client countries to put in place a sound company law framework. Amendments to the Companies Law in Egypt introduced for the first time the possibility to have a single member limited liability company. A comprehensive review of the Companies Act in Zambia improved disclosure and protection of minority shareholders and reduced discretionary powers in business entry and operation.
From a development perspective, the private sector can indeed play a much bigger role in filling the $2.5 trillion gap required annually to meet the sustainable development goals. But in order to encourage the investment necessary, a lot has to change in terms of the business environment. A sound framework for company laws can go a long way towards facilitating entrepreneurship.
Read more World Bank blogs. | https://medium.com/world-of-opportunity/back-to-basics-company-law-101-for-startups-322aa4e048f8 | ['World Bank'] | 2018-12-04 17:28:08.993000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Business', 'Innovation'] |
Taxes and Corporate Investment Decisions | Picture Source: Tax Matrix
Companies work hard and put their best possible efforts in an attempt to optimize their tax liabilities. This not only helps them in making safe financial decisions but also maximizes firm value. Investment decisions have a substantial impact on corporate valuation as they influence corporate growth. Value enhancement has been central to financial management though, taxation strategies carry a distorting effect as to corporate investment and financing decisions.
Investment plans rely on taxation strategies for the most part. As corporate taxes apply to the companies’ profits, hence, the after-tax profits determine the amount and the avenues of investments and the way investment planning shall be carried out.
Moreover, investments call for ample cash flows generated internally. While it is sure that internal cash flows are affected mainly by the corporate taxes applied. Clearly, firms cut investments when they are giving more in taxes. This is particularly true when the capital markets are in such conditions as they greatly lean on internal investment sources.
There are several independent opinions of experts about the relationship between taxes and investments. The most worthwhile being the use of debt financing to make any investment. This has manifold benefits. First, the managers in a particular company tend to invest more sensibly because the funds have been borrowed and are under the supervision of a financing institution. Second, the shareholders are also at ease because of the supervision of a third-party financier. Third, the borrowed funds that are invested more often result in the value maximization for the shareholders because of prudently choosing what projects to invest in. Finally, the most important benefit is that the use of debt results in reduced corporate taxes as the interest paid on a debt has a trickle-down effect on corporate profits (Princen, 2012).
Reference
Princen, S. (2012). Determining the impact of taxation on corporate financial decisionmaking. Reflets Et Perspectives De La Vie Économique, LI(3), 161.
https://doi.org/10.3917/rpve.513.0161 | https://medium.com/@alhamdgroup05/taxes-and-corporate-investment-decisions-fffbb6e441bb | ['Al-Hamd Group'] | 2020-12-14 14:40:41.556000+00:00 | ['Financial', 'Taxes', 'Investment', 'Investors', 'Financial Decisions'] |
Bitcoin’s success is now inevitable | Trading is a bad idea for 99% of people
After discovering Bitcoin, many people set out to generate maximum profits using its volatility. These people do not understand that trading cannot be improvised.
Trading requires specific skills that only a handful of people possess.
If you make the mistake of falling into trading, you will face fierce competition from professional traders who are better than you. You will be playing into the hands of people who can manipulate the markets and who have strategic information that you don’t have access to.
You will lose. So trading is something to give up. Many people realize this after losing a lot of money. Save yourself time, and save yourself huge losses by making the right choice now.
Bitcoin is not an investment, it is the best savings technology in the world
Now that I’ve told you that trading is a bad idea, you understand that you must invest. To quote a very dear expression of Warren Buffett: “Cash is Trash”. This is all the more true when we are faced with great monetary inflation, as is the case in 2020.
You must therefore absolutely invest so as not to see the value of your money melt like snow in the sun over time. The current monetary and financial system is one of slow but certain generated impoverishment over time.
You must therefore invest. Period.
Faced with this new world of cryptocurrencies, you don’t know where to invest your money given the wide range of choices available to you. In reality, all the Altcoins that exist are just noise that distracts you from the real signal that is the Bitcoin revolution.
Sooner or later, you will understand that you have to say no to anything that is not Bitcoin (BTC). As you learn more about Bitcoin, you will understand that Bitcoin is not an investment, but the best savings technology in the world.
Bitcoin is a unique invention that gives you total power over your money
Bitcoin is a unique invention that will change the world of the future for the better. All Altcoins that are launched claiming to be the new Bitcoin are just scams to enrich their founders.
Digital scarcity can only exist once.
Bitcoin currently meets the great need that is emerging around the world: to protect your wealth from the ravages of monetary inflation in a way that is resistant to censorship.
Bitcoin is based on the perfect technology for this, and its success for more than a decade speaks in its favor. The Bitcoin system is the world’s most secure decentralized network. Bitcoin’s security has been steadily increasing over time. By placing your savings within the Bitcoin network, you can rest assured that it is safe.
The distribution of BTC was done fairly since the Bitcoin network was launched without pre-mined tokens as is the case with the majority of Sh*tcoins (synonym for Altcoins).
Everyone has the same weight within the Bitcoin network, and that’s what makes it revolutionary. Anyone can become a node in the Bitcoin network at any time. The Bitcoin Blockchain is permissionless and trustless.
The fact that there is no leader and that everything is decentralized for Bitcoin makes it anti-fragile. You will never see the SEC suing the founder of Bitcoin for example. Bitcoin is clearly indestructible.
Finally, Bitcoin dominates its competitors because of its superior monetary attributes. The supply of Bitcoin is hard-capped at 21 million units. The issuance of new Bitcoins is predictable but also governed by a programmatic monetary policy.
Bitcoin abstracts you from the arbitrary decisions of humans who always end up yielding to corruption. Bitcoin is the best money in the world: it is the money of the people supported by the people. Bitcoin gives you back the power over money, which has enormous consequences for your life. You can then live your life on your own terms thanks to Bitcoin.
Institutional investors make no mistake in choosing Bitcoin
The general public still has doubts about Bitcoin. Institutional investors understood in 2020 that the success of Bitcoin was now inevitable. They, therefore, chose to bet completely on Bitcoin.
MicroStrategy has purchased $1.125 billion of BTC since August 2020. The firm led by Michael J. Saylor, which has become a high-speed Bitcoin maximalist, now owns 70,470 BTC. This represents 0.336% of Bitcoin’s supply.
Square, which benefits greatly from Bitcoin’s success through its dedicated CashApp application, has also made Bitcoin its reserve asset by purchasing $50 million of BTC in early October 2020.
These two major companies initiated a movement that was followed by the entry of PayPal into the Bitcoin world. The online payment giant will offer all its users to buy/sell/use Bitcoin directly from its platform from the beginning of 2021.
Giants of traditional finance have followed the movement in 2020: Ruffer Investment Company Ltd, CoinShares, SkyBridge Capital, … And this is only the beginning, as the trend will accelerate in 2021 and in the years to come.
And what about Grayscale Investments whose Bitcoin fund holds more than 572,000 BTC for its clients who are mostly institutional investors. This represents more than 14 billion dollars worth of BTC under management.
To conclude with the institutional investors, it is not insignificant to note that big names in finance such as Paul Tudor Jones or Stanley Druckenmiller have finally adopted Bitcoin. Ray Dalio is gradually changing his mind, and will eventually buy Bitcoin in the future as well.
The success of Bitcoin is only a matter of time.
Even Sh*tcoiners HODL massive amount of BTC
Sh*tcoiners keep saying that their cryptocurrencies will eventually overtake Bitcoin. Ethereum supporters keep telling us about a big flippening that would occur by reversing the balance of power between Ethereum and Bitcoin.
However, all these Sh*tcoiners HODL massive amount of BTC.
If they believed so much in their cryptocurrencies, they better not waste their money on Bitcoin, which they see collapsing in the future. What do you think about this contradiction?
The reality is that these Sh*tcoiners are scams looking to make money with their cryptocurrencies. But deep down, they all know that Bitcoin is the real signal. Some try a more malicious approach like the founders of Litecoin who try to explain to you that Litecoin will be able to coexist with Bitcoin as digital silver.
They are not fooling anyone. Bitcoin is a 2.0 version of gold, but it doesn’t need a digital silver that would be represented by Litecoin. Only Bitcoin really matters. Don’t waste your money on these Sh*tcoins and their beautiful promises that will never come true.
With each Bitcoin cycle, the revolution progresses strongly
Bitcoin operates in four-year cycles that begin with a Halving. This event is the halving of the BTC reward awarded to miners who correctly validate a block of transactions.
If you take the time to look at Bitcoin’s cycles so far, you will notice that fundamentals emerge each time:
Former detractors become Bitcoin fans . The example of Michael J. Saylor is very revealing. At the end of 2013, he predicted the death of Bitcoin. In 2020, he becomes a Bitcoin maximalist who buys massively Bitcoin for his company, but also personally.
. The example of Michael J. Saylor is very revealing. At the end of 2013, he predicted the death of Bitcoin. In 2020, he becomes a Bitcoin maximalist who buys massively Bitcoin for his company, but also personally. The prophecies made by the Bitcoin maximalists are coming true one after the other . As such, I strongly urge you to reread everything Pierre Rochard has been saying for years. He is one of the finest minds in the Bitcoin world. You will be shocked to see how right he was before the others.
. As such, I strongly urge you to reread everything Pierre Rochard has been saying for years. He is one of the finest minds in the Bitcoin world. You will be shocked to see how right he was before the others. Bitcoin price continues to rise . The highs of the price are getting higher and higher, while the lows are getting higher and higher too. Bitcoin price was $0.06 when it started to be traded on platforms against the U.S. dollar in August 2010. Today, the Bitcoin price has reached $25K.
. The highs of the price are getting higher and higher, while the lows are getting higher and higher too. Bitcoin price was $0.06 when it started to be traded on platforms against the U.S. dollar in August 2010. Today, the Bitcoin price has reached $25K. The security of the network continues to strengthen as shown by the constant increase of its Hash Rate.
as shown by the constant increase of its Hash Rate. The endless inflation of the U.S. dollar continues, accelerating the price increase of Bitcoin against the U.S. dollar.
Some sorrowful minds criticize Bitcoin by saying that it has become only a store of value, which is far from the original spirit of Satoshi Nakamoto, who titled his white paper as such:
“Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”
These people do not understand that the mass adoption of Bitcoin as a means of exchange for everyday life is only the second phase of its mass adoption.
The first is to see Bitcoin move beyond gold as a store of value generalized to the general public. Once Bitcoin has achieved this goal, phase two will occur quite naturally.
Don’t try to change Bitcoin, and choose to enjoy it for what it does best right now: protecting your wealth over time in a way that is resistant to censorship. Be patient and trust its community to continue improving Bitcoin to meet the extraordinary challenges that lie ahead.
Until now, the Bitcoin community has always been there. It will continue to do so in the future. | https://medium.com/in-bitcoin-we-trust/bitcoins-success-is-now-inevitable-b91167b897c7 | ['Sylvain Saurel'] | 2020-12-26 16:50:51.868000+00:00 | ['Money', 'Btc', 'Investing', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin'] |
My Twelfth Marathon (My Perspective) | I pledge this is the last one in this series. I cannot close this without describing my personal experience. Hopefully this is the most interesting among all, though as a multiple marathon runner, it seems I would do better if it was the least eventful.
Being the first and only marathon event I joined for the year, I assigned myself a rather low bar — I only want to be a finisher. With the 7.5 hours allowance, it seems anyone keeps walking throughout the race will be able to finish it.
So my second target is not to get injured. At least not badly injured. Minor sprain, blisters and cramps are ok, as long as it won’t be permanent or require long time to recover. My target was to restart exercising within 2–3 days after the race.
Therefore, before the race started, I look around for the pacers. Unlikely most other races I joined, the fastest pacers available would be 4 hours. Usually it should be around 3 hours. Since I am not in that league anyway, I looked around for the slower ones. Perhaps because of the rather relaxed time allowance, the slowest pacers were for 6.5 hours, which means 9 minutes 15 seconds for each kilometers, a speed could be reached by walking briskly.
I didn’t want to run too slowly because according to my Berlin experience, it could be rather boring. So I would maintain myself in between the 4.5-hour and 5-hour, hence as long as I am ahead of the 5-hour ones, I should be doing alright and this should be comfortable.
I did my first two 10km in 65 minutes and the third one in 75 minutes. I just ran in a manner as relaxed as I could and concentrated in viewing the scenery around and attending to the music offered by my AirPod. Minutes before the race, I picked a pre-cooked song list of May Day — honestly I don’t know much about them. All I know was that quite some friends are big fans of them and I was offered to two or three of their songs by friends to cheer me up during my worst days. The reason I picked the song list was simple — I need something long enough to last 5 hours or so therefore I won’t need to find another list of songs in the middle of the race.
While it seems I could finish the race within 5 hours as the progress was quite steady in the first 30km, my mood took a nosedive around 32km. It just passed 8am and the sun was fierce enough to vaporize all my remaining strive. At that time, I had a moderately developed blistered on my left foot and a negligible cramp on the left thigh. Both were bearable but significant enough to lead me to rethink, especially when I wasn’t under any pressure to do well. Hence I deflated.
I reckoned and realized that should I reduce to walking from there, I would be able to finish by 5.5 hours. And in any case, I could reconsider when the 5-hour pacers pass by. I could choose to follow them if I want to.
What happened was the pacers were never there, I walked for a few km and since it was getting bored, I attempted a faster pace which was about 8.5 min per km and interesting it was fast enough to surpass a few runners who were (posing as) running (for photos).
I ended up finishing the whole thing at 5 hours 17 minutes. Still a few minutes ahead of Berlin but in-honorable enough to appear like someone who is never trained for this, despite I was running 4–5 times weekly.
In any case, this is it! Hope next year I will be able to find more interesting races that I can keep my mood throughout. Once again, this experience reminded me doing a marathon in a prolonged period is not desirable. Not because of the tiresome, but the boredom accompanied. | https://medium.com/@monocuber/my-twelfth-marathon-my-perspective-30304ee9d047 | ['Mono Cuber 單立方子'] | 2020-12-20 08:24:46.288000+00:00 | ['Reflection', 'Running', 'Marathon', 'Phuket', 'Sports'] |
Notes on Grief: Your ‘New Normal’ is Not Mine, Yet | When a loved one is dying, you want them to be as comfortable as possible. You want them to be pain-free, of course, but also to have the experiences in their final year of life that they deserved. The oft-posed question of: “What would you do if you had one year to live?” became somewhat of a moot one, since my dad’s seizures prevented him from driving legally, and besides, there was no real safe place to go or be aside from his home which was somewhat cloistered in the rural landscape of Vermont.
It is infuriating to me that my dad never got to have the last year on earth that he wanted. But just about equally infuriating to me is that the outbreak of the pandemic was, at one point, able to be mitigated in the United States. And as it so happened, it was most definitely not.
I do not know how to express myself more clearly than I am about to here, but to see and hear of peers gathering in crowded basements or with folks outside of their households, countless numbers of people railing against face coverings and masks, and government officials holding unsafe rallies, meetings, and, eventually, violent riots in Capitol buildings, was akin, in my eyes, to dancing on the graves of the dead, those who were dying, and those living and working in high-risk situations.
While I heard of people frequenting crowded amusement parks or taking trips to vacation destinations by plane because they were bored and “sick of being inside,” my father endured depressive episodes where he wondered if he should just get rid of all of his clothes because he was “just going to die anyway.”
While I scrolled on Instagram to see the same people, over and over and over again, meeting in groups of fifteen or more people in restaurants with at least fifty other people to eat an overpriced bistro burger in a group, my highly immunosuppressed dad was carefully dodging maskless people who were following the arrows the wrong way in the grocery store.
And while people I went to high school with, ones taking exotic Florida vacations and clubbing away, were writing on Thanksgiving Day on Facebook: “DON’T LISTEN TO THESE ‘RULES,’ BE FREE,” my sister and I, who had not seen each other for Thanksgiving or Christmas, were each quarantining for three weeks, getting multiple Covid tests, and driving 2000 miles from Boston, to Washington D.C., to Vermont, then back to Washington D.C. and Boston in two January weekends together, making only one stop at a pre-determined safe restroom, to not only hug our father, but also to try to communicate with him while wearing two masks indoors, wondering if that was the last time we would ever see him. It was.
The most major memory so many people will have of this pandemic is the loss of human life, and how we seemed to have readjusted our value of human life by truly not valuing it at all. Healthcare workers are struggling with post-traumatic stress as Covid patients are dying globally by the thousands, and here, in the United States, so many of us have had to say goodbye to our loved ones through a screen.
This may sound petty — and I don’t intend it for it to be just petty — but if you have not gone through crushing loss this year, if you have not had to say goodbye to loved ones remotely or through a screen, or even missed that opportunity like I did, then you do not get to have say in my personal boundaries or my rituals. They are, practically, one of the only pieces of normalcy right now keeping me afloat as I process losing one of the dearest people to me in my life. If you have not known the stress of potentially killing somebody by being near them, or if you have considered it, and still had the audacity to jet to a place where masks are optional because you are simply bored and Pandemic Fatigued (believe me, we all are), I will not judge your risk calculus as it relates to yourself and your comfort level, but just know your inability to practice community care speaks louder than any words can. And everybody who has lost someone this year can hear you even if you don’t utter a word.
To hear, “I’m sorry for your loss” from those who gathered unnecessarily and in massive groups is sincerely not welcome right now.
To receive judgment from friends who want me to come over right away or accept and embrace the sudden change of seeing people with open arms immediately, is not welcome right now. To have my and to see others’ boundaries crossed, repeatedly, when we have communicated them, stings beyond compare. I see you.
The hardest part, friends and I have discussed at this time, is understanding that we all have different levels of risk calculus. Essential workers and those who work in-person because there is not a choice to work remotely (which is true for myself) all have different levels of risk that they are willing to accept, as do people who work from home. When appropriate, and when safe, I do my best to never judge someone’s actions, especially if they are considered safe by current standards. If needs are communicated on both sides, I strive to act both reasonably and responsibly. This has been a less-than-ideal time for everyone.
But in this particular case of being suddenly open to a New New Normal, I feel as though I am being asked — in a large, sweeping way by societal pressure, and, well, people I know — to let go of a tension that I am not ready to surrender. That tension is the survival instinct I mentioned before, the one that reminds me that every action I take is done in service and defense of my father’s wellbeing. For example, I feel as though my vaccination, by many I know, has been regarded like a Countdown to Normalcy, or Freedom, or when we can finally see people, and when people can finally see me, again. And that is fine for them. I harbor no judgment.
But on the other hand, for me, my vaccine was a tool, it was my ticket to making sure I didn’t kill my father if I ever got to see him before he died in hospice. I have no urge to celebrate, nor do I have champagne to pop, because, as it stands, my father is no longer here, and the world is still locked in the jaws of a pandemic that it has not yet overcome. While I am glad to have contributed to decreasing community spread of the virus, I have nothing to cheer for, and will not for a very long time.
My gestures and actions at this time have been pathways to him, and following his death, I feel like a high-speed train chugging down the tracks that has been suddenly asked to stop and re-route. Cargo is flying everywhere, passengers are knocking into one another, maybe three people inside the train have concussions and need to seek medical attention. Moreover, the train’s internal engine feels utterly burnt out. The train will have to be stopped for a while as ambulances arrive, and so the maintenance crew can figure out just what is going on inside. They wonder: how will the train run again? How will it run on this new route? And how soon will it be up and running again? My best advice right now, to all passengers, is to catch another train, at least for now.
As I process the trauma of the past year, try to live — slowly but surely — without my rituals, and make peace with my grief, I know I am going to need a serious amount of time. For those who were reckless at this time while so many of us were experiencing unprecedented loss, you will not expect a warm welcome from me. Or at least not right now. I don’t know how to be in the same room as you, or spend time around you, or even pretend to be polite to you. The subtext of this year doesn’t easily go away, and I don’t want it to. That does not have to be okay with you, or those close to you, and I accept that. For those who reached out, who sent love, who made sacrifices for me: I’ll never forget that.
My dad was my very best friend. I have often called him my adult mirror. I strived, always, to be his mini-me. He was a person who knew me inside and out, and more specifically, knew what it was like to bottle up anger and let it sit until it spewed out into a hideous explosion, like Mentos in Coca Cola. If he were here, he’d examine my scattered Mentos, spilled Coke, and probably laugh in recognition. He would also probably read this and suggest that it was too long and could be cut down significantly, and I would say he would be one to talk.
I recognize that this period of Mentos and Coke, run-down trains, and rules and rituals is a highly specific kind of grief for a very specific period. But I hope, with work, and with time, my train will run again on a brand-new route. Perhaps on Mentos. In Coca Cola. And maybe, too, with a new ritual, at a new pace, in a new world, one I wish my dad could have seen. | https://medium.com/@saraandersonkenney/notes-on-grief-my-new-normal-is-not-yours-yet-ee95ef2893a8 | ['Sara Kenney'] | 2021-05-09 23:54:50.611000+00:00 | ['Grief', 'Dads', 'Mental Health', 'Pandemic', 'Cancer'] |
A CEO’s Experience During the nCoV Crisis — Part II : On the Ground | Besides the option of ordering food using online platforms, many restaurants are open in the normal sense of the word, albeit with some rules. For instance, I have had my lunch at an Italian eatery today (picture above) while working on my circuits and running simulations via remote access. I was however, the only person at the restaurant (I sat in the open) for that two hours, except for food delivery guys who dropped by every so often to pick up their orders. I finally left because it was too windy for me to have my WeChat teleconference.
Despite the strict quarantine measures and disruptions, Shanghai city hums along with quiet resolve and expansive tenacity, rapidly adjusting herself to the new circumstances — there have had been no disruption to water, electricity and food, and streets continue to be maintained. Somehow, even the cats in the vicinity of our workplace get fed too.
Our resident black cat
Restoring Functions
Our engineers and partners have made significant progress over the past two days to address our concerns regarding logistics and the supply chain. I was informed today that our manufacturing partners resumed operations yesterday and are producing our Espressif modules. A couple of new module designs were also being sent to our partners.
I don’t remember if I have had ever been so happy about such routine matters—they now rank high on The Checklist.
The Virus
In the cities other than Hubei, new infections are decreasing. In Shanghai, for instance, there were only 7 new cases detected today. In Hubei, there was a sharp rise in the number of infections (increase of more than 15,000) reported, and which was attributed to the change in the diagnostic criteria. The Hubei governor was also replaced by the central government today.
It’s not a perfect day, but things are moving in the correct direction.
Teo Swee Ann, CEO Espressif Systems
13 Feb 2020 | https://blog.espressif.com/a-ceos-experience-during-the-ncov-crisis-part-ii-on-the-ground-63a207292af6 | ['Teo Swee Ann'] | 2020-05-05 15:24:20.648000+00:00 | ['Covid', 'CEO', 'Ceo Blog', 'Coronavirus', 'Espressif'] |
HOW CAN I MAKE MONEY FROM AMAZON AT HOME WITHOUT ANY INVESTMENT | HOW CAN I MAKE MONEY FROM AMAZON AT HOME WITHOUT ANY INVESTMENT Paven kumar Verma ·Dec 23, 2020
Today I say that the global multinational and its name is AMAZON. It is an American company founded on July 5, 1994; 26 years ago this company has been working for several years which everyone easily believes and your money is absolutely safe on this company and the head office of this Amazon company is located in Seattle, Washington, USA and the name of the founder is Jeff Bezos, he is very wealthy men and his business is also very popular for online shopping around the world.
So I am going to walk you through the complete steps to make money from Amazon from home without any investment:
Read more click this Link..
https://www.earncashpaisa.tk/2020/11/E-money.html?m=1 | https://medium.com/@01devanshverma/how-can-i-make-money-from-amazon-at-home-without-any-investment-ddc6f3ed116d | ['Paven Kumar Verma'] | 2020-12-23 10:47:05.142000+00:00 | ['Make Money Online', 'Earn Money Online'] |
The Umbilical Cord / नाळ | The Umbilical Cord / नाळ
A polyglot poem — English and Marathi
Photo by Simon Rae on Unsplash
Marathi:
आईच्या पायाशी,
ती बसली फुलं विणत,
एकदा चुकली, दुसर्यांदा चुकली
तिसर्यांदा सुई बोटाला टोचली,
अणि आईच्या मनाला टचकन रुतली
आईने हळद लावली,
कानही पिळले,
दोन फुलं, अलगद,
विणून दाखवली
चौथ्यांदा,
पोरीने विणली एक सुंदर माळ,
आईचे डोळे आले भरून
कारण,
हलकेच तुटली होती नाळ
******************
Āaīchyā pāyāśī,
tī basalī phula viṇat,
ēkadā chukalī, dusaryāndā chukalī
tisaryāndā su’ī bōṭālā ṭōchalī,
aṇi āaīchā manālā ṭachakan rutalī
āaīnē haḷad lāvalī,
kānahī piḷalē,
dōn phula, alagad,
viṇūn dākhavalī
chauthyāndā,
pōrīnē viṇalī ēk sundar māḷ,
āaīchē ḍōḷē ālē bharūn
kāraṇ,
halakēch tuṭalī hōtī nāḷ
************************
English Translation:
At her mother’s feet,
she sat weaving flowers,
Missed once, missed the second time
the third time the needle pierced the finger,
and a mother’s heart
mother applied turmeric,
twisted her ears,
and weaved two flowers
the fourth time,
she laced a beautiful garland,
her mother’s eyes filled
because
the umbilical cord broke a little
© M.D.B. | https://medium.com/polyglot-poetry/the-umbilical-cord-%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B3-747fbb0a6909 | ['Manasi Diwakar'] | 2020-05-12 23:03:38.380000+00:00 | ['Polyglot', 'Poetry', 'Marathi', 'Love', 'Polyglot Poetry'] |
Remote | Typical remote workflow: a computer, phone, a coffee and… the full focus. Photo by @goran_ivos
For lots of people working remotely is unbearable. But, unfortunately for them, COVID-19 pandemic made the world change forever and irreversibly. Most innovation leaders realized the fact: distant work is cost-effective, safe and efficient. They were able to convert “a problem” into “a capability”.
People used to spend tons of time and money on transportation, food and coffee/drinks. With videoconferencing and chat tools now anyone can share their ideas even while being in the park, lying on the beach or just simply — at home, with no need to be physically present.
It’s also cost-effective for employers. There is no need to maintain workplaces if employees work remotely, as well as electricity, water and other bills are cheaper
Communication tools are now everything: the life, the work, the leasure.
Because offices are not some kind of “special places”. This is how people used to work until 1990-s, when the first personal computers became quite affordable for the vast majority of people (at least in the US) and the World Wide Web emerged as a new entity (FAX was a real thing back then)
Nowadays, 30 years after we have everything to stop going to offices: fast smartphones, laptops, tablets, lots of free videoconferencing and chat applications.
During the pandemic, most people easily abandoned their habits of going into the coffee shops to get beloved lattes, flat whites and cappuccinos and instead got espresso machines to fuel up each morning with no risk involved. For example, in England sales of coffee machines increased by whopping 412% after the second lockdown was announced.
Basically, the same happened with work during 2019–2020: it was easier to transfer the “machine” to home, rather than adding unneeded risks. So this is how distant work emerged.
Still, it requires some effort for the newcomers. These three points are the must:
To be/come organized;
To be/come a time-manager;
To maintain work/life balance;
Most economy sectors can convert their work into remote mode at no additional cost. IT, Creative Industries, Content Production — all of these do not require people to be stuffed in offices.
Google, Microsoft and Apple are leading the new digital revolution right now. They all make me believe — the future will be awesome. | https://medium.com/@aquadreamr/remote-work-a-pain-for-the-most-and-a-gold-for-the-leaders-2d3c77815ab2 | ['Bohdan Maznychenko'] | 2020-12-11 23:21:43.280000+00:00 | ['Remote', 'Remote Working', 'Distant Work', 'Remote Work', 'Remote Team'] |
The Water Mule | The Water Mule
They cursed the thing that kept them alive
Image public domain, courtesy of comicbookplus.com, modified from original.
The mid-summer heat boiled the sweat off their backs as they dug a trench along an old, eroded highway. They used the tools of their ancestors: shovels and axes. The people, like their tools, were cheap and replaceable. A self-governing trencher could prepare this same half-meter-deep ditch quicker and of better quality. But it would have to be leased, transported, insured, and maintained, which made it vastly more expensive. Humans, by contrast, only needed to know where to show up and when, then they would transport themselves and see to their own needs. They were each paid a small sum of money and one gallon of water per day.
The water mule trundled along at half-walking-speed behind them. It balanced a sloshing, hundred-gallon tank above two massive wheels. As it approached them, the people set down their tools to extract a brief respite from its many spouts.
To the syndicate who owned the water mule it was a means to an end, but to the people it watered it was a humbling life-giver, a deity. They adorned the mindless machine with gifts and incense, touching it and mumbling thanks in their many tongues. They glued religious figurines to it, taped plastic coins, and painted the names of their ancestors on its large, white plastic surface. They draped cheap beads across the spouts that had failed them last time and kissed a hand to touch its wheels that had once broken years ago. They implored it with their superstition to keep moving and keep giving them water. They needed very little else while they worked. The otherwise mundane visage of a simple industrial cart was transformed into a gaudy, jangling tower of trinkets and streamers. A palanquin that transported not royalty but water.
But the water mule was a mindless robot and had only a few simple rules by which it conducted itself: roll back-and-forth and deliver one-gallon of water to each person. It rationed their water by identifying their faces and shutting off the spout with a polite beep-beep-beep. It was these moments that the person’s affection was most likely to spin instantly into wrath. They spat on the spouts, hurt their hands hitting its metal frame, and impotently pushed at its tires that could not be deterred. They tore off the talismans and stomped on them, revoking their tithing and replacing it with cursing and damnation. | https://medium.com/sci-fi-shorts/the-water-mule-bdcec16db7b7 | ['S.F.N. Cook'] | 2020-11-23 15:25:26.202000+00:00 | ['Flash Fiction', 'Futurism', 'Quick Reads', 'SciFi', 'Dystopia'] |
Italy’s World War II Battleships Were Lovely, But Not Exactly the Best | The Italian 15-inch gun was also something of a disappointment, as it fired a very heavy shell at a high velocity, but was difficult to reload, was inaccurate and incurred serious barrel wear. Finally, Roma had a very short range, although this was of little concern in the Mediterranean.
All in all, Roma and her sisters were probably the least capable of the world’s final generation of fast battleships, with the likely exception of Bismarck and Tirpitz. Nevertheless, they were useful ships, and in battle the practical difference between Roma and the most of the modern Allied fast battleships would have been minimal.
Roma entered service in mid-1942, after many of the major actions of the Mediterranean had already been fought. By this point the Regia Marina was beset by fuel problems, precluding the aggressive use of Roma, her two sisters and most of the other heavy units of the fleet.
Roma’s main sorties involved transit from one base to another in an effort to avoid Allied air attacks. However, as a fleet-in-being the Regia Marina posed a significant threat to Allied naval activity, forcing Allied planners to account for the existence of several modern, effective battleships.
In September 1943, the Italian government decided to seek an armistice with the western Allies. The surrender of the Italian fleet was a prominent condition of this agreement. Along with her two sisters and numerous heavy cruisers, Roma — flagship of the squadron — was in preparation to attack the Allied landing force at Salerno when the armistice was signed.
Instead of heading to Salerno, Roma and her sisters laid a course for Malta.
The Germans sniffed the plan out shortly after the squadron sortied. The Luftwaffe dispatched a group of six Dornier Do 217 bombers armed with the Fritz X glider bomb, one of the earliest precision-guided weapons.
Two of the armor-piercing bombs hit Roma; the first badly damaged her engine room, and the second caused an explosion in the forward magazine. More than 1,200 men went down with Roma. Her sister Italia — renamed from the fascist Littorio — received a hit, but survived.
Both Italia and Vittorio Veneto arrived at Malta without further molestation, and were then transferred to reserve status in Egypt.
Some consideration was given to the idea of incorporating the remaining two vessels into the Royal Navy or the U.S. Navy for use in shore bombardment and carrier escort in the Pacific, but concerns over ammunition and spares scotched the idea.
In any case, the American, British and French navies had overwhelming superiority in the Pacific by 1944. After the war, the two surviving ships — as well as several older Italian battleships — were assigned by lot as war reparations to the Allied powers. The United States won Italia, and the British Vittorio Veneto.
Both ships were physically returned to Italy, and scrapped in the early 1950s.
These were lovely ships aesthetically, with crisp lines and a well-proportioned superstructure. They came into service before most of the rest of the “fast battleship” generation, and had flaws commensurate with their pace setting.
Despite their drawbacks, Roma and her sisters were useful ships.
This article originally appeared at The National Interest. | https://medium.com/war-is-boring/italys-world-war-ii-battleships-were-lovely-but-not-exactly-the-best-7446c571c235 | ['War Is Boring'] | 2017-02-12 11:32:00.377000+00:00 | ['Military', 'WIB History', 'History', 'War'] |
Editing a Love Poem | edit: do not
rely on metaphor
as no one wants to read about how
your love is like a tree trunk
standing against
come what may
wind whipping leaves off at spring limb
roots uncovered by bulldozer blade
or carved into with knives or blood or
the Hope of Next Year
love is flipping a coin
and letting you call it
love is the Mekong River
transboundary
mostly mud and suffering
weaving tributaries through
farmlands and fertile lands and dry lands
and hours where you will not see another soul
and hours so crowded and clamoring
you’ll feel at one with the heartbeat of everything
uniquely held in the hull of the watercraft
brave enough to traverse her murky waters
love is the flood and love is the
vessel that withstands it
and nobody wants to hear about
how love is a rock skipping across
a smooth pond
mountain lake
clouds reflecting on split surface
because nobody wants to hear about
the ripples
and the waves
and the ways
that love skips years or months or moments
is lost underwater
comes up for air
spends moments or months or years
holding a breath
drowns fully
resurrects
or sinks to the bottom of the sea
because love is lost, too, and often
edit: do not rely on simile
because nobody wants to hear about
the ways that
love is the long sigh after a deep sleep
no
love is the deep sleep
no
love is never falling asleep because
love is in being fully awake
fully visible
fully seeing and fully seen
but love is blind
and love sometimes goes for days without lifting her face to meet your gaze
and love sometimes cries her eyes out in loneliness while you’re
in the room where love takes place
because love takes up space
and love has boundaries
and love is boundless
and love is the lines between two destinations
but love isn’t a destination and doesn’t follow road rules
or roadways
or waylays or alleys or getting from A to B
because love isn’t a binary
love is the wind laugh on the tail of a kite string
love is no strings attached
freedom to dance and cartwheel
love is a rope swing in a tall tree
love is the noose around the neck of possibility
and love is the very essence of possibility
come what may
edit: nobody wants to read about the ways that love is
impatient
unkind
envious
boastful
dishonorable
self-seeking
record-keeping
failing
never enough
but love is a battle cry
not a victory march
and love only hurts because when loves isn’t there
there’s a ripped open
blood-letting
wound left in it’s absence
love is the bandaid
love is the bullet
love is the brainwash
and the memory
and the loss of the memory
and the damage done
and the healing
and love is the nurse that comes into the room
tears in her eyes
and tells you “six weeks”
love is the reality that we are all so very temporary that we must cling to the ways
that love
reimagines our lives
rebirths our promise
restarts our engines
edit: don’t rely on anecdote
but love is going out in the snow
zero degrees
scraping ice off a windshield
turning a key
shoveling a walkway
programming the coffee pot late at night
and waking up early to say goodbye
and sometimes love says goodbye because
sometimes love is a tree trunk
weathering a storm
and sometimes love is a cradle
made from a tree trunk that fell in a storm
edit: maybe just don’t
try to write about love | https://natalielafranceslack.medium.com/editing-a-love-poem-8bc765682b7b | ['Natalie Lafrance Slack'] | 2020-02-14 21:17:07.861000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Relationships', 'Metaphor', 'Love', 'Poem'] |
Digital Marketing Training Institute In Coimbatore | Digital Marketing Training Institute In Coimbatore web Showcasing moves at the speed of light. To keep up, you would like a strong establishment with the judgment to assume fundamentally, act severally, and be tirelessly creative. That is the reason we tend to compose this manual for engaging you with the environmental, structure squares to stay ahead in partner forceful trade. Digital Marketing Training Institute In Coimbatore its wide extension incorporates email showcasing, electronic customer relationship the board, and any limited-time exercises that are done through remote media. Nestsoft gives progressed web advertising course in Coimbatore that focuses on the two freshers and working experts. Our educational plan was planned by industry specialists who have long stretches of involvement with the current situation. Before the finish of preparing, Digital Marketing Training Institute In Coimbatore will give Google authentications and free situation help. Through our preparation program, understudies can undoubtedly discover a spot in the serious advanced advertising world.
Real-Time Preparing on Live Ventures
100% Work Affirmation
5+ Long reaches of Experienced Coaches
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Google/Experience test assignment will be given
Full-Time practical system Office | https://medium.com/@vetriseoanalyst/digital-marketing-training-institute-in-coimbatore-web-showcasing-moves-at-the-speed-of-light-5480fa9b7dc3 | ['Vetri Seo Analyst'] | 2021-12-30 10:34:41.449000+00:00 | ['Seo Services', 'Digital Marketing', 'SEO', 'Seo Training'] |
I Am Not A Refugee | Image by Matteo Paganelli from Unplash
I am a refugee, they call me
But I am Colourless and nation-less
Craving with hopes and wishes
Jarring the power who owes me my rights.
I am a refugee, they call me
With rights and hopes
My blood swirls
My aspirations are never in a refuge.
I am the refugee, rejected and tagged
Now, my services so dwell in this land
Saving lives, building homes
My world has changed.
I am a Refugee, they call me
I sing for them — just to ignite
I give them morning inspiration
In their offices, they smile
In turn, I receive coins.
Those coins, my redeemers’ treasure
Feed my impoverished home
Pay my fees to learn and to rise
I am engulfed and caged — holding on.
Today, I am raised to stardom
I am the subway singer; tagged
Sharing my subway melody
In your closet, remember my soul.
I ran from war
I came home
I am the rejected one
Famed and owned by even my foes.
I am a global citizen, call me that, and
I will smile like the morning star
Cut my flesh, my blood is red, no tag
Tear my heart, it is pure, no name.
I am not a refugee
Do not call me names
Call me a global citizen
Make me home and see me prosper.
I am a global citizen
Staunch and bold
I am strong and calm
Lead me and I will lead others.
I am a global citizen
Fearless
My dreams sound global
And my wishes will heal the world.
I dream humanity, not names
I stand for solidarity beyond race!
My days and wishes would bring me home
If I am accepted.
I yearn for your love, not hatred
My colour is not my heart
I serve the good of us not just me
Whether you accept me or not.
I am a global citizen
Drenched in dreams for the world
Creating humanity and humility
We are all one people. | https://medium.com/self-ish/i-am-not-a-refugee-b533d7dbed43 | ['M Sahr Nouwah- The Hunter S Grandson'] | 2020-07-17 23:46:00.914000+00:00 | ['Love', 'Freedom', 'Unhcr', 'Refugees', 'Race'] |
The Ultimate Minimalist “Bookflow” | “Book-selling”
I have reached a point in my life where the minimalist lifestyle is what suits me best. I don’t see the point of keeping, accumulating, cluttering up, and filling up my house and my mind.
I keep only the best in my library. Before I’ve read half a book, I already know if it is one of the books I’m going to keep or not. I keep about a quarter of my reads. The ones that are underlined stay with me automatically, since that means they have left their mark on me, and they are unsaleable anyway.
To find out whether I keep a book, I ask myself two questions:
Has it brought anything to my life?
Will I read it again?
I have two ways to get rid of my old books:
Offer them
Of course, I don’t recommend books I didn’t like. But sometimes I do enjoy a read, but I find that another person will enjoy it better than me. I like to give it as a gift to this specific person, just as much as I like it when someone gives me a specially chosen book.
Sell them
I sell my books on Vinted. It’s doing quite well. I sell them at half the purchase price, and that allows me to earn money to buy my next books. I like the whole process, knowing that the book is going to fall into someone else’s hands, that its teaching is being passed on. | https://medium.com/honest-creative/the-ultimate-minimalist-bookflow-d7659384a589 | ['Auriane Alix'] | 2020-11-22 14:27:25.579000+00:00 | ['Reading', 'Inspiration', 'Self Improvement', 'Self', 'Books'] |
What parents of gifted kids should know about grade-skipping | By Maria Blackburn
I’m from the Northeast. I walk fast and talk fast, and tend to think that fast is good and slow is bad. Except when it comes to accelerating my kids’ learning in school. Then I’m not so sure.
My son Nick was reading at 3, fascinated by U.S. presidential assassinations at 4, and plowing through the Harry Potter series (again) at 5. When he started first grade at our neighborhood public school, we worried they would want to accelerate his learning by having him skip first grade. We didn’t want his social and emotional development to suffer, yet we wanted him to have an appropriate level of challenge.
Instead of suggesting he skip a grade, Nick’s school proposed keeping him with his same-age peers, accelerating him within his grade by subject, and pulling him out for extra sessions with a gifted learning specialist. We agreed and the approach served him well throughout elementary school and beyond.
Happy kid, happy parents. The story should end here. And yet, I wonder if we did the right thing. What would have happened if we had pursued advanced learning differently? Is grade skipping the demon many parents think it is? What’s the best way to accelerate bright kids in school?
For answers, I turned to Linda Brody, who has more than 30 years of experience counseling academically advanced pre-college students and their families about a range of issues, including acceleration. As director of the Study of Exceptional Talent and the Diagnostic and Counseling Center at the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY), she’s seen a lot of changes in the understanding of what families and schools can do to challenge bright learners.
Opportunities for acceleration have evolved since Johns Hopkins psychologist and CTY founder Julian Stanley created the Talent Search some 50 years ago, she says. Stanley gave bright middle schoolers the SAT to measure their abilities and determine how to meet their academic needs. A number of students he identified entered college early because their high schools could not meet their needs for advanced content. “Today there are numerous options for accelerating in one or more subjects without necessarily accelerating grade placement or entering college early,” Brody says. “Online learning, summer programs, part-time placement in advanced classes, and dual enrollment in high school and college are some of the options students can consider.“
Whatever options a family chooses should be based on their child’s ability level as well as their content knowledge, motivation to move at a faster pace, and social and emotional maturity. It’s also important to evaluate the school’s curriculum, to consider whether it can meet a child’s needs, and consider if it offers the student access to an intellectual peer group. “Acceleration isn’t simply about speed or getting ahead of other kids,” she says. “It’s about providing the appropriate pace and placement to meet a child’s individual educational needs.”
Here’s some additional advice from Brody:
Recognize the signs. How do you know if your kid needs acceleration? “If your child shows the ability to learn at a faster rate than other students their age, or if their knowledge of a content area is already beyond their peers, they may need access to a curriculum that’s more advanced or moves at a faster pace than what’s typically offered to students their age,” Brody says.
Partner, please. To make a strong case for acceleration, Brody suggests, approach your child’s school as a partner with whom you can explore the available options.
Collect data. “Assessments, especially above-grade-level tests like those in CTY’s Talent Search, can provide valuable data about how a child’s abilities compare with other students their age,” she says. The results can help you advocate for appropriate services and advanced placement for your child.
Schools are like snowflakes — no two are alike. Know that options for acceleration can vary by geographic area and school, Brody says. “Some schools may be more open to subject acceleration, others to grade acceleration,” she says. “Some might have robust gifted programs, while others may not offer much that’s specifically designed for gifted students.”
Be realistic. When asking for accommodations, “Suggest alternatives that are doable in your child’s school setting,” Brody says. Accelerated online learning is a popular choice for schools and families of academically advanced students because it can take place anywhere, anytime.”
Have a plan. “Acceleration isn’t a one-time event; it should be part of a longer-term strategy to ensure that your child’s needs are met,” Brody says. Plan accelerative moves, including out-of-school learning, with your child’s school, keeping an eye on the short- and long-term impacts to ensure your child is learning and being appropriately challenged.
About that social and emotional adjustment… The fear that acceleration can have a negative impact on a child’s social and emotional development holds many people back from recommending accelerative strategies, Brody says. “In fact, there’s strong research showing that many accelerated students find beneficial social and emotional effects when they are placed in settings that are more appropriate for their intellectual needs.”
Part of what’s difficult when you have kids is knowing that you are making the right decisions. Sometimes, it takes years to find out how well you did or didn’t do. I wish I had had Linda Brody’s expertise years ago when we were deciding how to engage and challenge our then first grader, but with the help of our elementary school and our son’s love of learning, it all worked out. | https://medium.com/brightnow/what-parents-of-gifted-kids-should-know-about-grade-skipping-14a9ad76e4eb | ['Johns Hopkins Center For Talented Youth'] | 2020-01-31 18:28:00.656000+00:00 | ['Gifted And Talented', 'Gifted', 'K 12 Education', 'Acceleration', 'Education'] |
From Monday to Sunday: my perspective on work | January 1st, 2020: the beginning of a year full of challenges and exciting plans for the future! Then the pandemic and all that it entailed came along. My plans changed and the future was uncertain. Days went by and I began to feel the need to interact with people, the need to keep my brain working. I started applying for jobs, but nothing seemed to be too motivating. Then one day I discovered Arion. It looked like a new company, but its exposure surprised me a lot. There was definitely something distinguishing that struck me in what I was reading, I wanted to know more!
To my amazement, there was an opening for a position in the People & Culture team which made me want to be part of it. And so here I am today, proud to be an Arionic.
Arion is characterized by three points which are Empowerment, Teamwork & Effective Communication; reason why I chose to talk about these matters in the first place in previous articles.
All three are always combined with a fun and happy work environment. Enjoying and having fun at work, having a pleasant work environment or establishing healthy relationships between colleagues, also helps workers feel good about themselves. Firsthand I can say that when a person is motivated and happy in their work, they will also be more productive, creative, will work better in teams, adapt more easily to changes and will develop a greater tolerance to stress. The good thing is that making a person feel comfortable in their work environment and making them better professionals, making them feel job satisfaction, is also reflected on their personal life.
Because of this, I encourage you to think about what you can do so that the people around you have a good time at work, and once you find it, do it with no hesitation. It will be great for your colleagues, for your company and of course for yourself being part of the process. If you have a negative attitude towards your work, change it! And if the circumstances of your job don’t allow you to, maybe you have not found your place yet. In this case, you have different scenarios; either you change to a new job and will have to risk a lower pay to start with, or you will take a risk and open your own business. You will think about how to reinvent yourself and this will surely not be easy, but the benefits will be worth the effort; you will be happy doing what you like.
‘Doing what you like is freedom, liking what you do is happiness’.
At Arion, fun relationships are easily fomented by its open office arrangement, one which promotes communication and creates a pleasant and comfortable working environment. Consequently, all qualified Arionics communicate well and interconnect activities that each area carries out independently, which results in a successful operation of the company. All of Arion’s operations are mindful of its horizontal structure, which is focused on teamwork and collaboration. This allows employees to be part of important decision-making moments, focused on the company’s objectives (OKRs). Employees are free to make these decisions without being subjected to questioning. Such empowerment can increase morale as well as motivation, thereby leading to greater productivity and success.
Being given the opportunity to write this article is also a great example. We are given the chance to share one’s thoughts from one’s point of interest.
I shall conclude by saying that for me, happiness at work is highly important and it makes me proud and enjoy what I do, believe in what I do, accept mistakes, it makes me use a sense of humor in work-related matters, make daily decisions without feeling afraid, be human as well as professional. Years ago, I remember the restlessness on any Sunday afternoon due to an important call on Monday… Today I don’t feel that. I love Mondays and also Wednesdays and Sundays or Thursdays.
Work is not everything we have in life, but it’s all about living with intensity and enjoying everything we do in life. | https://medium.com/arionkoder/from-monday-to-sunday-my-perspective-on-work-5978676e4cac | [] | 2020-12-21 18:57:36.309000+00:00 | ['Uruguay', 'Workplace', 'Software Development', 'Human Resources', 'Work Environment'] |
Machine Learning Basics | Photo by Andy Kelly on Unsplash
The advancements and opportunities that Machine Learning has evoked are limitless in value. Before answering the question, ‘What is Machine Learning?’, I would highlight its importance from the perspective of ‘Why Machine Learning?’.
Suppose you work as a programmer in the Grammarly team and you are assigned to write a program that can correct grammar or spelling mistakes made by online writers. Are you an expert in handling the English vocabulary? Even if you are, how many grammar rules and words you would have to explore, in order to facilitate a good accuracy? One advantage of Machine Learning is that it does this hard part of analyzing patterns and building rules, resulting in reduced time for programming. If you have a rich example set from which the machine can learn, you are already equipped with what you need.
Now that you have successfully built an English spelling/grammar corrector using Machine Learning, suppose you are given the task to create a spelling/grammar corrector for the Chinese language. If you are not aware of the true capabilities of Machine Learning, you would be stressed upon listening to this. All you have to do is finding a rich Chinese dataset and provide a customized product of Grammarly for Chinese writers.
Upon launching the new product, you are in the need to merge the two Grammarly versions (English and Chinese) to provide more flexibility to the writers. Although you can easily and clearly identify the English alphabet from the Chinese letters at first glance, how can you teach the computer to do so? Again Machine Learning can help to solve this seemingly unprogrammable task.
Now that you are amazed by what Machine Learning can serve, let’s dive into the basic concepts. Machine Learning addresses the problem, ‘How to build a computer program that automatically improves the doing through experience?’. If you carefully analyze a problem that Machine Learning is capable of solving, you would come up with 3 major metrics.
Task Experience Performance
The task is the ‘doing’ or the skill that is expected to be mastered. The experience is the training obtained. The performance is the metric that evaluates the task. For example, a spam filter has the task to classify an arbitrary email as spam or non-spam. The experience for doing the task is obtained by the training examples/instances, which are the labeled emails. The spam filters of Gmail and Yahoo not only check emails based on pre-existing rules but also generate new rules as they continue classifying[1]. This training data can be retrieved when users read their mails and manually mark them as spam or not according to the content. The performance of the doing can be measured in various ways and one would be the classification accuracy (true classification percentage).
A model in Machine Learning is an algorithm trained using data, to replicate decisions that an expert would make, given the same information [2]. Training simply refers to finding the best parameters (weights and biases) of the algorithm from examining many examples from the training space. A “good training” should result in reduced errors in the decisions that the model makes. The error or the loss is a number that informs how bad the model has made decisions.
The next question you might be wondering is, ‘How do we determine a function for assessing this loss?’. Even before answering this, how do we know that the model is actually learning and improves its doing? Let’s assume we are given a mathematical function for calculating loss. In order to know if the model is performing in a good or bad manner, we follow an iterative approach named Gradient Descent. This is based on an observation that if a function is differentiable in a neighborhood of a point, then the function decreases fastest in the direction of the negative gradient of the function [3]. Or on the other hand, in order to minimize the loss, we have to sniff along the negative gradient and take steps proportional to the negative gradient of the function. As the model-algorithm is a function of unknown parameters (weights and biases), the function derivative is also a function of those parameters. By taking steps proportional to the negative gradient, these parameters are adjusted and we can assure the new parameters lead to a reduced loss which means the model is now learning/training better.
Figure 1. Adjustments to model weights using Gradient Descent
The choice of a loss function depends on the model-algorithm chosen, the degree of outlier data in the training space, and the ease of calculating the derivative.
Models learn patterns found in data and if the identified patterns are overly simple or overly complex, the models make mistakes or incorrect predictions for unseen data. If the model tries to fully fit the training data (overfit), by considering each training example (low bias — based on majority), the model makes incorrect predictions that highly deviate (high variance) from actual test data. If the model lightly fits the training data (underfit), by considering only a few training examples (high bias — based on minority), the model makes predictions that deviate less (low variance) from actual test data. The task is to find the sweet spot of the model complexity to retrieve the optimal parameters for the model-algorithm.
Figure 2. Bias-Variance Trade-off
Finding the right set of parameters is often challenging as although the model performs well for training data, in the presence of unseen test data the model can make poor decisions/predictions. The reason is the model has overly learned from the data so that it represents the training space perfectly but it is not generalizing the training space. This could result from the noisy data present in the training samples. How to ensure that the model has absorbed the major patterns in the data and at the same time strained out/ignored the noisy data? Or on the other hand, ‘How to mitigate the overfit problem?’. We can use Cross-Validation or Regularization techniques for this.
Cross-Validation gives a sense of model-performance on unseen test data. One simple Cross-Validation technique is Holdout Cross-Validation where we keep aside a portion of the data for validating and get predictions for this set after the model is trained from the remaining train data. By calculating the loss for the validation set, we can get a notion of the generalization power of the model. However, there is no guarantee that the most important data samples that help to recognize patterns would always remain in the train set and the model might learn very little from data due to insufficient amount of training data. To address gaps in this technique we can use K-Fold Cross-Validation. We iteratively split the train set into K partitions and at each iteration, leave out one partition for validating and calculate the loss over the left-out test partition. By averaging all the losses, we can see how the model has generalized for unseen data and it will learn from every hold out partition at some point in the training process. In order to guarantee a fair distribution of target classes in train/validation splits we can use Stratified K-Fold Cross-Validation where we make sure each fold contains balanced samples from target classes.
Another generalization technique is Regularization. This method tries to shrink the complexity (coefficients of model weights) towards zero. The complexity often arises from noise present in the training samples. Depending on diminishing the impact of weights or making the impacts zero, we have 2 regularization techniques.
Lasso Regression (L1) Ridge Regression (L2)
A comparison of these 2 regularization techniques is given in the table below.
Figure 3. Comparison between Ridge and Lasso Regression
As this is a basic introduction to Machine Learning I will recommend an intuitive article for further details on Regularization.
I hope you enjoyed learning the basics of Machine Learning with intuitions!
Credits:
[1]https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844018353404
[2]https://www.ospreydata.com/2020/02/24/ai-ml-models-101-what-is-a-model/
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gradient_descent
[4] For details on Regularization: https://towardsdatascience.com/regularization-in-machine-learning-connecting-the-dots-c6e030bfaddd | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/machine-learning-basics-30ad0c2f739d | ['Ishara Madhavi'] | 2020-09-27 14:29:26.143000+00:00 | ['Generalization', 'Machine Learning', 'Gradient Descent', 'Bias Variance Tradeoff'] |
20 ideas for becoming a full-stack frugal company in 2021 | Full Stack Development refers to the development of not only front-end (client side) but also back-end (server side) portions of the applications.
Chris Dixon, an american tech entrepreneur first defined “Full-stack startup” as a company which develops a technology that can provide the end customer with a complete product or service which handles the entire value chain of its activity.
The “Full-stack” approach implies extending the fundamental skills of the company beyond the traditional marketing, commercial and technological skills. Frichti a french startup is a wonderful example of a fullstack startup (full article here).
French startup Frichti,which grabbed $13.4 million in 2016, perfectly illustratesthe concept of a Full-stack platform. Its economic model relies on the integrating the entire value chain within the platform, from cooking to the delivery process. “We are a restaurant, we do eCommerce and are offering logistics at the same time. We integrate the entire value chain, which enables us to better control our costs and prices,” said Julia Bijaoui, co-founder of Frichti on French television. It’s also a state of mind: we can see Frichti as a food delivery company but its co-founders primarily see it as a tech company. It’s the perfect example of how technology can solve an operational problem.
The Full Stack Frugal Company
Similarly a full-stack frugal company is a company that practices sustainability through it’s value chain while taking care of society and the planet through innovation.
A full-stack frugal company is resilient to economic shocks, social crisis and the technology tsunamis.
A full-stack frugal company is regenerative, it replenishes the earths natural ressources.
Why Frugal ?
A frugal innovation is a solution derived within acute constraints, through an ingenious combination of available, affordable and accessible resources for creating social, environmental and economic value. This is practiced in developing countries under ressources constraint. However this grassroot approach has a lot to teach to the developed countries, and here is how this approach could be personalised to SME and large corporations.
A full stack frugal company is thus an ecosystem of employees, partners, clients, shareholders, cities and the planet looking to create value by leveraging accessible ressources in a mutally beneficial way. Therefore identifying and understanding the components of the system are important to be able to identify innovation opportunities.
A system is a set of elements whose interconnections determine thier behaviour and the behaviour of the entire system.
In our non-linear world by fixating on the parts of a system, we miss understanding the whole system.
Tools, frameworks and approaches that could be used by a frugal company | https://medium.com/the-frugal-company/are-you-a-full-stack-frugal-company-in-2021-ded141967572 | ['Abhinav Agarwal'] | 2021-01-06 08:02:44.650000+00:00 | ['B Corp', 'Innovation', 'Corporate Culture', 'Sustainability', 'Frugal Innovation'] |
True Religion Does NOT Kill | ““I encourage all Americans to gather, in homes and places of worship, to offer a prayer of thanks to God for our many blessings,” Trump said at the end of the annual presidential Thanksgiving proclamation released by the White House press secretary’s office on Wednesday.”
While it has always seemed that Drumpf was, shall we say, “unconcerned” with the welfare of Americans, this is not that.
We all know from his own statements that Drumpf only considers that he has lost if he is unable to inflict pain on his otherwise winning opponent, and with the above statement his true goal seems clear:
It’s OK to kill 99 supporters as long as you also take out a single opponent.
Why else would Drumpf’s Supreme Court judges have passed the decision that they did yesterday? (Timing says everything I’m not articulate enough to convince someone of.) We saw the Drumpf picks choose, not the side of religion, but that of religious zealotry. Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, and Barrett (as the deciding vote) as well as the less than unexpected Thomas and Alito, issued a decision that basically turns America’s most “church-going” (which I do not necessarily equate with “religious”), into members of a death cult. And I am not being hyperbolic. What mainstream religion (or religion, period) encourages widespread suicide and manslaughter? This is not a religious decision, this is Drumpf’s revenge.
This decision, at least as presented, specifically effects New York (seemingly most specifically the city), and there is nothing Drumpf would rather see than countless deaths among the New Yorkers he thinks he benefited the entire time he was evading hundreds of millions in taxes as a resident of the city, and now thinks betrayed him in the recent election. I suspect while he has had no concern about the coronavirus death toll, I’ve little doubt he’ll be watching the count for the state of New York, and bragging to his closest associates that “This is even better than shooting somebody on 5th Avenue!!!” I am not being facetious, and I am not laughing. He will feel proud, and perhaps even God-like in his vengeance.
One can’t help but presume the true test of this “law” will be when one faith contests another. When Christianity questions Islam, or when Christianity contests Judaism. Then we will see this decision for what it truly is; Christianity versus all the world’s beliefs (and non-beliefs.)
And of course, this opens the floodgates to remove legal rights anytime someone speaks the three “magic” words, “My religion disagrees.” No more LGBTQ anti-discrimination protection, no more same-sex marriage, no more seeing your partner as they lay dying in the hospital, no more LGBTQ couples adopting children, no members of the LGBTQ community in the military, and no partners receiving an estate if the will is contested by the biological family.
We must hope that late in the day of January 20th, 2021 this madness will already see actions that will treat all Americans as something other than enemies. At least, until each individual (such in those in the above statement and the SC decision) proves otherwise.
Thank you, and please stay safe. | https://medium.com/@foofaraw/true-religion-does-not-kill-aaab88e2dd52 | ['Foofaraw', 'Chiquita', 'Arf'] | 2020-12-06 04:46:07.346000+00:00 | ['Coronavirus', 'Supreme Court', 'Religion', 'Trump', 'Death Cult'] |
How to Ace Your Seasonal Marketing Campaign — GMS | What does this phrase mean to you? Is it conjuring memories of the Starks, white walkers and the Night King? “Game of Thrones” appreciation aside, the next thing a dedicated marketer might connect the incoming winter with is seasonal marketing. A new season heralds new opportunities for sales.
Nearly 40% of online sales are generated in the last three months of the year. Considering that, it’s just impossible to ignore the power of seasonal marketing. By definition, seasonal marketing is when your business targets its marketing activities around specific times of the year. The best part about this is that your activities are not only limited to one big day — it’s also about adjusting your marketing campaigns to, for example, summer vacations. In fact, seasonal marketing is an extended version of holiday marketing.
In a recent consumer study by Google and the Boston Consulting Group, 70% of surveyed participants reported that their shopping journey involved online touchpoints. Digital is a critical part of the customer journey today, whether it’s online or in-store. In such circumstances, customer communications come to the fore, and using the right channels becomes a game changer for increasing revenues. Wrong tool selection will not do your business any favours: why support your customers via emails when 82% of them prefer live chats, for instance?
In this article, we take a thorough look at specific messaging techniques and tools to discover how they can help develop an efficient seasonal marketing campaign. You’ll also receive exclusive access to our Seasonal Messaging Guide for November & December 2021!
First and foremost, you should weigh the pros and cons about the season you selected. Is it popular among my customers? Do I have something to offer? If yes, begin your research on key trends. Monitor where the sales spikes are coming from, and then link them back to specific keywords. If you’ve already set up Google Search Console for your website, you’re on the right path to searching query data. Otherwise, you can try SEO tools, such as Ahrefs or SEMRush. Explore last year’s seasonal patterns to better prepare your marketing strategy. Also, don’t forget to study your competitors.
The next step would be to figure out the date or time period for your seasonal marketing efforts — that’s the foundation from which the campaign will grow. It’s also about budgeting as every new round of advertisement costs some pennies, sometimes even an arm and a leg. Have you ever noticed how fast Christmas related special offers disappear from retail websites and physical stores immediately after the celebration? | https://medium.com/@globalmessageservices/how-to-ace-your-seasonal-marketing-campaign-gms-66633af519d7 | ['Global Message Services', 'Gms'] | 2021-11-15 07:23:26.444000+00:00 | ['Sms Marketing', 'Viber', 'Mobile Marketing', 'Sms', 'Messaging'] |
The Dark Side of the Kitchen | I used to think kitchen life was like The Food Network — you know, corny jokes, beautifully prepared foods, fun music. But once I got into the industry, I quickly realized that wasn’t real.
Real kitchen life is leaving at 1:00 am on a Saturday night only to be back the next morning at 9:00 am (sometimes earlier), real kitchen life is being talked down to by a guest for 30 minutes after simply dropping off a side of ranch, real kitchen life is missing every major life event because no one will take your shift.
Real kitchen life is sweltering and loud, and messy all at once. It’s nothing like it’s portrayed on TV unless we’re talking about Hell’s Kitchen.
After my first few years in the industry, I began to settle into this wild concept that maybe I wasn’t meant to enjoy my job. Maybe I was just supposed to come in, cook, and leave. Simple enough, I guess.
But who in their right mind would be satisfied with that?
Not me, that’s who.
So I left the industry (that’s right, I quit) and started working at this uppity furniture store where I had weekends off and even got to take solid hour-long breaks — but I was bored. My gosh, was I bored? I quickly grew tired of sales quotas and asking every single customer “is there anything I could help you find?” or “would you like to open a credit card today?” before being met with a stern “no”.
The atmosphere was so much different there, all I ever did was walk around and twiddle my thumbs.No passion or hustle and bustle, just dusty furniture.
It took me one more “regular” job before I ran back to the kitchen with open arms but where I ended up would turn out to be my favorite horror story. | https://medium.com/@hungryandfed/the-dark-side-of-the-kitchen-46d5664f5c90 | [] | 2020-05-10 05:21:08.704000+00:00 | ['Chef', 'Kitchen', 'Restaurant', 'Kitchenlife'] |
My Boundaries + My Limits = My Business | Photo by David Rotimi on Unsplash
Standing around a BBQ at a farewell party shortly before we moved to the UK, talking about the adventure upon which we were about to embark, I was struck again at how varied the reactions of our friends were. This was a fairly momentous decision, one over which we had agonised for months. In the days following our announcement that we were planning to move, it seemed that everyone had a view on the matter and had no compunction sharing it, even if what they had to say was negative and filled with doom laden predictions of how difficult this was going to be and how significant a risk we were taking, especially with two young children in tow. One of the chaps (we’ll refer to him as Mike for the purposes of this story) standing with the group piped up with a comment that revealed how he had had a dream in which we returned to SA with our ‘tail-between-our-legs’ having failed to make a success of the venture. He was pretty clear about his belief that this would be proven to be true and that I would be revealed as a fool.
On the whole, people were pretty positive. Needless to say, I was shaken by these and other negative comments made both before we left home and after we arrived in this country, some of which were grounded in ignorance, others in genuine concern and yet others in plain malice. Of course I was aware of the risks. I was aware that we were facing a future filled with challenges and decisions that we couldn’t begin to imagine. However, we had an opportunity to experience a different life, in another country, and were committed to following the decision through. I would lead my family into this change, even if I did it scared.
Anyone looking at me on that and other occasions might have seen an upbeat, confident individual with a fairly positive mental attitude, always ready with a quick come-back. This occasion was no different. Once the conversation had died down and we were all standing contemplating the feast being cooked to perfection on the open fire, a thought occurred to me. “Mike”, I said, “I’ve just had a mental image that involves you driving up a dual carriageway to somewhere in England, on your way to my home to apologise for, and retract, what you have just said”. He muttered something along the lines of “we’ll see about that”. The subject was left alone and I was left feeling uneasy. What if he was correct?
I may be alone in this, but I’d rather be liked than disliked, respected than disrespected, viewed positively than negatively. I’d prefer it if many people were able to say that their life experience was somehow improved because of something I had done or said rather than the opposite.
I suggest that this isn’t necessarily a bad idea but that it can be dangerous in the sense that it is possible to play the life-game in such a way as to keep the peace, allowing my perception of the expectation of others to define my actions and therefor my life. Their fears and limitations become mine, their boundaries, superimposed on my map, can cramp my experience and diminish my development as an individual.
I risk losing my identity, becoming some kind of crazy hybrid that comprises a mixture of my ideas and dreams and the fears and dreams of others, all shoe-horned into a contrived mould that has been adapted and adopted to create the person we think other people believe we must be. Its crazy. We forget that these influencers are living a completely different life, dealing with their own ambitions, fears and inadequacies and, if we had to dig a little deeper may be projecting those internal limitations onto others in order to manage their own corrosive thinking.
Now that’s a questionable platform on which to build my life!!
The truth of the matter is that it is impossible for this idyllic viewpoint to be a consistent reality: Inevitably, the day will come when I must make a decision or take an action with which others whose opinion I value will disagree. At this point, I must be sure to position my Self correctly as I listen to what is being said, adding new insights (both positive and negative) to the information I have already accumulated. I then use what I have gleaned from others to inform my decision without allowing it to define my boundaries unless I choose to make it so.
I suggest that when we are planning to follow a course of action and require the insight of others, that we seek out people who love us enough to tell us when they disagree without the requirement that we blindly follow their advice or face rejection. I further suggest that we follow the advice of Keith Cunningham who recommends that we give careful consideration to our blind spots, those assumptions we are making about what we cannot see. Having done so, we think through the Up- and Downsides of the idea, trying as we do so to resolve the factors identified as being on the downside. Having done so, we determine whether we can live with those downside ideas that cannot be resolved. If we can, we move, if we can’t, we don’t.
The question then becomes, “How do I guard against selfishness and silo-ism, that place of arrogant self belief that allows me to think that I can do whatever I please, should I choose to do so?”
This is the point in the plan where we guard against selfishness and silo-ism by balancing our ambitions against our values, those fundamental beliefs by which we navigate our lives. For me this means that I seek in every way possible to leave a legacy of good in the lives of others, and do all I can to add to the positive value of their life experience.
As it happened, we moved countries, experiencing the highs and lows of starting a completely new life in a whole new world. Some 18 months after we had arrived and settled in the Midlands I received a call. It was Mike. He was in London and wondered if we were available for a visit at the weekend?
The weekend arrived and so did Mike (who by the way had driven up the motorway from London to the Midlands to get to our home). It was good to see him. Having said the usual hello’s with the accompanying hugs all round, he turned to me saying, “I’ve come to apologise and to retract what I said that night at the BBQ….”
As I sit in my study on a rainy, autumnal day (exactly the kind of weather I prefer) living in a country I have grown to love, I am struck by the thought of how much I and my family would have missed out on had we allowed ourselves to be defined by others in those days before we left SA. Over the years, I have faced many challenges and decisions that have presented me with this choice again and again. Do I allow my course of action to be defined by others, or do I stay true to my own values and definition-of-self even it it means taking a stance that has the potential to cost me dearly?
Experience has taught me that the most productive course of action is to consistently, courageously and politely resist pressure from others to conform to their perception of my reality as I constantly redefine myself based on my own new learning and experiences.
The person that I am, deep in my core, is the person I choose to be. Life can launch curved balls and challenges that never seem to stop, but this I know for sure: The reaction of the deep inner me is up to me and me only to decide.
So there you have it: Love, Life and the Definition Of Me is my business. That said, I also recognise that these foundations are not a feeling or a whim, they’re an act of my will. | https://medium.com/@thesensemaker/my-boundaries-my-limits-my-business-74ff04ad7fae | ['Dario Bucceri'] | 2020-10-13 18:55:38.474000+00:00 | ['Lifehacks', 'Life Hacking', 'Goal Setting', 'Life', 'Life Lessons'] |
Strike the harp | Welcome to the first days after the winter Solstice — the increased light from day to day is measured in seconds. Two days past, it can still be missed by a blink.
Not sure what Christmas Day 2020 will be like. It changes over the years, souvenir tree ornaments of life’s milestones. That first Christmas away from my family. In a different city, with my future in-laws.
The first Christmas after watching my father die. Then the first one as a full orphan. When both parents are gone, when bereft moved in and colored my entire world.
Permanently.
These are tariffs for staying in the country of the living.
This is just one year. A hard year, yes and a difficult Christmas that will be shadows on a screen. The contact, the touch I cherish from friends, from family will be through glass.
A literal and virtual TV dinner warmed by the Shaw Cable crackling wood fire.
I know it could be worse. That doesn’t make this year better or easier; simply preferable to that something else it might be.
As daylight returns, seconds at a time, I can’t see it but I know the long dark night will be over. Eventually.
I miss them but I can bear it for now. | https://medium.com/@maureenblaseckie/strike-the-harp-ac4921bc6c2f | ['Maureen Blaseckie'] | 2020-12-23 16:27:53.887000+00:00 | ['Christmas', 'Solstice', 'Plague Year Journal', 'Perspective', 'Aging'] |
The Impact of Cloud on Climate Change | The Impact of Cloud on Climate Change CloudOps Follow Oct 16 · 5 min read
This blog post was originally published here on CloudOps’ blog.
The effects of cloud computing on climate change are complex. Data centres consume energy and emit greenhouse gases in the process. The information and communications technology industry is projected to take 30% of the global demand for energy by 2030. Currently consuming 7% of the world’s energy supply, internet technology has the same carbon footprint as the aviation industry.
The source of 7% of the global energy demand will not make or break the fight against climate change. This has been hammered home recently as people stayed home to fight the spread of COVID-19. Never has the need to binge-watch Netflix been so critical for those fortunate enough to have a subscription. Yet the plummeting transportation and industry production has led to the lowest carbon emissions in years. The point: fighting climate change requires an “all of society” approach.
“All of society” includes the emissions of cloud technology, making criticisms of cloud’s carbon footprint valid but reducing the footprint of cloud alone will not stop climate change.
Let’s address the cloud’s carbon footprint. Some providers are more environmentally friendly than others. At CloudOps, we largely rely on the hydro-powered grid in Quebec, giving us a low carbon footprint which has attracted eco-conscious partners like the Woods Hole Research Center.
Microsoft has heavily committed to being carbon negative by 2030, sequestering more CO2 than they produce. Google has matched each kilowatt-hour of non-renewable energy used by its data centers with the purchase of a kilowatt-hour of renewable energy, something it achieved in 2018. The reliance on purchased energy to offset emissions is controversial, but the scale at which Google has implemented this policy, along with investment in new renewable capacity, makes Google’s environmental contributions significant. Apple has significantly invested — 83% of their energy consumption coming from renewables.
IBM has committed to 55% reliance on renewable energy by 2025, claiming that 38% of its energy consumption already came from renewables in 2018. Alibaba Cloud unfortunately still relies heavily on the coal-powered grid in China. Amazon’s AWS is making progress to distance itself from its coal-powered days and have installed several solar and wind power plants around the world, but still has ways to go as it rapidly expands its operations in Northern Virginia, the “data center capital of the world,” with no investment or planned investment in renewables there since 2016. Microsoft and Facebook have also increased their operations in North Virginia, but have increased their consumption of renewable energy there. Apple has completely switched to renewable energy for its North Virginia data centers. In fact North Virginia (where only 4% of energy production is from renewables and approximately 40% of new cloud infrastructure was developed in 2018) is one of the largest sources of carbon emissions from cloud computing in the world.
However, let’s remember that even if 100% of North Virginia’s cloud infrastructure was powered by renewables, climate change would not be averted. And that overall, cloud companies invest a disproportionately large amount in renewable energy compared to many other sectors of industry. Part of me thinks “anti-climate change” arguments on cloud computing benefit oil and gas production, as people believe environmentalists want to shut down YouTube. As I know many environmental scientists, I assure you this is not the case. The major goal is and must remain to transition our energy consumption across all sectors away from fossil fuels.
But how do we do that? It’s worth considering the diversity of options here. A great resource here is Project Drawdown. The Drawdown review compiles climate solutions to propose how to reduce the atmospheric level of greenhouse gases. It focuses on 3 main areas: reducing emissions, supporting carbon sinks, and improving society.
Drawdown shows that along with expanding renewable energy production, a few other areas are important. Improving the storage and disposal of chemical refrigerants, which are extremely potent greenhouse gases, will be important as their use expands. Eating protein lower on the food chain by replacing or reducing the consumption of meat, particularly beef, will prevent natural carbon sinks from being converted to farmland. Per calorie, meatless diets are much more environmentally friendly. Even natural, grass-fed beef is not a climate solution, nor can it deal with today’s meat demand. Particularly in Brazil, when tropical rainforest is cleared to raise cattle the climate and biological impacts are devastating. In the USA, the area is immense.
The proportion of land use by different sectors in the USA shown as continuous blocks of land. Just look at how much is used to raise cattle and produce livestock feed. From Bloomberg 2018.
However, the cloud may come to the rescue here, as many modern energy technologies will incorporate some aspect of the cloud/IoT. The security and privacy concerned with next-generation smart grids are similar to the internet. And, just like the internet, an early definition of its ethical use is needed.
The ability to transport and distribute energy over long distances is critical for fighting climate change at this stage of our technological capabilities. Renewables can be generated across time zones. Energy markets can be opened for small players to make money, as their energy production can be sold at peak hours in distant regions. And the cloud will be there, keeping it all running.
Tristan Kosciuch
Tristan is an evolutionary biologist interested in the effects of landscape levels on genetic and phenotypic variation. He works in Vancouver Island on threespine stickleback and in the Lake Victoria basin on Nile perch and haplochromine cichlids. His work on stickleback uses remote sensing to quantify environments to test the predictability of evolution.
This blog post was originally published here on CloudOps’ blog.
Sign up for CloudOps’ monthly newsletter to stay up to date with the latest DevOps and cloud native developments. | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/the-impact-of-cloud-on-climate-change-a45abc8145a4 | [] | 2020-11-07 03:59:18.109000+00:00 | ['Cloud Computing', 'Cloud Emr Software', 'Climate Change', 'Greenhouse Gas Emissions'] |
Saturday is for the Locks | Buccaneers (-9.5) @ Lions: O/U 54
ATS: Buccaneers: 7–7, Lions: 5–8–1
O/U: Buccaneers: 8–6, Lions: 8–5–1
The Buccaneers will look to extend their modest 2-game winning streak in this one. When looking at playoff positioning, these next two games are essential to this team as there’s a big difference between being the 5th seed (playing the NFC East champion) and the 6th seed (playing one of the other division champions). The Lions will have all new coaches going today due to Covid issues. Offensively, they’ve been playing well of late. Defensively, they haven’t been able to stop anyone all season.
I’m actually going with the Lions getting 9.5 points here. The Bucs are clearly the better team playing for a lot more. But with the Lions coaching issues this week, I expect them to play loose and motivated for these guys. Matthew Stafford may be given a lot more freedom, and throughout his career he’s been one of the best when it’s solely up to him calling plays at the end of games. I think both teams score a ton of points and this game is a lot closer than people think.
Picks: Lions +9.5 (Deadbolt), Over 54 (Deadbolt)
49ers @ Cardinals (-5.5): O/U 48.5
ATS: 49ers: 5–9, Cardinals: 7–7
O/U: 49ers: 7–7, Cardinals: 5–9
The 49ers are getting George Kittle back today, but also are losing Nick Mullens. Injuries have really told the story all season long for this team. The Cardinals upset the 49ers all the way back in Week 1, and will look to sweep the season series here today.
I’m going with the Cardinals laying 5.5 points. I simply don’t have any faith in C.J. Beathard for the 49ers. The Cardinals are looking to get that 7th playoff spot in the NFC, and with the Bears hot on their tails and playing the 1-win Jaguars this week, they understand how important this game is. It may be a low scoring game, and it may be close, but 20–13 covers, and I expect something like that.
Picks: Cardinals -5.5 (Deadbolt), Under 48.5 (Padlock)
Dolphins (-3) @ Raiders: O/U 48
ATS: Dolphins: 11–3, Raiders: 7–7
O/U: Dolphins: 5–9, Raiders: 11–3
Important game in the AFC wild card race. The Dolphins are hanging on to that 7th spot for now, whereas the Raiders essentially need all the stars to align for them to take that spot. The Dolphins though are trying desperately to hold off the Ravens who all of a sudden are hot.
I like the Dolphins laying a field goal in this one. The Raiders are ice cold right now as they have lost 4 of their last 5 with their only win coming against the Jets. The Dolphins are simply a good, all-around football team. They’ve overperformed all season long, as evidenced by their 11–3 record ATS. I don’t know if ultimately they’ll get into the postseason, but I think they make it interesting going into Week 17.
Picks: Dolphins -3 (Padlock), Under 48 (Padlock) | https://medium.com/@craigebinger/saturday-is-for-the-locks-fd9ed676378d | ['Craig Ebinger'] | 2020-12-26 15:29:10.336000+00:00 | ['NFL Week 16', 'Nfl Week 16 Picks', 'NFL', 'Football', 'NFL Picks'] |
The Decrease in India’s Air Pollution During COVID-19 | Amidst the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, a rare positive has been a significant global decrease in air pollution levels. Primarily, experts have measured nitrogen dioxide (NO2), one of the six major air pollutants (in addition to particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, ground-level ozone, and lead). NO2 has, like most other gases, natural and human sources. Natural sources include lightning, oceans, and volcanoes. However, in urban regions, natural sources of NO2 account for a small fraction of total NO2 levels; according to a 2005 report by Australia’s Department of the Environment and Heritage, natural sources of NO2 only account for 1 percent of overall NO2 levels in cities. Human activity is almost entirely responsible for NO2 emissions in urban regions, with road transport being the number one cause. Planes, power plants, and ships, all of which burn fossil fuels, are also significant human sources of NO2. Given this, it’s unsurprising that during the stringent global lockdowns, NO2 levels have dropped significantly in urban areas, especially in India’s densely-populated cities.
Satellite imagery from the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Sentinel 5P satellite measures NO2 levels globally. These measurements accurately reflect emissions sources because unlike other gases that can travel a significant distance from where they’re emitted, NO2 has a short lifespan and dies before it can move very far. In other words, if the Sentinel 5P satellite captures a hotspot of NO2 over Delhi, it’s highly likely it was emitted from within Delhi’s vicinity. Satellite imagery is, therefore, a highly reliable tool for measuring NO2 emissions, especially if data with high levels of cloud coverage is excluded.
The global decreases in NO2 levels were first seen in China, where levels plummeted dramatically following the strict quarantine measures enforced in late January. As nations in Europe and North America followed China’s lead in late February and March, similar trends have been observed globally. India’s nationwide lockdown, in particular, has had stunning effects on air pollution levels.
With citizens quarantined at home, road transportation and power plant operation have come to a grinding halt, and pollution levels across the country, especially in typically smoggy cities, have fallen to dramatic lows.
The NO2 measurements below are in Delhi’s metropolitan area, where pollution levels in the nation’s largest city have dropped most dramatically; NO2 levels from March 25 (the day quarantine began) to May 2 have averaged 90 µmol/m2 compared to 162 µmol/m2 from March 1 to March 24. In 2019, NO2 levels from March 25 to May 2 were also far above this year’s levels, averaging 158 µmol/m2.
In the NO2 measurements below in Greater Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, a similar trend has been observed as NO2 levels from March 25 to May 2 averaged 77 µmol/m2 compared to 117 µmol/m2 from March 1 to March 24. In 2019, NO2 levels from March 25 to May 2 averaged 122 µmol/m2.
In nearly all other big Indian cities, similar drops in NO2 levels are apparent, highlighting the national scale of India’s lockdown.
The country-wide drop in NO2 emissions during this lockdown has significant immediate consequences. Exposure to high levels of NO2 has substantial detrimental effects on human health. Short-term exposure to high levels of NO2 can result in worsened coughing, aggravation of existing respiratory diseases (asthma), and hospitalization, while longer-term exposure can lead to the development of asthma and increase one’s susceptibility to respiratory diseases. It makes sense, therefore, that experts are finding significant links between long-term exposure to high levels of air pollution and increased COVID-19 death rates. Many researchers have hypothesized that the drop in air pollution levels may currently be saving a significant amount of lives, not only by reducing individuals’ susceptibility to COVID-19, but also by preventing some of the world’s seven million annual deaths due to air pollution exposure. Still, the dangerously high levels of NO2 in many urban areas before COVID-19 has likely resulted in far more COVID-19 deaths compared to the lives saved by this current drop in emissions.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent decreases in air pollution levels due to quarantine have illuminated a severe issue regarding ongoing high levels of air pollution. The terrifying reality is that despite human activity essentially coming to a complete standstill, current estimates suggest that carbon dioxide (CO2) levels will only decrease by roughly 5.5 percent in 2020 compared to 2019. To put this in perspective, to meet the goal of limiting the global increase in temperature to 1.5 degrees celsius, which many experts agree would stave off the worst effects of climate change, global CO2 emissions would need to decrease by 7.6 percent each year. Similarly, air pollution and NO2 levels are expected to rise to their normal unhealthy levels when quarantines are lifted.
It’s crucial that when India’s lockdown inevitably ends, and people return to their normal routines, they aren’t forced to revert to their old behaviors. To make the current drops in air pollution levels permanent, serious policy change needs to be enacted. The reduction in road transport and the correlated decrease in air pollution have highlighted that gas-powered cars are key drivers of air pollution. Electrifying transport, expanding public transportation, building more bike lanes, and finding other ways to incentivize people to ditch their cars would dramatically reduce India’s emissions from its primary human source of air pollution. It’s also crucial that these electric vehicles, and India’s cities more broadly, are powered by clean sources of energy rather than fossil fuels.
It’s ironic that this devastating respiratory virus has illuminated another respiratory crisis. May India make the recent decreases in air pollution that have provided a glimmer of hope during these difficult times permanent rather than a temporary glimpse at what’s possible.
I wrote this article initially for India in Transition, run by the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Advanced Study of India. | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/the-decrease-in-indias-air-pollution-during-covid-19-a60661f0645 | ['James Poetzscher'] | 2020-07-31 16:55:52.819000+00:00 | ['India', 'Climate Change', 'Data Visualization', 'Air Pollution', 'Environment'] |
10 Weight-Loss Tips That Work | People can lose weight and keep it off by following a few simple measures. The following are some of them:
1. Consume a wide variety of colorful, nutrient-dense meals.
The human diet should be built around nutritious meals and snacks. Ensure that each meal has 50 percent fruits and vegetables, 25 percent whole grains, and 25 percent protein as an easy method to develop a meal plan. Aim for 25–30 grams of fiber per day. Every day, Trusted Source (g)
Remove trans fats from your diet and limit your intake of saturated fats, which has been linked to an increased risk of coronary heart disease.
Instead, people can eat unsaturated fats like monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA).
The following foods are both healthy and nutrient-dense:
fruits and veggies that are in season
fish
legume
nuts
seeds
brown rice and oatmeal are examples of whole grains.
Foods to stay away from include:
foods that have been enriched with oils, butter, and sugar
red meats that are fatty or processed
items made from flour
bagels
bread that is white
items that have been processed
In rare situations, eliminating specific foods from one’s diet can result in a deficiency in essential vitamins and minerals. A nutritionist, dietician, or another healthcare expert can help a person receive enough nutrients while on a diet.
2. Maintain a diet and weight journal.
In order to lose weight successfully, self-monitoring is essential. Every item of food consumed each day can be recorded using a paper diary, a mobile app, or a dedicated website. They can track their success by keeping track of their weight on a weekly basis.
Those who can track their progress in modest steps and recognize physical improvements are more likely to stick to a weight-loss plan.
A BMI calculator can also be used to maintain track of one’s body mass index (BMI).
3. Exercise and engage in regular physical activity.
Physical and mental health both benefit from regular exercise. For successful weight loss, increasing the frequency of physical activity in a disciplined and deliberate manner is typically critical.
It is best to do one hour of moderate-intensity activity every day, such as brisk walking. If one hour per day is not feasible, the Mayo Clinic recommends aiming for a minimum of 150 minutes each week.
People who are not normally physically active should progressively increase the amount of exercise they undertake and the intensity with which they do it. This is the most long-term strategy for ensuring that regular exercise becomes a part of their daily routine.
People may benefit from keeping track of their physical activity in the same way that tracking meals might help them lose weight mentally. There are a plethora of free mobile apps available that track a person’s calorie balance once they log their diet and exercise.
If the prospect of a full workout intimidates someone who has never exercised before, they can start by undertaking the following exercises to boost their fitness levels:
ascending the stairwell
raking leaves, walking a dog, gardening, dancing, and playing outside sports are all examples of activities that can be done while parking further away from a building entrance.
Individuals with minimal risk of coronary heart disease are unlikely to require medical evaluation before beginning an exercise program.
For some patients, such as those with diabetes, a prior medical examination may be necessary. Anyone who is unsure about how much exercise is safe should consult a physician.
4. Get rid of all liquid calories
Drinking sugar-sweetened soda, tea, juice, or wine can add up to hundreds of calories every day. These are referred to as “empty calories” since they supply more energy without providing any nutritious value.
Unless a smoothie is being consumed to substitute a meal, people should stick to water, unsweetened tea, or coffee. Water with a dash of fresh lemon or orange can be flavorful.
Dehydration should not be confused with hunger. A glass of water can typically satisfy hunger pangs between scheduled meal times.
5. Keep track of how many servings you’re making and how much you’re eating.
Weight gain can occur when you consume too much of any food, even low-calorie veggies.
As a result, consumers should avoid guessing at serving sizes or eating straight from the package. Using measuring cups and serving size recommendations is preferable. Overestimating and the possibility of eating a larger-than-necessary portion result from guessing.
When dining out, the following size comparisons can help you keep track of your food intake:
A golf ball is three-quarters of a cup.
A tennis ball is one-half of a cup.
A baseball is equal to one cup.
A loose handful of nuts is 1 ounce (oz).
1 teaspoon equals 1 die in a game of chance.
1 tablespoon is a good starting point.
A deck of cards is 3 oz of beef.
A DVD is one slice.
These measurements are approximate, but they can assist a person in controlling their food consumption when the proper equipment is unavailable.
6. Eat slowly and deliberately.
Many people benefit from mindful eating, which entails paying attention to why, how, when, where, and what they eat.
A direct result of growing more in tune with one’s body is making healthier dietary choices.
People who practice mindful eating eat more slowly and savor their meals, focusing on the flavor. Allowing a meal to last 20 minutes helps the body to register all satiety signals.
It’s crucial to focus on feeling satisfied rather than full after a meal and to remember that many “all-natural” or low-fat items aren’t always the healthiest option.
People might also think about the following questions before choosing a meal:
Is it “value for money” in terms of calorie cost?
Will it satisfy your hunger?
Are the components good for you?
How much fat and sodium does it contain if it has a label?
7. Controlling stimuli and cues
Many social and environmental variables could lead to overeating. Some people are more likely to overeat while watching television, for example. Others find it difficult to pass a dish of candies to another person without having a bite.
People might think of methods to adapt their routine to limit these triggers by being mindful of what may prompt the impulse to nibble on empty calories.
8. Prepare ahead of time
More significant weight loss can be achieved by stocking a kitchen with diet-friendly items and making disciplined meal plans.
People who want to lose weight or keep it off should purge their kitchens of processed or junk foods and stock up on supplies for quick, healthy meals. This will help you avoid impulsive, unplanned, and irresponsible eating.
Making meal choices ahead of time before going to social events or restaurants might help make the process go more smoothly.
9. Seek out social assistance.
A successful weight loss journey necessitates embracing the support of loved ones.
Some people like to invite friends or family members to join them, while others prefer to discuss their progress through social media.
Other sources of assistance could include:
employee help services at work, such as a positive social network group or individual counseling, exercise groups, or partners
10. Maintain an optimistic attitude.
Weight loss is a gradual process, and if the pounds do not come off as quickly as expected, a person may become disheartened.
When it comes to sticking to a weight reduction or maintenance program, some days will be more difficult than others. When self-change appears to be too difficult, a successful weight-loss program demands the individual to persevere and not give up.
Some people may need to reset their objectives, possibly by changing their exercise patterns or lowering the total number of calories they want to consume.
The most important thing is to maintain a positive attitude and persevere in conquering the obstacles to weight loss achievement.
Note:- This article contains (Affiliate Link) and will be made accordingly if you click on any of these links and purchase any of the products receive a small commission. Thank you. | https://medium.com/@sharitagreen58/10-weight-loss-tips-that-work-d7bb4b225e8f | ['Sharita Green'] | 2021-12-23 08:11:23.411000+00:00 | ['Weight Loss', 'Weight Loss Program', 'Weightloss Recipe', 'Weightloss Foods', 'Weight Loss Tips'] |
“What Happened” by Hillary Rodham Clinton | A Book Review
“What Happened” by Hillary Rodham Clinton
This book, written for catharsis and therapy after a loss, makes for a fascinating read.
Photo by David Everett Strickler on Unsplash
With the US Presidential elections approaching, I thought I’d refresh myself on what happened the last time, at least from the loser’s perspective. Hillary Rodham Clinton needs little introduction, and I felt some trepidation in reviewing her 2017 book, What Happened. I had followed the campaign from a distance and eventually assumed that Hillary Clinton would become president. I was wrong; many were wrong; she was wrong, and this is the book she published: an outcry from both sides of the US political divide. However, when the audiobook became available, I thought I would give Clinton the chance to tell me, in her own words, What Happened. So, here we are, with her post-action report about what went wrong, who messed it up for her, and what could have been done better.
Listening to Clinton tell her own story about the process of gaining the Democratic Nomination, the call to Donald Trump to concede, to give her concession speech and then to finally go home to mourn her loss is such a far cry from any experience I have read before. She was eminently more qualified than her opponent; she had made it to the final night as the frontrunner, thought she had it in the bag, won the popular vote by a wide margin, and yet still lost; I found that both absolutely awful and fascinating in equal measure.
As the Evening Standard said at the time: | https://medium.com/the-riveting-review/what-happened-by-hillary-rodham-clinton-70bf13e17e9c | ['David Cuthbertson'] | 2020-08-30 13:00:54.767000+00:00 | ['Reading', 'Books', 'Politics', 'Autobiography', 'Book Review'] |
Securing an API using OAuth 2.0 in Azure API Management | Securing an API using OAuth 2.0 in Azure API Management
Introduction
Configuring OAuth 2.0 for your APIs hosted in Azure API Management adds an extra layer of security and prevents unauthorized access. This is a very important configuration form Security point of view for your Endpoints and is provided out of the box by Azure. This is the second part of a series of Blogs on Securing your API using OAuth 2.0 in Azure API Management. Please go through all the parts to find easy and detailed steps that will help you configure the OAuth 2.0 Authentication.
Grant permissions in Azure AD
Now that you have registered two applications to represent the API and the Developer Console, you need to grant permissions to allow the client-app to call the backend-app.
1. Go to the Azure portal to grant permissions to your client application. Search for and select APP registrations.
2. Choose your client app. Then in the list of pages for the app, select API permissions.
3. Select Add a Permission.
4. Under Select an API, select My APIs, and then find and select your backend-app.
5. Under Delegated Permissions, select the appropriate permissions to your backend-app, then select Add permissions.
6. Optionally, on the API permissions page, select Grant admin consent for <your-tenant-name> to grant consent on behalf of all users in this directory.
Links to All Blogs of this Series
Part 1: Configuration of Applications in Azure AD https://bi-fixes.medium.com/securing-an-api-using-oauth-2-0-in-azure-api-management-bcc91f4f4591
Part 2: Configuration of an Application (Client App) in Azure AD for Consumer https://bi-fixes.medium.com/securing-an-api-using-oauth-2-0-in-azure-api-management-407b021ae729
Part 3:OAUTH 2.0 Server setup https://bi-fixes.medium.com/securing-an-api-using-oauth-2-0-in-azure-api-management-ad63c6072b40
Part 4:Testing using Developer Portal and JWT Policy Configuration https://bi-fixes.medium.com/securing-an-api-using-oauth-2-0-in-azure-api-management-bd3c410bedd1 | https://medium.com/@bi-fixes/securing-an-api-using-oauth-2-0-in-azure-api-management-407b021ae729 | ['Rushank Karekar'] | 2020-11-30 12:14:37.796000+00:00 | ['Authentication', 'Aapim Authentication', 'Oauth In Azure', 'Securing Apis In Azure'] |
Tomek Młodzki of PhotoAiD: This Is How We Brought Our Business In The Media | Tomek Młodzki of PhotoAiD: This Is How We Brought Our Business In The Media
PhotoAiD is a biometric photography startup raised from a photo booths service. Along with his brothers, Tomek Młodzki founded Poland’s first company dealing with the production and service of photo booths. The business was fruitful, so once they had built a solid photo booth network, they felt that they wanted to create something more meaningful and make the lives of their customers easier. In fact, they have invested in AI technology and new devices to become the leader in passport photo processing. Today the company serves over 100 countries and processes thousands of photos per month with a team of 80 highly skilled employees.
For PRontheGO, Tomek shares insights into how the team handles PR and growth activities for PhotoAid.
Have you had any PR experience before founding your business?
Not at all. I have studied law, a completely different field from media and public relations. Neither of my brothers — my business partners — had any experience in that field. However, I have learned more than just legislation from studying law. In some ways, I feel judicial work or lawyer professions are pretty similar to PR: your job is to portray a favorable image of your client.
Do you do DIY PR or do you work with a PR freelancer /agency? Please share your experiences.
I haven’t worked with a PR agency yet. We have a person who handles PR, but it’s only one of her duties. In addition, we’ve created an Outreach team responsible for PR, among other things. Right now, that solution suits our needs, so we are not planning to hire a separate PR specialist.
We see it as an advantage to train our employees in PR because they know our organization inside out. Things run more smoothly since they are familiar with other employees, our company culture, strategy, and vision.
What does the PR strategy for your business look like?
We are a Polish company, but we aim to become a global service provider. Therefore, we use both local and global media equally. Using HARO responses and digital PR articles, our outreach team increases brand awareness online at the international level.
Hand-in-hand, we promote our business locally. The best examples are campaigns that offer free student ID photos before starting a new school year or free personal ID photos before implementing new document requirements. While launching a campaign, we reach out to local media outlets and web portals to promote it.
How do you implement PR tactics in your every day work schedule?
PR entails various tasks, such as interviews, answering requests, planning meetings, writing requests, building databases of contacts and outlets, and team management. My schedule depends on which assignments take center stage during our current PR campaign. Some days I reach out to journalists; other days, I answer their questions. Sometimes I have to wait for answers, so I just stay updated on the market by reading the news.
What is your experience with Thought Leadership activities? Please share examples.
HARO is our way to build a credible online presence. Through this service, our insights appear in trusted media outlets. And how does it improve our image? For example, readers perceive our Head of Marketing as an expert source when quoted in a reputable publication. Her expertise and reputation have grown, and she has become recognized as a thought leader.
Which platforms and tools do you use for PR?
It depends on the tasks. For finding relevant outlets and contacts and research keywords and website rankings, we use Prowly and Ahrefs. Meanwhile, our outreach team uses HARO and Terkel to answer questions from their field of expertise. In addition, some tools simplify everyday tasks, such as Airtable for organizing assignments and Grammarly for correcting texts.
What was a PR success story of your business, and how did you get there? | https://medium.pronthego.com/tomek-m%C5%82odzki-of-photoaid-this-is-how-we-brought-our-business-in-the-media-9c8384eb7d40 | [] | 2021-12-29 12:39:03.101000+00:00 | ['Pr', 'Startup Marketing', 'Founder', 'Public Relations', 'Founder Stories'] |
oh Lorde, deliver me from Fucking Joan. | (this piece is an excerpt from a longer post over at my patreon. the comments and feedback over there were so phenomenal — go read them — that i thought this bit was good enough to post over here on medium. enjoy.)
me & the dumpsters.
i’ll never forget the moment, maybe eight or nine years ago, where I CAUGHT my brain red-handed in the vicious downward spiral of uselessly comparing myself directly to someone else. i was mulling about regina spektor, whose music i love, and who i’ve toured with, and i was, and i noticed that i was feeling mopey and insecure and jealous.
goddamit, i thought. i wish i had what regina had: a clearer, more polished voice, better piano chops, i wish i had the support of a fancier manager and a huge powerful label who treated me nicely, i wish i could write my weird piano songs and have them accepted into mainstream speakers and hear my songs played on TV and in hip little cafes. i thought: her life must be somehow better. nobody bitches at regina, i thought. nobody attacks her on the internet, nobody hates her.
i stopped myself in my tracks and thought a few things in quick succession.
first was: amanda, you’re on crack. you have absolutely no fucking idea what regina’s life is really like. you don’t know fuck ALL. for all you know, regina hates her manager, can’t stand her label, and is lost in a world of pain. who knows if she’s fucking happy? (and for the record, even being pals and having toured with her, i didn’t feel like i could call her up at 3 am and say: “regina, hi! amanda here. i’m having a minor existential panic attack and only you can help me: so, super-super-quick, are you truly fulfilled?”)
but it wasn’t just regina…it was EVERYBODY. i started noticing this more and more as i slowed down my head and examined my thought patterns. it was fiona apple. it was imogen heap. it was PJ Harvey. lady gaga. zoe keating. ani difranco. lorde. it was my peers and semi-peers. the irony was hard to untangle: all the women whose music i loved and respected also made me shake myself and my past decisions with a disappointed frustration.
that i hadn’t done it THAT WAY, that I didn’t have what THEY had. i was good friends with some of these women. that made it worse.
important note: i only caught myself doing the comparison game with other women, never with my male colleagues, and I never compared myself to the women who were far away from me in fame or genre (Beyonce or Madonna really didn’t throw me into a panic — i would never make those choices, and i didn’t want to have a career as a dancing pop star).
it was more what i’ve come to call “piano string theory”: two piano strings that resonate closely but not perfectly will almost sound more out of tune and grating than two strings that are further apart. we feel insecurity about what’s almost us, but not quite us. we’re not wildly jealous of the strangers across the globe living in totally different buildings with totally different cultures: we’re jealous of the fuckers right next door. like two pieces of translucent design making moiré pattern, the almost-equal creates more noise than anything else. (why is that? theories welcome.)
i was grateful to the revelation back then. not only did i notice that i was having these thoughts, but i (oh fuck) realized i’d been having them my whole life and not really acknowledging them. it also felt like a massive relief, even though it kind of scared the shit out of me that i’d spent my life caught in this hell.
so i just paid attention and, instead of letting the insecurity grip me and shake me, i’d look at it head-on, cringe, and name it. “oh! hi. there’s that shitty feeling: you’re comparing yourself with your near-female peers. why you doing that, amanda? ain’t helping anyone. ain’t helping you, ain’t helping them. quit it. you know nothing.”
and it worked.
i also starting using this embarrassing mental trick in which i tried to flip the fictional script and i’d imagine fiona apple or regina spektor thinking about me and getting annoyed.
i’d try to imagine fiona apple sitting on a chaise lounge surrounded by wonderful plants and colorful furniture and pretty clothes staring into the sinking L.A. sun and thinking: “why am i making this goddamn 12-song record? i should be more like amanda palmer and have a patreon, so I could do whatever I felt like whenever I felt like it and know I’d be supported and free from record company interference. i am terrible. fucking amanda palmer.”
or i’d imagine PJ Harvey looking over the edge of a wind-swept cliff in dorset, clutching the leashes of a couple forlorn greyhounds, thinking “ughhhh…i wish I could give a TED talk about how irritating the bloody music industry is. fucking amanda palmer.”
or tori amos sitting in a woodland mansion somewhere, surrounded by exotic birds, rare concert grand pianos and herbal teas, musing about whether she should have started a band with just a drummer, then taken off her clothes more often while learning to play the ukulele.
i knew that these fictional scenarios were bonkers.
but even the mild idea that these amazing, perfect-seeming women were potentially sitting there having similar fret-fits of insecurity took the edge off.
i know fiona apple is not me. i am not fiona apple. i know i have no idea who she really is or what her life is like. nor she about mine. it’s apples and oranges. it’s apples and palmers. it’s palmers and gagas, difrancos and heaps. it’s heaps of fucking ridiculousness.
and yet, it’s so real.
this phenomenon isn’t really the fraud police, as I’ve come to name that basic sense of imposter syndrome that we all seem to feel feel. we need to call this….something else. it’s like “evil comparison syndrome” with a splash of Fear of Missing Out.
it’s the deep, creeping feeling that you made all the wrong decisions when compared to the decisions that someone else made.
in the fifties they used to talk about “Keeping Up With The Joneses” (imagine quaint scrambles to Sears & Roebuck to make sure you’ve got the latest model of glamorous, turquoise electric cake-stand mixer), so perhaps we could call this “Keeping Up With Joan”.
but not quite. it isn’t just “Keeping Up With Joan”…..it’s darker. Your Personal Joan (reach out, touch faith) could be living in a cave with no belongings and shaming you into grieving guilt about your materialistic greed.
it’s more that you’re comparing her very existence with your own.
and you know it’s your immature fault for having these shallow, superficial feelings, but YOU WOULDN’T BE HAVING THEM, goddamit, if Joan weren’t standing right there across the lawn. fucking Joan. we should just call this phenomenon Fucking Joan. there we go.
Fucking JOAN.
and you kind of hate Joan, and yet you can’t really, because you worship her and her perfection. to make things worse, since Joan is everything you wish you could be (compassionate! grounded! successful AND magnanimous!), it makes it absolutely impossible to feel any ill-will towards Joan.
she’s amazing, obviously, SHE’S JOAN.
you can’t want to kill her, she’s too amazing. so you just want to kill yourself.
and yet! you know how bullshit this whole thing is.
because obviously: Fucking Joan is fucking You.
Fucking Joan is just a painful projection of your own insecurities. and there you go.
all you can do is notice it.
so next time you find yourself comparing yourself to the One Next To You (no matter the gender), remember that Fucking Joan is, while real, simply You Fucking Yourself Over.
no matter how hard you hate yourself for not being the person next to you, you’ll never escape the fact that there is no Industrial Standard for Personhood — you’re the only one who creates your personal measuring-ruler. if you’re perpetually coming up short, it’s because you’ve set the standard so impossibly high that you will never, ever measure up, and knowing and understanding that your own ruler is broken is the only exit out of hell.
insecurity takes time and energy, and lately, i’ve had no time.
if you don’t have time to feel insecure because you’re too busy changing a diaper/cleaning up a little pile of baby puke that you just found on your bed, you’re kind of in the clear. after the ecstasy the laundry, as jack kornfield says. and yet: after the laundry, when you’re standing there thinking “oh my god the laundry is done and i have time to think” your follow-on thought could very well be “oh no the laundry is done what the FUCK have i ACTUALLY been doing all my life. OH. NO.”
i’ve been on wild tear for the past two or three years to really kick the shit out of my bucket list, and i’ve done it with fervor.
i’d wanted to make a record with my dad. (i did it and i put it out using the funds from my patreon. it was wonderful.)
i’d wanted, for ten years, to make a record with Edward Ka-spel. (i did it. i’m wrapping up that tour this week. it was really beautiful and fulfilling.)
i had a baby.
and i’ll admit it: none of these three above projects were a huge commercial success.
but a nice side effect of doing all these projects, baby included, is that i haven’t had much time and/or energy to feel insecure. i’ve been too goddamn busy, every hour of every day, trying to convince me and everyone around me that i can Do It All — be a Pretty Good Mother, a Pretty Good Friend, a Pretty Good Partner to my husband, a Pretty Good Artist.
and it’s the Pretty Good Artist thing that is creeping out of the dark doorway and slithering up my dress as i take my walk around the mental block today.
and i am thinking about it for two reasons:
one reason is that i’m wrapping up this tour with Edward and i have LITERALLY no plans for a record after this. i have a ton of songs that i wrote in australia over the winter (they’re amazing, mostly), i have a list of art and music projects and collaborations as long as my arm, and i have a ton of unfinished video projects to tie up.
i still need to write my long piece about lesvos and i have one beautiful brand-new song i’ve recorded but haven’t put out yet. but i don’t have any PLAN-plans. no recording plans, no touring plans. this is one of those rare moments where i get to stop and look around and PICK which way to walk.
the other reason is that — as i write this — i’m away from my baby for the first time. this is the first time in his life that we’ve been apart for three entire days and nights.
i’m touring around with my band, with the gaps in my time-landscape that i used to have on a daily basis: the time to read the newspaper, the time to catch up on other people’s careers and news, and the time to think about the choices i’ve made and the choices i’m about to make. and most importantly, the time to feel insecure about all of those choices. and if i’m super lucky, time to start feeling insecure about feeling insecure.
i read this interview with lorde in the guardian yesterday and there they were. surging waves of Fucking Joan.
let me do deep dive on Lorde here…
i fucking love Lorde’s music; i cherish her debut album. absolutely and purely and shamelessly (and i won’t go on a long tangent here about how i don’t think anyone should feel any shame about liking ANY music. suffice to say that “guilty pleasure” should be stricken from our lexicon. if it’s music and it brings you pleasure, there should be absolutely no guilt about it, whether it’s ABBA, Mozart, Kenny G christmas carols or air supply).
i’ve had a hard time getting into music in the last fifteen years, probably due to aural and spiritual exhaustion thanks to endless touring and thinking of music as Work.
but i heard enough about that record while i was in australia in 2014 (while writing “the art of asking” alone in a little flat in melbourne) that i went to the local CD shop on the corner (RIP) and bought a copy of “pure heroine”. it was cosmic timing — i was free and alone for the hard marathon of book-writing and i had sonic and physical space back to myself for the first time in years. i put the record on expecting to be disappointed (as i am pretty much every time i take a risk on a new hip pop/indie album), and instead, i felt transported. Lorde was enough parts new wave and originality to speak my language and draw me into a new conversation of Song. i reveled.
for the next few months i listened to the album non-stop, and i googled Lorde, wondering what the deal was with this 17-year-old wunderkind from new zealand. i felt a kind of protective parental protectiveness towards her (ONE OF US! ONE OF US!) and it warmed me with pride when david bowie would say nice things about her, or she’d be invited to do huge fancy things at the rock and roll hall of fame, etc…it felt like a community win.
she wrapped up that tour and album cycle and i wondered what she would do next. and, looking back, it appears she did everything right.
she didn’t race into the studio with the swedish-hitmaster du jour and stay on the road and in the glare of the media like most young female pop stars.
according to the article, she just stopped. she went back to new zealand, hung out with her friends, and took five years to release her next record. she didn’t chase fame and endless oncoming opportunities. she made some real friends, she kept it relatively real, and she didn’t rush.
she wrote a batch of songs she wasn’t happy with, she started over, she did what a good artist should do: she exhaled and exalted the content above all.
from what i’ve read, the album is killer (i’m going to listen to it the minute i’m off tour).
and as i read that guardian article, there it was again.
Fucking Joan.
i noticed at least six moments where i compared my choices and my life path to Lorde’s. WHAT? why? she and i are so incredibly different, and at such completely different points in our lives.
but still, how deliciously tempting…
if only i had a nice mother from new zealand! i thought. if only i LIVED IN NEW ZEALAND. fuck. if only someone had recognized my talent when i was fifteen! if only i had released my sophomore album at TWENTY!
if only i had a MANE OF HAIR!
FUCK, i thought, here we go. here we Joan.
it didn’t take long for the rest to tumble.
why didn’t the dresden dolls take a break in 2005 when we should have? why didn’t i leave college at 18 instead of staying put like a sheep on zoloft for four miserable years? I WANT THOSE FOUR YEARS BACK. and finally: WHAT AM I DOING READING THE GUARDIAN APP INSTEAD OF WRITING BRILLIANT SONG LYRICS?
and ultimately:
I AM BAD.
LORDE IS GOOD.
and then, of course, it all felt so extreme that i could laugh at myself and acknowledge this as a Very Classic Fucking Joan Moment.
and let’s get meta, i’ve just spent the last three hours of my life in a tour van writing THIS, instead of some super-reflective and beautiful poetry, because … seriously? FUCK IT. this is what i wanted to do on this van ride. write a blog. not a poem.
there’s a long laundry list of potential regrets I could have, and HAVE had.
that i’d gone to school for art.
that i’d spent more time caring about how my hair and clothes looked so that fashion magazines had given me the time of day.
that i hadn’t signed with a major label.
that i had hidden from view so that people could think i was sexily mysterious (and, by default, way more amazing).
that i’d forced myself to be disciplined enough to write more songs about anthony and birth and my first true love, Jason (who introduced me to the legendary pink dots) when Edward and i were working on this record.
that i’d spent more time practicing piano.
that i’d picked a perfume to wear when i was 20 so that everyone would associate me with one wonderful smell.
that i’d spent less time answering my email.
that i’d been better at answering my email.
that i’d read more books.
that i’d taken time off between my huge albums and hadn’t allowed myself all the side-project and ukulele indulgences.
that i’d been more articulate in my interviews.
that i’d stuck to my guns when the whole kickstarter kerfuffle happened and not let myself get bullied by my management.
that i’d learned guitar. that i’d moved to New York in my twenties.
that i’d been kinder to my lovers.
that Anthony was still alive. that none of us would never die….
we could go on and on.
but the question i have to ask myself is this:
if i HAD spent my time and energy on all these fictional pursuits, what WOULDN’T have i done?
do i really think life works this way?
it’s not like i spent the last fifteen years sitting in a basement on a dirty couch shooting heroin.
i’ve always been working.
i’ve always been trying.
going left, going right, making decisions as they came.
and for every single thing on that list, there’s an inverse…
if i’d gone to school for “art”, who knows? i would not be here, now, making this music that i’m making that i so love.
if i’d spent less time on the internet, i may not have created a kickstarter, a TED talk, a book….
….a child.
if i hadn’t just spent the last two years making a record with my dad and with my childhood songwriting hero edward, i would be regretting…not having done it, bascially. bucket dreams take time.
if i’d spent time on my fucking hair, i might not have spent the time on my friends.
…..
you only have so much time.
i made all the choices i made, and now they are made, and here i am, the culmination of Me.
i’ve put out like seven albums. i’ve toured the world 14 times. i’ve forged some truly beautiful, deep, real friendships with a handful of people that could only grow with the fertilizer of actual time. i’ve written a best-selling book. i’ve managed to convince 11,000 people on patreon to give me their credit cards so i can make whatever art i want.
i’ve managed not to have any drug overdoses or massive accidents. i’m alive.
i put my life on hold for a few years to be with a friend dying of cancer.
i’ve played carnegie hall, the sydney opera house, and fronted the boston pops…
seriously. i look at that list and i want to cry and laugh.
WHAT THE FUCK MORE DO I WANT FROM ME????
Fucking Joan.
that’s fucking what.
so. if you are like me, if you also have a relationship with Fucking Joan…
let’s all agree to just let it go, shall we??
together.
please join me, right now, wherever you are sitting or standing (or bathing, or sprawling) in a huge, bellowing BARBARIC YAWP/PRIMAL SCREAM of:
FUCKING JOAN!!!
FUCKIIIIIIIIINNNNNG JOAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
there.
and now.
whatever we’ve done, haven’t done, chose, didn’t choose, think we fucked up, think we missed….whatever.
you’re here and you’re alive and you’re reading this.
and we’re totally fine.
believe me.
……….
start from now.
i love you.
i even love Joan.
fucking.
love,
amanda fucking palmer, your daily motivational rock star.
p.s. the photo is from backstage at the festival i eventually wound up at with my four sweaty dudes, taken by my friend marjolein after arriving in mannheim and just before taking stage. lest you believe the hype, the porta-potty is to the left just off-camera (even thurston moore had to use it), the dumpsters smelled fantastic, and since i had full boobs from not seeing the baby in three days and there was no privacy in the horse-stables-turned-festival dressing rooms and the porta-potties were pretty foul, i crouched behind the porta-potties and expressed my leaking boobs into the bushes. yes, the life of a rock star IS as fucking sexy as you thought. (the tour dress is by Kambriel.)
………………
thanks to marjolein van elteren, kirbanu, jack nicholls, judith clute and neil gaiman, all of whom proof-read this blog and none of whom judge me for no capitalizing. ee cummings 4eva.
……………….
i’m a songwriter, musician, performer, feminist and general weirdo who funds my work through the generosity of 11,000+ folks contributing to patreon.com/amandapalmer. if you want to support me there for as little as $1 per project and get regular emails from me, i’d be grateful. it’s a fantastic, loving, intelligent community of people — a little corner of light on the net. if you want a taste of my music, go here for a guide.
lastly, if you liked this blog, you’d probably like my book, “the art of asking”. it’s here. | https://medium.com/we-are-the-media/oh-lorde-deliver-me-from-fucking-joan-17ed0a1d83e8 | ['Amanda Palmer'] | 2019-10-24 21:45:52.375000+00:00 | ['Feminism', 'Amanda Palmer', 'Insecurity', 'Music'] |
How To Draw A Realistic Bird Step By Step For Beginners | Drawing birds
Hello everyone and this time we’re going to be talking about drawing birds. We’ve done before our name is Polly Lee Hammond and the medium on this one is using colored pencils and watercolor pencils. What I liked about the book is it has a lot of practice and examples in illustrations. It’s fairly basic with not a lot of details involved. So, it’s very good and simple and easy for beginners to even follow and that’s what I noticed about a lot of her books. They are very easy to follow so without further ado let’s go ahead and get into it. Now, this is one of her smaller books which I found kind of surprising. Because a lot of the books that I know from hers are quite thick.
Drawing of a bird
Actually, we’re going to go ahead and start with chapter 2. This book although it is a little bit on the smaller end. The does have chapters but chapter 1 mostly talks about you know you can do it. It’s more like a pep talk that shows the difference between some of her student's works before. After they take her class but it is kind of interesting to see some of the different pieces easy cool drawing ideas. But anyway chapter 2 talks you know most about the materials you learn about the different products that she uses. She uses like five different you’ll see five different kinds of colored pencils. I believe is it for no it’s five. She uses like five different kinds throughout.
Drawing of bird
This whole book but what I liked about it is that she describes and does examples of each one on different kinds of paper. I found that to be really intriguing. She also goes into detail about the papers that she uses and even going into detail. As you can see on each one now the only problem with this. This book is kind of older and of course, it also goes into some other materials that she uses. But as I was saying the book is kind of older. So, a lot of these papers and these pencils probably have either changed or probably don’t even exist anymore. So, you may have to do a little bit of searching. We if you do look for them and then chapter 3 talks about learning and wasn’t chapter 3 was kind of an eye-opener for me.
Drawing birds easy
Because I never really thought of it. This way that the way she put it basically was understanding different brands of products have different characteristics. Which you know is true but I never thought of using them. Those characteristics like if I was wanting a smokier look use a certain brand of pencil. I was wanting a glossy err look used. This certain brand of pencil sketch drawing for some reason that just never clicked into my head. Until I read through this so I really enjoyed that little moment technique. Now because you are using a various amount of pencils. There are going to be a few techniques involved. But it says brings out how to learn to do.
Bird drawing easy
Those techniques properly and learn these colors. Color is very important especially when you’re trying to mix and get certain colors. Especially if the color that you need you don’t exactly have. But you have to learn how colors associate with each other on the color wheel. How the different parts like primary secondary complementary and what are tense what’s warm cool colors etc. Also learning the five elements of shading and then also has some practice with examples. Then learning different shapes with shading and also how to break your subjects down into shapes. So that’s very helpful especially for those beginners who might be new at this and then of course chapter 5.
Drawing a bird easy
She always has one chapter at least about graphing and she teaches you how to graph or how to use a projector and how it can hope, how it can help you hone. Your skills to eventually help you learn how to freehand draw. Because not because starting out you’re probably not going to be able to master freehand away drawing right off the bat. Then chapter six now this does talk about a lot of bird. This a little bit more but these are skills that you know anybody any artist could have in their arsenal techniques and skills to have. But it’s basically going into learning how to study the structure of their beak’s feet feathers.
Drawing birds flying
The characteristics and knowing how each one is what they are used for because each shape and each design is made for something different. But it also gives you some examples like between a bald eagle and an owl. Then pelicans and the chicken and a toucan and how you know learning to view especially with a perspective like especially during flight. How feathers changed like the view from and also how it changes from species to species. She also emphasizes learning to draw from all wings using actual lifelike or actual life subjects. Which of course is always the better alternative but if you can’t some references is usually a good alternative for that.
Drawing a bird flying
Chapter 7 is when she starts getting into the pencils. Now the ones that she uses in chapter 7 are the Prismacolor very thin pencils. I do have a set of these myself and I have the whole color line. You do enjoy these because they are a harder lead than the Prisma premier pencils. So, they do have a rougher finish but she gives some examples of drawings done with them on different papers. It also does examples of some complementary colors between her bird subjects. The papers and those are really neat and then here and the Prismacolor colored pencils. As I was saying like between the very things. The premier pencils have a waxy coating and they are a lot softer.
Drawing angry birds
So, the color pigments are going to show up a lot brighter. Then they will with the Vera thins but she gives you know examples of drawings done with. Those on different papers just like in chapter 7 and chapter 9 are basically Prisma Zahn suede or feller paper. Which is actually more like a cloth type paper. But it changes the pencil's characteristics and completely. It is so cool how it does it and then chapter 10 is blending with studio pencils. This is another line of different colored pencils. But these are by Derwent I have not used. These personal so I cannot really vouch for them but they do look like. They have a pretty lay of color. I believe that these are clay-based but I’m not a hundred percent sure.
Realistic bird drawing
She does go into detail about them. In this chapter though but of course she also has examples of her using them. Such as the Goldfinch and the bluebirds and how she also prefers to use them. These for her backgrounds because they care they’re easy to blend. It’s just examples of using dark backgrounds which is really cool. Chapter 11 is about using water colored pencils and of course, is going to be the same studying about. How she uses her watercolored pencils and even learning how the values will change drastically from wet to dry. That’s something that you have and again how pressure will change. The tone and the hue of the color that you’re trying to work with.
Drawing birds step by step
So definitely a lot of things to keep in mind when you work with watercolor pencils. But examples of some drawings that she did with those and some work. But they do have a really pretty outcome. If you know how to do use them properly which I am still learning myself. But one of these days I will get them and that is pretty much it. These again very simple very straightforward definitely recommend drawing tutorial for beginners. But that’s what I like about Lee Hammonds's books. She’s always usually because she specializes in teaching beginners and she’s always usually very good about being specific, basic, simple, her descriptions and her instructions. How things should go and how things work. So usually I’m going to recommend her books to people. Who is just starting out but anyway that’s the end of this one like I said small book about 80 pages? If that and most of that is appendix and examples. So, I hope you enjoyed this little review.
Source: Cool drawing idea | https://medium.com/@maheennaveed450/how-to-draw-a-realistic-bird-step-by-step-for-beginners-4dc21e2f649a | ['Maheen Naveed'] | 2020-12-03 06:08:59.164000+00:00 | ['Draw A Realistic Bird', 'Draw Realistic Bird', 'Drawing', 'Drawing Birds', 'Art'] |
How I Got Started with Design | I would say my design career actually got started in March 2018, but let us go back in time a bit to get full context on what was going on before then.
Photo by Estée Janssens on Unsplash
Pre-March 2018
I got into into the University in August 2016 to study Petroleum Engineering. In September, I joined a unit in the school called Technical Crew. The unit had people with different skill-sets ranging from graphic design to animation, photography, etc. It was really amazing to see all the creative works they produced and I really wanted to learn how to do things like that. Design a cool flyer, make a cool cartoon animation, edit a photo to perfection, just anything that had a creative feel towards it. Prior to this, I never had any interest in art or design of any form. I couldn’t draw, I had no idea of any design software, all I had was interest.
I quickly got Adobe Photoshop installed on my laptop and work begun. As you can tell already, my initial experience was difficult. I had to constantly go in YouTube, watching videos on how to do certain things or ask my friends for help. Eventually, I got a hang of the software and I could do some basic things like making simple quotes and flyers. I began making these for the notice board we had in the service unit which gave me some good experience with the Photoshop interface.
This went on for a while and my knowledge on design in general gradually improved. I started reading about the fundamentals of design together with watching lots of design videos as well as on YouTube. Also, the designs which I worked on and printed out helped me gain some attention from other students. People began to ask who was making these designs. Eventually, I got contacted in by someone who needed a poster design for a Choir Concert coming up in school. This was around late December 2017 and the concert was to hold on March 2018. I was excited to work on the project as it was something, I had some good experience in. We got talking about various concepts and after a couple of weeks, I came up with a final design for the poster. I presented it to him and he loved it. I had so much excitement in me but I kept it calm on the outside. To add to the feeling, this was the first time I actually got paid for a design (Whoop! Whoop!). | https://medium.com/@azpidi/how-i-got-started-with-design-b851b7d1026b | ['Emmanuel Akpan'] | 2020-08-20 14:17:06.744000+00:00 | ['Getting Started', 'Design Career', 'Design', 'Graphic Design'] |
The juice that is against Islam | It seems that narrow minded lawyers in Pakistan are trying to stop people from drinking a juice drink from manufacturer Shezan because it is said that the company is owned by a Qadiani.
Recently, The Express Tribune reported on a decision taken by the Lahore Bar Association. These lawyers, some of whom vocally supported convicted murderer and all-round crazy person Mumtaz Qadri (also a lawyers’ favourite in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, where garland of roses were placed around his ‘blessed’ neck and offers were placed for his ‘holy’ MP5 submachine gun), decided that Shezan a major food and beverage brand should be banned from all court premises because it is owned by every Pakistani bigot’s favourite punching bag, Ahmadis. This was followed up by a vow to “also…ban other products at a later stage”.
Perhaps they should get rid of the atom bomb because it was based on a Jew’s theory that e=mc2 and Christians invented the device based on this theory!
The Express Tribune Blog has a further list of things these wonderful men of law should also be banning if they are to truly save Islam and Pakistan;
Guns
Specifically the infamous Kalashnikov Ak-47 and AK-74 rifles which so many feel a religious duty to acquire. The guns carry the name of their inventor, Soviet weapons designer Lt General Mikhael Kalashnikov, an atheist. Of course the fact that he regretted his invention later, saying things like, “It is painful for me to see when criminal elements of all kinds fire from my weapon…I created this weapon primarily to safeguard our motherland” and, “I would prefer to have invented a machine that people could use and that would help farmers with their work — for example a lawnmower.”
Clothes
Now clothing dates back past the coming of Islam, or any modern religion for that matter, but the problem is, how do you know who made the cloth for that fascinating non-Muslim, European-styled black on white combo you’re wearing? Was it an atheist in China? Was it a Christian in South America? Was it a Hindu in India? Was it a non-whatever-you-are in Pakistan? The only solution to assure compatibility is to make your own cloth and stitch it yourself.
Cell phones
Invented by Christians and manufactured by atheists in China, it is high time to lay those Blackberrys, Nokias, iPhones, HTCs and Samsungs on top of a bonfire. Start with Android phones, since the technology’s father is a Jew.
Paper, printing, and ink
All three are Chinese inventions, if the lawyers are really committed, they will begin a movement to get rid of all written and printed material such as the Constitution of Pakistan. But wait, wouldn’t that mean having to dispose of all the written anti-minority laws? No problem. They can rely on oral histories. Who needs certified written records when any prime candidate for natural deselection can spout a cockamamie theory and present it as fact?
Although the above list is in jest and mocks the Lahore Bar Association, in their decision to ban a juice drink because apparently the company is run by a Qadiani, it raises a serious point about who is control in Pakistan. It seems that the ‘mad mullahs’ and their fan base are asserting more and more control in the nuclear power that is Pakistan and this should be worrying for all, and not just the Ahmadiyya community. | https://medium.com/virtual-mosque/the-juice-that-is-against-islam-cf02a7fa0b1a | ['Virtual Mosque'] | 2016-04-09 17:55:59.623000+00:00 | ['Islam', 'Against', 'Ahmadiyya'] |
The Yelp Manifesto 1.25.2020 | (Originally posted on the San Francisco Chronicle’s unclaimed Yelp site on January 25, 2020).
Dear Editor-in-Chief Audrey Cooper,
As an unpaid Yelp reviewer with plenty of free time on my hands, I often read the San Francisco Chronicle, especially the wine and food columns written by Esther Mobley and Soleil Ho. The Press is also a convenient online resource for discovering new winemakers and tasting rooms and for for planning weekend getaways.
I hold these women in high regard for their proven abilities to produce creative, compassionate, and expertly written columns on a regular basis. And it is courageous of them to cover under the radar food spots and spotlight new generations of natural winemakers, as well.
In fact, I would like to meet personally with both of them to discuss our shared interests in food and wine and to solicit their opinions on a multimedia screenplay I have written and created entirely on Yelp and have made available for reading for free, along with embedded YouTube links to a free soundtrack and free high resolution images of actual places that I have visited for hiking, dining, wine tasting, and other adventures. It’s called “Driving Miss Mobley,” and it is a Sideways meets Driving Miss Daisy wine buddy road trip adventure that is far superior in plotline, dialogue, and wine content to Netflix’s recent fiasco, “Wine Country,” which focused on Napa whereas mine includes many other fascinating locations in Sonoma, the Santa Cruz Mountains, and the city of Santa Cruz. It is also funnier with more profanity and better nudity but no sex.
In the hands of the right development team and director, this very screenplay that you could be reading on Yelp right now will help all of us end the Sideways curse and make Merlot great again. This is something Esther and I share in common, so I have been using my Yelp account to reach out to her for help in polishing this creative but amateurishly produced work of Yelp online art into a commercially successful masterpiece.
Now, because I am an ex-academic living in the Bay Area with no actual ties to the movie making powers that be, I am using the Chronicle’s official Yelp page to make my plea directly to her, in full online public view. I simply would like her, as an award winning wine writer and expert on the things I have written about, to read it online and let me know if there is even a scintilla of hope to turn this dream into something real. Because I could really use the money.
I also want Esther and her colleagues at the Chronicle who write about food, wine, and culture for a living to realize that Yelp is the closest thing we have in this country to a democratic online cultural maker’s space, one that is far more amendable to user creativity and experimentation that Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Some of our members are creating online multimedia masterpieces with lasting cultural value. I believe that Driving Miss Mobley, which spreads itself out over 18 individual, linked reviews, is such a masterpiece, and one that could very easily be adapted into a fascinating California wine country film in the right hands, such as those of Alexander Payne. It would make history, and Yelp can win, too.
So, if any of you at the Chronicle who monitor this Yelp page know Esther personally or feel that she would be willing to take a few precious hours of her time to read, listen, and view a movie that is, after all, about her, could you please do so for me?
Otherwise, I feel that I as a Yelp-based culture maker am being disrespected and not taken seriously, and I do not think that this the impression that you at Hearst Media wish to make. Otherwise, we will never end the Sideways curse and make Merlot great again, which many of who are lovers of high quality wine sold at fair prices wish would happen sooner rather than later, and Hollywood ain’t doin’ it, so maybe we Northern Californians should just go on and reinvent the wheel by ourselves, like Elon Musk did at Tesla, by tapping into the vast pools of underemployed talent in the Bay Area who spends thousands of hours annually creating free public art on Yelp.
While we may lack money, power, and connections, Yelp Elites like me have many followers and friends, and we all watch movies when we are not on Yelp, and they have already cast a ton of votes for my screenplay, and they are a good cross section of America. So, there you go.
Remember, too, that the numbers will always be on our side. Not yours. So why not work with creative, hard working people like me, or the Sideways curse will never be broken. And how cool would it be if Netflix or Apple TV+ were actual to produce the first full length feature film whose screenplay was created entirely on a makers space consumer rights forum as fun to use as Yelp? Act now, before it’s too late.
I also apologize personally to Esther and to her Chronicle colleague, Soleil, for my earlier shenanigans and rants on Yelp. It’s been a long few days, I have not had a lot of sleep lately, but I have been drinking some really, really good wine. And none of them were a Pinot. | https://medium.com/@sempervirens117/the-yelp-manifesto-1-25-2020-e44eed8f99eb | ['Brett Winters'] | 2020-12-16 00:26:30.612000+00:00 | ['Yelp Elite Reviews', 'Screenwriting', 'Pinot Noir', 'San Francisco Chronicle', 'Merlot'] |
Code Smell 26 — Exceptions Polluting | It is very nice to have lots of different exceptions. Your code is declarative and robust. Or not?
Problems
Over Design
Namespace Pollution
Solutions
Avoid creating anemic exceptions as globals. Create exceptions only if they behave differently. Model exceptions with objects. Classes are handy for lazy programmers.
Sample Code
Wrong
Right
Detection
New exceptions should override behavior methods.
No. code, description, resumable, etc are not behavioral.
Tags
Abuser
Naming
Conclusion
You would not create different classes for every Person instance, so they return different names. Why would you do it with exceptions.
How often do you catch a specific exception?.
Go out and check your code.
Is it necessary to be a class?
You are already coupled to the class. Couple to the description instead.
Exception instances should NOT be Singletons.
Relations | https://medium.com/dev-genius/code-smell-26-exceptions-polluting-9246aca40234 | ['Maximiliano Contieri'] | 2020-11-16 13:50:51.357000+00:00 | ['Programming Tips', 'Code Smells', 'Exception Handling', 'Clean Code', 'Software Development'] |
全新推出 Launch of SoundClub 1.0 by SoundOn | 全新SoundClub by SoundOn: 雙平台聲音社交平台。Launch of SoundClub V1.0 by SoundOn: All New Audio Social Network for iOS and Android
在Twitter上追蹤我們！
Follow us on Twitter
https://twitter.com/joinsoundclub
大概在兩週前Turn Capital宣佈了和Kollective Ventures收購SoundOn，台灣最大的Podcast平台。
在短短的10天內，SoundOn的團隊推出了全新的SoundClub by SoundOn平台
SoundClub到底是什麼？
最近大家都應該聽說很火的美國平台Clubhouse，這我就不多介紹了。SoundClub建立在這基礎上，搭建了雙平台（Android+iOS）的中文社交平台。這第一版功能主要為雙平台開發，後續這一兩週也會推出新的互動模式，讓觀眾能和內容主持人互動，不只是在台下看戲的感覺。主持人也會有更多機會和觀眾互動。
SoundClub如何區分自己
互動，互動，再互動。
現在市場上的產品主要專注在台上台下的感覺。SoundClub希望打破這模式，建立觀眾與主持人/內容創作者的互動機制。
內容創作者贊助與變現。
創造內容是需要耗時間和精力的。現在市面上的平台還沒專注這塊。SoundClub會啟動幾種幫助內容創作者變現的模式，包含了訂閱服務，和進場門票。
多語言，雙平台。大家的平台。
大眾不只用iOS。SoundClub知道這點，也決定專注開發力氣開發雙平台，雖然說這耗費了更多人力和開發資源，但是為了要達到大眾效果，必須做到這點。另外，SoundClub也即將推出多語言版本，帶動到其他市場，產品不會只專注英語，因為SoundClub希望這平台是大家都能用的。
SoundClub如何下載？
到 Android 或者 iOS app store 搜尋 SoundOn / SoundClub
Android
iOS
SoundClub需要邀請碼嗎？
需要。
SoundClub: The Dual Platform Audio Social Network
Two weeks ago, Turn Capital and Kollective Ventures acquired SoundOn, Taiwan’s largest podcast platform.
In just a short 10 days later, SoundOn launches SoundClub by SoundOn
What is SoundClub?
I’m sure everyone’s heard of Clubhouse by now, so I won’t spend time introducing it. SoundClub is built on the foundation that Clubhouse was designed for, and SoundClub’s team added to that foundation by quickly rolling out both Android and iOS versions. In addition, SoundClub aims to break the barriers currently seen on Clubhouse, where there is little to no interaction between the audience and the moderators. What’s a conversation if there’s no interaction between the mass and the moderators?
How will SoundClub Differentiate?
Interactivity³
As mentioned, we will break the barrier of communication between audience and moderators. We will implement interactivity functions between the two, and will roll out these interactive functions soon.
Monetization and Sponsorships
Creating content is expensive and time consuming. We know. We will focus our efforts on helping content creators monetize, and allowing the audience access to quality content through paid channels. Some monetization strategies include subscriptions and ticketing. These will be rolled out soon.
Dual Platform Focus. Multi-Lingual. A Platform for EVERYONE
Community does not only use iOS. We know this. SoundClub decided to dedicate resources to build a platform focused on both iOS AND Android users, even though this took up more resources and time. In addition, while SoundClub’s first version is in Traditional Chinese, we will roll out a version supporting more languages in the next few days, to ensure we can support more markets. A platform like this should not only be focused on English. It should be built and localized for the needs of all markets.
How do I download SoundClub?
Check us out on Android and iOS app stores, search for SoundClub SoundOn. Or click on the links below
Android
iOS
Do I need an invite to get into SoundClub
Yes you do. | https://medium.com/@joseph_5909/%E5%85%A8%E6%96%B0%E6%8E%A8%E5%87%BA-launch-of-soundclub-1-0-by-soundon-bc44e2519622 | ['Joseph Phua'] | 2021-02-09 11:05:31.819000+00:00 | ['Audio', 'Soundon', 'Clubhouse', 'Podcast', 'Social'] |
The year 2020: A time when everything changed | My mum called it. Long before planes had been grounded. Long before hospitals became places to fear. Long before 2020 had become a byword for all that was wrong — the worst year ever.
Back then, China and cruise-ships remained the epicentres of the outbreak. We spoke with naïve optimism of track and tracing rather than blanket lockdowns. But when I booked tickets for my family to spend Easter in Britain, my mum thought the chances of us making the trans-Atlantic journey were slim.
Her prophecy, of course, turned out to be prescient; and my response would soon come to sound ridiculous: “Mum, they can’t shut down the entire world.”
My sense early on was that 2020 would go down in history, but as the year when we finally awoke to the enormity of the climate emergency. The Australian bushfires that dominated the New Year headlines were the kind of catastrophic event that would separate the past and the future into the before and the after.
The images coming out of Sydney were jolting and alarming: of the shells of the Opera House shrouded in smoke; of the residents of one of the planet’s most liveable cities going about their daily lives wearing masks.
Soon, however, those pieces of fabric would appear in every city on every continent, as a guard against a different kind of respiratory threat. The mask not only became an emblem of the year, but also of a frightening new age.
http://www.daikimaru.jp/fut/videos-Persepolis-v-Ulsan-Hyundai-Afc-jp01.html
http://www.daikimaru.jp/fut/videos-Persepolis-v-Ulsan-Hyundai-Afc-jp02.html
http://www.daikimaru.jp/fut/videos-Persepolis-v-Ulsan-Hyundai-Afc-jp03.html
http://www.daikimaru.jp/fut/videos-Persepolis-v-Ulsan-Hyundai-Afc-jp04.html
http://www.daikimaru.jp/fut/videos-Persepolis-v-Ulsan-Hyundai-Afc-jp05.html
https://phoenixvilleseniorcenter.org/kov/videos-Persepolis-v-Ulsan-Hyundai-Afc-jp01.html
https://phoenixvilleseniorcenter.org/kov/videos-Persepolis-v-Ulsan-Hyundai-Afc-jp02.html
https://phoenixvilleseniorcenter.org/kov/videos-Persepolis-v-Ulsan-Hyundai-Afc-jp03.html
https://phoenixvilleseniorcenter.org/kov/videos-Persepolis-v-Ulsan-Hyundai-Afc-jp04.html
https://phoenixvilleseniorcenter.org/kov/videos-Persepolis-v-Ulsan-Hyundai-Afc-jp05.html
https://phoenixvilleseniorcenter.org/kov/video-a-v-b-liv01.html
https://phoenixvilleseniorcenter.org/kov/video-a-v-b-liv02.html
https://phoenixvilleseniorcenter.org/kov/video-a-v-b-liv03.html
https://phoenixvilleseniorcenter.org/kov/video-a-v-b-liv04.html
https://phoenixvilleseniorcenter.org/kov/video-a-v-b-liv05.html
https://www.harmonyrelo.com/nuw/videos-Persepolis-v-Ulsan-Hyundai-Afc-jp01.html
https://www.harmonyrelo.com/nuw/videos-Persepolis-v-Ulsan-Hyundai-Afc-jp02.html
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We had entered what were billed as the roaring Twenties with muffled mouths, and a sense of inner dread. Dystopian films and literature, of the kind that became strangely popular at the start of the pandemic, ask of us the question, could it happen here? 2020 provided the answer. Yes.
It was a year when time seemed to collapse in on itself; when days were sometimes hard to tell apart; when weeks seemed to merge; when timelines seemed constantly to shift. Life would return to normal in a matter of weeks, we first thought.
Then months. Or maybe it would be years.
In the meantime, we adapted to the new reality, turning living rooms into offices and bedrooms into classrooms. For many, the morning commute came to be measured in metres not miles. And many didn’t even have to travel that far. Our workplaces could often fit neatly in the palms of our disinfected hands.
Covid brought about a new casualness — of dressing from the waist up, or of not getting dressed at all. And in a time of such stringent protocols, many of us relaxed our self-imposed restraints. Monday night drinking was no longer such a taboo. Chocolate flew off the supermarket shelves almost as quickly as toilet paper. Guilty pleasures no longer came with so much guilt. We sought comfort where we could get it, and often we weren’t allowed to travel far to find it.
The handshake was banished, and so, too, were hugs, at the very moment when we needed them most. In this time of enforced estrangement, heavy with so much sadness and bereavement, maybe all of us have suffered a form of affection deficit disorder.
Yet the paradox of social distancing was that it engendered a new intimacy. Many of us have spent more time with our immediate families. And perhaps the privatisation of our lives has made us more outgoing. Maybe you’ve shared the same experience of reconnecting with people you hadn’t heard from for years, sometimes even decades.
Online reunions became a form of virtual refuge. In seeking out long lost friends from the past, we briefly escaped the present. Nostalgia of the nationalistic kind has become such a driver of modern-day politics, but this was about personal reminiscence — evoking the days when we could travel together, watch sport crowded shoulder-to-shoulder in the stands, sit in the same pews at weddings and funerals.
From our mask-covered mouths came a new vocabulary — a patois of the pandemic. New terms such as social distancing. New verbs, such as “to zoom.” New colloquialisms, such as “to Facewine”. Then there were the new pastimes. Men of a certain age felt the need to experiment with artisanal bread, and to digitally document every loaf they baked on social media.
But what I’m describing here is Covid viewed from the lofty vantage point of privilege, the coronavirus lifestyle of the fortunate few.
For millions of families, 2020 wasn’t the year of the sourdough, but rather the time they struggled to put bread on the table. Here in New York, we saw immigrant families queuing for five hours to receive the most meagre of rations — a sandwich and a pot of apple sauce.
In the suburbs, we saw middle-class families waiting all day for a food parcel in their high-end cars — BMWs, Mercedes, upmarket SUVs. On the subway, we watched homeless people turn carriages into dormitories, such was their fear of spending the night in overcrowded shelters. Just as poverty became a propagator of the pandemic, the pandemic became a propagator of poverty.
It was a year when we’ve been forced to act locally, but have been reminded constantly of the global picture — hospitals in northern Italy that looked like something out of a Renaissance hell-scape; the Pope peering out from his balcony on to an empty St Peter’s Square; the medievalism of those mass graves in New York.
But at a time when the world cried out for multilateralism, we’ve witnessed unilateralism on steroids. The search for new drugs and treatments has sometimes resembled the Cold War space race. We’ve been introduced to the concept of “vaccine nationalism,” where governments focus myopically on inoculating their own people at the cost of the global good.
In its 75th year, the United Nations has largely been sidelined, its Security Council paralysed once more by the great power rivalry between Washington and Beijing. But neither of the world’s strongest nations, the United States or China, had the ability or the inclination to assert global leadership individually.
As for the World Health Organization, the UN’s lead agency, it became ensnared in pandemic politics, facing criticism that it wasn’t tough enough on China, and hit by the withdrawal of funding from Washington, its largest donor.
There was a strong body of evidence to suggest that countries run by female leaders handled the crisis more expertly. Angela Merkel’s Germany, Jacinda Ardern’s New Zealand, Tsai Ing-wen’s Taiwan, and Mette Frederiksen’s Denmark.
By contrast, countries governed by presidents and prime ministers who had surfed the populist wave with a macho swagger often did poorly. Donald Trump’s America, Jair Bolsonaro’s Brazil, and Boris Johnson’s Britain. The virus could not be sloganeered away. | https://medium.com/@kopala-80307/the-year-2020-a-time-when-everything-changed-96c716a3ef4f | [] | 2020-12-19 11:46:23.700000+00:00 | ['United States', 'Coronavirus', 'Ppe', 'Lockdown', 'Coronaviruspandemic'] |
CAR BATTERY PROBLEMS: WHEN IS IT TIME FOR A NEW BATTERY FULL INFO | in The New York Times | https://medium.com/@ikhokher415/car-battery-problems-when-is-it-time-for-a-new-battery-full-info-62125fd13489 | ['Imran Khokher'] | 2020-12-25 18:57:17.474000+00:00 | ['Loss', 'Time', 'New Battery', 'Information Technology', 'Car Battery'] |
10 Mind-Blowing Affiliate Marketing Stats | 10 Mind-Blowing Affiliate Marketing Stats
Over the last few years, affiliate marketing’s popularity has skyrocketed…
That’s because affiliate marketing is basically win-win for anyone who’s involved with it.
If you’re after building an income online as an affiliate marketer or launching an affiliate program for your already existing business, the following infographic of Affiliate Marketing Statistics is going to help you fully understand if affiliate marketing is worth the trouble or not.
Enjoy :)
Created by Dear Boss I Quit
If you’d like to embed this infographic on your own website, you can copy and paste the code right below to your HTML editor: | https://medium.com/@xaric/10-affiliate-marketing-statistics-infographic-a280a27b8e19 | [] | 2020-12-27 19:09:47.548000+00:00 | ['Digital Marketing', 'Affiliate Marketing', 'Statistics', 'Affiliate Marketing Tips', 'Infographics'] |
Setting Up a Next.js Project With TailWind CSS | 1. Why Use Tailwind CSS?
Compare Tailwind CSS to a CSS framework like Bootstrap or Foundation, and you will find out that they’re completely different.
I can sniff a Bootstrap website or application from miles away. You won’t notice a website or application that is using Tailwind CSS (unless you check the class names in the source code).
Tailwind CSS is a utility framework like no other. There is no set of pre-built components. It’s a framework where you find classes like text-white , grid , object-fit , and a lot more.
So it doesn’t matter how your design looks. Tailwind CSS is the ideal partner for building every stunning design.
So here is the question: “Why use Tailwind CSS?” Well, why not?
Tailwind CSS will give you all the power you need to build whatever you wish. You can easily adjust the colors, sizes, and media queries.
From the outside, you will not notice that Tailwind CSS is the driving force behind it. | https://medium.com/better-programming/setting-up-a-next-js-project-with-tailwind-css-85fcc882d0b8 | ['Dev Rayray'] | 2020-12-28 16:16:14.827000+00:00 | ['Nextjs', 'Programming', 'Tailwind Css', 'CSS', 'JavaScript'] |
The Effect DAO: Effect Staking Protocol 2.0 | The Effect DAO: Effect Staking Protocol 2.0
Stake It to Make It
Read in 中文 | русский | Español
Chapter #5
The TriForce of EFX and its Stake Age, combined with NFX determines the DAO Rank
By staking EFX, holders can improve their rank in The Effect DAO. Achieving a high rank has many benefits like vote casting, fee reward collection, and gaining privileges on the dApp level. Each rank in the DAO is accompanied by a degree of responsibility in the Network. Users are held accountable for their actions with the risk of losing their stake position, its value, and associated privileges. To summarize, this means staking can be seen as a person’s proof of commitment and it is used as a primary quality measure in the network.
DAO Ranking
The TriForce of EFX and its Stake AGE combined with NFX is the core of the new Staking Protocol 2.0. These three factors will determine your DAO Rank, which in turn determines how many voting allocations (and thus fee rewards) you have at your disposal.
Your DAO Rank will be useful for, among other things, proposal writing, vote allocations, fee distributions, etc. The precise DAO-level specifications will be determined in the technical paper, but the graph below demonstrates the high-level understanding of how the DAO level will be influenced by EFX Power and NFX. By using an exponential function to determine the minimum requirement of EFX Power, it will be easier for newcomers with lower rankings to participate in the DAO. It will, however, take longer if you want to participate with higher levels of DAO ranking. As your EFX Power increases over time due to Stake AGE (more on this later), and to keep things fair, there is an exponential increase in requirement for EFX (shown with the red line). Since NFX doesn’t have the feature of Stake AGE, it makes more sense to have a linear function that determines the minimum requirements per level (shown with the blue line):
EFX Power
EFX Power is a factor that determines your weight and rank within the DAO. This measurement is a result of the Staking Protocol 2.0. There are two ways to increase your EFX Staking Power:
Increase the number of staked EFX tokens Stake your EFX tokens longer to increase their Stake AGE
The first one is fairly simple: the more tokens you stake the more EFX Power you will have. This is simply a 1:1 ratio (e.g. 100k staked EFX = 100k EFX Power). This is how most ordinary staking protocols work. However, The Effect Staking Protocol includes a measurement feature to track how long your stake has been active. This feature is called Stake AGE. Below you will find a graph that shows how Stake AGE can affect the EFX Power for a fixed number of staked EFX tokens (100k EFX).
This graph clearly shows that even though the number of staked tokens stays the same, the EFX Power of those staked tokens increases linearly over time, with a limit after a certain number of days. The results and numbers from this graph are subject to change and will be finalized later in the Technical Paper. In an ever-evolving ecosystem, these numbers, formulas, and parameters can be controlled by the Effect DAO with governance proposals, which were introduced in the previous DAO blog about Voting.
Stake AGE
Stake AGE is a factor that increases the weight of staked tokens linearly over time; the longer the tokens are staked the more EFX Power they will have.
Stake AGE was first introduced in Effect Staking Protocol 1.0. This section will give a recap of the benefits and power of Stake AGE and also outlines the differences between Staking Protocol 1.0 and Staking Protocol 2.0.
In version 1.0, Stake AGE was a multiplier for the number of NFX tokens that were generated with your staked EFX tokens. The generation of NFX tokens will stop at one point if we switch over to the new version, but staking will continue, as well as Stake AGE. In Staking Protocol 2.0, the existing limit of 200 days Stake AGE will be increased and the role of Stake AGE will become even more important and powerful. With the parameters outlined in the graph from the previous section, it shows that Stake AGE can double your EFX power by adding the initially staked tokens to your EFX power after 200 days of Stake AGE. This means, for example, that someone with 100k staked tokens with a year of Stake AGE has more EFX Power than someone who recently staked 200k EFX. The limit will be set in such a way that early and long-term members will greatly benefit from having staked their tokens longer. Also, it will make the Stake AGE not too powerful, as it still needs to be beneficial to stake more EFX as well. Such a parameter is a great example of something that can be controlled by DAO governance voting proposals.
Stake AGE has several benefits over regular staking:
Users will be incentivized to keep their tokens staked for a longer time.
Early and long-term participants are rewarded.
It will be harder for new members with a lot of tokens to immediately take big rewards or votes from the DAO.
The penalty for unstaking will be bigger as users will lose their Stake AGE for their unstaked tokens, making sure users are incentivized to keep their tokens staked.
Voting Allocations and Fee Rewards
There are four major stages that play an important role in the Effect DAO. The first one is the Staking Protocol, which will determine your DAO Rank. The next stage is to become a DAO Guardian with your DAO Rank by signing the DAO Constitution and participating in the Network. More on DAO Guardians can be found in this blog post. As a DAO Guardian, you can use your DAO Rank to write proposals and cast votes. By participating in the DAO, you’ll earn stakes in the network fee distribution pool which is the last stage of the Effect DAO.
The four stages of the Effect DAO
The number of votes that a Guardian has is determined by the Effect Staking Protocol: a Triforce of EFX and its Stake Age, and more importantly, NFX. These three factors determine your DAO Rank and how many voting allocations you have at your disposal. Participating in either voting or proposing is highly rewarded with fee distributions, which will be discussed in a forthcoming chapter. Tied Voting Allocations will also play a special role in the fee distribution later on. You can read more about the Effect DAO Voting system in this blog post.
Migration from 1.0 to 2.0
The EFX that you currently have staked combined with your Stake AGE will be carried over to the Staking Protocol 2.0, so there is no reason for unstaking. In addition to the NFX bonus that early adopters have already generated by Staking Protocol 1.0 received, this carryover of Stake AGE is another valuable benefit for early and long-term stakers. Important to note that the generation of NFX will stop at the deployment of Effect Staking Protocol 2.0.
More details: Technical Paper
While this blog post outlines the high-level inner workings of the new Staking Protocol 2.0, the exact implementation, parameters, and details are being finalized in a Technical Paper. This paper will cover the mathematical formulas, among other things, for EFX Power with limited Stake AGE, the DAO level requirement formulas, dilution of the Stake AGE when topping up your stake, voting allocations, and more. Keep an eye out for this Technical Paper if you are interested in learning more about the specifics.
If you are interested in buying EFX please go to KUCOIN cryptocurrency exchange.
Thanks for reading!
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Web | Telegram | Twitter | Facebook | Youtube | Github | Reddit | Linkedin| Medium | Steemit | https://medium.com/effect-ai/the-effect-dao-effect-staking-protocol-2-0-774dc5c2b857 | ['Laurens Verspeek'] | 2020-11-27 14:20:31.907000+00:00 | ['Artificial Intelligence', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Ethereum', 'Bitcoin', 'Dao'] |
Neural Networks. What is a Neural Network? | What is a Neural Network?
A Neural Network consist of a family of Machine Learning techniques used to model the human brain. Neural Networks are able to extract hidden patterns within data; they’re able to do this by having a bunch of nodes connected to each other (dense). Each node works together to figure out the hidden details and then pass it on to the next node to find connections within those details.
Input Layer
The input layer of a neural network is the list of variables/features we are using in our model.
Weights
In the case of logistic regression, the weights here are the coefficients we are adjusting to fit our model. In other Neural Networks, the weights are a combination of scalar transformations and matrix multiplication on any of the input variables.
Activation Function
In logistic regression we use a sigmoid activation function. Other options you might see are linear, Tanh and ReLU.
Deeper networks = more hidden layers
Why hidden layers?
They are hidden because we do not specify them. They could represent latent factors (as with matrix decomposition), or a combination of the existing variables into new features.
Back propagation — adjusting weights
Moreover, neural nets are dynamic in the sense that, after a certain number of data points have been passed through the model, the weights will be updated with an eye toward optimizing our loss function. (Thinking back to biological neurons, this is like revising their activation potentials.) Typically, this is done by using some version of gradient descent, but other approaches have been attempted.
Convolutional Neural Networks
CNNs are mainly used for image recognition/classification. They can be used for video analysis, NLP (sentiment analysis, topic modeling), and speech recognition. Today we’ll be discussing how CNNs are you used to classify images.
How computer see images
To computers images are a 3D object — composed of 3 matrices — one for each primary color that can be combined in varying intensities to create different colors. Each element in a matrix represents the location of a pixel and contains a number between 0 and 255 which indicates the intensity of the corresponding primary color in that pixel. | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/neural-networks-simply-explained-79f759468867 | ['Zaki Jefferson'] | 2020-05-26 14:38:08.978000+00:00 | ['Convolutional Network', 'Coding', 'Python', 'Neural Networks', 'Data Science'] |
The Guilt That Comes From Rest | Photo by nine koepfer on Unsplash
It rises up from the depths of my stomach into my chest and takes root. It spreads across my shoulders and into the base of my neck, my skull, behind my eyes. My mind whirrs like a machine, spinning, chugging, clicking with a million of thoughts.
Am I doing enough?
Did I do that well?
Am I enough?
I try and rest and find I am unable. My body cries out and aches with the soreness of constant movement. Movement in my head, my heart, my stationary position in front of screens. It screams at me to rest and I cannot. There is so much more to do, to write, to create.
If I do not do it, the guilt will choke me. Resting isn’t an option when you have so much to do. The guilt reminds me of that.
Will there ever be a time where I can rest without the guilt? Where I can truly practice what I preach and donate my time to self care? Not donate, perhaps, but assign, commit, devote.
How does anyone avoid the guilt? Is it a secret? Another language? A magic trick or perhaps a rusted key to a locked door? Tell me. I beg of you.
My breath is all I have to relax me. I let myself breathe and the breath helps. My body is soothed and reminded it is alive and can do this work. It must do this work.
What has happened to us where rest gives birth to guilt?
How can we change the narrative?
I often wonder what Death will ask. Will they ask if we did enough? Will they ask if we are satisfied with our effort? Will they be pleased we never rested?
Will we? | https://medium.com/scribe/the-guilt-that-comes-from-rest-6b646d8a2ad | ['Rachel Riendeau'] | 2020-12-04 08:17:02.996000+00:00 | ['Self Care', 'Mental Health', 'Anxiety', 'Rest', 'Work Life Balance'] |
The Basics of Video Marketing: 4 Easy Steps to Get You Started! | Photo by Shutterstock
I have a short attention span for anything that doesn’t immediately relate to my interest at the moment. As a content marketing provider, I’ve had to build systems to stay focused on tasks that were boring or labor-intensive, or both. I’m constantly on the lookout for shortcuts and templates that can make my tasks easier and more productive.
Video sales letters are perfect for content marketers because they are usually compact and follow a framework, formula, or template. Sure, I’ve written 14-page sales letters. But in an age when almost everyone has a smart phone, you have to be truly committed to reading a 14 page sales letter to buy a product.
Small business owners don’t have the luxury of being able to do this. A good copywriter will charge you the cost of an airline ticket (round trip with hotel accommodations) to Brazil, for something like that. However, with a little training and a few tools, a local business can benefit from a five-minute sales video. The best part is, they can create that video themselves!
You can get your message across most effectively with video marketing. According to Cisco (the tech company) by end of 2022, online videos will make up over 82% of all consumer internet traffic. It’s easy to consume, and most people prefer to watch videos instead of reading text. What is the best way for small business owners to use it?
Creating high-quality videos can be challenging, so follow these tips to help you succeed.
1. Scripting your video and researching your market. Who is the video for? Why should someone care about what you have to say? What differentiates you from your competition?
2. Storytelling: Start with a solid introduction that keeps the viewer interested in your idea. Tell the story that will relate to your viewer while connecting your business or brand to the story.
3. Use images and videos in your production. Words aren’t even necessary. Visually show what you want them to know with captivating images. Make sure it is high quality if you are recording it on video!
4. Distribute and promote your video to sources that can benefit from it. Create ads or blog content to drive traffic to your video.
In the age of short attention spans and smart phones, short sales videos rule! So how do you start the process? Let’s dive a little deeper into each idea.
Sales Video Scripts Formula
· Attract and Engage
· Connect with the Viewer
· Prove a Point
· Convert to Action
An effective video must get the viewer’s attention in the first few seconds. In order to do that, the video must be geared to a specific type of person (You can always make other videos to reach other demographics.) And grab them by their interests, mood, or perspective.
There are a lot of ways to do this, and this article is too short to cover them. Just be aware that it’s important to do some research before you lay out your script. Know who you’re trying to reach and which hot buttons you’ll need to press to get their attention.
Once you’ve got their attention, you’ll need to hold on to it for the length of the video in order to get to the punchline or call to action. Many superb VSLs start with an intriguing back story or an outrageous promise.
Scripting your video and researching your market are really the heart of the process. Even if your video is going to be shot on your cell phone while walking to your car, it’s important to develop your complete presentation ahead of time.
The Importance of Visual Storytelling
Reality television has been a staple of pop culture since the 1990s. Although it’s considered unscripted television, it’s highly formulaic. It has to be in order to deliver the goods that the audience expects. Your video needs structure in order to keep it on point and effective, even if it seems spontaneous.
If you don’t know how to tell your story, it’s time to head over to YouTube. To relate to viewers, you should be conversational and natural, so they can trust what they hear. You can get inspiration from watching YouTube videos of musicians, comedians, actors, or other celebrities.
Choosing The Right Kind of Video Content and Style
There are different video content styles from which to choose. This is another reason you’ll want to be sure to create a video script before shooting. You’ll need to choose the type of video style format that fits your needs and your market.
Here are a few of the most popular formats.
· The animated explainer.
· The behind-the-scenes video.
· The company culture promotional video.
· The employee portrait video.
· The enthusiastic customer testimonial video.
· The informational web series.
· The product demonstration video.
· The video spot.
Visual content is an excellent way to show your audience what you want them to know. Some of the most popular types of visual content are pictures, infographics, slideshows, background videos, motion graphics, animated GIFs, and memes.
Video is a powerful tool for reaching your audience because video content is more engaging than static images or text. When the viewer sees a video, they are drawn into it and are more likely to stay engaged in the content longer.
Distribute and Promote Your Videos
Now that your video is done, you’ll need to take action with your video marketing strategy. Your research should have given you an idea of where your video is most likely to be viewed. However, you’ll need to promote each video in order to maximize viewership.
You’re going to need to drive traffic to your videos in order to get the most views. There are different ways to achieve this. You can advertise your video, use social media promotion and even email marketing.
Your video message may be powerful on its own, but people still need to get to it first. Good promotion is critical for getting more people to watch your video content, but remember not to ignore the fundamentals. You must first create effective content that is optimized for a particular demographic.
You can use these tips to your advantage. When you follow these steps for effective production and distribution, producing videos that drive sales can be fairly simple. Finally, I’d like to give you one more tip… If you haven’t used video script templates for content marketing, I highly recommend trying them out. Using them makes creating informative scripts for videos much easier.
So, get to it — you going to be glad you did! You only succeed by doing, not thinking about it. For more tips on effective content marketing strategies, follow me on medium.com or go to https://contentmarketingmagic.co/blog | https://medium.com/@dennismfrancis/the-basics-of-video-marketing-4-easy-steps-to-get-you-started-d3d00a3dd91d | ['Dennis Francis'] | 2021-12-14 21:34:48.951000+00:00 | ['Video Marketing Tips', 'Video Marketing Strategy', 'Video Sales Letter', 'Small Business Marketing', 'Video Marketing'] |
6 Stoic Quotes That Got Me Through the Year | 6 Stoic Quotes That Got Me Through the Year
We all needed to be a little stoic this year
Photo by Alex Voulgaris on Unsplash
I have always been a fan of the stoics.
Like many, I find their philosophy to be extremely simple and applicable to our everyday lives. While many philosophers tend to ramble through overly convoluted, barely comprehensible monologues, the stoics put a focus on creating a practical philosophy, one than somebody could pick up and start to follow in a matter of an hour to two if they were so inclined.
The year 2020 has been a good one to be a stoic. In fact, there are times when it has been absolutely necessary in order to keep ourselves sane.
While traversing a long period of illness due to long-haul COVID, I had to stay grounded. Stoicism allowed me to get through the worst days of my illness and come out of it stronger.
I tried to stick to the philosophy as a whole and incorporate the teachings of all the great stoics. However, there were some specific quotes that stuck with me, ones I kept coming back to when I felt as though I was at the end of my tether.
The words of the stoics always give me such a boost, and remind me to keep going. | https://medium.com/the-philosophers-stone/6-stoic-quotes-that-got-me-through-the-year-2e938fed6318 | ['Owen Lloyd'] | 2020-12-16 09:56:12.849000+00:00 | ['Philosophy', 'Life', 'Stoicism', 'Self Improvement', 'Life Lessons'] |
Point of Care Testing Market Worth $24.1 Billion By 2027 | The global point of care diagnostics market size is expected to reach USD 24.1 billion by 2027, expanding at a CAGR of 3.2%, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Continuous advancement in the development of highly sensitive and specific miniaturized biosensors, based on microfluidic systems along with handheld devices, is anticipated to drive the market. These systems are capable of automation, integration, and multiplex detection, suitable for use in areas without well-trained professionals.
These tests have emerged as an indispensable part of modern healthcare, as it improves the quality, accuracy, availability, and affordability of patient care. The uptake of POC devices is rapidly progressing due to the incorporation of advanced technologies. For instance, in July 2019, HiberGene Diagnostics has outlined plans to develop a cost-effective POC testing system based on its licensed loop-mediated isothermal amplification technology.
The growing popularity of rapid testing in near-patient settings has positively impacted point of care testing market growth. The rise in investments to develop advanced rapid testing devices, such as single integrated user-friendly devices, fuels market progression. For instance, in February 2019, the Global Health Investment Fund (GHIF) granted USD 6 million to Atomo Diagnostics for the commercialization of its AtomoRapid diagnostic test platform.
Click the link below:
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/point-of-care-poc-diagnostics-industry
Further key findings from the report suggest: | https://medium.com/@marketnewsreports/point-of-care-testing-market-f5f1472edffc | ['Gaurav Shah'] | 2020-12-16 06:20:22.468000+00:00 | ['France', 'Cancer', 'Hospital', 'Russia', 'Testing'] |
How to perform assets under management in a safe way | It’s not a secret for anyone, that assets under management market in cryptocurrencies is a very young and can be characterized with the following problems:
Direct fraud of investor or trader; Loss the control over the funds; Lack of transparency.
Let’s look at how different services approach these problems.
Trading groups and personal managers
This type of asset management is a perfect example of a direct fraud and is common for swindlers with some kind of signal groups, some of them even with paid entrance. On the channel, they publish profitable deals to create a FOMO effect. Sometimes the authors of such channels use Photoshop to change the balances or the trade results to encourage their followers to sends them assets for management. At this stage, investors do lose control over their deposit and most likely they won't get their money back. One of many examples is a telegram group with 20k members — Andrew Trade (currently deleted):
Trading through direct API access
Another popular way of trusting the assets to a manager is by giving direct access to your exchange API key. With this method, the investor basically loses access to his funds and puts a huge risk on himself.
This is what happens: when providing your API key to a trader, the investor can seriously harm his balance because of the absence of any risk management tools and uncareful trader’s actions. There are lots of cases when traders do not use any stop-orders and market swing can cost the investor a big portion of his balance.
Moreover, unavailability to put any restriction on the trader and allowed trading pairs can cause loss of a full deposit. Using the client’s assets trader can buy his own sell orders on low-liquidity pars, washing away the money. We have such example from the private telegram chat.
Copy-trading
The most popular service out there is copy-trading or social trading. The idea is that you choose a trader and automatically follow his activity. That way you can follow a human trader, trading algorithm or even a chat with signals. | https://medium.com/@mbnglobal/how-to-perform-assets-under-management-in-a-safe-way-f4bd4470d536 | [] | 2021-03-20 07:25:36.154000+00:00 | ['Ethereum', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Membrana', 'Startup', 'Blockchain'] |
Deployment of ML model using FASTAPI | Flask vs FASTAPI vs Django ???
Both Django and Flask are great frameworks,no doubt but FASTAPi is making rapid progress.
Django comes in handy when a service depends on a database, needs a simple admin interface and perhaps a requires a nice web GUI. All that comes out of the box with Django thanks to its amazing ORM, admin app and template engine.
When a simple micro-service that exposes a couple API Endpoints is needed, this is where Flask shines. Personally speaking ,I have used flask extensively for deploying ML models.
However when it comes to RESTful microservices, both Flask and Django did not live up to expectations when it came to performance and development speed. This is where FAST API beats the above two.
Why FASTAPI is better than FLASK??
The reasoning is pretty straightforward. Flask uses WSGI whereas FASTAPI uses ASGI . For those who dont know WSGI and ASGI,let me explain it briefly
WSGI (stands for Web Server Gateway Interface) where you can define your application as a callable that takes two arguments the first argument environ describes the request and the environment the server running in and the second argument is a synchronous callable which you call to start the response to yield the body.
It doesn’t have the ability to officially deal with Web Sockets. Wsgi.websocket is an unofficial work around though. WSGI can’t also work with HTTP/2. We also can’t use async or await with WSGI.
ASGI stands for Asynchronous Server Gateway Interface. In ASGI also you define your application as a callable which is asynchronous by default.
ASGI is a successor of the successful WSGI. ASGI’s goal is to continue become the standard compatibility between web servers, frameworks and applications like WSGI in asynchronous python.In ASGI there are three arguments the scope which is similar to the environ in WSGI which gives an idea about the specific connection. Receive and Send where you as an application has to receive and send messages both are asynchronous callable. This allows multiple incoming events and outgoing events for each application .
The main advantage is that it allows background coroutine so the application is able to do other things such listening for events.
In short WSGI is synchronous whereas ASGI is asynchronous.
Some of the advantages that are offered by FASTAPI :
FastAPI is a modern, fast (high-performance), web framework for building APIs with Python 3.6+ based on standard Python type hints.
The key features are:
Fast : Very high performance, on par with NodeJS and Go (thanks to Starlette and Pydantic). One of the fastest Python frameworks available.
: Very high performance, on par with and (thanks to Starlette and Pydantic). One of the fastest Python frameworks available. Fast to code : Increase the speed to develop features by about 200% to 300%. *
: Increase the speed to develop features by about 200% to 300%. * Fewer bugs : Reduce about 40% of human (developer) induced errors. *
: Reduce about 40% of human (developer) induced errors. * Intuitive : Great editor support. Completion everywhere. Less time debugging.
: Great editor support. Completion everywhere. Less time debugging. Easy : Designed to be easy to use and learn. Less time reading docs.
: Designed to be easy to use and learn. Less time reading docs. Short : Minimize code duplication. Multiple features from each parameter declaration. Fewer bugs.
: Minimize code duplication. Multiple features from each parameter declaration. Fewer bugs. Robust : Get production-ready code. With automatic interactive documentation.
: Get production-ready code. With automatic interactive documentation. Standards-based: Based on (and fully compatible with) the open standards for APIs: OpenAPI (previously known as Swagger) and JSON Schema.
So lets get started and build our ML model….
The dataset we are using is Bank Note authenticatiion .You can download it from the link.
The data has 4 independent features ( Variance ,skewness,Kurtosis and entropy) and one dependent feature class label ( Bank note authentic or not)
Dataset
Using standard train test split we divide the dataset into training and test dataset.Note I am not performing any EDA as the purpose of this blog is deployment using FASTAPI.
I have not normalised the data since Iwould be using a random forest to build a model. Its robust to class imbalance as well as outliers too.
After building the model,we would be storing it in a pickle file.
After this we need to create 2 files. One being requirements.txt and the other being Procfile. The contents of the Procfile are as follows
web: gunicorn -w 4 -k uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker app:app
Its telling that its basically a webapp. Gunicorn is being used with 4 workers.
You can use Gunicorn to manage Uvicorn and run multiple of these concurrent processes.That way, you get the best of concurrency and parallelism.
For requirements,txt we need to install fastapi and gunicorn.
pip install fastapi gunicorn
Now lets go into details of app.py file and see each step in a detailed manner
Step 1 Library imports
import uvicorn
from fastapi
import FastAPI
from BankNotes import BankNote
import numpy as np
import pickle
import pandas as pd
After making sure that all the packages are installed , we can move to the next step.
Step 2 Creating the FASTAPI object
app = FastAPI()
pickle_in = open("classifier.pkl","rb")
classifier=pickle.load(pickle_in)
Step 3 Defining the routes through the created object
Step 4 Defining the port no for the app
Step 5 Command to run the app
uvicorn app:app --reload
In your terminal you can write out this command ,the point to note that first app refers to the filename whereas the second app refers to the object we created in step 2.
Now once we have the model running in our system we can deploy it in the cloud platform. The platform I am using for this blog is Heroku : very easy and simple to use.
Step 6 Once you have logged into your heroku account,you should be able to create a new app.
Logging into your account
Step 7 Next you should create a new app for your project. Choose a unique name
Unique name to app
Next upload all your project files to Github and connect to your repository and then click deploy main branch. Once all dependencies are installed you willhave your app running on the desired URL and append /docs to it to see the UI.
Connecting with Github
NOTE Make sure you have requirements.txt and Procfile in your repository
UI of app
We can clearly analyse what parameters our ML model will take and also see their data types too.
data type of features
trying out the ML model
with the UI we can easily see the response of our request.
Response
To see live demo head over to this link
For all the code used in the blog you can refer my repository.
Hope after reading this blog now you can go about deploying your Ml model with the help of FASTAPI. Happy Learning :) | https://medium.com/@kunal3836/deployment-of-ml-model-using-fastapi-e1489873b20b | ['Kunal Verma'] | 2020-12-07 16:09:31.586000+00:00 | ['Deployment', 'Fastapi', 'Heroku', 'Random Forest', 'Machine Learning'] |
How to Make Money With Substack Newsletters in 2020: Overview | Can I make money with a Substack newsletter?
For sure! But don’t expect to make a million dollars, or even $10 right away.
Let’s start off by asking a few questions:
Is your goal to quit your job and start a new career? Are you trying to make a new side hustle for some extra coffee money? Do you just want to start writing & creating for fun?
It’s important to set your priority before delving further into Substack. But luckily for us, all three are potentially achievable on the platform!
If you’re new to blogging and newsletters in general, you should also be aware that this is a long-haul game.
You won’t get rich overnight, no matter what e-marketing course tells you otherwise. The only way that ever happens is if people pay tens of thousands of dollars for ads or to influencers to sneak their way into success. Or if you’re famous.
I’m going to assume that you’re a normal person and don’t want to do that/haven’t starred in the latest Hollywood Blockbuster.
This leads me to my mantra for success factors on any of these platforms:
Time + Repetition + Quality = Success on Substack
The good news is if you follow the advice below you can be on your way to making side hustle money with Substack. Or even potentially over $200,000 a month like Robert Cottrell (after many years of hard work and high quality, of course).
1. Switching careers
If you’re here to start a new career — know that it takes time.
I was in your shoes a bit over a year ago. I was earning a lot of money as a corporate product manager for a multinational tech company. But I wasn’t happy, so I changed things.
The one regret I have is that I didn’t start my side hustle on the side.
Since this is a time game, I could’ve easily researched these endeavors while still working and started them slowly. Slowly build an audience. Slowly produce content. Slowly improve my craft.
I went with the accelerated version of this — I quit, traveled, and wrote every day. Sure, I’ve probably improved at a faster rate — but I’d be much happier to be slightly behind while still having a year’s worth of paychecks!
I’d advise doing it on the side for a while and gain some traction before you jump head-first into it.
Either way, start right now with guides like these to learn the ropes of what you want to do. There’s a lot of paid info out there, but there’s even more free stuff.
I cover all the basics below to give you a good idea of if Substack is for you or not, so please read further!
2. The true side hustle
For those that truly want to use Substack as a source of extra (but not the main) income — welcome to Substack!
One of the nice parts about newsletters is that you don’t necessarily need to be working on them full time. The choice is completely yours if you want to put in 1 hour a week or 20.
And since this is a time-based game, it makes sense to do a little work — consistently — every week to slowly build a content base. Since this is Substack and not a normal blog, your audience & following should grow right alongside your content production.
Please read on for all the basics of Substack and if this is the right platform for you to start your writing/podcast side hustle on.
3. Just here for fun
If you’re just looking for a way to get people to see the results of your writing hobby — Substack is also the perfect place for that.
It’s free to use It’s incredibly easy to navigate and setup There’s no penalty for missing a week or two here and there
There’re lots of places for you to post your writing if it’s just a hobby, but right now, my two favorites are Medium and Substack.
The free-to-use factor is definitely a huge plus. And setting up a personal blog on Wordpress, etc, can take a long time to learn (or a couple of hundred bucks to pay someone).
Freemium platforms that are easy to use are great for the hobby writer. And who knows, maybe people will enjoy your work enough that you start to make some cash too (or even a living)!
Takeaway
For all 3 of the above type of people, I believe Substack has a place for them. Just keep in mind that it takes time to be successful on this platform (or any other).
But if you enjoy writing and love people seeing your work — then you’ll probably stick with it.
Before you know it, you might find yourself making a few hundred extra dollars every month (or potentially a lot more later on).
Let’s now look at some key facts about Substack to start. | https://medium.com/feedium/can-i-make-money-on-substack-720556e3940 | ['J.J. Pryor'] | 2020-12-23 13:59:47.118000+00:00 | ['Side Hustle', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Freelancing', 'Newsletter', 'Substack'] |
As a Leader, Focus on What You Can Control | As a Leader, Focus on What You Can Control
Spend less than 10% of your time on the things you can’t.
Photo by Jon Flobrant on Unsplash
When I became a platoon leader in the US Army, there were 100 things that I could give my attention to. I had to slowly figure out what was worth my time, and the first step was in understanding what I could and couldn’t control. I had to relearn this lesson at every stage of my leadership journey, including in the business world.
When I was working as a manager at McKinsey & Company, I found a particularly helpful tool that I dubbed the “Spheres of Control.” It was one of the simplest but most helpful ways to think about where I was putting my energy. It was something I both used personally as a leader and taught to my clients.
Today, I still use it in my coaching. And now I’d like to share it with you.
Think in Terms of Three Spheres of Control
This approach is incredibly simple and endlessly useful. Right now, either through internal reflection or a quick scroll through your calendar, think about where your time goes.
Got it? Now categorize this time into things you can control, meaning that you have direct agency over and responsibility for the outcomes, things you can influence, meaning that you can nudge but not direct the outcomes, and things you can only observe, meaning that you have zero power to control the outcome.
Take stock of how much time you spend in the first category of “control” versus the last category of “observe.” Ideally, we leaders should spend most of our time on the things we can control, and much less time collectively on the things we can only influence or observe. In reality, though, this isn’t the case. We click “accept” on most of the meeting invites we see in our inbox, and we end up taking time away from the things we could and should be in control of.
Here’s a quick visual to help think through that share of time, which we’ll expand on below:
Image by Jason R. Waller
70%: What You Can Control
Spend more than 70% of your time on the things you can control. These are the tasks that are directly connected to your overarching goals as a leader. These are the actions that you own and are responsible for.
The easy test here is that you are accountable for the results. Another test is that you can direct and manage your team or others to achieve these results.
If you’re not spending the majority of your time here, ask yourself why. It makes sense that we focus our energy on the efforts that we can control, but what’s holding you back from making the same leap today? How is your calendar controlling you versus you controlling the calendar?
The hallmarks of spending on what you can control are:
Setting clear deliverables, being outcome- and goal-oriented with direct expectations
Connecting directly to goals, always asserting how the task ties into what matters
Enforcing high accountability, taking responsibility for what happens and doesn’t happen, and passing that down to others
20%: What You Can Influence
Almost all of your time should be spent on what you can control, but the key word here is “almost.” Aim for 20% of your time to be spent on areas that you can’t directly control, but still matter and can be influenced. This is about one in every five tasks or meetings.
While this is drastically lower than any share of energy you should be putting into the things you can control, it doesn’t mean that this should be zero. The trap of early leaders is to be pulled into every decision or every meeting that might matter, versus the one or two that do.
Separate yourself from the noise and review what you want to be influencing, as an outcome. In any business, even if you’re the CEO and the company is small, there are things outside of your control. Clients and partnerships can usually be influenced but not directly controlled.
If it matters and it’s worth your time, think about this typical approach to influencing what’s worthwhile:
Offering input and advice, meaning that your role isn’t to direct but to counsel
Participating in the dialog, whenever it makes sense to the goals and outcomes you know are important
Asking for updates and input, so that you can be pulled into the conversations that are really important
10%: What You Can Only Observe
Less than 10% of time, or one out of every ten meetings, should go into an area that you can’t control or influence. Let’s say that again — if you can’t control or influence the outcome, then it should be less than 10% of your time.
It’s an easy habit to click accept on an invite or reply to a thoughtful inquiry, but the overarching question is whether it really matters. If you’re a leader, then you need to be spending time on leading. Cut out the noise and scale back on the commitments until they reflect what you’re actually responsible for.
Another way to look at this is that more than 90% of your time should be spent on things where you can actually control or influence relevant outcomes. It’s easier said than done — when I was leading teams I would always feel the pull of the hustle, of “what else can I be doing in parallel.” The reality is that the most effective use of time for the less-than-10% of observing activities is:
Probing with questions, so that you can contribute your expertise and push the thinking
Prioritizing what matters, for only those things that have relevant “educational” value
Setting background processes, to keep the relevant information flowing without having to spend a lot of effort
Closing Thoughts
I never mentioned the idea of “important” or “urgent” in this context. That’s for another article. The reality is that, no matter how important or urgent a topic is, it doesn’t really matter unless you as a leader can control the outcome.
Too often I get pulled into the shiny objects that are only loosely related to my goals. But unless I can affect the end result, I find time and time again that they should have taken less of my time.
And this doesn’t mean 0% of my time. We need to keep our finger on the pulse of what’s happening. But it does mean that how we operate normally, in reactive mode, gives more weight to the things we can’t control. The next time you have a decision about where to spend your own time as a leader, ask yourself:
Am I spending 70% of my time on things I can control , meaning I have direct agency over and responsibility for the outcomes?
, meaning I have direct agency over and responsibility for the outcomes? Am I spending 20% of my time on the things I can influence , meaning I can nudge but not direct the outcomes?
, meaning I can nudge but not direct the outcomes? Am I spending 10% of my time on the things I can only observe, meaning I have zero power to control the outcome?
When we focus on what we can change, change becomes the outcome. When we focus on what we can’t change, that becomes the outcome, too.
Good luck on your journey. | https://medium.com/the-ascent/as-a-leader-focus-on-what-you-can-control-bd343fd40829 | ['Jason R. Waller'] | 2020-08-24 15:01:01.093000+00:00 | ['Personal Development', 'Personal Growth', 'Time Management', 'Self', 'Leadership'] |
Working with Amazon S3 using DBSync | What is Amazon S3
Amazon simple storage service is storage for the internet. Amazon S3 has a simple web service interface that you can use to store and retrieve any amount of data, at any time, from anywhere on the web. It gives any user access to the highly scalable, reliable, fast, inexpensive data storage infrastructure that Amazon uses to run its global network of websites.
Working With Amazon S3 Bucket
To upload your data (photos, videos, documents, and more), you first create a bucket in one of the AWS regions. You can then upload any number of objects to the bucket.
In terms of implementation, buckets and objects are resources, and Amazon S3 provides APIs for you to manage them. For example, you can create a bucket and upload objects using Amazon s3 API. You can also use the Amazon S3 API. You can also use Amazon s3 console to perform these operations. The console internally uses Amazon S3 APIs to send requests to Amazon s3.
Amazon S3 Connector Via DBSync
Amazon S3 Connector is built to connect to the Amazon S3 Cloud storage for Transferring of various sensitive data like files, directory systems from and into S3 Cloud storage system. DBSync Amazon S3 Connector supports four kinds of operations
Upload File: Facilitate reading of file from the local file system and writing to the Amazon S3 Cloud storage. Upload Directory: Facilitate reading of designated directory from the local file system and writing to the Amazon S3 Cloud storage. Download File: Facilitate reading of file from Amazon S3 Cloud storage and writing to the local file system. Download Directory: Facilitate reading of designated directory from Amazon S3 Cloud storage and writing to the local file system.
The use-case described in the tutorial section will help you all to understand better how it benefits for your automation needs and reap benefits by decreasing the manual intervention for data backup.
If you want to transfer, sync or backup files from one cloud service to a database, are you going to manually do it by downloading files to your local disk and re-uploading to your database? Is a better way to do it, right? We recommend DBSync solution to help you backup, sync and move files from Database to Amazon S3
Step1: We have to connect DBSync to the database from where you want to export the files. For more information on what and how databases can be connected can be obtained from the below link. http://help.mydbsync.com/docs/display/dbsync/Database.
Step 2: We have to connect DBSync with Amazon S3 storage, you will need to enter specific information so that the DBSync can communicate with Amazon S3. so you will need the following.
Here is the link to rightly configure the Amazon s3 connector to help you connected with the DBSync.
http://help.mydbsync.com/docs/display/dbsync/Amazon+S3
Step3: Now it’s that all the connections are set between DBSync and Source, Target applications. We will have to create the Project, Process, and workflow in the DBSync, After those are done you will need to do the mapping which will help DBSync to understand from where to where the files have to be moved.
Step 4: Hit the Run Now button located at the top right corner of the page as shown in the above screen. If sync is successfully executed it shows up in the console, in case of errors also same will be displayed in the console. After the successful completion of sync, go to the Amazon S3 storage to the given file path to check files are copied along with correct directory name, file names, and data in the files.
Here are some of the wiki links of how DBSync allows the user to connect with the Amazon S3 connector and a tutorial that can help the working mode of the DBSync Amazon S3 Connector.
http://help.mydbsync.com/docs/display/dbsync/Amazon+S3 http://help.mydbsync.com/docs/display/dbsync/File+System++To++Amazon+S3
Kindly leave us a comment in or Contact us, case of queries, thoughts or recommendations, one of our representatives will get in touch if our product offering interest you.
Web-References :
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/dev/Welcome.html | https://medium.com/@dbsyncseo/working-with-amazon-s3-using-dbsync-5509df7c239 | ['Rajeev Gupta'] | 2019-10-21 14:41:01.480000+00:00 | ['Cloud Computing', 'AWS', 'Cloud Database', 'Amazon S3', 'Integration'] |
CommunityBridge-Codeuino mentorship: Playing with React State movements(Week 5) | Just one more week to the next evaluations. Let us make them worth the wait!
What did I work on this week?
Spansberry frontend! With a brainstorm on UI and UX for the application!
Started off with putting thought on the overall look and theme of the platform; everything from colour themes to font styles. For now, you can call the platform pretty minimalist. So, we have a lot of room to put in more decoration; but let’s just get done with the basics right first.
Finally completed the Authentication flow after some more tweaks and improvements. Now it includes more functionalities including auto-login on signup, client-side validations and revamped UI. Here’s a sneak-peak:
After this implemented the initial screen of the application — Create Organization page. And yes, you’re right it too is pretty minimalist. Now we are on the same page :P
Moving ahead, I started development of probably the most viewed page on the application — the Homepage aka Dashboard. With a bunch of moving pieces and a whole state management saga (react problems !) I finally ended this week with the Navbar and Sidebar done.
Well mostly! The navbar will have its additions along with more working feature developments. So, this is how it looks right now:
Don’t worry, I can see that huge blank space. Hoping to finish it off this week along with some more developments. With festives coming in, we can hope to get some productivity crushed in but not enough to hamper the growth of the project.
Till then, Sayōnara! | https://medium.com/codeuino/communitybridge-codeuino-mentorship-playing-with-react-state-movements-week-5-fef65d993d73 | ['Aayush Gupta'] | 2020-11-19 06:45:20.228000+00:00 | ['Codeuino', 'Open Source', 'The Linux Foundation', 'Software Development'] |
Dear Julie: Word count | Dear Julie: Word count
How long should my book be?
Photo by Diane Alkier on Unsplash
Dear Julie, I need help with length and structure! How many words should my manuscript be? It’s a women’s fiction book with a dash of romance. How many words should I be aiming for total? How many words per chapter? How many chapters? So many questions! Sarah
Dear Sarah,
The answer to so many writing questions is so often ‘Well, it depends.’ It’s nice to have a question with a definite answer, for once.
Well, almost definite.
The length of most mainstream print-published women’s commercial fiction novels is between 80,000 and 100,000 words. Occasionally you might see a longer one; very rarely a shorter. Historical novels tend to be on the long side and romcoms tend to be on the short side. If you aim for about 90,000 words you won’t go far wrong, and you’ll have room to expand or cut, as is necessary. Maybe even both.
Digital-first publishers and self-published writers may have books which are shorter than this. The guidelines here are much more fluid, maybe because a book that would look frustratingly slim on a physical shelf actually looks like a perfect short read on an e-reader. You can check the publisher’s requirements. I’d say that 50–60,000 words is minimum for a short novel — any shorter would be a novella. But individual publishers may have their own word count guidelines.
As far as chapter length and number of chapters goes: this is really up to you. In my mind, a chapter should feel like a rounded unit, but it should also leave enough hanging so that the reader gets to the end and wants to keep reading. A chapter should be, in my opinion, about as long as it needs to be. If a chapter feels too long to you and there’s a good place to break it, go ahead; on the other hand, if it feels too short and you like how it combines with another chapter, go ahead and put them together.
Shorter chapters sometimes feel more pacey, and make the book read faster; longer ones might be more contemplative. I think the shortest chapter I’ve ever written in one of my books was one sentence long. Stephenie Meyer had a chapter that consisted of only blank pages. But that’s not a trick you want to pull too often. Mostly you want…I’m guessing between five and twenty pages as a rough guideline? You can vary chapter length within the book; sometimes it’s nice to have a short chapter after a long one, to give the reader a little break. But it’s not necessary.
The only rule is that whenever you can, you should end a chapter in a way that makes the reader think: ‘Oh, I’ll just read one more.’ And begin the next in a way that makes the reader glad that they kept going.
Mostly though Sarah, this is the answer: let the length of your chapters, and the length of your novel, serve your story. Worry about it a bit, as a general guideline, but don’t worry about it like crazy. Don’t use word count as a whip or as an immovable target or limit. Don’t think that just because you’ve got to 90k words that you have to be finished, if you haven’t wrapped things up yet. A first draft should generally be as long as it has to be. You can cut, or add, in revisions. And as always, if the story is good enough, it can break every rule.
So I guess once again the answer is…Well, it depends?
Love
Julie x | https://medium.com/novel-gazing/dear-julie-word-count-3b3ee15e31c8 | ['Julie Cohen'] | 2020-04-30 19:26:40.494000+00:00 | ['Writing Advice', 'Chapter Length', 'Word Count', 'Writing', 'Writing Tips'] |
How DevOps is used in Real Time Scenarios? | DevOps Real-Time Scenarios — Edureka
Many of you might be aware of all the theories related to DevOps. But do you know how to implement DevOps principles in real life? In this article, I will discuss the DevOps Real Time scenarios that will help you get a brief understanding of how things work in real-time.
The pointers that I will be covering in this DevOps Real-Time Scenarios article are:
What is DevOps?
Problems solved by DevOps
CI(Continuous Integration) Scenarios
CT(Continuous Testing) Scenarios
CD(Continuous Delivery) Scenarios
DevOps Data Scenarios
So let us begin with our first topic.
What is DevOps?
DevOps is a software development approach that involves Continuous Development, Continuous Testing, Continuous Integration, Continuous Deployment, and Continuous Monitoring of the software throughout its development life cycle. These activities are possible only in DevOps, not Agile or waterfall. This is why Facebook and other top companies have chosen DevOps as the way forward for their business goals. DevOps is mainly preferred for developing high-quality software in shorter development cycles which results in greater customer satisfaction.
In the next section of this DevOps Real-Time Scenarios article, we will take a look on the various problems solved by DevOps.
Problems solved by DevOps
1. Deliver value to Customers
DevOps minimizes the time it takes to deliver value to customers. The cycle time from the developer’s completion of a story/task until production reduces significantly, allowing the value to be realized as quickly as possible.
it takes to deliver value to customers. The cycle time from the developer’s completion of a story/task until production reduces significantly, allowing the value to be realized as quickly as possible. The most important value realized through DevOps is that it allows IT organizations to focus on their “core” business activities. By removing constraints within the value stream and automating deployment pipelines, teams can focus on the activities. This helps in creating customer value rather than just moving bits and bytes. These activities increase the sustainable competitive advantage of a company and create better business outcomes.
2. Reduced cycle time
Internally DevOps is the only way to achieve the agility to deliver secure code with insights. It is important to have gates and a well-crafted DevOps process. When you are delivering a new version, it can run side-by-side with the current version. You can also compare metrics to accomplish what you wanted to with application and performance metrics.
DevOps drive development teams towards continuous improvement and faster release cycles. If done well, this iterative process allows more focus over time, on the things that really matter. Such as things that create great experiences for users — and less time on managing tools, processes, and tech.
3. Time to market
The most important problem being solved is the reduction of the complexity of the process. This contributes significantly towards our business success by shortening our time to market, giving us quick feedback on features, and making us more responsive to our customers’ needs.
4. Problem Resolution
The greatest value of successful DevOps implementation is higher confidence in delivery, visibility, and traceability to what’s going on, so you can solve problems quicker.
Another important advantage of DevOps is not wasting any time. Aligning an organization’s people and resources enables rapid deployments and updates. This allows DevOps programs to fix problems before they turn into disasters. DevOps creates a culture of transparency that promotes focus and collaboration among development, operations, and security teams.
CI (Continuous Integration) in DevOps Real Time Scenarios
1. Individuals May See Continuous Integration Counterproductive
Members of a development team have different roles, responsibilities, and priorities. It is possible that the Product manager’s first priority might be launching new features, project managers have to make sure that their team meets the deadline. Programmers might think that if they stop to fix a minor bug every time it occurs will slow them down. They might feel keeping the build clean is an extra burden on them and they won’t be the benefitted for their extra efforts. This can potentially jeopardize the adaptation process.
To overcome this:
Firstly, make sure your whole team is on board before you adopt continuous integration.
CTOs and team leaders must help the team members understand the costs and benefits of continuous integration.
Highlight what and when coders will be benefitted by dedicating themselves to a different working method that requires a bit more openness and flexibility.
2. Integrating CI Into Your Existing Development Flow
Adopting CI inevitably comes with the need for essentially changing some parts of your development workflow. It is possible that your developers might not fix the workflow if it isn’t broken. This is possible mainly if your team has a bigger routine in executing their current workflow.
If you wish to change the workflow then you must do it with great precautions. Otherwise, it could compromise the productivity of the development team and also the quality of the product. Without sufficient support from the leadership, the development team might be a bit reluctant to undertake a task with such risks involved.
To overcome this:
You must make sure that you give enough time for your team to develop their new workflow. This is done in order to select a flexible continuous integration solution that can support their new workflow.
Also, ensure them that company has their backs even if things might not go very smoothly at the beginning.
3. Relapsing to the Former Testing Habits
The immediate effect of adopting continuous integration is that your team will test more often. So more tests will need more test cases and writing test cases can be time-consuming. Hence, developers often need to divide their time between fixing bugs and writing test cases.
Temporarily, developers might be able to save time by manually testing, but it might hurt more in the long run. The more they procrastinate writing test cases, the more difficult it will become to catch up on the progress of the development. In the worst-case scenario, your team might end up going back to their old testing process.
To overcome this:
You must emphasize that writing test cases from the beginning could save a lot of time for your team and can ensure high test coverage of your product.
Also, embed the idea in your company culture that test cases are as valuable assets as the codebase itself.
4. Developers Ignoring Error Messages
It is a common problem that when bigger teams work together the amount of CI notifications becomes overwhelming and developers start ignoring and muting them. Therefore, it is possible that they might miss the updates that are relevant to them.
It can lead to a stage where coders develop a relative immunity to broken builds and error messages. The longer they ignore relevant notifications, the longer they develop without feedback in the wrong direction. This could potentially cause huge rollbacks, wastage of money, resources, and time.
To overcome this:
You should only send critical updates.
Only send the notification to respective developers who are in charge of fixing it.
CT (Continuous Testing) in DevOps Real Time Scenarios
1. Getting Requirements Specification right
If you get your requirements right then almost half of the battle is won. So if you have a precise and accurate understanding of requirements, you can design test plans better and cover requirements well.
Yet, many teams spend a lot of time and effort simply clarifying the requirements. This is a very common pitfall and to avoid this, teams can adopt Model-based testing and Behavior-Driven Development techniques. This helps to design test scenarios accurately and adequately.
These practices will definitely help address and resolve the gaps more quickly. Also, it enables them to generate more test cases automatically right from the early stages of a sprint.
2. Pipeline Orchestration
The advantages of continuous testing and continuous delivery are closely tied to pipeline orchestration. This directly means understanding how it works, why it works, how to analyze the results, and how and when to scale. Everything depends on the pipeline and hence you need to integrate the pipeline with the automation suite.
But the reason teams fumble is that, no single solution provides the complete toolchain that is required to build a CD pipeline.
Teams have to typically search for the pieces of the puzzle that are correct for them. There are no perfect tools, typically only best-of-breed tools, that provide integrations along with multiple other tools. And of course, an API that permits easy integrations as well.
In short, it is impossible to implement continuous testing without the speed and reliability of a standardized and automated pipeline.
3. Scaling up and managing complexity
Another important scenario is that continuous testing becomes more complex as it moves towards the production environment. The tests grow in number as well as complexity with the maturing code and the environment becoming more complex.
You must update tests each time you update different phases and automated scripts. As a result, the overall time it takes to run the tests also tends to increase towards the release.
The solution for this lies in improved test orchestration that provides the right amount of test coverage in shorter sprint cycles and enables teams to deliver confidently. Ideally, the entire process must be automated with CT carried out at various stages. This is done by using policy gates and manual intervention, up until the code is pushed to production.
4. Creating feedback loops
Without frequent feedback loops at every stage of the development cycle, continuous testing is not possible. This is partly the reason why CT is difficult to implement. You don’t just need automated tests, but you also need visibility of the test results and execution.
Traditional feedback loops like logging tools, code profilers, and performance monitoring tools are not effective anymore. Neither they work together nor provide the depth of insight required to fix issues. Real-time dashboards that generate reports automatically and actionable feedback across the entire SDLC helps release software faster into production with lesser defects. Real-time access to dashboards and access for all team members helps the continuous feedback mechanism.
5. Lack of Environments
Continuous Testing simply means testing more often and this requires hitting multiple environments more frequently. This presents a bottleneck if the said environments are not available at the time they are required. Some environments are available through APIs and some through various interfaces. Some of these environments can be built using modern architecture while others with monolithic legacy client/server or mainframe systems.
But the question here is how do you coordinate testing through the various environment owners? It is also possible that they may not always keep the environments up and running. The answer to all this is Virtualization. By virtualizing the environment, you can test the code without worrying too much about areas that are unchanging. Making the environments accessible and available on-demand through virtualization surely helps remove a significant bottleneck from your pipeline.
CD(Continuous Delivery) in DevOps Real Time Scenarios
1. Deployments taking too long
Distributed applications normally require more than ‘copying and pasting’ files to a server. The complexity tends to increase if you have a farm of servers. Uncertainty about what to deploy, where, and how, is a pretty normal thing. The result? Long waiting times to get our artifacts into the next environment of the route to delaying everything, testing, time to live, etc.
What does DevOps bring to the table? Development and IT operations teams define a deployment process in a blameless collaboration session. First, they verify what works and then take it to the next level with automation to facilitate continuous delivery. This drastically cuts timing for deployment; it also paves the way for more frequent deployments.
2. Missing artifacts, scripts, and other dependencies
We frequently encounter failures post the deployment of a new version of a working piece of software. This is often caused by missing libraries or database scripts not being updated. This is usually caused by a lack of clarity about which dependencies to deploy and their location. Fostering collaboration between development and operations can help resolve these sorts of problems in the majority of cases.
When it comes to automation, you can define dependencies which helps a lot in speeding up deployments. Configuration management tools like Puppet or Chef contribute with an extra level of definition of dependencies. We can define not only dependencies within our application but also at the infrastructure and server configuration level. For example, we can create a virtual machine for a test, and install/configure tomcat before our artifacts are published.
3. Ineffective production monitoring
Sometimes you configure monitoring tools in a way that produces a lot of irrelevant data from production, however, other times they don’t produce enough or nothing at all. There is no definition of what you need to look after and what the metrics are.
You must agree on what to monitor and which information to produce, and then put controls in place. Application Performance management tools are a great help if your organization can afford it to take a look at AppDynamics, New Relic, and AWS X-Ray.
DevOps Data Scenarios
DevOps is all about eliminating the risks associated with new software development: Data analysis identifies those risks. To continuously measure and improve upon the DevOps process, analytics should span across the entire pipeline. This provides invaluable insights to management at all stages of the software development lifecycle.
1. Less time to analyze data
With all the data that is generated at any given time, organizations need to accept that they can’t analyze it all. There’s simply not enough time in the day — and unfortunately, robots aren’t quite sophisticated enough to do it all for us quite yet.
For that reason, it’s important to determine which data sets are most significant. In most cases, this is going to be different for every organization. So before diving in, determine key business objectives and goals. Typically, these goals revolve around customer needs — primarily the most valuable features that are most important to end-users. For a retailer, for example, analyzing how traffic is interacting with the checkout page on the site and testing how it works in the back-end is at the top of the list.
Some quick tips to identify which data is most important to analyze:
Make a chart: Determine the impact outages will have on your business, asking questions such as, “If X breaks, what effect will it have on other features?”
Look at historical data: Identify where issues have arisen in the past and continue to analyze data from tests and build to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
2. Difficult communication
Today, most organizations still operate with different teams and personas identifying their own goals and utilizing their own tools and technologies. Each team acts independently, disconnected from the pipeline and meeting with other teams only during the integration phase.
When it comes to looking at the bigger picture and identifying what is and isn’t working, the organization struggles to come to one solution. This is because mostly because everyone is failing to share the overall data, making analysis impossible.
To overcome this issue, overhaul the flow of communication to ensure everyone is collaborating throughout the SDLC, not just during the integration process.
First, make sure there’s strong synchronization on DevOps metrics from the get-go. Each team’s progress should be displayed in one single dashboard, utilizing the same Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to give management visibility into the entire process. This is done so that they can collect all the necessary data to analyze what went wrong (or what succeeded).
Beyond the initial metrics conversation, there should be constant communication via team meetings or digital channels like Slack.
3. Lack of manpower
When short-staffed, we need smarter tools that utilize deep learning to slot in the data we’re collecting and reach decisions quickly. After all, nobody has time to look at every single test execution (and for some big organizations, there can be about 75,000 in a given day). The trick is to eliminate the noise and find the right things to focus on.
This is where artificial intelligence and machine learning can help. Many tools on the market today utilize AI and ML to do things like:
Develop scripts and tests to move and validate different pieces of data
Report on quality based on previously learned behaviors
Work in response to real-time changes.
So with this, we have come to the end of this article on DevOps Real-Time Scenarios.
If you wish to check out more articles on the market’s most trending technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Python, Ethical Hacking, then you can refer to Edureka’s official site.
Do look out for other articles in this series which will explain the various other aspects of DevOps. | https://medium.com/edureka/devops-real-time-scenarios-c277991745c1 | ['Vardhan Ns'] | 2020-09-09 12:13:03.663000+00:00 | ['Devops Examples', 'Continuous Integration', 'Software Engineering', 'DevOps', 'Continuous Delivery'] |
Lessons That Last A Lifetime: Boundaries | I used to have an ex that would hit me up every January without fail. This was someone I met back in 2011. This incessant contacting went on for years. We had not had a toxic relationship. In fact, I liked him well enough as a person, we just didn’t have the same goals for a romantic relationship. This was why it took me so long to block him. Honestly, it shouldn’t have taken me as long as it did. The simple fact is that the relationship did not serve me, and this was reason enough to block the kid and get on with life.
When we ceased contact it was because of a boundary I established for myself. It didn’t have anything to do with him other than he did not want the same things that I did. This doesn’t make him a bad person but it does make him a bad person for me. So why keep him around? Blocked.
I’ve made a habit of blocking exes. I used to want to keep them unblocked so they could see all of my glorious success. Now I understand how vain and toxic that mindset is. As it stands, my mode of operation is once the relationship ends, so does our connection via technology. It’s not the 1980s. Unless someone is a sociopath, they’re not likely to try to pursue you beyond realizing they’ve been blocked on every platform. After texting, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter inboxes and email have been exhausted, most people get the hint.
Of course we all think of exes or old friends from time to time. This is not something unique to this generation. However, the ease with which people can be reached has led to an uptick in folks trying to re-establish connections that have expired. Someone even joked under the thread for one of those Tweets that he sends that text to about five or ten women and see who bites the bait. Don’t bite the bait. Don’t be easy to reach. Block people, not for the sake of some reverse-psychological flex, but for your own sanity. I didn’t get one of these toxic texts this Thanksgiving and that is truly something to be grateful for. | https://kesialexandra.medium.com/lessons-that-last-a-lifetime-boundaries-1de8fa8bcfaa | ['Kesia Alexandra'] | 2019-12-03 23:07:20.499000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Life', 'Self', 'Love', 'Dating'] |
Deployment - Ruby on Rails Backend and React Frontend | Deployment - Ruby on Rails Backend and React Frontend
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash
Deploying Ruby on Rails Backend on Heroku
Create a ruby on rails backend database
gem install rails
rails new <your_project_name> --api -T --database=postgresql
2. Go to heroku.com and create a free account.
3. In the upper right hand corner click on the new tab and select “Create a new app”
4. Give your app a name and select your region. Click the Create app
5. In Deployment Method — Select Heroku Git
6. Install the Heroku CLI
https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/heroku-cli
brew tap heroku/brew && brew install heroku
7. In your terminal
heroku login
8. Confirm your login
https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/git
9.1 Alternate. Create app using CLI inside the project folder. It will generate a random app name.
heroku create
9.2 Rename the app name
heroku apps:rename <newAppName>
9.3 If using the heroku create in CLI, skip step 10, heroku remote is automatically created.
10. If your project folder already had git init with Github, run to connect the project folder to heroku. New/update remote app name.
heroku git:remote -a <your_app_name>
else
git init
heroku git:remote -a <your_app_name>
To check if the project folder have a git linked, run
git remote -v //Display, if connected with Github and Heroku.
origin [email protected] filename.git(fetch)
origin [email protected] filename.git(push)
heroku https://git.heroku.com/proxy-server-aka.git (fetch)
heroku https://git.heroku.com/proxy-server-aka.git (push)
11. Run the following commends
git add .
git commit -am "first commit"
git push heroku main
12. Create and seed the database.
To create the database:
heroku run rake db:migrate
To seed the database:
heroku run rake db:seed
***Extra***
To drop the database:
heroku pg:reset DATABASE_URL --confirm NAME_OF_THE_APP
Combine migrate and seed into one step
heroku run rake db:setup
If needed
heroku restart
Clone heroku repo
heroku git:clone -a <your_app_name>
13. It now done. On your new heroku app URL, you will see something like this. Perfectly normal since this is a database API. | https://medium.com/@dong-xia/deployment-ruby-on-rails-backend-and-react-frontend-1c0a25cdeb7f | ['Dong Xia'] | 2021-02-11 20:25:54.771000+00:00 | ['Deployment', 'React', 'Ruby on Rails', 'Heroku', 'Firebase'] |
Low economic freedom limits trade and prosperity | Trade freedom has advanced growth and efficiencies within several emerging and developed countries. It is a composite measure of the absence of tariff and non-tariff barriers that affect the import and export of goods and services. Sri Lanka is ranked 135th for Freedom to Trade internationally according to the Economic Freedom of the World report published by The Fraser Institute, a public policy think tank based in Canada. This indicates that trade freedom in Sri Lanka was ranked in the bottom 30 countries globally. The report was published based on data collected from 159 countries in 2015.
Sri Lanka is separated from the rest of the world through visible and invisible trade barriers, says Fraser Institute Resident Fellow Fred McMahon.
Along with freedom to trade internationally, other dimensions like the size of the government; the legal system and property rights; sound money; and regulation of credit, labour and business are used to measure the degree of economic freedom. Countries with higher levels of economic freedom correlated with various positive measures such as economic growth, higher income, gender equality and life expectancy. McMahon spoke with Echelon about Sri Lanka’s trade outlook and the performance of the Economic Freedom Index.
Excerpts from the interview are as follows:
Economic freedom is a new debate in Sri Lanka. Why is this important?
● Everyone needs to enjoy civil, political and economic freedom. The government should not decide who you vote for, what you say or how to manage your economy. It’s the most intrinsic freedom, as our lives mainly revolve around living and working materially. Government interference on where one works, what one does for a living or whether one can start a business affects individual rights and reduces overall freedom. There was a lack of concrete measure of economic freedom when the project was initiated. The relationship between economic freedom and prosperity, along with other desirable social outcomes, were unknown at that time. Since then, over 600 studies have proved economic freedom as a growth generator.
How has Asia performed in terms of economic freedom?
● Asia is a whole spectrum of nations with varying degrees of economic freedom. Hong Kong and Singapore rank the highest. Myanmar and Vietnam display low levels of economic freedom, while Malaysia lies midway. Unfortunately, Sri Lanka hasn’t ranked well.
What are the factors responsible for Sri Lanka’s poor ranking in economic freedom?
● Sri Lanka is stagnating with the outlook for trade worsening. A country with a relatively small population absolutely needs trade freedom to prosper.
Economic research undisputedly claims freedom to trade as a key driver of growth and prosperity, particularly for poor and small nations. Sri Lanka ranking 135th for Freedom to Trade internationally is an unfavourable condition, because any country that ranks 73rd is considered an indication of a disastrous situation. The government’s decision to cut off Sri Lanka from the rest of the world through several visible and invisible trade barriers is unreasonable.
Sri Lanka also has a poor score in all facets of trade. Standard deviation of the tariff rate is the difference between certain tariffs. If you have one tariff rate at 1% and another at 70%, that shows a variation. A huge amount of variation in Sri Lanka’s tariffs indicates that the government is trying to manage the economy and growth sectors. High tariffs levied by the domestic government create an unfair playing field that benefits those with political power.
In addition, non-tariff barriers to trade restrict the exchange of goods and services. The list goes on with various barriers to trade in the form of compliance costs and regulatory barriers. Sri Lanka limits trade just about in every way a nation can limit trade. Sri Lanka scored poorly on sound money as well. Protection of property is the cornerstone of economic freedom. You can’t have economic freedom if someone comes and takes your properties away. Inflation does that to your properties. The government causes the money to shrink by printing and spending people’s money; that’s where inflation comes in and restrains economic freedom.
Do you see any trends holding other Asian countries back in a similar way?
● Asia is a diverse region, and it is difficult to generalize trends. What goes around in Japan contrasts with the circumstances in Myanmar, or Sri Lanka for that matter. Prosperity in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan has certainly been built on trade. The stars of Asia are more open to trade than most others within the region. The differences are very clear. Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, the rich nations, have open trade policies. Whereas, Malaysia and Indonesia have a relatively less open policy and are moving into middle-income strata. Nations similar to Sri Lanka with closed borders have trapped themselves within the lower-middle income level.
A large portion of Sri Lanka’s population is employed within the agricultural sector, which indicates the need for protective measures. Does this set the context for policy in trade?
● Sri Lanka’s massive potential lies in agriculture. Harnessing the agricultural potential will unlock powerful economic growth and development. The country should sell large amounts of agricultural goods to the rest of the world.
New Zealand had an agricultural industry similar to that in Sri Lanka. In the midst of a financial crisis, during the mid-1980s, New Zealand decided to scrap all farm subsidies and price supports overnight. Thereafter, the country transformed from being a small agricultural exporter to a power house. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka is preventing its own growth by throttling the agricultural sector.
Freedom to trade is a key driver of growth and prosperity, particularly for poor and small nations. The government’s decision to cut off Sri Lanka from the rest of the world through several visible and invisible trade barriers is unreasonable
Do you think it’s possible for a nation to prosper within a lagging region? Are there any examples?
● I will highlight two case studies from different regions. Chile was one of the poorest nations within the South American region. Chile moved into a free market system and undertook economic reforms. Subsequently, Chile’s economy skyrocketed from being the poorest to the richest Latin American nation.
On the reverse trend, Venezuela transformed from being the wealthiest nation in South America to the brink of financial collapse. The wealth was primarily not due to oil wealth, as a barrel was sold for $6 compared to $20 a barrel in today’s term. I fear what happened in Venezuela is happening in Sri Lanka, with crony capitalists taking control of industries inside closed borders. Venezuela is now an economic disaster, where food and medicine are scarce.
Another example from the Sub-Saharan African region would be Botswana. During the 1960s, Botswana was poorer than the average African nation. However, following the adoption of policies for economic freedom and rule of law, Botswana is growing at a faster rate than the so-called Asian tiger.
What are your observations regarding rule of law in Sri Lanka?
● Rule of law is fundamental for the economic freedom of all members of society, including the poor and weak. Rule of law needs to operate impersonally to protect the whole society. Sri Lanka ranked 135th is a huge disappointment. I have spoken to lawyers here, and they tell me Sri Lanka had a strong and impartial rule of law back in the 1980s. It’s essential to rebuild the rule of law rather than allow it to deteriorate further.
How has Sri Lanka fared in terms of labour regulations?
● Labour regulations are essential to create quality jobs within the private sector. The public needs to be encouraged to seek employment within the private sector rather than in the government. A weak private sector would affect taxes levied by the government to fund welfare and public services. A robust and competitive market is essential to create quality jobs that provide employment and market opportunities for the poor.
Rule of law is fundamental for the economic freedom of all members of society, including the poor and weak. Rule of law needs to operate impersonally to protect the whole society
However, labour regulations inhibit growth in Sri Lanka. Employers are reluctant to fire redundant staff due to the high compensation necessary to do so. As a result of problematic laws, employers are saving jobs rather than creating new jobs.
What are the consequences of a large government?
● An expanding government is detrimental to economic growth. There are a number of negative consequences associated with the civil service expanding in Sri Lanka. Bloating the size of the government is usually done to politicize civil services. When there are too many people doing the work of one person, everyone tries to be busy and tortures the public with excessive regulations, red tape and paperwork. A large population performing unproductive work affects efficiency and the work ethic, resulting in the spread of patronage and corruption, as individuals holding powerful civil service jobs would develop a patronage network and reward their relatives with employment in the civil service. | https://medium.com/sparkwinn-research/low-economic-freedom-limits-trade-and-prosperity-b303894c7069 | ['Mithula Guganeshan'] | 2019-05-06 18:07:28.058000+00:00 | ['Trade'] |
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS. | Hi, this is the beginning of my journey here on medium. i look forward to it been an amazing journey. | https://medium.com/@isaiahfirstson/humble-beginnings-79b27ddea1f4 | ['Daniel Ademola Dongo'] | 2020-12-09 11:39:53.537000+00:00 | ['Starting', 'Beginers', 'Medium', 'Journey'] |
Aesop Rock — Spirit World Field Guide — Album Review | Hip-Hop | Acid Rap
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Despite the hip-hop alias of Northport, New York artist Ian Matthias Bavitz, known as Aesop Rock, being on the scene since 1996, my first real experience listening to the rapper would come with his 2019 collaborative project with TOBACCO, titled Malibu Ken.
My decision to listen to that project was mainly down to the fact that it was still very early on in the year of 2019, and thus when I saw an album that was getting solid praise, it convinced me to give this album a shot. Overall, I found that project to be incredibly solid myself, but the stand-out pro to pick out from it would have to be the quirky lyrics and unwavering flow from Aesop Rock himself.
My interest in this artist seemed to follow through upon discovering the single “Rogue Wave”, which was released towards the beginning of this year. Having this song as an approximation of sorts to gather what Aesop Rock sounds out of a collaboration, I definitely liked what I heard.
But despite all of that, I was unaware of Aesop Rock’s newest solo album Spirit World Field Guide, until I stumbled across it (courtesy of TheNeedleDrop).
The eighth studio album from Aesop Rock, Spirit World Field Guide had only been teased by two tracks “The Gates” and “Pizza Alley” (“Rogue Wave” doesn’t make the billing on this new album), but obviously I would be venturing into this spirit world completely afresh, eagerly awaiting all of the trippy musical wonders that may ensue.
And indeed, there is a lot to get through on this project, which I feel really reflects how Aesop Rock wanted to make this a real experience of an album. To be clear, Spirit World Field Guide has a total of 21 tracks, and an overall runtime that clocks in at just over an hour.
And yet again, we indeed have another case of an extensive yet enjoyable project, Spirit World Field Guide is absolutely bursting with character, and the most praisable thing about it would have to be just how fun it sounds at its many great points. It feels unmistakably like an album that could only come from the mind of Aesop Rock, which is a great quality for this album to have.
Starting off with an intro track, it definitely feels like a decent attempt to tie the theme of this album together. But while I love the aesthetic behind the albums sound, it feels more gritty than spiritual in my opinion. And thus, my focus moved away from the thematic nature of Spirit World Field Guide, and instead went towards the bare enjoyability of the album.
And while it is still impressive that the majority of tracks hit the mark on an album as extensive as this one, it was of course expected from me that some of them fell into the realm of dud territory. I felt that the majority of interludes slipped into this, but there were also a few full tracks that didn’t carry that same level of impact as the more enjoyable tracks on here, most likely due to being too repetitive or weirdly produced. But fortunately, this doesn’t apply to most of what’s on here, in which both the production and wordplay works together awesomely.
I would definitely recommend Spirit World Field Guide to anybody looking for a project that carries strong RTJ2 vibes, as the quirkiness and engagement of this album certainly delivers on that front. But furthermore, this is a brilliant album for listeners to purely and simply enjoy.
Favourite Tracks: The Gates | Button Masher | Coveralls | Fixed and Dilated
Least favourite Track: Boot Soup
Rhymesayers Entertainment LLC
8/10 | https://medium.com/@joeboothby/aesop-rock-spirit-world-field-guide-album-review-98a0b572d43b | ['Joe Boothby'] | 2020-11-27 10:28:07.656000+00:00 | ['Album Review', 'New Music', '2020 Music', 'Music', 'Music Review'] |
Dietary supplements for weight loss | Currently, the ways that are proven to help us lose weight are having healthy habits such as eating healthy foods in a balanced way, reducing calories ingested, and staying physically active.
However, this lifestyle change is not always easy, and we sometimes wonder if taking a dietary supplement would help us lose weight.
Image: Pixels
There are supplements that can help you lose weight because they block the absorption of fats or carbohydrates, others reduce the appetite or products that accelerate the metabolism. Although it is important to know that there is still not much scientific evidence to show that these supplements really help you lose weight, much less without having a good healthy diet and without doing a minimum of physical exercise.
The ingredients contained in dietary supplements for weight loss can be herbs, fibers, minerals, and vitamins in different combinations and amounts. You can find them in capsules, powders, liquids, etc.
Main dietary supplements used for weight loss:
Here are some dietary supplements used to help you lose weight:
Caffeine
It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, so it increases wakefulness, that is, it can make you more alert. Increases energy level, helps burn calories, and accelerates fat metabolism.
Due to its anti-fatigue effect, it can be useful to deal with the feeling of tiredness that can accompany very strict low-calorie diets.
Caffeine is found naturally in tea, guarana, yerba mate, and other herbs.
Dietary supplements that contain caffeine may help you lose a little or not gain much weight in the long term. However, if you already consume caffeine regularly, you can develop a certain tolerance to it, therefore, the effect would not be the same.
Caffeine in adults is safe in doses of up to 400–500 milligrams per day. But too much can lead to making you feel nervous, agitated, and even shaky. In turn, it can affect your sleep, so taking caffeinated dietary supplements at night is not recommended.
Konjac Glucomannan
Konjac glucomannan is a soluble dietary fiber that, due to its great water absorption capacity, forms a very thick gel that produces a feeling of satiety and decreased appetite.
Due to its satiating effect, it can be very useful in overweight treatments since the decrease in appetite produces a lower food intake.
It can also be used to regulate intestinal transit in cases of constipation or diarrhea.
A possible side effect of this supplement is the production of flatulence and abdominal pain.
It is important that along with the ingestion of this product a large amount of water is taken in order to avoid the formation of a hard mass capable of producing an obstruction.
People taking any type of medication should be vigilant with this dietary supplement as it can reduce the absorption of medications. Due to this factor, the dietary supplement should be administered at least half an hour before or one hour after the administration of the drug.
Green tea is made up of the leaves of Camellia sinensis.
It is believed to help control and reduce weight due to its stimulating, diuretic, and lipolytic properties. On the other hand, it is considered that it stimulates thermogenic activity, that is, it helps to increase the number of calories that the body burns.
Traditionally, green tea has been used as a stimulant to relieve fatigue and feelings of weakness, to facilitate urinary excretion, and as a detoxifier. This diuretic and stimulating effect of the central nervous effect is due to its caffeine content.
Also, due to the polyphenolic components, tea has antioxidant and free radical scavenging capacity.
You can lose 25lbs weight within two weeks with this special supplement
Regarding its efficacy on the lipid profile, research has been carried out in animals that show efficacy in reducing cholesterol, triglyceridemia, and the LDL / HDL ratio.
Due to its caffeine content, caution should be exercised when supplementing with tea.
Garcinia Cambogia
The Garcinia cambogia, also known as Malabar tamarind, is an abundant species in the forests of southern India.
The fruit contains hydroxycitric acid (AHC) which has regulatory effects on fatty acid synthesis, lipogenesis, appetite, and weight loss.
This compound produces a decrease in lipogenesis, the formation of lipids because this compound is an inhibitor of the enzyme necessary for the synthesis of fatty acids.
Due to the decrease in appetite, it can be helpful in reducing the amount of food eaten, limiting weight gain.
The use of this supplement is not recommended in pregnant or nursing mothers, or in people with type 2 diabetes.
No serious side effects have been seen, but it can cause headaches, nausea, or gastrointestinal symptoms.
They are not miracle products!
These are some of the dietary supplements that can be useful for reducing body weight, as long as they are a complement to a healthy diet and a daily physical activity plan since these plants are not a miraculous product.
There are cases in which the use of these products is a psychological component that contributes to increasing their confidence and motivation and, therefore, helps them lose weight in a healthy way.
If you are considering taking any type of supplement to lose weight, consult a health professional, your doctor, nutritionist or pharmacist so that they can guide you correctly, especially if you have a medical problem or take any type of drug. | https://medium.com/@hassan2ubaby/dietary-supplements-for-weight-loss-6ad2c23c05e4 | ['Mehedi Hassan'] | 2021-12-22 16:07:08.931000+00:00 | ['Weight Loss Diet Plan', 'Dietary Supplement', 'Weight Loss', 'Weight Loss Supplements', 'Fat Burning Foods'] |
Ethereum Clients Comparison: Which One Is the Best? | Ethereum is the most popular blockchain platform right now. The amount of decentralized applications on the platform is astonishing — more than 2,000 apps. The market capitalization of Ethereum is about $70 billion at the time of writing, and the majority of tokens on the crypto market are Ethereum-based.
No wonder that many people want to know which Ethereum client is the best one. An Ethereum client is an application necessary to run a copy of Ethereum node, and it allows to join the network, synchronize the copy with the current state of the blockchain, send new transactions to it, and creating and managing addresses.
Here we’re going to compare three popular clients, Geth, Besu and Parity, look at their current development stage and probably decide which one is the most functional.
Geth
Geth is the official Ethereum client written in the Golang language. It comes in two forms — as a standalone client and a library for using in other projects.
The standalone client is available for all popular platforms — Windows, macOS, Linux. You can install it by downloading the precompiled package and running it from the command prompt.
Geth can be used to maintain 3 different types of nodes — a full node, an archive node and a light node. The light one is the preferred one because it allows users to use the Ethereum network without downloading the whole blockchain copy. A full node allows to mine and verify new blocks. All mobile and web clients work as light nodes, but every developer should rather have its own full node, which is essential for any blockchain development.
Geth has its own testnet Rinkeby which can be used to test smart contracts and other functions without spending real money.
A very interesting feature of Geth is fast synchronization. During the initial download, it skips most of the historical data and leaves only the most recent one, allowing to decrease the downloaded blockchain size to about 25 Gigabytes. Compared to the regular size of 300 Gb, it’s a vast improvement over the older clients. Geth is the most official Ethereum client that you can get, but it has only a command-line interface
Parity
It’s the second most popular client for Ethereum, written in Rust, and the lightest of them all. It’s almost the same as Geth but it has some different traits. Its fast mode allows to cut the size of the blockchain down to 10 Gb, and it has a graphical user interface that can be launched in the browser by accessing the specially reserved port.
Parity doesn’t grant its users access to Rinkeby testnet, but it has another option, Kovan testnet. Overall, there’s no significant difference between Parity and Geth, and any project can migrate from one client to another without any significant changes.
Besu
Besu is a client by the Hyperledger community. This community is comprised of many large companies such as IBM, Intel, Daimler and most importantly, Consensys, one of the main Ethereum developers.
Besu is Apache 2.0 licensed and written in Java. It’s designed for enterprise use and supports both permissionless and permissioned networks. Besu allows using many testnets such as Rinkeby, Ropsten, and Görli. Besu is a very powerful tool for setting up and running Ethereum nodes, and even though it’s aimed primarily at users with some expertise in Java, such as fintech companies, regular users can also run it.
However, if you don’t want to set up a node, you can use GetBlock.io to rent an Ethereum node and use data provided by it. It’s fast and easy, has a well-documented API and can be accessed anytime you want. For a developer it’s a necessary requirement, so you can easily use our service. | https://medium.com/@getblock/ethereum-clients-comparison-which-one-is-the-best-cb3e2001f734 | [] | 2020-12-08 13:39:39.149000+00:00 | ['Ethereum', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Eth', 'Ethereum Blockchain'] |
Utopia the Land of Nostalgia | Hiraeth — longing for a place where we want to be.
Lollipop swirls and bouncy curls,
I dreamed of a utopia, with bright lights and love.
It would wait for me at every turn.
For a child, this place overflowed with euphoria,
I’m filled with hiraeth to return.
To visit this whimsical land I once knew,
A place where the sky didn’t have to be blue;
it could be purple or pink or any psychedelic hue.
The clouds whirled with compassion in an ever-changing sky,
No one kept grudges — matters were quickly settled.
Utopia was where you could laugh till you cry,
Or float down the river in giant flower petals.
The people searched for adventure high and low,
According to our dreams, the land would grow.
The animals spoke to us as friends,
Our homes would change with our imagination.
There were only beginnings and no ends.
Utopia was like a much-needed vacation.
In the winter, the snowflakes were millions of
glittered sparkles in iridescent colors.
Hundreds of waterfalls awaited us in the summers.
Cotton candy was fun to jump upon, and ice cream was in abundance like a flowing sea.
All the people were thoughtful and polite;
no violence of any kind.
You could be silly and laugh without even a scold.
The chill beneath your feet was shiny silver and real gold.
The land of Utopia where life was so free
Hiraeth — longing for a place where we want to be,
grab my hand and follow me. | https://medium.com/literary-impulse/utopia-the-land-of-nostalgia-49d9c14c00f6 | ['Gayle Kurtzer-Meyers'] | 2020-09-13 12:29:15.381000+00:00 | ['Literary Impulse', 'Poetry On Medium', 'Fantasy', 'Poetry', 'Hiraeth'] |
Cloth Diapering 101- Cost | My father always told me that he was wrapped in flour sacks that were thrown away by the U.S. military as a kid while running around the muddy rice fields, which have since been replaced by Taipei 101. I was, however, raised with disposable diapers because wealth was more abundant during the late 1980s. It is unfathomable to think that after three generations that I would convert back to cloth diapering. My father was skeptical that me, a mega germaphobe, will be willing to touch poo and pee. I was not certain that I would not be put off by the stinky poo, but I told him that I was determined to go green.
What about the cost of water and electricity for washing these diapers?
Washer cost (7 loads a week)
Cost Per Month: SGD $14
Cost Per Year: SGD $170
How many cloth diapers do you need?
I googled a bunch to see how many cloth diapers that I needed. Most people think that 16–24 diapers are good enough for a two-day laundry cycle. I am probably going to just wash the cloth diapers every day on the short 20-minute cycle to keep them stink-free.
Initial investment
BumGenius Pocket Style 5.0 x 5 (with Amazon Prime baby registry 15% discount) USD $19.95*5 = USD $99.75 = SGD $135.66
BumGenius Freetime All-in-One x 5 (with Amazon Prime baby registry 15% discount) USD $21.99*5 = USD $109.75 = SGD $149.26
GroVia AIO x 2 packs (3 pieces/pack)USD $68.25*2 = USD $136.5 = SGD $185.64
GroVia O.N.E. (2 pices/pack)USD $44.95= SGD $61.13 GroVia wetbag in blue USD $10.95 = SGD $14.89
GroVia wetbag in violet dot USD $12.00 = SGD $16.32 OsoCozy Organic Reusable Prefolds x 2 packs (6 pieces/pack) USD $13.53*2 = USD $27.06 = SGD $36.80 Thirsties Organic Cloth Diaper Doubler, Large x 2 packs (3 pieces/pack) USD $8.50*2 = USD $17 = SGD $23.12
GroVia Organic Cotton Soaker Pad x 2 packs (2 pieces/pack) USD $18.95*2 = USD $37.9 = SGD $51.54
Total = SGD $675
Cloth diaper cost + Washer Cost for 2 Years = SGD $675 + SGD $340 = SGD $1014.40
I plan to dry the diapers in the sun most days with occasional dryer usage during the monsoon season.
Disposable Diaper $0.24 per diaper
3,000 in the first year = SGD $720
1,800 in the second year = SGD $432 Disposable Diaper Trashbag SGD $645 for two years
Disposable Diaper Cost + Trashbag Total = SGD $1797.6
You aren’t saving that much just for a single child, but we do foresee having a second kid in the near future so cloth diaper will become cheaper for the second kid since we are only paying for the washing at that point.
Another thing that I was considering is not buying any shorts for baby kumquat given the messy situations of potential diaper blowouts. There is no shame for a baby to run around in a onesie with a cloth diaper.
XOXO
Bebe, M.D. | https://medium.com/@bebe_md/cloth-diapering-101-cost-b536cb3ea284 | ['Bebe'] | 2019-02-25 12:35:24.614000+00:00 | ['Parenting', 'Baby', 'Green', 'Millennials', 'Diapers'] |
The Girl in the Mirror by Jewel Enrile | Photo credit: Collaboration of Kensuke Koike aka 小池健輔 (Japanese, b. 1980, Nagoya, Japan) & Thomas Sauvin aka Beijing Silvermine aka 北京银矿 (French, b. 1983, Paris, France, based Beijing, China) — No More No Less Photo Collages
The priest’s sermon came out of his mouth in a monotonous drone, casting a spell of obligatory stillness all across the church. For this particular Sunday routine, Adela is straight-backed, perfumed, and stuffed into a lilac dress with roses embroidered at the hem. She and her mother had left just before the sun had set, crossing the plaza in wobbly heels. They had taken their seats in front. She is awash with familiarity, her body going through the motions, knowing when to stand up for communion, when to move or open her mouth, where to hail a tricycle right after mass.
The routine is not complete without the eyes on her neck. Her body tilts to turn as an all too-familiar response. She knows where to look, turning her head slightly: three pews behind, and a couple of seats to her left. She catches a glimpse of a balding man with drooping, sleepy eyes a row behind her, his head nodding to the sermon blanketing the church. Behind him, a mother and her dark red lips is crooning to a baby clinging to her shoulder, with her arm clad with gold bangles holding him in place. Finally, behind her, there is a familiar face belonging to a boy, hair slicked back, catching her eyes, in a dark blue polo. Paolo. He was a couple of years above her in school, and even there, he paused to greet her in the hallways. He smiles now, abashed, and looks away.
She purses her lips; looks down. It was hard not to feel flattered. Hard not to enjoy the staring and the attention; the teasing she overheard. But what does he see, anyway? A stranger. A schoolmate. A tan girl, with long hair, pretty eyes — she’ds heard him say that to a mutual friend once, after the sermon in the gardens by the fountain. A silver bracelet on her wrist. A floral dress every Sunday.
There is a sharp pinch on her thigh, and she jumps, hastily looking back up at the priest. Still, she catches a whiff of jasmine perfume and a view of cherry red lips turned down in a scowl on a woman’s face bearing likeness to hers. She bites the inside of her cheek, heart pounding in shame.
Her mother must see a younger her. That’s what everybody in the family says, even though she herself couldn’t see her face on her mother’s features, with all of her high cheekbones and arched brows. Her face was softer and rounder, but maybe that would be taken away by age.
Soft. Her mother could see her that way. A sensitive, dazed, impractical young girl, who stayed in the corner in any sort of gathering (instead of milling around and shaking everybody’s hands like her mother), and who liked to stay out on the balcony, the mosquitoes feasting on her legs, to stare out at a fogged-up view of the city.
“You better listen,” her mother mutters, lips barely moving.
She tries. She can’t. The priest seems to look at everyone in the pews, but she knows it can’t be so. If his eyes would rest upon her, what would he see? Nothing more than a teenage girl as part of the 6 PM session. Just another person in the crowd. Someone in a dress.
Time passes. An hour later, she follows the crowd out and excuses herself to the bathroom.
She follows the stone path leading to a white door. She opens the door to the smell of bleach. Her heels echo. She faces the mirror.
What does she see?
A girl. Long hair to her waist. A floral dress. A silver bracelet on her wrist. A daughter.
A girl in the church bathroom. Long hair she’s been itching to cut for months, except it seems such a waste. A floral dress she spilled scalding coffee on in her bedroom a week before, with the silver bracelet hiding the tiniest portion of the mark of the burn. A daughter, an only child, in fact, but not a prized one.
A girl. Someone with big dreams. Someone who desires too many things. Someone kind — yes, she could see that. She could admit to that. But what else? What else?
“I see you,” she says to the mirror. “Can you see me?”
The girl in the mirror nods. | https://medium.com/@hello.girlupzine/the-girl-in-the-mirror-by-jewel-enrile-c58d586bd8d9 | [] | 2020-01-14 12:39:19.582000+00:00 | ['Short Story', 'Philippines', 'Girl Up', 'Girls'] |
IBM is Recognized in the 2020 iF Design Awards | On behalf of our design team at IBM Cloud, Data and AI, we’re excited to announce that we’ve won iF Design Awards in the Communications category for IBM AutoAI and IBM Watson Studio Desktop. We are thrilled to see these two products get recognized for their outstanding design work.
This year, the iF Design jury, comprised of 78 international experts, judged 7,300 products and projects submitted from 56 countries from around the world. The iF Design Award is one of the world’s oldest, most celebrated, and most competitive design competitions.
This is our third year in a row being recognized by this organization, and the first time that we have seen two of our products get awarded at the same time. It’s truly an achievement and an honor for us, and I’m so proud that our team’s hard work has paid off.
What is IBM AutoAI?
IBM AutoAI, part of IBM Watson Studio, automates the process of building machine learning models for users such as data scientists. Businesses looking to integrate AI into their practices often struggle to establish the necessary foundation for this technology due to limited resources or a gap in skill sets. The process of understanding how to use AI and generate machine learning models from data sets can take days or weeks. With a distinct emphasis on trust and explainability, IBM AutoAI visualizes this automated machine learning process through each stage of data preparation, algorithm selection, model creation, and data enhancement. The tool is able to teach and empower users to identify and apply the best models for their data in a matter of minutes, helping businesses save time and resources.
AutoAI guides users through the process of joining multiple data sources with suggestions and prompts throughout the data preparation experience.
Designing for IBM AutoAI
One of the primary goals for the design team was making IBM AutoAI understandable for users with varying levels of expertise. It was a challenge for the designers to understand the AI and machine learning technology behind this automated solution, and then communicating the model creation process in a comprehensive but visually appealing way. The team set to create a software product that guided the user through these complex technological processes step by step.
IBM AutoAI visualizes the entire model creation process through multiple “lenses”, providing transparency to users in a way that they can understand the process to whatever extent of detail that they need.
The design team worked directly with IBM Research to understand the underlying technology and user expectations for this type of tool. The team also interviewed target users and conducted competitive research to increase their domain knowledge in artificial intelligence and better inform their design decisions. Based on deep user research, the designers found that users inherently didn’t trust an automated solution. The design team wanted to avoid this perception of an automated solution as a “black box”, where it is unclear to the user how a result was generated from the information that they input.
Throughout the design process, the designers placed emphasis on explaining all steps of the software tool’s process in laymen’s terms in order to build confidence and trust with the users. By leveraging the IBM Enterprise Design Thinking framework the design process also extended to development, content, and offering management teams, which helped create a product more aligned with all stakeholder goals.
What is IBM Watson Studio Desktop?
IBM Watson Studio Desktop is a data science and machine-learning software platform that provides self-service, drag-and-drop data analytics right from the user’s desktop. The software platform’s features include the ability to automate data preparation and modeling, data analysis, enhanced visualizations, and an intuitive interface that doesn’t require coding knowledge. It can integrate with on-premise, cloud, and hybrid-cloud environments.
This dashboard offers users a way to explore, prepare, and model their data with simple drag and drop features, without needing coding abilities.
Data analysis can be a painstaking process as users need to gather, clean, sort, and sift through the data while working with data scattered across several sources and locations. IBM Watson Studio Desktop is an end-to-end solution that helps businesses to get started with the data analysis process faster, giving data scientists all the tools they need to improve their workflow. This product is a desktop version of IBM Watson Studio, a collaborative cloud data analysis software.
Designing for IBM Watson Studio Desktop
The design team behind IBM Watson Studio Desktop conducted research on their target users, primarily data scientist, to understand their needs. The designers conducted interviews with sponsor users and corporations as well as on-site user testing. The team found that data-scientists primarily worked in isolation, and were looking for a more dynamic, collaborative workflow, where they had all of their tools in one place. The team aimed to design a tool and interface where data scientists were provided with an ecosystem of data analysis tools. They wanted to create a space for their users to collaborate, access all of their needed tools and information at once, and create a cohesive workflow between themselves and their peers.
User Experience Journey for IBM Watson Studio Desktop users
Another challenge for the UX team was to design and implement all of these capabilities that were originally designed for the cloud version of the software into the desktop version. IBM Watson Desktop Studio was created for users who wanted to work offline as well as in an interface with more narrowed and tailored machine learning capabilities. The team wanted to design a desktop tool that translated well as an extension of the cloud tool, with a user experience that was more simplified and focused, but still familiar to users from the original cloud version. The team designed an interface that used similar design principles, as well as carried over key features from the cloud version that the users wanted to see in this new environment.
“IBM Watson Studio Desktop and IBM Watson AutoAI bridge gaps in skills and knowledge and make data analysis and machine learning more accessible for businesses in the modern age. We designed these products with empathy and a user-centered approach, so that our users could confidently integrate AI into their business workflows.” --Alex Swain, Design Principal at IBM Cloud, Data and AI
Designing Watson Products
As described above, designing software products with AI and machine learning capabilities is a challenging task that requires an in-depth understanding of the field and its challenges. AI has the power to impact businesses on a large scale, and understanding how to take advantage of these capabilities is essential for businesses to succeed and excel with their data strategy. Being recognized for the design work behind these products is a true testament, to how much user experience can play a role in shaping how this AI technologies can impact our lives.
Winning Teams
IBM AutoAI
Design Principal: Alex Swain
Design Team: Dillon Eversman, Voranouth Supadulya
IBM Watson Studio Desktop | https://medium.com/design-ibm/ibm-is-recognized-in-the-2020-if-design-awards-1221123585f8 | ['Arin Bhowmick'] | 2020-02-13 05:10:31.955000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'UX', 'Data Science', 'Design', 'AI'] |
Enabling Accelerated Cloud Migrations With the New Database Migration Service(DMS) | A journey towards continuous innovation and cloud adoption
Image Courtesy of Pixabay
Data deluge and data explosion is coming at us from many sources. The Multiplicity of inbound data and its compounding growth has put pressure on already strained on-prem datastores and databases operating at full capacity. Cloud offers enterprises and businesses a fast path towards managing growth in the databases effectively by moving to cloud. Performance degrades, user experience drops, replication fails, and response times increase, all too familiar issues we have seen, can be addressed by such migrations. However migration to cloud is always regarded as a high risk type of an endeavor, and delayed or put on the back burner till in some cases is inevitable and causes loss of productivity, performance and market share. What if there was a way to get enterprises ready to move and all the heavy lifting was factored in and built in a service! Wala that movement has arrived. Get Primed up for migration but not the long cycle! Google has just launched the Database Migration Service for early adopters(Nov 2020).
This self service is inline with Google Cloud aim of democratizing data and data science to all levels of practitioners and offer repeatability with accelerated (High reward/Quick ROI) migrations efforts. According to a survey conducted by stratoscale — 52% of the customers think of Database migration to cloud as a trigger to digital transformation and over 48% think of the move to Public Cloud as bringing significant cost reductions to business operations.
Google Cloud Platform has launched its (pre-GA mode) Database Migration Services In Nov 2020. DMS currently focuses on homogeneous migrations — that is, migrations across compatible database engines, which don’t require transformations such as schema conversion from source to destination. In this case, the goal of the migration is for the migrated database to be as close as possible to a copy of the source database, available in the Cloud SQL destination.
Google DMS
Database Migration Service (DMS) makes it easy to migrate your production databases to Cloud SQL with minimal downtime. This serverless offering eliminates the manual hassle of provisioning, managing, and monitoring migration-specific resources. DMS leverages the native replication capabilities of MySQL and PostgreSQL to maximize the fidelity and reliability of your migration. The best part is that the service is free and it’s available for enterprise to use and deploy. It is applicable to My SQL, and SQL Server with PostgreSQL in early access mode. The only key requirements are for the source DB to be homogeneous and requiring no schema conversions between migration from source to targets. The service promotes minimal downtime and automates database provisioning, storage capacity management, and other time-consuming tasks.
Key Advantages
Serverless : True DBaaS model
Business : Low Risk and quick ROI
Secure : Google IAM Security
Scalable : Infinitely scalable with no effort required
Downtime : Minimal downtime
Innovation : Access to Built in integrations — GKE, BigQuery
What makes it different?
While the fully managed DB service is very attractive for businesses and enterprises, the elements of risk and effort also need to be reviewed in the light of efforts and risk-reward calculations. The service is enabled by the Discovery Document Templates that take care of connectivity, source and targets ID’s and migration jobs selected. These pre-built and designed templates allow and account for all items to be taken care of in case of a database migration and have been tested and validated by Google engineers and developers. This not only reduces the risk, but the upfront planning and development effort by an order of magnitude depending on an organization and team’s maturity and Cloud skill’s as it relates to various services in Google Cloud Platform. This enables the business to move very quickly from on-prem to cloud leveraging all the DMS tools and workflow.
Document Discovery Templates
The provided templates enable a very focused and low risk (minimal downtime) migration approach by following the workflow as below:
Enable API’s in GCP platform Console
2. Create a migration job
3. Describe the migration Job (details around source, type, meta data)
4. You need to decide if this is one time or continuous replication over a period of time when perhaps network traffic is low and or database polling is not in effect.
5. Create connection Profiles
Define a connection profile that represents the connectivity info of the source database, which will be used in the migration job.
Note that migrations are frequently initiated directly against the primary database, but in the cases where the primary is load-sensitive, or many DDLs run on it, it’s preferable to connect to a read replica.
If you have completed the above steps, you are ready to start the migration using test jobs and testing the overall process from source to target in terms of connectivity, data movement and replication integrity.
Migration Approach
Once you have done the source database assessment based on the pre-qualification criteria and application dependencies, it is optimal to group the qualified databases in a migration wave based on affinity grouping and application mapping. Careful planning in terms of database sizing and required duration of actual migration (data transfer) and sync-up efforts helps in defining the overall timeline and cut-over sequencing. Depending on the type of migration approach — one time or continuous replication, the CDC will initiate the start of the process and finish once the data has been moved and the 2 databases are in sync. Last step is promotion of the destination Cloud SQL target into primary by disconnecting it from the source and promoting it to being the primary. The destination database now becomes the primary database, and dependent applications should read and write to it. Standard Housekeeping prior to migration shutdown any writes to the db, no connections and running scripts when you start the migration job.
Supported databases
The Database Migration Service for MySQL supports one-time and continuous migrations from source databases to Cloud SQL destination databases. Destination database supported is Cloud SQL for MySQL 5.6, 5.7, 8.0
Restrictions and Limitations
If the source is RDS MySQL, or a source that doesn’t grant SUPERUSER privileges, then additional steps are required for successful migration, including a brief write downtime on the source. For more information, see the RDS-specific section for guidelines.
The MySQL system database isn’t migrated as part of the server migration, which means information about user roles isn’t included.
Encrypted databases can’t be migrated.
During migration, the destination Cloud SQL database is in read-only mode, to prevent modification of the database which might break the migration process or data integrity. After the destination is promoted, it becomes writable.
Up to 2,000 connection profiles and 1,000 migration jobs can exist at any given time. To create space for more, migration jobs (including completed ones) and connection profiles can be deleted.
https://cloud.google.com/database-migration/docs/mysql/known-limitations | https://medium.com/@masafdawood/enabling-accelerated-cloud-migrations-with-the-new-database-migration-service-dms-8c77b2299d16 | ['Masaf Dawood'] | 2020-12-10 00:42:36.129000+00:00 | ['Migration', 'Data Migration', 'Data Migration Service', 'Database', 'Data Migration Tool'] |
Tim Draper of DFJ calls COVID-19 “Fake Flu” & Claims Government Conspiracy | We can travel very easily…. And that is very scary for people in governments today, for a lot of people. Because their livelihoods and their way of thinking has been determined by that tribalism. Well, now, I hate to say it, but this fake flu is creating a tribalism again.
Today I attended an AMA given by Tim Draper in Bangalore, India.
Billionaires like Tim Draper are influential people and they have a social responsibility. That is why they cannot call the COVID-19 a “fake flu”. And they cannot casually claim that the global public health response to the virus is an excuse by governments to protect their vested interests.
This trivializes the global epidemic and creates mistrust in local governance.
Here is a recording from the event:
Recording of Tim Draper’s AMA | 12/03/20, Bangalore, India
Tim Draper: (00:00)
“And we were all tribal and it’s like, Hey, don’t cross this line. Because we’re big, and if you don’t cross the line and I don’t cross the line, we don’t have to go to war. If you find your clothing, shelter and food, I’ll find my clothing, shelter and food, we’re good. And the borders really meant something. Well they now, they don’t mean that much. We can travel very easily. We can communicate through Skype or Zoom or whatever very easily. We can see each other, it doesn’t matter where we are in the world. We can all do business with each other, get to know each other. All of this stuff is now happening and we’re all realizing that we don’t really need this border. And that’s starting to happen. And that is very scary for people in governments today, for a lot of people. Because their livelihoods and their way of thinking has been determined by that tribalism.”
Tim Draper: (01:13)
“Well, now, I hate to say it, but this fake flu is creating a tribalism again. It’s like, no, you can’t go from your country to our country because of the fake flu. It’s a big excuse to get from one place to another. And I’m thinking that this is them responding, or I think it’s a temporary thing. I mean, the flu is going to go, nobody’s going to… It’s going to be like all the other flus though, a little bit more, a little bit scarier. A tiny bit scarier. But it’s just going to come and go, and they are using this to try to get back to that tribalism. We are so far beyond the tribalism now that I think countries are now going to have to start competing for us.” | https://medium.com/@Adam_Walker/tim-draper-of-dfj-calls-covid-19-fake-flu-claims-government-conspiracy-597a18f26815 | ['Adam Walker'] | 2020-03-12 14:31:49.568000+00:00 | ['Conspiracy Theories', 'Covid 19', 'Coronavirus', 'Tim Draper'] |
Back to School with Planet, Week 3 | 3, 2, 1, Liftoff! | This is the third installment of our Back to School with Planet series, a weekly update for K-8 students interested in learning more about the science we do with Earth and Space. Learn more about this series here.
You can find this entry in Spanish here. / Puedes encontrar este texto en español aquí.
At Planet, we design, build and operate our satellites, but we don’t have our own rockets, so we work with launch providers all around the world to get our satellites into space. We get really excited on launch day at Planet; here’s a video of our record breaking launch of 88 Dove satellites on an Indian PSLV rocket in 2017. We also have an important tradition of making pancakes for every launch (you can read more about our legendary launch pancakes here).
The author engaging in the all-important, pre-launch pancake ritual.
We’ve launched over 25 times on lots of different rockets, ranging from the small (but mighty) Rocket Lab Electron, which is about as tall as a four story building and launches from New Zealand, to a SpaceX Falcon 9, which is about as tall as the Statue of Liberty and launches from the U.S. with boosters that fly back to Earth to be used again. Each rocket is built with slightly different technologies, but the fundamentals are mostly the same. Here’s a handy video from National Geographic on “Rockets 101:”
You can also check out XKCD’s hilarious Up Goer Five diagram, a play on NASA’s venerable Saturn V rocket.
Activities
All of which brings us to this week’s assignment! Basic rocket science isn’t as hard as it sounds. With some everyday household materials you too can build a simple rocket in your backyard.
Check out these instructions for making a water-based bottle rocket.
Click here to find another bottle rocket design that uses baking soda and vinegar instead.
And for the really advanced rocket designers out there, you can check out the rocket simulator computer game called Kerbal Space Program. It lets you get incredibly detailed with your rocket designs without needing to leave your bedroom.
During your rocket journey, share photos and stories of your creation on social media with #backtoschoolwithplanet so other kids can see your rocket designs.
If you have a great story about the experience, please send it to [email protected] and it may appear in a future blog post.
Happy launching!
Further Inspiration
Reading (Grades 4–8): See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng
Reading (Grades K — 3): The Ultimate Book of Space by Anne-Sophie Baumann
Movie to watch (Rated PG): October Sky (1999)
Where on Planet Earth?
I have all the necessary infrastructure for launching satellites into low Earth orbit, polar orbit, and geostationary transfer orbit. In February, 2017, my PSLV-C37 launch took 88 Doves on a journey to image the earth. Who am I? | https://medium.com/planet-stories/back-to-school-with-planet-week-3-3-2-1-liftoff-42221225de2d | ['Mike Safyan'] | 2020-09-29 15:14:58.807000+00:00 | ['Kids', 'Rockets', 'Satellite Technology', 'Space', 'Education'] |
Wangover: Are fashion’s party-hard aesthetics finally due for overhaul? | Sisley’s 2007 ‘junkie’ ad campaign
Designer Alexander Wang is fashion’s latest high-profile figure — after photographers Bruce Weber and Mario Testino — to face a Me Too-era reckoning.
Wang allegedly drugged and/or coerced men into sex, as well as publicly groped transgender people with intent to humiliate them. He denies all allegations and threatens legal action against his accusers.
The cult Instagram accounts Shit Model Management and Diet Prada brought Wang’s assaults to broader attention in December. However online rumours date back several years, with the incidents in question stretching even further into the past.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CJY9ysInbbM/
In the aftermath, observers unearthed red flags aplenty. Old memes from Wang’s personal Instagram revealed a cavalier attitude towards spiking drinks and pressuring already-tipsy friends to incapacitate themselves. His brand’s 2017 campaign starring pedophile R. Kelly received renewed criticism. And a 2016 Vanity Fair video in which singer Florence Welch and socialite Derek Blasberg reference Wang’s intoxication-enabling behaviour signaled partial awareness of his tendencies in celebrity circles.
Mario Testino cultivated a reputation as a whisperer of the untouchable A-list. Bruce Weber’s style was predicated on ‘clean-cut’, vaguely eroticised Americana. Sexual predation clashed with their wholesome images, flanked by the Cambridges and an army of golden retrievers respectively. | https://medium.com/@ryan-sng-writer/alexander-wang-sexual-assault-fashion-party-culture-8b2e39842cc3 | ['Ryan Sng'] | 2021-02-23 13:02:12.374000+00:00 | ['Style', 'Fashion', 'Culture', 'Celebrity', 'Modeling'] |
公開鍵暗号の1つであるRSA暗号をGolangで実装してみる | 注意: ところどころ簡素化してあるところはあります
公開鍵暗号とは
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%85%AC%E9%96%8B%E9%8D%B5%E6%9A%97%E5%8F%B7
流れ
2種類の素数p,qを準備する(p != q)
各素数の積 Nを計算 (p * q)
各素数から1を引いた値の最小公倍数Lを計算 lcm((p-1) * (q-1))
L未満でその値と互いに素な任意の値 Eを準備(公開鍵)
Lを法として公開鍵との積が1となる任意の値 Dを準備（秘密鍵）
EとNを使い暗号化
DとNを使い復号
2種類の素数p,qを準備する(p != q)
本来であれば、ある程度大きい素数を疑似乱数生成器で作る必要があるが、今回は学習も兼ねて、2つの値を自身で設定できるようにしてある。
※また、学習のためなので int 型としているが、本来はもっと大きな数値を扱える型としたほうが良い
var p, q int
fmt.Println("enter two defferent primary numbers")
fmt.Println("like 17 19")
fmt.Scan(&p, &q)
各素数の積Nを計算 (p * q)
N = p*q
※このNは公開情報である
Nが大きい値の際に、素因数分解が現実的な時間で解読不可能なことを利用している。
(計算量的安全性)
Nの値としての推奨は 1024–4096ビット(Wikipediaより)
各素数から1を引いた値の最小公倍数Lを計算 lcm((p-1) * (q-1))
秘密鍵と公開鍵を作るためにLを準備する
ユークリッドの互除法を使い計算
L := culcLeastCommonMultiple(p-1, q-1) func culcLeastCommonMultiple(a, b int) int {
c := a * b
if a < b {
tmp := a
a = b
b = tmp
}
r := a % b
for r != 0 {
a = b
b = r
r = a % b
}
return c / b
}
L未満でその値と互いに素な任意の数Eを準備(公開鍵)
gcd(E,L) = 1
こちらは簡易的に、毎回乱数を取得して、それが互いに素か調べて当てはまった場合それを公開鍵とするようにしている。
E := makePublicKey(L) func makePublicKey(l int) int64 {
rand.Seed(time.Now().UnixNano())
r := rand.Intn(l)
for greatestCommonDivisor(r, l) != 1 {
r = rand.Intn(l)
}
return int64(r)
}
最小公倍数をユークリッドの互除法で取得し、それが1となるまで実行
func greatestCommonDivisor(a, b int) int {
if a < b {
tmp := a
a = b
b = tmp
}
r := a % b
for r != 0 {
a = b
b = r
r = a % b
}
return b }
Lを法として公開鍵との積が1となる任意の値Dを準備（秘密鍵）
// E*D mod L = 1 となるEを探す
こちらも簡易的に繰り上げ式で対象の値を取得
D := int64(makePrivateKey(E, int64(L))) func makePrivateKey(e int64, l int64) int64 {
i := int64(2)
for i*e%l != 1 {
i++
}
return i
}
Let’s 暗号化
//planText^E mod N
// planText^E mod N
cryptgram := new(big.Int).Exp(big.NewInt(planText), big.NewInt(E), big.NewInt(N))
Let’s 復号
// cryptgram^D mod N
res := new(big.Int).Exp(cryptgram, big.NewInt(D), big.NewInt(N))
全コード
https://github.com/kooooohe/RSA/blob/master/main.go
終わりに
今回は小さい数値しか暗号化、復号できませんが。
大枠流れはつかめると思います。
普段何気なく使っているものを、自分で実装するというのは楽しいですね
参考:
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSA%E6%9A%97%E5%8F%B7
https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E6%9A%97%E5%8F%B7%E6%8A%80%E8%A1%93%E5%85%A5%E9%96%80-%E7%AC%AC3%E7%89%88-%E7%A7%98%E5%AF%86%E3%81%AE%E5%9B%BD%E3%81%AE%E3%82%A2%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B9-%E7%B5%90%E5%9F%8E-%E6%B5%A9-ebook/dp/B015643CPE/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_ja_JP=%E3%82%AB%E3%82%BF%E3%82%AB%E3%83%8A&crid=1MKMKETE6NUVZ&dchild=1&keywords=%E6%9A%97%E5%8F%B7%E6%8A%80%E8%A1%93%E5%85%A5%E9%96%80&qid=1600837948&s=books&sprefix=%E6%9A%97%E5%8F%B7%E6%8A%80%E8%A1%93%E5%85%A5%E9%96%80%2Cstripbooks%2C479&sr=1-1 | https://medium.com/anti-pattern-engineering/%E5%85%AC%E9%96%8B%E9%8D%B5%E6%9A%97%E5%8F%B7%E3%81%AE1%E3%81%A4%E3%81%A7%E3%81%82%E3%82%8Brsa%E6%9A%97%E5%8F%B7%E3%82%92golang%E3%81%A7%E5%AE%9F%E8%A3%85%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6%E3%81%BF%E3%82%8B-a8d8ad01b903 | [] | 2020-11-04 08:27:15.423000+00:00 | ['Golang', 'Crypto', 'Rsa', 'Go'] |
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