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IBM and MIT Researchers Find a New Way to Prevent Deep Learning Hacks | By Katia Moskvitch
Deep learning may have revolutionized AI — boosting progress in computer vision and natural language processing and impacting nearly every industry. But even deep learning isn’t immune to hacking.
Specifically, it’s vulnerable to a curious form of hacking dubbed ‘adversarial examples.’ It’s when a hacker very subtly changes an input in a specific way — such as imperceptibly altering the pixels of an image or the words in a sentence — forcing the deep learning system to catastrophically fail.
AI has to be robust to withstand such attacks — and adversarial robustness also extends to its level of defenses against ‘natural’ adversaries, be it white noise, black-outs, image corruption, text typos or unseen data. While computer vision models are advancing rapidly, it’s possible to make them more robust by exposing them to subtly altered images through adversarial training. But this process is computationally expensive and imperfect; there will always be outlier images that may trip the model up.
And this is what recent research described in a paper presented at this year’s NeurIPS conference aims to change.
In the study, a team of neuroscientists from MIT and the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab investigated how neuroscience and AI can inform one another. They’ve explored whether the human brain can offer clues on how to make deep neural networks (DNNs) even more powerful and secure. Turns out it can.
The paper describes a new biology-inspired model, dubbed VOneNet (for a specific region of the brain called V1), based on learning from the brain that can help address malicious adversarial attacks of AI models.
The research was led by Harvard graduate student Joel Dapello, the head of MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences James DiCarlo, and Tiago Marques, an MIT postdoc. They worked together with MIT graduate student Martin Schrimpf, MIT visiting student Franziska Geiger, and MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab Co-director David Cox — to gain insight from the brain’s truly mysterious ways.
Understanding the brain
By its very nature, deep learning or deep neural networks (DNNs) is loosely based on the functioning of the brain, inspired by the structure of biological nervous systems. Deep neural networks are composed of individual ‘cells’ — neurons — connected to each other by ‘synpases’. “Like in the brain, organizing these elements in a ‘deep’ hierarchy of successive processing stages gives the artificial deep neural networks much of their power,” says IBM researcher David Cox.
However, adversarial attacks highlight a big difference in how deep neural networks and our brains perceive the world. Humans are not fooled at all by the subtle alterations that are able to trick deep neural networks, and our visual systems seem to be substantially more robust. Animal camouflage and optical illusions are probably the closest equivalent to adversarial examples against our brains.
But with a machine, it’s possible to carefully perturb the pixels in the image of a stop sign to trick a deep learning-based computer vision system into misclassifying it as a speed limit sign or anything else the adversary chooses, even though the image looks unchanged to the human eye. It is even possible to create physical objects that will trick AI-based systems, irrespective of the direction the object is viewed from, or how it is lit.
While researchers have made some progress in defending against these kinds of attacks, first discovered in 2013, they are still a serious barrier to a wide deployment of deep learning-based systems. The current approach, called adversarial training, is also extremely computationally expensive. And this is exactly what the new research paper is trying to address.
Learning from biology
The MIT-IBM collaboration has been uncovering useful tricks from neuroscience to infuse into our AI systems for years. Recently, the DiCarlo Lab has developed metrics for comparing data collected from the human brain with artificial neural networks, to understand which systems are closer or further away from biology.
In the latest study, the team explored the adversarial robustness of different models and studied if that was related to how similar they were to the brain. “To our surprise, we have found a strong relationship,” says Cox. “The more adversarially robust a model was, the more closely it seemed to match a particular brain area — V1, the first processing stage of visual information in the cerebral cortex.”
So the team decided to add some well-known elements of V1 processing in the input-stage of a standard DNN. They found out that this addition made any model substantially more robust. On top of that, including this block doesn’t add any more complexity or training cost to the models. It’s much computationally cheaper than the typical adversarial training, and surprisingly effective. It also confers robustness against other kinds of image degradation, like adding noise.
Their brain-inspired model, VOneNet, outperforms the state-of-the-art white-box attacks, where the attacker has access to the model architecture. It also outperforms black-box attacks, where the attacker has no visibility inside. And it does so with little added cost.
While impressive, “there’s certainly more work to be done to ensure models are invulnerable to adversarial attacks,” says Cox. And it’s not just a problem for computer vision. What’s clear, Cox adds, is that this research shows the need to keep learning from neuroscience to further boost adversarial robustness — and vice versa, to understand why something works in an artificial system, and how it can possibly help improve our still limited understanding of the human brain.
This story was first published on IBM Research blog | https://medium.com/swlh/ibm-and-mit-researchers-find-a-new-way-to-prevent-deep-learning-hacks-f4ecef7c5c7 | ['Inside Ibm Research'] | 2020-12-14 16:17:04.362000+00:00 | ['AI', 'Hacking', 'Deep Learning', 'Brain', 'IBM'] |
Islamic State’s Pakistan Province Launches New Jihadist Magazine — Jamestown | The first Urdu-language magazine of Islamic State’s Pakistan Province (IS-P) called Yalghar (Invasion) was published at the end of April 2021 on social media accounts that regularly disseminate IS-P propaganda materials. The magazine is IS-P’s first indigenous propaganda product. IS-P propaganda materials have otherwise not been nearly as attractive and original as the materials of its parent group, IS Khorasan (IS-K) Province. Rather, IS-P has mainly translated Islamic State’s (IS) central propaganda materials from Arabic and English into Urdu.
IS central established IS-P in May 2019 by dividing IS-K into branches for India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. [1] Since then, IS-P has struggled to establish footholds in Pakistan and has not capitalized on local dynamics to receive support in the country (, January 15). [2]
Jihadist Magazines’ Utility for IS-P
The history of jihadist groups’ propaganda efforts in Pakistan shows that magazines have always been an effective part of their recruitment of potential support bases in the country. Although IS-P has not shown any significant presence in the urban centers of Pakistan, its propaganda efforts could provide it solid support in those areas in the long run. [3] For example, al-Qaeda unofficially released its first Urdu-language monthly magazine for Pakistan, Nawai Afghan Jihad (NAJ) (Voice of Afghan Jihad), in August 2008. Since then, NAJ has been published as an ‘independent’ jihadist magazine for Afghanistan and Pakistan. [4] [5]
The magazine quality improved with time and its propaganda content became highly sophisticated. Finally, in August 2019, al-Qaeda’s regional franchise, al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent (AQIS), which includes the South Asian region from Pakistan to India, Kashmir, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, formally declared NAJ as its official mouthpiece. [6] However, later evidence reveals that al-Qaeda’s senior Pakistani figures started NAJ and remained its founding figures in Pakistan after 9/11. Al-Qaeda strategically did not officially label NAJ as its own formal magazine despite that it promoted only al-Qaeda’s narratives in Pakistan. [7]
Like Yalghar, NAJ’s first issue had only 16 pages of low-quality content. NAJ nevertheless helped al-Qaeda to channel highly educated Pakistani youth into its training camps in Waziristan. [8] Some of them later played central roles in turning NAJ into a sophisticated propaganda arm of the group in Pakistan, and NAJ remains al-Qaeda’s main trademark for Pakistan-related propaganda. [9]
A Look Inside Yalghar’s Contents
The 30-page Yalghar magazine has ten articles and an editorial and two infographics, which cover topics about IS in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Syria. One infographic is about IS’ recent attacks in Pakistan and India, and the other is promoting a propaganda video series of IS. The magazine encourages readers to send in their suggestions and articles through an e-mail given on its back page.
Five of the articles relate to the IS groups in Khorasan, Pakistan, and Syria, and the remaining articles are about IS ideology and Islamic history. Most of these contents were previously published by IS official media outlets in English or Arabic. This first issue, however, lacks any engaging content about IS activities in Pakistan. The two articles related to IS-P are duplicates of old propaganda materials. The first of the two articles include the IS-K founding emir Hafiz Saeed Khan Orakzai’s interview with the official IS English magazine, Dabiq, which was published in its thirteenth issue in January 2016. [10] The extract contains Orakzai’s general advice to IS members and supporters in Khorasan.
The second of the two articles is a transcript of an IS-P commander’s Urdu-language statement from a documentary released by the group’s Nida-i-Haq Urdu (Voice of the Truth) media center in January 2021 (, January 12). The video was about Hazara Shia coal miners who were brutally killed by the group on January 2 in Mach town of Pakistan’s southern Baluchistan province (, January 5). The only important information concerning IS-P was its recent assassination of senior Afghan Taliban commander, Naik Muhammad Rehbar, in the provincial capital of the Pakistan Khyber Pukhtoonkhawa Province (Militant Leadership Monitor , May 3). Rehbar played a central role in rooting out IS Khorasan from Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, which remain IS’ traditional stronghold (Arab News, April 20).
Discrediting the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaeda
Like other IS-K and IS-P propaganda materials, this magazine also on several occasions included criticism of IS’ major regional jihadist rival, the Afghan Taliban, accusing its members of being stooges of the Pakistani spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Other than the Afghan Taliban, the magazine also criticizes IS’ global jihadist rival, al-Qaeda, for its silence over the arrests and suffering of IS female members in Syria after the group’s territorial caliphate collapsed in 2019. The magazine taunted those protesting Afia Siddiqui’s captivity in a U.S. prison, arguing that such people care only for one Muslim lady’s sufferings in the hands of “infidels” but have neglected thousands of others faced with more inhumane situations in Syria. This propaganda could be particularly targeted against AQIS, which often protests Afia Siddiqui’s imprisonment and employs it as a regular theme in its propaganda materials for recruitment purposes.
A final article admits to IS’ losses in Afghanistan, claiming that the group lost its dominance and all its territories there, which it claims to have controlled for multiple years. However, the author of the article boasts that a day will come when IS rises again in the country and will exact revenge on behalf of all of its slain and oppressed members.
Notes
[1] Abdul Sayed and Tore Hamming, “The Revival of the Pakistani Taliban,” CTC Sentinel, 14:4 (2021).
[2] Mikail Shaikh, “Islamic State or Daesh in Pakistan in 2020,” Conflict and Peace Studies, Vol. 13, Issue. 1, pp. 105–124.
[3] With the announcement of IS’ so-called Islamic caliphate in June 2014, many Pakistani jihadists and Islamist youths joined IS-K. They shifted to its strongholds in Afghanistan’s Kunar and Nangarhar provinces. IS-K’s founding Pakistani leadership was shortly afterwards killed in U.S. and Afghan forces’ counter-terrorism operations that resulted in IS-K’s leadership transformation from Pakistanis to Afghans. IS-K’s brutal wars with the Afghan Taliban and intense counter-terrorism operations against the group in Afghanistan led to a decline in its recruitment from Pakistani urban centers. In an interview with the author in January 2021, a leading expert on IS-K, Professor Amira Jadoon, also said that the establishment of a separate Pakistani IS chapter could be to capitalize on local opportunities in Pakistan, which IS-K failed to achieve due to the various challenges faced by the group in Afghanistan. In this context, IS-P, since its establishment in May 2019, has, however, failed to establish its footprint in Pakistani urban centers, which had provided a significant number of recruits to IS-K in its early years.
[4] AQIS formerly announced renaming Nawai Afghan Jihad to Nawai Ghazwai Hind (Voice of the Battle against India) directly when the Afghan Taliban signed a peace deal with the U.S. in Doha, Qatar on February 29, 2020. This name change was followed by the AQIS announcement that as the U.S. and allied ‘invaders’ are withdrawing from Afghanistan, now the group had to change its focus to the jihad against India. For details, see, Nawai Afghan Jihad, Issue 3, Vol 13, March 2020.
[5] Nawai Afghan Jihad, Issue 1, Vol 1, Aug 2008.
[6] AQIS press release, PR_104_AQS, August 25, 2019, “Recirculation of the Nawai Afghan Jihad through a new editorial board,” Nawai Afghan Jihad, Vol.12, Issue.8, p.6.
[7] “Editorials published in Nawai Afghan Jihad Part-1,” (Nawai Afghan Jihad publications: July 2019).
[8] An unpublished data set prepared by the author includes 180 biographical details of post-9/11 al-Qaeda Pakistani cadres. These biographies were published/released by al-Qaeda official media outlets in text and audio-video formats from 2008–2020.
[9] A good example here is an current senior media official of AQIS, Moeenuddin Shami, who joined al-Qaeda in Waziristan in 2009 and was appointed to al-Qaeda’s Pakistani media and propaganda branch and was later assigned Nawai Afghan Jihad responsibilities. For details, see Moeenuddin Shami, “With Ustad Farooq,” Nawai Afghan Jihad, Vol.10, Issue.10, pp-26–27.
[10] “Interview with Wali of Khurasan,” Dabiq, Issue 13, pp. 48–54. | https://medium.com/@abdul-sayed/islamic-states-pakistan-province-launches-new-jihadist-magazine-jamestown-e74d97c4869c | ['Abdul Sayed'] | 2021-06-11 04:05:24.691000+00:00 | ['Afghanistan', 'Ttp', 'Iskp', 'Pakistan'] |
Introduction to Blockchain With Implementation in Python | Cryptocurrency has revolutionized the way we conduct transactions and this is just scratching the surface.
Photo by André François McKenzie on Unsplash
Founded in 2009 by an unknown individual(s) named Satoshi Nakamoto, Blockchain Technology is a breakthrough and has shown immense potential as being a fast, safe, and easy to use method for transferring or receiving funds and how is that you might ask?
Well, for starters, there is no “central entity” monitoring transactions like a Bank would.
All details are kept private between the recipient and the sender and there is no “middleman” needed. Moreover, The ease of access Blockchain offers is amazing, to say the least for example There are still countries in the world where conventional payment websites(PayPal for example) are banned and this creates a lot of hurdles for people who are trying to receive or send funds to foreign nations.
Cryptocurrency, on the other hand, knows no boundaries. It can be sent from anywhere in the world to any place in the world.
But the biggest benefit of cryptocurrency in my mind is the protection it provides against inflation. Yes, Blockchain Technology is in it’s developing phases and that’s why it is volatile but unlike conventional currency which can be printed to oblivion, Cryptocurrency is REALLY HARD to mass-produce.
It takes a lot of resources to “mine” one Crypto coin and that’s where it’s value comes from. So to sum it up, Cryptocurrency is a good defense against inflation like Gold but unlike Gold, it can be very easily stored, transferred, and is virtually impossible to steal.
How does Blockchain work?
Photo by Clifford Photography on Unsplash
So how does Blockchain work? What makes it so secure? Well, In this article, I will be explaining how a Blockchain works and will write the code side by side which goes into creating a Blockchain. So without further due, Let’s get started.
As the name suggests, A Blockchain is a “chain of Blocks”. Each block contains a “hash” an “index” and information about the particular transaction that took place.
All the Blocks in the Blockchain are linked to each other with the “hash” variable. A “hash” contains information of the previous block in the chain and that’s what keeps the entire chain-linked and connected.
Basic Blockchain diagram
If any value in any of the blocks in “tampered with”, This will cause the hash to change as well and it won't match the hash in the Block after it, which will alert the network of “tampering” and will render the entire chain useless. So for any hacker to successfully “hack” into a chain, He/She will have to not only change values of one single block but all the blocks before it and after it which are virtually impossible.
Moving to the Python part, I will first define my sender as a random individual, my Blockchain as a list with a “dummy genesis block”, the transactional information as an empty list, and import a library by the name of “hashlib” (more on that later)
from hashlib import sha256
sender = 'Moeed'
blockchain = [genesis_block]
genesis_block = {'previous_hash': 'XYZ',
'index': 0,
'transactions': [], 'proof': 0} open_transactions = []
I will then define a function that will ask the sender to enter his details such as the transaction amount to send and the address of the recipient.
def get_transaction():
recipient = input('Enter your recipient')
amount = input('Enter your amount')
return (recipient,amount)
Then I will try to append the transactional informational into the “open_transaction” list defined earlier.
while True:
I = input('Enter your choice')
if I == '1':
data = get_transaction()
recipient, amount = data
transaction = {'sender': sender,
'recipient': recipient,
'amount': amount}
open_transactions.append(transaction)
print(open_transactions)
Note: The transaction information is stored in a dictionary so we can access the values using the “keys” when we feel the need.
Now I will try to create a function that will create the “Block” and append it to the Blockchain. But before I do that, I would like to go over where a Blockchain gets its security from.
SHA-256
The SHA-256 is a hashing algorithm created by the NSA back in 2001 which takes an input of any size and converts it to an output of fixed size. The beauty of the SHA-256 is that the Output is close to impossible to decode thus ensuring security.
The “hash” part of the Block in the Blockchain is nothing more than the Output of the SHA-256 algorithm whereas the input is the “hash of the previous block” the “index” and the “transaction information” all combined into the string format.
Let's look at the code here:
I have already imported the “hashlib” library.
I will try to create a function which will take the “hash”, “index” and “transaction information” of the previous block and convert it into a hash for the block after it.
def hash_block(last_block):
previous_hash = ''
for keys in last_block:
previous_hash = previous_hash + str(last_block[keys])
hash = sha256(json.dumps(previous_hash).encode('utf-8')).hexdigest()
return hash
As our Blockchain starts from the “genesis block” defined earlier, we give it a dummy “previous_hash” value of XYZ.
The “Proof of Work”
Photo by Bermix Studio on Unsplash
We know that the hash is generated using the SHA-256 algorithm by a set of inputs. But that makes adding a Block to the Blockchain a little too “easy”.
Blockchain mining is on purpose hard so that we don’t mass produce coins and the supply is kept in check as per the demand. This is accomplished using the “proof of work” algorithm.
The “proof of work” uses the same SHA-256 algorithm but instead of taking an input and giving a single output, there is a condition placed for example The output hash needs to have the first two characters as zeros.
The hash is calculated using the SHA-256 algorithm with the same inputs (previous_hash, index, transaction information) but with an addition of the iteration number also known as “proof”. So basically, the “proof” will be incremented by one until the condition we have placed ( first two zeros) is satisfied.
Once the condition is satisfied, The resulting hash from the “hash_block” will be added to the Block and then the Block will be added to the Blockchain.
Now let’s look at the code for the “proof of work” function
def proof_of_work():
previous_hash = ''
proof = 0
last_block = blockchain[-1]
for keys in last_block:
previous_hash = previous_hash + str(last_block[keys])
guess_hash = previous_hash + str(proof)
hash = sha256(hashed.encode('utf-8')).hexdigest()
while hash[0:2] != '00':
guess_hash = previous_hash + str(proof)
hash = sha256(guess_hash.encode('utf-8')).hexdigest()
proof = proof + 1
print(hash)
return proof
As already explained, the above code will perform iterations until the “zero” condition is satisfied. Let’s move forward and look at how a Block is mined.
Mining a Block
Photo by Aleksi Räisä on Unsplash
We have already gone over the proof of work algorithm. So how is a Block mined? Well, Let’s look at the code.
def hash_block(last_block):
previous_hash = ''
for keys in last_block:
previous_hash = previous_hash + str(last_block[keys])
hash = sha256(json.dumps(previous_hash).encode('utf-8')).hexdigest()
return hash def mine_block():
last_block = blockchain[-1]
hashed_block = hash_block(last_block)
proof = proof_of_work()
block = {
'previous_hash': hashed_block,
'index': len(blockchain),
'transactions': open_transactions,
'proof': proof
}
blockchain.append(block)
print(blockchain)
print(hashed_block)
print(proof)
return True
As can be seen from the above code, We first define a “hash_block” function which takes an empty string by the name of “previous_hash” and adds the other values of the block such as index and transaction information as strings and creates one big string. This string is then returned as an encrypted string using the SHA-256 algorithm.
Then we begin the “mine_block” function which uses the “hash_block” function to return a hash and the “proof of work” to calculate the hash which has two zeros at the start.
The results (proof number and the hash) are then added to the dictionary by the name of “block” which is further appended to the blockchain list.
This creates the first Block. But there’s one thing that is still missing
What if someone were to tamper with the blockchain? Let’s say what if someone were to change values in the Block. How can we stop that from happening? It’s simple, We put a check on the chain which compares “previous_hash” of one chain with a calculated hash of the Block before it. Let’s look at the code
def verify_chain():
for (index, block) in enumerate(blockchain):
if index == 0:
continue
if block['previous_hash'] != hash_block(blockchain[index - 1]):
print(block['previous_hash'])
print(hash_block(blockchain[index - 1]))
print(block)
print(blockchain[index-1])
return False
return True
and then we add a condition at last which implements the function above.
if not verify_chain():
print('Invalid block')
break
If any value inside our Blockchain is tampered with, The condition above will return “Invalid chain”
and Finally, Some code for the user to interact with the chain
while True:
I = input('Enter your choice')
print('1 to recieve transactions')
print('2 to mine block')
print('3 to alter block')
if I == '1':
data = get_transaction()
recipient, amount = data
transaction = {'sender': owner,
'recipient': recipient,
'amount': amount}
open_transactions.append(transaction)
print(open_transactions)
save_data()
if I == '2':
mine_block()
open_transactions = []
if I == '3':
alter_block()
if not verify_chain():
print('Invalid block')
break
The above code is pretty self-explanatory. Input 1 is used to receive transactions from the input. Input 2 is used to mine the block and input 3 is used to “alter the block”.
We use “alter_block” to test whether the “verify_chain” is working or not.
The code for “alter_block” function is:
def alter_block():
blockchain[0] = {'previous_hash':'ABC',
'index':0,
'transactions':[],'proof':0}
Note: In the above function, we alter the first block by changing the “previous_hash” from “XYZ” to “ABC” which will give us a wrong hash, and hence the condition “verify_hash” will come into play.
Conclusion
In this article, I went over the basics of Blockchain Technology with a simple implementation in Python. There’s definitely more to Blockchain than what I covered such as Node Networks, APIs, and OOP.
To sum it up, Blockchain Technology has immense potential and is already showing a promising future. Let’s see what the future holds | https://medium.com/swlh/introduction-to-blockchain-with-implementation-in-python-c12f8478a3c4 | [] | 2020-09-29 19:51:13.040000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Machine Learning', 'Technology', 'Finance', 'Blockchain Technology'] |
Job Advertise for free | At zjservices, we’re committed to making the pursuit of employment process straightforward — and tranquil. Our pursuit of employment motor is worked with ground-breaking innovation that means to coordinate the correct openings for work with the perfect individuals. To locate the most recent and most pertinent employment opportunities, essentially peruse by occupation title, organization, city or state. Or then again become a part to get the main alarms on employments you’ll like. Additionally, make a point to look at the Career Advice segment of the site for other pursuit of employment devices like resume tests and meeting tips. In this way, begin looking, and see what we have. You may very well discover better.Find a Job, Job Advertise for free, Job Search, Advertise Job , Job Vacancies, Job Search | Looking For A Job? Find the Latest Jobs Available in Your Area for free. Browse through millions of jobs from thousands of employers. Looking for Candidates for Your Company? You are at the right place. The opportunity starts here ·Free to post an Advert.Visit here for More info- https://zjservices.com | https://medium.com/@sahilkumard234s/job-advertise-for-free-f78c38f1b61e | ['Sahil Kumar'] | 2019-04-12 06:09:29.752000+00:00 | ['Careers', 'Job Advertise For Free'] |
How To Learn A Language In 30 Days | How To Learn A Language In 30 Days
Do you want to speak another language? These proven techniques will accelerate your progress
Photo by iam Se7en on Unsplash
Most people are afraid of learning a new language. They’re scared of failing or sounding stupid when practicing, so they don’t even take the first steps to begin.
But being able to communicate in another language allows you to think differently, and will enable you to meet more people from around the world.
As Nelson Mandela once so eloquently said: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”
But how do you begin? And what are the best strategies for learning a language more efficiently?
Below are several strategies that I’ve personally used to learn Spanish to a fluent level. Some of them are easy. Others will take time to implement. However, if you put in the time & effort, all of them will work.
Are you ready? Let’s begin.
Create Daily Goals
I’m not going to tell you the exact goals you should be pursuing to achieve fluency in a language. That’s up to you.
However, the way you set those goals is fundamental to your success in learning any language.
I always struggled with putting in the work. Like many of you reading this, I had an issue with procrastination that prevented me from focusing on the tasks which were essential for the day.
I was getting nowhere.
So earlier this year, I made the decision to organize my day into achievable tasks that could be implemented quickly. As an example, instead of trying to learn 100 words in a single sitting, I would break it down into four sessions of 25 words.
This made everything much more manageable. Instead of procrastinating due to a massive workload, this new process of breaking down tasks allowed me to achieve any goal I desired.
You can’t expect to learn a language without putting in the effort. Which is why developing daily goals to achieve a result is the best way forward. Sean Covey said it best:
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
He’s right. If you want to learn a new language, you must create habits around the actions that will improve your level of fluency.
Here’s a Question Most People Struggle With: How Do You Learn The Basics of a Language Quickly?
The answer is to focus on everyday vocabulary. Because once you can understand the most frequently used words, it becomes much easier to connect the dots.
Let me explain.
Research shows that out of the 100,000 word-families in the English language, a non-native speaker would only need to learn 2,000 to develop a reasonable level of fluency.
So if you can learn the most frequently used words, you’ll be able to understand everyday conversation pretty easily.
When I was learning Spanish, this was a method which allowed me to accelerate my progress. Every single day, I would write down 100 words and use personalized learning techniques to remember them. For example, I used flashcards, word association, and gave them context within a sentence.
That’s the most important thing about learning a language: you have to do what works for you. Although there are thousands of strategies on the internet, you need to experiment to find your most effective way of learning.
“So How Can I Immerse Myself in a Language Without Going Abroad?”
You need to practice. Gone are the days when you’d need to travel to Mexico to hear Spanish or book a Parisian vacation to understand French.
You can do it at home.
If you want to learn from the comfort of your bedroom, listen to foreign music, watch TV shows on Netflix (with subtitles), and change the language settings on your phone to the desired language.
Right now, while writing this article, I’m listening to Becky G on Spotify to improve my listening ability. Over time, this practice has allowed me to understand spoken Spanish with ease as I enjoy singing along to the lyrics.
Here are some other methods which you can use to immerse yourself in a foreign language:
Watch YouTube with subtitles. If you watch a lot of online videos, this will be an absolute game-changer in your quest to improve your fluency. This is because you’ll be watching the content you enjoy while picking up on new vocabulary in its relevant context. Translate Foreign Music. As somebody who listens to music almost every waking hour of the day, being able to translate my favorite songs improved my understanding of the language. As an added bonus, you’ll appreciate the music a lot more once you can understand the lyrics instead of them being incomprehensible. Read Written Content. If you love reading, this will gradually improve your ability to understand the written word as you’ll be immersed in grammar, punctuation, and many other variables. Find news articles, read books, or translate your entire social media feed into the desired language.
That’s how to start. Use these techniques to accelerate your learning and develop a better understanding of any language.
Frank Smith put it best: “One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way.” | https://mattincanada.medium.com/how-to-learn-a-new-language-in-30-days-13666d66eed5 | ['Matt Lillywhite'] | 2019-10-03 08:55:58.177000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Productivity', 'Language', 'Education', 'Learning'] |
Defining Security Token Offerings | What are STO’s?
The shift towards crypto has always been about two things: disrupting and offering an alternative. GOW has been facilitating this through its overseas remittance schemes, its full-suite of EPoS services, and its stablecoin ledger solution — — all through our FinTech as a service scheme (more on that to be announced later).
When we visited the Hong Kong Blockchain week last week, one of the most common and contentious topics was the advent of STO’s and the regulatory and compliance hurdles that may be encountered along the way.
Though Security Token Offerings have been gathering steam and garnering much interest, they largely exist within the conceptual realm and have yet to be clearly defined within any national legal framework.
On the basis of the information that is currently available, here is our overview of what security tokens are and how they may potentially be integrated into the crypto sphere.
Defining Definitions
The simple definition of an STO is ICO + Regulation = STO. This largely stems from whether ICO’s could be defined as securities or utilities, with jurisdictions like the Philippines (where GOW is licensed and regulated) enacting legislation that assumes that all ICO’s are securities unless proven otherwise.
The argument is regularly made that they are products as opposed to securities, but let’s get real for a moment: They exist by and large with the purpose of raising money and then being flipped over on global unregulated exchanges.
The result of this was a series of scams that ripped off investors and brought the crypto industry into disrepute.
The Secure Way Forward
While regulators are still scratching their heads and trying to figure out a suitable mechanism for brining order to the crypto space, industry-led initiatives have been offerings solutions to this perennial issue.
The way in which STO’s are set up isn’t much different to a traditional stock or an Initial Public Offering. You have shareholder rights and voting obligations within that particular ‘security’. When you are investing in an STO, the security you are investing in is backed by something tangible. This adds on an additional layer of safety that gives projects access to 24/7 capital and universally transferrable products, while giving consumers lower costs and knowing that the party overseeing the STO is accountable, removing the previous concern that existed with ICO ventures.
This also fixes the problem that exists with traditional stocks, in that security tokens are easily transferrable and shares can be transferred by the click of a button.
Will GOW be listing STO’s?
Yes!
GOW has a strict onboarding process for all our token listings. Given that we are licensed by the Philippines Central Bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Securities and Exchange Commission, we hold ourselves to the strictest of regulatory standards.
Customers are also required to go through KYC and AML procedures, which allows us to uphold and maintain the integrity of our system.
We have exciting news coming up on this soon, so be sure to say tuned! | https://medium.com/@GOWExchange/defining-security-token-offerings-82b4842ef2be | ['Gow Exchange'] | 2019-03-18 04:06:15.736000+00:00 | ['Philippines', 'Sto', 'Bitcoin', 'Fintech', 'Blockchain'] |
Screen time, emotional health among parents’ top concerns for children | Washington [US], December 21 (ANI): A new national poll gives a glimpse into parents’ greatest concerns about their kids in the pandemic-era with the top concerns being screen time, unhealthy eating, and depression. High on the top 10 list: overuse of social media and screen time, internet safety, unhealthy eating, depression and suicide, and lack of physical activity.
Almost half of the parents also describe COVID-19, the disease itself, as a “big problem” impacting kids, coming in at №10, according to the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health at Michigan Medicine.
“This is an especially challenging time for families, with many children experiencing significant changes in routine that may negatively impact their health and wellbeing,” said Mott Poll co-director and Mott pediatrician Gary Freed, M.D., M.P.H. “Parents’ biggest concerns for young people seem to be associated with changes in lifestyle as a result of the pandemic.
COVID-19 has turned the world of our children and teens upside down in many ways and this is reflected in how parents rate health issues in 2020,” added Mott. But there are key racial and ethnic differences among families when it comes to worries about children’s health, according to the report. Black parents rate racism as their №1 health concern for children and teens, with COVID-19 coming in at №2. Racism ranks sixth among Hispanic parents, with COVID-19 at №8. Racism does not make the top 10 health issues for U.S. children among white parents and COVID-19 much lower on among their concerns.
These differences are likely due to African-American and Hispanic communities being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 in the U.S., Freed says. People from minority groups have been more likely to contract COVID-19, gotten sicker and died of the virus at significantly higher rates than white individuals.
Systemic racism has also been a national focus, as massive demonstrations protesting racial injustice swept the country over recent months. Black parents are also the only group that rates gun injuries and unequal access to health care as a top 10 concern. Meanwhile, white parents are the only group to rate lack of physical activity in the top 10. “Families’ backgrounds and experiences likely shape what health concerns they prioritize as most pressing for American children today,” Freed said. The nationally-representative report is based on responses from 2,027 parents with children ages 18 and under.
A closer look at top health concerns highlighted in the report: Screen time Freed says it’s not surprising that the top three issues on parents’ list of concerns are related to screen use. Children are spending more time online because of virtual school or not being able to spend time with friends in person.
But he says parents should worry less about the amount of time children are using devices and more on how they are using the technology. “It’s important for children and teens to maintain social and family connections that we know are critical for their emotional well-being, especially during a time when they are feeling stressed or isolated,” Freed says. “Technology may be an important vehicle for those connections.” Still, parents should set clear ground rules and boundaries about how and when children can use devices to ensure it’s not disrupting sleep habits, replacing healthy habits like physical activity, and that children’s privacy is protected.
They should also watch for any signs of cyberbullying and other types of online abuse, which also made the top 10 list. “Parents need to have ongoing conversations with their children and teens to guide them on safe internet practices,” Freed says. Emotional and physical health Some parents reported great concern about kids experiencing increased negative emotions such as stress, anxiety, or depression, which may be related to or exacerbated by lifestyle changes caused by COVID-19.
“Parents may notice changes, such as increased behavioral issues in younger kids or more moodiness or lethargy from older kids and teenagers,” Freed said. In these situations, parents should encourage children and teens to talk about their feelings, and find healthy outlets to help them cope.
Changes in routine and social isolation from COVID-19 may also affect a child’s physical health. Inconsistent sleep habits may particularly increase the potential for unhealthy eating and reducing outside physical activity-all issues parents identified as top health concerns.
Families should try to maintain routines, especially keeping regular sleep schedules and helping teens resist the temptation to go to bed much later than usual and sleeping in later, Freed said. Most experts also recommend intentional “unplugged” times to spend together as a family and getting outside daily, even for a brisk walk, as much as possible.
But parents should also look for red flags that kids need more help to manage feelings, such as comments about how they might hurt themselves or experiencing dramatic shifts in usual mood, appetite, or sleep. In these cases, families should reach out to pediatricians and consider enlisting the help of therapists or other health professionals.
Children who have lost family members to COVID-19 may also need special attention and mental health services to help in how to understand and cope with their loss, Freed says. Racism Families should recognize the emotional toll of racism on children and teens. The impact of racism may be reflected in physical problems, such as disparities in the rates of diseases among different populations, and also in children’s mental health.
Children targeted by racism have higher rates of depression, anxiety, and behavior problems, research shows.
“Although racism directly affects specific populations, its impact on children’s health is a societal concern. It’s important for parents to recognize the detrimental consequences of racism for children in our communities,” Freed said. Finding ways for young people to get involved either through safely participating in protests or supporting groups or causes that aim to fight racism can be valuable, Freed says.
“Racism can instill a sense of helplessness in both children and teens. When young people are empowered to stand up to racism, it can make a big difference by showing them they can be part of a solution,” he said. (ANI) | https://medium.com/@parenthood7/screen-time-emotional-health-among-parents-top-concerns-for-children-af9ceaea02d9 | [] | 2021-09-13 09:31:59.421000+00:00 | ['Children', 'Kids', 'Parenting', 'Baby', 'Pregnancy'] |
The Bermuda Triangle of New England: Vermont | Narrator: Good evening and welcome to Friday Night Crimes. The Bermuda Triangle is a well-known hotspot for disappearances of ships, planes, and most importantly, people. Similarly, the Bennington Triangle of southwestern Vermont has had its fair share of worrisome coincidences.
Today, we’re going to dive into the cases of five people who walked into this particular trail and never came back out.
The Timeline: 1945–1950
Chronological Events of the Case:
Middie Rivers, 74 (1945)
A hunting guide, Rivers disappeared while guiding a group of four through Hell Hollow when he seemingly popped out of existence. Though extensive searches have been done of the area, no one has been able to determine the fate or whereabouts of Mr. Rivers.
Paula Welden, 18 (1946)
The most famous victim of this particular triangle, Paula was a student at Bennington College. She had decided to go on a hike through the area when most of her colleagues had gone home for Thanksgiving.
She was absent from her Monday classes the following week, and her disappearance was the catalyst for the formation of the Vermont State Police later that year.
James E. Tedford, 68 (1949)
Eerily, the next victim vanished on the same day Paula did, three years later. However, Tedford was not a guide nor a hiker; in fact, he was a bus rider that was returning to Bennington after visiting family in St. Albans, Vermont.
Multiple witnesses, including the driver, confirm that Tedford was on the bus up until the second-to-last stop, but by the time the bus stopped in Bennington, Tedford had seemingly faded away. An open bus schedule and all of his belongings were left on the bus, but the man himself was nowhere to be seen.
Paul Jepson, 8 (1950)
The youngest victim of the Bennington Triangle, Paul Jepson was last seen playing in his family’s pickup truck by his mother. While both Jepson parents were tending to their pigs, Paul completely vanished.
A New Hampshire sheriff brought a bloodhound to the scene to search for the child, but the scent suddenly stopped at a crossroads, indicating that the boy had been abducted.
Frieda Langer, 53 (1950)
The only disappearance to have any kind of closure, Frieda’s body was discovered six months after the last time she was seen. Unfortunately, her remains were so badly decomposed that it was impossible to determine a cause of death or to definitively say whether it was homicide or not. | https://medium.com/friday-night-crimes/the-bermuda-triangle-of-new-england-vermont-d27cf3b65365 | ['Brianna Bennett'] | 2020-02-15 01:10:02.580000+00:00 | ['East Coast Crimes', 'Paranormal', 'Disappearances', 'True Crime'] |
A New GameFi: NFTMan is Coming Soon | NFTMan is a decentralized game world based on Binance Smart Chain. In this incredible world, you will start an adventure with heroes called NFTMan. Here, every choice you make, every hero, every piece of equipment, every home you create has a real-world monetary value. With strategy and skills, you can unleash your potential through our immersive gameplay experience and supportive community, while earning money($NMAN)!
There are 8 classes of heroes, and each of them has different abilities and equipment. You can collect, create your heroes and use them for battle, defeat monsters to earn money($NMAN).
The game provides many different game modes for you to play and earn, such as PVP, PVE, Arena, Guild Hunting Instance, and so on. In addition, you can even build and create your homeland here like the real world.
NFTMan utilizes Binance Smart Chain to bring strong asset ownership and an open yet secure trading marketplace. You have full ownership over your NFT heroes and lands. You can trade them with other players at ease.
To get an early-bird bonus, follow us now to get the latest news about NFTMan：
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Our official website: https://nftman.io | https://medium.com/@NFTMan/a-new-gamefi-nftman-is-coming-soon-c5ac64241e72 | [] | 2021-12-28 11:38:09.174000+00:00 | ['Gamefi', 'P2e', 'Nft', 'Bsc'] |
MINOR LEAGUE REPORT | fightins.com
Reading’s home opener tonight
Lehigh Valley, International League North Division
**IronPigs (6–2) pounded out 16 hits in a 13–6 romp over the Red Wings in Rochester; first road game of the season . . . SS Phil Gosselin, 3–5, walk, run, RBI. RF Lane Adams, 3–5, double, triple, 3 runs, walk, stolen base. DH Shane Robinson, 3–4, double, 2 runs, 2 RBI. 2B Malquin Canelo, 2–4, double, 2 runs, 2 RBI, walk. CF Roman Quinn, 2–5, walk, 2 runs, RBI, assist (home) . . . WP: Jerad Eickhoff (2–0), 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO, HR. SV: Austin Davis (1), 1.1–1–0–0–0–1 . . . Enyel De Los Santos (1–0), 6:35 tonight in Rochester.
Transaction: Yacksel Rios, reinstated from Injured List.
Reading, Eastern League East Division
**Fightin Phils (4–2) had a day off . . . Ramon Rosso (1–0), 7:05 tonight in the home opener vs. Richmond Flying Squirrels.
Clearwater, Florida State League North Division
**Threshers (2–6) fell, 2–1, to the Flying Tigers in Lakeland, getting just two hits. One was SS Nick Maton’s 1st home run. It came in the top of the ninth . . . LP: Damon Jones (0–1), 5–5–2–1–3–8; both runs coming in the first inning . . . Alejandro Requena (1–0), 6:40 tonight vs. Fort Myers Miracle.
Lakewood, South Atlantic League North Division
**BlueClaws (3–5) lost, 6–3, to the Delmarva Shorebirds in Salisbury, MD . . . Losers had six hits, two by 3B Alec Bohm, his third multi hit game in last four . . . LP: Dominic Pipkin (0–1), 3–4–4–2–3–3, HR . . . Victor Santos (1–0), 7:05 tonight at Delmarva. | https://philliesinsider.mlblogs.com/minor-league-report-816d627be02a | ['Larry Shenk'] | 2019-04-12 11:50:20.448000+00:00 | ['Philadelphia Phillies', 'Baseball'] |
Moments | “My god, there are a lot of people out there.” This was not a statement of fact, or delighted astonishment. This was an exclamation of terror. The excitement of having finally gotten on a big stage, in front of a lot of people that had dominated much of the last several days, evaporated. So complete was this erasure that even the memory of that giddy anticipation was inaccessible. All there was at that moment was the fear that demanded all of her attention.
The people weren’t the faceless blobs or dots in a single amorphous mass she had hoped for. There were faces. Pleasant faces, pretty faces, anxious faces, perturbed faces, angry faces, ambivalent faces. Some of them had beards, some of them wore too much makeup, some were capped with brightly colored hair, or baseball caps, fedoras, stocking caps and even one beret. All of them unique, and the decided absence of anonymity unnerved Janie.
Previous attempts at managing her stage fright had revealed many tools, mostly ineffective. But now, she desperately inventoried all of them in a rapid sprint towards a bandage she might use to cover the panic, that anxiety that threatened to flow beyond her means to keep in hand. She inhaled a deep breath, held it for four counts, exhaled and held again. She was deliberate in her pace, fighting the urge to speed her tempo, all the while combing her consciousness for the capacity of detachment to regard her fear as nothing more than an interesting observation.
She looked at her guitar sitting upright on the stand next to the row of speaker cabinets behind Justin’s sparkling drum kit. She imagined herself playing it, trying to visualize the ease with which she would appear to observers. Cool and confident, deliberate and purposeful, like all her heroes…
A hand on her shoulder startled Janie out of her reverie. Doug with his bass already hanging from his scrawny frame, gave her a slight nod. She thought maybe she saw a veneer of concern. Doug always had been aware of her anxiety when it came to performing. Likely, he felt a degree of worry for her, or maybe it was concern she’d make fatal errors and the whole performance would be lost. Regardless of his awareness or concern, he was signaling that it was time.
The lights sank and with them, Janie’s stomach. Daniel led the group to the stage, moving confidently toward the gleaming microphone. Justin came behind him and split off toward the drums at the back of the stage. Janie stepped out in concert with Doug, a natural impulse to blend in with the crowd and not draw attention by lagging behind.
She snatched up her guitar with a forced sense of purpose. She heard the drums boom across the stage as Justin made one last check of their position, Doug’s speakers popped briefly as he plugged in his bass and Daniel’s breath could be heard softly through the stage monitors. Her bandmates seemed so far away, sprawled across the stage, experienced and accessible only through the intermediaries of the speakers and echoes.
“There is no backing out of this now,” she thought, as if the option had been open to her moments earlier. Yet the acceptance of her situation softened the sharp edge of her anxiety and she had maybe her first clear thought, uncolored by her protracted stress: “Deal with this moment, worry about the next when it comes.”
As though he had been waiting for this revelation, Justin clicked his drumsticks together in four sharp snaps.
“Now!” She didn’t think this as much as feel it.
Janie raked the pick across the strings and the sound intertwined with the concussive bursts of the drums and the low rumbling of the bass. Hastily, she played another chord and rested her palm on the bridge of her guitar readying herself to play a melody her shaking hands would find difficult. Briefly she considered playing a simpler version of the melody rather than risking a mistake that could easily compound if the rest of the band stumbled with her.
She took the risk and attacked the string with all the conviction she could summon. Her hand seized and her wrist went limp, then shook violently, but there was no time to process the panic. That moment was passed, there was only this moment. The band moved on, seemingly unaware of her error. The crowd bounced as an undulating unit, no longer a collection of individuals but a great, shifting landscape. She pounced on a kernel of excitement and resumed playing.
The moments passed, some slower, some more urgent. Sweat captured the fabric of her clothing and it clung to her skin, her hair stuck to her forehead and flushed cheeks. The smooth surface of her guitar took on a slick film of sweat. The air around her buzzed and shook, dimmed and brightened. Finally, as the last of the music faded and the waves of cheers washed up on stage, Janie dropped the guitar back on the stand and strutted off stage, once again exhilarated, the memory of fear and doubt having evaporated. | https://matt-derouin.medium.com/moments-d4c046ed49ce | ['Matt Derouin'] | 2019-11-02 04:10:47.235000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Fiction', 'Music', 'Anxiety', 'Flash Fiction'] |
Can robots overtake humans? | “Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have a faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them.” by:- Steve Jobs
The idea of machines overcoming humans can be really related to conscious machines. This idea is supported by many advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI).As Computers has already succeeded in many fields. Example ,sections of mechanical engineering like robotics, automation or sensors uses AI. Ex- pre installed voice assistant in phones .In manufacturing engineering, from maintenance to virtual design, AI enables modern, advanced and custom products.
organic latticing tools, CAD tools and generative design are some ex of AI that are useful to engineers. In electrical engineering, AI is used For diagnosis of electrical machines and drives, synchronous control over machines and reduce fault rate. Also, in civil engineering, AI is used for designing, planning, construction, management, maintenance, analysis and optimization. Artificial intelligence in healthcare is the use of complex algorithms and software in other words artificial intelligence (AI) to emulate human cognition in the analysis, interpretation, and comprehension of complicated medical and healthcare data. Specifically, AI is the ability of computer algorithms to approximate conclusions without direct human input. The primary aim of health-related AI applications is to analyze relationships between prevention or treatment techniques and patient outcomes.AI programs have been developed and applied to practices such as diagnosis processes, treatment protocol development, drug development, personalized medicine, and patient monitoring and care. Additionally, hospitals are looking to AI software to support operational initiatives that increase cost saving, improve patient satisfaction, and satisfy their staffing and workforce needs. As experts in the field of robotics believe that robots will be much more visible in the future, but — at least over the next two decades — they will be clearly recognizable as machines. This is because there is still a long way to go before robots will be able to match a number of fundamental human skills. | https://medium.com/@sajalbatra/can-robots-overtake-humans-b981cedf366 | ['Sajal Batra'] | 2020-11-24 19:23:52.561000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Robots', 'Technology'] |
How Self-Reflection Can Start The Path To Healing | How Self-Reflection Can Start The Path To Healing
Healing the consequences of dealing with trauma starts with self-reflection
@simonrae unsplash.com
I’ve never been in the military. I’ve never seen an actual physical battle. I’ve never been to the ER. I’ve never seen blood, broken bones, and had the pressure on me to save people’s lives. But, I’ve been in other intense work environments. I’ve had extensive pressure on me. I’ve felt physical danger from being at work. I’ve experienced extreme bullying and its psychological effects. I’ve experienced gaslighting in many shapes and forms. I’ve fought many wars on the mental health front. I’ve fought many wars on the intellectual front. I’ve fought many wars on the relationship front.
Where ever you come from, whether you want it to or not, your experiences color the way that you relate to people. Often, when we are in the throes of dealing with our problems, we think that people can’t relate at all.
We don’t want to talk about it with people who have never gone through it.
You are right. Your experiences are unique. Even if you are a surgeon who saves lives, the way you experience a surgery failure that cost someone’s life might be very different from another surgeon. The psychological impact it leaves you may be very different from the next person.
This is what I do when I feel like I can’t talk to anyone.
I walk; I run; I climb mountains; I engage in repetitive activities. It is a form of moving meditation. The truth is that not every problem can be solved. After I dealt with my PTSD, I realized that certain things just cannot be unseen in life. Once you have seen it, it’s not even possible to block it out. The memory of it stays with you for a lifetime.
Sometimes, coping mechanisms are the only savior. That is okay.
Coping mechanisms can usually shift my mindset from a negative one to a positive one in a few hours. Often, that shift of a mindset is what saves people from any other forms of self-destruction. Every person has different types of coping mechanisms.
You should choose a coping mechanism that takes your mind off those negative memories with a minimum amount of work.
I met this woman once. She told me that having a pillow fight with her children always made her feel alive. It took her mind off all her single parenting worries from day today. She made it a ritual to have a pillow fight with her children before bedtime each day. When they go to sleep, she can refresh her mind to deal with many worries that creep up.
A surgeon once told me that he uses humor in his operating room to foster team spirit in his team. Even when things are intense in the operating room, he tries to make light of the situation so that every one of his team members can detach from his or her emotions and carry on the work with precision.
When coping mechanisms fail, you choose self-destruction. Recognize your actions. Stop feeling guilty about your choices.
Everyone’s life has ups and downs. Everyone has problems they deal with day to day. The magnitude of these problems is different for everyone. The way you feel about the magnitude of your problems is different from the next person. For people with certain types of mental illnesses, just getting out of bed is a difficult task.
If you are mentally healthy today, after an extensive amount of time spent living a highly stressful life, you might break psychologically, too. Tomorrow, you might be this person who just can’t get out of bed. Your greatest accomplishment for that day might be just to eat a bowl of cereal.
When you let negative feelings take over and act on your self-destructive impulses, recognize the impulses for what they are and the destructions that they cause.
You are a normal person who is under the weight of life. You may have an illness that needs to be taken care of. You may have issues in life that you have to work on. This is why you have chosen to self-destruct. Self-destruction takes many forms.
It could be wasting money. It could be stress-eating. It could be laziness. It could be quitting a job. It could be cheating on your spouse. It could be driving recklessly. It could be failing intentionally. It could be inflicting physical pain on yourself.
When self-destruction happens, just recognize the actions and the consequences will help you see that it’s your negative emotions that are causing you to choose this path.
Recognizing your actions as self-destructive behavior can help you take the first step toward healing.
Sometimes, the path down self-destruction is uncontrollable. But, once you have self-destructed, you have all the time in the world sitting in this dark abyss and stare at your behavior. When I am there, sitting in my hole, this is when I realize that I should talk to someone.
When the pain I have inflicted on myself outways the act of reaching out to someone, I reach out.
When we go through traumatic life events, allow yourself to process the shock. The process might take some time. Give yourself time. During that time, if your shock leads you to negative emotions that force you to act out. That is okay. You are human.
The difficulty lies in living with the consequences and shifting your mindset.
When you realize that negative consequences your self-destructive behavior has caused, you will begin to tackle your internal problems. Often, this is when most people who want to get better reach out for help. Talking to a therapist is a great way to process your traumas when you feel that no one in real life can relate to your circumstances. Writing in a journal is another therapeutic way to reflect on what you have experienced to help you process the events.
The exercise of being my therapist.
I have an exercise that I started years ago when I was dealing with my own PTSD. I use my journal to have an internal dialogue with myself. I play the role of my therapist. In one voice, I write down everything I want to tell my therapist. Then, in another voice, I analyze everything I just wrote and pretend it’s written by a third person.
I call this process “re-parenting” myself. But it is simply an elaborate way to self-reflect on the problems that I have.
Self-reflection is simply a giant hug you give yourself.
People tend to have this critical voice in their head. Their internal therapist is mean and hurtful. That is not the objective of self-reflection. Self-reflection is a “mindset” change process. It helps you to get from a negative mindset to a positive one. That is why self-reflection should be a giant hug you give yourself.
What’s the most yogic self you have? You know that one where you are most detached from your emotions. I picture “Yoda” from Star Wars. “Yoda” is my internal therapist on many of my therapy sessions.
My “Yoda” has pulled me out of many deep dark abysses. My “Yoda” helps me to sit with the consequences of my self-destruction until I can own up to my own mistakes. My “Yoda” helps me to get to the point of motivation where I can fix the consequences of my own mistakes.
Who is your “Yoda”? | https://medium.com/swlh/how-self-reflection-can-start-the-path-to-healing-2b80e65b072e | ['Jun Wu'] | 2019-11-03 18:20:53.493000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Writing', 'Self', 'Trauma', 'Healing'] |
Harmony | I was always a writer but lived in a bookkeeper’s body before I found Medium and broke free — well, almost. Working to work less and write more.
Follow | https://medium.com/chalkboard/harmony-c9b07922612d | [] | 2020-12-24 16:09:21.013000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Chalkboard Espresso', 'One Line Poem', 'Harmony', 'America'] |
Jazuz!!! And that fecker fart is going to cause more death and destruction to make it worse for… | Jazuz!!! And that fecker fart is going to cause more death and destruction to make it worse for Biden to take over. Put fart in prison!! He is a human rights abuser! I am shocked and stunned so many Americans back this behaviour.
Hitler would be proud of his aryan (no caps intended) protege. A fine disturbing piece Harper. J. 🙏🙏🙏🙏 | https://medium.com/@jamesgbrennan/jazuz-and-that-fecker-fart-is-going-to-cause-more-death-and-destruction-to-make-it-worse-for-67d5d4c09035 | ['James G Brennan'] | 2020-11-22 07:25:05.352000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Politics', 'Homeless', 'Life', 'Coronavirus'] |
Looking For The Logic Behind Logarithms | When I was first trying to figure out what topics to cover in this series, I started off by doing what any developer would do: I asked the internet, of course!
Well, to be a little more specific, I started off by googling for algorithms that I had heard about before but didn’t understand at all and wanted to learn more about. However, I quickly realized that I was going to have to work backwards — that is to say, I was going to go back to the beginning, and fill in the gaps of all of the things that I didn’t know. I had to learn the fundamentals and go back to the very basics before I could really wrap my head around any of the super complex algorithms that I really wanted to learn about.
One of the things that you’ll notice when looking at introductory CS courses and their syllabi is that everything, at least for the most part, is taught in the context of efficiency. Data structures and their traversal algorithms are explained in the context of how fast they are, how much time they take, and how much space you need to run them. So far, I’ve been only skimming the surface of space time complexity. When we learned about linked lists, we inadvertently stumbled upon Big O notation. Just in case you need a quick refresher (I know I do!), Big O notation is a way to express the amount of time that a function, action, or algorithm takes to run based on how many elements we pass to that function.
Here’s the thing, though: in the context of linked lists, we only scratched the surface of Big O notation. There’s a whole lot more to Big O than just constant and linear time. There are plenty of different functions to describe how well, how quickly, and how efficiently an algorithm runs. And it’s time for us to dig a little deeper into one of those functions — one that I’ve kind of been avoiding thus far.
Not to worry, though! Now that we know about tree data structures and binary searches, we have all the right tools in order to finally learn about this function.
But…what exactly is this function I keep talking about? Why, it’s a logarithmic function, of course!
Breaking down binary searches
Binary search is easy to spot once we understand it. On a very basic level, it looks something like this:
Make sure your data set is sorted. Find the middle element in the data set, and decide whether it is larger or smaller than the element that you’re looking for. Eliminate half of the data set as a possibility, and keep repeating this until you’re down to a single element.
The beauty of a binary search — and applying it to a binary search tree — is the simple fact that with each step that we take in traversing the tree, we eliminate half of the elements that we have to search through. In fact, this simplicity is what makes binary trees so powerful: in the process of narrowing down the search set, we also remove half of the search space.
But is it efficient? An even better question: just how efficient is it?
In order to understand efficiency, we have to think about binary search in the context of orders of magnitude. Another way to think about this is by answering the question:
How does our algorithm for searching for a single element start to change as our data set grows? Does it take more time? Do we have to do more work?
When traversing a binary search tree (or even simply performing a binary search on a sorted array), what we’re the most concerned with is how many steps we have to take to get down to a single element. And why is this? Well, this comes from the fact that binary search always ends up with us at a single element: it could be the element that we’re searching for, or it could be the element that’s the closest in value to the one that we’re searching for (in which case, we could easily determine that the element we’re looking for isn’t even in the tree!). In both cases, we end up having split our data set in half enough times that we’re down to only one item, and we can’t split that any further, which means that our search is officially done!
So, that’s what we’ll watch for — how many steps we have to take until we get down to a single element. Let’s play around with binary search on different-sized data sets and see if we can find a pattern.
We’ll start with 2 elements. Okay, this is pretty easy. We don’t even need to really sketch it out. When we only have two elements, it takes us only one step of splitting our data, and then we’re down to just one element.
Now, let’s grow our data set some more. Remember that if we want to search on a binary search tree, the tree has to be balanced; this means that if we want to add another layer to our tree, the number of nodes is going to grow exponentially. So, we’ll have to try this experiment out in different scenarios: with 2 elements, 4 elements, 8 elements, 16 elements, and then 32 elements.
How many steps we have to take to get down to a single element?
Okay, so how about 4 elements? I have a hard time keeping things in my head, so let’s use the drawing to keep track. It looks like when we have 4 elements, we have to take 2 steps: the first step splits our data set into 2 items that we ignore, and 2 items that we’ll split once again.
So, what if we make this even bigger? What happens if our data set is 8 items? Well, it’s nearly the same as 4 items, right? But with one extra step, where we split 8 items into 4. It seems like when we have 8 items in our data set, we need to take 3 steps to get down to just one item left.
Alright, let’s draw this out one more time: with 16 items! Maybe you can even guess how many steps it will take without looking. Using binary search, it will take us 4 steps to split 16 items down to just one single element.
Okay, now with 32 elements. (Just kidding. That’s a lot of little pink squares!)
We could probably keep drawing out all of the different sizes of binary search trees as it grows exponentially, but that would start to get a bit unwieldily! So, instead of drawing out how many steps it would take with 32 elements, let’s try to look for a pattern. I’ve got a feeling there’s got to be a pattern in there somewhere!
Let’s rearrange the information that we’ve gleaned from this exercise so that it’s easier to see what’s going on. Don’t worry if this looks weird at first — I promise it’s exactly the same information, just rewritten in a different way:
Eventually, we want to split the list enough times and end up with just one item.
In the table above, n represents the total number of items or nodes (in a tree). Based on the exercise of sketching out different scenarios of data sets we did earlier, we can substitute any of those numbers in for n, and our drawing should still hold true. For example, when we had 16 items, it took us 4 steps, because 16/16 is the only situation when we’re left with just one single item left to check.
So, how can we generalize this? Well, just from looking at the right column of this table, we can see one pattern immediately: take a look at each of the denominators in the fraction that’s used to determine how many items are left to check. They’re doubling each time: 2, 4, 8, 16, and so on. Interesting.
But it gets even more interesting when we look at the left column in the table: the comparisons we had to make — in other words, how many steps we had to take to get down to just one element. There’s a pattern there, too. They’re increasing incrementally, by just one.
However, if we look at them side by side, we can start to see yet another pattern emerge:
If we raise 2 to the power of the number of steps in the left column, we get the denominator of the fraction that represents the number of items still remaining to be checked in the right column.
Now, without even drawing out 32 items, we can guess how many steps it would take: 2⁵ is equal to 32, so we can determine that if n is equal to 32, it will take us 5 steps to narrow down our search set to just one single item.
Hooray! We’ve just naturally stumbled upon a logarithm in the wild! Now, let’s figure out what on earth that actually means.
Finding the rhythm of a logarithm
If you’re thinking, “Hey wait, a logarithm is just an exponent!”…well, you’re right. Logs are just exponents, but flipped, in a way. A logarithm is the power to which a number must be raised in order to equal another number. Another way of thinking about logarithm like log a x is by answering the question:
To what power (exponent) must the variable a be raised to in order for me to get x?
Cool, that’s great I guess. But what do logarithms have to do with binary searches, exactly? Well, a whole lot, as it turns out! The best way of illustrating this is by looking at our binary search algorithm in a different perspective. Let’s go back to our example from earlier — we have 16 items, and we want to binary search through this data set until we’re left with just one item.
As we start getting into the nitty gritty math behind this, keep in mind that important question that we’re the most concerned with here is this: how many times did we divide our collection of items in half before we were down to just one item?
When we have 16 items, we have to divide our data set in half four times until we’re down to just one item. We divide 16 by two once, then divide 8 by two, then 4 by two, and finally 2 by two.
How many times did we divide our collection of items in half before we were down to just one item?
So far so good, right? We already know this to be true, since we wrote and drew it all out! But there’s another way to write this. Dividing by two is the same as multiplying by 1/2. Which means that we could also that say this: when we have 16 items, we have to multiply our data set by 1/2, four times, until we’re down to just one item.
Okay. We should clean this up a little bit. Let’s rewrite it.
Since we know that we need to multiply by 1/2 four different times, we could also say that we need to multiply 16 x (1/2)⁴ until we’re down to just one single item.
Okay! Now we’re getting somewhere. Before we go any further, let’s just make sure we did that right. (Also, I want to prove to you that I’m not doing any weird math magic here — the numbers still check out!)
Let’s check this math!
Okay, cool. Still with me? Good.
Now, we’re sure that this works for the number 16, which is to say: this works for when we have a dataset of 16 items. But, we’re programmers! Let’s abstract this so that we have a formula that we can can apply to any size dataset.
Instead of 16 x (1/2)⁴ = 1, let’s use some more generic variables. We’ll use n in place of 16, to represent the total number of items. And instead of (1/2)⁴, we’ll replace 4 with x, where x represents the number of times we need to divide n in order to get to one single item at the end.
Rewriting our math and finding the logarithm inside of it!
Nice! We used some simple algebraic rules and rewrote our abstraction! What did we end up with? A logarithm! Which we could read as: n equals 2 to the power of x, or in other words, log 2 of n is equal to x.
Remember that question from earlier? To what power (exponent) must the variable a be raised to in order for me to get x? In this case, we could say that we need to raise 2 to the power of however many times we need to divide our dataset in half. Or, another way to put it: the number of total elements is equal to 2 to the power of steps we need to take to get down to one element.
I think it’s safe for us to revisit our table from earlier and add in our abstraction:
We now have a logarithmic function to help us determine how many comparisons to make.
Awesome — we now have a logarithmic function to help us determine how many maximum number of comparisons we’d need to make as the size of our dataset (or binary search tree) grows in size.
Meet O(log n), your new best friend!
We’ve diverged quite a bit from where we started, haven’t we? We’ve done some drawing and a lot of math, but…what on earth does this have to do with computer science?
Well, logarithms play a big part in how efficient an algorithm is. Remember what we set off to find out about initially? Just how efficient is a binary search?
Now that we have seen firsthand how efficient a binary search is by drawing it out and by doing the math behind it, we hopefully can see that a binary search algorithm is an operation that is logarithmic, and runs in logarithmic time.
I really like the way that Dave Perrett describes logarithmic algorithms in his blog post:
Any algorithm which cuts the problem in half each time is O(log n). O(log n) operations run in logarithmic time — the operation will take longer as the input size increases, but once the input gets fairly large it won’t change enough to worry about. If you double n, you have to spend an extra amount of time t to complete the task. If n doubles again, t won’t double, but will increase by a constant amount.
This is exactly what we stumbled upon so naturally when we were breaking down binary search earlier! Each time we doubled our tree or data set, we only had to take one extra step to find an element. This is why searching through 32 elements took only one maximum extra comparison than searching through 16 elements — the algorithm we were using was logarithmic, and was cutting our problem in half each time we searched.
This is one of the reasons that binary searches are so popular in computer science — they are super efficient for datasets that grow arbitrarily large.
But there’s another reason that logarithms are interesting to us as programmers. They are the inverse of exponential functions, which hopefully make you shudder, because exponential algorithms are bad news!
Logarithmic functions are the inverse of their exponential function counterparts.
An exponential function grows the number of operations that we have to do as our data set grows on an exponential level; a logarithmic function, on the other hand, is the inverse. It grows logarithmically. We can see how these two functions are the inverses of one another when we plot them on a graph and compare them to a linear function, which takes constant time.
But as programmers, we’re not really plotting graphs or thinking about any of this all that much. Those of us who do need to think about binary search or binary search trees probably already know by heart that the efficiency of a binary search algorithm is O(log n).
The only time we’d probably really ever need to think about this is in the context of Big O Notation. The team over at Big O Cheatsheet has a beautiful graph that shows how O(log n) compares to a bunch of other algorithms. Here’s a less pretty, but more simplified version of that graph that compares O(log n) to the other algorithms we’ve looked at in this series: O(1), or constant time, O(n), or linear time, and O(n²), or quadratic time:
How do operations in logarithmic time compare to other operations at runtime?
Generally speaking, O(log n) is a good algorithm to have on your side. And even if you never have to think about it again, now you know how it actually works!
Resources
Do you love to log? Good news — there’s still so much to learn and so much that I couldn’t cover in this post! If you want to learn more, you might enjoy these resources. | https://medium.com/basecs/looking-for-the-logic-behind-logarithms-9e79d7666dda | ['Vaidehi Joshi'] | 2017-05-25 21:35:59.683000+00:00 | ['Mathematics', 'Code', 'Programming', 'Algorithms', 'Computer Science'] |
Our investment in YvesBlue — the true picture of a company made clear | Impact & ESG is a theme we have very strong conviction on at Illuminate. We have written about this in the past and have been actively looking for investments in the space given the substantial impact this will have on the way we judge and assess companies in society. We are thrilled to announce our latest investment in the space, leading YvesBlue’s $2m Seed round alongside SixThirty, Tribeca Early Stage Partners and other industry insiders.
What if you learnt that 90% of your pension’s value was ‘intangible’?
Well… this is exactly what a recent study of the underlying value of the S&P revealed. If you strip the value of tangible assets from the market cap of the index you are left with a multi-trillion-dollar black hole. This number has been on a steady upward trajectory as our lives become more digital and was only accelerated by Covid-19.
'I ntangible value’, things that cannot be explained by basic accounting, has only increased with the proliferation of digital economies.
Book value is not everything. There are many companies whose publicly traded value is below book. This indicates the market has a different view on the value of that company to what an accountant would. Most investment managers value companies using a discounted cash flow analysis (DCF) — where future revenues & earnings are estimated using a host of factors to probability weight and calculate the present-day value.
The challenge is 1) working out what these future cash flows will be and 2) judging what should be considered for this analysis. Here, traditional accounting standards only get you so far.
No mainstream standard can tell you how to value a ‘brand’ or a company’s reputation; the public fallout that could result from revelations of modern slave labour in a supply chain; the cost of transitioning to a carbon economy; or which businesses are at risk of having their models turned upside down by regulations. These are just some of the questions being grappled with by professionals who have a dire lack of tools to support this analysis.
Despite what is missing… market data is already a multi-hundred-billion-dollar business
Bloomberg, Refinitiv/Thompson Reuters, IHS Markit, FactSet, S&P, Moodys, MSCI… there is a long list of multi-billion-dollar vendors who sell market data, analytics, risk, reporting and pricing tools to professionals trying to value and manage portfolios of assets.
But what if the absence of granular ESG data meant that analysts were buying just 50% of what they needed to make investment decisions. Whether that number is 5%, 50% or 95% it points to an enormous opportunity for new vendors to become the torch bearers for Impact & ESG and help define the new standards we need to judge how a company is affecting society beyond the earnings it makes.
The growth in new policy interventions, as reported by the PRI, shows no sign of slowing.
This is not a passing fad. The AUM growth in Sustainable Funds clearly demonstrates the real business opportunities for asset managers who can capitalise. We are only at the tip of the ESG iceberg (pun intended). Growing shareholder activism and the number of cumulative sustainability focused regulations shows there will be penalties for those who fall behind across the entire supply chain.
Hope as we might… there will NEVER be just one score, data source or reporting standard to quantify impact and ESG
There are already several emerging businesses who are attempting to serve this need as well as the incumbent ESG rating providers. While these products serve a purpose, we do not think they are the complete solution. Two analysts reviewing the same earnings statement can draw two very different conclusions; we believe the same is true of Impact & ESG. The current difference is that earnings statements are largely standardised, detailed, quantifiable, and comparable. ESG scores are not, so the market is begging for more data sources to enable them to make their own analysis.
This is not a problem that relates to a few fringe companies — rating agencies disagree on the blue chip names in every portfolio.
We can already see this playing out. Different ESG ratings agencies frequently give the same company vastly different scores depending on their internal methodologies. There is no easy solve for this. New entrants are either coming up with new ‘better’ scores or exposing the data points behind this to allow analysts to make their own decisions on how to rate a company.
One thing is clear –the number of data sources and authorities on quantifying ESG & Impact will continue to proliferate. We are drowning in data and, like in other areas of financial market data, we do not believe there will ever be just one score, data source or standard. This is especially true in a frontier space like ‘Impact’ as we begin to quantify new data points for the first time and incorporate them into company analysis.
If there are multiple data sources, there will be a need for tools to analyse them… this is where YvesBlue comes in
We believe there is a growing gap in the market for a provider to pull together the disparate and growing number of ESG & Impact data sources (both internal and external) to present a detailed and consolidated view of the Impact characteristics of the companies in a portfolio.
The Yves Blue solution solves one of the biggest problems in mainstream ESG analysis.
Most financial professionals are not ESG or Impact experts and will need the support of both internal initiatives and external vendors to incorporate this thinking into their decision-making processes, risk modelling, portfolio construction and investor reporting. Building a platform which ingests multiple data sources, visualises them, gives you the flexibility on what to prioritise and report this back to clients is no easy (or cheap) feat.
Yes, there will always be institutions who want to build this in-house… but we do not believe that it makes sense for every company managing money, from institutional asset managers through to independent wealth advisers, to do so. Especially when the team at YvesBlue have a sophisticated and easy to access solution ready to go.
A team the market can trust
This is a critical part of our investment thesis and reason we believe this team is positioned to win. Over the next decade, company analysts will need to rapidly learn to incorporate new data points and frameworks into their way of working. There are few people and teams who have both the ESG & Impact credentials, tech skills, entrepreneurial drive, and financial services background to understand how to build a product like this to market.
Anna-Marie Wascher, founder and CEO, was an early mover in ESG & Impact as the founder of Flat World Partners — a leading, early, impact investment advisory firm that counts blue chip global banks as clients. She was frustrated that there was no way to actively track the portfolios her team constructed so Yves Blue was born. Michael Smith, co-founder and CTO, was the founding CTO at Ellevest, building flexible frameworks for digital portfolio management. The depth of the rest of the team is equally impressive for such a young business and includes individuals with experience launching some of the earliest sustainable funds and building tech at leading VC backed wealth techs.
We are looking forward to working with this team as ESG and Impact analysis becomes as fundamental to company assessment as Income Statements and Balance Sheets. | https://medium.com/illuminate-financial/our-investment-in-yves-blue-the-true-picture-of-a-company-made-clear-54d8a1d747d8 | ['Katherine Wilson'] | 2020-11-18 12:15:22.631000+00:00 | ['Sustainability', 'Impact Investing', 'Climate', 'Investment', 'Fintech'] |
The Storm | Steeples reach but fail to touch the sky
Barren pews and stale communion bread
Songs that call for rain that never comes
When will we admit that we are dead?
We built a wall to keep the Spirit out
Lip service to the Word but hearts so cold
Rules and rules and rules and rules and rules
We leave the best of us out of the fold
I was sick and lost and needed hope
You went by me on the other side
Turned your face away so not to see
My wounded hands and feet, my piercéd side
You set a crown of thorns upon my brow
You battered me with words that flayed my soul
You mocked my hopes and dreams, the way I love
You told me I could never be quite whole
Lightning strike
Thunder roll
Whirlwind come
Torrent fall
Shatter glass and burn it down
Blow it all away
You are done
My time has come
I am the storm
And we will never be the same
This story is a response to Prism & Pen’s writing prompt Stormy Weather!
Other stories so far — | https://medium.com/prismnpen/the-storm-9c556abd077e | ['Esther Spurrill-Jones'] | 2020-07-24 14:26:35.226000+00:00 | ['Storms', 'LGBTQ', 'Christianity', 'Church', 'Poetry'] |
Blaming the Victim | Blaming the Victim
Literally Literary and The Writing Cooperative prompt
Photo by Clayton Cardinalli on Unsplash
For three years as an undergraduate, I claimed a Social Work major. I wanted to do good work for the poor and disadvantaged. I was minoring in English and decided to take a course in Southern Literature in which we read several Faulkner short stories and his masterwork, Absalom, Absalom! As I read Faulkner’s prose about the benighted south, I felt kinship. I was an Alabamian, after all. I said goodbye to Social Work then and became an English major.
Yet from my social work days, I will always remember William Ryan’s seminal text, Blaming the Victim, from which he reflected on our nation’s pervasive, negative attitude toward our “have-nots.” An attitude that blames these unfortunate people for the downward course of their lives. That the poverty, neglect, and abuse they suffer is entirely their doing.
That they don’t have a job because they are too lazy to hold one.
Getting a job isn’t easy under any circumstance. I applied for approximately 100 college teaching positions up and down the eastern half of this country. My wife, herself finishing her Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology, was willing to go wherever I could get a job.
Of those 100 applications, I landed two interviews.
The one I got was at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina. Clinton, a former mill town, had fallen on hard times. The mill had shut down, and the town’s population, hovering at 10,000, was on the wane.
So upon my hiring, the first question I had for the college was whether or not it could also employ my wife, and if it couldn’t do that, could it help her find a job? I noticed early on that many faculty member’s spouses had staff jobs on campus, in the library and in administration.
However, the college already had a counselor, a member of the psychology faculty. As we all know, one counselor for 1200 students is surely adequate.
To her credit, though, this professional helped my wife find a job in another town to the south of Clinton— a good state job with benefits. The catch was that since we had freely chosen to live in Greenville, forty-five miles to the north of Clinton, our commute would be close to 200 miles per day, given that we had one car. We made this commute for two years until my wife became pregnant, quit that job, and then after our baby was a few months old, went into private practice.
In the end, everything worked out for us, and we’ve been in these same jobs for over thirty years, have raised two daughters, and finally got that second car.
So I shouldn’t complain. I am a full professor, have tenure, love my colleagues, students, and the courses I teach. Sure, there have been conflicts and down times, and the salary isn’t up to competitive standards, at least for those at my rank. Over my tenure, I have taught courses in Southern Literature, Film Studies, Creative Nonfiction, and I inaugurated a course in American Literature and Ethnic Identity, in which I have taught such works as Typical American, by Gish Jen, The Romance Reader, by Pearl Abraham, and Caucasia, by Danzy Senna.
I started this ethnic lit course for three reasons:
Our students are predominately Caucasian. My wife is a native of Iran. I am half-Jewish.
Of these three reasons, the last two formed the problem that I can never forget.
My “Exulansis.” | https://medium.com/literally-literary/blaming-the-victim-e8474f9e5425 | ['Terry Barr'] | 2019-11-27 02:28:23.729000+00:00 | ['Literally Literary', 'Exulansis', 'Nonfiction', 'Family', 'Education'] |
Can JPMorgan Chase Tell a Social Story? | JPMorgan Chase’s plan
JPMorgan Chase is a key actor in the financial markets. For decades, it has been criticized by politicians, social advocates, and public leaders for aggressively promoting mortgages, discriminating against Black and Latinx mortgage borrowers, and other financial affairs. Thus, its new plan addresses many of the gaps and burdens the bank was accused of causing or encouraging.
The bank’s initiative is impressive in many ways. Financially, $30 billion is a groundbreaking amount to invest over a relatively short period of time. A donation of $2 billion for nonprofits is an increase in JPMorgan Chase’s current donations and emphasizes supporting Black, and Latinx led organizations. Essentially, the bank’s plan is a meaningful declaration of its acknowledgment of the dire problem of racial inequality in America. The bank’s detailed plan to support underserved communities could become an important Wall Street corporate responsibility benchmark for evaluating social change programs. Lessons learned from the plan, and its execution will benefit both the financial, governmental, and nonprofit sectors.
Though these are important causes, we should remember that they also correspond with the bank’s goals of increasing its customer numbers. Critics of the bank could see its investment as a business decision designed to funnel in new customers, drive more profit, and gain a positive reputation among the democrats who may control the White House after the upcoming elections.
What’s missing in JPMorgan Chase’s social change story?
The largest bank in North America is telling a financial story with measurable goals and code-names for investments. What’s missing? Empathy and the potential tangible and intangible effects it will have on people’s lives. Simply put, the bank states the details of its ambitious plan, but it doesn’t move from abstract numbers to a relatable, concrete example, showing how the plan will eventually change one family’s budget.
By telling the story of racial inequality in corporate financial headlines, JPMorgan Chase missed an invaluable opportunity to shift the limelight to the meaning of inequality in real life for real people. The bank could have announced its ambitious plan to minimize the inequality and explained and emphasized the everyday implications of that inequality for underserved communities.
The bank’s bold statements and plans are missing two key aspects of a social story. First, the bank missed an important opportunity to define the problems it tries to solve. Defining the problem is not only crucial to design the correct solution, but would also benefit JPMorgan Chase twice over: by framing the bank as a key actor that understands the barriers faced by people, and by establishing itself as Wall Street’s leader in setting the guidelines for future financial discussions about overcoming racial inequality and inequity.
Second, the bank’s story is mostly financial, as it focuses on the economic bird’s-eye view of big numbers. Yet, the bold numbers lack feeling. Namely, they don’t demonstrate the meaning of the change the bank leads for the Black and Latinx communities. If the bank had included this aspect, it would present data and make its message relatable and engaging for the audience. When telling a financial story of social change, the results are only exciting when the audience is fully invested. In JPMorgan Chase’s case, the audience is not just Wall Street and other financial institutions, but also the American people, specifically the Black and Latinx communities, their beneficiaries.
A clear explanation of the barriers to opening a checking and savings account or taking out a business loan or mortgage, which the bank is trying to solve, could add a powerful meaning to its actions. This explanation would signify its future implications for a long term social change. In that case, Wall Street would have to follow suit.
The bank is trying to solve big problems, yet the problems are not big just because of their national scale, but also because of their meaning. Every person that is being discriminated against and who struggles to take out a mortgage or a business loan feels that their problem is big. Part of JPMorgan Chase’s story should be not just the national scale, but the essence, the struggle that racial inequality causes.
An effective social story would include an overview of the problem and an explanation of the solution's impact in both the large numbers and in real life. This addition would include an ideal case study detailing how the plan will change families’ paths towards homeownership or financial health. | https://medium.com/swlh/can-jpmorgan-chase-tell-a-social-story-b09e347d2ff1 | ['Shani Horowitz-Rozen'] | 2020-10-23 05:40:40.147000+00:00 | ['Housing', 'Strategic Communication', 'Business', 'Social Change', 'Race'] |
Chinese Camp, California | Behind The Poem:
I drove through parts of Chinese Camp, CA on my way back from Yosemite (which is the most beautiful place I’ve been to). I remember seeing a few “shacks” and dated homes sprinkled throughout “Nowhere Land,” as I called it. Nothing was around for many miles, no stores, no people, no gas stations, nothing. Just flatlands, seemingly abandoned homes, and trees. It felt like a ghost town, and with a current population of 206 (as of 2020), it made me wonder who lives there and why.
Bonus: Some people think this town is haunted, namely the St. Francis Xavier Church (with a convenient graveyard out back) as well as the abandoned homes and buildings.
I’ll have to go back one day with my camera to capture this spooky atmosphere…as well as a few ghosts… | https://medium.com/house-of-haiku/chinese-camp-california-a85206bc3326 | [] | 2020-12-12 13:29:51.224000+00:00 | ['Poetry On Medium', 'Traveling', 'Short Stories And Poems', 'House Of Haiku', 'California'] |
Power BI Interview Questions | Contributed by: Sambit Mishra
Please find below the rundown of top 20 Power BI Interview Questions and Answers that are highly likely to be asked by the interviewers.
1). Define the parts of Microsoft self-service business intelligence solution?
Microsoft has two sections for Self-Service BI
2). What do you mean by self-service business intelligence?
Self-Service Business Intelligence (SSBI)
SSBI is a way to deal with data analytics that empowers business users to filter, segment, and, break down their data, without the in depth technical knowledge in statistical analysis, business intelligence (BI).
SSBI has made it simpler for end clients to get to their data and make different visuals to better business insights.
Anyone who has a basic comprehension of the data can create reports to build informative and shareable dashboards.
3). What is Power BI?
It is a cloud-based data and information sharing environment. Once we have created reports utilizing Power Query, Power Pivot and Power View, we can share our insights/inferences with our friends/colleagues. Power BI, which is a part of SharePoint on the web, lets us load Excel workbooks into the cloud and share them with a chosen group of users. Apart from that, our colleagues can interact with our reports to apply filters and slicers to feature data. They are completed by Power BI, a basic way of sharing our analysis and investigation from the Microsoft cloud.
Power BI features permits us to:
Share presentations and queries with our friends/colleagues.
Update our Excel file from data or information sources that can be in the cloud.
Display the output on multiple devices. This incorporates PCs, tablets, & HTML 5-empowered mobile devices that utilize Power BI application.
Query our data using natural language processing (NLP).
4). What do you know about Power BI Desktop?
Power BI Desktop is a free desktop application which can be installed on a computer. Power BI Desktop works in cohesion with the Power BI service by providing data exploration, shaping, modelling, and making reports with profoundly intuitive visualizations. We can save our work to a file or publish our data and reports to our Power BI site to share with other users.
5). What data sources can Power BI associate with?
The rundown of data sources for Power BI is broad, but it can be classified into the following:
Files : Data can be imported from Excel, Power BI Desktop files and CSV files.
: Data can be imported from Excel, Power BI Desktop files and CSV files. Content Packs : It is a assortment of related files that are stored as a group. In Power BI, there are two types of content packs, one from services providers like Google Analytics, or Salesforce and other from those made and shared by other users in our organization.
: It is a assortment of related files that are stored as a group. In Power BI, there are two types of content packs, one from services providers like Google Analytics, or Salesforce and other from those made and shared by other users in our organization. Connectors to databases and different datasets such as Azure SQL, Database and SQL Server Analysis Services tabular data, and so on.
6). What are key components in Power BI?
Following are the key components of Power BI:
Visualizations: Visualization is a visual portrayal of data. For example: Pie Chart, Line Graph, Side by Side Bar Charts, Graphical Presentation of the source data on top of Geographical Map, Tree Map, and so forth. Datasets: Dataset is an assortment of data that Power BI uses to create its visualizations.
For example: Excel sheets, Oracle or SQL server tables, and so on. Reports: Report is an assortment of visualizations that show up together on at least one or more pages.
For example: Sales by Country, State, City Report, Logistic Performance report, Profit by Products report, and so forth. Dashboards: Dashboard is single layer introduction of multiple visualizations, i.e. we can congregate one or more visualizations into one page layer.
For example: Sales dashboard can have pie charts, topographical maps and bar charts. Tiles: Tile is a solitary visualization in a report or on a dashboard.
For example: Pie Chart in Dashboard or Report.
7). What are the various types of filters in Power BI Reports?
Power BI provides a multitude of options to filter reports, data and visualization. The following are the rundown of Filter types:
Visual-level Filters: These filters work on just an individual visualization or perception, diminishing the measure of data that the representation can see. Besides, visual-level filters can filter data as well as calculations.
These filters work on just an individual visualization or perception, diminishing the measure of data that the representation can see. Besides, visual-level filters can filter data as well as calculations. Page-level Filters: These filters basically work at the report-page level. Various pages in the similar report can have diverse page-level filters.
These filters basically work at the report-page level. Various pages in the similar report can have diverse page-level filters. Report-level Filters: These filters deal with the entire report, filtering all pages and visualizations included as part of the report.
Power BI visual, as we know, has interactions feature, which makes filtering a report a quick activity. Visual interactions are helpful, yet they come with certain limitations:
The filter is not spared as part of the report. Whenever we open a report, we can start to play with visual filters yet it is extremely unlikely to store the filter in the saved report.
The filter is always ostensible. In some cases, we want a filter for the whole report, but we do not want any visual sign of the filter being applied.
8). What are content packs in Power BI?
Content packs for services are pre-built solutions for popular services as a part of the facility BI experience. A subscriber to a service can very fast connect to their account from Power BI to see data through live dashboards and interactive reports that have been already built for them. Microsoft has content packs for popular services like Salesforce.com, Adobe Analytics, Azure Mobile Engagement, and so on. Organizational content packs make way for users, Business Intelligence professionals, and system integrator, the tools to create their own content packs to share purpose-built dashboards, reports & datasets within their organization.
9). What is DAX?
To do basic calculation and data analysis on data in power pivot, we use Data Analysis DAX). It is a formula language that is used to compute calculated columns and calculated fields.
• DAX works on column values.
• DAX cannot modify or insert data.
• We can create calculated columns and measures with DAX, however we can’t calculate rows using DAX.
10). What are the foremost common DAX Functions used?
Below are a number of the foremost commonly used DAX function:
• SUM, MIN, MAX, AVG, COUNTROWS, DISTINCTCOUNT
• IF, AND, OR, SWITCH
• ISBLANK, ISFILTERED, ISCROSSFILTERED
• VALUES, ALL, FILTER, CALCULATE,
• UNION, INTERSECT, EXCEPT, NATURALINNERJOIN, NATURALLEFTEROUTERJOIN,
SUMMARIZECOLUMNS, ISEMPTY,
• VAR (Variables)
• GEOMEAN, MEDIAN, DATEDIFF
11). How is the FILTER function used?
The FILTER function returns a table with a filter condition applied for every of its source table rows. The FILTER function is never utilized in isolation; it’s generally used as a parameter to other functions like CALCULATE.
• FILTER works like an iterator and can negatively impact performance over large source tables.
• Complex filtering logic can be applied like referencing a measure in a filter expression.
o FILTER (MyTable, [SalesMetric] > 500)
12). What’s unique about the CALCULATE and CALCULATETABLE functions?
These functions are the sole functions that allow us to switch the filter context of measures or tables.
• By adding to the existing filter context of queries.
• By overriding filter context from queries.
• By removing existing filter context from queries.
Limitations:
• Filter parameters can only operate one column at a time.
• Filter parameters cannot reference a metric.
13). What’s the common table function for grouping data?
SUMMARIZE()
• Main groupby function in SSAS.
• The practice that is recommended is to specify table and group by columns but not metrics. We can use ADDCOLUMNS function.
SUMMARIZECOLUMNS
• New group by function for SSAS and Power BI Desktop which is more efficient.
• Specify groups by columns, table, and expressions.
14). What are the various benefits of using Variables in DAX ?
Below are a number of the benefits:
• While declaring & evaluating a variable, the variable is often reused multiple times during a DAX expression, thus avoiding additional queries of the source database.
• Variables can only make DAX expressions more logical to interpret.
• Variables can only be scoped to their measure/query, as they can’t be shared among measures, queries or be defined at the model level.
15). How do we create trailing X month metrics via DAX against a non-standard calendar?
The solution will involve:
1. CALCULATE function to regulate (take over) filter context of measures.
2. ALL to get rid of existing filters on the date dimension.
3. FILTER to spot which rows of the date dimension to use.
Alternatively, CONTAINS could also be used:
• CALCULATE(FILTER(ALL(‘DATE’),…….))
16). What are the various Excel BI add-in?
Below are the foremost important BI add-in to Excel:
• Power Query: It helps find , editing and loading external data.
• Power Pivot: It is primarily used for data modelling and data analysis.
• Power View: It’s used to design visual and interactively reports.
• Power Map: It helps us to display insights on 3D Maps.
17). What’s Power Pivot?
Power Pivot is an add-in for Microsoft Excel 2010 that permits you to import many rows of knowledge from multiple data sources into one Excel workbook. It allows us to create relationships between data that is heterogeneous in nature, build calculated columns and measures using formulas, build PivotTables and PivotCharts. We will have to then further analyse the information in order to make timely business decisions without requiring any IT assistance.
18). What’s Power Pivot Data Model?
It is a model that’s made from data types, tables, columns, and table relations. These data tables are primarily constructed for holding data for a business entity.
19). What’s xVelocity in-memory analytics engine utilized in Power Pivot?
The main engine behind power pivot is that the xVelocity in-memory analytics engine. It can handle great deal of knowledge because it stores data in columnar databases, and in memory analytics which ends up in faster processing of knowledge because it loads all data to RAM memory.
20). What are the differences in data modelling between Power BI Desktop and Power Pivot for Excel?
We have a number of the differences enlisted below:
• Power BI Desktop has a process for supporting bi-directional cross filtering relationships, security, calculated tables, and Direct Query options.
• Power Pivot for Excel has one to many relationships, supports only calculated columns, and supports only import mode. Security roles can’t be defined in Power Pivot for Excel. | https://medium.com/@mygreatlearning/power-bi-interview-questions-f9bce7990f2f | ['Great Learning'] | 2021-01-21 10:45:46.585000+00:00 | ['Power Bi Tutorials', 'Interview', 'Power Bi', 'Interview Questions'] |
Creating Discord Slash Commands with Discord.js | Step 0: Creating the Bot
If you already have a Discord bot ready to go, you can skip ahead to step 1. Otherwise, we’ll refer you to the Discord.js guide, which has very helpful articles on creating a bot https://discordjs.guide/preparations/setting-up-a-bot-application.html and getting setup with Discord.js https://discordjs.guide/creating-your-bot/
Step 1: Creating the Commands
Before we start, it’s important to ensure that your bot has the applications.commands scope selected when creating the bot invite link. If your bot has already been added, you can use the link below to authorize it again for your guild with the commands scope (make sure to replace your bot ID). Slash commands will only work in guilds with that have this scope until January, when Discord will do it automatically.
https://discord.com/api/oauth2/authorize?client_id=<YOUR_BOT_ID_HERE>&scope=applications.commands
Since slash commands are still in beta, there is no UI yet for creating and managing the commands. Instead, we have to use the Discord API through HTTP requests.
There are two types of slash commands: guild commands and global commands. As implied by the name, guild commands exist per guild, and allow bots to create custom commands for each guild. Global commands, on the other hand, exist in any server that the bot is present in, so they’re handy to use for any general commands related to your bot. For the purposes of this guide we’ll use guild commands, but the process is largely the same when using global commands.
Each slash command is represented by a JSON object that contains data about what Discord should feed the user when they invoke your command. Below is annotated JSON for a sample command that would search GIFs for a specific type of penguin.
If you want to learn more about the command structure, visit this documentation here: https://discord.com/developers/docs/interactions/slash-commands#applicationcommand
Step 2: Registering the Commands
Now that we’ve got our command figured out, we can add it to Discord. This is a one time operation, so you can do it however you like. We’ll show you how to do it both using Insomnia Core, a GUI application, and inside Node.js itself with node-fetch .
To register a command with Discord, we’ll need three things:
The API endpoint Our bot token Our command data
The API endpoint differs if you’re trying to create a guild command or a global command. You’ll need to send a POST request here, with your bot token as the authorization and your command data in JSON as the body.
Global commands:
https://discord.com/api/v8/applications/<bot_id>/commands
Guild commands:
https://discord.com/api/v8/applications/<bot_id>/guilds/<guild_id>/commands
Now that we’ve gathered everything, we can finally create our command!
Using a GUI application:
Add your chosen endpoint to the URL bar at the top. Make sure to enter your bot ID (and guild ID, if applicable).
Then, paste in the JSON you created in step 1 for the body. Make sure the content type is set to JSON so Discord doesn’t return an error. Here’s the sample JSON again for easy copying: | https://medium.com/@kalissaac/creating-discord-slash-commands-with-discord-js-b9da53a9851f | [] | 2020-12-22 17:12:45.182000+00:00 | ['Discord Bot', 'Slash Commands', 'Guides And Tutorials', 'Discord', 'Discord Js'] |
Data Literacy —The ABCs in the Age of Data (Part I) | Word cloud of feedback for the Data Literacy ePrimer, an eLearning course we designed
Getting someone to navigate and understand the complexities of what Data Science and AI really is, can be difficult in the face of the hype surrounding it.
We started out with a simple ambition to help public officers understand more about Data Science & AI (“DSAI”). By the end of our journey, we created an eLearning course with about 4 hours of videos, diagrams, and explanations, teaching a broad range of topics from DSAI use cases, importance of data, visual analytics principles, Machine Learning as well as a framework on how to scope a data project. When we received positive reviews and feedback for the Data Literacy ePrimer, we knew that the effort over the past 1+ year was well worth it.
Here’s a look back at the development journey of how we built up the content, and hopefully inspire our public officers reading this to pick up the ePrimer. We believe it is important knowledge that will serve you well going into the age of data.
The Problem
The Data Science & AI Division at GovTech has been collaborating with public officers across various agencies on projects for a few years. We have a thriving community of enthusiasts and practitioners which we engage with regularly as well. Over the years of project collaboration and community engagement, we slowly developed a sense of what the common misconceptions about data are, and what baseline knowledge, we think, would really help raise the overall understanding about data for the public service as a whole.
We call that pool of knowledge data literacy. Unfortunately, this body of knowledge is not something you learn about comprehensively in most data-related courses out there.
Based on our framework on data training, both Data Literacy and acquiring applied analytics skills are equally important.
You can probably attend half-day seminars about how cool Data Science & AI is, but you may not gain a deeper appreciation of why good data is of paramount importance.
You can attend 3-day courses on advanced analytics features in Excel to work with real data, but you won’t learn why some charts and dashboards just help people understand the presented insights better.
You can also attend 5-day courses on visual analytics principles and how to use tools to visualise data, but you will not be able to peel open the black box of how machine learning helps you predict outcomes.
How many of these courses can a person realistically attend? Going for one or two of such courses are often inadequate to understand the full picture behind what makes Data Science & AI useful.
And it’s no wonder why management can’t reconcile why their “trained” staff did not come back with the right skills to perform magic with data. | https://medium.com/dsaid-govtech/data-literacy-the-abcs-in-the-age-of-data-part-i-7007a8b17506 | ['Joseph Tan'] | 2020-10-06 02:43:05.032000+00:00 | ['Govtech', 'Data Science', 'AI', 'Capability Development', 'Data Literacy'] |
5 Reasons to Take Spring Break | You’ve been home with your family for weeks and travel is off the table, so spring break is just a wash this year, right? No way! It might not be a typical week at the beach or even a hang around town staycation, but you can (and should!) make time for spring break. Here are 5 reason to make spring break happen:
1. Everyone Needs a Break
You’ve all been working hard and adjusting to major changes. Give yourself a week to relax and reward all your hard work with some fun!
2. Fun Matters!
Your family has had lots of time together, but how much of it has been dedicated to fun? Step away from school and work and spend a few days just having fun and doing the things that bring you joy.
3. Create Your Own Adventure
You have to stay home, but you can still create fun adventures for your family. Get creative! Camp out in the back yard. Break out the sprinkler and the slip-n-slide and make your own water park. Your imagination can make this spring break one they’ll never forget!
4. You Need Less Stress
Let’s be honest, the Covid-19 crisis has been tough on everyone. We’re worried about keeping our families safe and healthy, job security, and our children’s education. That is a LOT of stress. Taking a break and giving yourself time to relax is a vital part of maintaining your mental and physical health.
5. You’re Making Memories
This is already a time we’ll never forget, but let’s do our best to fill it with great memories. It might not be your family’s most exciting spring break, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be wonderful! Spend time making your own fun and enjoying this unique time together.
The world is pretty crazy right now, but the sun is still shining, the flowers are blooming, and the backyard never looked so good! You deserve a break, and if you need a hand keeping your business running while you enjoy some much-needed downtime, SophieZo is here for you. Book a call today to discover how you can make the most of your time. | https://medium.com/@sophiez67/5-reasons-to-take-spring-break-ceebe852b8e8 | ['Sophie Zollmann'] | 2020-04-20 12:57:20.713000+00:00 | ['Vacation', 'Spring Break', 'Business Management', 'Online Business', 'Family'] |
In Product Development as in Cycling | IsraelRide 2016
On my first cycling Century, I knew very little about the cycling lifestyle, and my ego was way bigger than my muscles. I kept up with the front group of riders at a 23 mph pace for the first 35 flat miles and was feeling like a hotshot. But then I had to face the remaining 65 miles of steep hill climbs and harrowing descents, with no energy in reserve. I crawled across the 102-mile finish line as the sun was setting, I got recorded as DNF, and I had to cancel work meetings the next day because I could hardly walk. It was not a stellar day.
It took just one of these rides for me to learn the rhythm of cycling:
Train for months Study the course Set a goal Create a strategy Show up early on race day Keep to the strategy Reroute only if there is a crash Celebrate at the finish line Rest Repeat
Simple, once you know it!
The same goes for the Product Development cycle
The rhythm of cycling is not that different from that of the end-to-end product lifecycle.
Train — Training is the process by which we prepare for opportunity. We learn the discipline, learn how others have done it before, and learn the tools of our trade, the technology environment and the business domain. When opportunity arises, we are ready.
— Training is the process by which we prepare for opportunity. We learn the discipline, learn how others have done it before, and learn the tools of our trade, the technology environment and the business domain. When opportunity arises, we are ready. Choose a race — Using data and anecdotes and experience and imagination, we ideate and innovate, we look for a pain point or a hole in a market. We select a problem.
— Using data and anecdotes and experience and imagination, we ideate and innovate, we look for a pain point or a hole in a market. We select a problem. Study the course — With a specific opportunity in mind, we begin to gather context. We study the ecosystem, the competitors, and the market opportunity. We anticipate the scale. We become conversant in the vocabulary and learn the surrounding technology. We do all this in order to become credible experts in the field and avoid unexpected surprises along the way.
— With a specific opportunity in mind, we begin to gather context. We study the ecosystem, the competitors, and the market opportunity. We anticipate the scale. We become conversant in the vocabulary and learn the surrounding technology. We do all this in order to become credible experts in the field and avoid unexpected surprises along the way. Set goals — Now we can describe the product that we wish we had, and define what we are solving for. Armed with the knowledge of the course, we step out beyond our comfort zone, just short of our panic zone. We hypothesize, prototype, and validate, over and over again, until we feel the flow. A target end state feels organic, and supports all scenarios that we throw against it.
— Now we can describe the product that we wish we had, and define what we are solving for. Armed with the knowledge of the course, we step out beyond our comfort zone, just short of our panic zone. We hypothesize, prototype, and validate, over and over again, until we feel the flow. A target end state feels organic, and supports all scenarios that we throw against it. Create a strategy — We create a plan that defines the must-have’s and the nice-to-have’s. We find commonality and we design frameworks. We define sequence and size and effort and required skills. We balance the short view and the long view, and break the epic into sprints. As a guideline, we remember that being the first to get to mile 30 is useless if you don’t cross the finish line at mile 100, while getting to mile 30 too late may disqualify you too!
— We create a plan that defines the must-have’s and the nice-to-have’s. We find commonality and we design frameworks. We define sequence and size and effort and required skills. We balance the short view and the long view, and break the epic into sprints. As a guideline, we remember that being the first to get to mile 30 is useless if you don’t cross the finish line at mile 100, while getting to mile 30 too late may disqualify you too! Show Up on race day — Even a great idea is only an Idea until you make it real, and now is the time to do that! We come with our team in place, our equipment in order. We show up ready to work, focused, accountable and dependable. We make commitments that we will keep.
— Even a great idea is only an Idea until you make it real, and now is the time to do that! We come with our team in place, our equipment in order. We show up ready to work, focused, accountable and dependable. We make commitments that we will keep. Keep to the strategy — We know that the course may be long, and that discipline is key. We avoid scope creep. We validate and test what we build along the way, and keep to the pace. We avoid the pull of shiny things, because we trust the plan. Usually…
— We know that the course may be long, and that discipline is key. We avoid scope creep. We validate and test what we build along the way, and keep to the pace. We avoid the pull of shiny things, because we trust the plan. Usually… Reroute only if there is a crash — We are not so rigid that we don’t appreciate when it’s time to pivot. We change route when there is an obstruction ahead or if we miss a cutoff time. But we also know that unauthorized shortcuts are grounds for disqualification, in product development as in cycling. We’re never too proud or too stubborn to realign to the Epic goal.
— We are not so rigid that we don’t appreciate when it’s time to pivot. We change route when there is an obstruction ahead or if we miss a cutoff time. But we also know that unauthorized shortcuts are grounds for disqualification, in product development as in cycling. We’re never too proud or too stubborn to realign to the Epic goal. Celebrate at the finish line — We’re enjoying the celebration, but the work’s not done. This is when Sales and Marketing get to shine — with our help. Because its our product, and who knows it better than us?
— We’re enjoying the celebration, but the work’s not done. This is when Sales and Marketing get to shine — with our help. Because its our product, and who knows it better than us? Rest, repeat — We rest up, and prepare for the next cycle. There is always another release, another revision, another product to be launched, when the fun will begin again.
My most recent century was 5500 ft of climbing. I trained and planned with a partner, we rode together alternating between inspiring each other to keep going, and holding each other back so as not to blow out our power. We finished in just over 5 hrs.
This rhythm is our friend. We know that we can’t cross the finish line — or deliver a product — without it, and so we embrace the process as much as the result. With this rhythm to live by, I look forward to riding, and creating products, until I’m 99 years old!
Jeffrey Axelrod has been building products in FinTech for over 20 years. Today at Fintech Alchemy, he puts his experience to work advising fintech startups and growth companies in the area of product and leadership. | https://medium.com/@wisdomjax/in-product-development-as-in-cycling-e3f442f962a | ['Jeffrey Axelrod'] | 2019-11-14 16:56:32.416000+00:00 | ['Product Management', 'Product Development', 'Cycling'] |
The benefits of compression clothing at any age | Compression clothing is a key in assisting those with circulatory issues, but first and foremost they provide comfort and assistance in regulating the body’s sensory information. Helping those with sensory issues including forms of autism and ADHD, compression clothing — for men, women, and children — is a simple and effective way to provide the wearer with added comfort and security, whilst giving carers and family that added peace of mind.
Compressions clothing for children and teenagers result in the wearer gaining extra focus and therefore a greater ability to listen and contribute during classes and social activities, while adults can feel secure in the extra independence afforded to them through the constant sense of calm and stability thanks to the sensation of compression weight.
Caring Clothing specialise in such compression garments, ensuring you and your loved ones are sporting clothing which marries fashion with functionality, and security with style. From children to the young-at-heart, everyone can benefit from added security, while our range of high-quality, breathable fabrics provide moisture-wicking effects, that is of particular benefit during the summer months.
CHILDREN
Compression clothing and undergarments are not new, but have traditionally been designed with medical benefits in mind. With little heed paid to aesthetics, very few have the wearer’s sense of fashion and individuality in mind. This means compression clothing often draws attention to construction differences, or attempts to conceal these under garish prints or unfashionable cuts.
Caring Clothing stock a range of compression attire for both day and night, which are effective but also place value on designs that are fashionable and discreet. This means that your child will never feel self-conscious, achieving the emotional/social, as well as medicinal benefits, from their attire. For those who prefer the appearance of regular clothing or have a school uniform to contend with, our variety of undergarments can be worn underneath any garments, and are constructed with non-abrasive fabrics to ensure your child can enjoy the security of gentle compression, irritation-free. Whether your child requires clothing or underwear that is seamless, breathable, or tag-free, Caring Clothing have a variety of products to satisfy any sensitivities and give your loved one the feeling of security and independence.
BEDTIME
The benefits of weighted sensations are numerous, with nonabrasive fabrics meaning minimum fuss and freedom from irritation. These qualities are not only fundamental to daily fashion, but also key to ensuring a good night’s sleep. If you or your child struggle to stay cool, calm and irritation-free during the night, our range of sensory bedding contains all the benefits of compression clothing. Ensure they have their best-foot-forward in the day, by giving them the calming calming sensory input through the night.
SINGLETS
Our singlets can be worn as undergarments or externally, both day and night. By helping regulate the body and filter sensory information, these garments give the wearer the best opportunity to remain focused and calm throughout their daily activities, and to sleep serenely through the night. Wearing underneath pyjamas means constant sensory input, whilst a variety of designs are available to prevent wandering hands or afford carers easy access for nappy-changes. Using the highest-quality sensory fabrics, and promoting breathability to ensure the wearer remains cool and dry, our array of designs will suit any issue or sensitivity.
ADULTS
It’s not only children who can benefit from a hug. Adults suffering from anxiety disorders often find themselves on the brink of panic attacks and nerves, which could be settled with the simple and reassuring addition of pressure to soothe their senses. The calming effects of compression clothing can also assist wearers with issues surrounding both fine and gross motor skills, by promoting a sense of focus and calm, and with an emphasis on the highest-quality fabric, our range of clothing is as much about ensuring adults feel ‘grown up’ as it is about alleviating anxiety. Those with mobility issues can also benefit from our range which includes velcro and front-fastening attire for ease of dressing, as well as products that keep security as priority for those who are prone to undressing. In short, we have compression clothing for every need, without sacrificing quality, fashion or independence. | https://medium.com/@caringclothingau/the-benefits-of-compression-clothing-at-any-age-b808cfd2ee4b | ['Caring Clothing'] | 2020-12-09 04:46:45.181000+00:00 | ['Teenagers', 'Compressions Clothing', 'Australia', 'Children', 'Men'] |
Introducing Google Coral Edge TPU — a New Machine Learning ASIC from Google | The Google Coral Edge TPU is a new machine learning ASIC from Google. It performs fast TensorFlow Lite model inferencing with low power usage. We take a quick look at the Coral Dev Board, which includes the TPU chip and is available in online stores now.
Photo by Gravitylink
Overview
Google Coral is a general-purpose machine learning platform for edge applications. It can execute TensorFlow Lite models that have been trained in the cloud. It’s based on Mendel Linux, Google’s own flavor of Debian.
Object detection is a typical application for Google Coral. If you have a pre-trained machine learning model that detects objects in video streams, you can deploy your model to the Coral Edge TPU and use a local video camera as the input. The TPU will start detecting objects locally, without having to stream the video to the cloud.
The Coral Edge TPU chip is available in several packages. You probably want to buy the standalone Dev Board which includes the System-on-Module (SoM) and is easy to use for development. Alternatively you can buy a separate TPU accelerator device which connects to a PC through a USB, PCIe or M.2 connector. A System-on-Module is also available separately for integrating into custom hardware.
Comparing with AWS DeepLens
Google Coral is in many ways similar to AWS DeepLens. The main difference from a developer’s perspective is that DeepLens integrates to the AWS cloud. You manage your DeepLens devices and deploy your machine learning models using the AWS Console.
Google Coral, on the other hand, is a standalone edge device that doesn’t need a connection to the Google Cloud. In fact, setting up the development board requires performing some very low level operations like connecting a USB serial port and installing firmware.
DeepLens devices are physically consumer-grade plastic boxes and they include fixed video cameras. DeepLens is intended to be used by developers at an office, not integrated into custom products.
Google Coral’s System-on-Module, in contrast, packs the entire system in a 40x48 mm module. That includes all the processing units, networking features, connectors, 1GB of RAM and an 8GB eMMC where the operating system is installed. If you want build a custom hardware solution, you can build it around the Coral SoM.
The Coral Development Board
To get started with Google Coral, you should buy a Dev Board for about $150. The board is similar to Raspberry Pi devices. Once you have installed the board, it only requires a power source and a WiFi connection to operate.
Here are a couple of hints for installing the board for the first time.
Carefully read the instructions at https://coral.ai/docs/dev-board/get-started/. They take you through all the details of how to use the three different USB ports on the device and how to install the firmware.
You can use a Mac or a Linux computer but Windows won’t work. The firmware installation is based on a bash script and it also requires some special serial port drivers. They might work in Windows Subsystem for Linux, but using a Mac or a Linux PC is much easier.
If the USB port doesn’t seem to work, check that you aren’t using a charge-only USB cable. With a proper cable the virtual serial port device will appear on your computer.
The MDT tool (Mendel Development Tool) didn’t work for us. Instead, we had to use the serial port to login to the Linux system and setup SSH manually.
The default username/password of Mendel Linux is mendel/mendel. You can use those credentials to login through the serial port but the password doesn’t work through SSH. You’ll need to add your public key to .ssh/authorized_keys.
You can setup a WiFi network so you won’t need an ethernet cable. The getting started guide has instructions for this.
Once you have a working development board, you might want to take a look at Model Play (https://model.gravitylink.com/). It’s an Android application that lets you deploy machine learning models from the cloud to the Coral development board.
Model Play has a separate server installation guide at https://model.gravitylink.com/doc/guide.html. The server must be installed on the Coral development board before you can connect your smartphone to it. You also need to know the local IP address of the development board on your network.
Running Machine Learning Models
Let’s assume you now have a working Coral development board. You can connect to it from your computer with SSH and from your smartphone with the Model Play application.
The getting started guide has instructions for trying out the built-in demonstration application called edgetpu_demo. This application will work without a video camera. It uses a recorded video stream to perform real-time object recognition to detect cars in the video. You can see the output in your web browser.
You can also try out some TensorFlow Lite models through the SSH connection. If you have your own models, check out the documentation on how to make them compatible with the Coral Edge TPU at https://coral.ai/docs/edgetpu/models-intro/.
If you just want to play around with existing models, the Model Play application makes it very easy. Pick one of the provided models and tap the Free button to download it to your device. Then tap the Run button to execute it.
Connecting a Video Camera and Sensors
If you buy the Coral development board, make sure to also get the Video Camera and Sensor accessories for about $50 extra. They will let you apply your machine learning models to something more interesting than static video files.
Photo by Gravitylink
Alternatively you can also use a USB UVC compatible camera. Check the instructions at https://coral.ai/docs/dev-board/camera/#connect-a-usb-camera for details. You can use an HDMI monitor to view the output.
Future of the Edge
Google has partnered with Gravitylink for Coral product distribution. They also make the Model Play application that offers the Coral demos mentioned in this article. Gravitylink is trying to make machine learning fun and easy with simple user interfaces and a directory of pre-trained models.
Once you start developing more serious edge computing applications, you will need to think about issues like remote management and application deployment. At this point it is still unclear whether Google will integrate Coral and Mendel Linux to the Google Cloud Platform. This would involve device authentication, operating system updates and application deployments.
If you start building on Coral right now, you’ll most likely need a custom management solution. We at Nordcloud develop cloud-based management solutions for technologies like AWS Greengrass, AWS IoT and Docker. Feel free to contact us if you need a hand.
At Nordcloud we are always looking for talented people. If you enjoy reading this post and would like to work with public cloud projects on a daily basis — check out our open positions here. | https://medium.com/nordcloud-engineering/google-coral-edge-tpu-efc1ba24d319 | ['Kenneth Falck'] | 2020-05-19 09:17:44.656000+00:00 | ['IoT', 'Edge Computing', 'Machine Learning'] |
Burlington County looking for donations towards care packages for troops | Burlington County looking for donations towards care packages for troops
Burlington County Freeholders announced today that they are partnering with Operation Yellow Ribbon of South Jersey and Burlington County College to sponsor a county wide collection of items for care packages for our troops stationed over seas.
“We are collecting items for our troops that will hopefully bring them a little holiday cheer and let the men and women who fight every day to protect us know that Burlington County supports and honors them,” Burlington County Freeholder Deputy Director Leah Arter said.
Items will be accepted at selected County locations during normal business hours through noon on Friday, Dec. 6. Collection boxes will be in the lobby of the engineering building at 1900 Briggs Road in Mount Laurel and all county library facilities.
Operation Yellow Ribbon of South Jersey sends over 2,300 pounds of treats and personal notes each month to our brave women and men deployed to Afghanistan.
“This is a great way for residents to get into the holiday spirit this season by showing our appreciation for our U.S. Armed Forces,” Freeholder Arter said. “We are asking residents to help us collect items and also personal, unsealed notes of thanks and encouragement.”
Adults can include an address or e-mail if they would like a possible response from our recipients. Some of the troops will respond but some do not have e-mail access, so they might not write back. Children are encouraged to create or write their own holiday cards or notes to show support to our troops, but no last names, addresses, email addresses or phone numbers can be included.
“Burlington County residents have been so supportive of our food drives and toy collections in the past and I am confident that they will whole-heartedly join us in this effort as well,” Arter said.
The following items have been requested from our troops:
• Tastykakes, cupcakes or similar snacks
• Rice Crispy treats
• Sealed packets or bagged tuna and chicken
• Gum and candy
• Breakfast bars
• Roasted peanuts, mixed nuts or dried fruit
• Potato chips in cylinder or can
• Beef jerky or Slim Jims
• Crystal Light drink mix individual packets
• Powdered drink mix
• Ground coffee or tea
• Pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds
• Baby powder and foot powder
• Baby wipes
• Visine or Saline eye drops
• Chapstick and lip balm
• Tissues
• Small hand sanitizer
• Puzzle or small crossword books
• Batteries
• Hand held electronic games
Operation Yellow Ribbon of South Jersey will also be hosting a holiday cookie and baked goods drive to send to the troops deployed in Afghanistan and supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Items will only be accepted on Saturday, Dec. 7, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the 8th Legislative District Office at 176 Route 70, Suite 13 in Medford. For more, please contact Dave Silver at [email protected].
Volunteers will pack and box all donated items to be mailed to recipients on the care package mailing list. Besides baked goods, store bought cookies and treats will also be accepted and shipped.
Please put cookies in layers in large plastic zip closed bags or in lightweight disposable containers. Containers of any type will not be returned because they will be used to ship to recipients. | https://medium.com/the-mt-laurel-sun/burlington-county-looking-for-donations-towards-care-packages-for-troops-9f62879cef47 | [] | 2016-09-23 16:38:16.453000+00:00 | ['Families', 'Headlines', 'Burlington County', 'Burlington County College'] |
Ruby’s New Exception Keyword Arguments | Ruby’s New Exception Keyword Arguments
`exception: false` and `exception: true`
Heads up, we’ve moved! If you’d like to continue keeping up with the latest technical content from Square please visit us at our new home https://developer.squareup.com/blog
In Ruby 2.6, a variety of Kernel methods get a new exception: false or exception: true keyword argument. When Kernel methods fail, some raise an error and some just return nil . This new feature lets you override that default behavior.
TL;DR: In Ruby 2.6 these examples will all work:
Background
What should Ruby do when unexpected things occur? Fail loudly? Carry on silently? It depends. There are reasons you may prefer to handle errors differently.
Many methods have a default behavior to either return nil or raise an error when something goes wrong. Ruby chooses what’s most appropriate as a default on a method-by-method basis.
One example of Ruby having various default behaviors is string-to-number conversion. For example, 'nope'.to_i is permissive and returns 0 , since 'nope' isn’t a number. On the other hand, Integer('nope') is strict, and raises an error. Here are a few examples of how this works:
The permissive String#to_i method is lax about detecting a number. When one can’t be found it just provides a default value of zero. Alternately, the strict Kernel#Integer method raises an error. If you want strict parsing but no error in Ruby 2.5 and earlier, it’s up to you to manually rescue:
Integer('nope') rescue nil
#=> nil
Exception False with Numeric Conversion
The problem with rescuing manually is that it’s slow and noisy. On my machine, it’s almost three times faster to use exception: false :
In Ruby 2.6, you’ll be able to use Integer('nope', exception: false) instead of Integer('nope') rescue nil for much better performance. The same applies to Float , Rational and Complex .
Float('nope', exception: false) instead of Float('nope') rescue nil
Exception True with System
The new exception keyword arguments are also available for Kernel#system. If command execution fails, the #system method’s default behavior is to fail silently and return nil:
system 'nope'
#=> nil
Before, you had to write the message and raise the error yourself if you wanted to have #system raise an error on execution failure. Now you can simply add exception: true and you’ll get an error raised with a nicely formatted message:
system 'nope', exception: true
#!> Errno::ENOENT: No such file or directory - nope
When command execution succeeds but there’s a non-zero exit status, exception: true will also cause an error to be raised instead of the false return value.
Conclusion
Thanks to Aaron Patterson for proposing this feature for numeric conversion. And thanks to Takashi Kokubun for proposing this feature for #system. The new exception: keyword arguments will ship with Ruby 2.6 when it’s released on Dec 25, 2018. These changes didn’t make it into ruby-2.6.0-preview1 but they will be part of the upcoming ruby-2.6.0-preview2 release and are available now on the nightly snapshots.
We use Ruby for lots of things here at Square — including our Square Connect Ruby SDKs and open source Ruby projects. We’re eagerly awaiting the release of Ruby 2.6!
The Ruby logo is Copyright © 2006, Yukihiro Matsumoto, distributed under CC BY-SA 2.5.
Want more? Sign up for your monthly developer newsletter or drop by the Square dev Slack channel and say “hi!” | https://medium.com/square-corner-blog/rubys-new-exception-keyword-arguments-4d5bbb504d37 | ['Shannon Skipper'] | 2019-04-18 22:18:37.207000+00:00 | ['Ruby', 'Programming', 'Software Development', 'Developer', 'Engineering'] |
Capital Markets Efficiency, Fairness and Distributed Ledger Technology | Among the variety of unique experiences we have had in recent years, the GameStop incident will also go down in history as a key event for financial markets. As we strip down the noise and focus on the core dynamics that are in place, there are a lesson or two to be learned. This post is not to defend or criticize any market participants or view (hedge funds, WallStreetBets, Robinhood, DeFi), but to highlight the limitations of the current financial markets infrastructure and making a case that the need to adopt new technologies are more than ever to manage various market risks.
Financial markets are evolving rapidly with the availability of free money (as a result of lower interest rates) and new technologies that enable new phenomena to emerge in the market. A summary of the GameStop incident is the following. Melvin Capital Management and Citron Research shorted GameStop shares. However, a few individual trades saw potential in the stock and took it to Reddit. The Reddit group WallStreetBets, which has around 6 million members, rallied behind the idea driving the stock price 16 fold in a few weeks. This created a short squeeze and both Melvin Capital Management and Citron Research had to exit their short positions with losses totaling billions. Citadel and Point72 Asset Management infused around $3 billion in Malvin Capital to manage the situation. Robinhood had to halt the trading of GameStop for a day and closed positions for several users without their permission. This created a nationwide backlash from traders, politicians, technologists, etc. Robinhood also had to raise more than $1 billion to manage the margin calls.
As Robinhood restricted retail traders from buying GameStop, the backlash was around the influence of hedge funds on Robinhood, the fairness of the market, and transparency. Several of these issues are human problems that technology alone cannot solve. It requires strict regulations and relentless pursuit to impose them on the market. However, there is a meaningful and fundamental aspect that technology does address to support fair and efficient markets.
The root cause of several of the issues in the GameStop incident is linked to the delayed settlement of cash and securities. In capital markets, cash and securities settle at T+2 or later. Amature traders deposit money at Robinhood that settles in two or more days. However, brokers like Robinhood will let traders use margin accounts to trade immediately. Such activity is generally financed by prime brokers (PB) that work with the broker and lend the money. The retail broker will execute trades on behalf of its users and manage the margin with clearinghouses. All of this in the hope that at T+2, both the securities and cash will exchange hands across the market participants!
Fig. 1: GME stock prices at the end of the day on January 27, 2020. Source: TradingView.
However, this harmony in the market breaks in incidents like GameStop or at higher volatility than we saw in the early months of Covid-19. I don’t know what exactly happened at Robinhood on the evening of Jan. 27, 2020, but one would be worried about scenarios that I am going to describe next. First, Robinhood will likely need to come up with a large margin payment to the clearinghouse to manage the settlement of heavily traded GME stocks. Several prime brokers (PBs) likely support the margin accounts of users at Robinhood and in exchange for lending money, PBs hold the custody of the stocks. However, PBs monitor multiple risk limits for Robinhood and will not breach those limits by lending larger amounts in volatile markets. So liquidity becomes an issue for Robinhood. Second, since GameStop’s stocks are so volatile, a large fluctuation in price can result in significant losses to its users the next day. Those losses may result in margin calls to traders and some of those traders may default. That will further worsen the liquidity issues at Robinhood.
Fig. 2: A risk scenario that market participants faced around the trading of GameStop on Jan. 27, 2020.
One of the factors at the core of the GameStop incident is that trading happens based on market conditions at T+0 but settlement and risk management takes place based on projected circumstances at T+2. At the point of trading, market players do not have an unchangeable view of liquidity and obligations that will last until settlement. This results in an inaccurate perception of risk and can impede the flow of assets and cash in the capital markets network, even for diligent investors. Basically, fair and efficient markets just cannot exist with T+n settlement of cash and securities.
The T+2 settlement is partially a reflection of market evolution and partially a limitation of the current market infrastructure. The incumbent database or cloud-based technology is such that it requires data hopping across organizations and leaves room for errors in the settlement process. There is no immutable, “shared truth” of obligations across capital market participants. The capital markets have reduced the settlement time over the period from several days to two days. However, the journey from T+2 settlement to immediate settlement demands a very high precision in processes. The existing market infrastructure cannot support such precision in the sense that the cost will be much higher compared to developing DLT solutions, which ensures the immutability of the data by definition. More details around this point are in the following blog post.
The efficiency in cash and securities settlement through DLT will get introduced gradually through specific use cases. Generally, the case for transformation through new technology is made based on the cost of specific processes at an individual organization and how much savings will be introduced. Robinhood lost millions of users in just a few days because of the GameStop incident and may have faced existential questions while trying to avert a default on margin calls and manage settlement risk. In our opinion, the value delivered by DLT solutions in risk management, ensuring business continuity, client engagement, and business growth outweigh the operational savings and cost of transformation by many multiples.
Thanks to Jean Desgagne for feedback and comments on the post. | https://medium.com/fairom/capital-markets-efficiency-fairness-and-distributed-ledger-technology-ae2fb6dd4a78 | ['Ajay Singh'] | 2021-02-02 17:31:43.400000+00:00 | ['Capital Markets', 'Digital Transformation', 'Distributed Ledgers', 'Trading', 'Risk Management'] |
A Florida State Senator Protests, “I’m not a f***ing socialist” | A Florida State Senator Protests, “I’m not a f***ing socialist”
Who are the socialists, really? The people who want you to be in debt for most if not all of your life, that’s who. ScottCDunn Nov 19, 2020·8 min read
I’ve noticed in the last election, that the word “socialist” resonated throughout the GOP campaigns. Trump tagged Democrats as socialist over and over again. He made it clear that anyone who was a Democrat was a socialist in his mind. As a result of Trump’s efforts, many down-ballot Democrats found themselves being tarred as socialists. What Trump did was to clear the way for Republicans to do what they do best: quietly lobby for the banks.
Politico ran an article just yesterday about the terrible drubbing Democrats got in Florida, and the lede was about a state senator who defended himself by saying that he’s not a socialist. In that article, Jason Pizzo, one of the few Democrats who survived an electoral rout in the Florida Senate, has this to say during an interview after a conference call among the elite Democrats in the Sunshine State:
“I’m not a f — -ing socialist. My life is a manifestation of the American dream. I believe in free markets.”
I’ve been looking at the election and our politics from behind a new set of lenses. I’ve been reading articles and books about and by people like Ellen Brown, Stephanie Kelton, Michael Hudson, and Dean Baker. Brown promotes public banking and removing or reducing the enormous profits that banks make and putting them back into the economy. Kelton promotes MMT and the idea that our taxes don’t really pay for the government, our taxes regulate inflation. Hudson is a historian who has pieced together 5,000 years of history to show that money wasn’t invented by individuals who got tired of bartering, it was invented by the very first governments. Dean Baker is an economist who has been telling us for years that the inequality we must contend with now is a result of how the rules are written, not how the economy actually works.
When I look across our politics I see one central theme: debt. To see the divide in our politics we only need to see who loans the money and who pays it back with interest. The divide in our politics is between the creditor and the debtor. Who makes out like bandits regardless of the state of the economy? The bankers. Who has the greatest influence on our politics? The bankers. Which industry takes the biggest chunk out of the economy? The bankers.
So when I see a congressman protest that he’s not a socialist, I see someone who hasn’t really touched upon the root of most of our problems, debt. I see someone who doesn’t know who the real socialists are. The real socialists in America are the people who have the power to write the rules. These same people have the greatest influence over our elected representatives where the concentration of power is the highest: The United States Congress.
See all the division, vitriolic political debate, and rioting? That’s a feature, not a bug. All that hubris is designed to distract us from what is really going on. We are ruled by bankers who have zero interest in changing the rules now. They have zero interest in restoring anything that resembles equality. The extreme inequality we see in our economy now is a feature of the economy that bankers designed. I’m channeling you, Jamie Dimon. He thinks he’s going to work for Joe Biden.
Dean Baker is an economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research and a visiting economics professor at the University of Utah. I’ve read many of Dean Baker’s books and articles and all of them have one central theme: extreme inequality in America is a result of policy choices, not how the economy actually works. Here is a recent example from his blog, Beat The Press:
There is a conventional story that dominates economic and policy discussions, in which people without college degrees (still a majority of the workforce) have lost out because they don’t have the right skills to prosper in today’s high-tech global economy. That is nonsense. The high-tech global economy was deliberately structured to redistribute income away from workers without college degrees to those at the top.
In short, Baker is saying that inequality is built into our rules. It’s designed to provide a preference to one class of people over another, probably as a means of maintaining something that the former host of The Daily Show Jon Stewart called, “wealth incumbency”. Baker tells us in all of his books and nearly all of his articles that wealthy people want us to believe they’re wealthy because that’s how the economy works, and that it has nothing to do with how the rules are written. In his book, “Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer”, Baker elaborates on this point a little more:
Markets are never just given. Neither God nor nature hands us a worked-out set of rules determining the way property relations are defined, contracts are enforced, or macroeconomic policy is implemented. These matters are determined by policy choices. The elites have written these rules to redistribute income upward. Needless to say, they are not eager to have the rules rewritten — which means they also have no interest in even having them discussed.
Somebody has to make the rules. In America, a certain minority has figured out a way to take control of the rulemaking process and to use it for their benefit. How long has this kind of thing been going on? At least since 1200 BC, according to Michael Hudson. Here’s a little more information about Mr. Hudson:
Michael Hudson is President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and author of J is for Junk Economics (2017), Killing the Host (2015), The Bubble and Beyond (2012), Super-Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire (1968 & 2003), Trade, Development and Foreign Debt (1992 & 2009) and of The Myth of Aid (1971), amongst many others.
In an interview posted on YouTube, “Michael Hudson on the History of Debt Cancellation, Austerity in Europe & Rental Costs”, Hudson made the following comments (transcript at Naked Capitalism):
The German firm Springer just published a Handbook of Money and Credit, in which I wrote the lead article on the origins of money, showing that the barter theory was made up by right-wing Austrian economists who hated governments acting in the public interest. Almost all the mainstream monetary theories are by right-wing anti-socialists claiming that government can play no positive role at all. Their conclusion is that money is best without government, and should be left to the private banks. The idea is that they would plan society better. So basically the libertarians, the free-enterprise boys, advocate a highly centralized economy — much more centralized than Soviet Russia, much more centralized than China. They want everything centralized in Wall Street or the City of London, that is, in the banks. They want the banks to be in charge of everything. They say that all this is all for the best.
Huh. A “highly centralized economy”, more centralized than the Soviets or China? Isn’t that a hallmark of socialism? Wait. But these are conservatives and libertarians wanting this centralized economy. Conservatives are OK with this because it’s in the hands of private banks, not public banks. Who are the socialists now?
There is more. Hudson has been studying economics going back 5,000 years. He sees the same thing that Dean Baker sees, only over a much longer period of history. In his book, “…and forgive them their debts: Lending, Foreclosure and Redemption From Bronze Age Finance to the Jubilee Year (1) (Tyranny of Debt)”, he had this to say on page 334:
Acceptance of a polarizing status quo and weakening fiscal position is abetted by civic religion or secular ideology defending any given distribution of land and financial wealth as be a result of nature (or “the market”). No matter how unequal this distribution of wealth becomes, the alternative is said to be anarchy and collapse — as if the main cause of system collapse throughout most recorded history has not actually been over-indebtedness and the transfer of land to large appropriators.
…
Widening inequality is claimed to be natural as if no countervailing power of government could promote more widespread prosperity. this rationalization of an inequitable status quo has no room to acknowledge the historical success of policies that have deterred inequality from developing to the point of impoverishing the poor, or that have reversed such polarization when it does develop.
Here again, we see a common theme between two economists, one focused on modern history, the other focused on ancient history. They have both spotted the same thing in economies old and new: inequality is cooked into the books by the wealthy, and the wealthiest of the wealthy are the bankers.
I had a friend who used to read Latin dictionaries for fun. He learned Latin and used his knowledge of Latin to read ancient texts about the politics of that time. His conclusion? “Same shit, different day.”
So when I hear of Donald Trump calling out yet another Democrat as a socialist, I wonder what he is trying to distract us from. Trump is a man who has benefited handsomely from the system as it is. I sincerely doubt he has any intention or motivation to change the system to benefit the rest of us. But if Trump were actually interested in changing the way things are, there might a good reason that most politicians are quiet about the real reason for extreme inequality in America (from the same interview referenced above):
Well, the right-wing economic fashion in the United States is that of Douglass North following the Austrian school, saying that civilization progresses if there is a sanctity of contracts. A contract is a contract, and you need enforcement, even if the contract is unfair. Therefore, you must not cancel debts, because that would cheat the wealthy people who’ve made the contract to get their money, even if enforcing the debt contract means that the rest of the economy has to starve. Suicide rates go up. The economy impoverishes itself. But a contract is a contract, and that’s called progress, as if it’s Darwinian economics. In Bronze Age antiquity, by contrast, rulers put economic balance as being the key consideration. They recognized that you have to have a palatial or civic authority come in to cancel the debt contracts. If the price of making the debtors pay these contracts –which they’re forced to sign under “Your money or your life” conditions — is to cause economic collapse, as it ultimately did in Rome. For five centuries you had economic revolts of the plebeians and the poor wanting debt cancelation. In every case the right wing, the creditors won — not by argument, but by assassinating populist political leaders. They ended up killing Caesar. Long before that, there was century after century of assassination, for instance the Gracchi brothers and a long series of other reformers, just like today.
Huh. Assassination? Well, I guess that would be a very good reason not to be identified as a socialist, compassionate for the poor, or to be against keeping people in debt for the rest of their lives. So when I hear a Congressman defending himself as “not a socialist” I hear that fear. I hear the fear of the bankers. I hear the fear of the mob.
I’m sure that conservatives and liberals alike want America to continue to be a great place to live, raise a family, or just be. But no one I know wants to be in debt all of their lives, and no one I know believes that it would be a good idea to place the fate of our entire economy into the hands of unelected bureaucrats working private banks. No one I know believes that capitalism is socialism for the rich.
Write on. | https://medium.com/@scottcdunn/a-congressman-protests-im-not-a-f-ing-socialist-5c181f866635 | [] | 2020-11-19 17:06:11.909000+00:00 | ['Power', 'Debt', 'Inequality', 'Public Policy', 'Economics'] |
Summer of Empathy | How to use summer downtime for meaningful life lessons in kindness
Photo Credit: UnSplash
My daughters best friend told her that she wants to take kindness lesson from her. And for me, this moment was the epitome of cool. Of epic. Of a mom win. See, I don’t have a lot of claims to fame, things to write home about, or things about me that make me a major big deal, but I can say that I am the mom that gets hugged by at least 5–7 kids at every school pick up. I am the mom that other kids call mom.
And that is more important to me than I could ever express. Being a person kids love and trust. Being a person who is there for them. And being a person who can help them through hard times with kindness, compassion, wisdom, and empathy.
Empathy and the Inner Child
And I know it is because in so many ways, due to so many things in my life, I am in touch with my inner child often and a lot. No, that doesn’t mean I act childish. It means I can feel and really deeply understand what kids are going through and what they are feeling inside. It means my empathy is at a high level at all times and kids can sense that I will listen, care, and that I will speak to them in a way that nurtures and nourishes their spirits.
I read long ago that the way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice. And I see so many parents talking to their kids in ways that are going to give that child a lot to struggle with as an adult. Shame is a big one. Shame is deep identification with being bad, being wrong, being unlovable. And another one I hear a lot of is a general transmission of feelings of being unimportant, less important, not as important as (xyz).
Photo Credit: UnSplash
So, in this, as I write this article about helping kids learn and embrace empathy, know that kids already naturally have it. It’s stuff they see us adults doing, hear us adults saying, that takes their natural gifts for empathy and kindness and squishes them into bits. So, while I have all of these tips and ideas, well, they aren’t just for kids. Adults have to work on un-squishing what was suppressed or hidden away inside of us as children. We need an empathy boost as well.
What is Empathy?
Empathy is the ability to feel what others feel and to see the world through their eyes. Not just to sympathize with them when they are sad or hurt. But to actually take on what is going on inside of other people with the whole goal, the purpose, of then being able to act in ways that reduce the pain of others, that ensure we no longer support or excuse things that cause harm to others, and to learn to actively listen instead of hurriedly talk when it comes to relationships with other people.
Empathy is about slowing down and looking around. It is about connection and reflection. And it is the only way for humanity to grow in positive ways that will make this world a better place. So, let’s get into what we can do this summer with our little ones that will help them strengthen and embrace — and protect — their natural tendencies of being kind, empathetic, generous, and caring people.
Photo Credit: UnSplash
Ideas for a Summer of Empathy
1). Volunteer
Sign up to volunteer with a local organization that allows parents and kids to work together. There are a lot of options and a lot of ways to give back to the community, help people in need, and make a difference in the world. If you cannot find a specific organization I am sure you could start with your place of worship, a local Girl Scout/Boy Scout troop, or see if your child’s school has any needs over the summer that you might be able to help out with.
2). Read Powerful Books
Summer reading is my absolute favorite. As a nerd and a reading/writing tutor, I could make reading lists and discussion questions all day. Reading is a great way to increase empathy, especially for those who have different life experiences than we do.
If your kid is a boy, have him read a book with a strong female lead. If you have a daughter, though I am sure, as is the statistical case, she has already read plenty of books with strong male leads, — perhaps look for a book about some of the more unspoken things about being a boy, some of the struggles our sons and men have with toxic masculinity culture. If you are white, please enjoy and encourage reading about kids of color.
When we read we are engaging in empathy, in our heads, living the lives of the characters and existing in their worlds. It might be a bold statement, but reading might be one key way to ensure we gather the tools we need to create a society that harms less and heals more.
Photo Credit: UnSplash
3). Embrace Quiet Unstructured Time In Nature
Quiet. Unstructured. These things are the key. For many this mirrors meditation and can produce similar effects when it comes to feeling calm, reducing anxiety, and focusing on the simple acts of being mindful and just breathing.
Photo Credit: UnSplash
4). Select Diverse and Compassionate Movies
Lastly in this short list, when we have family movie nights, let’s use them to expand our children’s worlds in ways that add to their understanding of diversity, compassion, social justice and equality, and that give them role models in empathy and kindness. Movies like Inside Out are praised for teaching kids about feelings, their inner voice, and growing up. Other ideas include watching some of The Kindness Diaries with your kids, — a major win in my book for how it illustrates kindness around the globe.
When we watched it as a family (ages 53, 39, and 10) we had a lot of discussions about kindness, compassion, and about what might make people act in kind ways, or decided to not be all that kind. It was a great family talk!
Conclusion: We must Role Model Empathy and Kindness
These are just a few ideas, a few resources.
The best thing we can do with and for our children is to be aware of how we speak and act around them, what we allow and excuse in ourselves and in others, and to strive every moment to embrace our own higher selves, choose empathy, choose kindness, and talk about how we feel when we are happy, hurt, sad, or afraid. We embody everything to our children, let’s embrace this challenge and responsibility with compassion and mindful awareness at all times. | https://medium.com/brave-inspired/summer-of-empathy-44f752dfc3a | ['Jenny Justice'] | 2019-07-28 21:29:43.785000+00:00 | ['Summer', 'Empathy', 'Mindfulness', 'Education', 'Parenting'] |
Monday: What do I need To Get Off my Chest Today? | by Jorne Hermans unsplash.com
My chest was filled with alcohol today
But wait, alcohol doesn’t lay in the chest so
It was all about the liver, yet, I know that’s a lie
Because it was all about holding my tears within
my thoughts and my own seals.
Look at me as you try to convince yourself
That you are good, that you feel better
And that you feel empty of any other emotion
Are you done? Or are you still lying to yourself?
I was asked by someone “Why can’t you love anymore?”
Firstly I trembled and didn’t realize that love
Was more than just a simple feeling that can be shared
I said: “Look, I love animals, plants, emotions, and situations”
But… am I still scared to love? YES!
Because I am scared to love someone
Just a little bit more than I love myself
By doing that, I will give her a bullet
To the gun that has never been touched
Will she kill me or keep the gun safely
Until I die out of oldness?
So yeah, that is the risk which sometimes
it’s hard to take.
Let that behind, look at me, look at us
Every chest has something to say so
Let people be, let people feel, you know
Because if they don’t, they’re not gonna grow | https://medium.com/know-thyself-heal-thyself/monday-what-do-i-need-to-get-off-my-chest-today-bdf02d71e665 | ['Dan Catalin'] | 2021-03-13 11:07:07.715000+00:00 | ['Mind', 'Thinking', 'Overwhelming', 'Thoughts', 'Monday'] |
Mayor Pete and the Value of Big Ideas | Mayor Pete Buttigieg
The most significant line of the last Democratic debate came from Pete Buttigieg. The discussion was focused on Elizabeth Warren’s ambitious Wealth Tax when the Mayor from Indiana chimed in.
“Right now I think we’re being offered a false choice. You either have to go all the way to the extreme, or its business as usual…I’ve proposed that we make college free for 80% of Americans. But it doesn’t have to be free for the top. If you’re in that top 10%, how about you pay your own tuition, and you save those dollars for something else. That we could spend [those dollars in areas] that would make a big difference, whether it’s infrastructure, child care, housing, health. On issue after issue, we gotta break out of the Washington mindset, that measures the bigness of an idea by how many trillions of dollars it adds to the budget, or the boldness of an idea by how many fellow Americans it can antagonized.”
What Buttigieg is highlighting is the true difference between the candidates in this Democratic debate. Democrats agree that there should be greater access to affordable education, to health care, and that climate change must be fought. But the question is how. How do we go about making change, and how do we explain that change to Americans?
I think there’s a lot to worry about with Buttigieg’s approach.
The Politics & Policy
There are two potential problems with Buttigieg’s approach to political challenges, and both these problems can be addressed by looking at the education plan he mentioned at the debate.
I’ve proposed that we make college free for 80% of Americans. But it doesn’t have to be free for the top. If you’re in that top 10%, how about you pay your own tuition, and you [taxpayers] save those dollars for something else.
Right off the bat, remember that later in this same quote Buttigieg criticizes the notion that we measure “the boldness of an idea by how many fellow Americans it can antagonize.” And yet, his 80/20 plan splits the country in two groups by design. The plan then says to the wealthier 20%, ‘even though you pay taxes like the rest of the country, your children are not going to be eligible.’
It’s worth reminding ourselves that throughout American history the most popular programs have been close to universally universal. Medicare, Social Security, and even national security decisions have all received tremendous support, in part, because there was this idea that the government was doing something for everyone–as opposed to taking money or opportunity from one group of people and giving it to another group.
By making a program universal, rather than trying to tinker at the margins of some financial cutoff like Buttigieg, you are able to make one of the most powerful political messages of all: this is for everyone.
The High Administrative Costs of Reasonable Plans
Let’s go back to another one of Buttigieg’s argument for his 80/20 education plan. That is, if you don’t spend the extra money on that last 20% of American’s tuition, then you will have more money for “infrastructure, child care, housing, health” or some other priority. But there is reason to believe that an 80/20 plan would be just as expensive or even more expensive than universal plans.
Think of it this way. If the government is going to say that people in the bottom 80% of Americans do get free tuition, but that those in the 81st percentile don’t get free tuition–whose job is it to determine whether a student is on one side of the fence or the other?
By creating this 80/20 split, you’re requiring there to be a new fleet of government workers whose job it is to police this split. Their job would probably require the handling of tax returns and financial records, making sure families right on the edge between these two figures aren’t underreporting their income and assets. There would also need to be manpower handling situations in which a student whose family was above the threshold one semester suddenly drops well below the threshold the next. We could go on, but the point is that administrative costs in these types of programs sky rocket because you need additional workers to take the effort of sorting Americans across financial groups.
Sadly, in an attempt to make a program seemingly more practical or moderate, you’re creating a scenario where the government has to go through the costly process of nickel and diming Americans.
Now look at this policy from the perspective of the schools themselves. By saying universally that public tuition at colleges is paid for, you’re able to drastically downsize the size and cost of Financial Aid offices inside universities across the country. But, if you say that for a whole 20% chunk of students, tuition still needs to be processed and paid for, then these Financial Aid departments have to remain mostly intact. This is a wasted opportunity for a trimming down of public university administration, which could allow for the hiring of more teachers.
U.S. Healthcare is split up into an expensive, messy pile from roughly 24 sources. Image Source.
Next, ask yourself what happens when a Republican administration returns into power after a President Buttigieg. Much like the recent efforts to bring work-requirements into Medicaid eligibility, it is easy to imagine a Republican-led government working to make it increasingly difficult for students and universities to qualify for their free tuition. This problem doesn’t exist under a universal system because everyone is eligible for higher education, and nothing other than a very unpopular congressional legislation would be able to change that.
This administrative cost issue isn’t just a problem with higher education. One of the reasons conservative estimates for healthcare suggest Medicare-for-all could cover more Americans at the same total cost is that administrative costs would go down substantially. Currently, America’s healthcare system is a clunky compilation of employer-based plans, Medicare, Medicaid, Affordable Care Act plans, uninsured people going to the hospital, and so on. But if everyone is on the same healthcare plan, hospitals don’t have to waste precious time wading through a mess of paperworks, insurance contacts, and non-paying patients. Under a universal health care system, things aren’t perfect, but they are a lot simpler and cheaper.
[Note: it was worth taking that brief digression into healthcare because, as Buttigieg mentioned in the debate, he believes in his strategy “on issue after issue.”] | https://medium.com/politics-unusual/mayor-pete-and-the-value-of-big-ideas-ff0037c982b2 | ['Alexis Romero'] | 2019-12-21 07:20:16.531000+00:00 | ['Philosophy', 'Politics', 'Bernie Sanders', 'Education', 'Democracy'] |
Blockchain: Unlocking Potential for Supply Chains | Originally published in SustainAbility’s Issue 22 of Radar.
As a system that can track products from source to shelf, blockchain can be used to improve supply chain transparency. Over the past five years, numerous uses have begun to emerge. As a means of tackling conflict diamonds, IBM’s TrustChain collaboration has united actors across the value chain to track and authenticate diamonds, precious metals and jewellery to guarantee their origin. In the automotive sector, Volkswagen and Minespider recently announced a pilot project to achieve end-to-end transparency in the global lead supply chain. Meanwhile, Bext360 has been working to ensure that coffee farmers get a fair price, paid instantly, for their beans. Across the numerous pilot projects of the past decade, blockchain is showing enormous potential for securing high-risk commodities like conflict minerals, wood, cotton and coffee.
Across the numerous pilot projects of the past decade, blockchain is showing enormous potential for securing high-risk commodities like conflict minerals, wood, cotton and coffee.
Yet companies are still failing to rollout scalable blockchain solutions. Michael Casey, co-author of The Truth Machine, notes that “[a]cross the board, actual productive use of blockchain for day-to-day business operations is still extremely thin.” Although it is widely acknowledged that blockchain could be transformative for supply chains, it is clear that there are critical barriers facing its meaningful deployment. Our analysis of over 30 pilot projects revealed three core themes that need to be addressed before we can see blockchain’s potential unlocked.
Putting the cart before the horse
Provided that it has some sort of digital or physical identifier, most products passing through a supply chain can be registered on a blockchain. However, in order to set up a blockchain, companies need to have clear visibility and control over all tiers of their suppliers. Every farmer, distributor, packager, and other supply chain actor must be known by the company and willing to participate. It is unsurprising that companies like Starbucks or Walmart, who have both the purchasing power and sophistication of supply chain management to fully engage their supply chains, have been the first to pilot blockchain solutions.
For most companies, the reality is that supply chains remain murky. For many companies in the coffee sector for example, coffee is bought indirectly from intermediaries who create economies of scale but give buyers little visibility and control over from where products are sourced. Deploying a technology like blockchain will require companies to begin engaging more deeply and directly with their suppliers.
Creating pathways to access
Even with a clear view of the supply chain, implementation will still be impeded by financial barriers. Especially for commodity suppliers like those in coffee supply chains, technological solutions are prohibitively costly. Twenty-five million smallholder farmers produce 80% of the world’s coffee, yet on average they make less than $2 per day. Companies will need to play a key role in helping their suppliers access the technology, internet connections and digital literacy required for adoption. Some companies are already beginning to tackle this issue. For example GrainChain, a blockchain powered commodities trading platform, has helped farmers access their tools through microloans that can be issued by banks to online digital wallets held by the growers.
Companies will need to play a key role in helping their suppliers access the technology, internet connections and digital literacy required for adoption.
Supporting suppliers through this process will require long-term and engaged relationships from both parties. The benefits of this will be felt by both the business and their suppliers, as security of demand will help suppliers achieve the financial stability needed to improve their livelihoods.
From competitive to collaborative advantage
Inevitably, the burden of equipping entire supply chains with blockchain-ready technologies is prohibitively expensive for any one company. Yet most companies continue to take a siloed approach that aims at building competitive advantage as much as transparency.
Given that many businesses share significant numbers of suppliers with their competitors, there is a strong case for collaboration in blockchain deployment. The IBM-Maersk shipping consortium has already established the TradeLens platform to harness these synergies in the logistics sector. However, there is a need for greater cooperation between companies in other sectors to equip their mutual supply chains with the right tools for transparency.The results could be transformative for the uptake of blockchain systems given that, as in all networks, the utility of the system is directly proportional to its scale.
There is a need for greater cooperation between companies in other sectors to equip their mutual supply chains with the right tools for transparency.
These three themes underpin the gap between the buzz that blockchain has created and its effective real-world applications. As we explored in issue 16 of Radar (Blockchain, Foundational not Disruptive), blockchain is a tool rather than a solution. Speaking recently with the World Economic Forum, Catherine Mulligan of GovTech Lab and UCL’s DataNet emphasised the importance of blockchain not being viewed as an end in itself but instead “engaging with other problems around the edges before we turn to digital technologies.” In supply chains where defining provenance is a critical issue, the irrefutable transparency that blockchain offers appears to be a genuinely effective use case. High-risk commodities will be a natural place to focus efforts as blockchain continues to develop. Companies that are faced with these issues now need to take a more considered approach to its implementation to unlock its potential. They will need to work harder to understand their supply chains and collaboratively support them in transitioning to the digital economy. If they can do this, we will begin to unlock the sustainability benefits that blockchain can offer. | https://medium.com/@nictheath/blockchain-unlocking-potential-for-supply-chains-9e07057f3609 | ['Nicolas Heath'] | 2020-04-12 13:20:19.699000+00:00 | ['Sustainability', 'Technology', 'Supply Chain', 'Blockchain', 'Transparency'] |
Different methods to estimate Test Error for a Classifier | Different methods to estimate Test Error for a Classifier
Moving beyond Validation set
Assume you train a model ‘A’ for some training dataset. As the training error looks low, you now wish to deploy it on production. What would you do to check its performance on unseen data?
Pretty Simple
Prepare a validation set & calculate error on this set. If the error is still low enough, you are ready to go !!
At least this is what I have been doing from last 2 years 😀
But I have a few questions !!
1. Does this method(using a validation set) has any loopholes? If yes, what? 2. Are there other methodologies to estimate test error?
Answering the 1st part:
Yes !!
Assume you have just 100 samples to train. Dividing such a scanty data in training & validation will create 2 problems:
As the training data is already very small, the model might not learn anything if it is further divided. We would wish to train the model on the entire data available.
Even if we divided it, validation set might have just 20–30 samples at highest. Should we believe on the error rates based on such a small set?
I feel no.
Such problems are pretty often when data has to be hand annotated & hence, you might have a small training set.
2. If error rate for two potential models (say A & B) are approximately the same (statistically insignificant), which model should be picked up for production?
According to Principle of Parsimony in respect of Machine Learning
If two models have same error rate, the model with lesser complexity should be chosen.
Unfortunately, Validation set method doesn’t have a clue on this.
3. Validation set method doesn’t take in account many important factors like model size, latency, etc. which plays prominent role in model deployment. You must have heard of the famous case about a competition organized by Netflix for a recommendation system where the winning solution never got deployed !!!!
If not, check it out here
So, as we are pretty clear with our motive
Let’s explore different methods by which model’s performance can be estimated.
Resubstitution Error Estimate
The most naive way to work when we can’t afford a validation set is to consider training error as a validation/test error.
Simple.
Hence, whichever model has the lowest training error should be chosen.
But, this is hyper optimistic, as mostly, training error is a very poor estimation of test error & should be avoided. This post can be a lot better at explaining why.
Pessimistic Error Estimate
Now this is quite interesting as it incorporates both the loopholes I mentioned in validation set method as
You don’t need a validation set at 1st place.
Incorporates model complexity in the final error estimated.
For this, we need to set a Penalty_Constant say 0.5 for now
Test error using Pessimistic Error estimate
The final error term here has two major components:
Training error(e) + penalty(Ω). N is total training samples.
This penalty term is the one representing model complexity.
How is this calculated?
This is something which is model dependent. Like for
Decision Trees, it can be
number of nodes in the tree(Pn) X Penalty_Constant(Pc).
For a neural network, you can go with
number of nodes in the entire network(Pn) X Penalty_Constant(Pc)
Hence, for a Decision Tree with
e(T)=3, nodes(Pn)=7 Training sample(N)=100 Penalty_Constant=0.5. Now using the above formula for pessimistic error The final error = (3 + 7 X 0.5)/100=0.065
A few drawbacks though,
As nothing from the unknown samples is considered in test error, this estimation can go wayward like resubstitution estimate.
Determining complexity for some models can be tricky. Like in case of KNN, what should be Pn? should it be value of K being set?
Minimum Description Length Principle
This principle follows the ideology of information theory for estimating a final error term.
Assume I have 2 systems, X & Y.
X has a model ‘A’ with N training samples & their target values while Y just have N training samples without target values.
As Y also seeks for target values corresponding each sample, it request X to transmit target values to it for each sample.
Now, X can send all target values but it will cost N bytes of information for N records which is expensive. Now, X thinks of an alternative & trains a model ‘A’, encode it & send it to Y. As Y already has training samples, the targets can be predicted
But what if model ‘A’ isn’t 100% accurate? Then Y will get some wrong labels. How to sort this out? X will be sending raw target values for misclassified samples as well alongside encoded model ‘A’ .
Hence total cost of transmission from X to Y =
Cost (Encoding Model) + Cost (Samples misclassified by model)<N
A few notes
The 1st term is directly proportional to model complexity as simpler the model, easier it is to encode it. A lot of things can also be incorporated like model size while calculating the final cost which is often ignored.
The 2nd term can be calculated using either 1) Validation set accuracy if possible 2) Training accuracy.
If the model is 100% correct, the 2nd term=0.
Whichever potential models has lowest cost of Transmission should be chosen.
Estimating statistical bounds
As training error, mostly, is a poor estimation for test error, what can be done is a correction over this training error and as test error is usually larger than training error, a correction term can be added (& not subtracted; more of an upper bound) to make the test error estimate more accurate. The formulae to calculate these statistical bounds differ for different models & hence should be ignored for now. Like for C4.5 Decision Tree, the upper bound is calculated using the below formula:
Where:
e=Training error N=Total training samples α = Confidence level Zα= Z score according α in Standard Normal Distribution Table
As the formula looks monstrous, will skip it for now.
Having discussed the above methods, I still believe estimating test error using a Validation set is still the best choice for most (if not all) problems. Also, even Validation Set can be used in different ways like Hold Out, Cross Validation, Bootstrap, etc making the error estimation more accurate. | https://medium.com/data-science-in-your-pocket/different-methods-to-estimate-test-error-for-a-classifier-1b6103e28340 | ['Mehul Gupta'] | 2020-09-23 04:32:34.873000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Data Science', 'Data Mining'] |
Fuzzing your own API with RESTler | Fuzz testing is a technique used to find faults in a software. It uses a heavy volume of data as the inputs to analyze the different paths the software can guide.
Microsoft recently released RESTLer, a fuzzing tool for automate tests for a REST API, in order to find security bugs in it. If used side-by-side with the developing process, those tests can guide the development team to prevent or fix a lot of potential unwelcome obstacle.
To install it, you’ll need: Python 3.8.1 and .NET core SDK 3.1.
First, I cloned the restler-fuzzer repo. Then, I created a directory to build RESTler inside it.
mkdir C:\RESTler python <full path to restler-fuzzer repo>/build-restler.py --dest_dir C:\RESTler
From now on, I am using the GhibliAPI, a simple API for Studio Ghibli movies. This API was developed with Django Rest Framework. You can clone GhibliAPI repo to your computer and run as a local server (the instructions are in the README.md file), or you can choose any other REST API you want!
Tip: With json-server you can emulate a REST API with zero coding, just using a JSON file as your data.
There are three endpoints in this API.
This API is also featured with a Swagger/OpenAPI 2.0 specification page. It was automatically generated by the awesome lib drf-yasg.
By addind /?format=openapi to the end of the Swagger url, it shows a JSON. Save the content into a new file named swagger.json. The swagger.json file now encapsulates all the information that RESTler need for it to be aware of what to do with that API. | https://medium.com/@moreirarthur96/fuzzing-your-own-api-with-restler-438a0789fd94 | ['Arthur Moreira'] | 2020-11-26 20:07:24.544000+00:00 | ['Restler', 'Microsoft', 'Fuzzing', 'Rest Api', 'Fuzz Testing'] |
Is Crypto Going Up Or Down? | The Real Story of Crypto Adoption in 2018
Bitcoin was invented in 2009 and Ethereum launched in 2014. Both protocols have enjoyed a fast rate of adoption since inception as shown in the charts:
You can also measure adoption in terms of exchange user growth in the following chart:
There was a sharp uptick in interest as the prices went higher in late 2017. Overall, prices have been declining for all of 2018 and yet the number of overall blockchain wallets and exchange users have increased during 2018. So during a time when all of the news about the prices of crypto have been bad, users continue to jump onboard.
There are ~24M bitcoin wallet addresses in total. This doesn’t mean there are 24M Bitcoin users because one person can have more than 1 wallet address and it is recommended to generate a new bitcoin address for each transaction sent, however at the current growth rate it is estimated that Bitcoin users double every 12 months.
As it stands, most crypto users are Americans. In August 2018, a poll was conducted: 70 percent of Americans had heard of bitcoin and half of millennial Americans are interested in using crypto instead of regular money. An estimated five percent of Americans hold bitcoin. 18 percent of U.S.-based students either own — or have owned — cryptocurrency at some point.
The second is Japan, an estimated 14 percent of young Japanese men own crypto.
33 percent of adults in South Korea either own or are invested in digital assets such as bitcoin and Ethereum.
The users of blockchain based dAPPs or decentralized applications have been very small for the most part, most have been in the casino, gaming, payments, and exchanges categories.
The most widely used dAPP that I found was Steemit with around 5 million unique users.
Retail Adoption:
370,000 vendors in 182 countries that accept Bitcoin payments. In 2017 alone, the number of retailers accepting cryptocurrency rose by 30%.
Institutional Adoption
In 2018 there have been big institutional moves already such as Fidelity Digital Assets, the enterprise-grade custody solutions and cryptocurrency trading execution platform created by the 5th largest asset manager in the world and the launch of New York Stock Exchange BTC futures trading.
Looking forward:
There are a few factors that could cause crypto to jump in 2019- Legalization in several jurisdictions like the most populous countries in the world- China and India. China already has a lot of crypto buzz. Some of the biggest crypto projects such as Binance, EOS, and NEO are backed by Chinese investors.
Other causes of adoption in 2019 could be massive blockchainization of regular apps like KIK, messaging apps, games, VR platforms, etc.
Also the development of these things take time and so do the ecosystems and network effects.
Here are several of the leading global retailers “projected” to have BTC payment systems online by 2019:
McDonald’s
Walmart
Amazon
These corporations would cause millions of people to gain awareness of crypto and all three have already been investing in blockchain.
There are many parallels to the early days of the internet as shown in the following chart:
This estimation puts us at where we were in 1994 for internet adoption. We are still VERY EARLY! And remember a lot of people lost a lot of money in the early days of the tech boom as well. But if they held onto that Apple and Amazon Stock, it paid off in the long run!
This article paints a very hopeful picture for crypto adoption in the next year, pending some big decision from big governments, institutions, regulators, and retailers as well as techinical innovation and the maturation of existing projects.
The downside is that with all of the potential of blockchain, the current adoption of decentralized applications is very low. This industry is maturing and we have to know our areas of weakness and centralization in order to improve it. There are way too many speculation dAPPs and not enough that change the world for the better.
Currently data cartels like Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Apple control our identity and data and monetize our online behavior. However, with the advent of Steemit, Basic Attention Token, and other projects, blockchain is creating a model for privacy and empowerment. As internet users realize how they are being taken advantage of by these centralized entities, they will flock to these alternative networks.
Learn More!
If you would like to learn more about how crypto works and how it can change the world to help the 2 billion people without bank accounts…go to CoinYou.co and get a free book and take our free educational courses. | https://medium.com/coinyou/is-crypto-going-up-or-down-a932de292081 | ["Sean O'Donoghue Morgan"] | 2018-12-12 16:22:59.492000+00:00 | ['English', 'Crypto', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Ethereum', 'Bitcoin'] |
PAYAL RAJPUT is a CRIMINAL of BJP MAFIA ‼️ | PAYAL RAJPUT is a CRIMINAL of BJP MAFIA ‼️
BJP MAFIA EXPOSED 👇
https://dwichakraalemaaritruth.wordpress.com/blog
https://bjpmafiaexposed.substack.com
✨🤡✨
Respected Madam,
WHY are you SILENT about the MURDER of DK RAVI & GAURI LANKESH & DISHA SALIAN and SUSHANT SINGH RAJPUT & RAJ KAUSHAL & DILIP KUMAR & SIDDARTH SHUKLA by BJP & BOLLYWOOD MAFIA & YOUR FAMILY ❓
For EXPOSING their DRUG MAFIA and CRIMINAL CELEBRITIES and for me being from SCHEDULED TRIBE ➡️
⚫ BJP MP TEJASVI SURYA & his uncle RAVI SUBRAMANYA who stayed just 7️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ metres from my HOME, ordered my HARASSMENT by ACP KV SRIDHARA for WHOLE last year‼️
⚫ BJP BLOCKED more than 5️⃣9️⃣ of my TWITTER, FB, INSTA & YOUTUBE ACCOUNTS 🤭
WHY has your BJP BLOCKED me from POSTING on INSTA HANDLE ➡️ truthyawatchin and TWITTER HANDLE dwichakra_alemaari, after I asked BJP LEADERS about them HARASSING me because I'm from SCHEDULED TRIBE, by their CRIMINALS in my old BUILDING and continue it even around my NEW HOUSE , for EXPOSING their MAFIA TRUTH❓
For EXPOSING their DRUG MAFIA and CRIMINAL CELEBRITIES, BJP BLOCKED my 6️⃣ TWITTER ACCOUNTS back to back on SEPT 3️⃣0️⃣th and OCT 3️⃣Rd, 3️⃣ on each day 🤭
BJP just BLOCKED my insta account dwichakra_alemaari_2 for EXPOSING their DRUG MAFIA and their CRIMINAL CELEBRITIES 😂
Tell your FANS about the women whom you TRAPPED in your PROSTITUTION RING 😎
Your PARTNERS IN CRIME - BJP, FILM INDUSTRIES, DUBAI mafia
You DRUG INNOCENT WOMEN, your LOTUS MAFIA makes DIRTY PERVERTED VIDEOS of them when they're UNCONSCIOUS, later BLACKMAIL their FAMILIES for 💵
You use same tactics to DRUG INNOCENT FAMILY MEMBERS of OPPOSITE POLITICAL PARTY and later BLACKMAIL them for POLITICAL LEVERAGE 😐
How many GOOD PEOPLE you've KILLED with your POLITICAL BLACKMAILING (CCD SIDDARTHA, CHIRU, DISHA, SUSHANT, SPB) 😮
GAURI LANKESH and VIKAS SHARMA was KILLED by YOU for STANDING UP against BJP MAFIA 😠
You SLEEP with POWERFUL PEOPLE, make DIRTY VIDEOS of them to BLACKMAIL them to join your BJP (KARNATAKA 11) 🐕
You're getting MOVIE OFFERS by SELLING your BODY 😉
You're INVOLVED in DRUG CIRCULATION, BLACKMAILING RACKET and WOMEN TRAFFICKING 🤑
You're ACTIVELY INVOLVED in OPERATION LOTUS of BJP 🥰
Your ENTIRE FAMILY are FILTHY CRIMINAL PIMPS who should be ARRESTED for the SUICIDES of those WOMEN and their FAMILY members 😤
CHIRU, DISHA, SUSHANT, SPB and LOTS of people had CONFESSED their CRIMES and wanted to EXPOSE you. So you KILLED them ☠️
The MAFIA that you're a PART of is HEADED by the BJP🕷️
MODIJI is the KINGPIN of the LOTUS CARTEL for now 💣
COVID LOCKDOWN was a SMOKESCREEN to HIDE the LOTUS MAFIA connections by BJP and use it as an EXCUSE to KILL those who are EXPOSING their DRUG MAFIA 🤖
REAL STRINGS of LOTUS MAFIA are getting PULLED from DUBAI 🦇
I SHIFTED to a NEW HOUSE, but the HARASSMENT around my building and surrounding ROADS continues.
BJP BUGGED my house with HELP from PHILIPS bulbs SOLD by AMAZON, HACKED my phone, desktop and ALL online accounts 😑
PROOF - They are DESPERATE to STOP ME from putting further names as these same CRIMINALS are INVOLVED with BJP in their DRUG MAFIA.
BJP has kept PEOPLE in and around my BUILDING to make NOISE and HARASS me for REVEALING their DUBAI MAFIA roots 😈
Since, I put BJP LEADER names in my POSTS and as I'm from a SCHEDULED TRIBE, from early MORNING...
💣 BJP CRIMINALS in my OLD ENTIRE building who were HIDING in the LIFT & STORAGE ROOM on my TERRACE were continously BANGING on my TERRACE and pulling HEAVY TABLES.
💣 BJP CRIMINALS in my OLD ENTIRE building & adjacent building were continously making NOISE right beside my ROOM WINDOW.
💣 BJP CRIMINALS in my surroundings are constantly making NOISE, even around my NEW BUILDING.
TEJASVI SURYA ➡️ ALL this ATROCITY & HARASSMENT was happening just 7️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ metres from your HOUSE. What were YOU doing as a LAWYER & a PEOPLE REPRESENTATIVE❓
BJP CRIMINALS around my old BUILDING were continously HARASSING me from past 7️⃣ months for being from SCHEDULED TRIBE and EXPOSING their MAFIA TRUTH and CONTINUE it around my NEW HOUSE also.
BJP was continously cutting POWER in intervals from MORNING to THREATEN ME for REVEALING their DUBAI MAFIA roots and BJP CRIMINALS hiding in my TERRACE were HARASSING me by BANGING on my TERRACE, pulling HEAVY TABLES, making NOISE right beside my ROOM WINDOW and in my ROAD 😁
WHEN will you RETURN those BLACKMAILING VIDEOS❓
CONFESS your SINS and SURRENDER to the LAW ma'am 🤫 SAVE those WOMEN from your PROSTITUTION RING 🤡🥶🤡
I KNOW you're planning to KILL me.
I'm ready to DIE for my TRUTH. Are YOU ready to undergo an INVESTIGATION and face the LAW for your LIES❓
To LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES ➡️
BJP CRIMINALS in and around my BUILDING HARASSED me from past 7️⃣ MONTHS in my OLD house and doing the same around my NEW house also.
They were HARASSING me day and night EVERYDAY and ALL this was HAPPENING right in the BUILDING where ACP K.V. SRIDHARA was staying and also in ALL SURROUNDING buildings.
REAL REASON for KV SRIDHARA being SILENT about my HARASSMENT from past 7️⃣ months - HE was sent by BJP to HARASS and THREATENED me for EXPOSING their CRIMINAL DRUG MAFIA 💥
ACP KV SRIDHARA and his BJP CRIMINALS kept BANGING on my TERRACE AND in their HOUSE to THREATEN me. WHEN will the POLICE DEPARTMENT ARREST him and his CRIMINALS ❓ I have enough PROOF to prove this.
Even now, BJP SHAMELESS CRIMINALS continue HARASSING ME in and around my building.
Even after ALL this, POLICE DEPARTMENT is SILENT means...
I got my ANSWER.
#BEGGARhasNOTHINGtoLOSE #JusticeForSSR #BJPFails #BJPHataoDeshBachao #CONFESSANDSURRENDERCULPRITMAHIMA #HOPEyouCOMECLEANbackstabberAPEKSHA #OPERATIONLOTUSexposed #LOTUSMENhaveZEROBALLS #TRUTHwillNOTsetYOUfree #KARMAistheBITCHwhoisALWAYSwatchin #JUSTICEforeveryVICTIMofLOTUSandDUBAImafia
#JusticeForSushantSinghRajput #JUSTICEforeveryVICTIMofLOTUSandDUBAImafia #JusticeForSushantSinghRajput
#Love4SSR
#Revolution4SSR #WorldUnitedforSSRjustice #CBIEnquiryForSushant. #CBIMustForSushant. #CBIInvestigationForSSR #Warriors4Sushant #whokilledsushant #WorldFight4SSR #worldSushantEarthday #302ForSushant. #SSRCulpritsRoamingFree #Oath4SSR #BoycottBollywoodMovies
#boycottbollywoodmafia
#BoycottBrandBollyWood #Sandalwood #sandalwoodmovies #SandalwoodActress | https://medium.com/@dwichakra.alemaari_2/payal-rajput-is-a-criminal-of-bjp-mafia-%EF%B8%8F-489cded206e | ['Dwichakra Alemaari'] | 2021-12-18 07:20:16.717000+00:00 | ['Bollywood', 'Tollywood', 'Rrr', 'Bjp Mafia Exposed', 'Payal Rajput'] |
Generative Line Art With Blender | Simulation of natural phenomena, geometrical properties of different shapes, and travel schedule optimization are some applications of advanced mathematics. Nonetheless, art generation is far from being perceived as a possible application for mathematics. Due to its pattern generation capabilities, math can offer a series of tools to create several pieces of generative art. The following describes how to create geometrical patterns with trigonometric functions in blender.
Generative art
Generative art refers to artwork created by the use of an autonomous system. Generally, the autonomous system is non-human and can independently determine the features in the artwork that otherwise require the decisions made by the artist. In this case, the artwork will consist of a series of patterns generated with trigonometric functions. To add the patterns into the scene we need two things, one: a function to create and manipulate a curve in the scene, and a function to calculate the coordinates in the curve.
To create a curve, first, a curve object is created and linked to the scene, and from the curve object, the kind of curve is defined. Then from all the coordinates in the generated pattern a new point in the curve line is added and located at the appropriate coordinates. Finally, a bevel is added to the curve to create a solid geometry.
The pattern calculating function will take as argument two wrapper functions and a limit for a mesh grid. The wrapper function arguments will be the x-axis and y-axis coordinates. That design will be helpful to create new patterns. Then those functions will be evaluated through a mesh grid object. Finally, the resulting patter values will be scaled so it can fit in the camera.
With all in place, a simple material can be added to the curve object to generate a pattern. | https://medium.com/swlh/generative-line-art-with-blender-2340a9fc5e63 | ['Octavio Gonzalez-Lugo'] | 2020-11-06 08:26:28.587000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Blender', 'STEM', 'Mathematics'] |
The Golden Age of Ageism | The Golden Age of Ageism
Is the gravest issue of our times brashly overlooked?
Right now, a fresh wave of discrimination is assailing the elderly. Perhaps, a whole set of waves. Vying for prominence are deliberate discrimination and one out of apparent necessity. If you ignore, starve, persecute or let die the oldest of us — no question, you do it on purpose. But even with much nicer intentions, you might end up isolating them emotionally while trying to protect.
With a virus baying for mature blood in our midst, the most persuasive argument is that there isn’t much we can do about it.
Up until the pandemic hardened its grip, air was abuzz with pep talk and cheering on: sixty is the new forty, grey is the new green, age is but a numeral illusion. One wouldn’t be surprised if it was all hatched in a capitalist thought-chamber with a view to boost consumption by keeping alive some long-going flames with enough purchasing power.
That may not be so bad in and of itself, as long as people are prepared to slow down as they should at a certain stage of life. It isn’t that great to have a population told never to really grow old as society by very nature is semi-blind and slyly, selectively amnesic. In a world driven by triage and filters, the put-on aura of fit-and-fine would mislead it to be lax about seniors who don’t see themselves so. And the higher the resistance to let go the delusion of youthfulness, the more deeply felt would be the disappointment.
So, it helps to look and sound one’s age. But that’s not even the starting point.
There is a problem — but how big?
In the degree of misery that the elderly endure, there is a definite variance. Social policies and amenities differ among nations, and so does the access to physico-medical help. Most of the Third World hasn’t fully warmed to the idea of well-managed senior care homes and, in countries like India, to be an inmate of one is often considered an option not just the least favoured, but the most dreaded. It’s a matter of much passionate sorrow to spend the twilight days with anyone other than own children, and moving out of the family amounts to virtual death.
Well, maybe it’s justified to feel cursed and wronged to those who have toiled a lifetime for the ones they thought would one day care for them.
Such disparities apart, the problem is universal. Not least because it emerges from the most intrinsic of human conditions. And the society recognizes, even while the action is lacking, that the seniors are physically vulnerable. But the less recognized part is how intensely human, how deeply conscious, how equally creative and able those individuals are.
To ignore their intellectual and emotional potential is sheer ageism: tacit, yet real.
Who owns the world?
The idea that the world belongs to the youth was largely true in times when the strongest and the burliest of the lot had to tackle beasts and bring home the kills. But how modern is this notion?
For all the advancements in science and medicine, somatic degeneration can be bridled only up to an point. But mental deterioration, as has been proven, happens at a rate far slower than the physical. If there has ever been a time to value brains over brawl, we are living it. When physical facilities can as such be replaced by the mechanical or the robotic, how relevant are the powers once calibrated one’s worth? The might of muscles may still have its place in sports and dating sites, but are they enough to sideline the wisest and the most experienced of us?
As Bernard Shaw lamented petting his jealous grizzled beard, youth is wasted on the young. Be that what it may, no human should be judged based on a property of one’s skin — be it dark, hairless, or wrinkled.
A quick primer on the Grandpa archetype
Then there is this supposition on certain attitudes that the elderly harbour. I’d call it ‘the prejudice on prejudices’. Some assume that the old perceive the world in ways so radically regressive. This notion is often picked up first-hand from a grumpy grandpa or a sanctimonious aunt. There will then be several decades before one finds oneself nagging own young relatives to their umbrage and discomfort.
What keeps alive this strange cycle?
It does take hard-won experience of real long years past middle age to be able to appreciate some facts of life, to digest a few painful truths, to understand how spending one’s early years differently might have a profound effect on later life. It’s equally natural for the youth not to pay heed, for nature wants to perpetuate certain faults. It wants some blunders repeated over and over. So, advice from the waning generations are bound to be met with impatience, even anger.
This however solidifies the conservative image of old folk. The prejudice then spills over to their intellectual capacities, attributing to cognitive decline the inability to appreciate the flux and ways of the progressive world.
In most cases, this would prove a grave error in perception, aggravated by the dizzying pace of technology. Here is your grandpa, too backward already to understand your values, now too dumb and technophobic to configure an app. Well, the gap in generational knowledge has been perennial — an earlier generation is fated always to stay relatively luddite. But the current divide is ever so vast and unmitigable, the demands mounting on us so exponentially that even the active youth of the day find themselves struggling to keep up. Objects invented to simplify lives end up being new problems to be cracked or contraptions with formidable learning curves.
Again, this too might be a matter of perception, but in effect a vast population do feel sidelined and flat out ignored in this variety of human advancement. The sources of reassurance have chosen to remain passive, sparing not a moment for the technologically disadvantaged.
There’s a party going on, sure, but the vast majority are made to wait far out at the locked-out gate striving to pick up an occasional scrap of music — from within they hear some roars and hurrahs, and nothing more.
Why we need a global senior-rights movement
With the youth busy making sense of the ever-changing world for fear of falling behind, the elderly are compelled to confine to themselves. Between the two, the gap in inflating. Besides compatible values, common interests too have begun to dwindle and disappear, leading to a pair of drifting islands each with own language, culture and style of living. And not so much of a vestige remains of those days when there existed cultural and religious fora that made communion and communication inevitable.
To be fair, all is not lost in senior health and physical care. But then, the elderly are looked after largely due to factors beyond a conscious appreciation of their true needs and worth. The systems handing insurance and social security have matured enough to function without the aide of emotion and empathy. During the pandemic, why has half the world shut itself off? To guard the vulnerable elderly, we hear. That’s a nice, feel-good story, but how about taking a second look?
Worldwide, the lock-downs are still being administered to minimise the burden on healthcare facilities. The word ‘burden’ is not some abstraction, but a declared, officially acclaimed cause. Benign as this may seem, it reflects an attitude — a grim detachment nurtured and bolstered by the commercialization of agony. Not a great deal of thought has gone into enhancing and up-scaling the facilities to handle a spike in load. Rather, what we see is an overemphasis on caging in the weakest. As always the older ones stand to lose. A lot, this time.
We are dealing here wit the frailest, quietest, and the most unorganized segment. The demands of age now receive far less attention than those of gender or race, even animal. That makes it the murkiest, harshest and the most underappreciated social problem.
And it necessitates senior-rights to be explicitly wrought into a solid movement with enough power to advance the cause.
Why not? Here’s a group that wouldn’t ever need to rely on vapid identities and cultural archetypes to get its woes blazoned. The misery is etched clean on every inch of their corporal being, their troubles palpable, present, intimately felt. If the aspects are anything to go by, you have a fine movement for your taking. Oppression is here, and prejudice, discrimination, negligence, callousness, at times even harassment and torture. Shocking, there hasn’t ever been a global movement for senior rights — there have been a few feeble parochial attempts like Grey Panthers, but right now it has no devout champions, no overt lobbying impetus.
Well, no wait is too long for a good change, and it is the defining need of the hour. Unlike other movements, here the rights aren’t predicated on historical wrongs to be righted but on tangible grounds. “Pay back!” should be the campaign slogan, categorical and unapologetic. The prospective patronage isn’t constricted as it has this unique attribute of an ever-shifting domain of beneficiaries. Those who approach it with a let-me-do-a-favor mindset should be taught how duty is different from charity.
Love and kindness are welcome but they ought to be accompanied by a constructive understanding of the cyclic, ceaseless-nature the problem.
Remember — everyone was, is, or will be there. | https://medium.com/illumination/the-golden-age-of-ageism-515adf940ec7 | ['Sethuraj Nair'] | 2020-08-08 05:44:54.070000+00:00 | ['Seniors', 'Equality', 'Ageism', 'Pandemic', 'Loneliness'] |
On Anti-Asian Hate Crimes: Who Is Our Real Enemy? | Photo Credit: Isabella Chen
This article was translated into Japanese, thanks to Michi Yoshikawa and Sumire.
In recent weeks, there have been over 20 attacks on Asian businesses and people, mostly elders, with little to no coverage from the mainstream news outlets. Videos documenting such attacks have been circulating, mostly through individual social media accounts of Asian activists, celebrities, and journalists (thank you Amanda Nguyen, Dion Lim, Dr. Kiona, Daniel Dae Kim, Benny Luo, Lisa Ling, and Daniel Wu for being among the first public figures to use your platform to mobilize others). They show a 91-year-old Chinese man being shoved to the ground in Oakland’s Chinatown on Sunday, January 31st, just two days before an 84-year-old Thai man, Vicha Ratanapakdee, was pushed and killed in San Francisco, and multiple accounts of robberies targeting Asian-owned businesses in Chinatowns. In New York, a 61-year-old Filipino man was slashed across the face from ear to ear on Feb 3rd, and on the same day, a 70-year-old Asian woman was assaulted and robbed in Oakland.
Between March and August of 2020, Stop AAPI Hate received over 2,583 reports of anti-Asian hate crimes nationwide, and these incidents go grossly underreported. The alarming jobless rate of Asian Americans and the high Covid-19 mortality rate among Pacific Islanders, that is double that of white and other Asian people, continue to be left out of mainstream narratives when discussing the disproportionate economic and health impacts of the pandemic on people of color.
The Model Minority Myth running deep in the American psyche is the problematic portrayal of Asians as a monolithic group of quiet, hard-working, politically silent, and therefore “well-behaved” immigrants, which was created in the 60s to position Asians in opposition to the Black community, whose social justice activism was seen as a national threat to the status quo of white supremacy. Over the years, this politically motivated and fundamentally anti-Black myth has successfully achieved its purpose of driving a wedge between Asians and other people of color groups in America, while simultaneously erasing, making invisible, and even delegitimizing Asian communities’ real-life struggles by using the economic success of the few to defend the centuries-old unjust systems rooted in white supremacy, anti-Blackness, capitalism, and colonialism.
This wedge continues to be driven even deeper today, where, to my dismay, many of the recent attacks against Asian elders were perpetrated by Black individuals, and the myriad intra- and inter-community reactions have once again exposed the historical and ongoing tension between the Asian and Black American communities.
Today in reaction to the series of attacks on our elders, many enraged Asians are calling for the immediate arrest of the perpetrators of violence while demanding the most punitive charges be made. “Send a message,” they say. And I have to wonder, “Weren’t we just demanding we defund the police in solidarity with Black Lives Matter?”
When asked to support the amplification effort and denounce the heinous attacks on Asians, some Black people criticize the anti-Blackness still prevalent in the Asian community. “Asians are anti-Black.” “Asians never show up for us.” “It’s Black History Month.” And to that I wonder, “So will you watch us die?”
And the cycle continues. We fight anti-Asian racism with anti-Black rhetoric and tactics, and anti-Asian racism goes unnoticed, or worse justified, in part due to the deep-seated and understandable resentment towards our community, which undeniably has more work to do to eradicate anti-Blackness, and whose perceived proximity to whiteness is aided through the perpetual and blatant erasure of our historical and present-day solidarity work with other marginalized communities.
Some might say the 1992 Los Angeles uprising marked the pinnacle of the tension between the two communities, where the two groups found themselves facing each other in physical opposition in Koreatown, each fighting for justice, dignity, and survival of their kin. The site of the protest was no coincidence, given it marked the place where Soon Ja Du, a Korean American liquor store owner, shot and killed Latasha Harlins just a year prior, a 15-year-old Black girl who Du believed attempted to steal a bottle of orange juice. There was a righteous public outrage when Du was sentenced to merely five years of probation, 400 hours of community service, and a $500 fine, and again when the sentencing decision was unanimously upheld in an appeal about a week before the uprising began. When all four white police officers who brutalized Rodney King were acquitted, the Black community and its allies rose up and swarmed the streets to express their grief and fury, and Koreatown was one of its righteous battlegrounds. University of Southern California estimates that more than 1,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed during the uprising, which stretched for nearly a week from April 29 to May 4, 1992, and more than 60 people died, with more than 2,000 injured. About half of the estimated $1 billion in damage was sustained by over 2,300 Korean-owned mom-and-pop shops, leaving enduring economic and emotional trauma that many are yet to fully recover from. While the LAPD stationed themselves to protect richer white suburbs, Korean business owners, panicked by the reality of having been abandoned by the government, screamed for help while watching their American dreams burn to the ground, while others armed themselves to defend their only means for survival, pointing their guns at Black and brown faces. “Nothing in my life indicated I was a secondary citizen until the LA riots. The LAPD powers that be decided to protect the ‘haves’ and the Korean community did not have any political voice or power. They left us to burn,” Chang Lee, a Korean American business owner recalled in an interview with CNN. Despite both communities being victims of unjust and racist systems, many believed their opponent to be the traumatized faces in front of them, not the systems of white supremacy that had failed both communities.
Today, white supremacy is in action again, pitting our communities against each other and banking on our collective amnesia about the conditions that have birthed the violence — the government’s utter failure to create any semblance of financial safety for the most marginalized in the midst of a pandemic; systemic racism permeating every nook and cranny of our medical system that bar access to adequate care for the most vulnerable frontline workers, most of whom are Black and brown (don’t forget, brown includes some AAPI folks, too); and the institutional robbery committed against the public while corporate billionaires became multi-billionaires off a game only they are allowed to play. All of these unjust and exploitative conditions have led to such scarcity among the already marginalized, and our two traumatized communities, once again, find ourselves with our fists up ready to battle for survival, this time in Chinatown.
White supremacy wants us to remember the unhealed wounds we inflicted on each other, historical and ongoing anti-Blackness in the Asian community and anti-Asian incidents perpetrated by Black individuals, but not the stories of solidarity that have existed in equal measure, but are somehow left out of our history books and media coverage. In the aftermath of the LA uprising, volunteers from all racial groups showed up to rebuild Koreatown: “One by one,” said Lee, “neighbors came out to help. They were Black, Korean, and Latino. 30 people. They gave me hope. They are my community. And it’s time again to stay bound together these next four years.” Despite our “mutual ignorance,” as activist Helen Zia once described, we have been showing up for each other. And I’m not talking about the performative gestures of posting black squares and BLM hashtags; I’m talking about the work of our ancestors like Yuri Kochiyama, Grace Lee Boggs, and Larry Itliong who worked alongside the Black Panthers in the 60s, to the Third World Liberation Front, a coalition of Black, Latinx, and Asian student organizations that sustained one of the longest student strikes in the U.S. that resulted in the creation of Ethnic Studies, to the present-day coalitionary organizing to mobilize voters in Georgia, push for prison reform and abolishment, and defund and demilitarize the police… the work has been ongoing, with or without the mainstream consciousness or participation, and it is our duty to remember and uplift these stories to seed healing and change.
And truthfully, I am exhausted. I am exhausted by the continued violence against my people and especially our elders, who remind me of my 92 year old grandpa who passed away after fighting for Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonization and then against U.S. imperialism in our homeland, who cannot seem to find refuge anywhere in their lifetime. I am exhausted by the continued silence and delayed motions from the mainstream media outlets committed to upholding white supremacy through erasing our struggles while magnifying the myth of the model minority that puts a target on our backs. I am exhausted trying to hold both the trauma and pain of my community and steering us all away from the trap of anti-Blackness as the weapon of choice to fight our oppression. I am exhausted by the blatant dismissal and erasure of Asian and Black solidarity work that’s been ongoing for decades, and having to justify our ask for the bare minimum acknowledgement of our crisis without being asked to show receipts. I’m exhausted by the internalized oppression of some Asian people who would rather have us die in silence than be confronted by the truth of our positionality as still being oppressed and not-yet-quite-white despite some’s economic success, who would rather appeal to those who want to see us behaving politely rather than politically. And finally, I am torn inside by the incredible difficulty of asking our traumatized families to imagine solutions beyond policing, to redefine accountability and justice beyond the confines of the American legal system that criminalize Black and brown bodies for profit, while also advocating for their healing and immediate relief.
The only way out of the vicious cycle of violence we continue to find ourselves in is through deep, unrelenting, and principled inter-community solidarity. As Asians, we must interrogate the conditions and narratives we find ourselves in and remember in our core that white supremacy is not our savior. We have an opportunity to reclaim our narratives — and our identity — by being loud, angry, political, defiant, and in lock-step with the Black community to keep our communities safe while denouncing systems that have never protected us.
In light of these complexities, here is how everyone can help:
Acknowledge, amplify, and denounce the ongoing anti-Asian hate crimes. Say it in your own words. Say this is not okay. Say you condemn it. Say you believe it is wrong. Say it personally and organizationally. Make space for our pain because there is always enough space for all of us — all of our pain, healing, and liberation can coexist without diminishing the other. Interrupt anti-Asian racism and anti-Black racism. Neither is okay, in any context. When you see Asians being called “chinks” “dog eaters” “disease spreaders” “dirty” or otherwise blamed for the violence we are experiencing — please shut it down. And when non-Black folks, even if they are Asians who are hurting right now, engage in anti-Blackness by saying “Black people are criminals,” “Black people are dangerous” — please call that out, too. We must be principled in our anger and channel it to dismantling the real enemy: white supremacy culture that creates the either/or binary and scarcity mindset that has left us fighting each other for the scraps. Interrupt generalizations: If someone says, “Asians are anti-Black,” say “Anti-Blackness is a pervasive issue within the Asian community and many Asians have been working within their own community to address and challenge this. Have you been following their work?” If someone says, “Black people hate Asians,” say, “Your generalization of an entire community based on a few examples is harmful. There are plenty of Black people fighting in solidarity with Asian people right now. Do you know them?” Interrupt the active and persistent erasure of Black and Asian solidarity work. When Black people say “Asians never show up for us,” or when Asian people say, “Black people don’t care about us,” talk about how throughout history, our solidarity work has been erased deliberately and intentionally by our education system and the media to worsen the divide. We need to amplify these examples of solidarity to heal and build trust together. Invest in community-based interventions. Contrary to what some may believe, enhancing our contact with the police is not a long-term solution that will keep our community safe. Despite its 2-block proximity to the Oakland Police Department, Oakland Chinatown is not “safe”as evidenced by the increased attacks against its residents and businesses. Just in December, Christian Hall, a 19-year old Asian teen in Pennsylvania, was shot by the state police while having a mental health crisis. Asians are among the fastest growing undocumented populations in the U.S., and those who fear deportation and criminalization will not be safe in the presence of more police. Even when the police are called, our incidents rarely get documented correctly or acted upon with a sense of urgency. Neighborhoods with heavy police presence are not safer. Neighborhoods with access to quality medical and mental health care, financial support, food and shelter, education, are. Rather than calling for more policing, FBI surveillance, and funneling money towards the deeply racist criminalization system that seeks to uphold white supremacy, invest time, money, and energy into creating and supporting community-based interventions that seek to keep all of us safe.
I know many within my community disagree with me on my approach to justice and accountability that do away with government sanctioned law enforcement. I’ve received plenty of messages of dissent and anger that mistake my message as yet another way to make our pain small, rolling over and turning the other cheek to continue to be abused. But I’m reeling with anger, too. I’m in pain, and I want justice, too.
A few years ago, my Korean mom, who only knows to smile when someone looks at her, was held at gunpoint, robbed, and punched in the head by a Black man in San Francisco. She did not want me to worry, so before calling me, she called the police. Beyond filing a routine report, they did not offer any material support that could help her heal from the trauma. She was left to her own devices to figure out how to process her physical and emotional trauma, earn back the rent money she had lost, and protect herself against identity theft. Thinking about that night, and seeing the ongoing violent attacks on other Asian elders, I wake up wailing from the pain, even desiring to inflict physical harm on these perpetrators who remind me of what happened to my sweet mother. But what I’m trying to tend to is the undeniable, fierce, and aggressive love I have for my people that is stronger than my desire for punishment for those who harmed us. That more than I want to hurt them back, I want to keep our people safe. Not just now, but for good.
As Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez recently remarked, “Accountability is not about revenge. It’s about safety.” These different community interventions are not a “weaker” form of accountability and justice — they are part of the most sustainable and holistic solutions to transforming the root causes that continue the cycle of violence among marginalized communities. And countless local organizations and activists on the ground have been modeling for us to follow their lead: Oakland Chinatown Coalition, a coalition of 20 different Chinatown nonprofits, associations, and individuals, swiftly brought together a diverse group of volunteers to engage in dialogue and actions to keep Oakland Chinatown safe, creating community-powered and survivor-centered programs like the Senior Survivor Program and collaborating with individuals like Jacob Azevedo to organize volunteers to stroll the neighborhood and accompany elders. Stop AAPI Hate has been gathering hate incident reports independent of law enforcement, using online forms accessible in 10+ different Asian languages to encourage more diverse participation and ensure we have disaggregated data that does not flatten our different lived experiences under the Asian American umbrella. There is a coalition of organizations helping to fundraise to rebuild the Vietnamese American Community Center of the East Bay which suffered a devastating fire, preventing it from providing its usual 40,000 meals a month to its most vulnerable populations, and other organizations are fundraising and distributing funds to provide care for Asian elders who were assaulted. I am seeing many Bay Area based, Black-led organizations publicly denouncing anti-Asian hate crimes while supporting community-based solutions that will keep all local communities safer.
I’m still a student of Transformative Justice, a different approach to justice that seeks to address violence without causing more violence, and one that does not rely on punitive and carceral consequences that white supremacy has taught us to associate accountability with. I hope many more will join me in learning and practicing it, and amplify and direct resources to community leaders like Mia Mingus, adrienne marie brown, Shira Hassan, Mariame Kaba, and more, who have been teaching and spreading critical knowledge for years in different social justice spaces.
The collective and intergenerational trauma Asians hold is vast and painfully deep. The erasure and silence around our struggles, from both our own community and our allies, only deepen the wound while widening the gap between us and other marginalized communities. At a time when multiple traumas are converging and so much suffering simultaneously witnessed, we need cross-community solidarity more than ever to fight for our collective healing and liberation from all forms of violence. | https://medium.com/awaken-blog/on-anti-asian-hate-crimes-who-is-our-real-enemy-207ee7354926 | ['Michelle Mijung Kim'] | 2021-03-03 23:23:31.518000+00:00 | ['Racism', 'Politics', 'Asian American', 'Social Justice', 'Diversity'] |
How to be Successful in Healthcare Analytics (Part 2) | (Image by RACGP)
With the recent hit of COVID-19, producing a surge in patient demand and shortages of medical supplies, hospitals desperately need a grasp on their analytical services to ensure optimal clinical results. Health Catalyst is the founder of the nine-step Healthcare Analytics Adoption Model, a guide on how to implement an analytically-motivated framework. We have gone through the first five levels in the previous article, which iterated the processes behind the collection and management of big data. The remaining four extend to policy formulation and tailoring patient care. If you haven’t already, make sure to check out part one before reading any further!
The levels of the Healthcare Analytics Adoption Model
Level 5: Waste and Care Variability Reduction
“ Waste production and internal optimization”
Building upon the preceding levels, the data governance function in Level 5 has expanded to better individual patient care, minimize waste, and reduce variability. There are multidisciplinary teams available to oversee opportunities for improving health and financial wellbeing. Recall in Level 4, the EDW was developing patient registries and providing consistent internal/external reports throughout an enterprise. Now, the EDW is “organized into evidence-based, standardized data marts that combine clinical and cost data associated with patient registries.” The registries continue to become more precise, the data content now covering data from labs and pharmacies.
Level 6: Population Health Management & Suggestive Analytics
“ Tailoring patient care based upon population metrics.”
Health systems at this level have already cultivated a data-driven mentality and successfully adopted a data-driven foundation. Bundle payments, a payment model which requires providers to assume risks for value-based care, manage about 50% of acute care cases. The healthcare model supports the Triple Aim framework, which strives to improve patient care, reduce the per capita cost of healthcare, and improve the overall population’s health. The EDW, which was updated within one week of source system changes in Level 5, is now updated within one day. Data content now covers external devices such as bedside devices and home monitoring data.
Level 7: Clinical Risk Intervention & Predictive Analytics
“Organizational processes for intervention”
Vendors at this level become fully integrated and dependent on predictive analytics, an influential tool utilized in health/financial care that estimates the likelihood of potential events occurring. One use case of it is to predict patient flow trends. Care sites such as urgent care centers that run without a set schedule especially rely on predictive analytics for patient satisfaction, reducing wait times, and providing an adequate staffing level. Visualization tools model these peak utilization times, which centers use to adjust and draft working schedules. Overall, analytics at this level are focused on “collaboration with clinician payer partners to manage episodes of care.” Registries are now flagged if a patient exhibits a mental or physical disability. The data content has further expanded to long-term facility data and patient outcomes. The EDW, going from one week to one day, is now updated in less than an hour of source system changes.
Level 8: Personalized Medicine & Prescriptive Analytics
“ Tailoring patient care based on population outcomes and genetic data”
The data-motivated culture at Level 8 finally expands to accommodate patient tailored care by using Natural Language Processing (NLP), prescriptive analytics, and interventional decision support. By calculating patients’ actions such as their risk factors for re-admissions and identifying patients’ who may be a no-show to their clinical appointment, centers can avoid financial ramifications and instead push for accessible, speedy medical care. In reducing individual patient costs, prescriptive analytics is used — a branch related to predictive analytics, but instead of focusing on data monitoring, it presents several data-based decisions to ensure the best course of action. After using predictive analytics to predict what is most likely to happen, prescriptive analytics evaluates the cost-effectiveness of treatments and simulates which procedure will provide the most optimal outcome. The data content also includes 7X24 biometrics, genomic, and genetic data. The EDW can now be updated within a few minutes of source system changes.
Final Thoughts
We have finally gone through all nine levels of the Healthcare Analytics Adoption Model. In experiencing the pressure from this unprecedented pandemic, a health enterprise must have a strong analytical focus to provide the best possible care — and Health Catalyst’s services are a benefit to vendors who struggle to reach this standard.
An undisclosed health organization recognized that their EMR (Electronic Medical Record) was unable to integrate data from different sources and failed to provide an accurate system-wide response to COVID-19. With the help of Health Catalyst, they developed a COVID-19 dashboard, which integrates more than sixty critical metrics (well- defined performance measures) within seven days, ensures speedy and improved quality of organizational response, and efficiently manages data from five hospitals and clinics in forty-five different locations.
A second example of a customer success story is another undisclosed health system with the same issue, having trouble integrating different data while issuing a poor response to the pandemic. Using Health Catalyst to visualize surveillance and testing data to monitor the outbreak, this healthcare organization can now effectively respond to individual COVID-19 cases, and can develop COVID-19 registries within fifteen minutes. | https://medium.com/ds3ucsd/how-to-be-successful-in-healthcare-analytics-part-2-b63123ea61a4 | ['Kashika Rathore'] | 2020-05-27 00:46:23.995000+00:00 | ['Healthcare Technology', 'Data Visualization', 'Data', 'Health', 'Data Science'] |
How Are Government Incentives Boosting Second-Life Automotive Lithium-Ion Battery Market? | In 2019, 2.1 million electric cars were sold, and by 2030, the total number of these operational around world is expected to reach 130 million! As these vehicles, along with their components, age, they will lose their efficiency, as do all machines. Thus, with time, there will be a large stock of used vehicle batteries that can no longer be used for automotive traction purposes. Recycling these batteries is a cost-intensive and long process, which is why battery makers generally source virgin lithium metal from mines.
Therefore, P&S Intelligence says that the second-life lithium-ion battery market will grow from $430.0 million in 2019 to $7,392.0 million by 2030, at a high 23.1% CAGR between 2020 and 2030 (forecast period). This is because though depleted batteries can no longer be used to propel larger vehicles, they can still be used in low-speed EVs and for energy storage purposes in other industries, as the remaining 60–80% efficiency of such energy storage devices can fulfill these secondary purposes.
In 2019, Asia-Pacific (APAC) dominated the second-life automotive lithium-ion battery market because of the high sales of EVs here, which have led to a large stock of used batteries. China further expects to transition half its entire transportation system to EVs by 2025, which will further lead to a high availability of second-life EV batteries for other purposes. During the forecast period, Europe will experience the fastest industry growth due to the rising adoption of electric mobility.
Hence, with the growth of the EV and renewable energy industries, the scope for the usage of second-life EV lithium-ion batteries will keep widening.
Source: P&S Intelligence | https://medium.com/@marketnewspoint/how-are-government-incentives-boosting-second-life-automotive-lithium-ion-battery-market-76ba3beff2af | ['Punit Shah'] | 2021-03-22 11:34:16.625000+00:00 | ['Industry', 'Lithium', 'Market', 'Battery', 'Battery Market'] |
A Leap Of Faith. | I’ll make one thing clear out of the gate, I’m not a big fan of SUVs. You’ll hardly find me mentioning them at all, let alone taking the time to write an entire article about one. Sure, there’s been some exciting ones recently, like the refresh of Bentley’s Bentayga, which I think is somehow a bit uglier than the old one. Then, there’s the new Ineos Grenadier, which aims to be the Defender that Land Rover couldn’t build. Most of all, Ford’s new Bronco is such a runaway hit, that their website crashed every time I tried to get a peek.
I don’t feel like my life necessitates an SUV, nor do I feel like they’re aspirational enough. You might think that having a Sports Utility Vehicle sounds like a perfect all-rounder, but it’s not always so easy. Often times, they’re not at all sporty, as the inherent nature of their proportions mean that handling and performance aren’t up to par with say, a station wagon. Then, they’re not always so utilitarian either, with less room and it’ll likely get stuck in the first mud pit, unlike a proper off-roader.
So, you’re actually making a lot of compromises by getting an SUV, with few noteworthy advantages, at least that’s based on my needs. Clearly, I’m in the minority, because absolutely everyone on Earth is scrambling to the nearest dealership for one. I’d likely never get in line, but there’s one particular SUV that could convince me otherwise. It struck my soul when I first saw it a while ago, and for a company that’s never built or even experimented with an SUV before, I think they have themselves a homerun. | https://medium.com/@zacknorman97/a-leap-of-faith-4ba6a4ee1de4 | ['Zack Norman'] | 2020-08-10 17:22:20.189000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Automotive', 'Auto', 'News', 'Cars'] |
Qatar Airways signs codeshare with Deutsche Bahn for 8 German destinations | Qatar Airways currently operates 35 weekly flights between Doha and Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin.
By Our Correspondent
January 14, 2020: Qatar Airways has announced a codeshare partnership with Deutsche Bahn (DB), offering Qatar Airways travellers seamless connection to and from eight key destinations in Germany.
The codeshare partnership with Deutsche Bahn, one of the largest railway operators in Europe, will provide Qatar Airways passengers with connections to eight key cities within DB network like Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Hannover, Leipzig, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Munich, and Hamburg via Qatar Airways’ Frankfurt gateway in Germany.
Qatar Airways currently operates 35 weekly flights between Doha and Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin. There will be two daily flights from Frankfurt and Munich and one daily flight from Berlin.
Qatar Airways Group chief executive Akbar Al Baker said, “This codeshare agreement between Qatar Airways and Deutsche Bahn further strengthens the ties between Germany and Qatar. We have witnessed significant growing demand between Germany to Qatar and beyond. Our new codeshare destinations not only meet that demand, but provide a service for our valued passengers in Doha, and from dozens of destinations globally to new, exciting places to explore in Germany.”
Berthold Huber, member of the management board for passenger transport of Deutsche Bahn said, “We are very pleased to further intensify our successful and long-standing Rail & Fly cooperation with Qatar Airways through our new codeshare agreement. The Qatar Airways and Deutsche Bahn codeshare offer our joint customers a seamless, easy and flexible journey to and from different German cities.”
Qatar Airways currently operates a modern fleet of more than 250 aircraft via its hub, Hamad International Airport (HIA), to more than 160 destinations worldwide. The world’s fastest-growing airline has added several exciting new destinations to its growing network in 2019, including Rabat, Morocco; Izmir, Turkey; Malta; Davao, Philippines; Lisbon, Portugal; Mogadishu, Somalia; Langkawi, Malaysia, and Gaborone, Botswana.
Qatar Airways Cargo has expanded its cargo network in Asia-Pacific with the launch of a twice-weekly B777 freighter service to Osaka, Japan from January 14, 2020. It recently announced a major expansion in South America with four new freighter destinations Campinas (Brazil), Santiago (Chile), Bogotá (Colombia) launching on January 16, 2020, and Lima (Peru) and Luanda (Angola) to be launched soon. | https://medium.com/@info-85820/qatar-airways-signs-codeshare-with-deutsche-bahn-for-8-german-destinations-bc35578970e | ['Logistics Update Africa', 'Lua'] | 2020-01-14 10:20:26.312000+00:00 | ['Aviation', 'Travel', 'Logistics'] |
Tunisian jihadists execute a shepherd on the outskirt with Algeria | Security authorities and occupants affirmed that a couple of days back, furnished aggressors abducted a youthful shepherd in the Tunis mountains close to the Algerian fringe and executed him on Sunday. The security powers found the body of the youngster, Uqba Adabi, yesterday following his abducting. Tunisian Prime Minister Hicham El Mechichi remarking on the news said that this demonstration doesn’t go unpunished.
The Special Forces are completing procedure on the Kasserine mountain reach and Mount Salloum to remove the radicals and jihadists of the Army of the Organization of the Caliphate, a partner of Isis (Daesh). Assailants connected to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State discovered asylum for quite a long time in Tunisian tough precipitous areas along the fringe with Algeria. A few times inhabitants detailed conflicts between fear-based oppressor gatherings and security powers there, yet specialists think about their danger leveled out.
Tunisia is in a period of political change with significant financial and social difficulties that bring about incessant developments of social dissent. Despite the fact that the circumstance in the nation is basically quiet, strikes and showings can happen whenever and all through the nation, just as conflicts among demonstrators and law authorization, for which the public authority has frequently proclaimed a time limitation. In March 2020, a jihadist on board a sulked exploded himself before the US Embassy in Tunis. A couple of months prior, a kamikaze assault focused on a checkpoint in the vacationer zone of Sousse. A radical Sfaxian bunch called “El-Mahdi,” until now obscure to law requirement asserted this most recent assault.
On June 27, 2019, two assault minute men completed another assault against security powers in the capital Tunis. One individual passed on, and a few were harmed, including a few regular people. In August a year ago, another man wounded two vacationers in a lodging close to Tunis. On October 29, 2018, self-destruction besieging in focal Tunis left a few people harmed. In 2015, kamikazes focused on the transport of the official gatekeepers in Tunis. Different assaults were completed against an inn in Sousse and the Bardo exhibition hall in the capital. In these strikes, many individuals lost their lives. Tunisian specialists have taken a progression of measures to destroy psychological militant cells and reinforce security in occupied spots, up to this point without progress. Most importantly, they strengthened the presence of police powers in the nation, especially in traveler places.
The danger of psychological militant acts continues all through the nation, including vacationer resorts. The highly sensitive situation announced in 2015 is as yet in power. As of late, the debate has emerged over the way that an illicit outsider, who left Tunisia and arrived in Lampedusa, would have shown up undisturbed in Cannes, where he wounded a few people and executed a lady inside a basilica. As per the reproductions, specialists state the youngster radicalized in Tunisia. In spite of what the Tunisian media announced, theorizing that he could interact with fanatic gatherings in Europe. | https://medium.com/@blackwilliam879/tunisian-jihadists-execute-a-shepherd-on-the-outskirt-with-algeria-c21394381231 | ['William Black'] | 2020-12-21 12:05:34.968000+00:00 | ['Shepherd', 'Tunisia', 'Jihadist', 'Terrorism', 'Algeria'] |
A New User, Candour Design and User Experience | It is a fact that some accidents, incidents and natural disasters precede many changes and gradually human life adopt these changes. But Covid-19 has rapidly changed the way of life. This virus has done a lot of damage to every industry but on other hand e-commerce business has grown faster than expected. An example of this is the sudden increase in the wealth of Amazon owner Jeff Bezos. Now everyone is doing or thinking of doing their business online. In short, in coming days you will see every business existence online in the form of website or mobile application. As a user experience designer, I am seeing a lot of challenges coming to ux community. And the biggest challenge is that user we haven’t dealt with yet.
From my observations and studies I can explain this user through some of the following points.
A conservative type person who can be a businessman, shopkeeper or any office holder or a skilled work. Zero experience of online shopping and buying. Only use cash for selling purchasing. Not even a bank account. Use his phone only for calls. Might be very allergic to internet before corona. Age 40 years or onward
All are above points are kind of feature of this user. Now we need to introduce a new dimension to UX strategies. We have to come up with a solution to all the pains and problems that are in the mind of this type of user. Also we need to create more trust factor in product design than ever before. As individual I can’t completely define this user but jointly we ux community can do.
Regarding this kind of user I invented a term called Candour Design in which we have to earn the trust of this user and make a trusty, honest, traditional, friendly environment. In coming days I will briefly explain Candour Design.
Right now I am working on it and also will share new ux strategies for our new user. I am very grateful if someone want to part of my study or better guide me. Need suggestions and tips. Thanks! | https://medium.com/nyc-design/a-new-user-candour-design-and-user-experience-4cc303ff57ff | ['Salman Habib'] | 2020-08-09 15:28:49.962000+00:00 | ['User Experience', 'New York', 'Design Process', 'User Research', 'Design Thinking'] |
Have You Ever Taught Writing? Three Novels You’ll Appreciate | Have You Ever Taught Writing? Three Novels You’ll Appreciate
Seduction of Water, Punjabi Widows, and Lost Friends
Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash
The Art of Teaching Writing and the Unexpected Results of Doing It Well
How do you inspire a group of disgruntled kids to WRITE? How do you inspire them to create meaning out of words? As any teacher of writing knows, it’s hard to overcome the difficulties of a classroom. In some cases, you’ve got students with a lack of fundamental skills. At other times, it’s like walking over an abyss of disinterest, carrying big loads of enthusiasm, encouragement, and assignments that matter to the student.
If you work daily to help students see the value of writing and then actually do it, you’ll appreciate these books about three different writing teachers and the unexpected results of teaching well.
Because writing teachers can be heroes!
The Seduction of Water by Carol Goodman
Sometimes you find a book by accident, and that book causes you to want to read more of whoever wrote it. That’s what happened to me. Recently, I just happened across a book by a writer named Carol Goodman, and after finishing The Seduction of Water, I can’t wait to read more of Goodman’s work.
The Seduction of Water is the story of Iris Greenfelder, working as a part-time English teacher while she’s finishing her dissertation. Her mother was a successful fantasy writer, penning two bestselling books, but before the third part of the trilogy could be published, Iris’ mother died in a mysterious fire. When Iris is struck by inspiration, she crafts a story based on the myths her mother used as bedtime stories: the legend of the selkie, seal-like women who shed their skins to come ashore and live as humans.
The story draws the attention of Iris’ mother’s an ambitious literary agent who believes the third manuscript exists. She encourages Iris to write a biography of her mother…and the quest for truth begins.
The world of hotels, literary agents, and World War II survivors mesh in this lovely, lyrical novel that is part mystery, part romance, part “Gothic,” and part teaching pedagogy.
I related to the main character because she was an English teacher who wanted to be a writer. Don’t we all?
Photo by shannon VanDenHeuvel on Unsplash
Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal
Don’t let the title turn you off….or on….as the case may be. This is a book that is both delightful and demanding of your attention, causing you to think about taboo topics and how to give silent communities a way to be heard.
Nikki is the daughter of Indian immigrants. Desperate for money, she answers an ad to teach creative writing to a group of mostly older Punjabi widows. But not only can Nikki not speak much Punjabi, but the members of the class also don’t even know the English alphabet. When their attention wanders, they begin to tell each other stories, most of which are not appropriate for mixed company.
What’s a teacher to do? (Check out this in-depth treatment of the book by Joshua Poh here on Medium.)
If you believe in the power of storytelling, if you want a glimpse into a different community, if you’ve ever searched for your true identity, read this book. Still thinking that it sounds too racy? (I know. My mother would have looked askance at that title on my bookshelves.) Read this review from the New York Journal of Books.
Photo by Loren Joseph on Unsplash
The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate
Benny Silva is an enthusiastic, good-hearted young English teacher working with impoverished, down-trodden students in rural Louisiana. If she stays there for five years, her college debts are forgiven. But it’s a hard go because there are no supplies, no budget, and a previous lack of quality education.
To get her students motivated, Benny assigns them a local history project, asking them to research and write about a person, place, or event in their history. It isn’t easy, but a few students embrace the project.
As they’re researching, interesting facts start turning up about the real history of the town. The story splits into a dual timeline, as the reader learns about Benny and her class while the newly discovered history reveals a second story focusing on the history of a plantation owner’s daughter, her half-sister, a Creole mistress, and the slave who took care of them.
The novel incorporates real history: The Book of Lost Friends was a way for the almost 4 million newly-freed slaves to find each other.
Like all good stories, there’s an unexpected twist at the end, several revelations, and glimpses of the power of individual history that makes us who we are. More than that, for teachers, there’s joy in seeing students who increase their self-confidence, their skills, and their optimism for the future.
Photo by Ahmad Ossayli on Unsplash
Melissa Gouty is a former award-winning teacher who has a heart for teachers and the obstacles they face. She now leads writing workshops and gives presentations on creativity, freelancing, and history. | https://medium.com/literature-lust/have-you-ever-taught-writing-three-novels-youll-appreciate-3de6319182cd | ['Melissa Gouty'] | 2020-11-26 23:51:08.265000+00:00 | ['Teaching', 'Novel', 'Reading', 'Books', 'Writing'] |
The 2020 race for the White House | New high rent tower, San Diego
As the 2020 Democratic Party primary takes shape, we are seeing some old patterns emerge. These could cost the Democrats the White House with incredible consequences for the future of the United States. It is with no doubt that the United States is fast becoming a former super-power, and stepped into the past. What Donald Trump wants is not a future world, with diversity, hope, and opportunity for all. He desires a country stuck in the past, where whites will dominate all political aspects of life. In some ways, but only if Democrats take advantage of it, he is taking the National Republican Party down the same path as Pete Wilson took the California Republicans. At this point, and this is worth mentioning. Republicans hold no statewide office in the state. Once they were the dominant party.
Prop 187 was the beginning the end of this dominance. It made it clear for many people of Mexican-American decent that the time to stand on the sidelines was over. The rush to become citizens was on, and so was the rush to vote. Within a generation, the Republican Party is consigned to deep rural counties in the state. Almost every urban area of a certain size is in the hands of Democrats. They also have supermajorities in Sacramento, and the state has become far more liberal in both policies and outlook. This irritates Republicans in the state. However, they are unable to capture the imagination, and formerly red towns, such as San Diego, are now purple to blue. While others are making the translation as I write, for example, El Cajon and La Mesa in San Diego County.
Does this mean that Democrats are not making serious mistakes? Of course, it does not mean that. For a prime example of this see the housing crisis in the state. While some of the policies started earlier than that, such as the Costa Hawkins legislation that prevents rent control from taking shape, at this point Democrats own it. Costa Hawkins prevent the following:
* It protects a landlord’s right to raise the rent to market rate on a unit once a tenant moves out. * It prevents cities from establishing rent control — or capping rent — on units constructed after February 1995. * It exempts single-family homes and condos from rent control restrictions.
However, and this matters, the housing affordability crisis is.not just limited to California, but in California, we are at a crisis point. Regardless Democrats dominate state politics, partly because of identity politics and the fact that they are preferred in this majority-minority state. This process may be starting in other places around the nation, as the population changes from a majority white to a majority-minority nation.
This is one of the reasons for the high-status loss anxiety that we are seeing and the embrace of white nationalist and white supremacist populist candidates. The Republican Party, the party of Lincoln, is embracing these people as well. And it did not start today. The party inversion, when KKK members and white supremacist left the Democratic party started early in the 1960s, and it was pretty much over by 1970. This is why Strum Thurmond started his political life as a Democrat and ended his career as a staunch Republican.
This process is known as the flight of the Southern Democrats and it is not that well understood outside of specialist context. This is why many Republicans to this day, call Democrats racist. There was a deep commitment to the preservation of Jim Crowe in the South, and the Republican Party was far more moderate in this respect. This is true. But this changed over the course of ten years, less than a generation. As the decades moved on, Republicans became more committed to gerrymandered districts, minority voter suppression and now, electing a white supremacist to the White House and standing by him no matter what.
The party is rapidly aging and is in danger of following the path of the Know-Nothings in the 19th century, who were also a racist. nativist party. Republicans are stuck with this. Partly ti is who their members are. When combined with their leadership, nativism, white supremacy and white nationalism makes sense.
The Race in the Democratic Party
The party is having a primary that is also pitting at least two different visions of the future of the country. Perhaps there are more. One of the main vision is to continue the path of the last thirty years. Oh never mind that one reason for the rise of populism globally, and Trump, in particular, is the form that globalization has taken. This is precisely where at least four candidates are: Joe Biden, Senator Kamala Harris, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and former Congressman Beto O’Rourke and Senator Cory Booker. In one way or another, they are running on moderation and returning the country to the path we have been for thrifty years. Never mind that this path is one reason for the anger among working-class workers and in particular white working-class voters in three critical states.
Then there are the change candidates. These are Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders. I am mentioning the top tier for a reason, Democrats have already made a major mistake by having debates with twenty people on the stage. It makes it hard for voters to really get engaged or differentiating candidates.
There is another critical mistake Democrats are making. This is trying to ignore the elephant in the room by avoiding mentioning Trump at all cost. The president is a racist, he is a white supremacist. His history in this regard goes back to at least the Central Park Five, if not earlier. There is no doubt that the president believes he has superior genes and is part of a master race of sorts.
His beef with asylum laws, for example, is that they tend to apply to people of color from Central America. He wants to change this system to delay the demographic change that is coming. He wants to make the country great again, meaning white. However, with a few exceptions, most Democrats are running away from this reality. or the possibility that the president wants an old fashioned spat of ethnic cleansing. Biden, in particular, is problematic and gaffe-prone. Partly, his experience in the Senate started when we had a few open white supremacists in office. Yes, he had to work with them, but no, this is not the kind of compromise we need at this point. We do not need to work with Congressman Steve King for example. In fact. his views should be confined to the dust bin of history, not elevated.
This is a critical mistake Democrats are making. Every time the president or his allies scream socialism and communism, Democrats are further defined. Every time the media calls them “far-left” with no pushback, they are further defined. Democrats. and it matters not who they elect in the end as their standard-bearer, will be communist and socialists, RUN!
Those in Wall-street and other places do not want a Democratic president, not because they are bad for the bottom line. They are not, and evidence tells us that Democrats are better for Wall Street’s bottom line, but because they believe they are not. Also, Democrats tend to clean up after the not so fiscally responsible Republicans who blow the deficit every time. This means raising taxes. There are Americans who believe that taxes are evil, therefore Democrats are worst than Republicans, even if company bottom lines are better. The Intelligencer had this to say a few months back:
“There’s tremendous fear,” said one banker who was there. The candidates who had long cultivated relationships with Wall Street — such as Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand — were struggling to gain traction and had grown more hostile to finance as their party had, too. Joe Biden, leading in early polls, had a comforting history in the Obama White House and a reputation as an Establishment Democrat but had never, until a few months ago, maintained any meaningful relationship with Wall Street, hadn’t even announced his candidacy yet, and struck many bankers as a dubious bet to beat Donald Trump. Nearly everyone else in the field, the financiers felt, was being pulled leftward by Bernie Sanders (the preposterously well-funded contender they considered too crazy to even imagine in the White House) and Elizabeth Warren (less crazy, Democrats on Wall Street think, and way more competent). “She would torture them,” one banker told me. “Warren strikes fear in their hearts,” explained a New York executive close to banking leaders from both parties — so much fear that such investors often speak of the U.S. senator from Massachusetts, a former law professor and consumer advocate, as a co-front-runner with Sanders. “How do we come up with an alternative?” asked one person at the dinner. There were a few options, none perfect. Beto O’Rourke had recently launched his campaign, and his congressional record was essentially a centrist-shaped blank slate. Pete Buttigieg was a McKinsey alum who came from the Rust Belt but talked like a Silicon Valley exec or an Obama Treasury official, but no one, yet, took him seriously. Kamala Harris was a favorite of many in the room. The U.S. senator from California now describes herself as a populist and highlighted a past confrontation with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon over foreclosures in her pre-campaign book, but in 2012, as California’s attorney general, she passed on prosecuting OneWest and its CEO, Steven Mnuchin. In this cycle, she has been the Democrat perhaps most active in seeking Wall Street money (Citi vice-chairman Ray McGuire and Pine Street partner Brian Mathis are helping with her Wall Street outreach, and she recently headlined a fund-raiser hosted by LionTree CEO Aryeh Bourkoff) and occasionally its advice (BlackRock’s Michael Pyle, an Obama-administration alum, is advising her on economics). “People are generally in search of a candidate who has the right set of views, has the right character, but also can win,” Rattner told me later. “Right now, it is very hard to see who checks all three boxes.”
The right set of priorities, as far as Wall Street is concerned, is not taxing them too much, if at all. It is not regulating the banking industry and removing any regulations if possible. So they will not be too unhappy if Trump remains in office, as long as they keep people like Sanders and Warren out. Oh never mind that Trump is out of control and destroying institutions.
The party is not fighting back and is allowing their opponents to define them using very old fashioned red-baiting. Republicans know that this will bring out their older white demographic. The question is the effect among the younger voting block that is now starting to vote regularly.
This matters and it matters a lot. Party leadership still does not understand why the working class is turning out for Trump. They do not yet understand the anger. And while racism is part of it, eight years of a black president. there is also deep-seated anger at being left behind.
Democrats also do not understand that the changes afoot, including robotics and job displacement due to it, are creating a lot of anxiety So is the rise of the precariat. While some people are making insane amounts of money, most people need to work to or three jobs, and higher education is increasingly out of reach for most middle-class Americans, let alone working class.
Then there are the millennials who were promised an easier life as long as they worked hard in school and got their education, they have, and many are working at $10 dollar jobs, in a precarious economy that also required them to get insane amounts of debt. While many, if not most, will still vote for Democrats, they are hardly married to a single party.
Young people are also leaving organized religion in droves, so a more religious message may be a turn-off. This is starting to worry churches and other religious institutions, which see a pattern that first took shape in Europe a generation ago.
White Supremacy/ White Anxiety
So we go back to this point. It is true, the country that older white Americans knew is disappearing. This is a rule about history. There is nothing that is constant in history. The past is a foreign country. This is a reality, even if older people do not accept this. But this is creating great anxiety among these people. They feel their country is disappearing and believe that the past was better, more familiar, than the present. The past is a foreign country, one we remember with more fondness than the present. This is why every generation often complaints about change and the young. However, this time around this is quite radical. Their country, their dominance of the political system, is about to pass.
Democrats are seemingly unaware of these dynamics. Partly because the party leadership comes from urban coastal cities where these changes have already occurred in some cases. A good example of this are places like Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle. When they say change is good, for them this is an obvious thing. Even if in what they derisively call flyover country is fighting with tooth and nail against these. Then there are the people who were left behind by globalization, mostly in the working-class, rust belt states. This changed the dynamic with working-class whites. The leaders of the Democratic Party do not come from these areas. They are the very successful, very educated, coastal elites that Donald Trump rails against, never mind he is part of that same coastal elite. What he has done is tap into the resentment politics that are part of this dynamic.
Democrats first need to acknowledge the pain in that flyover country. They need to understand the fear, and they need to get the resentment. Making fun of it plays into the dynamic, and when these conversations leak, this leads to an even less receptive audience. For example, Hillary Clinton speaking of the basket of deplorable played right into it. Democrats need to studiously avoid that, or they will face the same voting block that will not want to listen to them.
What is at stake is the future of the nation. Also realize, that going right off-center to gain conservative voters may not work. In fact, going after Trump voters is a losing proposition. Most of them will not admit the disaster that is the Trump administration. Nor will they vote for Democrats for the most part. Especially if the Democrats chose a steady, run of the mill, center-right Democrat that promises a return to the normalcy that was the Obama administration.
The future of the Democratic Party is with the young, and minorities. They need to appeal to those voters and drive registration and voter participation through the roof. Trump voters are not going to vote for others. There are many reasons, including the above-mentioned politics of resentment.
Democrats stop with letting Republicans define them. On the other hand, it is beyond the time that Democrats call Republicans what they are: Racist and white supremacists. They need to pain this election exactly for what it is. There is a choice between an appeal to that past, or a bright future. It is well past time to call Republicans what they are and lose the fear of getting called for practicing identity politics. Yes, Democrats may run on identity politics, but Trump is the ultimate white identarian in the White House. It is time to go on the offensive.
Democrats also need to run on a forward-looking program. If out of the primary they have center-right middle of the road candidates, I will call it right now. Donald Trump will win the election.
The young are not scared of socialism or a different system. Their future depends on revolutionary change. Without that promise, they will stay home. Healthcare is one issue that matters. But for the young, it is with the climate emergency that you will find a home. What is needed to deal with it is systemic and revolutionary. So strap in. The election will be all but fun. The primaries will be critical though. | https://nadinbrzezinski.medium.com/the-2020-race-for-the-white-house-f2742778f412 | ['Nadin Brzezinski'] | 2019-07-23 18:38:56.584000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'White Supremacy', 'History', 'Trumpism', '20202 Democratic Primary'] |
Keep it Simple, Stupid | Keep it Simple, Stupid
Just do it.
Three simple words that invoke inspiration and drive people to improve in all aspects of their lives.
The most well-known slogan is practiced throughout Nike’s corporate attitude and has helped solidify them as the leading athletic and fitness company worldwide.
According to the most recent market analysis from Technavio, “Nike’s market share stands at about 27.4% in 2019, ahead of its industry rivals Adidas and ASICS, making Nike the world’s largest company in the global footwear market.”
Being from Portland, Oregon, the birthplace and headquarters for the company, I have grown up with the swoosh on my feet for as long as I can remember.
While I love the footwear and apparel Nike produces, one of my favorite things about the brand is their commercials. These commercials rarely aim to sell their latest and greatest products and instead focus on inducing emotion in the consumer.
The company focuses on selling more than a product and instead aims to sell aspiration. I believe this adds an additional aspect of value to the company that ultimately increases brand loyalty.
Photo by Stephan Schmid on Unsplash
After completing some research, I learned that Nike ads often tell the story of a hero who conquers adversity to defeat their greatest foe. By doing so, the company is able to inspire the consumer to defeat the voice in their heads telling them “You can’t.” The style of using this “hero” narrative provides a clear beginning, middle and end and allows for the viewer to follow with ease and soak up the message at the conclusion.
In one of their most recent adds, Nike uses their main athletes, including Lebron James, Tiger Woods and Serena Williams to exhibit their “hero” stories where they find triumph through hard work amongst some of their lowest points in their career.
I loved this ad because not only did they include these hardships at the professional level, but they also provide glimpses of adversity that athletes face in their everyday lives, including a closed playground sign to make it more relatable for the consumer.
In addition to this, the ad ends with scenes that the consumer is familiar with when playing sports including the inside of a locker room and various scoreboards.
The use of a narrator along with text on the screen are definitely some aspects I’m going to consider using in my final video project. I believe this enforces the message being told and allows for it to sit with the consumer longer.
I also like the use of the inspiring music in the background. It sat low enough to allow for additional sounds of announcers, the crowd and the narrator but was loud enough to carry the motivating feeling of the message.
Prior to watching this ad, I was planning to implement music in both my final video project and social video assignment. | https://medium.com/lehigh-mobile-storytelling/nike-productionvalue-commercial-7c01d97ae970 | ['Peter Burpee'] | 2020-06-15 18:38:22.082000+00:00 | ['Blog', 'Style', 'Marketing', 'Athletes'] |
Mobile App Design- Key To Ace Your Business Application! | App industry has surprised the world with its potential. But do you know the secret ingredient that makes an app successful? Dig in to learn more about Mobile App Design!
In the midst of the global pandemic, one technology that has emerged as a solution to multiple problems is mobile app development. Because of the contagious coronavirus, digital means like websites and applications are being preferred globally, in order to fetch necessary items, for example, groceries, food, clothes, and much more.
According to the statistic, an average user is now spending more than 85% of their mobile time on applications. This basic stat is enough to prove the popularity of applications. Due to its massive global adoption, both emerging and established entrepreneurs are trying to merge their businesses with the technology. Its gargantuan fame has accelerated the development process. Now, we have a colossal number of apps, and the count is still increasing.
But do you know the secret ingredient that makes an app successful?
Even though the number of apps is shooting for the stars, the quality is continuous. Many companies opt for business app development with an aim to trigger their profit, but in the process, they forget to focus on the most important part necessary for success. Yes, we are talking about mobile app design.
App design plays a huge role in bridging the persistent gap between the user and the process. Therefore, the developers must not approach this part with carelessness. If your aim is to create a mobile application for your own business, then keep reading to discover the related factors.
A Brief Introduction To Mobile App Design!
There are two major teams that are responsible for the creation of the application. Firstly there are developers, who make sure that the application is created smoothly without any glitches. Secondly, there are designers who make sure that the application looks flawless. And today, we would be discussing the latter.
Mobile app design includes both User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX), collectively they are responsible for the look and feel of the developed application. The entire designing team is in charge of the complete app’s style, which includes placement of buttons and widgets, color scheme, overall style, font style, and much more. Leniency in the designing part is unacceptable because it can harm the market reputation of the brand.
To master the art, teams must be aware of following the right process from starting till the ending. Therefore, in this blog, we would be sharing some of the most important factors necessary to ace the development process. So without any further ado, let us initiate the learning.
Choose The Right Platform For Application Designing
Since the demand for applications has increased, the number of companies providing the required services has also increased. This has degraded the quality of design because many companies still do not possess the right experience. Hence, it is a must to follow the right steps.
Firstly, teams must know exactly which platform they should design through which clients can reap maximum advantages. While using an Android or iOS phone, design for Android or iOS respectively.
Selection Of Right Tools Can Make Huge Difference
The second step after choosing the right platform is to choose the right tools. One does not need to select different tools for different platforms because, in designing, a single tool will work seamlessly for both platforms. Following are the three popular tools for the same-
1. Sketch
2. Adobe Photoshop
3. Adobe XD
We recommend that you go with Adobe XD or Sketch as these are the standard tools for the same and are built with prototyping and design in mind.
5 Major Mantras For Successful Designing
Initiating the designing process with a half-hearted approach is not the solution. It would only cause blunders. If you want to avoid the same, then make sure to follow the rules that we have listed below-
1. Focus all your efforts on goal-driven design.
2. Make sure you simplify the design for a better understanding of the user base.
3. Keep in touch with the uniform flow at all times.
4. The secret ingredient for successful mobile app design is readability.
5. Make sure to follow OS-specific design rules.
In A Nutshell
These are all the important factors that you must know about mobile app design before initiating. But this is not all. There is a lot more to the development process, that one must discover before starting the process. If you are interested in learning more about the complete functioning, then reach out to the experts from a leading mobile app development company. They will not only help you during the ideation part of your process, but they will also help you to market it to your target audience.
Mobile application design indeed is very crucial for any budding and established brand. Therefore, it is mandatory to take calculated steps in a progressive direction. Do you still have queries in your mind? If yes, then feel completely free to reach out to us. We would be delighted to help you out on your digital journey.
Make sure that you drop any further doubts related to app tech, in the comment section. But until then, stay tuned to this portal for more updates and news related to technology. | https://medium.com/@james-17390/mobile-app-design-key-to-ace-your-business-application-55ac9da29ef | ['James Smith'] | 2020-12-14 14:25:48.041000+00:00 | ['Mobile Apps', 'Mobile App Design', 'App Design', 'Mobile App Development'] |
Consent Belongs in Marriage Too | The History and Prevalence of Marital Rape
Wikipedia states that Marital rape or spousal rape is the act of sexual intercourse with one’s spouse without the spouse’s consent. The lack of consent is an essential element and need not involve physical violence. Marital rape is considered a form of domestic violence and sexual abuse.
Although, historically, sexual intercourse within marriage was regarded as a right of spouses, engaging in the act without the spouse’s consent is now widely classified as rape by many societies around the world, repudiated by international conventions, and increasingly criminalized. — Source
In 2006, Approximately 10–14% of married women are raped by their husbands in the United States. Exactly one-third of women reported having ‘unwanted sex’ with their partner. To reiterate, historically, most rape statutes read that rape was forced sexual intercourse with a woman, not your wife, thus granting husbands a license to rape. — Source
In fact, as late as 1992 marital rape was still legal in the United States and only became illegal in 50 states in 1993. In 20 states, the District of Columbia, and on federal lands, there are no exemptions from rape prosecution granted to husbands. However, in 30 states, there are still partial exemptions given to husbands from rape prosecution. In most of these 30 states, a husband is exempt when he does not have to use force because his wife is most vulnerable (e.g., she is mentally or physically impaired, unconscious, asleep, etc.) and is unable to consent. Women who are raped by their husbands are likely to be raped many times — often 20 or more times. They experience not only vaginal rape but also oral and anal rape. Researchers generally categorize marital rape into three types; force-only rape, battering rape and sadistic. — Source
Fast forward 13 years later, October 2019, Refinery29 published an article during National Domestic Violence Awareness month on marital rape. The updated statistics show 17 states still have existing loopholes for marital rape including Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Washington, and Wyoming.
The law exempts prosecution of spouses who rape their wives while they are incapacitated, drugged or otherwise mentally impaired or unconscious. Other facts stated in the article about marital rape show that 1 in 10 women still experience rape at the hands of their spouse. Marital rape remains 4 times more prevalent than stranger rape women are more likely to be sexually assaulted by someone they know.
The Historical Allowance of Marital Rape
Rape in a historical context, in much of the world, was viewed as a crime of tort of theft of a man’s property, that being the husband or father.
Women had no autonomy, they were regarded as property, much like cattle, and ownership was passed from father to husband; this passing of ownership is why in many countries’ women take her husbands’ last name during subsequent nuptials to show her new master.
Much like in the Hulu smash it based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name, The Handmaid’s Tale, in the fictional Gilead, fertile women are handmaid’s like in the Bible and bear the children for the Commanders and their barren wives. Each handmaid takes the name of her commander to show ownership. Rape is the means on conception used in the book and tv show on the grounds of biblical principles outlined in the Old Testament.
For example, if your commander’s name is Fred, you the handmaid would so be called Of-Fred because he owns you. Similarly historically, women were owned by their father first and their husband second and had no agency of their own not until the 20th Century.
In the case of rape, it was seen as a crime of vandalism or tarnishing of the father’s or husband’s property, in so far as, the crime was not seen as levied against the victim but to her owner, the husband or father. Thus, a husband could never rape his wife and she belonged to him, being his property to do what he wanted with.
Sir Matthew Hale (1609–1676) described in History of the Pleases of the Crown published posthumously in 1736 asserted that a husband could not be charged with the rape of his wife because the husband owned her by right of law. He wrote, “The husband cannot be guilty of a rape committed by himself upon his lawful wife, for by their mutual consent and contract the wife hath given up herself in this kind unto her husband, which she cannot retract”.
Similarly, in American law before the 20th Century, the law of coverture enacted a similar sentiment, that is, there was a legal doctrine under which, upon marriage, a woman’s legal rights were subsumed by those of her husband.
Once unified in marriage, as outlined in the Bible, two becomes one, and a spouse could not be charged with raping one’s spouse, just as you cannot be charged with raping oneself.
English Common Law had much influence on these laws in the United States and natural throughout the world thanks to colonialism. A wife was under the law the sole property of the husband this wasn’t overturned in the United States until late in the 20th Century.
Over 40 countries in the world still have no legislation against marital rape on the books. This includes several countries in the British Commonwealth, including my country of birth, The Bahamas. | https://medium.com/candour/consent-belongs-in-marriage-too-68469da58ff1 | ['Nicole Bedford'] | 2020-02-21 16:58:07.624000+00:00 | ['Women', 'Feminism', 'World', 'Rape', 'Consent'] |
Potret Buruknya Koordinasi: Polemik Izin Operasional dan Mobilitas Kegiatan Industri di DKI Jakarta | By signing up, you will create a Medium account if you don’t already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices. | https://medium.com/risalahkebijakankesehatan/potret-buruknya-koordinasi-polemik-izin-operasional-dan-mobilitas-kegiatan-industri-di-dki-jakarta-70d3cbba3883 | ['Randa Arnika Murtiningtyas'] | 2020-12-21 02:11:53.933000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Jakarta', 'Indonesia'] |
Build A Website Using a Wix Coupon Code | So you want to build your own website but you don’t know anything about html, css or javascript? That is no problem with Wix. The innovative site builder guides you through the process of creating an amazing site that not only looks great but works great as well. Make sure to grab a Wix coupon code before signing up and save some money on the already great value!
There are a few things you do need if you really want to personalize your site. They are:
Pictures: Upload your creative shots of you doing what it is that you do. Show off your business, express your ideas and make an attention grabbing visual presentation. The more pictures the better.
Videos: No, you don’t HAVE to have videos, but they do make a great feature on a website. Just shoot a quick clip on your phone telling the world about your products, services or just your thoughts.
Words: Not everyone is a writer. But everyone has a story to tell. Think of writing as if you are speaking to a client or customer. Explain what it is that your are selling or the point you want to get across.
Using the Wix site builder is fun and really easy. You will amaze yourself and visitors to your site with what you will be able to create. Don’t let the tech stuff scare you. Wix makes it super simple!
Visit WixCouponCode.com and save on your first website today! | https://medium.com/@blackmel523/build-a-website-using-a-wix-coupon-code-a6e46a2d8868 | ['Melinda Eaton'] | 2019-02-20 16:46:40.695000+00:00 | ['Web Design', 'Wix', 'Wix Code', 'Site Builder', 'Coupon'] |
Accelerating TSNE with GPUs: From hours to seconds | Applications of TSNE
TSNE contrasts with traditional supervised methods like Linear Regression and Decision Trees, as it requires no labels. TSNE tries to discern structure in the data by moving points that are similar together and dis-similar points away from each other.
Figure 2. TSNE used in a fashion use case.
In Figure 2 above, TSNE is being applied to a fashion dataset that consists of 60,000 images of articles of clothing. This is useful for finding a natural grouping that will put “similar” garments close together. TSNE is able to reduce the complex space of fashion images to a smaller space, which is easier to work with. The vectors of pixels for each image are used as input and TSNE maps them to 2 dimensions, or 2 values for each image. In Figure 5, the 2-dimensional output from TSNE is plotted and color-coded according to the clothing category of the original input (e.g. boots are blue). TSNE is unaware of these categories, but finds a grouping that is able to put more similar items closer together.
Here is another example using the MNIST digits dataset. Given handwritten digits, the task is to classify each digit as 0, 1, 2 etc. After applying TSNE on all 60,000 images of digits, we find that without any labels, TSNE manages to separate the data. You can see in Figure 3 how there are clear clusters color-coded by digit type (0 to 9).
Figure 3. TSNE plot of the MNIST digits dataset
TSNE is also used to visualize Convolutional Neural Nets to help practitioners discern whether complex classifiers are actually “learning.” Below shows TSNE applied to AlexNet, where the output of the CNN of images before the actual classifier (4096 dimensions) is reduced to 2 dimensions, then visualized with the actual input image. Notice in Figure 4, similar images tend to be close, which implies how AlexNet “sees” them as being similar.
Figure 4. Source: CS231n Convolutional Neural Networks for Visual Recognition
TSNE vs. Principal Component Analysis (PCA)
TSNE is a nonlinear dimensionality reduction algorithm, whilst Principal Component Analysis is linear. This mean’s PCA’s components often have some meaning, while TSNE’s are no longer ordered by importance, or at all interpretable outside of the neighborhoods they create. On the CPU, it’s often recommended to reduce dimensions using PCA to 50 before feeding into TSNE for performance improvements. This is not the case for GPUs.
RAPIDS cuML Speed-Up over Scikit-Learn
Many data scientists start with the popular TSNE implementation from scikit-learn. Scikit-learn’s TSNE (single threaded) provides a familiar, easy to use interface, but can run into scalability issues. For instance, a 60,000 example dataset could take 1 hour to converge in scikit-learn on CPU. The cuML TSNE implementation running on an NVIDIA V100 GPU can finish in 3 seconds on that same dataset.
Table 1. cuML’s TSNE time running on an NVIDIA DGX-1 with using 1 V100 GPU.
Notice the log scale in Table 1.
Table 2. The timings in seconds between cuML and Scikit-Learn (DGX 1)
So cuML’s TSNE runs 1,000x faster, and it also attains similar trustworthiness scores.
Table 3. The full graph showcasing speedup of cuML over scikit-learn running on NVIDIA DGX 1.
On a dataset with 204,800 samples and 80 features, cuML takes 5.4 seconds while Scikit-learn takes almost 3 hours. This is a massive 2,000x speedup. We also tested TSNE on an NVIDIA DGX-1 machine using only one V100 GPU (DGX1: 32gb GV100 GPU, Intel Xeon E5–2698 v4 CPU@ 2.20GHz w/20 cores & 40 threads). The data transfer times were also included in this benchmark. Figure 5 shows a dataset containing 100 samples and 80 columns. Notice how cuML can be faster even on small datasets. Furthermore, RAPIDS TSNE is also around 200x faster than multicore TSNE.
Figure 5. cuML TSNE on the small Breast Cancer Data (1 second)
Using the PCA trick described above does give scikit-learn’s TSNE a slight boost in end-to-end performance, however, RAPIDS cuML TSNE is still demonstrating more than 1,000x speedup on tall datasets with 204,800 samples and 50 columns. This enables TSNE to be trained on datasets without first having to reduce the dimensions using PCA.
How TSNE Works
cuML’s TSNE is based largely on CannyLab’s original Barnes Hut implementation. Currently, two algorithms are supported: Barnes Hut TSNE and Exact TSNE. Barnes Hut runs much faster than the Exact version, but is very slightly less accurate (at most 3% error). For large datasets (samples >= 2,000), the Barnes Hut algorithm is recommended for superior speed.
TSNE has 2 key objectives:
Close points should remain close. Far points should remain distant.
Given some data points in a high dimensional setting (say 3D or 1,000 D), the goal is to embed the points in a lower space (eg. 2 dimensions), such that the local neighborhood structure of the input data is preserved as much as possible in its embedded form.
More concretely, points in the original high-dimensional space are first converted to probability densities that look like a bell curve, or normal distribution, like the red line in Figure 6 below. Points that are close increase each other’s probabilities, and so dense areas tend to have higher values. Likewise, outliers and dissimilar points have small values.
Figure 6. Source: study.com
Now here’s where the “T-Distributed” part in TSNE’s name comes in. The points in the lower space are also modeled using a bell curve, though one which is stretched out like the blue line in Figure 6.
People have tried using a non-stretched version, but this causes a problem known as the “Crowding Problem”, where the embedded points clump together.
Figure 7. Left showcases the crowding problem. TSNE solves this by using the T-Distribution.
Now, imagine springs connecting every point in the low dimensional space to every other point. Imagine the following scenario:
Points which are close originally will tug on each other. (Attraction) Points which are dis-similar originally will push on each other. (Repulsion)
Essentially our spring’s function has been reversed. One would expect that far away points will cause the spring to pull them together, but in TSNE it’s the opposite.
Now let the springs in the low dimensional space be free. This is the optimization phase for TSNE. We terminate the evolving system when all the springs stop moving. We remove the springs, and the ending positions of each point becomes the final embedding.
TSNE Optimizations
There are four optimizations used to improve the performance of TSNE on GPUs:
calculating higher dimensional probabilities with less GPU memory, approximating higher dimensional probabilities, reducing arithmetic operations, and broadcasting along rows.
Optimization 1 — Calculating Higher Dimensional Probabilities with less GPU Memory
Remember the goal to calculate the probabilities of each point by considering every other point’s influence? When the influence of point A to point B is not the same as point B on A, they are not symmetric. To make them equal, both contributions are summed up and divided between them. This is called symmetrizing the probabilities.
Originally, the symmetrization step was inefficient due to the use of unnecessary intermediate memory buffers. In the RAPIDS implementation, memory usage was reduced by 30% and is now highly parallelized. In total running times, symmetrization now takes 1%, or less of total elapsed times, as compared to 25% previously.
Table 4. Timings of each kernel on the GPU. Symmetrization takes 1% of total time.
To implement this optimization, we first converted the distances between points into a COO (Coordinate Format) Sparse Matrix using fast cuML primitives. Sparse matrix formats are good at representing graphs of connected nodes and edges. This is especially true in the case of k-nearest neighbors graphs, which have a fixed number of connected edges, since only the closest neighbors of each point needs to be considered. Sparse formats only require the connected vertices to be stored, providing a significant speedup and lower storage overhead for algorithms like TSNE. The COO format is represented by 3 very simple arrays — the data values (COO_Vals), the column indices (COO_Cols), and the individual row indices (COO_Rows).
As an example, let’s say there’s a given point (0, 7) with value 10. It’s transpose (or reverse) is (7, 0), also with value 10. Here’s how to store this in the final COO sparse matrix:
To get its transpose or reverse, simply flip the col and row pointers like this:
Notice how the example above also includes an array named “RowPointer”. The COO layout does not include information about where each row starts or ends. Including this information allows us to parallelize lookups and quickly sum the transposed values in the symmetrization step. This RowPointer idea comes from the CSR (Compressed Sparse Row) Sparse Matrix layout. In the CSR layout, entries are indexed by which rows they are in. For example, all elements with row index 1 are placed together, in sorted order, at the start of the RowPointer index. The CSR layout is excellent for algorithms where data is accessed in a row-wise fashion.
Combining these two layouts allows us to use the COO format for efficient parallel computations over each element in the graph, while the CSR format is used to perform the transpose of the elements. Since the RowPointer contains the number of elements present in each row, the contributions of each pair of points can be summed in parallel using atomicAdd.
Figure 8. Diagram showcasing our Symmetrization Kernel in action.
Figure 8 shows the whole process. Given the point (0, 7) with value 10, index the Row Pointer to get the row index for the point, and store it. Then, flip to (7, 0), access the Row Pointer, and store this as well in parallel with the first.
Optimization 2 — Approximating Higher Dimensional Probabilities
It has been noted by van der Maaten, the author of TSNE that instead of computing full distances between all points, one can compute the top nearest neighbors and calculate the high dimensional probabilities from them. cuML followed CannyLabs’ approach of using Facebook’s FAISS library to compute the top-k neighbors on the GPU. This reduces the probability computation from having to store N² elements to storing only N*k elements (N is the number of data samples and k is the number of neighbors.)
Optimization 3 — Reduce Arithmetic Operations
In many TSNE implementations, the attractive force computation (the spring tugging) is split to first be computed on point A and then on point B. TSNE can be made significantly faster if one computes the interaction, not separately, but at the same time. This reduces the number of multiplications and addresses from originally 9 to around 4, and makes this computation 50% faster.
Optimization 4 — Broadcast along rows
Figure 9. Calculate common values and distribute it across each row!
Another fundamental optimization is noticing distances between point A in dimension 1 and dimension 2 are repeated across rows. This means instead of separately computing values for each dimension, compute it once, then broadcast and re-use the computation for the other dimension. This once again reduces arithmetic operations, and further speeds TSNE up. This is a general technique used by many CUDA algorithms, including many in cuML.
Improving TSNE’s Numerical Stability
cuML has fixed some rare issues with numerical stability in CannyLab’s original implementation, including some infinite loops and out of bounds memory accesses. It is also known that TSNE is very sensitive to its hyperparameters. In cuML, an adaptive learning scheme is provided where parameters are adjusted based on the user’s input data.
Sometimes if the learning rate is too large, embedded points can become outliers. In cuML, a MAX_BOUND is specified which carefully pushes the outlier back and resets all momentum variables. This also helps improve TSNE’s precision and trustworthiness.
How Do We Run TSNE in RAPIDS?
Let’s compare scikit-learn’s API to RAPIDS cuML’s API. This example uses the scikit-learn’s digits dataset.
scikit-learn API:
Now compare it with cuML:
Since cuML is a near drop-in replacement for scikit-learn, the “sklearn.manifold” package can be replaced with “cuml.manifold” and everything else will just work.
Here’s a Jupyter Notebook showing a demo of cuML TSNE on Fashion MNIST.
For more TSNE examples and a deeper dive into the mathematical optimizations on TSNE, check out a more extended Jupyter Notebook here.
cuML TSNE on Boston Housing Data
Conclusion
TSNE has been very successful at enabling the visualization of very large and complex datasets. It is able to discern structure in datasets without labels. Unfortunately, its biggest drawback has been its slow execution time.
With the new RAPIDS TSNE implementation, speedups up to 2,000x can be achieved while also using 30% less GPU memory. See what you think and provide feedback. Try out the free cuML TSNE for yourself on a Google Colab instance here. | https://medium.com/rapids-ai/tsne-with-gpus-hours-to-seconds-9d9c17c941db | ['Daniel Han-Chen'] | 2019-11-28 04:48:47.899000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Data Science', 'Computer Science', 'Data Visualization', 'Algorithms'] |
This is hands down the most supercalifragilisticexpiallidocious response I have ever received. | This is hands down the most supercalifragilisticexpiallidocious response I have ever received. It made my day that my work brought you needed fun | https://medium.com/@marcus17043/this-is-hands-down-the-most-supercalifragilisticexpiallidocious-response-i-have-ever-received-7226fc01dca6 | [] | 2020-12-13 02:10:27.760000+00:00 | ['Gratitude', 'Joy'] |
Best Fashion Photographer In East Delhi | “There is one thing, the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment” With this pioneer thought, Anas Shamsi, a 25-year-old Fashion and Celebrity photographer with an eye for detail, has paved the way for many untold stories through his remarkable shots and photography Skills and peculiarities at profession. It all started back in 2015, When he wanted to pursue modelling as his career but the presence of subtle and often, no opportunities Couldn’t break his optimism so yet, what moved him to be a photographer was his innate urge to create a platform for the seekers Who would like to get shoot to be able to present themselves as a model, or present themselves as whoever they want to be. He is now an Enthusiastic, Self-motivated, inspirational and Passionate professional photographer with a great successful experience of Full five years. Anas shamsi believes there is no rule for a good photography as long as one does it with heart, intuition and spontaneity.
He has worked with several NGOs, Colleges, Doctors, renowned models and celebrities. He has also worked professionally with a law firm and different schools. He is too an eminent member of YOU CAN foundation. Anas Has marked his achievements both at personal and professional level. He also believes a photographer puts life into the moments captured, so that they can always be renewed and relived for a lifetime. He has an exceptional way with people he clicks, and bonds with them to give an amazing and extravagant experience. A model, wedding couple, solo, his camera has captured it all. What fuels his determination into photography is the appreciation he receives. He looks forward to more of outdoor shoots, as it offers people to choose among various beautiful locations. What makes him unstoppable is his conviction to make better of the moments.
Even in this pandemic of Covid 19, He organized live sessions with celebrities such as Sumit Gulati, Raj Sharma, Himanshu Bulchandani, and many more who along
with Anas speak about their experiences, challenges and struggles, with a perspective to motivate and bear the torch for youngsters looking for directions. Because Anas is a firm believer, that what cannot be imparted through sometimes education can be well learnt and understood, through life experiences. | https://medium.com/@info-pahra/best-fashion-photographer-in-east-delhi-cd4dc0a20ba9 | ['Digital Pahra'] | 2020-12-22 12:38:39.826000+00:00 | ['Photographer Interview', 'Celebrity', 'Photography', 'Fashion'] |
Why Moving to Chicago is a Good Idea | Chicago is gritty and beautiful, diverse and homogenous, fierce, resilient, passionate. Come hither and stake your claim. The City of Big Shoulders can carry your weight.
Magical Chicago at night — photo by Josh Feeney
I grew up in South Deering, at the southern edge of the south side of Chicago. After a short stint in the suburbs and a few years in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, I moved back to Chicago and landed in the Gold Coast. 29 years later, with vacations to hundreds of places the world over, I remain passionate about this amazing city.
Conde Nast Traveler named Chicago the #1 big city to live in for the 3rd year in a row! We are a world-class destination, known for our architecture, cultural institutions, amazing food scene, and our 77 beautiful and diverse neighborhoods. But topping the list of what sets Chicago apart is a city with some of the most engaging, hard-working, and pleasant people you will find anywhere in the world.
When it comes to business, we have a diversified job market, with corporate headquarters signing long terms leases by the dozens. From Uber to Lyft, Kraft to Conagra, Salesforce, Amazon, Walgreens, the list goes on, with top companies on the Fortune 50 and 100 lists headquartered or holding a huge presence in Chicago. We are a tech, logistics, legal, and financial epicenter. Chicago is the 3rd largest city in the United States, but it isn’t in the top 10 most expensive cities in which to live!
We are the birthplace of the skyscraper and have been a major influence on world-class architecture. The art and music scene in Chicago is astounding, with the Art Institute, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Symphony, and Lyric Opera our Grand Dames, along with a talented and passionate group of urban street artists and musicians.
Looking for an escape to nature? Our lakefront is 18.5 miles long and we have hundreds of parks scattered throughout the city. From snowfall to the falling leaves, the city is a stunning display of nature’s beauty and bounty.
We have a walkscore of 77 and a bikescore of 73, making us a prime city for walking and biking. I gave up my car in 2018! You can walk or bike from Chinatown to Downtown, Lincoln Park to Wicker Park, and hop on a water taxi or the river walk, for a scenic view or a bit of bar-hopping.
I could go on and on, but Studs Terkel says it all… “Chicago was home to the country’s first skyscraper (a ten-story building built in 1884), and marks the start of the famed Route 66. It is also the birthplace of the remote control (Zenith) and the car radio (Motorola), and the first major American city to elect a woman (Jane Byrne) and then an African American man (Harold Washington) as mayor. Chicago, has―as they used to whisper of the town’s fast woman―a reputation.” | https://medium.com/@debra_48067/hoto-why-moving-to-chicago-is-a-good-idea-2dd3c0c19089 | ['Debra Dobbs'] | 2021-11-28 15:58:27.384000+00:00 | ['Advice', 'Chicago', 'Relocation', 'Moving', 'Real Estate'] |
Digital Marketing Agency Tampa | Hire top Digital Marketing experts at Tampa to boost your online visibility.
Centaur Interactive is a Digital Marketing Agency in Tampa, Florida. It is a city known for its cultural and family destinations with an all year warm weather and a breath-taking outdoor space. This southern city is turning into a start-up hub with vibrant tech and real-estate companies. The Tampa government provides various resources to support new and existing companies of all sizes and industries.
Centaur Interactive is a growing digital marketing agency that builds brands and helps them grow on digital platforms with full service digital marketing solutions. We utilize best practices and understand your audience to grow your business and deliver the best results that are needed based on business requirements.
As a digital marketing agency in Tampa, we transform businesses using advanced digital strategies to create a better user experience and to reach your maximum potential. With our digital marketing solutions, we lower your overall costs, get more potential customers and produce highly engaging campaigns to improve conversion rates.
Services We Offer
SEO is extremely crucial for any business that has very high competition. Most people search for businesses, products or services on search engines, so opportunities to be discovered is important. We provide a custom-made SEO strategy for your business so you can rank in the search engine pages. We find the most relevant keywords that your customers may search for and display your products and services to the target audience. Our Digital Marketing SEO services in Tampa help you with the best SEO solution based on business requirements. We make sure your customers find your business when they search online.
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Social Media Marketing
Our Digital Marketing Agency in Tampa has a team of a creative, goal-oriented social media marketing team that will help promote your brand to your target audience. We also perform an in-depth analysis of your business and sector to understand and implement the best strategies that your business needs to improve your brand presence across all platforms. Along with that, we also help you determine the best social platforms that will work for your business and customize a social media marketing strategy based on your business needs.
A digital marketing strategy will give a clear outline of all your business goals that you want to achieve. They will be clearly defined and will be part of all marketing campaigns. Our digital marketing agency in Tampa focuses on providing a marketing strategy to implement your business objectives by understanding audience challenges and creating the right strategy for your business. Our marketing strategies vary depending on all our clients’ needs and we execute the strategy based on business requirements and goals. | https://medium.com/@centaurinteractives/digital-marketing-agency-tampa-3cc3918855cc | [] | 2021-11-16 10:33:40.165000+00:00 | ['PPC', 'Digital Marketing', 'SEO', 'PPC Marketing'] |
Why Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver Are The Best Games In The Series By Far | Why Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver Are The Best Games In The Series By Far
“Gotta Catch’em All”! Who doesn’t know the iconic phrase? Pokémon is a worldwide phenomenon that has taken the entire world by storm. These games have been held in very high regard for many years since Pokémon’s debut all the way back in 1996 with Pokémon Red & Pokémon Green on the Game Boy. At this point in time, the Pokémon series has currently released 18 main series games, and have introduced more than 800 new Pokémon creatures to catch and befriend.
I’ve always been a huge Pokémon fan, ever since I got my hands on Pokémon Yellow Version way back when on my Game Boy Color. Something about exploring a new region, befriending cute critters, and growing along with them has always entranced me. However, up until the more recent games in the series, my passion for these games have begun to dwindle a bit. Sure, the title of the new games says ‘Pokémon’ but it never really felt the same to me.
Even despite playing through the newer games to completion, I never really felt as connected to the series as I once was. I just couldn’t shake the feeling that the newer games really weren’t made for me. They were being targeted towards a newer, and younger audience. These games began to hold my hand way too much, and the game's difficulty slowly declined, to the point where playing began to feel like a chore. Cutscenes litter virtually every corner you turn, leaving no room for your imagination to take shape.
Suffice it to say, I’ve been kind of fed up with the series as of late. But, after cleaning out my closet earlier this week, I stumbled on my old Pokémon SoulSilver DS cartridge. It was a bit battered and beaten up from the countless hours I played it as a kid, but it was a weirdly nice find. After a few seconds, I decided to pop it into my 3DS. This would be the first time I would play this game since I was a kid.
So, does it hold up today?
Yes, it does, and it is easily the best game in the series to date, even after all these years.
What Is Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver?
Pokémon HeartGold and Soulsilver are the Nintendo DS remakes of the original Pokémon Gold and Silver released on the Game Boy in 1999, and offer the same feelings and experiences as the original, while implementing new features, content, and even more Pokémon.
There are so many incredible aspects of this game that I’m sure many either miss, or have never experienced before, but let’s start with some of my absolute favorite aspects of this stellar Pokémon title.
Region Design
If there is one thing that I truly adore about this game it has to be its region design. This particular Pokémon region, Johto, is based on the Kyoto region of Japan. In the real-world, Kyoto is full of ancient towers and structures and is a city full of rich tradition and folklore, and its infrastructure is one of the most well-known around the world. When comparing Pokémon’s Johto region to its real-world counterpart Kyoto, the resemblance is uncanny.
Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver Ecruteak City (Left) and Kyoto, Japan (Right)
This inspiration is further emphasized in the game’s Ecruteak City, which is a city that completely embraces more historical Japanese infrastructure. This is by far one of my favorite cities in the entirety of the Pokémon series and pays homage to where the Pokémon series originated, Japan. Featuring Kimono girls, mediums, and its own set of Pokémon-themed folklore, this city represents Kyoto’s most beautiful aspects.
This infrastructure can be found all over the region, and it gives players a sense of wonder and makes the region feel incredibly unique. From the way this region is represented, it shows that the region is moving towards the future while trying to stay rooted in its past. This is a subtle type of worldbuilding, that is so engaging and keeps you immersed in the region’s lore and history.
Continuing an Old Story
Playing Through a Different Version of Kanto
Since Pokémon Gold and Silver were direct sequels to Pokémon Red and Green, there were bound to be loads of easter eggs, callbacks, references, and direct storylines that further the story of the original games, all while telling a completely new and fresh story. The remakes definitely make good on this promise and offer a story that satisfies old and new players alike.
Taking place 2 years after the events of the original Pokémon Red and Green, the world has changed quite a bit. Once you gain access to the Kanto region, you get to explore the region and see first hand how things have changed since you last played through the region in the original Pokémon games.
Saffron City (Image: Bulbapedia)
As you play through the game, we see how the characters have grown, and how the world around them has changed as well. Gym Leaders are much older and more experienced. Iconic locations from the original games have either disappeared or have been remodeled. Cities contain new facilities and activities that weren’t present before. These changes not only give older players a chance to return and experience the region with fresh eyes, but it also allows new players to get a taste of what made the original games so special.
Music
National Park, Source: (aminoapps.com)
Pokémon music has always been amazing, and every main series game has its stand-out tracks. However, I’m actually referring to how these games remix the tracks from the original Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver games they were based on, all while keeping the core aspects that made them special, to begin with.
The remixes of the original Gold and Silver tracks are absolutely spectacular and even despite the Nintendo DS’s hardware limitations, the musical compositions had much more depth and represented the songs in a way that I believe the developers wanted since the originals all those years ago. The composers definitely added their own unique spin on these iconic tracks and made them even more memorable.
Not only do we have a complete soundtrack for the Johto region, but since this game also functions as a pseudo-sequel of Pokémon Red and Green we also have a complete soundtrack for the Kanto region. Kanto songs are back and better than ever, and these remakes breathe more life into their original 8-bit counterparts.
However, the developers understood that many players would’ve loved to experience the game with music that sounded more like the original and implemented a feature into the game called ‘GB Sounds’. This allowed players to listen to the classic songs from the original instead of the remixed songs. These GB sounds were also re-recorded for a better listening experience for players.
Your Pokémon Follow You + Unique Minigames
There is nothing better than having your Pokémon follow you. These games are the only ones in the series that let you walk with your Pokémon. Sure, you had Pokémon Yellow Version and the newer Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee games, but this game allowed you to walk with Pokémon from Generation 1 all the way until Generation 4 (which was 493 at the time). Yup, the developers designed all 493 Pokémon to walk alongside you throughout your entire journey.
Never have I felt more connected to my precious Pokémon than I have when playing this game. It also felt like this game valued the connection with your team much more as well. In this game, you get to participate in loads of different activities with your Pokémon that doesn’t involve battling at all.
The Pokéathelon was such a treat to experience for the first time, and it is still a joy to play even now as an adult. The Pokéathelon was an Olympic style tournament where you and your Pokémon get to participate in various minigames, such as Relay Races, Hurdle Dashes, Disk Catch, and Circle Push, just to name a few.
Pokéathelon Competition, Source: (aminoapps.com)
These minigames made use of each Pokémon’s differing stats, and these stats would determine how they would perform in the minigames.
There was also the PokéWalker accessory that acted as a pedometer that allowed players to walk with their Pokémon in real-life! These fun minigames help you bond with your creatures in a way that no other feature has come close to in the newer generations.
Massive Post-Game Content
If there is one thing to really write home about when it comes to Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, it has to be its incredibly expansive post-game content. No other Pokémon game to date can compare to this game in this regard. Not one.
After you defeat the Elite Four, as well as the main story, you can do all of the following:
Venture to Bell Tower and Capture the Legendary Pokémon Ho-Oh.
Explore Mt.Silver and Capture Moltres + Battle Pokémon Trainer Red
Explore Cerulean Cave and Capture Mewtwo
Fight the Master Dragon Trainers with Your Rival
Track Down The Legendary Dog Trio and Capture Them
Explore Seafoam Islands.
Explore The Entirety of the Kanto Region + Battle all 8 of its Gym Leaders
Explore different facilities such as Pal Park, Battle Frontier, Safari Zone, and the Pokeathelon.
Participate in daily events in National Park.
Rematching the Elite Four after collecting all 16 badges.
This is just a fraction of the sheer amount of post-game content available in this game, and you could easily pour tons of hours in the game, and still have plenty to do.
Conclusion
One word that I would use to describe the development team during the creation of this game, is incredibly passionate. It is very apparent from the minute details, extra content included, as well as the many additional features present in the final product that the team was fully invested in providing players an unforgettable experience.
In order to show you what I mean, I’ll leave you with a quote from Tsunekazu Ishihara, from the team behind the development of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver in an IwataAsks interview. Tsunekazu Ishihara had this to say about the development of the game:
“We were very greedy with the features we put in” — Tsunekazu Ishihara
Although I feel that the newer Pokémon games have failed to live up to the older games in terms of the passion behind them, I won’t deny that they bring happiness to millions of new players every year, and I could never complain about that. But, when it comes to a definitive Pokémon experience that would satisfy both old and new players alike, you can’t top Pokémon HeartGold and Silver! Thank you for attending my TED Talk :) | https://medium.com/@michaeldangelo99/why-pok%C3%A9mon-heartgold-soulsilver-are-the-best-games-in-the-series-by-far-fc0efee7aeef | ["Michael D'Angelo"] | 2020-12-28 18:44:42.561000+00:00 | ['Culture', 'Game Design', 'Pokemon', 'Features', 'Gaming'] |
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Watch Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (2020) : Full Movie Online Free A youth romantic drama with themes of growing up, the story focuses on college student Tsuneo and dreamer Josee, who lives her life stuck in a wheelchair. Josee — named after the heroine in Françoise Sagan’s Wonderful Clouds — spends most of her days reading and painting until by chance she encounters Tsuneo, and decides it’s time to face the real world.
Release Date:Dec 25, 2020Runtime:99 minutesGenres:Animation, Drama, RomanceProduction Company:BONESProduction Countries:JapanCasts:Taishi Nakagawa, Kaya Kiyohara, Yume Miyamoto, Kazuyuki Okitsu, Lynn, Chiemi Matsutera, Shintarou Moriyama, LilyPlot Keywords:based on novel or book, paraplegic, love, slice of life, relationship, disability, anime
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TELEVISION SHOW AND HISTORY
A television show (often simply ) is any content prBookmark this siteoduced for broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, cable, or internet and typically viewed on a tv set, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are usually placed between shows. s ‘re normally scheduled well ahead of The G0G with Grandpa and appear on electronic guides or other TV listings.
A television show may also be called a tv program (British EnBookmark this siteglish: programme), especially if it lacks a narrative structure. A tv set Movies may be the G0G with Grandpaually released in MoViE that follow a narrative, and are The G0G with Grandpaually divided into seasons (The G0G with Grandpa and Canada) or Movies (UK) — yearly or semiaual sets of new MoViE. A show with a restricted number of MoViE could be called a miniMBookmark this siteovies, serial, or limited Movies. A one-The G0G with Grandpa show could be called a “special”. A tv set film (“made-for-TV movie” or “televisioBookmark this siten movie”) is a film that`s initially broadcast on television instead of released in theaters or direct-to-video.
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❏ STREAMING MEDIA ❏
Streaming media are multimedia media that are continuously received by an end user and presented to an end user while being provided by a provider. The verb to be streamed identifies the process of providing or receiving media in this way. [Clarification required] Streaming identifies the delivery method of the medium rather than the medium itself. The distinction between the delivery method and the distributed media is particularly true for telecommunications networks, as most delivery systems are either inherently streaming (e.g. radio, television, streaming apps) or not streaming by nature (e.g. books, video cassettes, sound CDs). There are challenges associated with streaming content on the Internet. For example, users whose Internet coStarzection does not have sufficient bandwidth may experience stops, delays, or slow buffering of this content. And users who lack compatible hardG0Ge or softG0Ge systems may have problems streaming certain content.
Live streaming is the delivery of Internet content in real time, similar to how live television broadcasts content over the air with a television signal. Live internet streaming takes the form of source media (e.g. a video camera, sound interface, screen capture softG0Ge), an encoder to digitize the content, a media publisher, and a content delivery network to distribute and serve that content. Live streaming does not need to be recorded at the point of origin, although it is often the case.
Streaming is an option for dBBC Oneloading files. The end user receives the full file for the content before viewing or hearing it. Streaming allows an end user to use their media player to begin playing digital video or audio before the entire file has been transferred. The term “streaming media” can apply to media other than video and audio, such as: B. Live subtitles, ticker tape, and real-time text that are considered “streaming text”.
❏ COPYRIGHT CONTENT ❏
Copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its BBC Oneer the exclusive right to make copies of a creative work, usually for a limited time.[2][2][000][2][000] The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is intended to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself.[6][6][2] A copyright is subject to limitations based on public interest considerations, such as the fair use doctrine in the United States.
Some jurisdictions require “fixing” copyrighted works in a tangible form. It is often shared among multiple authors, each of whom holds a set of rights to use or license the work, and who are commonly referred to as rights holders.[citation needed][6][20][22][22] These rights frequently include reproduction, control over derivative works, distribution, public performance, and moral rights such as attribution.[2000]
Copyrights can be granted by public law and are in that case considered “territorial rights”. This means that copyrights granted by the law of a certain state, do not extend beyond the territory of that specific jurisdiction. Copyrights of this type vary by country; many countries, and sometimes a large group of countries, have made agreements with other countries on procedures applicable when works “cross” national borders or national rights are inconsistent.[22]
Typically, the public law duration of a copyright expires 0000 to 22 years after the creator dies, depending on the jurisdiction. Some countries require certain copyright formalities[000] to establishing copyright, others recognize copyright in any completed work, without a formal registration.
It is widely believed that copyrights are a must to foster cultural diversity and creativity. However, Parc argues that contrary to prevailing beliefs, imitation and copying do not restrict cultural creativity or diversity but in fact support them further. This argument has been supported by many examples such as Millet and Van Gogh, Picasso, Manet, and Monet, etc.[6]
❏ GOODS OF SERVICES ❏
Credit (from Latin credit, “(he/she/it) believes”) is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), but promises either to repay or return those resources (or other materials of equal value) at a later date.[2] In other words, credit is a method of making reciprocity formal, legally enforceable, and extensible to a large group of unrelated people.
The resources provided may be financial (e.g. granting a loan), or they may consist of goods or services (e.g. consumer credit). Credit encompasses any form of deferred payment.[2] Credit is extended by a creditor, also knBBC One as a lender, to a debtor, also knBBC One as a borrower.
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Adding Charts in Ionic 4 apps and PWA: Part 2— Using D3.js | This is part 2 of a 4 part series regarding how to create charts in Ionic 4 apps. In this Part 2, you’ll learn how to create various types of Charts using D3.js in Ionic 4 apps and PWA
In these posts, you’ll learn how to add and play with different types of charts in Ionic 4 apps. We will explore several alternatives for Charting i.e. Chart.js, D3.js, Highcharts, GoogleCharts and others.
Complete source code of this tutorial is available here — Ionic-4-d3js
What is Ionic 4
I know most of the readers reading this blog will know what is Ionic 4, but just for the sake of beginners, I explain this in every blog.
Ionic is a complete open-source SDK for hybrid mobile app development. Ionic provides tools and services for developing hybrid mobile apps using Web technologies like CSS, HTML5, and Sass. Apps can be built with these Web technologies and then distributed through native app stores to be installed on devices.
In other words — If you create native apps in Android, you code in Java. If you create native apps in iOS, you code in Obj-C or Swift. Both of these are powerful, but complex languages. With Cordova (and Ionic) you can write a single piece of code for your app that can run on both iOS and Android (and windows!), that too with the simplicity of HTML, CSS, and JS. I’m a huge fan of Ionic and been developing Ionic apps for last 4 years.
What is d3.js
D3.js — D3.js (or just D3 for Data-Driven Documents) is a JavaScript library for producing dynamic, interactive data visualizations in web browsers. It makes use of the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), HTML5, and CSS standards (but it can also work via canvas too if need be). It is mainly used for real-time data visualizations or admin dashboards.
D3.js in action
D3 creates amazingly detailed visualizations, both static and dynamic. One of the popular uses of D3.js is to visualization data over maps of different types
Data visualization over map using D3.js
Here is another one — mapping Bible contradictions, available at http://bibviz.com
D3 can do magic if you know what you exactly want it to do. Check out more D3.js examples here
Some salient points for D3.js
D3.js focuses on binding data to DOM elements.
D3.js is written in JavaScript and uses a functional style. That means you can reuse code and add specific functions as you wish, which makes it powerful
It is customizable ground up i.e. there is no standard bar-chart function, or pie-chart function you can use to create a simple chart. Everything needs to be made custom. This makes it amazingly powerful, but there is definitely a learning curve
Because there is nothing pre-built, if you are simply looking for bar-charts and pie charts, D3 is probably not for you. But if you want your user to interact with data in a cool way, D3 is the answer
If you are looking for simpler chart solutions, there are many other popular charting libraries like Chart.js, HighCharts, FusionCharts, Angular Google Charts and more. All of these are custom libraries to create charts in a simple manner.
Structure of the post
We’ll go about the post in a step-by-step manner
Create a basic Ionic 4 app Add D3.js to the app Create your first basic Bar Chart with D3.js — understand concepts Create simple Pie Chart with D3.js Create more advanced charts Test your app on Android
Complete source code of this tutorial is available here — Ionic-4-d3js
Step 1 — Create a basic Ionic 4 app
I have covered this topic in detail in this blog.
In short, the steps you need to take here are
Make sure you have node installed in the system (V10.15.3 at the time of this blog post)
Install ionic cli using npm (my Ionic version is 4.12.0 currently)
using npm (my Ionic version is 4.12.0 currently) Create an Ionic app using ionic start
You can create a sidemenu starter for the sake of this tutorial. On running ionic start ionic-4-d3js sidemenu , node modules will be installed. Once the installation is done, run your app on browser using
$ ionic serve
The app will launch on browser. You can go to Inspect → Device Mode to see the code in a mobile layout. Next we’ll add the D3js library to our app.
Step 2 — Add D3.js to the app
To create charts/visualizations you need to add D3.js library to the app. Add the library from npm package
npm install d3 --save
This will install the library in your node modules. Now you can import different modules of the library in your page using import syntax. We’ll see individual imports in next section.
That’s it ! You are ready to use D3.js in your app and PWA pages.
Step 3 — Create basic Bar chart with D3.js
D3.js uses HTML5 / CSS and SVGs to create charts and visualizations in HTML5. We will add a simple 1 div in the HTML page of our app’s page, and access that div in the page.ts file to include our SVG based chart
Let’s add a simple div element in HTML called barChart
Next we’ll import D3 and relevant modules in bar.page.ts page. Here we’ll also access the barChart div and create svg, axes inside it, and finally plot data inside it using D3 methods. Complete code to create a bar chart would be
You probably already realize that D3 is way more difficult for easier charts, compared to other libraries like Chart.js etc. There’s a lot happening in the code above, so let’s break it down
First we imported D3 and its modules in the bar.page.ts using
import * as d3 from 'd3-selection';
import * as d3Scale from 'd3-scale';
import * as d3Array from 'd3-array';
import * as d3Axis from 'd3-axis';
The module names are more or less self explanatory
2. There are four methods at work in this code
this.init();
this.initAxes();
this.drawAxes();
this.drawChart();
init()
This is the first method called after page loads. It selects barChart element in the DOM and appends an svg element to it. After that, all the lines are related to adding attributes to the svg element, like height , width etc.
In the end, it also appends a <g> element in the svg . The <g> SVG element is a container used to group other SVG elements. Transformations applied to the <g> element are performed on its child elements, and its attributes are inherited by its children. It can also group multiple elements to be referenced later with the <use> element.
You can also check these element in the DOM using Chrome inspect tool. The svg and <g> elements are clearly visible here
initAxes()
In this function, we are initializing the axes of the chart. Notice how we have a scaleBand function for X axis, but scaleLinear for Y-axis. This is because we are creating a bar-chart (vertical), where the Y values will increase continuously, but X values are bundled for data. Also, the padding(0.1) is given in X-axis to create a gap between the bars.
The domain (range) of the axes is also defined in a slightly different manner. X-axis has domain values as array, while Y-axis has domain values ranging from 0 to maximum of Y values.
drawAxes()
This function draws the initialized axes on the chart.
Notice, we have added two <g> elements to the first <g> element which we added in init() function. Next steps are adding different HTML attributes to the <g> element.
Notice the call(d3Axis.axisBottom()) and call(d3Axis.axisLeft()) function calls. These are D3 specific function calls to create the axis values and text labels as per the data and domain defined in earlier steps.
At this point the chart looks like this
drawChart()
Finally, we draw the values on chart in this function.
We attach rect element to every data contained in this.barData and set attributes of the rect (width, height, fill etc). Notice, the values are drawn as per the definition of this.x and this.y as defined in initAxes()
Here, you can attach custom classes, give each bar a different color and much more. There is no end of customization in D3 😎
The Bar chart will look like this. Pretty cool, right !
Step 4— Create basic Pie chart with D3.js
Pie chart creation is a little different from Bar Charts, because the linear domain is now changed to radial (angular?) domain. So instead of lengths we use arcs etc. Also, we’ll need to import different modules from D3.
Create a div element with id pieChar in your HTML. Then the complete TS code for a sample Pie chart will look like following
Notice that axes are replaced by labelArc . Broadly the creation process remain similar. I will leave it you to understand some of the things going on here. Trust me, it’s very easy to understand.
The Pie chart will look this
You’ll probably notice that D3 charts, as I have shown above, do not look as attractive as other libraries. That is not entirely true. D3 charts can be customized to any level, and they can look exactly as any other library’s charts (or better), but that will take effort on your side.
PWA users ! Here’s how to current charts will look in a full screen desktop browser (remember, you can always customize the height, width and appearance as per screen size)
D3 bar chart in full desktop size
D3 pie chart in full desktop size
Step 5 — Create more advanced charts
As I discussed above, D3 can create amazing visualizations using JS. Let’s try to create something cool, which other libraries cannot build. I’m going to pick an example from the endless list of examples available at https://github.com/d3/d3/wiki/Gallery
This example is taken from http://www.redotheweb.com/CodeFlower/. This experiment visualizes source repositories using an interactive tree. Each disc represents a file, with a radius proportional to the number of lines of code (loc). All rendering is done client-side, in JavaScript. Try hovering on nodes to see the loc number, clicking on directory nodes to fold them, dragging nodes to rearrange the layout, and changing project to see different tree structures. Built with d3.js. Inspired by Code Swarm and Gource.
Power of D3 in Ionic 4 apps
Step 6— Test your app in Android and as PWA
We have already tested the above d3 charts in browser. If you have carried out the above steps correctly, Android build should be a breeze.
Run the following command to create Android platform
$ ionic cordova platform add android
Once platform is added, run the app on device (Make sure you have a device attached to the system).
$ ionic cordova run android
Once your app is up and running on the device, you can start testing all the functions.
Conclusion
In this post we learnt how to create simple charts using D3.js in Ionic 4 apps and PWA. Since D3.js is amazingly customizable, you need to take a little more effort to create simple charts, compared to other libraries, but you can create some amazing stuff in D3.js which other libraries cannot even think of.
In next posts of this series, we’ll learn how to create charts in Ionic 4 using Highcharts, Angular Google charts and other libraries.
Complete source code of this tutorial is available here — Ionic-4-d3js
Checkout other posts in this series
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -
Buy “Ionic 4 Chart App Starter — Ion Chart” today!!
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Next Steps
Now that you have learned the implementation of D3.js for charting in Ionic 4, you can also try
If you need a base to start your next Ionic 4 app, you can make your next awesome app using Ionic 4 Full App | https://medium.com/enappd/using-d3js-in-ionic-4-apps-and-pwa-3d7759cebe33 | ['Abhijeet Rathore'] | 2019-09-26 10:18:45.317000+00:00 | ['D3js', 'Ionic Framework', 'Ionic', 'Charts', 'Ionic4'] |
Questions & Demands for Delaware Prisons | Joanna Chapney Delaware Department of Corrections Director Questioned by D. Marque Hall in 2019.
We want people who are not a threat to the public released.
Releasing healthy non-violent offenders to home confinement will decrease the spread of Covid-19 and save lives.
We want assurance that there is a plan and process to support people at all levels:
After being arrested and testing positive can the prison system safely isolate that individual right now?
The answer from what we are hearing from inside is No which is why people who are not sick and not a threat to the public must be released.
What are the protocols for monitoring Covid and separating those with highest levels of vulnerability (elderly and pre-existing health conditions)?
If they were to be exposed what mechanisms are in place to support those who are exposed?
Upon release what are protocols to ensure individuals who have Covid are supported in isolation?
Where is the creativity that should come from the compassion to help all people including the offender population?
The state could build encampments to house people who can not be released to spread people out.
For people in transition, buildings including closed schools and other vacant real estate could be used for housing since they’re already empty.
We know the hospitals are full and so are the shelters and we are aware of the use of hotels to house the homeless. People reentering society who do not have a home to go to will need help too.
If the state has a plan they should be able to articulate it to us.
Thank you
Respectfully yours,
Davon “D” Marque Hall
(Community Councilman)
Call or text (302) 354–1700 Email [email protected]
—
“And the Glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be One, just as We are One”- John 17 : 22
WE ARE ALL REMARKABLE!
@ fineblackart.com
ReplyForward | https://medium.com/@weareallremarkable/questions-demands-for-delaware-prisons-aa31e2d95cd7 | ['D. Marque Hall'] | 2020-12-09 05:33:58.078000+00:00 | ['Mass Incarceration', 'Trauma', 'BlackLivesMatter', 'Prison', 'Prison Reform'] |
Williamina Fleming: The Dundonian Who Mapped The Universe | Williamina Fleming: The Dundonian Who Mapped The Universe
I have been ever so fascinated with Williamina Fleming, the more I read about her, the more I am proud to be a Dundonian like her. Williamina is a great example of why Dundonians are some of the most smartest people you could ever meet. I wanted to share her story as many here at home don’t know much about her achievements and how she not only mapped the universe — but changed the universe.
Williamina Fleming was born in Dundee in the Nethergate area and was one of nine children. She was a promising young woman who became a teacher at the age of fourteen. She married at the age of twenty to James Orr Fleming and they emigrated to the United States and left her old life behind in Dundee.
At this time, she fell pregnant and unfortunately James abandoned her and their new-born son and left Williamina in care with her child. Making sure she avoided unemployment, Williamina applied to be a maid for Harvard College Observatory director Professor Edward Charles Pickering.
She was successful in getting the job and this was at the time when Edward Pickering had grown frustrated of his Harvard male employees when they were doing their jobs examining photographic plates. He told them that his ‘Scottish maid’ could do a better job.
Sticking to his word, Edward, in 1881, hired Williamina in a role helping him with his work mapping stars. She performed clerical work and mathematical computations from astronomical plates which is where the term ‘human computer’.
Edward was very impressed with Williamina as already she developed a new innovative way to catalogue stars by classifying them into seventeen different types — a type of classification which is still in use today.
Shortly after, she became one of the founding members of the “Harvard Computers”. The “Harvard Computers” was the name given to an all-women team of “human computers” to compute mathematical classifications and edit the observatory’s publications.
In 1882, Henry Draper, a well known and respected astronomer who was a pioneer of astrophotography, had died. His wife, Mary Anna Draper, who worked with Henry, had donated her equipment to the Harvard College Observatory and endowed setting up the Henry Draper Memorial to continue her research and most importantly, to continue Henry’s legacy.
Williamina was appointed to lead the new project and under the role, she developed a new system of classifying stars, this was after there was tension on what method would be used to classify these stars, Williamina wanted to opt for a more simplistic approach which involved cataloguing them by the spectrum of light they produced.
This method later became known as the “Pickering-Fleming system” and this system was so successful, that it managed to catalogue 10,000 stars over Williamina’s nine year tenure at the observatory. Williamina was also able to make it possible to go back and compare recorded plates.
Discovering the Horsehead Nebula
In 1888, Williamina Fleming had made her most impressive mark on the world when she discovered the Horsehead Nebula, a beautiful and breath-taking nebula situated within the consolation of Orion.
Williamina discovered the Horsehead Nebula in 1888
She discovered the nebula on the Harvard plate classified as B2312 from the Bache telescope and Williamina described it as a “semi-circular indentation 5 minutes in diameter 30 minutes south of Zeta Orionis”.
The findings of the Horsehead Nebula were catalogued as it being discovered by Pickering under №434 (Index Catalogue of Nebulæ found in the years 1888 to 1894, 198) but fortunately for Williamina, this was rectified in a later edition.
The Horsehead Nebula is absolutely breath-taking and one of the most beautiful discoveries humans have made in the universe. It is thanks to Williamina that we discovered there was such beauty in our universe.
But she didn’t just discover the Horsehead Nebula, along with it, she discovered nearly 400 variable stars, 59 gaseous nebulae and 10 novae.
Williamina’s achievements and experience was awarding for her as she became the leader of the Curator of Astronomical Photographs at Harvard and in the role, she oversaw dozens of women who were hired to perform star counts and classifications and in 1901, she became the first American woman of citizenship of honorary membership of the Royal Astronomical Society of London.
Discovering white dwarfs
For Williamina, it didn’t end with discovering the Horsehead Nebula and many stars, nebulaes and novaes, she was equally notable for discovering the first white dwarf, the first person to discover what it was.
Williamina Fleming discovered white dwarfs
Not many people know about that and even I was shocked at the first time that I heard that white dwarfs were discovered by a Dundonian, but don’t take my word for it…
The first person who knew of the existence of white dwarfs was Mrs. Fleming; the next two, an hour or two later, Professor E. C. Pickering and I. With characteristic generosity, Pickering had volunteered to have the spectra of the stars which I had observed for parallax looked up on the Harvard plates. All those of faint absolute magnitude turned out to be of class G or later. Moved with curiosity I asked him about the companion of 40 Eridani. Characteristically, again, he telephoned to Mrs. Fleming who reported within an hour or so, that it was of Class A. - Henry Norris Russell
Williamina later published her findings of white dwarfs in 1910 and unfortunately just a year later, she died at the age of 54 after suffering from pneumonia.
The legacy of one Williamina Fleming
Williamina and her incredible stamp on the study of astronomy has not been unnoticed. Her achievements from the trailblazing discoveries led to a crater on the moon being named after her alongside fellow Scot Alexander Fleming: the Fleming lunar crater.
Her discovery of the Horsehead Nebula has even made it’s way into the realms of science fiction. The Horsehead Nebula has had a prominent mention within the Doctor Who universe where the Ood, a species featured in the revival series, are from the Horsehead Nebula and the episode Planet of the Ood from the fourth series is set on the Ood Sphere which is located in the Horsehead Nebula.
The children’s television series Widget the World Watcher featured the Horsehead Nebula where the main character, Widget, comes from a planet in the Horsehead Nebula and it features in the opening theme song.
To conclude
I think what can be concluded by this is that Williamina was an incredible and trailblazing Dundonian. I am so proud to be from the same city as her.
Williamina’s legacy will last forever — her incredible work on changing the way we see the universe deserves to be celebrated. Her achievements in the field of astronomy is unbelievably brilliant.
Bibliography | https://medium.com/the-dundonian/williamina-fleming-the-dundonian-who-mapped-the-universe-bbe141f035f2 | ['Andrew Batchelor'] | 2020-12-22 14:45:41.386000+00:00 | ['Astronomy', 'Dundee', 'Horsehead Nebula', 'Williamina Fleming', 'Science'] |
How to Understand if a Photo Works | How to Understand if a Photo Works
Photo by Soragrit Wongsa, from Unsplash.
We live in images.
Today, if you don’t have a camera or a smartphone, you can’t spin the round of social games.
Like never before, images define us and our approach to reality.
For this reason, standing out for photographers became harder than ever before. We have to concentrate all human forces on creating a photo.
S uperficiality — insufficient research — can become an impediment to success.
Fortunately, we can check our work with different methods to understand if a photo works. I often use three top methods for my photo production. | https://2madness.com/how-to-understand-if-a-photo-works-8345c162e126 | ['Gianluca De Dominici'] | 2020-12-24 13:42:49.758000+00:00 | ['Instagram', 'Editing', 'Tips', 'Photography', 'Art'] |
The Deeper Meaning of Christmas. The real reason for the season is in… | The Deeper Meaning of Christmas
The real reason for the season is in understanding Easter
The first Christmas. Photo by Pixabay
Christmas is a very radical idea at its root. Christmas and Easter are holidays to celebrate two important theological ideas. They (holidays) are not in themselves necessary or even important.
Here is what matters
God became a man (human) and lived as a human being. This was the first part of the gift, and Easter — the resurrection — was the completion.
To the people who first heard the idea, it was crazy, and it remains largely misunderstood today. Gross commercialization has not helped, nor has politicizing it.
The idea sounds rather silly on the surface.
“Here, take my son and kill him, then I’ll forgive you,” seems to be what God was saying by sending Jesus to die on the cross. Let us be really clear on this point. Jesus did not come to show us how to live or to teach us spiritual truth — though he did do those things. He, as God in the flesh, came to die on the cross to pay for our sins. That was his primary mission.
Jesus did not come to show us how to live or to teach us spiritual truth — though he did do those things. He, as God in the flesh, came to die on the cross to pay for our sins. That was his primary mission.
That does not make sense either if Jesus was just a man. The idea is that in some way we must make restitution to God because we rebelled. This idea has been common in all cultures since there have been cultures. We rebel when we sin. It’s not the sin of Adam that condemns us, it is our own sins. So by the gift, who was Jesus, God himself made restitution to himself to make us clean.
It is like a judge assessing a fine to a guilty person who has broken the law. But then the judge takes out his checkbook and pays the penalty himself. God has justifiably pronounced us guilty and then paid our penalty himself.
It is like a judge assessing a fine to a guilty person who has broken the law. But then the judge takes out his checkbook and pays the penalty himself. God has justifiably pronounced us guilty and then paid our penalty himself. God demonstrated this by becoming a man and dying on the cross and then rising from the dead three days later.
There is nothing for us to do but accept the gift. We accept it by believing. That is Christianity, Christmas, and Easter all in one sentence.
What Christmas really means. Or, why Christmas only matters because of Easter.
The galaxy, Pixabay photo.
Jesus is not literally God’s “son” in the literal sense that humans have sons or daughters. It is more a word picture. Some people say God knocked Mary up, but it was not about sex. She was made pregnant supernaturally and bore a child that was part human and part God. Fully God and Fully Human. There was no sex involved.
The Image of God
The gospel of John calls Jesus “the word.” The Greek word is Logos. It means the image or essence of something. It is the likeness, but also the thing itself. Thus Jesus is the logos of God. The image of God, and, therefore, God itself.
When you see a photograph of someone, you see that person. When they saw Jesus they saw God in the same way.
To Greek readers, at the time this would have been a very revolutionary concept. To the Jews to say there was anyone other than Jehovah was blasphemy-even if they were one and the same. To the Greeks, saying God would become a man, was foolishness.
It’s not so different today. The message of Christ is still considered foolishness to many, and offensive to many.
Only-begotten son
Jesus is the “only begotten” Son of God, meaning the only one who ever came to earth as the manifestation of God in a supernatural way. There are many “sons” of God. All believers are “sons” (or daughters) of God. There is only one “begotten,” however.
God became flesh and blood when Jesus was born. He was called God’s “son” but he was really God in the flesh. Jesus was a human manifestation of God. To be a human he had to be born.
In ancient Hebrew literature, a son and father are considered equal. That is why the religious leaders of the day objected when Jesus said he was God’s son because Jesus was saying he was equal to God. He was claiming to be God and the religious leadership — the Jews — definitely understood that is what he was claiming.
Jesus said, “if you have seen me you have seen the father.” God is not a human being. God is a spirit, and we don’t know what that looks like. But we see the human manifestation of God in Jesus. God is called “father,” but obviously God is not male or female, nor a literal father in the human sense.
God “the father” is the great spirit. Jesus is his human self, and there is the Holy Spirit, a third manifestation that reveals himself even today. Some call that the Trinity. Some go to great lengths to try to explain that, and some dismiss it is three Gods. The three are just three different manifestations of the one God. It’s not that complicated.
If God can create the entire universe, it is not too much of a stretch to think God can have different manifestations and can be in more than once place at once. So God’s spirit remained in Heaven, and his physical human body manifestation came to earth as Jesus. He was in two places at the same time. This is why there is no conflict in the idea of Jesus (being God) could pray to God in Heaven. Humans are finite. There were no doubt things that the physical Jesus did not know because a human mind cannot contain all that is God. He was limited to human capacity while on Earth. He did have the power to perform miracles, which was evidence that he was God. But he was fully human while on earth. He had to eat. He had to go to the bathroom.
Christmas is the beginning of the gift that reaches its fullness at Easter. Unsplash Photo
Here is why it matters.
God created people in His image, meaning we have a spirit like the one God has. The first people rebelled. I don’t know why, but humans tend to rebel against God. Then we feel guilty and do all kinds of things to try to make peace with God. That is the reason a lot of religions got started, an attempt to appease the Gods (or the one God).
Today’s atheism makes the self into God. Saying there is no such thing as God or “sin,” is just another way to try to justify the self.
But according to the scriptures, God has been in the business of reconciling his rebellious people to himself since the day after Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. We are not guilty because of Adam and Eve’s sin. They were just the first. It is our own guilt that we have to deal with. God deals with it by paying our fine. There’s nothing for us to do but accept the gift.
It is our own guilt that we have to deal with. God deals with it by paying our fine. There’s nothing for us to do but accept the gift.
God saw all the religions that were trying to find their way to him, and he took very radical action. This is also what makes Christianity unique. Most religions are about how to reach God. Christianity is about how God reaches out to us.
The Gift
God came to earth in human form and paid for all our sins. We no longer have to “try” to get to God. The message is clear. We are forgiven and acceptable to God. There is nothing for us to earn. There is nothing for us to do. That is the gift of Christmas, the offer of a relationship with God. It is not based on our merit, but on the love of God for his creation.
Religion tells us how to be good enough to be pleasing to God. God says believe and you will be saved.
Image by monicore from Pixabay
The reason for this was so God could show us that he isn’t mad at us.
He wanted to make the point so badly he came to earth as a human being and paid for all our sins. We are forgiven. He went to the point of dying or allowing his human manifestation to be killed. That paid the price so to speak. He then rose from the dead, to show he had defeated sin and death. The resurrection matters even more than death.
That all starts with the gift at Christmas. It culminates with the resurrection on Easter. That is what Christmas is about. That is the real theological meaning of the Christ child.
This is the reason for the season.
James Jordan is a freelance writer who lives in the Midwest. Always interested in hearing your comments about the stories. Here are a couple more. | https://medium.com/illumination-curated/why-we-need-to-keep-the-christ-in-christmas-a014dfb93f13 | ['James Jordan'] | 2020-12-21 12:25:28.808000+00:00 | ['Theology', 'Spirituality', 'Christmas', 'Religion', 'Christian'] |
Look beyond your bias | Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I successfully donated blood but it wasn’t my first attempt (more on that later). It was an emergency for a friend. We (my wife and I) stepped out and saw empty policed roads for the first time in almost a month and the whole process went by pretty smoothly. The last time I tried donating blood was in 2005 thanks to a donation drive organized by our polytechnic (Nashik). I remember showing up in the morning all enthu about the “good deed”. After going through the standard questionnaire — had no tattoos back then — I lied down on the cot but as soon as I noticed the blood leaving my body, I fainted.
Classic wuss move.
However, when I woke up, the attending lady was least interested in knowing how I was. She very matter-of-factly said, “Donating blood isn’t for you. Please don’t come back here. You are discouraging other people.” Anyway, after years of proving her right, I finally made it. She wasn’t wrong that day because for a nation bulging with 1 billion+ humans, we shouldn’t be running out of blood but the bitter truth is we do. People spend their entire lives without donating blood but expect blood to be miraculously present in the bank whenever they need it. | https://medium.com/shaktianspace/look-beyond-your-bias-b481a87cc50d | ['Shakti Shetty'] | 2020-04-11 14:44:05.802000+00:00 | ['Society', 'Statistics', 'Chess', 'Observation', 'Random'] |
What’s My Brand? | A generalist or missing my true calling?
Photo by Michael Liao on Unsplash
I’m:
A Mom.
A Digital Marketer.
A Beauty Expert.
A Canadian.
A Writer.
So what’s my brand?
I’m trying to fit into a mold set out here on Medium.com along with the rest of the world.
In researching how to be a great writer, I’m told to write about my experiences but also niche down.
In writing my beauty blog Beauty Reviews Daily (shameless plug), I’m also told to niche down — beauty is too broad.
I can write about being a mom but I struggle with the identify of what kind of mom I actually am. Living in midtown Toronto would have me pegged as someone who I’m likely not.
I’m also people pleaser.
I’m as much as an Extrovert as I am Introvert.
I’m a coffee lover.
Should I classify myself as one type of “insert noun here” in order to distinguish what kind of writing I should be doing?
On Medium, I find myself consistently bombarded with marketing and social media articles.
As I read I’m constantly learning how to further develop my blog so I can be a:
Expert on how to launch a blog
Expert on Affiliate Marketing
Expert on beauty and skincare
Did I mention I also make Tik Tok videos?
And I tried my hand at Instagram makeup tutorials but I am not a makeup artist and those tend to do best.
So who am I.
Or rather, WHAT am I?
Am I a late 30’s beauty guru, digital marketing expert who’s a new mom trying to navigate their way through a global pandemic?
That’s way too many niches to make myself stand out in.
Did I mention I also make hairbands and bead bracelets?
Oh and I opened my own print on demand Etsy shop.
Even writing this article is making me remember all of the things that I love to do.
I also paint, or did.
I use the right side of my brain a lot but my outlets are a mix of creative and technical.
I taught myself SEO.
I taught myself how to build a website in Wordpress.
I taught myself sign language.
How do I balance all of the things I love to do with the things I need to do?
In trying to identify myself as a writer, I can tell you I’m still trying to figure this out.
I’m showing up every day.
Doing a daily brain dump of what’s in my mind.
I’m usually scared to promote my work on my social media platforms, depending on the topic of the article.
So I’m asking you Medium, how do you decide what to write about?
How do you identify as a writer?
If you have every felt the same as me or feel it now, give me a clap so I know you’re here with me.
Give me a follow so I can follow you back because what’s the Internet these days without followers.
I can promise great content most of the time — of course there will be the odd article that doesn’t do it for you (or me).
Here’s to you big world on Medium.
Niche down or be found… | https://medium.com/@elyssasugar/whats-my-brand-502178e338d9 | ['Elyssa Sugar'] | 2020-12-19 18:56:00.771000+00:00 | ['Writers On Writing', 'Self Improvement', 'Self Love', 'Writers On Medium', 'Ｍedium'] |
A great workplace is stunning colleagues | For top performers, a great workplace is not about lavish office, a beautiful gym, free lunch. It’s about the joy of being surrounded by people who are talented and collaborative. “People who can help you be better”. If you have a team with high performers, each will push each other to achieve more.
Reed Hastings’ No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention spells out how his company fosters an environment of employee “freedom and responsibility” (referred to internally as “F&R”). Hastings claims Netflix’s unique ways of doing business have formed the basis for its astronomical growth and category-dominating position today, with 193 million paying customers globally as of the end of June.
For them, to build a culture of freedom and responsibility it was important that they have high talent-density.
**Talent Density!?
Talent density works like this: for example, high-quality engineers prefer to work with other high-quality engineers. The result is these good engineers typically be found in clusters. Talented engineers do 3x the work with 10x speed with the necessary attention to detail and defensible code/design compared to the average performers. This is true for the companies for which they work and the technical communities in which they engage.
Here are the following changes he implemented internally in the company:
Build up talent density by creating a workforce of high performers
by creating a workforce of high performers Introduced candor by encouraging loads of feedback
Removed controls such as vacation, travel, and expense policies
Strengthened talent density by paying top of the market, always
by paying top of the market, always Increased candor by emphasizing organizational transparency
Released more controls such as decision-making approvals
Maxed-up talent density by implementing the Keeper Test
by implementing the Keeper Test Maxed-up Candor by creating circles of feedback
Eliminated most controls by leading with context and note control
The hypothesis behind this is to create a leaner organization with top performers who are the best at what they do.
How does an employee see it?
Since Netflix’s focus was to hire and retain top/high-performing talent. The obvious question is to ask is “Why do great colleagues leave?”.
Of course, every case is different, but if you zoom out a bit it often boils down to one or more of the following:
lacking creative freedom and/or autonomy to do the job in the desired way
the inability to improve the direct work environment
lack of improvement of the company as a whole
feeling gagged or stifled by processes or hierarchy
decisions that make no sense on an operational level
being tired of company politics and in-transparency
the inability to get a raise due to performance management and budget constraints
This is how a Netflix employee would see Netflix’s company culture:
Netflix values me as a top talent and pays me above market standard Adjusts salary based on the market demand Feedback culture on all levels is encouraged and expected High transparency in terms of business numbers Very little processes, high autonomy, and freedom of decisions on an operational level Acting in the best interest of the company The overall idea of treating employees as responsible and accountable adults Managed by context
This approach is not a one fit all model. This requires a commitment to pay top dollar and be attractive and challenging enough to get top talent. For example, old-school controls are still the best way to go for “high-volume, low-error” manufacturing businesses or for managing safety-critical environments.
Reed Hastings makes a persuasive case in the book that Netflix has successfully codified its processes and is one of the major factors that contributed to its growth.
Having said that Reed Hastings devotes the book’s final chapter to Netflix’s efforts to export its culture overseas, which haven’t always gone as he expected. “What I’ve learned is that in order to integrate your corporate culture around the world, above all, you have to be humble, you have to be curious,” he writes, “and you have to remember to listen before you speak and learn before you teach.”
If I had to answer what Netflix was about after reading this book… It’s hard to miss a self-aware founder who believes that simple is more important than sizzle, process is more important than performance and crafting is more important than creating. After twenty-three years, he understands that doing extraordinary things comes from doing ordinary things over and over and over again. | https://medium.com/@oddaspects/a-great-workplace-is-stunning-colleagues-3a038e9c0f91 | ['Hemanth Raja'] | 2020-12-28 13:45:32.298000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Netflix'] |
How To Write A Book In 8 Steps — An Expert Guide For Authors — Scienceooze | One thing that is necessary to write good fiction is an idea. However, is an idea everything that you need?
Writing a good story is the goal of many writers around the world. With some going on to become authors, others become ghostwriters for hire and help out many people. However, writing good stories does not come naturally. While many have this talent engraved, some work hard to acquire this skill.
Which is why it is important to understand the way and methods of the experts. That is the thing we are going to do today as we analyse the top elements and key steps towards writing a book. So, without further ado, let us dive in and see how literary experts write books.
1. Be Careful With Your Genre
One of the first things you need to get right is your genre. Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, your understanding of the genre you are trying to target needs to be immaculate. For instance, if you are writing fantasy or sci-fi, then you have creative liberty with a lot of things. However, if you wish to write a story based on true events, then your research needs to be strong. In other words, you need to learn the elements that make a genre stand out.
2. Refine Your Idea: Story Treatment
Many a time, writers think that since they have a unique or outstanding idea, their book or story is going to be great naturally. That is not the case as many ideas get lost in the shuffle because of poor execution. While your idea might be a good one, there is always space for improvement and room to make it a great one. Which is why you shouldn’t stop until your idea becomes the best it can be. Keep on refining your idea, write story treatments and pick the one that sounds the best. One of the ways you can do it is by asking for a second opinion.
3. Build Your Characters
Of all the pillars of a story, strong characters are the ones that are most important. You can write a great plot, you might have great scenes in your mind, yet they matter little if your characters are poorly written. Because if your characters are in your story just to serve the plot, then the story is going to turn out bland. On the contrary, your story should be serving your characters. With your characters moving the story forward. Make sure your main characters are three-dimensional and serve more than one purpose in the story.
Once you have the basics ready, then you can begin writing your book. Start by writing an outline. This is a simple 800–1000 word treatment of your book. The outline covers bullet points and plot that each chapter would carry. Make sure you write it properly.
5. Write Your First Chapter: Make It Strong
You need to go all out in your first chapter. You want your reader to keep on turning the pages until they turn the last page of the last chapter. Which is why your first chapter needs to be striking. Make sure you start out strong by writing engaging character synopsis, motives and story ideas. It will help you engage your audience properly.
One of the keys towards writing great stories is that you need to show your audience, don’t tell them. Don’t write sentences like “it was being done,” instead say “he is doing it.” Trigger the imagination of your reader, let them think it for themselves.
7. Connect Your Chapters Seamlessly
One of the most important things about good books is that their chapters are connected seamlessly. While each chapter might have a different theme or motive, the link that connects them is all but broken. Which is why you need to make sure the connection between your chapters is smooth.
8. Have A Definite Conclusion
Last but not the least, do not leave your audience hanging. Give them a proper ending and make sure all the ends are tied up nicely. Without ending on a definite conclusion, you are going to throw your readers off. So, make sure you have a definite conclusion. | https://medium.com/@fahidsafdar/how-to-write-a-book-in-8-steps-an-expert-guide-for-authors-scienceooze-c867d82a1d1f | [] | 2021-01-05 09:14:55.335000+00:00 | ['Books And Authors', 'Books', 'Expert'] |
4 Books on Amazon that will Prepare you greatly for the Year 2021 | Photo by nappy from Pexels
Christianity is a call to responsibility, and this means we must take conscious steps towards ensuring that we go higher and higher in our walk with God. It is our work of faith that provoke God’s intervention. Without faith, none can please God.
It is no news that the year 2020 was a very challenging one for the people of the world, but it is about to come to an end. What can we do differently in 2021?
We can prepare immensely for the coming year by engaging our minds with extraordinary materials. An investment in your faith is an investment worth making.
Here are 4 books on Amazon, written by Jephthah Preye Abiri, that will transform your walk with God. | https://medium.com/@realifenonstop/4-books-on-amazon-that-will-prepare-you-greatly-for-the-year-2021-6ba0eba0aa02 | ['Realife Dispenser'] | 2020-12-19 23:32:25.909000+00:00 | ['New Year', '2021', 'New Year Resolution'] |
Ecosystem Growth (Part #1) | We have multiple growth strategy to acquire users for PEP Network.
✔Mobigraph Apps
✔Partnerships
✔Developer Apps
☑️ Mobigraph Apps | https://medium.com/pep-ico/ecosystem-growth-a0afc826b77e | ['Katherine Romaniuk'] | 2018-06-06 09:53:44.253000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'ICO', 'Token Sale', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Upgrading our outlook, vision | An opinion from the internet about avoiding wars, conflicts by getting to know each other:
“I think it is possible to avoid the present hostilities, conflicts, wars by getting to know each other beyond the fake news, distorted reporting, purposeful incitement we are brainwashed by all around the globe.”
I agree with you. The only way to rise above the hate sown against others in the world, the only way to overcome our instinctive distrust, animosity feel towards “others” who are different from us is to get to know each other, to try to see reality through the desires, needs, viewpoints of others.
It is not as easy as it sounds as the instinctive resistance of our inherently self-justifying, subjective nature is very strong. But with the right upbringing, education, and appropriate social influence, we can achieve this new state of being: purposefully, methodically trying to experience reality through others.
This is not simply a way to avoid wars.
Imagine the exponential increase in scope, resolution regarding what we can see, taste, attain by changing an inherently narrow, egocentric, subjective vision to a multi-angled, “holographic” vision?! | https://medium.com/@samechphoto/upgrading-our-outlook-vision-d9f31e66349b | ['Zsolt Hermann'] | 2020-12-23 18:30:50.911000+00:00 | ['Perception', 'Peace', 'Education', 'Connection', 'Vision'] |
Christmas Greetings to My New Bot Followers! | Christmas Greetings to My New Bot Followers!
Merry Christmas, my new bot followers!
A couple of weeks ago, I started to get popular on Medium — at least by my extremely low standards. Not quite BTS-level popular, but enough that I was thinking about starting my own boy band even though I am not a boy or a good dancer.
“So, how did you discover your new popularity?” you are probably not asking. The clue came when I opened Medium to edit submissions to The Haven, and the little green notice dot in the upper right showed notices in the three figure range. At first, I was worried that hundreds of people had sent submissions to The Haven overnight. I was mostly worried because that would make a lot of work for my henchwoman and co-editor, Christine Stevens, after I quit and let her deal with the hundreds of submissions. (I mean it’s not like we’re getting paid to do this, so I was prepared to bail and leave my henchwoman holding the proverbial bag.)*
Once I had determined that The Haven was getting no more than its usual number of submissions, I pretty much forgot about the notice. But then the next day, it happened again. And again the day after that. At that point, I started to pay attention to what was causing the notices. It turned out that I was getting lots of new followers — roughly 100 each day. Considering that I had only a few thousand followers when I started getting bombarded, this swarm of attention gave me hope that my greivously underappreciated work was catching the attention of the masses and I was on my way to being the next David Sedaris! I was finally being discovered, and no doubt my Medium earnings would grow exponentially from $1 per month to $2 or even $3 dollars a month!
But looking at the stats for my stories quickly disabused me of this idea. My stats remained consistently mediocre, and my earnings remained consistently pathetic.
So I decided to play Miss Marple (only minus any corpses — fingers crossed) and figure out who these new followers were. It didn’t take me long to figure out that there was a pattern. They were all women with attractive photos, first name and last initial only, who had joined in the last few weeks. They also had boring but often slightly incorrect sayings on their profiles — like “Kill the goose that lays the golden egg,” and “In the land of the blind, the one.”
After digging further, I discovered that a number of them had recently posted articles about Bitcoin. And at least one of my new followers didn’t even bother to hide her motives. Her profile saying was just “Bitcoin.”
Because I am only periodically an idiot, I realized that my profile has been discovered by Bitcoin-peddling bots. I’m not sure how I became their target. It’s not like my stories are about a lonely middle-aged woman seeking the attention of attractive younger females who just happen to know about Bitcoin. I don’t follow-back everyone who follows me. And I’m clearly not making enough money via Medium that Bitcoin speculation is in the cards. So who knows? (If anyone has an explanation, please let me know in the comments.)
So for now, I’ll just sit back, watch the number in the green dot grow, and enjoy learning some new sayings. And if my bot followers read this, I’ll be thinking of you as I spend this Christmas with a younger woman — my daughter, who knows nothing about Bitcoin.
*If you want to send The Haven a holiday gift via our Patreon, you can do so here. I can’t speak for how Christine will spend any largess you send our way, but I will probably use any money you contribute to something exciting like bungee-jumping or paying my taxes. | https://medium.com/the-haven/christmas-greetings-to-my-new-bot-followers-b612ecd90dbc | ['Page Barnes'] | 2020-12-22 21:19:10.035000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Christmas', 'Technology', 'Bots'] |
Web Application Architecture: Basics and Components | Whenever you are using a very intuitive web app rarely you will stop to think about all the interactions that go on between the components that make up the application. This includes the UI, databases, browser server and many other parts. What ties all of these parts together is the web application architecture. In this article we will provide you with the web architecture basics so you can choose the right architecture for your web app.
What is Web Architecture?
Web architectures are the foundation of our everyday web surfing experience. It incorporates entering in a website address and all interactions with it. A well-built architecture will have the following features:
Useful for solving business issues
Allows for split testing and analytics
Provides a fast user experience
Secure and sustainable
Offers significant automation features
Since users are spending more time accessing the internet through mobile devices there is a large demand for app architecture that includes all the features mentioned above and many others. As a result, custom web development is getting more complex which is prompting a lot of developers, who are tasked with creating an app to steer towards a full stack development architecture.
Web Application Components
The components of web application architecture can be divided into UI/UX and structural components. The UI/UX components include things like dashboards, layouts, activity tracking and anything else that has to do with visuals or the user experience. The latter is the web app server and the database server.
The simplest option would be to have a sole server and database, but this is risky because should anything happen to the server, the app will not work. Therefore, it is always good to have at least two servers running to serve as a backup in case something happens. Also, if you have multiple servers and databases you can handle more amounts of data and not have to suffer any elasticity issues.
Types of Web Applications
There are three types of web applications:
Legacy HTML Web App — This one is built on very simple logic: the user gets the entire HTML on request. As far as the architecture is concerned, all of the various elements will react to the full reload of the page. This would be a great option for static pages, but it is not suitable for dynamic web apps.
Widget Web App — This is a more advanced option which lets you load data without reloading a page. The AJAX queries receive and send large quantities of data in HTML and JSON thus making it a better option for mobile apps.
Single-page web app — With this architecture all the user has to do is request the web page. It relies heavily on server requests in JavaScript or HTML.
Web Server Architecture
Since the web servers play a key role in the overall functionality of the web app, it would be worthwhile to look at the various web server architectures.
Java — If your architecture is Java-based it gives you the versatility to create both simple and complex architectures. More importantly, it enables you to build reliable apps over the long term.
Cloud-based — There is a growing trend among businesses in all industries to move their operations to the cloud which prompted the need for an architecture that is cloud-based. The biggest advantage of this architecture is data decoupling meaning that the app runs and is stored on the local server and the cloud.
Node.js — This architecture uses model-view patterns which allows you to identify code elements properly so they can be routed and configured.
.NET — This architecture allows you to use stored data without having to apply a specific database code. It includes ASP.NET Core and .NET Core which greatly enhance the user experience.
PHP — This language is very popular among web developers because of its simplicity and functionality. It guarantees high-speed development, increased security and support from a large group of developers.
Azure — This type of architecture is one of the most interesting ones because it serves as a bridge between traditional tools and the cloud.
AngularJS — This architecture works as a platform and framework for HTML and TypeScript. One of its biggest advantages is lazy loading which reduces the size of the code and offers a better user experience.
Since the web is constantly evolving, all the technologies that are associated with web development architecture must also evolve in order to keep up. A lot of old structures have given way to modern methodologies therefore, it is very important that you stay up to date on all the latest developments so that you can choose the architecture that best works for your app. Most important performance indicators will depend on the architecture that you choose. These include the speed of app, security, responsiveness, and many other critical indicators.
Also, it is very important that your business needs to line up with your technical requirements. If you create a great app that will need to be scaled in the future to keep up with demand, you have to make sure that the application architecture you are using in the very beginning can be scaled effortlessly if needed. We hope that the architecture basics that we talked about in this article will help you create the kind of powerful, secure and scalable app that the users will love. | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/web-application-architecture-basics-and-components-bb43ae317677 | ['Skywell Software'] | 2019-04-08 09:58:35.617000+00:00 | ['Application Architecture', 'Web App Development', 'Web Architecture', 'Web Development'] |
Solidity Smart Contract Tutorial With Building Real-World DAPP — Part 2: Create Your First Contract | Your first contract
It’s time to write your first contract. go back to the Remix IDE. in the file explorers, there is a plus icon. Click on the icon, create a new file and name it Delance.sol or any other name that you like. the only important thing here is your created file should end with .sol.
New contract
The first thing is defining the version of solidity. we can define any version of solidity, but it’s always good to use the latest stable version. it enables new features and functionality of solidity for you. at the time of writing this article, the latest version is 0.6.9:
pragma solidity 0.6.9;
Basically, defining a contract is almost like defining a class in an object-oriented programming language. in solidity, we use contract keyword to define a contract.
In contracts, we have some public or private methods and properties. the contracts also can inherit from each other.
Now, let’s define a contract named Delance:
pragma solidity 0.6.9; contract Delance{
}
As we see in the first part of this tutorial, our contract needs the freelancer address and deadline. we should also deposit some amount of ether to our contract. the ether balance of the contract will be our project fee.
let’s create some state variables in our contract:
pragma solidity 0.6.9; contract Delance{
address public freelancer;
uint public deadline;
}
As you see, solidity is a strongly typed language. it means you need to define the type of variable.
You can also define how you can access the variable: if you want to access the variable from outside of the smart contract, you need to add the public keyword, otherwise, it will consider as a private variable and can be visible just inside the contract.
Types
There are some important types in the solidity that I like to mention them here:
string, bool, int, uint, and address
There are also some other types that we will mention later in this tutorial.
If you have experience with any other programming language, you may know about the above types. but, one of them seems to be totally new here: the address type!
In the Ethereum world, every account or contract is identified by the Ethereum addresses. All of the identities in the network can find each other using Ethereum addresses. an Ethereum address is simply a 64 character hex string: 0xE349fBbeDA6642BF459f4957b6D6AbcCBA8bA74c
In this post, we will see how we get our contract address after deploying it.
let’s back to our contract. As you saw, we define a public variable named freelancer and its type is address. it means it will store something like 0xE349fBbeDA6642BF459f4957b6D6AbcCBA8bA74c 🙂
Functions
Now, we need to write some functions to set the value of the freelancer and the deadline:
pragma solidity 0.6.9; contract Delance{
address public freelancer;
uint public deadline;
function setFreelancer(address _freelancer) public {
freelancer = _freelancer;
}
function setDeadline(uint256 _deadline) public {
deadline = _deadline;
}
}
As you see, we have to define the visibility type for functions as well as variables. The available types to define a visibility type of function are public, private, internal, and external.
Public: can be called from inside and outside of the contract
Private: only can be called from inside the smart contract. private functions are not available in derived contracts.
Internal: can only be called within the contract itself and any derived contracts.
External: can be called from outside the smart contract, but cannot be called from inside.
All of the above types can be used for variables except the External type.
constructor
If you know about OOP, you should know it’s good practice to define our necessary variables in our constructor. our contract cannot be useful without the freelancer and deadline!
As I told you, the contract is like a class in an object-oriented programming language. one of these similarities is the constructor method. Here in our contract, we can delete the last two functions and then, define a constructor and expect two properties: the freelancer address and the deadline. So, when we want to deploy the contract, we should define these two properties. an address type and a uint type. otherwise, an error will be generated.
pragma solidity 0.6.9; contract Delance{
address public freelancer;
uint public deadline;
constructor(address _freelancer,uint _deadline) public {
freelancer = _freelancer;
deadline = _deadline;
}
}
Notice the type of constructor function should always be public. we also don’t need to use the `function` keyword to define a constructor.
***Update (October 2020): In the next version of solidity (Solidity 7), visibility for a constructor is ignored unless you want to create an abstract contract. abstract contracts are just a non-deployable contract.
Our contract is not abstract, so it’s not necessary to use public keyword if we change the version of solidity to 7!
Global variables
In Solidity, there are some variables and functions which already exist globally and are mainly used to provide information about the blockchain.
The msg global variables are special global variables that contain properties that allow access to the blockchain. For example, msg.sender can return the address who has sent the transaction(let’s say sending a transaction is like calling a function, later we explain about transactions).
So, in our contract, we can define a state variable named employer with a type of address. then, in the constructor, we can get the address who has sent the transaction (the address who calls the constructor method) and store it in the employer variable:
pragma solidity 0.6.9; contract Delance{
address public employer;
address public freelancer;
uint public deadline;
constructor (address _freelancer, uint _deadline) public {
employer = msg.sender;
freelancer = _freelancer;
deadline = _deadline;
}
}
We have stored all of the important initial information in our contract. there is only one thing left. the project fee! we will explain the deposit process later in the tutorial. for now, let’s deploy our contract.
Compile
Now it’s time to use the activated plugins. first, we compile the contract and then deploy it.
let’s click on the solidity compiler icon. change the compiler version to the 0.6.9. you can also enable the auto compile option. so, Remix IDE will automatically compile the contract while you typing.
When you were ready, hit the compile button.
Deploy
after compiling the contract, click on the deploy plugin.
- Select Javascript VM for the environment.
- There are some built-in accounts with 100 ether of balance. you can select one of them.
- The gas limit has been set to 3000000. it’s good for our transaction(later we explain about gas price and gas limit)
- Leave the value to be zero, as I told, in the next post we will write a function in the contract to accept ether.
Select your contract, and fill the required arguments. here we need an address type and uint type.
_freelancer can be: 0xE349fBbeDA6642BF459f4957b6D6AbcCBA8bA74c
and _deadline can be: 123456789
Congrats, You just deployed your first contract.🥳
Now you can read the stored data from the blockchain.
Every time you define a public state variable in the contract, the solidity creates a getter function for you.
For instance, for reading the value of the `freelancer` variable, you don’t need to create a getFreelancer() function to return the freelancer value. you have already access a function named freelancer that returns the freelancer value.
In the below image, you can see the employer address is the same address that we use to send the transaction. | https://medium.com/coinmonks/solidity-smart-contract-tutorial-with-building-real-world-dapp-part-2-create-your-first-contract-e7cd4fdf4e98 | ['Behzad Pournouri'] | 2020-11-01 18:00:02.855000+00:00 | ['Solidity', 'Smart Contracts', 'Ethereum', 'Dapps', 'Blockchain'] |
Tales from the Crypt episode review — 2.10 — The Ventriloquist’s Dummy | Original air date: June 5, 1990
Director: Richard Donner
Writer: Frank Darabont
Rating: 9/10
Ventriloquist dummies make for some great horror shorts. That’s kind of all they’re good for. It’s always funny when people react to them in said horror shorts like they’re the funniest acts in the world.
We are introduced to Mr. Ingels (Don Rickles), a ventriloquist, who kills it in the opening act. He even has a young fan, Billy, who wants to be a ventriloquist.
Fifteen years later, Billy is played by Bobcath Goldthwait, who tracks down his old idol. He brings his dummy along with him. Mr. Ingles, now retired, reluctantly lets Billy in.
Mr. Ingels wears an oven mitt on his ventriloquist hand, since the fire that occurred right after the opening scene, which killed his girlfriend. Billy invites him to his first ever show.
Billy’s show is a disaster from the start, and Ingels does show up to see it. Billy talks to him afterwards, and while he’s sympathetic, he still tells Billy he should find a new line of work.
After Billy leaves, Mr. Ingels goes to see a prostitute, and that same prostitute is found murdered in her car. Billy rushes to Ingels’s house and accuses him of the murder, but Ingels insists that it wasn’t him, but his puppet.
Billy pulls out the box of the puppet and finds that there is no head to it. Mr. Ingels attacks him with a butcher knife and reveals that his puppet is is Siamese twin brother.
It’s a genuinely surprising twist, and it’s darkly humorous, of course. When his brother tries to convince him to kill Billy, Mr. Ingels cuts him off. The brother then attacks and kills Mr. Ingels.
The scene with Billy going after the puppet is a bit much, though I do like the overall conclusion.
It’s a really interesting episode. Rickles is outstanding, and the makeup effects on his twin brother are pretty great, as well. | https://medium.com/as-vast-as-space-and-as-timeless-as-infinity/tales-from-the-crypt-episode-review-2-10-the-ventriloquists-dummy-77f949d4bc74 | ['Patrick J Mullen'] | 2019-05-06 13:06:00.931000+00:00 | ['Tv Reviews', 'Horror', 'TV', 'Comedy', 'Tales From The Crypt'] |
The ACLU and the Wandering Jew | Letter From Away — June 12, 2021
I’m a wandering Jew. I can say that, at least I think I can, for two reasons. First, the facts I assert can be proven by objective scrutiny. Second, because I live under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
At least for now.
I don’t know if kids today use the phrase, “It’s a free country,” to defend themselves from the taunts of playmates, as we did when I was a child. We also said things like, “Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words can never hurt me,” and “I’m rubber, you’re glue. Anything you say bounces off me and sticks to you,” and “He who smelt it, dealt it.” Of course, none of these are necessarily true.
The right to freely express myself is protected, with only a handful of legal exceptions. Supreme Court decisions, mostly made within the last 100 years, removed speech protections for making or distributing obscene materials and burning military draft cards to protest a war. The most recent exceptions relate to the rights of students; it is not considered free speech to print something in a school newspaper over the objections of the school’s administrators or to advocate for illegal drug use at a school-sponsored event.
The earliest revision to the First Amendment was in 1919 and allows limits to speech that is likely to incite immediate violence or retaliation by those who hear or read what is spoken.
Some of you know I do a bit of standup comedy. I’ve been watching the challenges faced by those who work with humor. In addition to the past year of closed venues, comics have fallen prey to political rectitude. When I told my friend, I’ll-call-her-Jane, that my Wandering Jew plant had gone crazy over the winter, she said she didn’t think it was acceptable to call it that. I’ll-call-her-Jane is not alone in questioning my right to speak freely.
Forty-some years after it famously defended the rights of Nazi Party members to parade the streets of predominantly-Jewish Skokie, Illinois, the American Civil Liberties Union has begun to cherry-pick the rights of those expressing political views that offend its membership. David Goldberg, the A.C.L.U. lawyer who protected the Nazis in Skokie, recently told The New York Times he feels it is, “ … more important for A.C.L.U. staff to identify with clients and progressive causes than to stand on principle. Liberals are leaving the First Amendment behind,” Goldberg said.
As Maine faces the possible return of one of our most vitriolic politicians, Paul LePage, I sympathize with those who want to scream, “Shut up!” at those who promote lies and division. I don’t want anyone to be subjected to sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, or any cruel speech. But the laws that protected me, when I knocked on doors the raise awareness for voting rights in the 1960s, marched to end an unjust war in the 1970s, rallied for nuclear disarmament in the 1980s, and stood against the war in Afghanistan early in this century, also protect those who taunt me for the Wandering Jew that I am.
To be clear, the courts differentiate between hate speech and hate crimes; it is not acceptable to act on the slurs one speaks or hears or reads. The courts generally do not, and should not, differentiate between, for example, body shaming carried out by those who hunt for laughs on facebook at the expense of total strangers unlucky enough to be caught on camera in a fashion faux pas, and those who deride politicians for their unhealthy eating habits rather than their dangerous policy decisions.
I don’t like much of what our national conversation has become, but I am more bothered by the stifling of opinion than by the rancid ideas of those with whom I disagree. It’s a short hop from the rejection of cruel speech on the part of neo-Nazis to the criminalization of non-Christian worship.
The difference between an insult and a joke is often in the ear of the listener. Before we totally lose this distinction, and our sense of humor with it, let’s revisit the First Amendment.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Shlomit Auciello is a writer, photographer, and human ecologist who has lived in Midcoast Maine since 1988. Letter From Away has appeared online and in print, on and off since 1992, and is published here on a weekly basis. | https://medium.com/letter-from-away/the-aclu-and-the-wandering-jew-32a01c088f81 | ['Shlomit Auciello'] | 2021-06-12 14:27:29.253000+00:00 | ['Expression', 'First Amendment', 'Bill Of Rights', 'ACLU', 'Free Speech'] |
Thalassemia | What is Thalassemia?
Thalassemia is a blood disorder that is among the small children. It is blood disorder that passed down through the families. Thalassemia appears when a new born baby is 4 months old. Thalassemia is named thalassemia because this disease was found on countries near Mediterranean Sea. This blood disorder means that there is lack of Red blood cell and Hemoglobin that is the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. This disorder leads that stem cells are not working properly thus lack of red blood cells in the body. Bones in the body fail to develop the blood.
How it’s transferred?
There are two types of Thalassemia, thalassemia minor and major. If both parents are thalassemia minor then there are 25% chances that the baby is going to born with thalassemia major. Thalassemia minor patients have hemoglobin less than 12.0 for example 10.0 or 11.0. Thalassemia major patients have hemoglobin less than 9.0 for example 7.0. In pregnancy in certain conditions after tests if it seems that baby is going to born with thalassemia major then under certain conditions abortion is allowed by the certain treatment centers.
How patients react and what are the symptoms?
Babies and toddlers start turning yellow with heavy fever, they even stop eating. After the tests if it is proved that there is blood disorder than they need new blood transfusions every three months to survive. Because of lack of red blood cells in the body and bones are not able to make blood there are certain problems with liver, heart, and spleen. It may also lead to heart failure. 50% of the kids die between age of 10 and 90% die between the age of 20
Covid and Thalassemia
Due to Covid-19 outbreak, people were donating their plasma to other Covid patients but blood donations is also required for the patients as these kids are in need of blood and due to lockdown situation and Covid fear, people are resisting to distribute the blood. Blood need to be checked for Covid before donation because thalassemia patient already have low immunity system and they can’t handle both diseases together. | https://medium.com/@muhammad-umair175/thalassemia-b9ab79a82d6 | ['Muhammad Umair'] | 2020-12-23 19:31:51.384000+00:00 | ['Social Impact', 'Thalassemia', 'Megaprojects', 'Amal Fellowship', 'Amal Academy'] |
ICO Review — 5 reasons why Uncloak will be the next game player in cybersecurity | 1. A sector booming but a shortage of solution
Computer hacking is a global problem that grows every year as the connectivity of individuals and devices increases (explosion of the connected objects market -IoT-, development of smart cities and mass digitization of the population). Not a day passes without us hearing about computer attacks, data leaks or new ransomware. Even though the public, Internet and telecommunications sectors are the main targets of cyberattacks (industrial espionage), piracy affects all categories of businesses ranging from small businesses to web giants. We keep in mind the impressive attack suffered by TV5Monde, which almost ended with a takeover of the broadcast by russian hackers or massive data leaks from web giants such as Linkedin, Yahoo, …
It’s difficult to estimate the losses due to the computer attacks but according to estimates of cybersecurity companies, the losses would be 13 billion dollars for worms and viruses and $ 226 billion for attacks. According to other studies, cybercrime is expected to cost $ 6 trillion a year by 2021.
In their attempts to protect against computer attacks, companies face several problems:
There is a shortage of protection solutions that are proactive in identifying new threats.
Cyber attacks are constantly evolving which makes setting up a very complicated protection policy. In addition, this requires security experts and (very) important financial resources.
Current cybersecurity solutions rely on an isolated and personalized approach to threat management, with (very) limited (or no) knowledge sharing between industry players.
Most of the patterns and signatures that help security software detect a vulnerability are available for free on the Internet, allowing hackers to have the same knowledge as a security consultant.
The consequence is an eternal game between robbers and cops where everyone tries to be one step ahead to protect themselves for the companies and to succeed attack for the hacker.
In this context, Uncloak has created a solution based on blockchain, smart contracts and Artificial Intelligence in order to allow companies to protect themselves at a lower cost while always being one step ahead of hackers. | https://medium.com/biomanforcerose/ico-review-5-reasons-why-uncloak-will-be-the-next-game-player-in-cybersecurity-352739488e27 | [] | 2018-05-19 20:28:42.380000+00:00 | ['ICO', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Cybersecurity', 'Ico Review'] |
Surviving COVID-19 — my story. 4 weeks after contracting COVID19, I… | 4 weeks after contracting COVID19, I finally feel back on my feet and so do my parents (one hypertensive, the other diabetic). Needless to say, it was scary & stressful mentally and different every day with an inconsistent recovery physically. So here is my story, hoping it may inform at the least and help at best. Some context; I was at my parents’ home since my mum had a fracture early April. We are 5 adults and 1 child in the house (parents, me, brother, his wife and their 2-year kid). I have made a summary at the end of this post in case you want to skim through major points only.
Getting Infected & Early Symptoms
Around the 28th of April, my brother who did the occasional grocery shopping got sick. We didn’t think much of it and started him on antibiotics. However by day 2 itself, my dad started feeling sick, my mum the next day and me a day after. For all of us it started with a slightly itchy throat which turned into a low fever (99–100F; never went beyond 100.3F), body ache and extreme lack of energy.
Week 1 — Highly infected and sick
For the first 3 days, I was in bed all day, sleeping for most. Day 2–3 were bad as I developed chills and fever went up to 100.3 (from the 99 range) in addition to extreme fatigue and body ache. It became difficult to eat food as by Day 3 my taste buds were destroyed and I faced light diarrhoea. By this time, my brother (our index case) was on his Day 6, feeling fine with no symptoms. So, still assuming it was regular flu my parents and me continued our antibiotics+paracetamol medication. By Day 6 for me, I had completed my antibiotics course and felt the fever reduce considerably. I was glad to wake up with almost normal body temperature (98 range). My parents, now on their Day 7–8, also did not have the fever levels of earlier days but all of us still felt quite weak and fatigued. We assumed the worst was over.
Week 2 — Sickness persists & getting COVID tests done
Day 8 my fever started climbing again into the 99s. My parents were also still oscillating between low fevers with other symptoms continuing. Finally, under a lot of pressure from doctors in our family, we decided to get the tests done.
Process of getting tests done — The process of getting tests done is not very straight forward in Mumbai. We had access to doctors in the family who gave us the prescription over WhatsApp with a recommendation for COVID19 test (PCR test). Initially, we had to call multiple labs close by and they said they would call back. Some did, some never did. We got an appointment with SRL Labs in Mahim (W), again through family, who needed us to come and give our swab samples. Luckily it was not a busy test centre. First, my dad and I got the tests done. The results came the next day (it can take up to 2 days sometimes). My dad and I were both POSITIVE.
It came as a bit of a shock. My dad (hypertensive, history of a double bypass) was admitted the same day since older people with co-morbidities can turn critical all of a sudden. He was put in ICU and I was advised home quarantine. The next day my mum got her test results and unsurprisingly she too was POSITIVE. We got her (a long time diabetic) admitted as well. Both were in ICU for the first 2–3 days but doing alright. I was feeling fine the day my mum was hospitalised but a day later I had developed a dry cough and low fever. The doctor prescribed another course of antibiotics and told me to do breathing exercises which I could not do. My lungs felt weak. The day after, I too was hospitalised but since I had no co-morbidities I was not put in ICU.
What the BMC does? Once you test POSITIVE, even at a private lab, the BMC is apprised of your case. Your apartment building will be sealed for 14 days, although it can take them 2–3 days to come do this. They come to sanitize your building almost daily after that. On the day I was to go to the hospital, the BMC called saying they are sending a vehicle to take me to a quarantine centre. I don’t know what would have transpired were I not going to the hospital that day. Subsequently, during and post-hospital discharge they call multiple times to check up on your progress, understand how you got infected, ask if you will volunteer for plasma donation etc.
Hospital care & treatment — Me and, after 2–3 days of ICU, my parents were put in single rooms. You could not step out of your room. We continued antibiotics, paracetamol and multivitamins (Vitamin C, Vitamin B and Zinc) via IV as well as tablets. Also, from the day we tested positive we were put on Hydroxychloroquine. This was a course of 1 tablet daily for 6 days. Since I had a cough they started me on cough syrup but as the doctor said the cough will subside in a week with medicine and 7 days without :) It went away completely after a week. I should mention that cough can last for many weeks in some people, even after you have recovered. You are also given hot water to drink multiple times a day. They did another COVID test 5 days after our first tests were done. We all came POSITIVE. (This is expected but the doctors get the RNA count and can see if there is reduction. The official test report that the patient gets only says DETECTED/NOT DETECTED and does not mention the count.) Besides this, if we felt feverish we had to check our temperature and report it to the nurse. Twice a day, a nurse would record BP and oxygen saturation. O2 sat is directly related to lungs’ capacity to oxygenate your blood. 95–100% is normal and we were trending around there.
Week 3 & 4 — Hospital discharge and Full recovery
After 5 days of hospitalisation for my mum and 6 for my dad, they were ready for discharge. This is solely at the discretion of the doctor in charge. In their case, they did not have a fever for 3–4 days continuously and were feeling stronger than when they came in. They were discharged on what was my day 4 of hospitalisation. I still had a cough, hence needed to stay back. By my 6th day there, my cough reduced considerably and I was discharged as well. My dad had developed a cough after discharge but that settled within a week. My mum has developed a cough 5 days ago but it has receded substantially. As long as there are no other symptoms there is nothing to worry. As per my cousins in the NHS, people in the UK have been going back to work with a cough post their recovery.
While leaving the hospital we were mandated 2 weeks home quarantine and that’s what we have been doing. The infectious period is 8–10 days (means you can infect others up to 10 days after you have been infected) so we were well in the safe zone but I guess hospitals are being over cautious. We got back home and followed through with the mandated quarantine. Have been in our rooms throughout, not even going into the hall. 3–4 weeks of staying in one room (first hospital, then home) is tough as hell. The day before was the completion of my parents’ mandated quarantine and today is mine. We had been feeling 95% back to normal for the past 10 days (some lack of energy for my dad) and the last 4 days pretty much 100%.
I will officially, on paper, be a ‘Recovered from COVID’ case tomorrow. There is no requirement for a NEGATIVE test result (as per current Maharashtra government rules) as the virus remnants can be in your system long after you’ve recovered. It feels amazing to have come out unscathed. Although we would all be categorised as MILD cases, it was stressful not knowing what to expect. The inconsistency of recovery is scary. One day you feel better, the next you are in the tunnel again. Symptoms can develop randomly well into week 2 and 3. My father is 70 and my mum 64, they are both fit and active for their age. My brother, who we assume is our index case, is 34, not very active or fit but he recovered in 5 days flat with all symptoms gone. So, it really depends on how your immune system reacts to the virus. Not even doctors know what to expect hence the medication is pretty basic as you can see. But all things aside, you need to make yourself mentally tough. I even prepared myself for the worst eventuality. It was the only thing that helped me face every day. If you do go through it, just remember the fatality rate is only 3–4%, the rest of us survive it. Even people with co-morbidities like my parents.
Life post COVID
We are now back to normal life, which is staying locked down with the rest of the city. We have been told to continue Vitamin C tablets (twice daily) for a month at least and Vitamin B. We should, theoretically, be immune to it anywhere from a few weeks to years however there is no antibody test easily available and no practical case data to support this. So, we have to assume we could get it again just not immediately. I return to my home this weekend to reunite with my ever-helpful husband who ferried us back and forth but managed to steer clear of the virus. Although, my hunch was he is probably positive, just asymptomatic. I guess we will never find out. My sister in law and little niece, who are currently in the same house as my parents and I, have also been asymptomatic throughout.
Summary
Symptoms — fever, dry cough, body ache, fatigue, shivering due to chills, diarrhoea, loss of taste/smell, itchy/sore throat are most common. What to do right now? Fix a doctor you will call in case you get sick. Ask him if he will prescribe COVID test if need be. You may have to call your RWA too. Government rules change every day. Keep abreast of the rules. Find out which private/government labs close by are doing the test. There are drive-through test centres in some places. If possible, find out which hospitals closest to you are taking COVID patients (especially if you have elders with co-morbidities). Start taking Vitamin C, Vitamin B tablets, drink warm water 3–4 times a day and do breathing exercises (please do this!). Doing light physical exercise at home or yoga is great too. Alcohol does not help stress and compromises you physically. For my smoker friends, this is a good time to quit. Continuing anything that compromises your lungs in an acute respiratory disease pandemic is plain dumb. If anyone gets sick, assume it is COVID and behave accordingly. Wear masks, maintain distance at home, sleep in a separate room. In case you get sick — Consult your doctor on starting medication and ask if your symptoms suggest doing a test. He will give you a Whatsapp prescription for the test (please check the latest rules if WA Rx will do). Get the test done, you will get results within 2 days. He will advise either hospitalisation in case of elders or home quarantine if you are young, healthy and don’t have issues like breathing difficulty and shortness of breath. The last two are very serious indications of compromised lungs so watch your symptoms closely. How to handle it mentally — The odds of something serious happening are low but it is a possibility. The reality is there is only so much you can do. Being prepared helps control stress if you do get sick. It also helps to take a break from reading about COVID 😊.
Lastly, panic never helps. If you get sick, relax, be aware of your symptoms and follow the procedure. Stay strong.
All questions are welcome. | https://medium.com/@nikhatpawane/surviving-covid-19-my-story-77ea31a73a1c | ['Nikhat Pawane'] | 2020-05-30 14:28:14.847000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Covid 19 Treatment', 'Covid 19 Crisis', 'Coronavirus Covid19', 'Covid Diaries'] |
It Doesn’t Matter Why Marriage Ends | Five years ago I married for the second time, to my second husband. This was the marriage that was going to be right. We were equipped with the correct pieces which we arranged at the correct time. He was a vast improvement from my ex-husband: caring and thoughtful and responsible. He wanted to get married, and in an expected series of events, that’s exactly what we did.
And now we are separating.
The logical question that follows is why did it end? What happened?
I’ve been unsure of how to write about the dissolution of my marriage for some time now, which is both surprising and frustrating in light of the time and research I’ve put into the decision. I spent years in couples counseling, individual therapy, self-reflection paired with the inability to think about anything else (for those who have ever considered a separation, you know about this weight and how insidious it is). With all that work behind me, it seems like I should have a neatly packaged answer. An abstract or a lab report.
My other studies have told me that humans have a strong desire to be similar, to imitate. I followed suit, engaging in the same marriage experiment as those around me. Until the raw yearning to go and be alone, the one living in my blood and saliva and brain cells, crushed out the desire to be the same.
What do people want to hear? What’s the truth of it? What should I say?
No one cheated. No one abused. Our stances on religion, politics, and money are not wildly different. The socially acceptable answers do not exist for me. I can point to nothing easily because nothing about this is easy.
How do I tell my parents, married for 34 years and practicing Catholics, that another marriage is coming to an end?
How do I describe the collection of fibers twisting quietly in my gut, despite the pieces of what we’ve built that bring some moments of happiness?
How do I explain the pain of asking for something I want, even though the thing I want has also broken me into a million tiny pieces? | https://rachaelrenk1.medium.com/it-doesnt-matter-why-marriage-ends-e0ca30bc87cf | ['Rachael Renk'] | 2020-02-27 18:50:34.980000+00:00 | ['Divorce', 'Relationships', 'Marriage', 'Love', 'Life'] |
G20 to adapt to global virtual currency regulations set by FATF in June. | G20 to adapt to global virtual currency regulations set by FATF in June.
Formed in 1989, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) provides governments with a guideline on how best to monitor and prevent financial aid from getting to terrorists among other financial misconducts. The group is headquartered in Paris. Now, to help streamline cryptocurrency regulations across the globe, the task force has indicated that it will start looking into regulations governing the cryptocurrency industry starting from June the 24th. Earlier on, the G20 had indicated that it will adapt to global virtual currency regulations set by FATF starting from this month.
According to finance magnates, the G20 indicated to the FATF that they will “commit to implement the FATF standards as they apply to crypto-assets, look forward to the FATF review of those standards, and call on the FATF to advance global implementation”.
As part of its duty, the Financial Action Task Force keeps a record of countries that it deems not to contribute to the ‘greater good’. Currently, the list has 12 countries.
Interestingly, Japan was the first country to call for global cryptocurrency regulations during this year’s G20 meeting in Buenos Aires. It was strongly supported by China, France, and Germany. During this year’s G20 meeting, Mark Carney, BOE’s governor, noted that digital currencies need to be strongly regulated.
As it waits to chair the G20 meeting in 2020, the “Japanese government hopes to take a lead on the issue and is pushing for adoption of new binding rules by 2019 at the latest” reported Reuters.
The FATF will start its discussions by first examining the regulations which were proposed three years ago to see if they can be applied across the current cryptocurrency market.
Nations which have banned cryptocurrencies, like China, will also be discussed by the Financial Action Task Force.
Do you think the global virtual currency regulations set by FATF will help countries that have previously banned cryptocurrencies to lift the ban?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Learn more: | https://medium.com/refcrypto/g20-to-adapt-to-global-virtual-currency-regulations-set-by-fatf-in-june-ea3ba5bb0df9 | ['Ref Crypto'] | 2018-08-11 05:39:12.061000+00:00 | ['Coins', 'Blockchain', 'Blockchain Technology', 'Blockchain Startup', 'Bitcoin'] |
35 terms in (UX) design | Back End
Part of a website or web service that makes it work and includes applications, web servers, and databases.
Code
A simplified form of language with very strict rules and syntax used by humans to tell computers what to do.
Coding Language
A specific set of rules and syntax for writing the code that tells computers what to do. This includes programming, assembly, and markup languages such as Ruby, PHP and HTML.
Color Theory
Characteristics of colors and the relationships between them.
Computer Programming
The process of writting and implementing various instructions for a computer to do a particular task (or set of tasks), using code.
CSS [Cascading Style Sheets]
Code that tells browsers how to format and style HTML for a web page and controls things such as font type and colors.
CSS3
The most current version of CSS
Database
Collection of electronic information (data) stored on a web server.
Code
A simplified form of language with very strict rules and syntax used by humans to tell computers what to do.
Front End
The part of a website that can be seen by users and is made up of HTML, CSS and JavaScript code.
Grid System
Set of columns and rows that can be used as guidelines to arrange content on a web page.
HTML [Hypertext Markup Language]
A coding language used to put content on a web page and give it structure. Since HTML doesn’t tell computers to do anything, it’s not considered a programming language.
HTML Element
HTML code made up of an opening tag, a closing tag, and information between them. Example: <p> this is my line element!</p>
HTML5
The most current version of HTML.
Lean or Lean Startup
A popular process for launching products and quickly iterating on them to better meet customer needs, based on continuous customer feedback. Think of it like agile but for companies. This term was popularized by the book The Lean Startup.
Mood Board
An inspirational collection of content showing the visual style for a website including color palette, images, icons, fonts, etc.
MVP [Minimum Viable Product]
A product with the minimally adequate features to meet the needs of early adopters, often used to test a concept or idea without a huge outlay of resources. Popular among lean startups
Native App
A mobile app built using the software development kit (SDK) native to a specific mobile device. Example: any app coded for the IOS.
SDK [Software Development Kit]
Set of tools for creating a specific kind of software.
OOP [Object-Orianted Programming]
A popular way to design software programs (commonly known as a design pattern) where code is organized into objects that have specific and unique attributes and abilities. Example: A blog might include a blog post object that has a title, date, and content attribute. Example of OOP language: Ruby, PHP, Phyton.
Responsive Design & Development
A way to design and code websites such that they can adapt to different-sized devices like phones, tablets, wearable devices, etc.
Sitemap
An outline or map of the pages needed for a website. Usually drawn using lines and boxes to visualize the hierarchy of pages.
HTML5
The most current version of HTML.
Software Development
The process of programming, documenting, testing, and bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining all manner of software applications and frameworks.
UI [User interface]
How a website is laid out and how users interact with it. You have a deep explanation here.
UX [User Experience]
What a user experiences when they interact with the product. You have a deep explanation here.
User Flow
Map of the path users take from getting to a website to taking an action on the site.
User Persona
Profile of an imaginary person who would use a website; used to define who a site is for and what their needs are.
User Research
Investigating how users act and what they need and want in order to better design a website for them.
Version Control
Software used to keep track of changes to code files, similar to the Track Changes feature of Word. Used by software teams so that they can work on the same code files at the same time without overwriting one another’s work. Example: Git, Subversion.
Web Application or Web App
A website with complex functionality and heavy interactivity. Example: Twitter, Facebook, Bank of America.
Web App Framework
A series of pre-written code that is used by developers as starting point to building their web applications. Example: Ruby on Rails, Bootstrap, Angular JS
Wireframe
A simple sketch of the key information that goes on each web page, usually done in black and white with boxes, line, and placeholder text.
Web designer
A designer who specializes in designing websites and web apps.
Web developer
A software developer who specializes in coding website and web applications. | https://medium.com/@cayetanogros/20-terms-in-ux-design-1944f635295a | ['Cayetano Gros'] | 2020-04-23 22:20:17.024000+00:00 | ['Terms', 'User Interface', 'UX', 'User Experience', 'UI'] |
Simulation of Incentive Design: What is the Most Appropriate Reward System? Part 1 | How to design a reward system?
The next topic of Decon Simulation series is ‘reward system design’. We will look into what problems may spawn from reward system design before diving into the simulation.
Where Will the Rugby Ball Bounce to?
Behavioral Diversity
On a traditional blockchain, users have limited scope of behavior and rewards are automatically given without human intervention. For instance, only through mining can you receive a reward on Bitcoin. The reward is automatically given in the form of coinbase transaction to the person who solved a problem.
Such behavior simplicity and fully automatic rewarding makes it relatively easy to predict and drive user action. In other words, it is easy to design a reward system because the design can be built purely with math.
However, on blockchains where rewards are given to various activities other than mining, the reward system design becomes complex. For example, if users are motivated to upload posts (Steemit), propose new algorithms for certain problems (Numerai), or post good data set (Ocean), how should the designer distribute rewards?
Reward System Problem
Because it is impossible to complete automate the process of assessing whether a user made a meaningful contribution, the blockchain needs the help of other users for reward distribution. Many token economies solve this problem through voting. In a voting reward system, the post that get more likes by users receive more rewards.
For example, a system seeks to give appropriate rewards to users for their postings. An appropriate reward is assessed by the post’s quality and reader response. Because such assessment requires quality check, automation is very difficult. Therefore, the number of likes a post receives becomes the reward criteria. In this case, pressing the like button is equivalent to voting, and the aggregate number of likes is the number of votes.
It would seem reasonable to receive an award equal to the percentage of likes a person’s post got out of all the likes from the ‘reward pool’, which is the aggregate total of rewards. However, could such a system continuously drive high quality activities?
Methods of Giving Rewards
At a glimpse, it would be reasonable to give rewards proportionally based on the number of likes a person receives out of all likes.
However, some users could refuse to post anything for reasons unrelated to effort (popularity, exposure of skin, etc.). In an environment with such users, a uniform reward structure is necessary.
Also, if there are too many users (where the total reward is capped), a reward could shrink even though a user managed to attract relatively many likes. To resolve this problem, a reward system that increases exponentially based on the number of likes should be established to incentivise high quality posts.
There is no best reward system, only the most appropriate.
Then, which out of proportional, uniform, and exponential reward systems is the best? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is “none”. There is no cure-all system that can be applied in all cases.
here can be the most suitable system for a certain environment. An exponential reward system would be a good fit for an environment with many users while a uniform system would be better suited for an environment with few users.
In truth, this problem would be difficult to tackle before an environment is created and functional. Yet, it is an arduous task to overhaul a design once a service is up and going. Decon experimented on a simulation to see what the optimum reward distribution system is.
Nobody can anticipate where a rugby ball will bounce off to, but if reality is effectively incorporated into simulation, we can get a rough estimate of the trajectory. Similarly, even though individual behavior is diverse, we can roughly model patterns with simulation. We aimed to come up with a better reward system. | https://medium.com/decon-simulation/simulation-of-incentive-design-what-is-the-most-appropriate-reward-system-part-1-90022a089db9 | [] | 2019-06-17 09:14:27.952000+00:00 | ['Agent Based Modeling', 'Simulation', 'Reinforcement Learning', 'Blockchain', 'Machine Learning'] |
“The course pushes the course for the future.” Experts discuss innovative principles of youth policy and loss of attention to national memory | Youth policy
Vasyl Mokan, Member of Parliament, Deputy Head of the Parliament Committee on Youth and Sports, noted the closest cooperation between parliamentarians and civil society.
The speaker said that the bill “3718” On the basic principles of youth policy “is currently being prepared for the second reading, the preparation is reaching the final stage. According to forecasts, the initiative will be adopted at the end of this session of the Council or at the beginning of the next one.
He added that the key problem now is not only the lack of funding, but also the quality of its distribution. The Ukrainian Youth Fund, provided for in the draft law, is designed to support both project and institutional development of organizations. The document also provides instruments for soft loans for housing.
Maryna Popatenko, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, said that the National Strategy for the Development of State Youth Policy until 2030 has been developed with the involvement of young people. The document was recently approved by the government and is currently being considered by the President’s Office. The Strategy is expected to be approved by presidential decree by the end of the year.
Based on the strategy, the Concept of the State Targeted Social Program “Youth of Ukraine” for 2021–2025 was developed. Its approval is also expected by the end of the year.
Other important vectors are professional development of youth workers (inclusion of such a profession in the classifier), development of a network of youth centers, development of non-formal education and civic competencies of youth, creation of platforms for communication between youth and government and increase of youth participation in socio-political life. society.
Yuriy Yuzych, Chairman of the Board, Plast National Scout Organization of Ukraine, outlined in simple terms the priorities of the sectoral analytical brief:
Every young person should be able to come somewhere. It is necessary to organize spaces and centers where young people will feel protected and have the opportunity to develop their initiative. Competent people should work in such spaces. It is necessary to develop programs that would train youth workers. An instrument of youth councils needs to be developed to involve young people in decision-making in every area.
These points are reflected in the mentioned bill №3718. The speaker stressed the importance of financial support for these initiatives through the development of modern tools. He added that bureaucratization of the process should be avoided.
Roman Tychkivskyy, CEO of the Ukrainian Leadership Academy, added about the interaction between youth, government and business, including how important it is to take into account the views of young people.
“In the context of the pandemic, we see how confused young people are. Formal and non-formal education was not ready for these challenges: not only at the national, but also at the local level, “he said.
Therefore, Roman Tychkivskyy supported the thesis about the importance of institutional support for youth organizations, and in view of this, the state should make it as easy as possible to use infrastructure and property.
“If there is a healthy initiative, the local authorities and the national level should meet — to provide organizations with sites, some funding and a probationary period of 2–3 years (because one year is clearly not enough to show results),” — said the speaker.
The head of the UAL emphasized the problem of the existence of fake organizations that take large grants, do not show results and destroy trust in the sector as a whole. The state should filter them by setting success criteria.
Oleh Slabospytskiy, Chairman of the Public Union “Association of Ukrainian Youth Centers”, drew attention to the low participation of young people in public organizations compared to European countries.
“We need to think about how to reach 90% of young people who have not heard of community service, they are not involved in volunteering. If they have heard the names of organizations somewhere, they do not even know how to join them in their community, “he said.
The speaker spoke about the importance of the development of regional centers, their quality, professionalism of youth workers, simplification of competition procedures for NGOs, institutional support and more.
Yevhen Bondarenko, Acting Head of the All-Ukrainian Youth Center, said that in accordance with the brief, the regulations on the expert council at the Center are being finalized, and by the end of the year it is planned to approve and begin implementation. He expressed the position that expert councils should appear in other youth centers as well.
The direction of work for 2021 is the creation of regional youth centers in regions with active youth and the development of their interaction with local and national centers.
Anna Ostrikova, Youth Worker Program Coordinator in UNDP Ukraine, shared facts from a social study on the impact of the pandemic on youth:
Students have suffered the most economically. After the quarantine was eased in the summer, one in four could not get a job due to a lack of competencies, rather than a lack of vacancies. Young people understood the value of non-formal education. Bureaucratic procedures have prevented organizations from mastering online tools and communicating with young people through them.
The discussion was moderated by Olena Podobied-Frankivska, Chairwoman of the Public Union “National Ukrainian Youth Association”
The policy of national memory
The moderator of the discussion, Sofiia Sereda, Radio Svoboda journalist, invited the speakers to comment on the concept of “politics of national memory.”
“The policy of national memory is a set of state measures to form certain ideas of Ukrainian citizens about their past. The course for the future starts from the past, ”said Ivan Patryliak, dean of the history department of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
Anton Drobovych, Chairman of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, noted that the policy is primarily to restore national memory, despite historical attempts by other states to distort it. “If we don’t say that, we will have an unhealthy identity,” he added.
“This is the basis and justification for the existence of the nation-state,” said Mykola Knyazhytsky, Member of Parliament, Member of the Parliament Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy
“It’s about immunity and experience. Immunity from human rights violations. The experience is about our own resume, our strengths and weaknesses, ”said Yaryna Yasynevych, Program Coordinator of the Center for Liberation Movement Studies, Member of the Board at Reanimation Package of Reforms Coalition.
The Ukrainian state has done a great deal in terms of forming its national memory: from the decommunization of their laws, the opening of archives, access to historical discussion with other states, and so on. This is the opinion of Ivan Patryliak. In the last year, he believes, a large-scale dissident movement and the introduction of local fragments into the general context of national memory have been brought out of the shadows.
Anton Drobovych said that last year the policy of national memory was not in the focus of power (given the pandemic). Some changes have taken place: a bill on de-Sovietization of legislation has been developed, a plan to perpetuate the heroes of the Heavenly Hundred and the Revolution of Dignity has been extended, and the wording of the Resolution on Memorable Dates has been changed at the committee level. All these measures are targeted and related to institutional stability, but they are not reforms, but rather preparations for them, the speaker said.
Attention to the Institute’s initiatives from the top of the government is growing, he added. Among other things, this is due to social tensions (such as perceptions of historical events), and the president’s priority is to consolidate society.
Mykola Knyazhytsky stressed that there are two parallel memories in Ukraine: the national Ukrainian and the Soviet. With the change of power, their positions changed.
“Today, the policy of national memory is not a value in the state; it is very bad. But the good thing is that this policy is not hostile to the current government. Therefore, what is happening now is the preservation of the principles and achievements that were before.
Of course, we would like to develop, honor and deepen the study of our history, create a museum of the revolution, a full-fledged state memorial of Babyn Yar, a state archive, an archive of totalitarian documents. But the fact that at least what was created is not destroyed and supported is a good situation in our bad conditions, ”the People’s Deputy believes.
Yaryna Yasynevych noted that according to the results of the analysis, the current government ignores the policy of national memory. She called the problem around the Maidan Museum a critical one, including searches and a lack of coordination between government branches.
She added that the Institute of National Remembrance suffered the most from other institutions due to budget sequestration.
Instead, public attention to national memory cannot be called muted.
Ivan Patrylak noted that in order to consolidate society, it is necessary to focus on the revival / formation of the idea of national statehood in previous years, in particular one hundred years ago.
“Knowledge of past attempts to form a nation-state demonstrates the value of a true nation-state. They are her foundation, passport, certificate that gives her the right to life, “he explained.
Read the sectoral briefs on reforms prepared for Ukraine Reform Conference 2020/2021
The Forum is organized by the RPR Coalition in partnership with the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania. The Forum is supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania, the European Union, the EU Project Pravo-Justice, «Civil Society for Enhanced Democracy and Human Rights in Ukraine» project implemented by UNDP Ukraine under financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, and the Embassy of Canada in Ukraine. The Forum is organized within the framework of the project “Core Support of the Reanimation Package of Reforms Coalition” carried out by the RPR Coalition and is made possible by the generous support of the American people through The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) within the Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity, implemented by The Initiative Center to Support Social Action “Ednannia” in partnership with the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research and the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law. | https://medium.com/coalition-rpr/the-course-pushes-the-course-for-the-future-6b9f718b4cb3 | ['Reanimation Package Of Reforms Coalition'] | 2020-12-09 12:01:21.101000+00:00 | ['Reform', 'Ukraine', 'Youth'] |
The Catalyst Programme: Final Reflections | One unfortunate consequence of this transition is our contact with The Shortcut and each other becomes less frequent. Yet, the community continues to permeate our professional journeys. I, for instance, have had three distinct experiences in the past weeks that have reinforced the value of The Shortcut’s work in The Catalyst Programme and elsewhere.
Robo.CEO
Robo.CEO is building an operating system for running organizations online. It is a web-app integrating communication, scheduling, and management tools onto one platform to eliminate friction and increase transparency. The solution is particularly aimed at distributed businesses; Robo.CEO provides a robust and flexible backbone to handle increasingly digital workflows.
The Robo.CEO open beta went live at Slush, bringing test users onto the platform.
I got involved to write content and ramp up Robo.CEO’s social media presence in preparation for Slush 2018, giving me insight into marketing and business development in the startup context. It was a great chance to meet veterans of the Helsinki startup ecosystem as Robo.CEO has participated in the Kiuas Accelerator, Slush 100 pitching competition, and is a long-time Microsoft Flux member.
Without this blog, a participant in the previous Catalyst Programme, or The Shortcut’s reputation in the ecosystem I would not have had this opportunity. My experience is a testament to the good that can happen when initiative, even if blind, can transform to value through a vibrant ecosystem.
Slush ‘18
My work earned me a ticket to Slush to help run Robo.CEO’s booth, invite people to the open beta, and post on social media. Slush is the premiere startup event in Helsinki and beyond, bringing together over 20,000 investors, startups, academics, companies, and anyone with an interest related to tech, entrepreneurship, impact, and global business development.
There is a lot to say about Slush and I’m sure many people have said it. I’ll only share one hypothesis: Slush’s value increases the more people you know.
As a conference that brings together thousands, Slush is rightly perceived the focal point of the Nordic startup scene. I don’t disagree; my LinkedIn grew more during Slush than ever before. There is a point, though, where size becomes counterproductive, where there are so many people to talk to and so much to do that the experience can become numbing. For me, it was around the 12th introduction when I felt myself dissociating to witness a short, blond man repeat vaguely familiar words on autopilot.
On the other hand, connection with individuals you have met before Slush seems to foster greater connection. Perhaps skipping the monotonous introduction lets you delve right into interesting topics quicker. Perhaps it’s the energy of being at such a vaunted event. Perhaps it’s the techno.
Regardless of the reason, I believe Slush is more valuable the more you attend and/or the more you are integrated into the startup scene. The event is so large that you will likely run into at least a handful of your network regardless of your level of integration; I’ve only been in Helsinki for three months and most of the individuals I had met, even outside the startup scene, I saw again at Slush.
I only have The Shortcut to thank for connecting me to the startup world here. Four outsiders, it is the perfect gateway into Helsinki’s robust community.
The Shortcut Christmas Party
A Hawaiian Christmas in the throes of Finnish winter.
Let me make my point explicit: The Catalyst Program specifically, and The Shortcut generally, is most valuable for the community it gives you.
Don’t dismiss this as trivial. I have also been skeptical of intangible variables like community but studies consistently shown that belonging carries with it innumerable positive effects, such as motivation. A community is valuable in the workplace too; Google’s Project Aristotle, which studied the secrets of effective teams at Google, found that people’s sense of psychological safety is the number one success factor. Even in a company boasting some of the world’s top brain power a feeling of safety and comfort trumps education, skills, or system.
I was reminded of the power of belonging in my own life at a Christmas party hosted by The Shortcut. I arrived in Finland exactly three months before with no work or network, and it crushed me. Fear of being asked, “What are you doing here?” permeated my days, making me paranoid and uncertain. I felt as if I had nothing to justify me.
community (n): a condition of sharing or having certain attitudes and interests in common
Today, that is a distant feeling. Participating in the Catalyst Programme and taking advantage of The Shortcut’s opportunities have given me a room full of friends who have restored a sense of self-worth and purpose.
If you or someone you know needs a jolt or connection, then I cannot recommend visiting The Shortcut or joining the Catalyst Programme enough — there is an information session soon. It will transform you. | https://medium.com/the-shortcut/the-catalyst-programme-final-reflections-e863d83d2537 | ['Thomas Rocca'] | 2019-01-05 11:26:00.895000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneurship', 'Startup', 'Events', 'Professional Development'] |
I was the biggest Star Wars fan in high school. | I was the biggest Star Wars fan in high school. I loved the movie. I loved that Leia was a badass, but also vulnerable.
I was close in age to Fisher so I strongly identified with her. Unaware of her relationship with Ford, though, I had two relationships with men 10+ years older than me, they were both abusive.
Guys in their 20s and up, like Ford and my exes, who choose women still in their teens are deliberately selecting someone they tell themselves is their intellectual and social inferior.
Joke’s on them. | https://medium.com/@divalea/i-was-the-biggest-star-wars-fan-in-high-school-cb4b0a96e54a | ['Lea Hernandez Seidman'] | 2020-12-20 01:48:14.765000+00:00 | ['Star Wars', 'Admiral', 'Carrie Fisher'] |
Marry chrismas | This would have been way better if the spelling wasn’t fucked up in such a stupid way.
See More: https://woxyd.com/marry-chrismas/ | https://medium.com/@woxydcom/marry-chrismas-2734d2c163d3 | ['Woxyd Com'] | 2020-12-27 00:30:39.630000+00:00 | ['Funny', 'Memes'] |
HBOMax Now Going to Advertising Supported Tier Too | Are we entering the age of the free, ad-supported streaming tier? It would appear that the big-name streamers think so! This week we see WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar announce a new, ad-supported tier for HBO Max, hoping to boost subs and bring new value to the service. BLAKE & WANG P.A Entertainment Lawyer Los Angeles dives deeper into this unusual development- the first time we’ve seen a paid streamer add an AVOD tier retroactively, instead of developing from an ad-supported base.
Ad-supported tiers now common
According to Kilar, this is a recognition of the fact that ‘most people on this planet are not wealthy,’ and thus the viability of advertising-supported streaming channels to reduce overall cost on the consumer is high. Despite this enthusiasm for the format, he was low on details for the new tier. We have yet to hear much about launch date, pricing, or the overall ad-enabled experience that will be offered.
This ad-sponsored tier will slot in below their $15 subscription service, which launched in May 2020 last year. This is, of course, a price that puts it at the top of the streamer costs, with Netflix slipping into second at $14. Nor is WarnerMedia entirely free to discount and bundle as are some other streamers, given they are governed by legacy distribution. It’s actually a first in the industry even attempting to introduce an ad-tier retroactively. While we’ve seen a basic ad-supported tier work well for CBS and Hulu, these were the original tiers onto which pricier, ad-free experiences were subsequently added.
HBO Max’s stats examined
As of the end of 2020, HBO Max had netted 17.2 million subscriber activations, adding to the roughly 25 million traditional HBO subs. These muddy the water greatly, as they can choose to activate an HBO Max sub for free. WarnerMedia’s target for 2025 is a lofty 50 million people domestically, with 75–90 million overall.
There’s also, of course, the small matter that HBO has been associated with an ad-free experience for almost 50 years. Will they easily be able to sell a new audience on AVOD services? It’s been acknowledged by Killar that this is the challenge ahead.
Nor was he very forthcoming on the matter of theatrical release windows- which WArnerMedia has notoriously opted to co-mingle with straight-to-streaming on HBO Max for at least 2021, a decision that’s still generating shockwaves in the industry. This decision, apparently, has been kicked to the 2nd half of the year. He did, however, take pains to come over as buoyant towards the theatrical industry.
Overall, however, the development of the HBO Max AVOD tier will be one to watch with interest, despite our current lack of specifics. It seems WarnerMedia is bargaining on the sweet spot for subscriptions per household settling in the 6–7 area, and on being able to earn their share of that market. | https://medium.com/@sairaaziz02/hbomax-now-going-to-advertising-supported-tier-too-27621080e65a | ['Saira Aziz'] | 2021-03-11 13:05:09.156000+00:00 | ['Film', 'Entertainment Lawyer', 'Entertainment Attorney', 'TV', 'Hollywood'] |
Situational Awareness is A Key to Improving Communication | Situational Awareness is A Key to Improving Communication
Getting Your Boss’s Boss to Understand Depends on the Stage
You Are Not Meant to Perform on Every Stage (source: beBee.com)
We communicate in many forums. Unfortunately, most of us learn one formal communication style and apply it to every situation. Being effective equates to situational awareness and adapting your communication approach to the forum in which you find yourself.
Business Meetings
This first communication forum is the frequent team meetings where business professionals commonly present their work. There are two subsets within this communication forum. The first is the technical working meetings where decision makers are not involved. Details are much more important because the purpose of the meeting is, of course, to work out the technical issues before taking them to the decision maker. Constructive friction, laborious discussions of problem boundaries, debates on underlying assumptions, and the need or limitations of available resources are all fair game in this forum.
Communication approaches to decision makers are different than work teams (source: womenin retail.com)
The second subset within this forum is the communication with the decision maker(s). The key in this situation is to fill the role of key advisor. It is usually tempting to try to advocate or even manipulate a position; however, unless you are the decision maker— the allocator of resources — then your role is that of key advisor. Communicating in a truthful, ethical manner is the key to being effective. And interestingly, the more complex and uncertain a problem then the less that advocacy will improve your communications. Be the trusted advisor to the decision maker — leave persuasion and manipulation to marketers and politicians.
Public Speaking
In my definition, public speaking involves providing 30- to 60-minute presentations to community-based organizations, stakeholder groups, or professional societies. For most business professionals, this type of public speaking may take the topical form of information about a new product or technology, a response to a major threat in the market, or a summary of actions taken on a specific business problem. Lunch or dinner presentations, keynote speeches, and many conference presentations fall into this category.
Public speaking is about the entertainment value. Said another way, business presentations are problem-oriented while public speaking is speaker-oriented. The communication frame is more related to sensory communication — see, hear, touch, taste, smell — than to interpretive communication that is practiced by most business professionals. The take-away is be conscious that anything done for the showmanship of public speaking is also a source of noise that distracts from the effective communication in a business setting.
The Media
Interaction with the media is a third communication forum. Individuals in the media come in all shapes and sizes, just like any other profession. There are several major types of media: newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and social media. Each have subcategories, such as local newspapers versus major market newspapers or general magazines versus technical journals. Each major type and subtype of media are looking for slightly different information or take different perspectives. The safe assumption is that all of the media is looking for an explosive headline to tap the ever-shortening news cycle.
Let the trained professionals handle communication in this forum. If you are trained in media communications, have self-awareness that communicating to business decision makers is more about the long-haul and trustworthiness. While effective with the media in the short-term, the same approaches using sensationalism and manipulation will undermine your credibility and effectiveness with decision makers in a different forum.
Leave communication with the media and politicians to the professionals (Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash)
Elected Officials
Interaction with the elected officials is a fourth communication forum. Politics have been described as the way one group of civilized people exerts its will on another group of civilized people. Persuasion and manipulation rule the day. The starting and ending point to business professionals is to leave communication with elected officials to the formally trained communication experts. If pressed into this communication forum, have a few well-developed talking points in advance and avoid additional commentary on those point.
One of the most challenging aspects of dealing with politicians and decision makers is that they can be one and the same. The question that you should ask related to presenting at a Board of Directors meeting (or any kind of leadership meeting) is whether the meeting is about decision making or whether it is political theater. Often the decisions have been made before the public showing. Ask that questions and adjust your communications approach accordingly.
Moving forward
Most of us look for effective ways to get our boss’s boss to understand. When you are with the boss’s boss — a decision maker — remember that your role is of an ethical, trusted advisor. Save the weedy details for those internal meetings with your peers. Deliver your communications in a neutral, ethical, fact-based manner in the presence of decision makers. Be clear where you believe there are uncertainties in your analysis and evaluations.
Public speaking is for entertainment value. Shift gears and make the presentation about you and the people in the audience. However, leave communication in forums associated with the media and with politicians to the professionals. It takes quite a bit of training and experience to communicate effectively in these forums.
We communicate in many forums. Unfortunately, most of us learn one formal communication style and apply it to every situation. Being effective equates to situational awareness and adapting your communication approach to the forum in which you find yourself. | https://medium.com/up-in/situational-awareness-is-a-key-to-improving-communication-86313394cc36 | ['Jd Solomon'] | 2020-07-18 12:23:53.718000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneurship', 'Leadership', 'Self Improvement', 'Business', 'Communication'] |
Are Cryptocurrencies the future of the remittance system? | The global market for digital remittances is set to touch 8590 million of USD in 2025 (source: https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/digital-remittance-market-2018-global-analysis-opportunities-and-forecast-to-2023-2018-07-10). Currently, this market moves money across the globe for about 1/6th the size of the forecasts above,which is already huge. We can easily say that getting shares of this market is of fundamental strategic importance for banks and other service providers. And this is testified by the number of new services which are released every year and by the solutions which are presented for future ones. Notwithstanding the advancements which have been made so far, the problems with current remittance services are well-known: some of them are slow, inefficient, expensive and rely of Swift. With a world in constant evolution, new emerging technologies and changes in our everyday lives, we need to ask ourselves if it’s time for those services to be disrupted.
The answer is simple: yes, it’s right about time! If we look back at 10 years ago we notice how banks and WesternUnion were the main medium for cross border transactions. Nowadays, we can count several services which do pretty much the same at lower fees, such as Transferwise, Revolut, CurrencyFair and others. I personally use, on a daily basis, Revolut and quite often CurrencyFair. I need to say I’m very satisfied with those products as I find them fast and also quite cheap. I was very thrilled when I realised Revolut allowed Cryptocurrencies too, but my expectations were trumped when I noticed you cannot actually send those tokens/coin to any other crypto address. It’s good to open the app to Crypto, as this expands the general accessibility to the public, but that’s about it. A wallet in which you can only trade for Fiat (at very high fees too) and not transfer currencies has no utility, at least for me.
In the crypto space then, there’re already some pretty good products for remittances, the king of which is, without any doubt is XRP: super fast, reliable, cheap and one of the best blochckains out there. But it’s a product mainly for Banks, not for everyday people like you and I. I mean, of course you can use it as a base trading pair for other crypto and fiat, but there’s still something missing. BTC was the first cryptocurrency to be identified as the ‘new world currency’ but, given its technological limitations, mining system, proof of work, expensive fees and speed it’s now more of a store of value coin, similar to how we invest in gold. There’re other alternatives out there.
If I put together the features of some of the products mentioned above, I end up with thinking we need a service combining the following:
traditional banking accounts for Fiat currencies which can be used to store money, send it abroad and also obtain credit (loans, mortgages and so on); cryptocurrencies, from storing them, to exchanging them for fiat, to trading them, send them to other crypto wallets and so on; remittances in fiat at low fees and high-speed; accessibility to new emerging markets like India.
This service already exist and its platform is due to be released soon, and it’s called Cashaa. It is a ‘global account to hold, receive & exchange various currencies and crypto assets’ for individual and businesses: a one stop shop account for traditional banking (fiat), innovative banking (cryptocurrencies) and finance (trading). It’s meant to transfer money almost instantly to 120+ countries, at low fees, thanks to the blockchain technology. But it’s not only that. Say you want to spend your fiat money in India or Canada or any other compatible country (please see website): you’ll have a card you can use to withdraw from ATMs and use for contact less payments, in local currencies. If Fiat isn’t your cup of tea, you’ll also be able to spend your BTC, ETH and others every-time and everywhere! It’s pretty much like Revolut on steroids.
This is probably one of the most important features of the platform: cryptocurrencies are still relatively hard to access to and, even more true, they’re hard to spend and use in our everyday life without some computer or technical knowledge. What this platform aims for is, in fact, making the use of crypto accessible to countless number of people, with a focus on the Indian market, which by potential numbers and opportunity is the best one to involve. Unless everyday people can use and spend crypto with ease there cannot be global adoption: this is part of the revolution we are all looking for.
A few other features are worth being mentioned. You need access to credit? You can use your cryptocurrency as collateral for loans, without the need to sell them: you can keep hodling your favourite coin and also get some money for your daily needs. What a blast! Additionally, you’ll be able to participate in ICOs from the convenience of your Cashaa account: one stop shop again for all your Fiat and crypto needs.
I’m very excited to put the platform to the test: as per Roadmap, though, we need to wait until November-December 2018 for it to be released, hoping that the technology behind it will already be mature enough to accommodate the envisaged functionalities. The team is working hard to make it happen. In the meantime, it might be a good idea to get some CAS tokens, which are the native currency of the platform. They’re currently trading around $0.02, so they’re a real bargain: they can be purchased for other cryptocurrencies on Cashaa exchange, on HitBTC, on Idex, Etherdelta and others. A few things which are worth mentioning about CAS is that its total supply is 1,000,000,000, of which 51% was reserved for the token sale, and only 20% was reserved for the team. Unsold tokens are now being distributed to ICO participants with PoS in a space of a year: this will be a good incentive for hodlers not to sell their coins and potentially bring the price up. More info on CAS tokens are available here https://cashaa.com/cas-token.php and I suggest you give this a thorough read.
I’m curious to know your thoughts about this, please feel free to comment, share and clap if you liked this article.
Thank you!
Disclaimer: this article does not constitute an invitation to purchase or sell securities in any jurisdiction or a solicitation or investment advice in Cashaa, CAS token or any other cryptocurrency, and is published for information purposes only. The reader undertakes to carry out appropriate research and in any case consult a professional before taking any decision regarding Cashaa or any other Cryptocurrency. The views expressed in this article are of personal nature, are not associated by any means with any Corporation, Cryptocurrency Exchange, do not constitute financial or legal advice. Use the Platform and other Exchanges at your own risk. | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/are-cryptocurrencies-the-future-of-the-remittance-system-313cc09820c6 | ['Crypto Wizards'] | 2018-08-18 17:59:22.417000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'Banking', 'Finance And Banking', 'Blockchain'] |
What we can learn from the Metamall-Bloktopia Scuffle | Bloktopia, a name that catapulted to the front of the meta-race when Zuckerberg’s Meta was making headlines, has been a dream investment for public and private investors alike.
Bloktopia is a tokenized decentralized VR Crypto Skyscraper that is built and powered by the Polygon Network. It is arguably the best performing Initial DEX Offering (IDO) of 2021 and has made plenty of millionaires all across the crypto-scene, and is featured in all the articles (https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/these-are-the-best-performing-idos-of-2021) that discuss the leaps that took place in Crypto 2020–21. Bloktopia launched with phenomenal success and has become synonymous with ‘1000x’ and ‘100x’ discussions across the board and has garnered its fanbase amongst smaller investors as well as Venture Capitalists, becoming a star in its own right.
Bloktopia’s success aside, we shall look at the allegations it made in a recent medium post that raised a lot of eyebrows. The medium, post titled ‘CAUTION IS KEY IN THE WORLD OF CRYPTOCURRENCY’ (https://medium.com/@bloktopia/caution-is-key-in-the-world-of-cryptocurrency-b8127bd986bc), points finger at Metamall-a metaverse platform, built on the Solana blockchain, that aims at integrating VR, NFTs, and DeFi. This was followed by a quick and strong rebuttal by team Metamall (https://medium.com/@metamall/lets-save-the-metaverse-from-monopoly-of-bloktopia-9e05629bcb9c).
The Dirt
Bloktopia accuses Metamall of being a copycat and warns the investors of Metamall of potential rug pull (Rug Pull is a theft wherein the developer abandons the project and cashes out on the investments made).
The first allegation of plagiarism is that most of the content on Metamall’s whitepaper is lifted from Bloktopia’s light paper and website, including images and content. Metamall has addressed the issue in its confutation by agreeing that some stock photos or content might have caused the confusion and has since removed the same after undergoing a thorough revision of all its contents on its whitepaper and website.
Further allegations include similar page designs such as the ‘Advertising’ page and ‘Token Utility’page. Using stock images and similar designs is not a healthy indicator, but it needs to be understood that a lot of such designs and related decisions are made by a design agency. If one were to glance through the recent whitepapers/light papers of 2020 and 2021, they would be left only with a handful of templates, because most designs are inspired or drafted on a template.
The allegations then extend to Metamall’s introduction of a wallet feature. Wallet feature has become quite the norm in a lot of projects. It doesn’t seem logical to be considered a red flag by any stretch. An excerpt from Bloktopia’s medium page goes as far as to call Metamall’s tagline “#OWN #BUILD #LEASE #STAKE” as a copy of Bloktopia’s tagline “#LEARN #EARN #PLAY #CREATE”. This makes little to no sense as tech-marketing uses a lot of such 4-worded themes to convey a project’s offering as it helps in better information retention. In fact, the first three words of Bloktopia’s “#LEARN #EARN #PLAY #CREATE” are often used by a lot of companies and industries and have a history of patents (google is your friend).
Bloktopia and Metamall are two projects which aim at expanding the Metaverse, to find similarities in their design template and raise a ‘rug pull’ alarm screams immaturity and insecurity on Bloktopia’s part.
The Fault in our Star-Bloktopia
Bloktopia initially started as a VR Skyscraper project but has since boarded the Launchpad hype train and a lot of its focus is on BLOKPAD. A move much appreciated from a capitalistic perspective but at what cost? Bloktopia despite its success has been marred with altering its vesting terms. Some investors even claim malice in the distribution of tokens, a quick visit to their telegram chat would suffice this claim.
Metamall has further evidenced a telegram chat screenshot, wherein Bloktopia threatens Metamall using investor names and arm-twisting Metamall with not the choicest of words. Bloktopia’s refusal to acknowledge its mistakes, miscalculation, and presumptions has led to many questioning Bloktopia’s integrity on the whole. Bloktopia has so far not substantiated its initial claims made in the controversial medium post, could this all be just another crypto publicity stunt to nip a newcomer in its bud and stop potential competition? It is often forgotten that the metaverse and the larger crypto space are big enough to allow for multiple entities to exist without too much conflict.
Can Metamall outperform Bloktopia?
The short answer is it depends. A better answer is YES.
A project’s capability is often predicted through certain parameters like team composition, vision, backers, token metrics, transparency, community, amongst others. Metamall has proven itself to be amongst the best metaverse projects when judged on the aforesaid parameters. Metamall’s founder Serge Gianchandani holds 12 patents on 3D and VR imagery. Sahan Ray, the other pillar of Metamall has a proven track record of helming and advising companies. They have already raised $4.6 million in their funding rounds. (https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/metamall-successfully-completes-seed--strategic-and-private-sale-rounds-raising-$4-6-million-from-crypto-heavyweights-10867513).
The aforementioned facts look good on paper, but what differentiates Metamall is how they responded to the accusations. They were professional, poised, clear, and reassuring.
Bloktopia’s accusation so far has been unsatisfactory in terms of shreds of evidence and substance. Metamall has in fact turned this whole drama in its favor, the project has clearly benefitted from the publicity provided by Bloktopia.
Maybe it is time to remind those that bawl such accuses, the meaning of true decentralization, and the fact that nobody can claim ownership of the Metaverse.
The WeeHODL Promise
WeeHODL is a venture firm that invests, incubates, and accelerates early-stage Blockchain and Crypto projects. At WeeHODL, our committed team and driven community believe that decentralization is the cornerstone of blockchain technology. Our team is highly selective and we support the early-stage projects in reaching their maximum potential.
Our principles and values align well with that of Metamall and our partnership with Metamall is built on the very same foundation. We have utmost faith in Metamall and its ambition. The team’s dedication, perseverance, and expertise resonate well with the standards that our WeeHODL’s community embraces. We shall back them in their mission to become a fully functional metaverse platform. | https://medium.com/@weehodl/what-we-can-learn-from-the-metamall-bloktopia-scuffle-64ebcc501752 | [] | 2021-12-30 15:59:00.962000+00:00 | ['VR', 'Nft', 'Playtoearn', 'Metaverse'] |
The Anscombe Society One Year Later | by Rooney Pitchford
In the wake of President Obama’s landmark announcement of his support for same-sex marriage, the Review sat down with the co-presidents of the Stanford Anscombe Society (SAS), the conservative and often-controversial student group centered around traditional marriage values, to catch up on the group’s success and direction in their second year on campus.In an interview, the society’s sophomore co-presidents Judy Romea ’14 and Ben VanBerkum ’14 expressed positivity in the face of widespread opposition on campus, which they believe is rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of the SAS’s agenda.
“If you’re going to emphasize this in your article, emphasize: we are not anti-gay people,” said Romea, who was careful to set rumors straight regarding the mission of her organization, which took massive heat for its inaugural event late last academic year, a talk entitled “Marriage Without Adjectives” by Jennifer Roback Morse, a former Hoover Fellow. The event was ridiculed for its apparently homophobic and anti-female sentiments.
So, when offered a chance to set the record straight, the SAS co-leaders had much to say with regard to what the group does advocate rather than what they oppose, also expressing that they believe the public’s attention to what is perceived to be the group’s homophobia puts a bad name on a positively oriented organization. Communication, they say, is the focus of the group.
“People don’t really want to truly live the way everybody expects college students should live, you know, and here is a group that will try and talk about it, and that’s why we’re important,” said Romea, emphasizing that, while much of the press’s focus remains on the controversial nature of their inaugural event, the SAS’s events are communication-oriented.
On May 17, the society joint-hosted the first annual Pro-Life and Pro-Family Reception with the Stanford Students for Life. About 40 people attended the event, which featured hors d’oeuvres and a talk by Sherif Girgis, a Rhodes Scholar who is pursuing higher degrees at two different Ivy League institutions.
Earlier in the year, the SAS hosted Stanford graduate Charlie Capps, who spoke regarding his scholarly work in the field of social psychology, especially with regard to marriage’s role in societal success. The talk was mainly focused on “how to have a conversation with another Stanford student” regarding issues of family values.
Having hosted two successful and constructive events this year, Romea and VanBerkum expressed positivity for the future. When asked whether the group is operating on its desired level or whether large-scale growth remains necessary, the two restated their emphasis on communication as the main role of the SAS.
“There are a lot of people… more than the people who show up at our meetings, who agree with us,” said VanBerkum. “[If] people can see that, then our job is being done.”
Still, the SAS walks a fine line. While Judy and Ben have high hopes for a future of student communication on the Farm, their calculatedly philosophical approach to the issue of same-sex marriage has the potential to create enemies all across campus.
“We define the family as a man and a woman and their kids, united through marriage,” said VanBerkum.
Traditional marriage values, which include “prudence and fidelity” along with a heterosexual partnership, serve as the foundation for a successful marriage, in the eyes of the SAS. In turn, families provide the “fundamental building blocks of society.”
Functional society’s dependence on successful family units is a measured fact of social psychology, according to VanBerkum, who spoke highly of Capps’s explanation of that fact during his speech at Stanford.
“There are things that are shown to be better for the raising of children,” he said, which include the raising of children by their committed, biological parents.
With regard to same-sex adoption, Romea said that the SAS “lumps it together more with single parent adoption,” a situation which they believe should be avoided when willing heterosexual couples are available to raise children in need of parents.
Additionally, the two commented on the gray area that results when traditional marriage values are questioned. If the definition of marriage is reduced to two caring partners who live together for a common good, Romea suggested, then two college roommates could fulfill marital obligations.
As Americans continue to call the definition of marriage into question, so too may change the definition of “anti-gay.” To a growing group of Americans, the restriction of marriage to anyone based on orientation may already fall under that umbrella. For now, though, the SAS is a budding campus organization with an emphasis on communication and “the dignity of the human being.” | https://medium.com/stanfordreview/the-anscombe-society-one-year-later-90065cc48b93 | [] | 2016-12-12 01:03:35.555000+00:00 | ['LGBTQ', 'Marriage Equality'] |
Gaming In 2020 — Peep Show Edition — VeryAli | As everyone at the VeryAli chows down to their Christmas dinners and drinks in excess, I have been left to hold down the fort. Now that might seem like a job fit for Ebenezer Scrooge himself but for me, this is just another gift for my stocking. The reason being that I have been let off my leash to push my own mad content agenda. So that means I’ll be marrying my love of gaming with, in my opinion, the most important British comedy around, . (Get ALL 9 Seasons of Peep Show for only £28.99 here)
As a Peep Show connoisseur, I have seen the show’s nine seasons well over twenty times through and I would consider myself an expert of sorts. Then as a professional games journalist, I would say games are another area that I’m rather knowledgeable in. So I thought it would be fun to represent this year in gaming in the form of Peep Show memes. It’s for a niche crowd but hey, I’m in charge today. So here is gaming in 2020, the Peep Show Edition.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Seeing as the long-running FPS franchise has now produced its twenty-fourth game if we count everything under the COD banner. We probably all feel a little bit like Mark here, going through the motions, dealing out headshots out of obligation. God, life is relentless.( If you want to buy Call of Duty: Black Ops — Cold War & you are on XBOX then check this great deal for the game, for other platforms check here.)
FIFA 21
Another FIFA means another example of the same pre-digested Hollywood crap we have seen year after year. You spend all that quality me-time all year just to have to start from scratch again. Nothing changes but you still bought it anyway like the grubby man you are. Damn you EA! Watch out, the ombudsman’s coming to get you. (Get FIFA 21 on PS4/PS5 at 50% off !! here)
Among Us
Among us is far from a tactical espionage epic like Hitman for example. However, when you play everyone like a fiddle, you’ll feel like 007 himself. Anyone fancy Octopussy and a twirl? (Check some amazing Among Us merchandise here)
The Last Of Us Part II
Throughout the run of The Last of Us Part II (Get it here), Naughty Dog took us on quite a ride. There was the early game plot twist that caused quite a stir. Then the rest of the game continues in that vain, having the player constantly deal with everyone dropping around you. So, much like Mark, we get it. However, losing our job at a credit adjustment company may not cut it in Ellie’s world as a gut-wrenching experience.
Cyberpunk 2077
In truth, a litany of memes would work for this car crash of a game. However, we thought we would go for the CDPR line as they pushed this bad boy out the door. A few bugs would have been fine but this is beyond the pale.(Get Cyberpunk 2077 for only $49.94 !! here or here )
Pathologic II
Now for my personal game of the year, Pathologic II. This game is a lesson in pain, suffering and making tough, potentially terrible decisions. Much like Peep Show in a lot of ways. So I thought this would be perfect to sum up the beautifully horrible time that is Pathologic II. (Get Pathologic II for only $6!! here)
Visage
2020 hasn’t been the strongest year for horror titles but there have been a few indie gems. One of which is the P.T. inspired, Visage. This game often has us unsettled, afraid and desperately wishing we could sack it all off and play some Lethal Enforcers instead.( Get the best deal on Visage here)
Ghost of Tsushima
Then lastly, we have the samurai epic that is Ghost of Tsushima. It’s a pretty lengthy title but if you’re anything like Johnson, you probably had it done in ten. You need a brass ring piece for that sort of thing but we are sure you honed your skills and put a lid on the squid.( Get it for 33% off here)
So that is our piece on 2020 in gaming through the eyes of Peep Show. What do you think of our selection? What other lines do you think would have done the job? What other games can you represent with a Peep Show quote. Let us know in the comments section below. Plus, if you liked this one, then why not check out our Cyberpunk 2077 review. Or alternatively, check out our news on Gotham Knights. Thank you for reading VeryAli Gaming. | https://medium.com/@veryali/gaming-in-2020-peep-show-edition-veryali-a597697227b5 | ['Veryali Gaming'] | 2021-01-14 10:17:15.731000+00:00 | ['Veryali', 'Veryali Gaming', 'Videogames', 'Games', 'Gaming'] |
5 Ways to Streamline Your Content Creation | 5 Ways to Streamline Your Content Creation
I love being a content creator, such as I am. It’s not my job, not even more than a coffee-worth of income, but it is something I enjoy. However, as I branch out into more platforms and diversify my content I’ve discovered that I need to streamline my creative process.
Photo by Wahid Khene on Unsplash
So here are the methods I use to get the most productivity out of my limited content creation time, shared in the hopes that it may be helpful to you as well.
Focus on content that you can post a variant of to most, if not all, of your platforms. I mainly post to four platforms: Facebook, YouTube, this Medium blog and a personal niche fashion blog. Instagram is more of an afterthought for me, but it does exist. Of those platforms, Medium is the outlier — this is my “serious” blog. So my Medium content actually exists in a bit of a void, whereas for example if I shoot a YouTube video I can post selfies and previews to Facebook, then share the finished project there and also to my fashion blog if it’s relevant content wise. I’m a firm believer in not just posting copies to each platform (though you can do that!)but it’s always handy to focus your energies on something that will benefit multiple platforms. Talk about Platform B on Platform A and so on. There are two ways to apply this tip. The first is simple and practically goes without saying — if you post on a certain platform, you can share that on your other platforms. I’m not a fan of 100% duplicating content as I mentioned above, but things like linking your Instagram to post to you Facebook is an easy way to make a post do double duty. However, the way to take this a step further is something I only thought about when I stumbled upon Shelby Church here on Medium, and subsequently visited her YouTube channel. On YouTube she has made videos about writing on Medium — on Medium, she has articles about YouTube. Especially if your content skews more informative, you can easily use your experience on one platform to share on another. Related to that, regardless of what your content generally is about, meta posting is always easy, and tends to get views. This is mostly applicable to long-form platforms — think YouTube and blogging rather than Twitter or Instagram. The state of the platform and how to effectively use it is always useful. Of course, this cannot be the main focus of your platform unless that is your goal, but it makes for a good change or pace once in a while. After all, everyone has thoughts and opinions on the platforms that we use — why not share them? If possible, schedule your posting. Consistency is key but real life is anything but consistent so free up your mind from worry about posting at the correct intervals and let a computer take care of it. There are lots of options for this, from inbuilt scheduling features on most platforms to third-party programs. This leads me to my final point, which is… When you have time to create content, work in batches. Especially for those of us for whom content creation is a side hustle or just a hobby, there’s not much time so you need to make the most of it. Don’t try and do a little of everything regularly but batch it instead — film three videos back to back or take an hour to write a handful of articles. Especially if your content is more visually based, make sure you can maximise use of all the setup that’s required. I don’t do a photoshoot without getting at least one selfie I can post in advance of the proper photos, and usually a behind the scenes video as well.
These are the things that work for me to make use of my limited time, and enable me to make the most content I can without having to carve out extra time for it. | https://medium.com/@carolinecherry/5-ways-to-streamline-your-content-creation-2afac143b199 | ['Caroline Cherry'] | 2020-12-21 23:02:37.474000+00:00 | ['Scheduling', 'Productivity', 'Content Creation'] |
The Most Advanced Thinking On the Planet (In the Universe) | Whether you know it or not…Whether you believe it or not…
Photo by Simone Busatto on Unsplash
A circle is the (only) live actor in Nature…
Circle
Live Actor (‘I’)
Nature
Meaning 50–50 is the constant. Where, no matter what we do (say or think), nothing changes, even though everything changes.
50–50
Where conservation of the circle is the core, and, therefore, the only, dynamic, in Nature.
Conservation of a Circle
Why should you engage with (invest the time in order to understand) The Circular Theory?
Continue with: The Literal Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics — The Circular Theory — Medium | https://medium.com/the-circular-theory/the-most-advanced-thinking-2bb9f9e21764 | ['Ilexa Yardley'] | 2021-01-16 11:05:55.879000+00:00 | ['Circular Theory', 'Quantum Thinking', 'Intelligence', 'Quantum Mechanics', 'Reality'] |
Younger Days: Santa Cruz & Berkeley Housemates | Me in the late 1970's
Santa Cruz Housemates
After my freshman year in the dorms at U.C. Santa Cruz (see Younger Days, Leaving Home), I felt giddy about living off campus. I found a room downtown in a small apartment of flimsy construction. The den mother of the household was Karen, a square-set young woman with a dirty blond pageboy haircut and a no-nonsense demeanor. I can’t recall her ever laughing, but I do remember her setting plenty of rules. Her partner, Sharon, was big-boned with a cap of tightly wound black curls and a demeanor that contrasted sharply with Karen’s: affectionate, emotive, moody, and prone to bursting into song. Sharon had a rich resonant voice and frequently belted out “Different Drum” (made famous by Linda Ronstadt). Our third housemate, Meg, was a beautiful vivacious redhead with a million freckles. She was constantly joking and laughing, running off to play sports or chase after young men. She and her sister often cozied up on the couch sharing secrets, exclaiming, and giggling. Sharon and I became close friends, a situation that aroused intense paranoia and displeasure on Karen’s part. When visiting Karen, Sharon often stopped by my room to discuss what seemed at the time compelling emotional and existential issues. We sang together and I played guitar.
I bicycled up to campus each weekday morning, an exhausting but triumphant climb from town. At the end of the day I cruised down the hills, hardly pedaling for the first few miles, invigorated by the wind and the views. I shopped for groceries by bike, tying bags of produce and tofu on my handlebars if they didn’t all fit in my backpack. The town was full of charming cafés, inexpensive restaurants, street music and art, with numerous beaches nearby. I enjoyed my new friendships. While I would have happily carried on in this fashion, the lease was up after one short quarter and we disbanded.
My next abode was considerably further from campus and downtown, in a somewhat neglected and sparsely furnished old Victorian near Seacliff beach. My housemates were three best friends, all upper classmen who had lived together for several years. Sarah was tall, slim, and athletic. Her main function appeared to be supporting and encouraging her housemates, Brad and Alec. They were tan, muscular, and strikingly handsome men, one blond, the other brunette. I wondered about the nature of the trio’s relationship. All three were enthusiastic beer drinkers and frequently hosted loud alcohol-soaked parties at the house. The unkempt garden contained a series of wooden hutches built by the trio where they bred rabbits to sell as food. The endeavor was apparently quite lucrative. I felt bad for the rabbits.
As the weeks went by, I became increasingly wary of the trio and grew more and more uncomfortable. We took turns with household chores including shopping for, preparing, and cleaning up after dinner once a week. Despite the rotating duties, the house was extremely dirty; I seemed to be the only one actually cleaning. My dinners were met with insults and laughter: “What is this, rabbit food?!?! We can’t eat this. Cook some real food!” The trio chortled heartily and exchanged knowing glances. Although I was invited to their parties, I had nothing in common with the beer-swilling chums who gathered for drunken revelry late into the night, leaving empty beer cans, wine bottles, and half-eaten food in their wake.
Near the end of the quarter, before 10 weeks had elapsed, I gave notice. I would miss the beach, where I could take long walks and struggle to jog in the sand, but I couldn’t bear one more minute living with the trio. My anger mounted as I packed my belongings and I devised a plan to retaliate.
Once I had emptied and cleaned my room, I cracked a handful of eggs, placed them in several shallow dishes, and scooted them far under the living room couch. Since the trio never vacuumed or dusted, I was certain it would take some time for the eggs to be discovered. The first few weeks after my departure, the trio routinely hand addressed my mail that the post office failed to forward. Shortly thereafter this ceased. I’d never done anything so devious before, but it was deeply satisfying.
I went for an interview at a home shared by three grad students in a quiet residential neighborhood near the base of campus. I was grilled as if for a high-level job: questioned regarding my household habits, how I interacted with others, my previous living situation, and techniques for saving water (California was experiencing a severe drought). My interviewers betrayed little, wondered aloud whether I wasn’t on the young side as a suitable roommate (I was an undergraduate and two years younger than my peers), and told me they would be in touch. It had been an unexpectedly intimidating experience and I descended the front steps wondering if I would hear from them again. As I continued down the sidewalk, one of the housemates came out the front door, calling me to return. They had unanimously selected me. I was surprised and delighted. We shared hugs all around and settled on the details of my moving in and completing paperwork.
Early my first morning, my belongings still boxed and my bed unassembled, I was awoken by my mattress sliding back and forth across the wood floor and the glass in my French doors rattling. For a few seconds, I was totally perplexed. Finally it registered that the movement was from an earthquake, my first in California. I was thrilled and concerned, but the tremor passed quickly.
Most mornings, I was in the kitchen when my housemate Lori entered to deliberately prepare her breakfast: chunky peanut butter from a large jar of Laura Scudder’s carefully and evenly spread on a very particular type of whole grain bread, a bowl of oatmeal, and a large cup of Roastaroma Celestial Seasonings tea (a dark heavy brew with chicory). Somewhere in the recesses of my tea cabinet I still have an old box of that tea. It smells musty and I have little interest in drinking it, but it brings back memories. I was intrigued by the fact that Lori always ate the same exact breakfast and that she took it so seriously. We would sit together at the kitchen table and converse earnestly, mostly about relationships and human interactions and motivations. It was Lori’s personal and professional obsession; she was working on her dissertation in statistical psychology. I was impressed by how sophisticated and worldly she was and I loved our long, intimate, and complex conversations.
My other housemates were a couple that had a semi-private wing at the rear of the house and almost always appeared together. They were affable, but I never got to know them. Occasionally, I had to use their bathroom when the one in the main house was occupied. The first time, I was taken aback when I realized what was depicted by the series of snapshots posted on the wall near the toilet paper dispenser: impressively large stools in that very toilet bowl. I tried to hurry my rare visits to their bathroom, feeling uncomfortable, as if I had inadvertently dropped in on a private joke.
I spent one happy quarter and part of the summer at that house before transferring to U.C. Berkeley as a junior.
U.C. Berkeley (internet photo)
Berkeley Housemates
I was tremendously excited about moving to Berkeley, happily anticipating the anonymity that Santa Cruz lacked with its small student body, looking forward to greater student diversity, an array of big city perks, and an endless menu of academic choices. Over the summer, I spent hours at the cramped old brown shingle housing office, rifling through index cards advertising rooms for rent. My mother visited from the East Coast for a few days to lend a hand. We purchased a skirt and blouse for my housing interviews and stayed at the moldering old Claremont Hotel for a several nights. Our hotel room was a relic, with a massive bathroom of tiny white hexagonal tiles and ancient fixtures, sad décor, but a spectacular view of the bay. The hotel was inexpensive and mostly unoccupied.
Given the high price of housing, I hunted for situations where I could exchange labor for low rent. I had appointments at three mansions where babysitting and a few chores would be required. I didn’t hear back after two of my interviews, but the third was eager to have me. I moved in to a small room on the third floor under the eaves of a severe brick edifice on Claremont Boulevard, the home of a divorcée who taught English at a local community college and her two young children (a girl age 10 and a boy age 6). Amanda was petite and assertive. She informed me that I was not to have boyfriends over because her son’s bedroom was down the hallway from me and it wouldn’t be appropriate. Her rules apparently did not apply to her: I recall quite distinctly one late afternoon while studying in my room, I heard loud and unusual sounds emanating from somewhere in the house. Tracing the noise to Amanda’s bedroom, I realized with a start that she was having sex with her boyfriend and retreated sheepishly to my garret room.
The first two floors of the home were grand, with high ceilings and massive windows, all freshly painted, a fancy restaurant style stove, costly fixtures, stately furniture, and heavy floral drapery. Though impressive, it felt cold and uninviting. The family gathered only in the dining nook next to the kitchen and never used the formal dining room or living room.
My room had a low-pitched heavily slanted ceiling to accommodate the roof; it required stooping over in the corners. In autumn, when Berkeley’s true summer began, the third floor was stiflingly hot and the air seemed to barely move through the tiny dormer windows. I had my own bathroom with an antique claw foot tub that would have been welcome had there been some hot water. Amanda had failed to have the hot water pipes connected in the bathroom and it would take many weeks and several requests on my part until I could enjoy a warm bath. Until then, I would partially fill the tub and steel myself, bracing for the shock and numbness that assaulted me when I finally eased into the cold water. I had very long thick hair, a considerable challenge to shampoo and rinse under the circumstances. I bathed as quickly as I could and attempted various psychological tricks to counter the discomfort, to little avail. Afterwards, the air felt wonderfully warm as I regained sensation in my extremities.
Amanda regularly spouted invectives toward her ex-husband. She ranted loudly, her children silent and seemingly oblivious. Every other weekend the children dutifully packed up their belongings to visit their father. Amanda complained frequently about how difficult it was to make ends meet. On several occasions she told me she was just waiting to sell the house for a million dollars (this was 1978, mind you). She had purchased and renovated the home with single-minded determination after leaving her grand San Francisco mansion post-divorce.
In exchange for my reduced rent, I supervised the children setting and clearing the dinner table and stacking the dishwasher on weekday evenings, along with occasional weekend babysitting. The siblings were so well behaved, it felt like I was cheating. I ate with the family several times a week. Amanda almost always served the same dish: tuna noodle casserole assembled from canned tuna, pasta, canned Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup, and frozen peas. I had never tasted the dish before and was both intrigued and repulsed by the texture and taste. There were always congealed casserole leftovers in the fridge. Once in a blue moon, Amanda prepared a steak for dinner, usually when her boyfriend and his two children joined us. Over dinner one evening Amanda described how she had peeled off the price sticker of a less costly cut of meat and put it on the steak, something she admitted to doing regularly. She justified the action, explaining that the price she had affixed to the steak was more appropriate. I was horrified and wondered if I should continue living in the house. As it happened, I moved out not long thereafter when my father relocated to Berkeley and “requested” my brother and I move in to help pay the rent in his new home. | https://medium.com/its-about-time/younger-days-santa-cruz-berkeley-housemates-9e4e0d666ac9 | ['Rani Marx'] | 2020-06-11 23:01:05.059000+00:00 | ['Housemates', 'Bay Area', 'Young Adulthood', '1970s', 'College Life'] |
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