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Whatsapp Group Chat Analysis with Python | The present analysis is based in the article of Saiteja Kura : Whatsapp Group Chat Analysis using Python and Plotly
Lot of people is using whatsapp, and most of the whatsapp user is in a chat group (toxic or not). Some of us ask ourselves questions like “Why this dude is in the group if never send a message” or “I’m for sure that today nobody will send a message”.
Next steps are based in Saiteja Kura’s work with some modifications due the OS of the phone and convenience. Detailed process can be found there.
Getting data & create data frame.
First we need to export the group chat using the option export in the group options in the phone, the chat file is stored in a txt file and saved in data directory.
Saved data must be parsed in order to be stored in a data frame, next the function that recognizes the date at start of the line that indicates that is a unique message, if yes the message is splitted in a Date, Time, Author and Message to be stored in a pandas Data Frame. In this case I needed to change some parts of code because the txt file is diferent on iOS.
Anonymizing data.
To protect privacy of the chat members we need to anonymizing the names, changing all names with LOTR characters.
Here, some relevant data from the data frame created, result of df.info and df.head, this small set consts of 914 records that implies a similar number of messages.
Group Wise Stats
Let see some stats from the data frame, first thing is that we can count the media messages counting the occurrence of “<Media omitted>”. By using emoji library we can found the total of emojis, creating a emoji column we have a emoji for particular message, additionally we create a column to count all URLs in the messages using re library.
The group messages has a 914 messages in total, thats because the exported chat has recently started, one interesting data is that are at least one emoji every two messages or an average of two messages by emoji.
Next, we separate text messages from media messages in two data frames, messages_df only contain text messages.
More Stats
Let see more stats, we show the letter count for a message and word count for that message,
More stats came from the emojis we already count the total emojis, and we have separate each, let get unique number of each one of them. with that information we can find the most used emoji in the group.
With 68 occurences “🙏” is the most used emoji, follow by “😘” with 60 occurences, next we show emoji distribution in a pie chart.
With the same library “Plotly”, we can show this chart individually.
Word Cloud
Word clouds (also known as text clouds or tag clouds) work in a simple way: the more a specific word appears in a source of textual data (such as a speech, blog post, or database), the bigger and bolder it appears in the word cloud. We created a word cloud for all messages.
First join all messages in a large message.
A stop word is a commonly used word (such as “the”, “a”, “an”, “in”) that a search engine has been programmed to ignore, both when indexing entries for searching and when retrieving them as the result of a search query.
We use the word Cloud library including the list already included in the library. We set spanish set of words because the native language of the group. We add some more words to ommit some occurrences.
And More Stats
We can get the the messages behavior in time, group the messages by date.
Day Distribution
Using a radar chart, we show the distribution by day of week.
Conclusion
There’s a lot of information about all our day to day activities, we assume several things about that information but is great when you can probe your assumptions even more using tools like Plotly and Python, in my personal experience was great discover this tools, and see all that trends, charts and info and all we see here is just a star in the sky of data science.
Thanks to Saiteja Kura for the original post, go there and see more interesting articles. | https://medium.com/mcd-unison/whatsapp-group-chat-analysis-with-python-ae21f326b32c | ['Enrique Alvarado'] | 2020-10-31 01:43:42.131000+00:00 | ['Feature Engineering', 'Chart Analysis', 'Python', 'Plotly'] |
One Cardio Day a Week Will Lead to Better Health | 2. Free-Weight Workouts
Not everyone has a gym membership, and that’s where free-weight workouts come in handy. It doesn’t require you to have any equipment, and you can get as hearty of a workout.
Free-weight workouts are convenient, free, and can be done in your bedroom. Form a list of exercises ranging from push-ups to situps, all the way to high-knees — anything to increase your heart rate.
If you start doing free-weight workouts, you’ll notice a little soreness, but soreness is good because it means your body is getting stronger.
3. Go for a Run
Running is the best form of cardio because, with every step, you’re engaging your core, your quads, your hamstrings, and nearly every part of your body.
You’re bound to break a sweat and have a clear mind from running. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can do a small sprint burst and really try to max out.
But if you’re starting, take it slow and try to be consistent by getting in at least one run a week. Your mind will thank you for getting you out into nature and putting some pressure on your body. | https://medium.com/in-fitness-and-in-health/one-cardio-day-a-week-will-lead-to-better-health-1389c3904527 | ['Jordan Mendiola'] | 2020-12-20 18:13:31.423000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Fitness', 'Inspiration', 'Life', 'Running'] |
The ‘Grey-Print’ — How An Empty Macrohard Hub Will Go On To Succeed And Sustain Itself In 6-months. — Surpassinggoogle | The ‘Grey-Print’ — How An Empty Macrohard Hub Will Go On To Succeed And Sustain Itself In 6-months. — Surpassinggoogle Terry Ajayi Jun 3, 2020·15 min read
How will the Macrohard Hub begin to sustain itself and become successful in 6-months starting out empty? This is an interesting question.
Very coincidentally, i intend to start this hub ‘empty’ i.e i will not wait to have things like chairs and fanciful stuff in it, neither will i wait to have people in it before i start out in it. Once i have accrued enough money for ‘6-months rent of a hub-space’, i am going to rent it, then go into it.
At the outset, i will be visiting the hub myself. In it, i will sit, ponder, build and evolve. I will also evolve the hub with physical props modeled to incite visitors to ‘evolve their human’.
My major investment at the outset will be on ‘solid internet’. There you go…’solid internet, an empty hub-space and well, me’.
Speaking of ‘buys’, the immediate things i will like to buy within the first few days of starting the hub and where there is means are these things (in this order):
One good desktop, likely a RYZEN with 8GB RAM and a 4GB GTX1650 Video card.
25mbps WIFI.
Wireless camera mic.
Studio lights
Where possible, a Logitech BRIO Webcam.
I will be going to the hub each day, while i ensue buying these things. It is very likely that i will be the only one in this hub in the first few weeks. (Note, that i am aspiring that the hub starts to gain success at month 3.) This means, that i will focus the ‘first 2-months’ on gathering as many people in this hub as possible. I will measure “success” in the first month based on how many people have stepped foot into the hub. Thus, in this month, i will create venture after venture that invites visitors into the hub, starting with a food-party or party-party.
Each resulting human presence must count! Starting out simple, we will fill up an empty book with their contacts. For evolution sake, each attendee will enter in a ulogacy into our ‘book’ too (‘book’ here can refer to a dedicated PC, with a short entry-form that invites ‘data collection’)
Anyone that steps foot into this hub must leave a mark somehow, meaning that i must create the sand-shore.
I want this entire process to be testimonial and be replicatable by others. So i will document the entire enterprise model on the go, for others to model after.
Imagine investing in an empty hub in a bid to make this hub successful even in terms of generating revenue. It is very easy!
Where we have had up to ‘300 people’ pass through this hub within the first 45-days, that is success.
In these 45 days too, i will be willing to invest in catering to people e.g people who visit the hub, will have food, snacks etc. Well, they may have to cook it, while i provide the ingredients.
We will capture each moment in video-recordings and play within each moment. Recall that there will be strong internet, meaning that people will be able to access internet during their times in the hub .e.g watch Netflix if there is Netflix, network with others if there are others, play games if there is a game-TV etc. Whatever the case is, even each ‘play’ will be ‘directional play’ this time, modeled in such a way that there is underlying ‘human evolution’. This resulting ‘human evolution’ will become tangible in the later life of our hub.
At the very least, within each playful activity, participants will ulog or something. At the very least, we will ulog each moment.
Again, i will evolve the hub with an entire curriculum that incites ‘evolution in humans’; the reason why i will have visited ‘an empty hub’ from the outset. This particular curriculum is called ‘legitimate illiteracy’.
From their very first ulogacy-entry into our books, i will have began the motion of creating a ‘solid network of brothers/sisters’ spanning across all industries. This will come in handy in the later-life of the hub, at month 3.
Note: where i am able to record say ‘150 unique hub-videos’ within the first 2-months, each featuring humans, that we will consider success too! This particular breed of media will be very important in scheme of our success. There will ‘ UloggersTV’ to capture each of these human ventures.
Note also that I will passively incorporate a tiny income-stream ‘within the first 45-days’. I will play this incorporation out, using a curriculum involving ‘fashion’. Besides constituting ‘an impending revenue-stream for the hub, this ‘fashion’ will inculcate in our hub-participants ‘valuable elements of human’ e.g ‘swag, presence, being etc’, while creating a network-effect that organically markets our hub on the outside.
So instead of say ‘branded tee-shirts’, i will start out a fashion-line also called ‘Macrohard’ crafted with African-print and in its price, i will incorporate our hub-fees. Assuming the capital-cost of the attire is ‘500 PHP’, we could sell it to our participants for ‘800 PHP’ and release a new line each month. To attend the hub thus and avail of all the love within it, you just need to have a copy of our attire.
In due time, a small space within the hub will be allocated to at least ‘one sewing machine outlet’. People can step into this outlet to oust excerpts of their human evolution, in form of ‘creations’ that will turn out ‘fresh, unique and down-to-earthy.
We will continue to create such outlets in a variety of industries, maximizing each tiny segment (i.e space) of the hub. Starting out, we will have a small music-related studio, a small video-studio area and a small kitchen area, where people can create their meals.
Having 3 high-end computers for a start, i will partner with companies like ‘Remotasks’, a company that outsources in the Philippines. Companies like this require ‘high-end PCs’ of its participants; assets that many people hardly possess. We can offer them these PCs to train on, ‘earn their first month of income’ on, enabling them to purchase these PCs for themselves and continue on empowered on their own.
Reminder: You will be able to avail of each aspect of our hub each month by purchasing an apparel from our monthly fashion-line.
Whatever innovation stems from within our hub, will turn out ‘a down-to-earth innovation’. This is where i come in!
In formulating ‘each algorithm’ making up ‘each nook and cranny’ of our hub, i will incorporate ‘down-to-earth paradigms’.
Quick note: A major under-used resource even by world standards is ‘space’. My constant reiteration of the phrase ‘empty space’ within this publication, goes to highlight our conscious intention to reveal more testimonial use for space. Highlighting the beauty of the ‘down-to-earth space of Mama Earth’ by propagating a curriculum called ‘Legitimate Illiteracy’ using the ‘rendezvous space’ our hub offers, we will inculcate a mentality that incites people to leave outer-space; returning down-to-earth.
By means of this tiny Macrohard hub, we intend to ‘return value to humans’.
See this space-discussed video:
Alas, eventually you will be able to make use of the Macrohard hub for ‘cheaper than free’. We have created an enterprise-model that enables this. Even so, our hub will be able to sustain itself. How so?
Let’s go on to lay out our plans for month 3 and 4 in the life our ‘Macrohard hub’ at which stage, we will look more intently into our enterprise model and its business.
Month 3 & 4
Going on to month 3 (the premise for this portion of our publication), our target will be to build a solid network of ‘brother talents/un(dis)talents’ (e.g brother-programmers, brother-enterprenuers, brother-designers, brother-videographers etc.)
Starting at this month, we will also incorporate fully an entire curriculum called ‘legitimate illiteracy’ into the inner-workings of our hub. Using fun ‘directional activities’ (modeled to incite participants to ‘mine their human’), we will inculcate a ‘brother paradigm’ in our visitors.
A primary directional activity that we will invite participation in from our visitors is the ‘art of ulogging’. (See what a ulog is!)
Speaking of ‘brother talents/un(dis)talents’, our primary industry of focus at the start will be ‘programming’. Where we have established a solid network made up ‘3 brother-programmers’ at the end of month 3, that is success!
To inculcate the ‘brother paradigm’ into their ‘art of programming’, i will allow them to contribute code to my start-up projects namely ‘steemgigs.org, ulogs.org, marlians.com’, allowing flaws. Within this period, they will experiment also with a ‘Macrohard model of programming’ that i have created. (The Macrohard model of programming has a ‘brother paradigm’.)
This will enable them develop our projects up gradually, while honing their expertise. Underlyingly, they be tapping into their ‘brother’ aspect as they learn to build projects even free on behalf of a brother or to play a role in historical history as part of a brother’s dream.
Note: Eventually, this ‘network of brothers’ will form the base of our hub. Together we will help many projects build their start-ups, especially those of project-owners that do not know programming. We will also offer a unique consultancy service that caters to an aspect of the ‘programming world’ that hasn’t been touched yet. Stay tuned!
Altogether, the efforts of these brothers in ‘building our projects’ will not be entirely ‘for free’, for our ecosystem and the ‘Teardrops digital currency’ powering it, will seek to reward even ‘their past deeds’.
In the mix, we will also begin to build a solid network of ‘brothers’ (includes sisters) in a wide span of industries (e.g graphic-design, enterpreneurship, videography, artistry etc.).
Through our first 4-months, i will gradually be filling the hub up with gadgets ‘e.g high-level computers, a video-studio, a music-studio, an interview-space, a fashion area, a cooking area etc’, with most of our revenue. While our visitors can use these human-hacking structures almost free, we derive additional value from these purchases, where we are able to capture these world-adjusting (testimonial) human-ventures in quality ulog-style media, which we will serve onto the internet, organically marketing our enterprise rapidly.
My approach to innovation is dynamic and it is important to highlight this at this stage. A major paradigm integrated into each enterprise model that i innovate is ‘a ulog paradigm’. This spells dynamism.
Our hub should ever-incessantly emanate ‘down-to-earth innovations’ and this will be the case. I will put in the grind and to this effect, i will formulate per day ‘fresh unique engaging activities’ as part of our curriculum that is modeled to incite ‘participants’ to ‘mine their human’.
Integrating a ‘ulog paradigm’ into each activity stemming from the hub, we will remove ordinariness from ‘once ordinary activities’. Each activity we emanate by virtue of our hub, will help you tap into or exercise your human virtues or incite you to exert or explore your human senses.
For instance, if you ate while in the hub, it will not be ‘just another meal’. Our formulated table-parameters (our table could have fun-props that direct matters) may have subconsciously enabled you to apply your sense of taste in new ways etc. Or say we told you to cook your meal instead and provided your with ingredients, we may put some hassle into your cooking-formula, highlights to aspects of your spirit that you have applied in the that you may swallow your morsels in more defined ways.
See this directional food play:
In the early stages of month 4, we will have began to introduce the ‘school of legitimate illiteracy’ to our participants. An aspect of this curriculum will also teach ‘programming’ but ‘a new breed of programming’ called ‘Macrohard’ (i.e ‘brother-programming),in a bid to abate ‘the rarity in the brother-programmers industry’.(I have already created the Macrohard programming base-model!)
Special note: In every industry and their respective innovation(s), till date, a major paradigm that has been missing is the ‘brother paradigm’. How so? “The world is still very novice to the true state of the world.” @surpassinggoogle
At this stage, to participate in the ‘school of legitimate illiteracy’, we will offer to take a fee with the option of “cheaper than free”. For instance, assuming you paid a monthly-fee of ‘2000 PHP (50 USD)’, we will offer to return ‘3000 PHP (60 USD)’, if you are able to follow a regimen of ‘mining the human’ activities (constituting part of our ‘legitimate illiteracy’ curriculum) over the course of the 30-days (e.g simple activities like ulogging, interviews, graphic-design, off-key singing, experimental cooking etc.), otherwise, you will have forfeited the refund.
I will discuss how i intend to accrue this refunds in the later part of this publication. Stay tuned!
Month 5 & 6
This portion of our publication will cover the premise of ‘month 5 and 6’ and look into the future.
Note that Macrohard is one of the core enterprises under ‘ Teardrops ecosystem’ (an ecosystem that will eventually use a digital currency called TEARDROPS)….
Our Macrohard hub is a physical venture compliment our entire ecos
En-route building our respective projects, there have been issues with seed-funding especially in the face of my illness. (I have been able to build two of our three main projects so far ‘i.e ulogs.org and steemgigs.org’ until their alpha-stage on my limited financial/health capacity.)
Our third primary enterprise is ‘Macrohard.pro’, an enterprise focusing on enabling ‘everyone’ to become capable on their own of building a noble dream, by creating a programming protocol in which ‘everyone’ can suddenly ‘code with swag’.
Instead of starting out ‘Macrohard.pro’ as an online venture (as was intended), i have decided to start out Macrohard in an empty physical hub (in the Philippines), in a bid to fix my ‘seed-funding limitations’ and that of others.
One reason for setting up a hub thus, is to fix this issue of “seed-funding” once and for all, for my projects and for myriads of others (especially ‘project-owners who are non-programmers’).
To accomplish the aforementioned, we will need to emanate a solid network of ‘brother talents/un(dis)talents’, those who can learn to contribute to the success of a fellow brother’s dream, even for free, for the sake of playing a role in historical history.
There is a rarity in the ‘brother-programmer’ industry. Well, there is also a rarity when it comes to ‘down-to-earth paradigms in the world of innovation. The world at large is still very novice to the true state of the world, limiting innovation. Where we can emanate a solid ‘network of brothers’ across every industry, we can fix many things.
At month 5, we will have a flourishing school called ‘Legitimate Illiteracy’ and one of its courses will be ‘brother programming’. At this stage however, our programmers will have evolved in their ‘brother-programming’ expertise and we will become more aggressive in completing the development of our online ventures ‘i.e ulog.org, steemgigs.org, marlians.com’, setting them into full-blown life.
Ulogs.org — to propagate a form of content called Ulogs into the world and emanate uloggers globally.
SteemGigs.org — to create an ecosystem of freelancers & dream-builders, whereupon “everyone has something to offer”.
Marlians.com — a traditional blockchain-based social media platform that targets the masses, starting with Africa, in a bid to introduce the globe to our primary projects ‘i.e ulogs.org, steemgigs.org and macrohard.pro’.
This also means that ‘TEARDROPS’, the digital currency that will power our economy, will attain life.
Having our online ventures up and solidly running, we will now have a solid-base of say ‘500 true fans’ stemming from our physical hub, backing our online enterprises. This will directly impact my ability to recover in my health, which is very important.
Please note: over the years, we have already accrued some ‘5,000 online users’ across the internet who await the fruition of our projects, meaning that our online ventures will begin to succeed from the outset.
See where they are gathered:
Beginning to really move together, we will displace mount Kilimanjaro by 50km at 50km/hr.
At month 6, we will start to build ‘macrohard.pro’ and more rapidly so, as we will have had three ‘already well-developed online-platforms’ that we can replicate.
Macrohard.pro will form a social media platform for ‘brother programmers’. It will help and support project-owners, especially those who are ‘non-programmers’ to build their projects. Having a solid network of ‘brother-programmers’ at this stage (stemming from our physical hub), we will be able to offer consultancy services as well for ‘project-owners’, that helps them build their projects even in the face of ‘seed-funding limitations’. In many cases, we will look to fund the development of their projects using the TEARDROPS digital currency.
As we attain ‘one stable self-sustaining hub’, we will have an established ‘grey-print’ to replicate our success repeatedly and this ‘grey-print’ will be documented and public. At this stage, we will start to contact mayors across the Philippines, proposing to them our ability to impact the nations, that they may support us in setting up several Macrohard annexes across the Philippines. Then, we will begin to venture into setting up Macrohard annexes across the globe.
Besides, directly revenue-stream from the hub, we will derive a revenue-stream tangible for the sustenance and evolution of our hub from our online ventures. Investing some of our proceedings in our digital currency (i.e TEARDROPS) and into renown social-based digital currency, we will be able to fund the ‘refund-structure’ that we mentioned at the earlier part of this publication, that allows participants of ‘our school of legitimate illiteracy’ to school at a rate that is ‘cheaper than free’.
After month 6, i will be able go onto attaining a full-recovery/health-rehabilitation lasting at least 6-months long. This way i can become a better son to my dad, a better brother to my sisters and ‘your boy terry’ to the world at large. Most importantly, i can become a better son to our father Jehovah.
Conclusion
Learning further from all these proceedings, Macrohard will begin to create a programming language called ‘Macrohard’. I have started a prototype of this already. By this means, we will begin to ‘gather the nations to code with swag’.
Note that our Macrohard hub will emanate ‘down-to-earth innovations’ dynamically. Filled with humans (brothers) who are in a state of incessant evolution, we will stem forth ‘innovations of revelations’, innovations untold to today’s painted world yet tangible to its collective evolution, innovations that propagate ‘breakthrough in human’. From this hub, we will emanate generation-fixers, abating hand-to-mouthism and half-humanism.
Read more about the beauty of Macrohard and the down-to-earth innovations it will look to dynamically emanate!
Your Boy Terry, whether bulls or bears.
@surpassinggoogle
Kindly Support My Cause To Setup A Hub In The Philippines Called ‘Macrohard’.
This is a proposal to appeal to you to help me kick-start ‘the setup of a physical hub in the Philippines called MACROHARD’. This hub will look to gather people from all industries, especially ‘programmers’ hailing from the Philippines. Together we will create a strong network of ‘brother’ programmers, entrepreneurs and innovators who will contribute to the development and progress of many noble dreams, with especial focus on helping project-owners who aren’t programmers build projects. MACROHARD will dynamically emanate ‘down-to-earth’ innovations, projects and initiatives’ modeled to return value to humans.
Long term, MACROHARD will have hubs in various locations across the Philippines, after which it will begin to have hubs in various locations around the globe.
So far, i have gathered some of the basic items required to start the hub. What i seek currently is ‘funding’ to rent a hub for a period of 6-months and start out MACROHARD.
Value Proposition For Donors:
Where we have a accrued a solid base of ‘100–500 Hub members’ consisting of ‘brother-programmers, brother-enterpreneurs, brother-experts’, we will look to help build and promote noble projects/initiatives on behalf of our contributors at a minimal cost or for free e.g we can dedicate 50-videos from 50-brothers/sisters to shouting out your cause or have someone code your tool or have a brother/sister create your brand-graphics etc.
Note: One easy way to contribute now is by buying a shirt. You can buy a shirt/shirts on our Teespring apparel store.
Proceeds from sales, will also go towards the setup of our Macrohard hub.
If you are located in the Philippines, it is better to buy our shirt/shirts from this store (coming soon!) instead as it ships from within the Philippines.
You Can Also Support Me I Other Ways.
Contact Me: | https://medium.com/@surpassinggoogle/the-grey-print-how-an-empty-macrohard-hub-will-go-on-to-succeed-and-sustain-itself-in-6-months-ec19e955e5a0 | ['Terry Ajayi'] | 2020-06-04 15:20:01.898000+00:00 | ['Philippines', 'Crowdfunding', 'Macrohard', 'Startup', 'Kickstarter'] |
Rock Steady | Rock Steady
Photo by Erik Lucatero on Unsplash
She-mature orgasm
That’ll ruin the show
Marriage before fornication
Hon, who would even know?
Crocodile tears you fake
Boy, you’re just goin’ cray-cray
So, I whisper sweet nothings
Can’t we just do fun things?
Bend over and show me
That spec-muscular bootie
Rope you up nice and tight
As we cock steady all night.
Your leather to my lace
Not a race, just keep pace
Spill me some sugar
Come tickle my feather.
Call me or text?
Sure won’t wait by MY phone
Such sizzling sex but
Grab your pants, just go home.
~Well, this role reversal prompt could have taken many turns, but I couldn’t stop thinking about premature ejaculation, how this must REALLY suck for men, and that there is no way that a woman can even relate. Our sexual pleasure can be so covert and mysterious! ?We can fake it all night long! So, please don’t judge as this poem is a bit raunchy and silly. You can find J.D. Harms' Saturday Poetry Prompt by following this magnanimous link:
Ann Marie Steele | https://medium.com/scrittura/rock-steady-2a8f382d8e7 | ['Ann Marie Steele'] | 2020-12-30 01:43:15.612000+00:00 | ['Prompt', 'Rhyming Poetry', 'Boy Toy', 'Silly', 'Female Sexuality'] |
Why more career immersion in education is imperative. | “The most dangerous phrase in the language is ‘We’ve always done it this way.’” — Grace Hopper.
Opportunity and mobility are two qualities that go hand-in-hand. There is no denying we’ve seen unprecedented growth in both, with a previously unheard-of breadth of career options for so many of our college graduates. While multi-generational lines of consistent careers ebbs however (think — my father’s a dentist, my grandmother was a dentist, my grandmother’s grandmother was a dentist), the programs to inform students of what their other options are really about, and whether it would make a fulfilling career for them, has not kept apace. The opportunities are there, but our mobility is hampered by connections, exposure, and even a pure lack of awareness.
In a recent Harris poll, 2/3rds of 14–23 year-old students ranked “to provide financial security” above all else for their motivation in seeking a degree. They view education as a ladder to the job that is going to make them successful, and why shouldn’t they? Tuition has had a relentless bull-market, averaging 8% growth, well above inflation, and well within eye-watering-financial-burden-doubles-every-9-years-pants-on-fire status. So does our current system match this as a top priority? Hardly.
The key metric most colleges follow along these lines is employment rates immediately following graduation, and in this arena many of the top schools are doing just fine, but look beyond those numbers and it becomes murky just how useful that metric really is. “Financial security” is much more than just landing a job, any job. If it makes you miserable, will you be sustainably secure, or burn out? If there is no growth opportunities, how long will you stick around? If you happened upon the career because that just happened to be what you know of from a family member, a friend, or the most vocal voice recruiting on your campus, what are the odds it is really the best fit for you, out of the burgeoning options available? And of course, what if you didn’t need your degree for the job in the first place? The last of which being the easiest to measure, surveys show ~40% of graduates are currently underemployed. 4 out of 10. This does not sound financially secure.
It’s a top priority, but what percentage of a student’s time is spent exploring careers? What percentage of a school’s resources are dedicated to helping them do so? What can a student really learn from an information session? I would estimate careers are 80% of the value of higher-ed, but only 20% of time and resources are spent on it. It’s time to we get serious about arming students with the tools and programs to pierce the career veil and flip this equation up-right. Buzzwords, power-points, and movies do not convey a career. Ask someone pursuing investment banking what they will actually be doing hour-to-hour should they land an internship, and odds are the answer will be unfortunately incoherent. Career immersion is the answer, empowering meaningful relationships with employees actually experienced in the field is the answer, re-thinking recruiting and career learning is needed.
As the student debt crises increasingly comes to the fore, it’s my hope that career immersion as a core underpinning of our educational system does as well. Do we need to control tuition? Certainly. But can’t we also help make the college experience worth the cost? A fulfilling career is undeniably an amazing gift, and a great step towards making your journey meaningful! | https://medium.com/odysseyally/why-more-career-immersion-in-education-is-imperative-d9a3e3144ed2 | ['Brian Keenan'] | 2019-08-11 20:59:34.986000+00:00 | ['Careers', 'Impact', 'Recruiting', 'Career Advice', 'Education'] |
The Top 10 must see Museums with Virtual Tours — All you need to know | Want to explore the world but are stuck quarantining at home? Sick of staring at the boring walls in your ‘home office?’ From the Mona Lisa to the Pergamon Altar, why not skip the lines and visit these amazing museums with a virtual tour?!
While we may not be able to catch a flight to another country or plan a whole trip or vacation, these museums with virtual tours make it ridiculously easy to appreciate artwork and learn something new from artefacts located at the opposite ends of the earth. What’s more, a museum with a virtual tour is the best way to avoid pesky travelling related hassles like large crowds, busy traffic and long lines. You no longer have to peer over a tall bald man’s head to catch a glimpse of a tiny canvas — simply embark on a virtual tour, explore at your own pace and get inspired!
Read on for the best places to access the top museum virtual tours, the top reasons to make a virtual visit and the one thing you just can’t afford to miss at each destination!
1. The Louvre — Paris, France
The Louvre remains the most visited museum in the world and welcomed a record-breaking 10.2 million visitors in 2018.
Although best known for being home to the Mona Lisa, the Louvre has a lot more to offer and boasts one of the most extensive collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world. From exhibitions on art and political power to the remains of the Louvre’s moat, explore this famous museum by launching one of its nine main official virtual tours.
Top Reason to Make a Virtual Visit -
From Greek and Roman sculptures to crown jewels, you will surely find an area of the museum that speaks to you.
What you don’t want to miss -
The Mona Lisa, of course! Apart from the mysterious lady, you can also look out for the Venus de Milo, The Winged Victory of Samothrace and The Coronation of Napoleon.
2. The American Museum of Natural History -Washington D.C, USA
Part of the Smithsonian Institution, this museum has a rich cultural history. The Natural History museum has a variety of permanent exhibits including halls dedicated to dinosaur fossils, amphibians and gemstones. If you are a lover of the natural world then this is definitely one virtual tour that you don’t want to miss!
This museum currently offers a range of virtual experiences including guided hall tours, online exhibits and interactive virtual field trips.
Top Reason to Make a Virtual Visit -
The museum has numerous live events every month. Like in-person events, you can ask expert Palaeontologists and Epidemiologists about topics ranging from fossil excavation to the current pandemic.
What you don’t want to miss -
Seeing a complete T-Rex skeleton with augmented reality and the exhibits that were featured in the ‘Night at The Museum’ movie through the museum’s own Explorer app.
3. British Museum, London — UK
The British Museum is home to the Rosetta Stone and also has an array of galleries to explore. Some of the the best ways to visit its exhibitions and the Great Court yourself is to head to the museum’s virtual tour in Google Street View or to view its art virtually through Google Arts and Culture.
Top Reason to Make a Virtual Visit -
You get the chance to browse through the museum’s fascinating, 8 million historic objects and artefacts from around the world.
What you don’t want to miss -
The museum’s accompanying audio tours that give you little snippets of context to enhance your virtual tour. You can listen to these on Google Play and Apple Music.
4. The Metropolitan Museum of Art — New York, USA
The Met is the largest art museum in the United States and definitely one of the most iconic historical venues. The museum houses classical antiquities including some of the world’s most famous European sculptures. It also has permanent collections of African, Byzantine, Islamic, Asian and Oceanian art. The museum currently offers online exhibitions, an audio tour and virtual events.
Top Reason to Make a Virtual Visit -
From Renaissance pieces to Post-Impressionist works — this museum truly has it all!
What you don’t want to miss -
There are simply too many famous and notable pieces in The Met to whittle down and just recommend one or two. However, I would strongly suggest you explore this 360 degree video project which gives you a bird’s eye view of the Great Hall, Arms Gallery and the Temple of Dendur.
5. The National Museum of Anthropology — Mexico City, Mexico
This museum is home to the largest collection of Mexican art and archeology exhibits from the pre-Hispanic period. There are multiple ethnographic exhibits, including several that educate you on present-day indigenous groups in Mexico. The best way to explore this museum would be through its collaboration with Google Arts and Culture.
Top Reason to Make a Virtual Visit -
It is the best way to learn about Mexico’s rich culture and the many Pre-Columbian civilizations’ way of life in Mesoamerica.
What you don’t want to miss -
The famous Aztec Calendar Sun Stone which was recovered in 1760 during the construction of the Metropolitan Cathedral.
6. The J. Paul Getty Museum — Los Angeles, USA
Situated among the Santa Monica Mountains, The J. Paul Getty Museum consists of two separate locations; The Getty Centre and The Getty Villa. Established by oil billionaire Jean Paul Getty, the centre and villa boast an array of antiquities and are home to Getty’s prized collection of Roman, Greek and Etruscan art.
While the museum is currently closed, you can still explore a variety of its art collections virtually on its official website. You can also use Google Arts and Culture to discover and read more about particular paintings. Another option is to see the exterior and interior of the museum’s Sculpture Plaza and Garden Terrace in a fully immersive virtual tour through Xplorit.
Top Reason to Make a Virtual Visit -
The museum’s impressive architecture designed to highlight both nature and culture is sure to wow you even through Xplorit’s virtual tour.
What you don’t want to miss -
Vincent van Gogh’s Irises. A stunning still life that the artist created in the year before his death.
7. Rijksmuseum — Amsterdam, The Netherlands
The Rijksmuseum houses the national art collection of The Netherlands, as well as major collections of Western European art and sculptures and Asian art. The museum is famous for capturing historical moments from the Dutch Golden age. It also displays works of Frans Hals, Jan Steen, Vermeer and Rembrandt in its Gallery of Honour.
You can explore the museum through its newly launched #Rijksmuseumfromhome YouTube series, or see many of the museum’s most iconic pieces up close through an engaging virtual tour. The museum also offers multimedia tours and allows you to search for pieces by artist or keyword through its app.
Top Reason to Make a Virtual Visit -
To learn about the Dutch Golden Age from the most famous paintings, sculptures, ceramics and ornaments.
What you don’t want to miss -
Rembrandt’s most notable work; The Night Watch. Once you have seen the piece up close through the museum’s virtual tour, you can dive deeper into its history with another one of the museum’s interactive virtual experiences dedicated solely to this piece.
8. The Uffizi Gallery Virtual Tour- Florence, Italy
Located in the heart of Florence, The Uffizi Gallery has the world’s best collection of Italian Renaissance paintings. While the museum was originally designed by Giorgio Vasari for Cosimo I de’Medici, the Duke of Tuscany, as a palace for government offices, today the remodelled museum displays thousands of works in roughly chronological order. Luckily for us, this is another museum with a virtual tour.
True story: you would probably get lost in its labyrinth-like layout in real life! But you can avoid all of that by easily navigating the museum by hall, artwork and artist while embarking on its virtual tour.
Top Reason to Make a Virtual Visit -
The museum houses timeless treasures from Italy’s history and will give you insight into Medici’s rule as you explore the Duke’s old offices. Plus, newer halls and galleries feature other French, Spanish and Flemish works.
What you don’t want to miss -
Make sure to see some of Sandro Botticelli’s incredible work in the Botticelli Room. This room has two of his most acclaimed pieces — The Birth of Venus and The Primavera.
9. The Pergamon Museum Virtual Tour — Berlin, Germany
The Pergamon Museum is home to several remarkable artefacts including the Pergamon Altar and the Ishtar Gate of Babylon. This museum has lots to explore as it is actually separated into three different museums; The Collection of Classical Antiquities (Antikensammlung), the Museum of the Ancient Near East (Vorderasiatisches Museum), and the Museum of Islamic Art (Museum für Islamische Kunst). The museum is also located on Berlin’s Museum island which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.
Why not take a virtual walk through the museum with Google Maps? You will definitely enjoy browsing its many sculptures and restorations with Google Arts and Culture.
Top Reason to Make a Virtual Visit -
The Pergamon Museum contains some of the most breathtaking exhibits of Islamic art and Ancient Near Eastern Art. The specific pieces and styles of Babylonian art the museum houses are rare to find in other North American museums.
What you don’t want to miss -
Be sure to see the Ishtar Gate of Babylon and Pergamon Altar. You can take a closer look at the Ishtar Gate through this video, and at the Altar, here.
10. National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art — Seoul, Korea
This Korean Museum is one of the latest museums to offer a virtual tour. The museum has four branches; Gwacheon, Deoksugung, Seoul and Cheongju, which are devoted to different artistic domains. Gwacheon focuses on visual arts such as design and architecture while Deoksung showcases modern Korean and international art. Seoul houses global contemporary art and Cheongju promotes the important goal of art conservation. This museum has a lot to offer and now you can experience it all from the comfort of your couch! Take the virtual tour here.
Top Reason to Make a Virtual Visit -
The museum is Korea’s only national museum to actively install modern and contemporary Korean art as well as international art from multiple time periods.
What you don’t want to miss -
The online exhibition documenting the birth of the museum itself. You can also access this virtual tour through Google Arts and Culture and learn about the construction of the museum through videos and archives from Korea’s most renowned photographers — Suntag Noh and Seung Woo Back.
Interesting Times + We Want To Hear From You!
These museums with virtual tours allow us to take a deep dive into learning about how other civilizations showed resilience and dealt with a dynamic and uncertain past. Given that the world is dealing with the crisis of a global health pandemic, we are certainly living through equally unique times in history. When not visiting museums with virtual tours; how have you been finding inspiration in daily life? How have you been quenching your thirst for exploration? Let us know by dropping a comment :)
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The Pilot team is building an amazing new service that will make it easier for travel aficionados to customise trips and connect with others. We are building this for YOU and have a user group dedicated to learning about YOUR needs! Our team loves creative thinkers and wants to hear your feedback on our product. We also welcome ANY and ALL ideas you have for an incredible new travel service. By joining and contributing you will have an direct impact on building an innovative travel app that you will be able to use along with us very soon. Pretty cool, right? Our user group is also a space where you can learn top travel tips, connect with travellers from all around the world and share your experiences. | https://medium.com/pilotplans/the-top-10-must-see-museums-with-virtual-tours-all-you-need-to-know-b6d98710150b | ['Connor Wilson'] | 2020-10-15 10:41:56.125000+00:00 | ['Virtual', 'Virtual Tour', 'History', 'Museums', 'Travel'] |
I Had a Baby | Esther Werdiger‘s work has appeared in Lenny, Buzzfeed, The Awl, The Hairpin, Tablet Magazine, and Electric Literature.
Follow | https://medium.com/spiralbound/i-had-a-baby-f5a06db4f62d | ['Esther C. Werdiger'] | 2017-11-20 17:52:47.925000+00:00 | ['Illustration', 'Motherhood', 'Baby', 'Comics', 'Childbirth'] |
The Genius of RISC-V Microprocessors | The Genius of RISC-V Microprocessors
How the instruction set for RISC-V processors has been designed cleverly for both simplicity and high performance.
Since the RISC and CISC wars that raged in the late 1990s, people have claimed that RISC and CISC doesn’t matter anymore. Many will claim that instruction-sets are irrelevant.
But instruction-sets matter. They put limits on what kind of optimizations you can easily add to a microprocessor.
I have lately been learning more about the RISC-V instruction-set architecture (ISA) and here are some of the things which really impress me about the RISC-V ISA:
It is a RISC instruction set which is small and easy to learn (47 in base). Very favorable to anyone interested in learning about microprocessors. RISC-V Cheat Sheet. Dominant architecture used for teaching digital design in universities: Why Universities Want RISC-V. It is cleverly designed to allow CPU builders to create high performance microprocessors using a RISC-V ISA. With no license fees and being designed to allow simple hardware implementations, a dedicated hobbyist could in principle make his own RISC-V CPU design in reasonable time. Open Source designs readily available to modify and play with: The Berkely Out-of-Order (BOOM) RISC-V Processor.
Read more: What Is Innovative About RISC-V?
The Revenge of RISC
As I have begun to understand RISC-V better, I realize that RISC-V is a radical shift back to what many thought was a bygone era of computing. In terms of design, RISC-V is almost like taking a time machine back to the classic Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) of the early 80s and 90s.
Many have remarked over the latter years that the RISC and CISC distinction no longer matters because RISC CPUs such as ARM has added so many instructions, many fairly complex, that it is more of a hybrid today than a pure RISC CPU. Similar sentiments are uttered about other RISC CPUs such as PowerPC.
RISC-V in contrast is really hard core about being a RISC CPU. In fact if you read discussion online about RISC-V you will find people claiming RISC-V has been made by some old school RISC radicals who refuse to get with the times.
A former ARM engineer, Erin Shepherd, wrote an interesting criticism of RISC-V some years ago:
The RISC-V ISA has pursued minimalism to a fault. There is a large emphasis on minimizing instruction count, normalizing encoding, etc. This pursuit of minimalism has resulted in false orthogonalities (such as reusing the same instruction for branches, calls and returns) and a requirement for superfluous instructions which impacts code density both in terms of size and number of instructions.
Let me give some quick context. Keeping code small is advantageous to performance because it makes it easier to keep the code you are running inside high speed CPU cache.
The criticism here is that the RISC-V designers have been too concerned with having a small instruction-set. That is after all one of the original RISC goals.
The claimed consequence of this is that a realistic program will require far more instructions to get stuff done, and thus consume more space in memory.
The conventional wisdom for many years has been that RISC processor should add more instructions and become more CISC like. The idea is that more specialized instructions can replace the use of multiple generic instructions.
Compressed Instructions and Macro-Operation Fusion
However there are in particular two innovations in CPU design which in many ways renders this strategy of adding more complex instructions redundant:
Compressed instructions — Instructions are compressed in memory and decompressed at first stage of CPU.
— Instructions are compressed in memory and decompressed at first stage of CPU. Macro-operation Fusion — Two or more simple instructions read by the CPU are fused into one complex instruction.
ARM actually employs both of these strategies already and x86 CPUs utilize the latter, so this isn’t a new trick RISC-V is pulling.
However here is the kicker: RISC-V gets far more milage out of these strategies for two important reasons:
Compressed instructions got added in from the start. Thumb2 compressed instruction format used on ARM, had to be retrofitted by adding it as a separate ISA. This requires an internal mode switch and separate decoder to handle. RISC-V compressed instructions can be added to a CPU with a minuscule 400 extra logical gates (AND, OR, NOR, NAND gates). The RISC obsession of keeping number of unique instruction low pays off. There is simply more room to fit compressed instructions.
Instruction Encoding
The latter part needs a bit of elaboration. Instructions are typically 32-bits wide on RISC architectures. These bits need to be used to encode different information. E.g. say you have an instruction such as this (hash marks comments):
ADD x1, x4, x8 # x1 ← x4 + x8
This add content of register x4 and x8 and store result in x1 . How many bits we need to encode this, depends on the number of registers we have. RISC-V and ARM64 have 32 registers. The number 32 can be expressed with 5-bits:
2⁵ = 32
Since we got 3 different registers we have to specify, we need a total of 15 bits (3 × 5) to encode the operands (inputs to add operation).
Thus the more stuff we want to support in our instruction-set, the more bits we consume out of our available 32-bits. Sure we could go to 64-bit instructions, but that would consume far too much memory and thus kill performance.
By aggressively keeping number of instructions low, RISC-V leaves more room to add bits that express that we are using compressed instructions. If the CPU sees that certain bits in the instruction is set, it knows that it should be interpreted as a compressed instruction.
Compressed Instructions — Two in One
That means instead of fitting one instruction inside a 32-bit word we can fit two instructions which are 16-bit wide each. Naturally not all RISC-V instructions can be expressed in 16-bit format. Thus a subset of the 32-bit instructions are picked based on their utility and frequency of use. While the uncompressed instructions can take 3 operands (inputs), the compressed instructions can only take 2 operands. Thus a compressed ADD instruction would look like this:
C.ADD x4, x8 # x4 ← x4 + x8
RISC-V assembly use C. prefix to indicate that an instruction should be converted to a compressed instruction by the assembler. But actually you don’t need to write this. A RISC-V assembler will be able to pick compressed instructions over uncompressed ones when applicable.
Basically compressed instructions reduce the number of operands. Three register operands would have consumed 15 bits, leaving us with only 1-bit to specify the operation! Thus by using two operands we got 6 bits left to specify opcode (operation to perform).
This is in fact close to how x86 assembly works, where not enough bits were reserved to have 3 register operands. Instead x86 spends bits to allow e.g. an ADD instruction to read input from both memory and registers.
Macro-operation Fusion — One to Two
However it is when we combine instruction compression with Macro-operation fusion where we see the real payoff. You see, if the CPU gets a 32-bit word containing two compressed 16-bit instructions, it can fuse these into a single complex instruction.
That sounds like nonsense, aren’t we just back to the start then? Aren’t we back to a CISC style CPU, which is what we are trying to avoid?
Nope, because we avoid filling up the ISA specification with lots of complex instructions, the x86 and ARM strategy. Instead we are basically expressing a whole host of complex instructions indirectly through various combinations of simple instructions.
Under normal circumstances there is a a problem with Macro-fusion: While two instructions can be replaced by one, they still consume twice as much space in memory. But with instruction compression we are not consuming any more space. We get the best of both worlds.
Let us look at one of the examples from Erin Shepherd. In her criticism of the RISC-V ISA, she shows a simple C function. I am taking some liberty to rewrite for clarity:
int get_index(int *array, int i) {
return array[i];
}
On x86 this compiles into:
mov eax, [rdi+rsi*4]
ret
When you call a function in a programming language, the arguments are typically passed to the function in register according to an established convention, which will depend on the instruction-set you are using. On x86, the first argument is placed in register rdi , the second in rsi . By convention return values have to be placed in register eax .
The first instruction multiplies the content of rsi with 4. It contains our i variable. Why multiply? Since the array is made up of integer elements, they are space 4 bytes apart. Thus the 3rd element in the array is actually at byte offset 3 × 4 = 12.
Afterwards we add this to rdi which contains the base address of array . This gives us the final address of the i th element of array . We read the content of the memory cell at that address and store it in eax : Mission accomplished.
On ARM it is quite similar:
LDR r0, [r0, r1, lsl #2]
BX lr ; return
Here we are not multiplying with 4, but shift register r1 2-bits to the left, which is equivalent to multiplying with 4. This is probably a more faithful representation of what happens in the x86 code as well. On x86 you can only multiply with 2, 4, or 8, all which can be performed with a left shift of 1, 2 or 3.
Anyway you can pretty much guess the rest from my x86 description. Now let us get to RISC-V, where the real fun begins! (hash starts comments)
SLLI a1, a1, 2 # a1 ← a1 << 2
ADD a0, a0, a1 # a0 ← a0 + a1
LW a0, a0, 0 # a0 ← [a0 + 0]
RET
On RISC-V registers a0 and a1 are just aliases for x10 and x11 . These are where the first and second argument of a function call are placed. RET is a pseudo instruction (shorthand):
JALR x0, 0(ra) # sp ← 0 + ra
# x0 ← sp + 4 ignoring result
JALR perform a jump to address in ra which refers to the return address. ra is an alias for x1 .
Anyway, this just looks absolutely terrible right? Twice as many instructions for such a simple and common operation as doing an index based lookup in a table and returning the result.
It does look bad indeed. That is why Erin Shepherd, was highly critical of the design choices made by the RISC-V guys. She writes:
RISC-V’s simplifications make the decoder (i.e. CPU frontend) easier, at the expense of executing more instructions. However, scaling the width of a pipeline is a hard problem, while the decoding of slightly (or highly) irregular instructions is well understood (the primary difficulty arises when determining the length of an instruction is nontrivial — x86 is a particularly bad case of this with its’ numerous prefixes).
However thanks to instruction compression and macro-op fusion we can turn this around.
C.SLLI a1, 2 # a1 ← a1 << 2
C.ADD a0, a1 # a0 ← a0 + a1
C.LW a0, a0, 0 # a0 ← [a0 + 0]
C.JR ra
Now this takes exactly the same amount of space in memory as the ARM example.
Okay, next let us do some Macro-op fusion!
One of the rules in RISC-V to allow operations to be fused into one, is that the destination register is the same. That is the case for the ADD and LW (load word) instructions. Thus the CPU will turn these into one instruction.
If this had been the case for SLLI as well we could have fused all three instructions into one. Thus the CPU would have seen something akin to the more complex ARM instruction:
LDR r0, [r0, r1, lsl #2]
Why can we not write this complex macro-operation directly in our code?
Because our ISA does not contain support for it! Remember we have limited number of bits available. Why not make the instructions longer?! Nope, that would consume too much memory, and fill up precious CPU cache faster.
However if instead we manufacture these long semi-complex instructions inside the CPU, there are no worries. The CPU never has more than a few hundred instructions floating around at any time. So wasting say 128 bits on each instruction is no big deal. There is plenty of silicon to go around for everyone.
Thus when the decoder gets a normal instruction it usually turns it into one or more micro-operations. These micro-operations are the instructions the CPU actually deals with. These can be really wide and contain lots of extra useful information. That they are called “micro” may seem ironic, given that they are wide. However “micro” refers to the fact that they do a limited number of tasks.
Goldie Locks Instruction Complexity
Macro-operation fusing turns what the decoder does a bit on its head: Instead of turning one instruction into multiple micro-ops, we take multiple operations and turn them into one micro-operation.
Thus what is going on in a modern CPU make look rather odd:
First it is combining two instructions into one through compression. Then it splits it into two through decompression. The combine them back into one operation through macro-op fusion.
Other instructions in contrast may end up getting split into multiple micro-ops rather than getting fused. Why do some get fused and others split? Is there a system to the madness?
The key thing is the end up with micro-operations of the right level of complexity:
Not too complex, because otherwise it cannot finish in the fixed number of clock cycles allocated for each instruction.
Not too simple, because then we are just wasting CPU resources. Executing two micro-ops will take twice as long as executing just one.
This all began with CISC processors. Intel began splitting their complex CISC instruction into micro-operations, so they could more easily fit into their pipelines, like RISC instructions. However in later designs they realized many of the CISC instructions were so simple that they could easily be fused to one moderately complex instruction. If you got fewer instructions to execute, you finish sooner.
Benefits Gained
Okay, this was a lot of details and maybe it is hard to get a handle on what exactly the point is. Why do all this compression and fusion? It sounds like a lot of extra work.
First of all, instruction compression is nothing like zip-compression. The word “compression” is a bit of a misnomer as it is completely straightforward to instantly decompress a compressed instruction. There is no time lost doing this. And remember for RISC-V it is simple. With a mere 400 logic gates, you can perform decompression.
Same goes with macro-operation fusion. While this seems complex, these approaches are already used in modern microprocessors. Thus the tax or cost of this complexity, has already been paid for.
However unlike the ARM, MIPS and x86 designers, RISC-V designers knew about instruction compression and macro-ops fusion when they began designing their ISAs. Or to be more correct, the competition did not know about this when their original ISAs where designed. When the 64-bit versions of x86 and ARM instruction sets where designed, they could have taken this into account. Why they did not, we can only speculate on. However it seems companies like to make new ISAs which don’t deviate too far more earlier versions. Usually it is about removing obvious mistakes from the past, not about a complete change of philosophy.
Through various tests with the first minimal instruction-set, the RISC-V designers made two important discoveries:
RISC-V programs would typically take close to or less space in memory than any other CPU architecture. Including x86, which was supposed to be space efficient given that it is a CISC ISA. It needed to execute fewer micro-operations than other ISAs.
Basically by designing the base instruction-set with fusion in mind, they were able to fuse enough instructions that the CPU for any given program had to execute fewer micro-operations than the competition.
This has made the RISC-V team double down on macro-operation fusion as a core strategy for RISC-V. You can see in the RISC-V manual a lot of notes on what operations can be fused. You see revisions which has been made to instructions to make it easier to fuse instructions appearing in common patterns.
Keeping the ISA small means it is easier to learn for a student. And it means it is easier for a student learning about CPU architecture to actually construct a CPU which runs RISC-V instructions.
RISC-V has a small core instruction set which everybody must implement. However all other instructions exist as part of extensions. Compressed instructions are simply an optional extension. Thus for simple designs it can be omitted.
Macro-op fusion is simply an optimization. It does not change the overall behavior and hence you are not required to implement it in your particular RISC-V processor.
For ARM and x86 in contrast a lot of the complexity is not optional. The whole instruction-set and all the complex instructions have to be implemented even if you try to create a minimal simple CPU core.
RISC-V Design Strategy
RISC-V has taken what we know about modern CPUs today and let that inform their choice in designing and ISA. For instance we know:
CPU cores have advance branch predictors today. They do predictions correct over 90% of the time.
CPU cores are superscalar, meaning they perform multiple instructions in parallel.
The use Out-of-Order execution to be superscalar.
They are pipelined.
This means that things such as conditional execution as supported by ARM, is no longer needed. Supporting that on ARM eats up bits in the instruction format. RISC-V can save those bits.
The original purpose of conditional execution was to avoid branches, because they were bad for pipelines. For a CPU to run fast it would typically prefetch the next instructions so it can pick the next one quickly once the previous one is done with its first stage.
But with a conditional branch, you don’t know where the next instruction will be when you begin filling up your pipeline. However a superscalar CPU could simply execute both branches in parallel.
It is also why RISV-C doesn’t have status registers. That creates dependencies between instructions. The more independent each instruction is, the easier it is to run it in parallel with another instruction.
The RISC-V strategy is basically, is how can we make the ISA as simple as possible and a minimal implementation of a RISC-V CPU as simple as possible without making design decisions which make it impossible to make a high performance CPU.
Read more: Avoiding ISA Bloat with Macro-Op Fusion for RISC-V
What Does the Industry Say?
Okay this may all sound good in theory, but does it matter at all in the real world? What does actually technology companies think about this? Do they view the RISC-V ISA as something that offers real tangible benefits over a commercial ISA such as ARM?
The Electronic Engineering Journal as a good article for anyone interested in reading more about this. Basically if features and interview with Dave Ditzel, who is somewhat of a high priest of microprocessors. At his company Esperanto Technologies, they evaluated different options for making specialized hardware to accelerate machine learning. Jim Turley writes:
RISC-V wasn’t even on the shopping list of alternatives, but the more Esperanto’s engineers looked at it, the more they realized it was more than a toy or just a teaching tool. “We assumed that RISC-V would probably lose 30% to 40% in compiler efficiency [versus Arm or MIPS or SPARC] because it’s so simple,” says Ditzel. “But our compiler guys benchmarked it, and darned if it wasn’t within 1%.”
Now Esperanto Technologies is a small company. What about a large company such as Nvidia with lots of experienced chip designers and resources? Nvidia uses a general purpose processor in their cards called Falcon. When reviewing alternatives, RISC-V came out on top. | https://erik-engheim.medium.com/the-genius-of-risc-v-microprocessors-b19d735abaa6 | ['Erik Engheim'] | 2020-12-28 01:44:30.131000+00:00 | ['Risc V', 'Microprocessor', 'Cpu', 'Arm', 'Assembly'] |
Top 65 HTML Interview Questions & Answers | Strong knowledge of HTML is highly recommended to crack the interviews for any web development posts. I hope this informative article would help you much to clear the interviews successfully.
1) Do all HTML tags have an end tag?
No. There are some HTML tags that don’t need a closing tag. For example: <image> tag, <br> tag.
2) What is formatting in HTML?
The HTML formatting is a process of formatting the text for a better look and feel. It uses different tags to make text bold, italicized, underlined.
3) What is the difference between HTML elements and tags?
HTML tag is just opening or closing entity. For example:
<p> and </p> are called HTML tags
HTML element encompasses opening tag, closing tag, content (optional for content-less tags) Eg:
<p>This is the content</p> : This complete thing is called a HTML element
4) What are Semantic Elements?
A semantic element clearly describes its meaning to both the browser and the developer. Examples of non-semantic elements: <div> and <span> — Tells nothing about its content. Examples of semantic elements: <form>, <table>, and <article> — Clearly defines its content.
5) What is an image map?
Image map facilitates you to link many different web pages using a single image. It is represented by <map> tag. You can define shapes in images that you want to make part of an image mapping.
6) How to create a nested webpage in HTML?
The HTML iframe tag is used to display a nested webpage. In other words, it represents a webpage within a webpage.
7) How do you keep list elements straight in an HTML file?
You can keep the list elements straight by using indents.
8) Can you create a multi-colored text on a web page?
Yes. To create a multicolor text on a web page you can use <font color =”color”> </font> for the specific texts you want to color. (not supported in html 5)
9) Is it possible to change the color of the bullet?
The color of the bullet is always the color of the first text of the list. So, if you want to change the color of the bullet, you must change the color of the text.
10) What is a marquee?
Marquee is used to put the scrolling text on a web page. It scrolls the image or text up, down, left or right automatically.
11) How many tags can be used to separate a section of texts?
Three tags are used to separate the texts.
<br> tag — Usually <br> tag is used to separate the line of text. It breaks the current line and conveys the flow to the next line
<p> tag — The <p> tag contains the text in the form of a new paragraph.
<blockquote> tag — It is used to define a large quoted section. If you have a large quotation, then put the entire text within <blockquote>………….</blockquote> tag.
12) How to make a picture of a background image of a web page?
To make a picture a background image on a web page, you should put the following tag code after the </head> tag.
<body background = “image.gif”>
13) What are empty elements?
HTML elements with no content are called empty elements. For example: <br>, <hr> etc.
14) What is the use of a span tag? Give one example.
The span tag is used for following things:
For adding color on text
For adding background on text
Highlight any color text
15) What are the entities in HTML?
The HTML character entities are used as a replacement for reserved characters in HTML. You can also replace characters that are not present on your keyboard by entities. These characters are replaced because some characters are reserved in HTML.
16) Why is a URL encoded in HTML?
An URL is encoded to convert non-ASCII characters into a format that can be used over the Internet because a URL is sent over the Internet by using the ASCII character-set only. If a URL contains characters outside the ASCII set, the URL has to be converted. The non-ASCII characters are replaced with a “%” followed by hexadecimal digits.
17) Does a <!DOCTYPE html> tag is a HTML tag?
No, the <!DOCTYPE html> declaration is not an HTML tag. There are many type of HTML e.g. HTML 4.01 Strict, HTML 4.01 Transitional, HTML 4.01 Frameset, XHTML 1.0 Strict, XHTML 1.0 Transitional, XHTML 1.0 Frameset, XHTML 1.1 etc. So, <!DOCTYPE html> is used to instruct the web browser about the HTML page.
18) What is the canvas element in HTML5?
The <canvas> element is a container that is used to draw graphics on the web page using scripting language like JavaScript. It allows for dynamic and scriptable rendering of 2D shapes and bitmap images.
19) What is SVG?
HTML SVG is used to describe the two-dimensional vector and vector/raster graphics. SVG images and their behaviors are defined in XML text files. So as XML files, you can create and edit an SVG image with the text editor. It is mostly used for vector type diagrams like pie charts, 2-Dimensional graphs in an X, Y coordinate system.
20) What are the different new form element types in HTML 5?
Following is a list of 10 frequently used new elements in HTML 5:
Color, Date, Datetime-local, Email, Time, Url, Range, Telephone, Number, Search
21) Which type of video formats are supported by HTML5?
HTML 5 supports three types of video format:
mp4, WebM, Ogg
22) Is audio tag supported in HTML 5?
Yes. It is used to add sound or music files on the web page. There are three supported file formats for HTML 5 audio tag.
mp3, WAV, Ogg
23) What is the difference between progress and meter tag?
According to the latest HTML5 working draft, the progress tag is best used to display the progress of a specific task at hand. meter is best used for task-unrelated guages, such as disk space or memory usage.
you can think like that: progress = dynamic ; meter = static
24) What is the use of figure tag in HTML 5?
The figure tag is used to add a photo in the document on the web page. It is used to handle the group of diagrams, photos, code listing with some embedded content.
25) What is the use of figcaption tag in HTML 5?
The <figcaption> element is used to provide a caption to an image. It is an optional tag and can appear before or after the content within the <figure> tag. The <figcaption> element is used with <figure> element and it can be placed as the first or last child of the <figure> element.
26) What is the use of details and summary tag?
The details tag is used to specify some additional details on the web page. It can be viewed or hidden on demand. The summary tag is used with details tag.
27) What is datalist tag?
The HTML 5 datalist tag provides an autocomplete feature on the form element. It facilitates users to choose the predefined options to the users to select data.
28) If I do not put <!DOCTYPE html> will HTML 5 work?
No, the browser will not be able to identify that it is an HTML document and HTML 5 tags do not function properly..
29) What are the new <input> types for form validation in HTML5?
The new input types for form validation are email, URL, number, tel, and date.
30) How can we get the geographical position of a user in HTML5?
Yes, HTML5 can retrieve the location of a user with the use of Geolocation API. It provides getCurrentPosition() method to get the user’s current position.
31) What are the new features introduced in HTML5?
HTML5 introduces a number of new elements and attributes that help in building an attractive webSite, that we see nowadays.
It supports following new features.
New Semantic Elements , Forms 2.0, Persistent Local Storage
WebSocket, Server-Sent Events(SSE)
Canvas, Audio & Video, Geolocation
Microdata, Drag and drop
32) Explain the key differences between SVG and Canvas?
Canvas is resolution dependent while SVG is not.
Canvas does not provide any support for event handlers while SVG does provide the support for event handlers.
Canvas is suitable for graphic-intensive games while SVG is not suitable for gaming.
Canvas is suitable for small rendering areas while SVG is suitable for large rendering areas like Google maps.
Canvas provides a less interactive animated user interface. Whereas, the interface provided by SVG is very highly interactive.
33) How can we create a new HTML element?
Answer.
We can even create new elements for the document as follows.
<script>
document.createElement﴾”myElement”﴿
</script>
34) What is HTML5 Web Storage?
HTML5 Web Storage, also known as DOM Storage is a way to preserve state on either the client or server which makes it much easier to work against the stateless nature of HTTP. It allows the web pages to store the data locally in the user’s browser.
35) What are the advantages of HTML5 Web Storage?
It can store 5 to 10 MB data. That is far more than what cookies allow.
HTML5 never transfers Web storage data with any HTTP request. Thus creating less overhead than cookies and in turn, increase the performance of the application.
Apps can work both online and offline.
This API is easy to learn and use.
36) What are the different types of Web Storage provided by HTML5?
sessionStorage, localStorage
37) Explain the key differences between localStorage and sessionStorage objects?
Following are the key differences between localStorage and sessionStorage objects.
The localStorage object stores the data without an expiry date. However, sessionStorage object stores the data for only one session.
In the case of a localStorage object, data will not delete when the browser window closes. However, the data gets deleted, if the browser window closes, in the case of sessionStorage objects.
The data in sessionStorage is accessible only in the current window of the browser. But the data in the localStorage can be shared between multiple windows of the browser.
38) What is the concept of Application Cache in HTML5? What are its advantages?
HTML5 introduced the concept of Application Cache. It means that a web application is cached, and is accessible without an internet connection.
39) What are the key advantages of Application Cache ?
Offline browsing — Users can use the application even when they are offline.
Speed — Cached resources load faster as compared to content that gets downloaded, directly from the server.
Reduced server load — The browser will only download updated/modified resources from the server.
40) What is a Manifest file?
A Manifest file is a simple text file, that tells the browser what to cache and what not to cache.
A Manifest file contains three Sections as
CACHE MANIFEST — HTML5 performs the caching of files listed under this section after they get downloaded for the first time.
NETWORK — Files listed here, always need a connection to the server. The browser can never cache them.
FALLBACK — Files listed here specify the fallback pages, if any page in it is not accessible.
41) What is the difference between HTMl5 Application cache and regular HTML browser cache?
Following are the key differences between the two.
In AppCache, we can define all the assets the browser should cache in a manifest file (even the entire site). For fetching this content, it is not necessary for the user to have accessed it previously. In other words, Application Cache can prefetch pages that have not been visited at all and are thereby unavailable in the regular browser cache. However, the browser cache will only store the pages (and associated assets) the user has visited actually.
The AppCache allows web apps (and websites) to be made available offline, that too, with the same speed benefits as the regular browser cache could provide only when the user is online.
42) What is a Web Worker? How does it work?
A web worker is a script, which runs in the background. It exists in external files. The user can perform actions like clicking, selecting things and so on. Meanwhile, the Web worker runs in the background. It is appropriate, to use Web worker for CPU intensive tasks.
Since Web workers are in external files, they do not have access to the following JavaScript objects.
The window object
The document object
The parent object
43) What are the new attributes provided in HTML5 for <form>?
The new attributes provided in HTML5 for <form> are.
autocomplete — If autocomplete is set to on, it enables the browser to fill the values, based on the values that the user starts to enter.
novalidate — It is a boolean attribute. Its presence signifies that the form-data should not get validated at the time of submission.
44) What is output element in HTML5?
Output element gets used when you design a form, that displays the result of a computation. Along with the standard global attributes, <output> also accepts for, form, and name attributes.
45) What is the major difference between, Transitional and Strict doctype?
Strict — This DTD contains all HTML components and properties. However, it does NOT INCLUDE presentational or expostulated components (like text style). It does not permit the use of Framesets.
Transitional — This DTD contains all HTML components and properties, INCLUDING presentational and belittled components (like textual style). It does not allow the use of Framesets.
46) What is the use of <fieldset> tag in HTML5?
The <fieldset> tag groups related form elements. It is like a box. In other words, it draws a box around related elements.
It must start with a <legend>tag because the <legend> tag defines the title of the fieldset.
47) What are the HTML tags which get deprecated in HTML5?
<acronym>, <applet>, <basefont>, <big>, <center>, <dir>,<font>,<frame>, <frameset>, <isindex>, <noframes>, <s>, <strike>, <tt>, <u>
48) Why do we need HTML5 Server-Sent Events?
HTML5 Server-Sent Events (SSE) is a new way for the web pages to communicate with the web server. It enables a webpage to get updates from a server automatically. It was possible earlier also, but for this, the web page needs to ask if any updates were available. The client makes a request and waits for the server to respond with data. Once the web server provides its response, the communication is over.
49) How can u generate public key in html? (obsolete)
html has a keygen element that facilitate generation of key and submission via a form.
extra: keygen has to be used inside a form.
50) How can you change direction of html text?
By using bdo (bidirectional override) element of html.
51) How can you highlight text in html?
By using mark element.
52) Can u apply css rule to a part of html document?
Yes, By using “scopped” in the style tag.
53) Does the following trigger http request at the time of page load?
<img src=”mypic.jpg” style=”visibility: hidden” alt=”My photo”>
yes
54) What are optional closing tag? and why would u use it?
p, li, td, tr, th, html, body, etc. you don’t have to provide end tag. Whenever browser hits a new tag it automatically ends the previous tag. However, you have to be careful to escape it.
55) What is the difference between span and div?
div is a block element and span is inline element.
56) How to serve a page content in multiple languages?
CMS could be used to deliver content in different language with same structure and style.
57) Difference between standard/ strict mode and quirks mode?
quirks mode in browser allows u to render page for as old browsers. This is for backward compatibility.
58) What are some of the common lists that can be used when designing a page?
Any or a combination of the following list types:
– ordered list
– unordered list
– definition list
– menu list
– directory list
59) Do all character entities display properly on all systems?
No, there are some character entities that cannot be displayed when the operating system that the browser is running on does not support the characters. When that happens, these characters are displayed as boxes.
60) What are inline elements and block-level elements in HTML?
Block elements are the blocks that take the full available width and always start from a new line. It will stretch itself to the full available width of the available container width. Block-level elements are <div>, <p>, <img>, <section> and many more.
Inline elements are the elements that will only take the width that is required to fit into the container.
61) Can we modify the attribute’s value of the HTML tag dynamically?
Answer: Yes, we can modify the value of the attributes by using JavaScript.
Below is the input element whose attribute will be modified from text to password, JS code to modify the attribute value:
<input type=“text” id=“inputField”> document.getElementById(“inputField”).attr(“type”, “password”);
62) Can we change inline elements into block-level elements?
Answer: Yes, we can change inline elements into block-level elements by adding display equal to block in its CSS tag. Writing it will change the inline elements into block elements and then inline elements will also take the full width of the container.
63) Why Meta tags are used in HTML?
Answer: Meta tags in HTML are used by the developer to tell the browser about the page description, author of the template, character set, keywords and many more.
Meta tags are used for search engine optimization to tell the search engine about the page contents.
64) Differentiate between HTML and XHTML.
The differences between HTML and XHTML are:
HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language, whereas XHTML stands for Extensible Markup Language.
A static webpage is an HTML web page and dynamic web pages are XHTML.
XHTML are more stricter than HTML.
An XML application of HTML is defined as XHTML.
All modern browsers support XHTML.
65) What is Quirks mode in HTML5?
If we do not include the <!DOCTYPE> element in our HTML page or Document, it will go to Quirks Mode. In this mode, the HTML element depends on the browser. Hence the content will be displayed according to the browser.
I hope these interview questions and answers will help you to crack the Web development interview successfully. Most questions include the HTML experts’s answers during their interviews. Have a good day! | https://medium.com/swlh/top-65-html-interview-questions-answers-dec344e8358c | ['Sagor Mahtab'] | 2020-05-22 12:33:12.449000+00:00 | ['Html5', 'Interview Questions', 'Html Interview Questions', 'HTML'] |
New superlens has potential to circumvent classical optics laws | Header Image. An artist’s conception of the superlens compressing a laser beam into more manageable, lower-wavelength electromagnetic oscillations. Scroll down for a more accurate graphic representation. Credit: Daria Sokol/MIPT Press Office
Russian and Danish researchers have made a first-ever experimental observation of a plasmon nanojet. This physical phenomenon enables nanoscale focusing of light and, theoretically, allows engineers to bypass one of the fundamental limitations of the ordinary converging lens. Tight compression of light waves is necessary to use them as signal carriers in compact devices that would work much faster than today’s electronics. The study comes out in the June 15 issue of Optics Letters.
Before laser pointers became available, the amorous heroes of romance novels had to make do with small rocks they would throw into a beloved’s window to indicate their presence. Among the numerous drawbacks of rocks as signal carriers is their mass, which means sending a message requires an effort and time. While the electron does not weigh as much as a rock, it still cannot be put in motion instantaneously. If we could replace the electrons in microcircuits with photons — the massless particles of light — the resulting devices would operate much faster.
What prevents engineers from abandoning electronic chips in favor of their photonic analogues is the need for miniaturization. With today’s technology, such optical devices would have an enormous size. To make them smaller, engineers require a way to control photons on such a small scale that the light wave itself has to be localized, squeezed into a minimum space. Ideally, the light needs to be focused into a spot smaller than 50% of the original wavelength. While this feat is impossible in the classical optics due to what’s known as the diffraction limit, modern research has already found several ways around it. And the newly observed plasmon nanojet is likely to become one of them.
A team of Russian and Danish physicists has created a focusing component, or nanolens, capable of converting light into electromagnetic waves of a special kind, compressing it to 60% of the initial radiation wavelength. This new contraption is made up of a square piece of dielectric material 5 by 5 micrometers in size and 0.25 micrometers thick. Shown in figure 1, the square particle lies on a thin 0.1-micrometer gold film, next to an etched grating that diffracts light.
Figure 1. Plasmon nanojet-based superlens. When a laser pulse of wavelength λ shines on the diffraction grating in the gold film, this gives rise to another type of electromagnetic excitations, known as surface plasmon polaritons. They propagate along the gold film and undergo 60% compression to a wavelength of 0.6λ when passing the square nanoparticle. This so-called plasmon nanojet effect, observed in the study for the first time, offers intriguing prospects for localizing light to the point where it becomes feasible to use it in fast and compact optical computers. Credit: Daria Sokol/MIPT Press Office
Illuminating the grating in the gold film with a laser generates excitations known as surface plasmon polaritons, which travel along the metal’s surface. These SPPs are essentially two kinds of waves coupled to each other and propagating together. First, there’s the collective oscillation of electrons in gold — the plasmon part — and then there’s also a surface light wave called a polariton. The point of converting light to SPPs is that there are ways to focus them to a greater extent than the initial laser pulse.
“One of the mechanisms that enable subwavelength focusing relies on the plasmon nanojet, a phenomenon we have observed in an experiment for the first time,” said the paper’s lead author, Professor Igor Minin of Tomsk Polytechnic University.
The scientific explanation of why waves undergo compression in the superlens is as follows. “Using computer simulations, we figured out the appropriate dimensions of the dielectric particle and the diffraction grid in the gold film. When these parameters are right, SPPs have different phase velocities at different points in the particle. This causes the wavefront to bend, creating a vortex in the particle and therefore a region dense with SPPs behind it, which we call a plasmon nanojet,” said study co-author Dmitry Ponomarev, a leading researcher at the MIPT Laboratory of 2D Materials and Nanodevices and the deputy director of Mokerov Institute of Ultra High Frequency Semiconductor Electronics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Photo. Paper co-author Valentyn Volkov is working with a near-field microscope. A device of this kind was used in the study to make the first-ever observation of a plasmon nanojet. Credit: Evgeniy Pelevin/MIPT Press Office
The study has demonstrated a new and efficient mechanism for strongly localizing radiation and manipulating it on the nanoscale, which is a prerequisite for densely packing optical components in photonic and plasmonic devices that would operate much faster than conventional electronics.
The head of the MIPT Center for Photonics and 2D Materials, Valentyn Volkov, who co-authored the study, added: “The experimental observation of plasmon nanojets has been made possible by a concerted effort on the part of our center’s researchers and the colleagues in Moscow, Tomsk, and Copenhagen. This collaboration is not over, and we are planning to show other exciting effects that have to do with the formation, propagation, and application of plasmon nanojets.”
Originally published at https://mipt.ru. | https://medium.com/@mipt/new-superlens-has-potential-to-circumvent-classical-optics-laws-a65152a5a7fe | ['Moscow Institute Of Physics'] | 2020-07-27 08:53:34.186000+00:00 | ['Optics', 'Engineering', 'Nanotechnology', 'Electronics', 'Lenses'] |
Help Santa optimize his Christmas run with Google OR-Tools, Geopandas, and Folium | Nice isn’t it? But maybe you are wondering how Santa does optimize the local deliveries in each neighborhood? Let’s zoom in!
Micro-level (neighborhood) optimization
Photo by Tom Rumble on Unsplash
So the same problem applies when Santa arrives in your neighborhood. He has to find the shortest path for every chimney! You (or your kids) are curious about what it would look like?
Obviously, this is going to be harder to find a database that registers every house around yours so let’s use a workaround 😀
We only need to get the coordinates of each street’s start and end-points. I have done it with 10 dummy streets:
street_names = ["Toys Avenue", "The Elves Boulevard", "Sleigh Ride", "Rudolph Alley", "Candy Street", "Reindeer Avenue", "The Artic Impasse", "Snowman Street", "Aurora Alley","Gingerbread street","Mrs Santa Avenue"] street_coordinates = { 'Start_lat': ['50.674380', '50.676395', '50.676882', '50.67703', '50.676882', '50.67571', '50.67504', '50.67438', '50.67571', '50.67504'], 'Start_long': ['3.096106', '3.093955', '3.094978', '3.097701', '3.094978', '3.096349', '3.097100', '3.096121', '3.096349', '3.097100'], 'End_lat': ['50.676395', '50.676882', '50.67703', '50.67602', '50.674700', '50.67504', '50.67470', '50.67470', '50.67662', '50.676312'], 'End_long': ['3.093955', '3.094978', '3.097701', '3.099203', '3.097481', '3.097100', '3.097481', '3.097481', '3.098355', '3.099718'] } neighboordhood = pd.DataFrame(street_coordinates, index=street_names, columns=["Start_long","Start_lat","End_long","End_lat"]).astype(float) neighboordhood
Image by Author
# Let's initialize our neighborhood map with Folium
neighboordhood_map = folium.Map(location=[50.675700, 3.096281],
# Custom tiles details:
tiles="https://server.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/World_Imagery/MapServer/tile/{z}/{y}/{x}",
attr="Tiles © Esri — Source: Esri, i-cubed, USDA, USGS, AEX, GeoEye, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, UPR-EGP, and the GIS User Community",
zoom_start=17,
width="80%",
height="80%") for i in range(0, len(neighboordhood)):
folium.Marker([neighboordhood.iloc[i]['Start_lat'], neighboordhood.iloc[i]['Start_long']]).add_to(neighboordhood_map)
folium.Marker([neighboordhood.iloc[i]['End_lat'], neighboordhood.iloc[i]['End_long']]).add_to(neighboordhood_map) # And display the neighborhood map
neighboordhood_map
Image by Author
If we use the solver with only the start and endpoints of every street, we will end up with a clumsy solution, jumping from every corner to another:
Image by Author
So we will create artificial locations (ex. 30) between each start and endpoint to simulate the positions of the individual houses, as described below:
Image by Author
# Let's calculate the difference (longitude and latitude)
# between every street start and endpoint: neighboordhood["Delta_long"]=neighboordhood["End_long"]-neighboordhood["Start_long"] neighboordhood["Delta_lat"]=neighboordhood["End_lat"]-neighboordhood["Start_lat"] neighboordhood
Image by Author
# Number of intermediary locations
nb_steps = 30 neighboordhood_augmented_coordinates = pd.DataFrame(np.zeros((nb_steps*len(neighboordhood.index),3)), columns=["Street Name","Long","Lat"]) counter = 0 for street_name in neighboordhood.index:
# We define the starting point of the street
Local_Start_long = neighboordhood.loc[street_name,"Start_long"]
Local_Start_lat = neighboordhood.loc[street_name,"Start_lat"]
# We calculate the longitude and latitude steps
# to get from the start to the end
Long_step = neighboordhood.loc[street_name,"Delta_long"] / (nb_steps-1)
Lat_step = neighboordhood.loc[street_name,"Delta_lat"] / (nb_steps-1)
# We add the corresponding locations to the dataframe
for step in range(nb_steps):
neighboordhood_augmented_coordinates.loc[counter, "Street Name"] = street_name+"_"+str(step)
neighboordhood_augmented_coordinates.loc[counter, "Long"] = Local_Start_long + step * (Long_step)
neighboordhood_augmented_coordinates.loc[counter, "Lat"] = Local_Start_lat + step * (Lat_step) counter +=1 #print(street_name,"-> processed!") neighboordhood_augmented_coordinates = neighboordhood_augmented_coordinates.set_index("Street Name") # We remove duplicates locations (start and end points from
# connected streets)
neighboordhood_augmented_coordinates = neighboordhood_augmented_coordinates.drop_duplicates() # We calculate the distance matrix and convert it to a NumPy array
# We multiply the results by a 100.000 ratio as solver will round
# the values to preserve accuarcy neighboordhood_mtx = pd.DataFrame(distance_matrix(neighboordhood_augmented_coordinates.values, neighboordhood_augmented_coordinates.values), index=neighboordhood_augmented_coordinates.index,
columns=neighboordhood_augmented_coordinates.index)*100000 neighboordhood_mtx = round(neighboordhood_mtx) display(neighboordhood_mtx) neighboordhood_mtx = neighboordhood_mtx.to_numpy()
Image by Author
We repeat the same steps of initializing and running the routing solver as what we did for the capitals' journey.
Image by Author
A few opening questions before we close this article:
Do you wonder how long it would take to calculate the optimum path for the 26,562 cities registered in the initial dataset?
As you can imagine, the complexity of this route optimization is combinatorial and Google Colab also has its limits (a 12Gb RAM limit!)
The closest I have been able to get from the answer was a journey of ~11.000 cities (the ones that have more than 25.000 inhabitants) and the whole calculation took 2h40min:
Route optimization with 11k countries! Image by Author
With such a journey ahead of him, could it be easier for Santa to sub-contract some of the deliveries to the elves with additional sleighs?
What if each sleigh has a limited weight or volume capacity and Santa has to go back to Pole North every now and then during the night?
How can we optimize the load of the sleigh before each departure?
All these scenarios can be included in the calculation thanks to the search parameters of OR-Tools, as described in the Routing section documentation.
That’s oh-oh-all folks! 🎅🎄⛄
A huge thank you to Corentin Vasseur who reviewed this article before its release to help me improve it 🙏.
The complete notebook is available on Google Drive here. | https://towardsdatascience.com/help-santa-optimize-his-christmas-run-with-google-or-tools-geopandas-and-folium-9c4517f1a76d | ['Pierre-Louis Bescond'] | 2021-02-01 19:37:34.470000+00:00 | ['Google Or Tools', 'Routing', 'Editors Pick', 'Optimization', 'Data Science'] |
How to create a Web-Based Document Viewer in Python | Setting up web views for documents can be the source of a great many headaches for Python users. That’s why today’s solution will be as simple as calling a function, then using the HTML embed code that it provides. Our total setup time is going to be just a handful of minutes.
This level of simplicity is achieved through use of an API, which we will install now.
pip install cloudmersive-convert-api-client
Our function is named viewer_tools_create_simple, which will also require a new API instance. Set this up in the following manner:
from __future__ import print_function import time import cloudmersive_convert_api_client from cloudmersive_convert_api_client.rest import ApiException from pprint import pprint # Configure API key authorization: Apikey configuration = cloudmersive_convert_api_client.Configuration() configuration.api_key['Apikey'] = 'YOUR_API_KEY' # Uncomment below to setup prefix (e.g. Bearer) for API key, if needed # configuration.api_key_prefix['Apikey'] = 'Bearer' # create an instance of the API class api_instance = cloudmersive_convert_api_client.ViewerToolsApi(cloudmersive_convert_api_client.ApiClient(configuration)) input_file = '/path/to/file' # file | Input file to perform the operation on. try: # Create a web-based viewer api_response = api_instance.viewer_tools_create_simple(input_file) pprint(api_response) except ApiException as e: print("Exception when calling ViewerToolsApi->viewer_tools_create_simple: %s
" % e)
And now input the file path for your document. Moments later you will have your embed code. Effortless. | https://cloudmersive.medium.com/how-to-create-a-web-based-document-viewer-in-python-d7c7232b9843 | [] | 2020-05-08 17:12:12.993000+00:00 | ['Document Viewer', 'Python', 'Create', 'Web Based'] |
Do you a flavour? donuts as a dessert, only Americans speak donut | We really do have no idea what we will get each week !!!!
25th Dec 2019: The first Posting of American Pastry Chef Cerise Pye, who can be rude, witty and offensive,
Well hello ya’ll (it’s a word, look it up) in Australia, I had to google it, I thought it was a suburb in Austria, not on the other side of the world. My name is Cerise Pye, a USA based pastry chef who answered an Ad on Craigslist to write about my “culinary journey!” which I found strange as I never been outside New York. But for $20 a post or the price of a pint of Buffalo Trace White Dog Mash moonshine, and i was sold.
I was born and raised above my parent’s bakery in New Jersey, where I used to work as a teenager. Until there was an incident with the head baker and royal icing and we will leave at that, it’s to traumatic and my Valium aint kicked in yet. I always wanted to be a pastry chef, so funnily enough I came into some money after my mother’s, apartment got burgled (that what she thinks) and I headed off to the world famous, Institute of Culinary Education in New York city, but only for a year. (those rings were worth as she much told tell people, it’s not wonder she can’t keep a husband!)
I spent all my working years in NYC attempting to be an adult/pastry chef and for some ungodly reason you people think, I’m an authority on all things Pastry. I have worked in and been fired from some of the best restaurants and places that look like they should fail every health inspection. Once I had do some pans in the kitchen, the porter was sick, I suspected TB from the mould in restaurant, So I stuck my hand into the water to look for the dishrag, felt something soft & squishy and pulled it out…it was a drowned mouse.
So, this week I want to tell you people about something called flavour, something we Americans know a lot about, we spray cheese in a can and Fruit Loops (and I dont mean the cereal). I see the pastry chef at the twins catering place (I am sure they are just one person with a split personality) but hey they/him are paying me to impart my culinary wisdom on you folks
So what’s his face party chef posted this “cute video” (here it is If you haven’t seen it) all about how donuts are the next big thing, maybe in your part of the world, but here they have feeding this lad arsed over weight nation for since the dawn of bakery time. And I am only assuming he is asking you good people to “Do Him A Flavour” because.
A, he don’t know anything about flavour and is to lazy to google it,
B he has all the skills of Jamie Oliver, meaning none! or
C he spends too much time face down in the powdered sugar!!
So I will do you a favour and flavour for free!. The only flavour you need to know is the, taste of unrefined sugar glaze and so much of it you get instant tooth decay. And If want to go all fancy ass, add a little bit of Smuckers Grape Jelly in the Middle…and hey presto your first genuine American donut recipe and $1000 for the dentist bill
Until next week or when I am sober enough to write again
Yours
Cerise | https://medium.com/@britainlovesbaking/25th-dec-2019-the-first-posting-of-american-pastry-chef-cerise-pye-who-can-be-rude-witty-and-45215a7619bf | [] | 2020-01-19 18:40:14.009000+00:00 | ['Blogger', 'Chefs', 'Fiction', 'Foodies', 'Culinary'] |
To the women in my life… | Today is the International Women’s Day. It’s both a celebration of women’s equality and achievements and a reminder of how much more we have to do. I’ll tell you the story of the women in my life and how they influenced and created who I am today.
My grandmothers were strong, resilient women. They were kind, generous, caring, but at the same time unapologetic, fierce and admirable. They were working-class women, who survived the horrors of World War II, saw their family members killed and tortured, lived through poverty, illnesses, system changes. They were never housewives without a voice. On the contrary — one of them, even though barely had a high-school education, was a member of the republic parliament in the early ’60s (equivalent to the provincial parliament in Canada, or the state legislature in the US), while the other had to support the whole family when my grandfather was out of favour with the then communist regime. To their husbands and to other men in their surrounding, they were equals, their opinion was valued and their fury feared. They were the pillars of the family.
My mother grew up in that environment, to be a strong and respected woman, university-educated, with a very successful career. She raised two kids with my dad, married for 51 years and counting. He was never “the head of the house” or the boss at home. No one was. They were equals, they respected each other, they never disagreed on major issues. I’ve never heard my dad raise his voice or say anything demeaning about her. My mother is respected in the community, she still is the voice of reason for her colleagues, friends, and neighbours, she is admired for her strength, great cooking skills, and tenacity. She is not someone you want to debate with unprepared. What she lacks in size (she is a giant at 4’11”), she compensates in energy and feistiness.
My sister grew up in that environment, to be a strong and respected woman. She never shied from challenges and was the best student of her generation. There has never been a barrier for her, just temporary obstacles. She was a poet, an engineer, a party-goer, a great friend. She fought all of my battles for me. Growing up I was looking up to her and tried to copy her in every possible way (I could never be as good of a student as she was — but then no one could). Educated with a master’s degree, she is currently working in the senior management of one of the top companies in Canada, breaking every barrier put in her way, armed with knowledge and hard work. She is raising two daughters, who are just as strong, unique, and talented as she is. Her husband is a progressive father, who never acted like the daughters are his property, teaching them to be their own persons, find their own strength, and their own path.
This is where I come from, this is my lineage. These are the examples I’ve seen in my life, the examples that I cherish, admire, and respect. Because of these women before me, it was only natural that I fell in love with a woman who is independent, strong, intelligent, interesting, exciting, beautiful on all levels. My wife grew up with a hard-working, independent, single mom. She has seen hardship, she has seen failure, she has seen success. She holds a master’s degree from one of the top universities in the world. She can talk on any topic without taking a beat. She is a great artist, a great entrepreneur, and an amazing friend. She is dedicated, fiercely loyal, incredibly creative. I am not her equal. She is far superior to me in every aspect — from her work ethics to her creativity, to her strength. I would have failed many times over the years if it wasn’t for her picking me up and leading the way. The world can survive without people like me. The world would be a far better place with more people like her.
These are the women in my life. When I hear any man say that “women can’t do this or that”, I genuinely don’t understand what they are talking about! These women can do anything and everything. Better than any man can do. Let’s acknowledge and be thankful for that on this 8th of March, International Women’s Day. Let’s acknowledge and be thankful for that every day. | https://medium.com/@andreitraikovski/to-the-women-in-my-life-ddae79dd3984 | ['Andrei Traikovski'] | 2021-03-08 16:30:54.780000+00:00 | ['Women', 'Mothers', 'Feminism', 'Equality', 'Womens Rights'] |
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Mother Earth has a Rhythm | Mother Earth has a Rhythm
Poem
Mother Earth has a rhythm
that must not be disturbed
a distant drumming heartbeat
that often goes unheard.
We’re chewing and choking
on our piece of Heaven
and leaving scars on the land.
We’re snatching and grabbing
more than our share
and we all got the blood on our hands.
It’s an over-consumption
an awful malfunction
and we’re digging our own grave.
We cannot create
a more perfect place
than what is ours to save. | https://medium.com/driftwood-chronicle/mother-earth-has-a-rhythm-d251a826c1b7 | ['Tauna Pierce'] | 2016-11-18 14:01:55.628000+00:00 | ['Environmental Issues', 'Environment', 'Making A Difference', 'Poetry And Prose', 'Poetry'] |
The Keys To Mass Adoption Of Cryptocurrencies | For cryptocurrencies to be mass adopted should take into account the very nature of what the first cryptocurrency was designed to do, which was to solve the problems of money and manipulation of money. Cryptocurrencies fit the three requirements needed for an instrument to be classified as money. These are:
1) A unit of account
2) A medium of exchange
3) Storage of value
The first two requirements are easily met. The third one is partially satisfied but needs another element to make it complete. That element is “TRUST”!
Cryptocurrencies generate trust from the technology itself but for there to be mass adoption of cryptocurrencies they need to create trust not only from the benefits and of the technology itself but as well generated from the value that it brings, which is infinitely harder to build. Some currencies have tried and have failed in the past, but they didn’t have all of the tools that cryptocurrencies potentially bring to the table. There are three things needed to establish trust with the masses.
1. ZEROS/Value 0.00000001
The number of decimal places has a dramatic psychological effect on how people perceive value on a medium of exchange. In the fiat world, the International Organization for Standardization, better known as the ISO 4217 is used to establish an internationally recognized standard for currencies. By looking at the ISO 4217, we can see that the greatest number of decimals places for a fiat currency is 3 (e.g., 0.001). The standard for cryptocurrencies is 8 places (0.00000001). The paradigm shift is a massive one, one that the masses are not ready for. In theory, eight decimals places mean that cryptocurrencies are perfectly divisible as a medium of exchange. However, theory and reality don’t always mix. This gap between theory and reality, in this case, will continue to slow down the adoption of cryptocurrencies.
Our eyes move in a particular pattern when reading numbers. We move from left to right. Numbers on the left-hand side of the decimal place add the most significant value to us. We recognize identify numbers on the right-hand side as less significant. We tend to overlook anything to the right of the decimal place. However, any change in the value of Cryptocurrencies will happen on the right side of the decimal. This isn’t an area we are conditioned to pay attention to.
Numerous studies of pricing psychology show that numbers and the placement of decimals have a dramatic psychological effect on how the human brain perceives value. This is why at Laccoin we have considered this and decided to use two decimal places to align our token with people’s psychological understanding of a medium of exchange.
2. Volatility / Elasticity Reserve Fund
Figure 1: Annualized Volatility of Currencies
Some individuals in the cryptocurrency universe will hate this section. The second critical issue with cryptocurrencies is its volatility, which wrecks havoc on its value.
A catch 22 comes into play here since, more people adopting cryptocurrency as a medium of exchange leads to greater stability. The volatility seen in the Figure 1 chart is one that would lead to a number of people being apprehensive about converting fiat dollars into cryptocurrencies, because they’re much more volatile than fiat currencies and commodity money in the chart.
A mandate to guarantee the currency’s stability is required for cryptocurrencies to become mass adopted. The word issuer reminds people too much of banks or central bank authorities. Cryptocurrencies also need to have elastic qualities like fiat dollars. Fiat dollars need to adjust to the supply as a means of payment that’s in line with transaction demands. Laccoin will expand our base monetary supply buy purchasing LAC tokens at market rates on the secondary markets. This is one avenue that creates price stability. This also maximizes the rewards for people using Laccoin which achieves a certain amount of price-stability, and serving as a store of value.
Volatility, upside or downside, creates an unstable value for the end user. As previously mentioned, Laccoin will buy tokens in the open market for rewards those rewards will also be distributed to the LAC Union Wealth Fund.
Volatility is a significant concern for cryptocurrencies. It hampers the rate of adoption because It impedes the trust factor. Both upside and downside volatility create unstable value for the end user of LAC tokens. LACCOIN will buy tokens on the open market for use as rewards (See Section 4.3 LAC Union Wealth Fund) for its user base. Reserves will be held in the company. This is achieved by adjusting to the supply of the means of payment, making Laccoin supply elastic.
Laccoin will have a committee comprised of individuals and institutions whose sole objective is price stability for Laccoin. The committee will be able to buy in high frequencies, in during times of market stress but also during times of normalcy. The Elasticity Reserve will also take into account the unsold coins from the public ICO and shift them towards the elasticity reserve. The elasticity reserve will be able to hold up to 25% of total initial supply for liquidity and elasticity demands. These will be held in a separate wallet. Quarterly announcement will notify the public of shrinking or expading token supply. In cases where Laccoin Reserve/Elasticity fund can no longer meet demand or if supply can no longer support the transaction needs of our users, Laccoin sanctioned by the committee can increase the total fixed supply. | https://medium.com/laccoin/the-keys-to-mass-adoption-of-cryptocurrencies-3462de30eb88 | ['Lac Coins'] | 2018-09-05 10:10:18.758000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency Investment', 'ICO', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Crypto', 'Laccoin'] |
Eco-Track Supply Chain And Recycling Services using IOTA | Since August 2019, I started working on my graduation project idea which is a supply chain system to keep track of products from manufacturing to end-users. Where end-users could earn some IOTAs as rewards for putting their products in our smart trash. Eco-track consists of a mobile app for the supply chain, one for the recycling and a website for registration. I used nodejs, IOTA and IPFS to create a REST API. I documented all my graduation project development journey through these four articles :
Parsing Data
Track Products API
Tangle &IPFS database
Recycling System
All these articles demonstrate the logic. Now I am going to share the final output with you. But before that, I am going to explain what Eco-Track do.
What Eco-Track Do Exactly?
Eco-Track is a supply chain system interested in two ledgers. The first one is the factorization of products till end-users. Each end-users with the supply chain mobile app can update the product’s status and gave his feedback to achieve the highest transparency.
The second ledger is from the end-users to the recyclers and it uses another mobile app for recycling. I explained this ledger in details in the Recycling System article.
You can see a simple demonstration of the two apps here
Sharing the Eco-Track With You
Now, after I got my grade which is A+ by the way💃 . I am glad to share Eco-Track as a public repository. I did not only share the source code but I included all the resources I found or used like:
Blueprints, articles, papers and projects similar to Eco-Track. Diagrams I created for the graduation project. My own created Prototypes simple apps + some IOTA tools I tried like IOTA decentralized data marketplace. DevOps: parsing test cases then deploy a website using IPFS (incomplete test cases). Three mobile apps (supply chain, recycling and NFC tag read/write). I included my seed filled with some faucet IOTA from coment Tangle.
You can check the readme file. I tried to be as clear as possible. If you face any problem, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Also, Read | https://medium.com/coinmonks/eco-track-supply-chain-and-recycling-services-using-iota-c2b1de681aac | ['Yehia Tarek'] | 2020-12-28 16:47:59.202000+00:00 | ['Iota', 'Recycling', 'Ipfs', 'Blockchain', 'Supply Chain'] |
BREAK THE CYCLE
This article will be very short and to the point. | BREAK THE CYCLE
This article will be very short and to the point. So many people today are struggling with their finances in a big way. The mountains of bills keep elevating while their bank accounts keep running dry. Many are not sure of where their next meal may be coming from, or how they will get back and forth to work with a car that’s stuck in the driveway, or worse…..needs to be towed off the side of the road. Maybe for others, they inherited a home that they didn’t want, or simply couldn’t afford. To be honest, the first thing many people fall behind on…..are their mortgage payments. I feel for so many, who battle with the impending thought that foreclosure on their home is a very likely scenario. They have disdain towards the banks and say it’s all their fault for not giving them another extension. Let me let you in on a little secret…..the banks don’t really want your houses and you don’t have to ruin your credit for the next several years regardless of what you’ve heard. There’s a way out….and here’s how. Let’s BREAK THE CYCLE!
A Simple Cycle Breaker………
Sell to An Investor
There are many investors out there who will purchase your house for cash. That’s right, CASH! An investor is not going to pay full price for your house, but if you don’t have enough equity, don’t want to pay agents commissions and don’t want to make any repairs, then selling to an investor is most likely your best shot. They will buy your house “as is” and take care of all of the needed work, well after the dark cloud of foreclosure has blown past you. This will not only BREAK THE CYCLE of foreclosure, but may even put CASH in your pocket to pay for other bills and expenses…..all while saving any impending damage to your credit.
Need help selling your house quick, breaking the cycle and getting your life back on track? If you do, then I can help. Click HERE to break out of the chains that bind you and break into a new life of freedom ahead of you. Let me join you on your journey.
Let’s BREAK THE CYCLE together!
-Andrea Babbino | https://medium.com/@HouseRecruiters/break-the-cycle-this-article-will-be-very-short-and-to-the-point-1777bf522b17 | ['House Recruiters'] | 2015-12-23 03:37:28.632000+00:00 | ['Real Estate', 'Real Estate Investments'] |
Transformation and the Network Economy | By: Jayden Stewart
We get asked one question here a lot at TribalScale, and that is why are we so willing to hand over the secrets of our success in transformation engagements?
It’s true that our biggest assets are our people and our processes. And it’s also true that we use these things to their fullest potential in transformations, where we embed ourselves within our client’s organization and teach them to use Agile methodologies, and empower them to develop high-quality software independently.
But it’s not true that sharing our biggest assets with others weakens us in the long run, in fact, the opposite is the case, and I’ll tell you why.
In the past, it was possible, and the norm, for enterprises to create value entirely within themselves: New products and new ideas could be created by the people, processes, and property of one organization, and ownership and revenue would reflect this.
In the internet age, this is no longer the case. The dramatic rise in the number of connected devices has created an equally dramatic reduction in costs for gathering and sharing information; and the more easily information can be shared, the more pressure there is to do so.
The new possibilities for collecting information have allowed consumers to make their preferences known like never before, opening up new choices and therefore new spaces for companies to compete. This has driven power away from producers and into the hands of consumers.
The result is that organizations must now share information in order to remain competitive. New market forces have compelled companies to collaborate and the spread of networks, both collaborative networks and the networks of connected devices that power them, has been truly global.
These networks add an immense amount of value to our economy as the products and services that are created through them are far better than what any one company could achieve on its own.
This is known as the ‘network economy.’
Forbes’ Greg Satell put it this way:
“The reality that we need to grapple with now is that competitive advantage is no longer the sum of all efficiencies but the sum of all connections. To win in today’s connected economy, you need to deepen and widen networks.”
When we conduct transformation engagements, we arm enterprises with the skills, tools, and processes needed to build modern, user-centric, cloud-based software; but just as importantly, we help build a network of smart, creative people who are empowered to build better products for end-users.
We can’t speak for any other companies out there, but we think the movement of power from businesses to users is a great thing. It means that the economy is moving towards a function of improving lives, rather than filling pockets, and that we as people get to work on projects that add value to people’s lives.
It also means that as we expand our network through transformation engagements, through every engagement in fact, we grow our ability to create meaningful digital experiences. We couldn’t be more excited to keep doing exactly that. | https://medium.com/tribalscale/transformation-and-the-network-economy-159583f0cb22 | ['Tribalscale Inc.'] | 2019-08-19 20:46:45.344000+00:00 | ['Software Development', 'Network Economy', 'Thought Leadership', 'Transformation', 'Digital Transformation'] |
Build an Image-Classification Data Set in 20 Minutes | Build an Image-Classification Data Set in 20 Minutes
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
The biggest flaw with most online deep learning courses is most of them use data that’s been cleaned and prepared for their learners. This means learners miss out on the crucial steps of building and cleaning a data set. This skill gap usually reveals itself when you have an interesting idea and you don’t have any idea how to start working on it.
I experienced this problem after completing my first data science course. The course had a section on image classification using convolutional neural networks (CNNs), and the project used for demonstration was a dog-breed classifier using images from ImageNet.
It was an interesting project, but it taught me nothing about curating a data set. I almost gave up in frustration after that course, and my progress slowed — until recently when I started taking the “Practical Deep Learning for Coders” course by fast.ai. The course is structured in a way that gives students an end-to-end view of the AI process.
In the image-classification section of the course, students are shown how to build a data set using the Bing image search API — the process returns images related to selected search terms.
This opened a door in my mind, and after a bit of research, I found a way to achieve the same thing without a need for Microsoft accounts, API keys, and all the extras involved in working with the API.
To build your own image-classification data set in less than 30 minutes, follow the steps below. | https://betterprogramming.pub/build-an-image-classification-dataset-in-20-minutes-f7060091e81b | ['Samuel Ogbonna'] | 2020-12-11 09:35:44.720000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Data Science', 'Image Classification', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Python'] |
STAR WARS’ PROBLEM WITH WOMEN | George Fuckin Lucas. What a fat bitch. It’s no secret he has issues with women. This is why Star Wars is riddled with anti-female subtext. Hell, the only reason it exists is because Lucas couldn’t get pussy. Card carrying member of I.N.C.E.L. No one who gets laid would ever invent Twi’leks, lightsabers, or kissing their sister. Do I even have to mention the whole “killing evil Black dad” plot point? This unconscious resentment has poisoned every one of the films. Staining Disney’s legacy.
Just look at the names. Princess Leia, Padme, Holdo, Jabba. These are the names Lucas gives to ‘his’ women. Alien? Or dehumanizing? Meanwhile, the males get normal names like Luke, Lando and Chewbacca. Also, Luke? Lucas? Didn’t know you wanted to commit terrorism and bang your sister, Georgie-boy. Did George have a Black stepfather who choked him? Just another uncomfortable question Lucas has forced into our minds. However, Lucas is not the only Sith here. The fans are dark sided.
It’s no secret. This has been known since the beginning. In Revenge of The Nerds, named after The Revenge of The Sith, there’s a scene where one of the nerds and a jock are attending a fair separately. Coincidently, they are both dressed as Darth Vader (Kylo Ren’s closeted grandfather). The jock leaves his girlfriend for a bit. Perhaps to reflect on how he can be a better ally. Then the nefarious nerd in the duplicate Darth Vader outfit approaches her. He silently leads her to one of the attractions.
She thinks her boyfriend is being playful. Not realizing this is a completely different person. The nerd performs oral cunnilingus on her. Only revealing who he truly is after she climaxes. That’s assault. This is a subtle nod to the fact that Star Wars fans are rapists. Brave social commentary with an unfortunately timeless message. Even in the 80s we knew Star War fans have a 50/50 chance of being Caucasian ISIS. It is so bad that the premiere of Return of The Jedi had armed guards that gave out free revolvers to all female identifying fans.
This is as true now as it was then. Just look at the latest films. Flawlessly written and directed space operas. Acting on par with Lawrence Olivia. Progressive fetishes.
This got me so hard
Yet, half the fan base is not only ungrateful. They are vitriolic. They can’t stand Rey because she’s a woman. She’s a character too complex for bigots. They want her to be a quiet damsel that does nothing like the submissive and naggy Leia. She’s not even a character. That’s what star wars fans want. Just look at what they celebrate.
The most popular Star Wars product currently is The Mandolorian. It’s about a space cowboy struggling to be a single father to a gender ambiguous magic goblin baby. Do I even have to say it? One: it erases the struggles of single mothers. Two: represents nonbinary people with a non human that can’t take care of themselves. Three: Cowboys were named after their pastime of assaulting cattle. Cattle which often had more legal protection than individuals with cervixes. Yikes. There’s no plot whatsoever, or women for that matter, but MANdo and his bro Cara Dune blow things up. Star Wars is saved from the clutches of the feminine spirit and social progress.
Why did Disney even bother saving this franchise? | https://medium.com/@thegreatestarticlesonthissite/star-wars-problem-with-women-4551659d2b83 | [] | 2020-12-19 23:48:48.277000+00:00 | ['Star Wars'] |
Retail Investors, Financial Advisors Re-Entering Crypto Market in India | Financial Advisors Re-Entering Crypto Market in India
To date, Bitcoin has risen by 204%. Why is the boom? Any investor will invest in bitcoins with such revenues. Should you invest? How do institutional investors invest correctly?
Bitcoin breaking over $20,000 is a milestone in a year that has undergone multiple upturns and downturns in the global marketplace, primarily because of the fact that numerous internationally-renowned investors are throwing their weight behind Bitcoin.
Institutions investing in Bitcoin
The record-breaking surge in Bitcoin over the last few weeks was driven significantly by the market participation of larger, increasing institutional investors. For a little, over a decade the blockchain has been around, but just last year started popularising major institutional investors. Bitcoin is viewed by crypto bulls as an inflation-field hedge, like gold.
Looking at this Bitcoin boom we’ve witnessed over the past few weeks and months, there are only two major guiding forces. The first is that institutional players are constantly joining. Investors such as Paul Tudor Jones and Stanley Druckenmiller have made funds available in Bitcoin and have proven its potential as a hedge against inflation.
The interest of Large Financial companies
Big and Medium Size investors showing their interest in Bitcoin Investment 2021.
Big finance firms such as PayPal and Fidelity too have made moves in the cryptocurrency, while Square and MicroStrategy like to acquire bitcoin utilizing their own balances.
Companies such as MicroStrategy and MassMutual insurers have invested in bitcoin 2021 respectively at $475 million and $100 million. Big corporations like Paypal will now access cryptography for their clients.
In various parts of the world, regulatory issues are becoming favorable. Both these advances have given consumers a great deal of faith leading to a market rally.
Re-entry of Retail investors and Financial advisors in India
Retail investors aged between 25 and 40 spend millions every day on cryptocurrency trading in India, according to two of the country’s top exchanges. The platform earns $20–25 million a day, of which about 75% are from Indian investors.
Experts predict that now that Bitcoin has reached longevity, by far the most known digital asset, the number of retail buyers will rise faster. According to Vincent Poon, an industry veteran, Bitcoin’s values could this time grow to as much as $100,000. On 30 November 2014, the world’s biggest digital asset hit an all-time high of $19,577.47.
BuyUcoin invites all the Retail investors and Financial Advisors to become a Part of OTC Trading Desk, allowing your customers to Trade Crypto at 0% Fees as well as Big Profit Margins to Claim. Contact [email protected] to Know More.
It had surpassed the preceding peak at $19,511 in December 2017, until 70% of its worth was lost in the next two years. Poon said that “a fear of the 100,000 price point being missing” is going to drive a lot of people to invest in Bitcoin now.
The Bitcoin bubble has generated a “positive feeling,” driving more institutional buyers into crypto-trading in India. As Bitcoin was growing, trading orders rose by 52% on 29 and 30 November. During the same period, overall volumes of crypto trading increased by 27%.
This big Bitcoin rally looks like corporations are behind it. Big, publicly-traded businesses such as Microstrategy and Square spend portions of their company. According to Arslanian, institutional investors are the second motivating progress of the new Bitcoin boom, and fear of missing.
He said far more people now have cryptocurrency accounts than ever, so it is now easier than ever to buy cryptocurrencies. The clarity in the rules, which was scarce at the time, is a major difference between this rally and that seen in 2017. He said today, most regulators worldwide have in-house cryptographic workers.
Many major financial centers have pretty good regulatory clarification on crypto markets which provides comfort, both for institutional investors and for retail investors. The current trend remains optimistic for cryptocurrency this year. Because we are seeing new investment investors coming in rather than the price of bitcoin, which we conclude has an oversized market effect.
Crypto market in India
In the past year, the trading of cryptocurrencies in India has seen abundant growth for institutional participation. Although the values of cryptocurrencies were slow to climb, the entire industry expanded by several measures.
The Andhra Pradesh Government became India’s first state to pilot blockchain technology in the field of civil supplies and land records to combat fraud and corruption.
A variety of new platforms and services have been developed lately, including conventional wealth management firms including Fidelity Investments, in the crypto-currency market, primarily for institutional investing.
Fidelity Digital Assets was launched in 2018, a separate enterprise delivering cryptocurrency holding and exchange facilities. In short, it is clear that institutions are beginning to warm up in India, where cryptocurrencies are a majorly dominant asset class.
Since technological pioneers and early adopters are still in the field, the presence of larger organizations paints a hopeful picture for the future of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology in India.
Read Also: Buy Bitcoin in India — Step by Step guide for beginners
Crypto rally was driven by Retail investors and Financial advisors
Ethereum and Bitcoin Price graph
This is another crypto bubble close to 2017 announced by various industry “experts.” In comparison, however, the new growth is not only guided by institutional investors but also large investors, institutions, hedge funds, and more.
This includes individuals such as Paul Tudor Jones, a billionaire businessman, who buys Bitcoin for unparalleled cash printing, and companies including Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance, which invested $ 100 million of the digital currency earlier this month.
Since the insurance firm has a comparatively limited $100 million role, a few heads were sufficient. The future need for other insurance providers in the coming years can be seen.
Scott Minerd, head of investing of Guggenheim Investments, is also a bitcoin bull with $233 billion in management funds (AUM). This is a trajectory until the end of 2020 with a value of C$1 billion. | https://medium.com/buyucoin-talks/retail-investors-financial-advisors-re-entering-crypto-market-in-india-685c5a539840 | ['Rinkesh Jha'] | 2021-01-21 06:32:20.650000+00:00 | ['Buy Bitcoin In India', 'Financial Planning', 'Crypto Market In India', 'Retail', 'Investors'] |
Tijuana, Mexico | The first time, I went with my family and it was like “The Brady Bunch Goes to Tijuana.” We had lunch on the main tourist drag, Avenida Revolución, and had the sense of being on a trapeze without a harness. Vendors approached us, shouted offers, kissed my sister on the cheek, and we weren’t used to that. Golly! It’s not like the Mexico at EPCOT! It felt both thrilling and tame, maybe what it’s like to “dive” with sharks even though one of you is in a cage. We requested “no ice” in our drinks (“Don’t drink the water”). My brother bought brass knuckles (a “Mexican divorce” the vendor called them, laughing and demonstrating a punch) and slipped them into my mom’s purse, which got searched at the border, and they just tsk-tsked and took the brass knuckles away and we joked about how dear old Mom could have wound up in a Mexican prison. We were out maybe twenty bucks. We shrugged, crossed the border, and went to the San Diego Zoo.
The second time was with the ex-boyfriend I spent all of my twenties with. He was weird about travel, and got jealous any time I took a trip with my family or for work. He wanted to go to Tijuana so our checklists would match. He’d never been out of the country before and was determined we’d spend one night in Mexico, to one-up my family. So we booked a room at a hotel, one street off the main tourist drag. We chose to walk back up to the border instead of taking whatever shuttle we’d used on the way in. We wound up on a local bus with people going to work, and a mariachi band playing for tips. There were no brass knuckles, no incidents at the border.
There was no third time, but there could have been. I lived in San Diego, which is right next to Tijuana on the map, if you ignore the border, which of course you can’t. The jolly red trolley that rolled through downtown went as far south as Tijuana. “TIJUANA” its forehead blared, with what felt like audacity, at least to my Virginia eyes. I met a cocaine dealer named Columbo on the night of my 30th birthday, and through him I met a guy named Jaliv; I guess Columbo passed my number around. (I never did any drugs, in San Diego or anywhere else — booze was my thing — but I liked knowing these colorful characters. Golly! They don’t have these folks at EPCOT!) Jaliv invited me to “party” with him in a hot tub one time; Jaliv invited me to go “house hunting” with him in Tijuana another time. I always made excuses not to go. I only wanted the characters at arm’s length.
The closest I came that year was when a twentysomething couple who lived on their small rented yacht — I’d met them, walking along the bay, when they were drunk and fighting, having just lost a lot of money in the stock market; this was 2008, and these stories were common — invited me to tag along as a sort of waitress on one of the “sunset dinner cruises” they took millionaires on. I chopped vegetables below deck; I poured wine. When no one needed anything, I got to stand above the deck and see the sights: sea lions, and a Shell gas station just for boats, and clustered on the hillsides on the opposite side of the water — houses in Tijuana. The captain didn’t narrate this part of the cruise. The wind blew our hair all around; we sipped our wine and bobbed on the yacht and just stared. | https://medium.com/pointillist/tijuana-mexico-f91e85550ce1 | ['Christie Chapman'] | 2020-12-23 19:23:00.222000+00:00 | ['Travel Writing', 'Travel', 'San Diego', 'Tijuana', 'Tourism'] |
You Were Someone Before You Met Your Partner | Photo by RODNAE Productions from Pexels
There are some dating/relationship mistakes punishable by life. Don’t make them.
You were someone before you met your partner. Never forget that. Maybe even a happier person.
If you have a heart filled with genuine love, you don’t need to act or be someone else just to impress your partner.
A successful relationship involves an authentic partnership created by genuine/honest people.
The right person (for you) will not only accept you the way you are; he’ll also inspire you to be the best version of yourself.
Most of the successful people owe their success to the daily inspirations provided to them by their partners.
But unhappy people (enslaved in a relationship) owe their sadness to the daily frustrations served to them by their abusive, nonchalant, and narcissistic partners.
If you are a person of integrity, the right person (for you) will help you accomplish your goals and give you the freedom to live a purposeful life with them. | https://medium.com/@Lightoflights/you-were-someone-before-you-met-your-partner-a918d2b32390 | [] | 2020-12-26 16:42:03.108000+00:00 | ['Relationship Rules', 'Dating Advice For Guys', 'Dating Advice For Women', 'Relationship Advice Women', 'Relationships Love Dating'] |
Women Have an Actual Superpower | Have you heard of the Montane Spine Race?
No, I hadn’t either. But it definitely exists, and it’s a growling beast of an endurance race, possibly the hardest race out there. It’s called the Spine Race because it traces the backbone of England, along 268 gruelling mountain miles with 43,000 feet of climbing (cumulatively more than the height of Everest), and it’s held in the bleakest depths of winter.
I can’t even imagine it. (I did less than a tenth of that distance on comfortable flat roads in mild April breezes last year, and that was punishing enough). Nevertheless, there are plenty of people who can imagine it, and who apply in their eager droves each year. It’s a very popular niche event among people who love to push themselves to the absolute limit.
Last year, the outright winner of the Montane Spine Race was Jasmin Paris, a vet from Edinburgh who is an experienced endurance runner. She completed the 268-mile distance in a staggering 83 hours, 12 minutes and 33 seconds. She spent only 7 hours of that time sleeping or eating. Most of the time she was running on mountains, often in the dark with a head torch, and able only to see a few metres in front of her pounding feet.
She won the race. But she didn’t just win, she broke the course record for the race. And she didn’t just break it, she smashed it.
She knocked 12 whole hours off the previous record, which had been set in 2016 by a man named Eoin Keith. If that’s not impressive enough, consider this: the previous year’s winner, a man named Eugeni Rossello Sole, was so intent on catching her that he had to drop out of the race, exhausted, only 4 miles from its end.
And twenty hours after Jasmin finished running, only two other people — both men — had also finished the race. Everyone else had either been forced by injury or exhaustion to retire, or had not yet reached the finish line.
Oh, I forgot to mention.
Jasmin was still breastfeeding her toddler at the time of the race, and she expressed breast milk at four out of the five checkpoints on the route.
It’s impressive stuff. Genuinely, mind-blowingly impressive.
Which makes it all the more baffling that until recently, women were very rarely represented in endurance running. And as recently as the 1970s, women were not even officially allowed to run marathons — it was widely and genuinely believed that our bodies could not cope with the strain.
It’s staggering now to think that it was only in 1972 — less than fifty years ago — that female entries were finally permitted to the world-famous Boston marathon.
As running exploded in popularity over recent decades, women’s access to it still lagged behind. Ultramarathons (defined as any race longer than 26.2 miles) and long endurance events were inevitably full of male competitors, and again it seemed to be just assumed that as women, we wouldn’t be able to hack the grind.
After all, overall the distances up to and including the marathon, men are faster. It’s a biological fact: they have bigger muscles and they have greater maximal capacities (such as strength and aerobic power). We can’t beat men on a twenty-mile race track.
Over sixty miles on some cold hills, though? We’ve got a definite shout. We’ve got more than a shout, in fact. And that’s because women are more appropriately built for endurance than men are.
We have a greater distribution of slow-twitch muscle fibres. Slow-twitch muscle fibres give us an endurance advantage because they’re more resistant to fatigue. We are also, typically, more mentally resilient. We have a different mindset.
We are genuinely happy with a “slow and steady” start, whereas our male counterparts will often zoom off with competition at the forefront of their minds, and tire themselves within the first few hours.
Scientists doing research in this area — although they have not yet managed to study enough men and women side by side to draw full conclusions — have also noted that women often report that the experience of enduring childbirth and the sleep deprivation of parenting small babies feed into their ability to perform well over an endurance event.
Also, as women we cope with exhaustion in a very different way to men — a more emotion-focused way that helps, it would seem, in long races.
“When we think about ultra-endurance events, one of the things that’s quite prevalent is emotions because you get fatigue, sleep deprivation and tiredness and that causes things like confusion and less helpful emotional responses. “Typically females use more emotion-focused coping so they focus more on how to reframe what they are feeling than males in general. That might be a reason why they may be more suited to those more ultra-endurance events.” — Dr Carla Meijen
So our superpower, our strength, comes not just from our extra slow-twitch muscle fibres (useful as they are!), but in our ability to endure. In our often-demonstrated ability to keep plodding on in the face of adversity, maintaining an intense focus on our goals despite utter fatigue.
As women, we always knew this, but it’s finally becoming officially recognised. And it’s about time.
Turns out, no one knew we were stronger than men — because they hadn’t let us go far enough yet. | https://medium.com/write-like-a-girl/women-have-an-actual-superpower-e0187ac03803 | ['Em Unravelling'] | 2020-10-13 15:19:40.033000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Women', 'Feminism', 'Running', 'Life'] |
【文献】The Routledge Companion to Smart Cities (2020) | Smart Cities
Key concepts, definitions, examples, and historical contexts for understanding smart cities, along with discussions of… | https://medium.com/tosseto-info/the-routledge-companion-to-smart-cities-2020-150e4e25f0fa | ['Toshikazu Seto'] | 2020-08-19 06:51:20.957000+00:00 | ['GIS', 'Geography', 'Civic Tech', 'Open Data', 'Smartcity'] |
My Top 5 Favorite Sins | Some Christians have assumed I abandoned my faith because I wanted to enjoy a “sinful” lifestyle.
It might happen that way for some people. We all know the stereotype of the lukewarm Christian teen who goes to university and stops attending church simply because they want to drink and have sex without being shamed for it.
That wasn’t me, though. I was already married when I gave up on religion, so gaining access to sex was not a motivator. I wasn’t eager to try any drugs. I didn’t descend into depraved debauchery due to deconversion. The fundamental concepts behind religious belief stopped making sense to me, and the rest of my faith collapsed as a result.
Most of the ex-believers I talk to have a similar story. They lost their belief without ever wanting or trying to — and they often still feel guilty for “sinning” years after the fact.
That being said… now that my life choices are unconstrained by religion, I’ve come to realize that some “sinful” behaviors are a pure delight and can actually be very healthy and positive. I’m so glad I gave myself permission to try them, and that I now feel free to engage in them at my own discretion.
Here are my five favorite “sins”:
1. Sex without marriage
I refrained from sexual intercourse until my wedding night at age 20.
It had been ingrained in my mind growing up that the only appropriate time to have sex was after you’re married, and only with your spouse. I was told it was not only the right thing to do, but sex would also be more satisfying that way. My bride had grown up with similar instructions.
All the sexual fear and angst that had been imparted on us in our childhoods did not vanish simply because we went through a wedding ceremony. Christianity had given us no tools to build a healthy sexual dynamic. We were married for six years and sex was always difficult for us. God didn’t make it extra special for us just because we followed the rules.
A year after my divorce I had sex with someone else for the first time. It was great! The experience was immediately better than what I had known before because it was based purely on attraction, emotion, consent, and enjoyment, rather than whatever maze of obligations had always surrounded sex inside our monogamous Christian-style marriage. I think my ex-wife experienced the same thing with her next partner.
It could be the case that Christianity and purity culture were not primarily responsible for our difficulties, and we were simply incompatible as sexual partners. But that’s part of my point. You need to have sexual experience to know if you’re compatible with someone or not — that’s something to figure out before you attempt to make a lifelong commitment of monogamy. I would never recommend anyone to save sex for marriage.
I’ve never felt “impure” after sleeping with someone. Sex is enjoyable. It makes me happy. It feels natural and satisfying; it builds closeness. It’s something humans do like any other animal. It’s an activity every single one of your ancestors has in common, going back billions of years.
The only time sex hurts me is when it brings up the traumas that purity culture inflicted on me. Sex is not the problem; viewing it as a sin is.
There are some important things to get right when you have sex, but none of them necessarily have to do with marital status. You should be honest about your activity, always have sex with consenting adults in the context of mutual desire, and be responsible with pregnancy and STD prevention. Beyond that, you can pretty much feel free to satisfy your human desire for sexual connection however you please!
2. “Secular” music
One year at summer camp, a speaker compared music to dietary choices:
Worship music is like health food.
Music by Christian artists is like staple foods, the bulk of your diet.
Silly music, perhaps from Weird Al or similar, is like junk food; an acceptable occasional treat.
Secular, worldly music, from artists such as Britney Spears, is poison. You should never touch it at all.
Music is fundamentally a promotion of the artist’s philosophy, the speaker claimed. If you listen to music from non-Christian artists then you are essentially letting Satan into your mind, because everything that is not of Jesus is of the devil.
If Britney Spears is poison, the metal music I’ve enjoyed for 15+ years must be a nuclear bomb. Some of the subgenres I listen to are intentionally devoted to being as blasphemous and anti-Christian as possible.
Believe it or not, metal musicians don’t get struck down by bolts of holy lightning even when they propagate overtly Satanic messages, and their listeners turn out fine for the most part as well.
The power, intensity, and rage of extreme music has long been therapeutic for me. It helped me process my open heart surgery, the death of my step-mom, breakups, and other trauma. It’s a practical way I can embody and release strong emotions. There’s a sense of relief I’ve never found elsewhere.
Christian music, for the most part, is limited by severe design constraints. It must fall within the acceptable limits of what Christians should experience and express, and it must promote belief. It’s not that there aren’t good Christian artists; it’s just that when the emotional palette is so limited, it tends to stifle creativity and rawness of expression. Listen to artists who exist outside of that limitation and you’ll find music that is much more viscerally satisfying and meaningful.
I also enjoy electronic music that is associated with psychedelic culture, which brings us to my next sin.
3. Drugs
D.A.R.E. and the church taught me to avoid drugs at all costs. The messaging wasn’t lost on me by any means. To this day, I have an aversion to smoking cigarettes because I perceive it as a very unhealthy and addictive action with no significant reward.
Of course, it is true that drugs are not always a great idea. It is a serious problem when people become dependent on a substance and it causes them to neglect their responsibilities or the loved ones in their life. It’s worth being very cautious with drugs. You’re probably better off never trying heroin or meth, for example.
However, I think certain drugs can also have a powerful positive aspect that law enforcement and religious authorities won’t tell you about.
The vast majority of people, including Christians, already depend on a psychoactive stimulant every day of their lives. They even give it away for free at church to help draw people in. You’re almost certainly familiar with the way caffeine can give you energy and motivation out of thin air. The concept of enhancing your life with one chemical or another is not that weird.
Many Christians also enjoy alcohol, and some smoke cigarettes, because these are legal substances (even though they are highly destructive on a personal and societal level).
I was 22 when I first smoked weed. I remember telling my friend about it the next day: it was everything I liked about drinking, with virtually none of the downsides. I was an instant fan and it was clear to me that it should not be illegal. It helped interrupt my overthinking mind and it dropped me into my body, where I enjoyed the sensations of stretching and movement and music.
A year later, after much deliberation and numerous conversations with experienced friends, I tried psychedelic mushrooms for the first time. I had a number of trips that completely reframed the way I thought about myself, the world, and my interaction with everyone inside it. It gave me a more “spiritual” feeling than I had ever found inside Christianity. I also had some difficult experiences that forced me to confront my dark side and gave me empathy for those who suffer from abuse and mental illness.
I feel that mushrooms and LSD have unequivocally shifted my life in a positive direction and opened me up to incredible possibilities that I might never have otherwise considered.
Psychedelics certainly aren’t for everyone, but most people I know who have tried them had significant positive experiences with them. It honestly makes me sad that many people will never get to enjoy the benefits of these substances simply because it’s taboo inside their religion.
4. Yoga and meditation
I resisted trying yoga for years. Mostly, it goes back to the rhetoric about how anything that is not of Jesus is of Satan, and since yoga is a practice affiliated with Eastern religion instead of Jesus, it must involve demonic forces.
Another obstacle was gender: in Christianity there are men, and there are women, and they are very different and they do different things; and yoga is a women’s thing (on top of being, you know, demonic). The fear of doing “feminine” things is part of toxic masculinity. It took me a while to overcome those ideas after deconverting — psychedelics helped — but eventually one summer day 7 years ago I went to a work-sponsored yoga class.
I realized: “hey, this is exactly what I’ve been doing on my living room floor when I get high and stretch!” I started coming to every single class. I would walk away feeling about as good as I ever had in my life. Gaining mobility in my hips erased my knee pain, I found a sense of camaraderie with the other students, and my mental space felt clear, focused, graceful, and compassionate. I became fascinated with the mind-body connection.
5 years ago I went to a Vipassana meditation retreat — 10 hours of silent meditation every day for 10 days. This gave me another powerful tool for self-examination and centering. Granted, the Vipassana organization can feel a bit cult-like; but it seems absurd to me that I ever worried about “evil spirits” entering my mind.
There’s nothing dark or nefarious about simply sitting and observing your breath and your body. On the contrary, these practices can provide peace of mind and ease of body beyond anything else I’ve experienced.
5. Reaching my own conclusions
Proverbs 3:5 — Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
When I was a Christian, I thought the best plan for my life was to ignore my own understanding and instead rely on an unquestioning devotion to what I called “the Lord”.
Of course, the Lord was never there. What I was actually interacting with and counting on for guidance was my pastor, my Christian peers, my own subconscious, and an ancient book that had been re-translated and re-interpreted countless times.
I’m not saying all religious guidance is automatically bad. I just think it’s a poor substitute for developing the faculty of rational decision-making. Spirituality, if pursued, ought to be integrated appropriately in the context of the objective reality that you deal with every day. It should add to your life, not control it.
I’m also not saying that religion forbids thinking. Clearly, a great deal of thought has gone into theology and apologetics, and Christians are encouraged to study and memorize the Bible. However, that thinking is constrained to a particular outcome. If your conclusions land outside of religion, you’ve thought wrongly.
I treasure having the freedom to look at the facts, the reality around me, to observe and compare and consider, and ultimately use the understanding I’ve accumulated inside my own brain to piece together a perspective of what is most likely to be true. I value having the ability to trust my own conclusions and also to reconsider them when I encounter new information.
It is not a bad thing to lean on your own understanding. In fact, it’s all you really have. Strip away your thoughts, intuitions, emotions, senses, and logical reasoning, and what do you have left to make decisions with? How else will you determine what is true or false? The only alternative is to blindly accept what you are told — which is an easy way to get sucked into whatever religion you’re exposed to as a child.
Relying on my own understanding has allowed me to make life choices that are a good fit for me. Nobody else understands my needs and desires quite like I do. Every time I’ve listened to my own wisdom it’s taken me farther down the road of living the kind of life I truly want to live. | https://medium.com/excommunications/my-top-5-favorite-sins-694b4bc2b5a7 | ['Joe Omundson'] | 2020-11-03 19:08:35.345000+00:00 | ['Atheism', 'Christianity', 'Philosophy', 'Religion', 'Life'] |
My Big Reveal | When I was 13 I experienced the onset of an eating disorder that has greatly affected my life and continues to affect it to this day. As much as I thought that I had it under control, it has only been recently that I realized how much of my behavior around food and my body is still skewed by my early struggle.
In an attempt to reach full recovery, I’ve made a principled decision that I’m not going to restrict my eating or intentionally try to play with my weight anymore and this has forced me to deal with my feelings about a body that is very different from what I’ve been trained to want and like. All of this has taken me on a ride to educate and support myself on how to eat more intuitively and how to accept my current shape.
To my surprise, I found that I’m not alone in this struggle and that there’s a whole community of people who are dedicated to thinking, researching and advocating around these issues. ThIs social movement of Body Liberation is totally radical, in the most positive sense of the word.
I can’t tell you how grateful I am that my journey has unfolded in such a way that I am able to offer Shake Your Soul® as a place of radical acceptance for Every Body to experience compassionate and joyful movement for the sake of simply feeling good in our bodies. Whether you struggle with body image issues or not, you’re welcome to join me and my beautiful community by clicking here: movementbliss.com/book
If you feel like you are struggling in a similar way and want to share anything about your personal journey, please feel free to make a comment below or write to me personally. I’d love to hear your thoughts, feelings and comments. | https://medium.com/@odeliashargian/my-big-reveal-b00cc5a85be0 | ['Odelia Shargian'] | 2021-03-22 17:30:58.010000+00:00 | ['Intuitive Eating', 'Body Liberation', 'Body Positive', 'Eating Disorders', 'Body Acceptance'] |
Has The Republican Party Changed? | Has The Republican Party Changed?
Photo by BP Miller on Unsplash
Republicans and Democrats are not so different
There are some Republicans who think that their party has changed drastically under Donald Trump. When he became the presumptive head of all the Republicans by his surprise election (his words) to become the President of the United States, the Republican Party became his personal party. Millions of people apparently like it that way. They like Trump.
President Barack Obama has a new book out about his first term as President of the USA. Most Republicans, and certainly not Trump fans, will ever consider reading it. Trump shows his disdain for Obama even though a video of Trump shows him saying how nice the Obama’s were to him and his wife during the transition into his presidency.
Because Trump shows hatred toward Obama (for whatever reason), Trump’s followers do the same. They express the same feelings as their leader. Is it because Obama is part Black? Is it because they cannot accept that a Black person became President of the United States? Is it because Obama is a Democrat? Are they racists?
It is unlikley that Trump will be around for long. He still contests the election that declares that Joe Biden won, but he will need to accept it in January. He thinks there was election fraud on a massive scale although the Republican elected officials in states that Trump is trying to overturn say that everything was above board. In fact, many election officials say this was the best run election ever. They say the results are certified and honest.
There will always be some minor cases of election fraud by some dishonest individuals or people who make mistakes. According to the experts, there was no widespread voter fraud in this election. It is time for Trump to accept that fact.
Republican Trump followers go along with everything he does or says. He can lie and bully continuously. They have no problem with that or with the way he conducts his life or his past misdeeds. The strange thing is that almost all the Republican members of Congress also support Trump’s every move. They should know better.
There are all kinds of people in both of the major political parties in the United States. It used to be that the Republican Party was the party for the rich and the middle class. The Democratic Party was for the middle class and poor. Now the parties could be interchangeable. There are wealthy and poor in both. There are conservatives and progressives in both. There are straight and gay in both. There are young and old in both. There are extremes in both parties. There are differences, but there are similarities. Both parties are open to all, and people make a choice.
Has the Republican Party changed? Some top Republicans hope that it will move back to how it was before Trump was elected. Others accept it as it now is. Maybe it is not that different than it was.
The political parties are alike in many ways. Both could use more love and less hate. | https://medium.com/political-sense/has-the-republican-party-changed-df3fd8565f9b | ['Floyd Mori'] | 2020-12-10 15:20:55.752000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Hate', 'Donald Trump', 'Republicans', 'Republican Party'] |
You Cannot Help Everyone | And if you try, you simply burn into ashes.
Image by Ryan Holloway from Unsplash
Some people are simply fucked up.
Even though you cannot even say it aloud anymore.
It’s not like ‘Oh, this or that person is a genius misunderstood by the masses!’
No.
Some people simply aren’t going to be on the top.
Some people simply did too many drugs and their brains are burnt.
Some people simply have some traumas they maybe never really deal with because they don’t even know they have them.
And if you want to keep dealing with this kind of people you can get ready for exploitation, chaos, emotional instability, and constant mental power play, that never ends.
Some people are simply broken in their heads. And you are getting hurt by trying to be their savior.
To fit their brain damage.
And unfortunately for both parties, you are not even helping them that way.
Don’t try to live for them.
Keep a healthy distance.
Be a friend.
A supportive friend.
But keep. Clear. Boundaries.
You are not an unpaid therapist.
You are not a lawn to step on.
Being a monkey on a string is a price not worth paying.
To say ‘no’ is also an option.
Always.
Because many times they are just playing with you.
And you feel like you are the one doing something wrong all the time.
‘Oh, next time I’ll do everything right so all will be good!”
No, you won’t.
No, it won’t.
Because sometimes ‘No’ is the right thing to say.
Not “Oh, it’s my fault for the millionth time!”
Because some people simply have brain damage.
And if you think you can or you should save literally everyone with any spark of potential regardless of anything else…if that’s not a sign of brain damage too, it’s at least a sign of very serious brainwashing, that is not helping you nor them. | https://medium.com/an-idea/you-cannot-help-everyone-45c8e6f9dc10 | ['Valentina Tuha'] | 2020-12-07 11:29:38.679000+00:00 | ['Self', 'Trauma', 'Psychology', 'Short Read', 'Life'] |
Futures Contracts and the Future of Exchanges: How New Technology Creates New Opportunities | Early cryptocurrency exchanges sought ways to emulate the traditional exchanges, perhaps as a means to bring familiarity to a budding and mysterious asset class. However, this has often stifled innovation despite the virtually unlimited potential offered by the cryptocurrencies’ underlying technology. More recently what is emerging is a new generation of exchanges offering tools to transact new world assets.
Developments like CME and CBOE, that list futures contracts on Bitcoin, and traditional asset managers working to bring Bitcoin ETFs to investors (most recently Van Eck) don’t show any signs of slowing down, but they are still trying to shape the future of digital assets through a decades-old lens. This is all about to change.
Centralized Versus Decentralized
Prior to the past decade, all exchanges were mostly centralized and largely operated out of one physical location. Today, trading floors are waning, replaced by technology that prioritizes speed and streamlines the user experience. Examples include the Shanghai Futures Exchange, CME Group, and the New York Stock Exchange. These venues have centralized servers and route all orders through one point of entry to the central limit order book.
Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken have adopted a similar model when looking to create an exchange for cryptocurrencies, likely because they wanted people to feel comfortable trading these assets. These centralized exchanges (CEX), now all electronic with servers located in a central location, allow for global trading provided that one passes the registration process and KYC/AML checks.
When considering trading on a CEX, it is important to remember that your coins are held (custodied) by the exchange; your private keys are not in your possession because all transactions are recorded on the central order book located on their servers. If the exchange is hacked (like what happened with Coincheck), shutdown by a government entity, or if it just goes offline, you could potentially lose all your coins. The only time the blockchain is involved is when you withdraw these coins from the exchange and resume physical ownership.
Given these pain points, many traders are beginning to look towards decentralized exchanges (DEX) including IDEX and CryptoBridge. DEXs are available to anyone connected to the Internet and, since they use a public distributed ledger to record all transactions and maintain custody, you retain control of all your private keys.
By having no single point of entry, DEXs are far more secure and less prone to smash and grab hacks that steal hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crypto assets. Your funds cannot be seized by regulators and they will not be lost even if the servers go offline. Security is dependent on your wallets and where you store your private keys.
This all sounds great, right? Well, there’s a catch. The main attraction to trading on a DEX is also it’s biggest drawback: all transactions are recorded on the blockchain. Because of this, the same fees paid (ETH GAS) for any other ETH transactions also need to be paid on the exchange — for every single trade.
Costs vary, but they can add up if you make several trades per day, and some traders end up chipping their profits away. Here is one way this could play out: 10 trades earn you 0.01 ETH, but you spent .009 ETH for ETH GAS on each one. Instead of earning .10 ETH as you would on a CEX, you’ve spent 90% of your profits on ETH GAS and are left with only .01 ETH. Far less than optimal, and this does not even account for rising GAS costs in the event public blockchains begin to hit Transaction Per Second (TPS) limits.
Hybrid Exchanges: The Best of Both Worlds
Gripes about this model have led to the creation of Hybrid Exchanges (HEX) such as EverMarkets (EMX) and Eidoo.
EMX is a global futures exchange that will offer futures contracts on both digital and real world assets, ranging from commodities to crypto indexes, with plans to eventually include fixed income and other derivatives products. Upon initiating a trade on EMX, the exchange plans to hold funds in escrow wallets controlled by the smart contracts stored on the blockchain. Under this mechanism, funds would then be delivered to the recipient based on the price of futures contracts at time of exiting a trade on the exchange. Ultimately, these smart contracts would also prevent unauthorized access to funds and should make it harder for hackers to steal them.
Also, since EMX employs batch auctions instead of a central limit order book, they can provide fair access to virtually anyone around the world. This is because in the EMX model, no matter how big or how fast one is, everyone pays the same price. This eliminates speed advantages high frequency traders normally enjoy and lets institutions and retail traders compete at the same level.
Eidoo has a similar structure that focuses on trading cryptocurrencies instead of futures contracts. The exchange holds funds in smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain that prevents access to them until the trades are settled. In order to alleviate blockchain flooding, Eidoo plans to use an off-chain order book and server to create a familiar front-end experience similar to a centralized order book while recording trades in batch transactions. Trades are only written to the blockchain when they are matched and executed.
Both of these venues are able to use code and smart contracts to replace a number of functions currently carried out by intermediaries (disintermediation). This leads to significantly cheaper and faster transactions with nearly real-time settlements.
The Path Forward
The advent of futures contracts completely changed traditional markets, and this transformation is now starting to be felt in the crypto markets as well. Being able to trade both cryptocurrencies and crypto futures on the blockchain is creating more trading and risk management opportunities with each passing day. .
The one major obstacle to rapid adoption, though, is the organization of a clearing house; the single most important part of any orderly futures market. Smart contracts can potentially handle a lot of the functions of a clearing house, and may eventually replace them. EMX and others are investigating bringing aspects of a clearing house onto the blockchain, but it’ll take more engineering and legal work to bring all the aspects of a traditional clearing house to the cryptocurrency space.
The real innovation, for now, is that a decentralized or hybrid exchange has a global footprint and can offer access to assets previously restricted to specific markets or regions. Looking to trade West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures from Asia and Hang Seng Index futures from Europe, from one app with all the efficiency benefits of cross-margining? There’s a HEX for that. The engineering, regulatory and legal work enabling these innovations has the potential to be truly revolutionary.
Conclusion
Financial exchanges have played and will continue to play a vital role in the global economy, and as technological walls continue to crumble and regulations are updated in-response, trading venues will need to keep innovating to stay ahead of the curve. All global traders stand to benefit from the access, efficiency, and fairness that these next-generation exchanges have the opportunity to provide. For now, CEXs and DEXs will fight to keep their market position; but HEXs appear best positioned to provide fair, universal market access with lower costs and faster settlement times.
About the author:
Kirill Shilov — Founder of Geekforge.io and Howtotoken.com. Interviewing the top 10,000 worldwide experts who reveal the biggest issues on the way to technological singularity. Join my #10kqachallenge: GeekForge Formula. | https://medium.com/hackernoon/futures-contracts-and-the-future-of-exchanges-how-new-technology-creates-new-opportunities-b143ef6c0c7b | ['Kirill Shilov'] | 2019-01-17 10:03:40.705000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Bitcoin', 'Software Development', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Interview: 3LetterzNuk Talks about Bringing the Heat on ‘I’m Back’ | 3LetterzNuk
Atlanta-based rapper 3LetterzNuk dropped a new mixtape, I’m Back, not long ago via ZENtertainment/Sony Music.
3LetterzNuk first made an impact in 2015, when he signed with FloRida’s IMG imprint. Now with ZENtertainment/Sony Music, he’s definitely back and ready to go, which explains the mixtape’s title — I’m Back.
3LetterzNuk’s track record witnesses his talent: over 9 million streams with Aaron Carter on “Fool’s Gold” and almost 2 million streams on “I Wonder,” featuring Marco Foster. 3’s dope fusion of pop, hip-hop, and cool textures of R&B generates tasty banging sonic concoctions.
Pop Off sat down with 3LetterzNuk to delve into his influences, what he’s listening to right now, and how he keeps his sound unique.
What three things can’t you live without?
My family, music, and running water.
What’s your favorite song to belt out in the car or the shower?
The song “Move Your Feet” by Junior Senior.
How did you get started in music? What’s the backstory there?
When I was in high school, my friends invited me to the studio. I found that I was impatient with their creative process, so I got up and went in the booth and started freestyling. They were impressed with my rhythm, cadence, and my voice. When I saw their reactions, it was the first time I felt gifted with entertaining. I’ve always wanted to be in entertainment but mostly as an actor. But when I got the reaction, and it was different than when I acted, danced, or played basketball, I was hooked.
What musicians influenced you the most?
Jay-Z, Drake, and Chris Brown are three of my most prominent influences.
3LetterzNuk
Which artists are you listening to right now?
DaBaby, Lil Baby, Young Thug, Rich Homie Quan, KCamp, and Tory Lanez are some of my top listens of the moment.
What was the inspiration for your new I’m Back mixtape?
Honestly, the youth inspired the sound. I tapped in with a lot of what the younger people were listening to and consuming which influenced the mixtape.
How do you keep your sound fresh and avoid coming across as derivative?
I am constantly working on my own music and it evolves into something unique based on my creativity at that time.
What can you share about your songwriting process?
It’s completely organic. Sometimes I have to be riding in the car. Sometimes I have to be in an open space in the studio. Sometimes I have to be alone with my headphones and just sit down and study the beat over and over.
How have you been handling the coronavirus situation?
I just dropped new music for the first time in two years. I’m pretty excited about it and I’ve been working super hard on that. The quarantine has been a blessing in disguise, as it made me concentrate on the music. I wrote the 9 new singles on the mixtape, while in quarantine.
Why do you make music?
Because it’s on the inside of me and there’s nothing I love more than spending my time creating.
Follow 3LetterzNuk Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Spotify | Website | https://medium.com/pop-off/interview-3letterznuk-talks-about-bringing-the-heat-on-im-back-182e1b0355cb | ['Randall Radic'] | 2020-12-21 14:19:17.832000+00:00 | ['Hip Hop', '3letterznuk', 'Im Back', 'Interview', 'Music'] |
Kubernetes authentication via GitHub OAuth and Dex | My name is Amet Umerov and I’m a DevOps Engineer at Preply.
Introduction to Kubernetes auth
We use Kubernetes for creating dynamic environments for devs and QA. So we want to provide them access to Kubernetes via Dashboard and CLI. Kubernetes vanilla doesn’t support authentication for kubectl out of the box, unlike OpenShift.
In this configuration example, we use:
dex-k8s-authenticator — a web application for generating kubectl config
Dex — OpenID Connect provider
GitHub — because we use GitHub at our company
Unfortunately, Dex can’t handle groups with Google OIDC, so if you want to use groups, try another provider. Without groups, you can’t create group-based RBAC policies.
Here is a flow of how Kubernetes authorization works:
The Authorization process
The user initiates a login request in the dex-k8s-authenticator ( login.k8s.example.com ) dex-k8s-authenticator redirects the request to Dex ( dex.k8s.example.com ) Dex redirects to the GitHub authorization page GitHub encrypts the corresponding information and passes it back to Dex Dex forwards this information to dex-k8s-authenticator The user gets the OIDC token from GitHub dex-k8s-authenticator adds the token to kubeconfig kubectl passes the token to KubeAPIServer KubeAPIServer returns the result to kubectl The user gets the information from kubectl
Prerequisites
So, we have already installed Kubernetes cluster ( k8s.example.com ) and HELM. Also, we have GitHub with organization name ( super-org ).
If you don’t have HELM, you can easily install it.
Go to the GitHub organization Settings page, ( https://github.com/organizations/super-org/settings/applications ) and create a new Authorized OAuth App:
The GitHub settings page
Fill the fields with your values:
Homepage URL: https://dex.k8s.example.com
Authorization callback URL: https://dex.k8s.example.com/callback
Be careful with links, trailing slashes are important.
Save the Client ID and Client secret generated by GitHub in a safe place (we use Vault for storing our secrets):
Client ID: 1ab2c3d4e5f6g7h8
Client secret: 98z76y54x32w1
Prepare your DNS records for subdomains login.k8s.example.com and dex.k8s.example.com and SSL certificates for Ingress.
Create SSL certificates:
cat <<EOF | kubectl create -f -
apiVersion: certmanager.k8s.io/v1alpha1
kind: Certificate
metadata:
name: cert-auth-dex
namespace: kube-system
spec:
secretName: cert-auth-dex
dnsNames:
- dex.k8s.example.com
acme:
config:
- http01:
ingressClass: nginx
domains:
- dex.k8s.example.com
issuerRef:
name: le-clusterissuer
kind: ClusterIssuer
---
apiVersion: certmanager.k8s.io/v1alpha1
kind: Certificate
metadata:
name: cert-auth-login
namespace: kube-system
spec:
secretName: cert-auth-login
dnsNames:
- login.k8s.example.com
acme:
config:
- http01:
ingressClass: nginx
domains:
- login.k8s.example.com
issuerRef:
name: le-clusterissuer
kind: ClusterIssuer
EOF kubectl describe certificates cert-auth-dex -n kube-system
kubectl describe certificates cert-auth-login -n kube-system
Your ClusterIssuer le-clusterissuer should already exist, if you haven’t done it you can easily create it via HELM:
helm install --namespace kube-system -n cert-manager stable/cert-manager
apiVersion: certmanager.k8s.io/v1alpha1
kind: ClusterIssuer
metadata:
name: le-clusterissuer
namespace: kube-system
spec:
acme:
server:
email: [email protected]
privateKeySecretRef:
name: le-clusterissuer
http01: {}
EOF cat << EOF | kubectl create -f -apiVersion: certmanager.k8s.io/v1alpha1kind: ClusterIssuermetadata:name:namespace: kube-systemspec:acme:server: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory email:privateKeySecretRef:name:http01: {}EOF
KubeAPIServer setup
You need to provide OIDC configuration for the kubeAPIServer as below and update cluster:
kops edit cluster
...
kubeAPIServer:
anonymousAuth: false
authorizationMode: RBAC
oidcClientID: dex-k8s-authenticator
oidcGroupsClaim: groups
oidcIssuerURL: https://dex.k8s.example.com/
oidcUsernameClaim: email kops update cluster --yes
kops rolling-update cluster --yes
In our case, we use kops for cluster provisioning but it works the same for other clusters.
Dex and dex-k8s-authenticator setup
For connecting Dex you should have a Kubernetes certificate and key. Let’s obtain from the master:
sudo cat /srv/kubernetes/ca.{crt,key}
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
AAAAAAAAAAABBBBBBBBBBCCCCCC
-----END CERTIFICATE----- -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
DDDDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEFFFFFF
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
Clone the dex-k8s-authenticator repo:
git clone [email protected]:mintel/dex-k8s-authenticator.git
cd dex-k8s-authenticator/
You can set up a values file very flexible, HELM charts are available on GitHub. Dex will not work with default variables.
Create the values file for Dex:
cat << \EOF > values-dex.yml
global:
deployEnv: prod tls:
certificate: |-
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
AAAAAAAAAAABBBBBBBBBBCCCCCC
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
key: |-
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
DDDDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEFFFFFF
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY----- ingress:
enabled: true
annotations:
kubernetes.io/ingress.class: nginx
kubernetes.io/tls-acme: "true"
path: /
hosts:
- dex.k8s.example.com
tls:
- secretName: cert-auth-dex
hosts:
- dex.k8s.example.com serviceAccount:
create: true
name: dex-auth-sa
issuer: https://dex.k8s.example.com/
storage: #
type: sqlite3
config:
file: /var/dex.db
web:
http: 0.0.0.0:5556
frontend:
theme: "coreos"
issuer: "Example Co"
issuerUrl: "https://example.com"
logoUrl: https://example.com/images/logo-250x25.png
expiry:
signingKeys: "6h"
idTokens: "24h"
logger:
level: debug
format: json
oauth2:
responseTypes: ["code", "token", "id_token"]
skipApprovalScreen: true
connectors:
- type: github
id: github
name: GitHub
config:
clientID: $GITHUB_CLIENT_ID
clientSecret: $GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET
redirectURI: https://dex.k8s.example.com/callback
orgs:
- name: super-org
teams:
- team-red config: |issuer:storage: # https://github.com/dexidp/dex/issues/798 type: sqlite3config:file: /var/dex.dbweb:http: 0.0.0.0:5556frontend:theme: "coreos"issuer: "Example Co"issuerUrl: "https://example.com"logoUrl: https://example.com/images/logo-250x25.pngexpiry:signingKeys: "6h"idTokens: "24h"logger:level: debugformat: jsonoauth2:responseTypes: ["code", "token", "id_token"]skipApprovalScreen: trueconnectors:- type: githubid: githubname: GitHubconfig:clientID: $GITHUB_CLIENT_IDclientSecret: $GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRETredirectURI:orgs:- name:teams: staticClients:
- id: dex-k8s-authenticator
name: dex-k8s-authenticator
secret: generatedLongRandomPhrase
redirectURIs:
- https://login.k8s.example.com/callback/ envSecrets:
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID: "1ab2c3d4e5f6g7h8"
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET: "98z76y54x32w1"
EOF
And for dex-k8s-authenticator:
cat << EOF > values-auth.yml
global:
deployEnv: prod dexK8sAuthenticator:
clusters:
- name: k8s.example.com
short_description: "k8s cluster"
description: "Kubernetes cluster"
issuer: https://dex.k8s.example.com/
k8s_master_uri: https://api.k8s.example.com
client_id: dex-k8s-authenticator
client_secret: generatedLongRandomPhrase
redirect_uri: https://login.k8s.example.com/callback/
k8s_ca_pem: |
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
AAAAAAAAAAABBBBBBBBBBCCCCCC
-----END CERTIFICATE----- ingress:
enabled: true
annotations:
kubernetes.io/ingress.class: nginx
kubernetes.io/tls-acme: "true"
path: /
hosts:
- login.k8s.example.com
tls:
- secretName: cert-auth-login
hosts:
- login.k8s.example.com
EOF
Install Dex and dex-k8s-authenticator:
helm install -n dex --namespace kube-system --values values-dex.yml charts/dex
helm install -n dex-auth --namespace kube-system --values values-auth.yml charts/dex-k8s-authenticator
Check it (Dex should return code 400, and dex-k8s-authenticator — code 200):
curl -sI https://dex.k8s.example.com/callback | head -1
HTTP/2 400 curl -sI https://login.k8s.example.com/ | head -1
HTTP/2 200
RBAC configuration
Create ClusterRole for your group, in our case with read-only permissions:
cat << EOF | kubectl create -f -
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRole
metadata:
name: cluster-read-all
rules:
-
apiGroups:
- ""
- apps
- autoscaling
- batch
- extensions
- policy
- rbac.authorization.k8s.io
- storage.k8s.io
resources:
- componentstatuses
- configmaps
- cronjobs
- daemonsets
- deployments
- events
- endpoints
- horizontalpodautoscalers
- ingress
- ingresses
- jobs
- limitranges
- namespaces
- nodes
- pods
- pods/log
- pods/exec
- persistentvolumes
- persistentvolumeclaims
- resourcequotas
- replicasets
- replicationcontrollers
- serviceaccounts
- services
- statefulsets
- storageclasses
- clusterroles
- roles
verbs:
- get
- watch
- list
- nonResourceURLs: ["*"]
verbs:
- get
- watch
- list
- apiGroups: [""]
resources: ["pods/exec"]
verbs: ["create"]
EOF
Create ClusterRoleBinding configuration:
cat <<EOF | kubectl create -f -
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: ClusterRoleBinding
metadata:
name: dex-cluster-auth
namespace: kube-system
roleRef:
apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
kind: ClusterRole
name: cluster-read-all
subjects:
kind: Group
name: "super-org:team-red"
EOF
Now you are ready to start testing.
Tests
Go to the login page ( https://login.k8s.example.com ) and sign in with your GitHub account:
Login page
Login page redirected to GitHub
Follow the instructions to create kubectl config
After copy-pasting commands from the login web page you can use kubectl with your cluster:
kubectl get po
NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
mypod 1/1 Running 0 3d kubectl delete po mypod
Error from server (Forbidden): pods "mypod" is forbidden: User "[email protected]" cannot delete pods in the namespace "default"
And it works! All users with GitHub account in our organization can read resources and exec into pods but have no write permissions.
Stay tuned and subscribe to our blog, we will publish new articles soon :) | https://medium.com/preply-engineering/k8s-auth-a81f59d4dff6 | ['Amet Umerov'] | 2019-06-14 16:23:26.083000+00:00 | ['Dex', 'Github', 'Authentication', 'Kubernetes', 'DevOps'] |
Machine Learning and AI for All | I do research in Machine Learning and AI algorithms. I like to share my programing tutorials for all in my channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtcEuGgCTWzzXBGvwCKm5VA
Following Topics are covered:
01 Mean
02 Covariance Matrix
03 Eigen Values and Eigen Vectors
04 Covariance Matrix
05 Singular Value Decomposition (SVD)
06 Principal Component Analysis (PCA)
07 Loss Function | https://medium.com/@kmeeraj/machine-learning-and-ai-for-all-a9874c0a971e | ['Meeraj Kanaparthi'] | 2020-11-22 08:04:50.511000+00:00 | ['Neural Networks', 'Programing Tutorials', 'AI', 'Machine Learning', 'Jupyter Notebook'] |
A Silent Storm | A Silent Storm
Conflicted, or torn?
( Photo by Patrick Gillespie on Unsplash)
The fight is constant;
Inside my mind, I scream.
I rage.
Stop talking!
It’s always the same;
You expect me to agree.
You desperately try to sway me.
I cannot.
I will not.
You hate;
You criticize and demonize.
What has this world done to you?
To create this un-caged bitterness?
I cannot fathom.
But I nod, I shrug.
I silently hope you will just stop talking.
Just, stop.
Go to sleep, leave me in peace.
Oh, if only I could go back.
I would tell myself: no!
Walk away!
Is it too late? | https://medium.com/imperfect-words/a-silent-storm-92e45f8b3e53 | ['Edie Tuck'] | 2019-09-07 23:03:01.737000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Confusion', 'Anger', 'Conflict', 'Desperation'] |
Old Labour and young Labour both agree their time has come with Jeremy Corbyn | Old Labour and young Labour both agree their time has come with Jeremy Corbyn
The Mirror’s Brian Reade goes on the leadership trail with Jeremy Corbyn to find out why the crowds are flocking to see him.
The queue snaked for 100 yards along the pavement outside the Tyne Theatre in the lashing rain an hour before he arrived.
In a square around the corner, 500 more, unable to get their hands on one of the 1,280 tickets that sold out in five hours, braved the miserable Newcastle night for an open air pre-rally, rally, waiting with rapt anticipation to hear their bearded, peace-loving messiah called JC spread his anti-austerity gospel.
When he finally arrives, 45 minutes late, due to the 1,000 supporters who had delayed him at an afternoon meeting in Middlesbrough, the crowd greet him with raucous cheers and his Obama-esque mission statement: “Jes we can, Jez we can.”
He takes to the outdoor stage with a grace that defies his 66 years. Dressed in his trademark lecturer chic he is a paragon of cool.
And he’s straight into his message: “People want to know how we can make society different and how can we make our party more in touch with ordinary people’s lives? People are crying out for an alternative that should have been put at the last election.”
Each sentence is punctuated with loud roars from the wet, but fixated crowd.
Yet it’s not just the huge, unprecedented numbers of people who are turning up for these Corbyn rallies that should frighten the Labour Party hierarchy, it’s the type of people.
Yes there are characters from hard-left central casting handing out pamphlets, and plenty of old school trade unionists and socialists (some sporting Jezza caps), even veteran film-maker Ken Loach.
But the crowd is more reminiscent of a student union gig than a collection of dinosaurs of yesteryear.
They’re mostly youthful, mostly disillusioned, traditional Labour voters. They’re Old Labour and Young Labour but they want a new Labour. Corbyn is energising them. And giving them hope.
Jeremy Corbyn attracts the crowds at Tyne Theatre and Opera House in Newcastle
Jeremy Corbyn attracts the crowds at Tyne Theatre and Opera House in Newcastle
People like retired teacher, Eric Scarboro, 59, who said he became disillusioned under Tony Blair and drifted away from the party.
But Corbyn has pulled him back with his anti-austerity message and his sincerity. “There’s no performance going on. He’s real,” he says.
And the criticism of those who’ve been won over by Corbyn, makes him even more determined to see his man win: “The Labour Party wanted to win back the disillusioned and those who’ve never voted. Then when we come to them, they tell us to go away.”
Inside the Tyne Theatre, I put it to a 43-year-old electrician Rod, that their messiah surely has no chance of winning the next general election on a far-left agenda, meaning at least 10 years of Tory rule.
“Do you really believe any of the other Tory-lite candidates can win?” he replies. “And if they did, on what platform? All three of them have already refused to oppose Osborne’s savage welfare cuts. So what’s their point?”
His friend, Mike, butts in: “I’m tired of compromise that’s brought us nothing. If you’re going to lose, lose on your own terms.
“What did that Mexican fella say? It’s better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.”
It could almost be the Corbyn slogan.
Jeremy Corbyn has his hair patted down at King’s Cross before he heads by train to the North East
Jeremy Corbyn with Brian Reade in Newcastle /Daily Mirror
Inside the hall it feels like I’m back in Scotland during last year’s referendum. There is an electric buzz in the air. A sense of liberation.
When Corbyn speaks he touches their every G-spot: Bankers’ greed, welfare cuts, the NHS, anti trade union laws, the consequences of our illegal wars.
He tells them “the levels of inequality in this country are the worst in Europe. Surely we can do something very different?”
He says he wants to see a “fundamental change to our politics” centred on “a basic humanity.”
He tells them that their “optimism” this summer “has produced a big change in how we do politics.”
When he finishes, all 1,280 supporters leap to their feet roaring their lungs out, yelling for more.
When I take a straw poll of why they are transfixed by a pension-aged backbencher who has spent most of his time in Westminster opposing his party the same words come back. Because he’s “authentic, real, a breath of fresh air, decent, straight, principled, genuine.”
Jeremy Corbyn addresses the Middlesbrough afternoon meeting
He has been packing out 1,000-plus auditoria across the land for weeks. They’ve had to move rallies to bigger venues and set up overspill rooms.
His own Twitter account following now stands at 104, 000. It was below 32,000 when the campaign begin.
This is a phenomenon, the like of which I haven’t seen in 40 years of watching Labour from close-quarters.
Because it’s feeding off an aching for change that’s coming from ordinary Labour supporters below, not being imposed by rulers from above.
Corbyn stands behind the slogan: “Straight talking. Honest politics.”
He’s using the words a man in the pub uses, the way Nigel Farage did so effectively. It’s unspun, unaffected and unapologetic.
Whatever happens in this leadership election there is a feeling that the Labour party won’t be the same again. This most astonishing of campaigns has changed the party for good.
And it’s no bad thing. Many among the left feel they have been taken for granted and told to bite their tongue for too long.
Told that due to the electoral system it’s no longer about what they want and believe in, but what swing voters in middle England want, and what their focus groups tell the Labour Party to currently believe in.
Newcastle Opera House https://www.facebook.com/JeremyCorbyn4Leader/photos/pcb.1485653965062011/1485653875062020/?type=1
Too many traditional Labour supporters believe the party has become obsessed with how it is perceived rather than what it stands for.
That rather than put local activists up for election, they choose to parachute Oxbridge-educated advisers into safe seats to give them a route to a future cabinet.
Blame the old Blairites like Tony himself or Peter Mandelson, comfortably living on the millions they made off the back of being voted in by working-class Labour voters, who now have the gall to tell anyone who warms to Corbyn that they need a heart transplant.
They have been his finest recruitment officers.
It may not end wonderfully for the Corbyn camp. Politics is a brutal business. But right now they’re having their say. Their legitimate, democratic say. Under Labour Party rules.
Across the land at these rallies Old Labour and Young Labour are living in the moment.
They feel their time has come.
Originally published at Mirror. | https://medium.com/dark-mountain/old-labour-and-young-labour-both-agree-their-time-has-come-with-jeremy-corbyn-6c3db4ce9af3 | ['Keith Parkins'] | 2015-08-20 19:52:10.043000+00:00 | ['Jeremy Corbyn', 'Democracy', 'Economics'] |
Empty Nest Syndrome in Festival Season — ChaaiCoffee | A lot of Indian Students were struck there in their Drooms, and Apartments with No Work and No Flight to Come back in this festival season and Season’s Holidays. Most of their Parent back home already missing their kids for a long and going through the condition of Empty Nest Syndrome.
The Windling Up Year 2020 of Shakeups, Lockdowns, Pandemic, and hope of Vaccination of Covid19 hits another blow recently with the outbreak of New Type of Stain in the UK. International Flights are canceled and Lockdown on places in most of Britain.
Empty Nest Syndrome Meaning
As Wikipedia says, “Empty nest syndrome is a general feeling of loneliness that or guardians may feel when one or more of their leave home. While more common in women, it can happen to both sexes.”
Children are the apple of their parent’s eyes, from the moment they are born, or rather even conceived. The parent’s world revolves around the children and they are their main focus of life. But as time passes, the little kids grow up into teenagers and adults and soon leave their parent’s care & home for greener pastures, be it a college education, job, or marriage.
Now, the phase that the parents go through is called the “Empty Nest Syndrome”.
Empty Nest Syndrome Psychology
Empty Nest Syndrome is a period of loneliness and feeling a void in one’s life and home due to the going away of the children. And if the parental or the maternal bond with the child is exceptionally strong, the Empty Nest Syndrome is a very painful experience.
The children move away to their own worlds, set up a family in some other part of the country or globe, and are busy in their own new-found entanglements, whereas, the parents stare at the empty void in their lives and home too.
Empty Nest Syndrome is a rite of passage. It cannot be wished away entirely, but of course with maturity and with the knowledge that ‘it is inevitable’ it can be dealt with in a proper manner.
Empty Nest Syndrome Quote
This quote by Anonymous aptly describes the Empty Nest Syndrome experienced by parents,
“ I sit alone a lot, but I do not mind it. I’m just waiting for something clean to fill this emptiness, but it’s been so long, I think I may never find it. You worked for a bit, I could look in the mirror and smile, I felt complete with you near me .”
New Roles with an Empty Nest Condition
How to overcome ‘Empty Nest Syndrome’ Condition
Here are some ways to deal with this crucial yet painful junction of our lives:
Prepare Yourself Mentally Beforehand, so that the blues don’t strike suddenly.
Look at everything in a positive manner. Like the Extra Space in the house can mean newer hobbies/maybe Paying Guest Accommodation in case you were a single parent or had a very big house.
Look back and see that you did the same to your parents, in your endeavor to get a good education/job or settle down in your marriage. Understand that it’s a rite of passage.
Instead of being sad for yourself, Be happy for your children that they are building their lives/careers.
Volunteer at a Social Cause to get the feel-good-factor and to have something to do with the free time that you now have on your hands.
Practice Yoga for Depression
Pick up something new and challenging that can occupy your mind, body, and soul so as to take your mind off the void left behind by your children.
Take a Break, now that you don’t have to 24X7 look after your children so you have time for yourself too. Take an exciting vacation to rejuvenate yourself completely.
Look after your grandchildren, if you have them from your older children who flew from the nest earlier
Set Goals and challenges for yourself, be it doing anything that you haven’t done earlier due to lack of time, effort or money.
Exercise. Yes, exercising releases the hormones that make us feel good about ourselves. Plus you will get in super good shape too.
Simply, Treat it as a new beginning of life, and I assure you everything will fall in place!
Studying Psychology, Just Another Poor Philosopher, Foodie, Netflix Fan, Food Reviewer on Zomato, Digital Marketer By Profession & Aspiring Entrepreneur. Went to Both for Studies ITI & IIT-D | https://medium.com/@chaaicoffee/empty-nest-syndrome-in-festival-season-chaaicoffee-da1809999e29 | ['Chaai Coffee'] | 2021-02-02 11:09:31.727000+00:00 | ['Alone', 'Empty Nest', 'Empty Nest Syndrome', 'Empty', 'Loneliness'] |
Feed Your Brain to Make it Stronger | You can improve growth and function at ANY age
Image by Chenspec from Pixabay
It is the repository of all we know and have ever experienced; it has the capability to solve problems and create them; it is the uninhibited fountain of dreams and ideas and the channel of disciplined action. It is also the largest sex organ in our bodies (but size doesn’t matter).
Of course, I am referring to our brains. In particular, I am referring to our aging brains.
First, let’s dispel the popular myths. These are the things holding us back, inhibiting us from enjoying the fullness of our aging brains.
Misconception: As we age, our brains decline, resulting in an inability to recall information and master new things.
Certainly, at some point, we have all found it a little difficult to remember a name, misplaced our keys, or taken a little longer than usual to perform a mental task. Those “senior moments” are not necessarily signs of mental decline. They are signs of mental change.
In some ways, a healthy older brain has been shown to function better than healthy younger brains.
“Studies have shown that older people have better judgment, are better at making rational decisions, and are better able to screen out negativity than their juniors are,” according to an article from the Harvard Medical School’s Harvard Medical Publishing.
Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Roderick Gilkey and Clint Kilts note that work began in the 1990s has “yielded a broad front of research and training that has upended some deeply held beliefs about the brain. One such belief is that the brain necessarily diminishes with age. It turns out that neurons, the basic cells that allow information transfer to support the brain’s computing power, do not have to die off as we get older. In fact, a number of regions of the brain important to functions such as motor behavior and memory can actually expand their complement of neurons as we age. This process, called neurogenesis, used to be unthinkable in mainstream neuroscience.”
In short, we can physically improve our brains and brain function. How? The same way we improve our physical function — through a good workout. But not just a physical workout — a regular brain workout.
Brain imaging studies have shown you can make changes in your brain by learning a new skill, such as studying a new language, playing a musical instrument, taking up a new hobby, or doing almost anything you’ve never done before.
The simple use of will power can also improve your brain’s capabilities. Further brain imaging studies have shown that participants were able to control the sensation of pain through concentration. Accomplished practitioners of meditation have long been able to control physical pain or irritation.
“These advances in neuroscience suggest that there is no reason why your brain at 60 can’t be as competent as it was at 25,” according to Gilkey and Kilts. “That would not have been news to thinkers such as Socrates, Copernicus, and Galileo, who were all still at the peak of their intellectual powers in their sixties and seventies. Nor would it surprise business leaders such as Alan Greenspan, Warren Buffett, and Sumner Redstone. These icons and others like them have intuitively understood that the brain’s alertness is the result of what we call cognitive fitness — a state of optimized ability to reason, remember, learn, plan, and adapt that is enhanced by certain attitudes, lifestyle choices, and exercises.”
Many researchers say that new tricks or variations on old habits are the prescription for maintaining and improving cognitive function.
“Exercising, keeping your brain active, and maintaining creativity can actually help to prevent cognitive decline and memory problems.” Melinda Smith, M.A., Jeanne Segal, PhD., and Monika White, Ph.D. wrote in the nonprofit publication Getting Help. “The more active and social you are and the more you use and sharpen your brain, the more benefits you will get.”
Smith, Segal, and White recommend three actions for maintaining and improving mental acuity. | https://medium.com/crows-feet/feed-your-brain-to-make-it-stronger-61bcb87d31f6 | ['Max K. Erkiletian'] | 2020-11-18 16:57:59.864000+00:00 | ['Aging', 'Brain', 'Health', 'Seniors', 'Neuroscience'] |
Lemon Meringue Cookie Goodness | [gallery type=”square” columns=”4" ids=”819,816,818"]
This week, our new cookie of the week was the Lemon Meringue Cookie. One of my favourite cookies so far (after carrot cake!), it has a lemon filling and meringue on top — blow torched to perfection. It’s simply divine and I have to stop myself from eating them all myself because we sell out everyday and I don’t want anyone to miss out! It’s definitely the most aesthetically pleasing cookie we’ve invented so far too.
A customer told me that they had read a good article about me in Unlimited Magazine so I rushed down to the local bookstore and grabbed myself two copies. I always feel sheepish reading magazines in public that I know I’m in. I have this crazy paranoia that someone will see me reading about myself and think I’m vain haha.
The article is well written and I liked how at the end, there was a reflective piece from Ken Erskine (who leads the start-up team at the Ice House) saying “Young, talented entrepreneurs shouldn’t hold back”. It’s so weird seeing myself in print — almost cringe-worthy but it’s an honour to be in Unlimited and to take up 3 pages!
Lately, I’ve been in a bit of a slump. For so long I’ve been raring to go, fighting so hard & working so much…but now, it’s so hard to find motivation. There is so much work to be done yet I’ve seem to have lost that gusto that got me through all those hard times. I’m starting to lose focus…my brain is constantly going on imaginary cruises around different dreams in distant lands. I really need to snap out of it.
How do you motivate yourself? I know it sounds stupid, but I often find motivation from the past Deanna. Reading on my old diary entries, it makes me sad reading how inspired and motivated I was in the past and I feel ashamed that I’ve lost that recently.
Here are a couple quotes I jotted down two years ago when I first thought of Moustache:
The mind is everything. What you think, you become — Buddha / Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. / The only products with a future are those created by passionate people. / Success is earned — Nike /Pain is temporary, giving up is forever. / Success isn’t free & living isn’t easy / The man who moves a mountain, begins by carrying small stones — Confucious
Keep me accountable guys…this time next week I promise I will be back to my motivated self! x | https://medium.com/makinglittlecents/lemon-meringue-cookie-goodness-1d321cfc7c38 | ['Deanna Yang'] | 2017-01-02 11:32:54.105000+00:00 | ['Lemon Meringue', 'Cookie', 'Personal', 'Lemon', 'Business'] |
Roy Cohn’s 26 Rules on How to be Just Like Trump (The Greatest Person Ever)! | Roy Cohn’s 26 Rules on How to be Just Like Trump (The Greatest Person Ever)! henrydaas Aug 6, 2020·10 min read
Hi everybody,
Roy Cohn here. I know what you’re thinking. I’m dead. Well, there’s dead and there’s DEAD. And I’m neither but yes, my body is gone. Sad, I had a great body. Best body ever! So, I’m stuck using this numb-nuts Henry to translate all my incredible wisdom. Poor kid has none of the traits I’m about to describe. Too bad, I had high hopes but he’s just an empty vessel. Never be President. Sad.
For those who don’t know my story, SHAME ON YOU! It’s on HBO! So, all you cheap ass cord cutters or whatever need to sign up for HBO Go, or Max, or whatever the hell they’re calling it this week. You didn’t think we got HBO here where I find myself in the afterlife? Well, we do. So suck on that. Plus Facebook, that silly Twitter thing, and Amazon, if you can believe but there’s so many porch pirates, don’t even get me started. Rumor has it that other place only has books and Mister Roger’s reruns. What a dump!
I was born in the Bronx in 1927 exactly 15 days before this dip shit Henry’s mom if you can believe. Heard she’s was nice lady. Too bad she’s stuck in that other place for eternity reading Orwell and watching The Golden Girls. Get a life! Or death. Get something!
I was a lawyer. Some might know me because I railroaded the Rosenbergs to the electric chair back in the day. Julius was guilty as sin, Ethel, well, you lay with dogs, you get fleas. Funny, I don’t see them around here. Then I worked for that guy McCarthy. That douchebag I just can’t get rid of! Follows me everywhere. People are starting to talk. He’s dumb as an Xbox of hair, couldn’t poor piss from a boot if the instructions was written on the heel! I gave that line to LBJ, I swear. Look it up.
People said I was gay but that wasn’t true. Not a word of it!I just liked having sex with guys. I was a gentleman and gentlemen prefer blonds. That doesn’t make me gay, just human. I ain’t no pixie. And I got AIDS from a toilet seat.
But enough about me! How do you like what you read so far? Pretty great, no? That kid Henry’s a hell of a writer so long as I hand him everything on a silver platter. What a sap! Anywho, let’s get on with it ’cause I’m not getting any younger!
One thing them HBO folks conveniently forgot to mention is I ran a super-secret program called the Roy Cohn School for Wayward Boys and Girls and other Genders. Sometimes known as RCSWBGG. You know, to teach them how to be super successful like me! Although I died disbarred, disgraced, and penniless. You won’t care! You’re dead…
Your boy, Don Don, he was my prize pupil. Number one in his class! It was a class of one but still, pretty great accomplishment don’t you think? He aced every course I ever taught him. I would release his transcript but I don’t want get sued although I’d have NO problem finding me a lawyer in this place. Still, you don’t want to see the inside of a courtroom, not at my age. So many blonds, so much time…
So, I thought I’d channel my rules for life. You know, so you can stop sucking so bad and be an incredible success like my boy, Donny. He makes me so proud! I’m kvelling! You can thank me later. So, let’s get on with it already…
Rule #1 — Never EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER admit you’re wrong. You know why? Because you’re always right! DUH! Even if you say something incredibly stupid like, I don’t know, gargle with bleach to kill some germ, don’t matter. You were right ’cause if some idiot actually did that, he’d die and then the germs would die too. See what I mean? It’s easy and you was right all along. If people are still too stupid to understand, use a Sharpie. Which brings me to…
Rule #2 — Never EVER EVER EVER EVER doubt you own abilities. Everyone else is an imbecile, you are the smartest, biglyest, guy or gal and you see and know everything that’s good and perfect and great and everyone else uses Clorox for mouthwash and is dumb.
Rule #3 — ALWAYS give powerful people shit about stuff you do yourself. Because you’re great and they’re dickheads. Hammer that Obama character about his playing golf. He sucks at it and he’s the President and he should be working. But it’s okay for you to play every 4.6 days. Because you’re the President and Presidents can do what they want so long as the President is you. And you always shoot 69. No more. No less. These rules are so easy even a Senator can follow them!
Rule #4 — Never pay anybody for anything. You don’t get rich by using your own money. DUH. That’s a sucker game. I mean, you spend your money, then it’s gone. Can’t have that, that’s just stupid. Let other people spend their money just make sure it always benefits you. Speaking of…
Rule #5 — Never pay taxes. My old pal Leona said it best, “Taxes are for little people.” And by little people, I’m pretty sure she didn’t mean folks with a congenital affectation rendering them short of stature. She meant LITTLE people. You know, everybody except you.
Rule #6 — Always ask yourself one simple question — “What’s in it for me?” Do I really need to explain this any further? C’mon!
Rule #7 — You like people who like you. People says nice things about you, enjoy it because you deserve it. They criticize, USE EVERYTHING AT YOU DISPOSABLE TO ANNIHILATE THEM! But don’t forget…
Rule #8 — Friends are just enemies you’re temporarily fond of. Or you tolerate before you wring every useful shred from them and throw their pathetic carcass on the slag heap. Just make sure they sign an NDA beforehand.
Rule #9 — Your dick is your business. Wherever it ends up, it was SUPPOSED to be there. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. If you don’t have a dick, always know you have my pity. Which reminds me…
Rule #10 — If a woman is fat or ugly, tell her! No use letting her go through life thinking she’s anything but a sack of meat to be used and abused by some guy. Or another gal. Think of it as a public service. Same goes for guys except if they have a lot of money in which case, attack their masculinity or a body part. Whatever it is, don’t let anyone think they’re on your level. Because they’re not and could never be. Kill their dreams, Dreamkiller!
Rule #11 — You’re 6' 3" and 230 pounds of pure muscle no matter what you are. If you stand next to someone who looks taller but actually says he’s shorter, assume they are living a paranoid delusion. Humor them and then confiscate every camera within a ten block radius.
Rule #12 — If ever called upon to speak publicly or be interviewed, just spout off whatever garbage comes into your head. Nobody listens and fact checks so just have fun with it. Sputter out incoherent nonsense and let them press people figure out what it all means. I mean, it’s THEIR job! Do you have to do everything?! I think not.
Rule #13 — Which reminds me and this is next level stuff. This bit takes like eight years to learn and cost six million dollars extra at the Roy Cohn School for Wayward Boys and Girls and other Genders. Often referred to as RCSWBGG. NEVER take responsibility for anything! Except if it’s a GOOD thing then accept everyone’s gratitude and admiration and all the credit even if you had bupkus to do with it. If later, something BAD happens to the good thing, pretend whatever you said before NEVER happened. It was just a figment of all those dumb idiots stunted imaginations. Unless that bad thing becomes a good thing again then forget everything else and take all the credit. Again. I told you this was advanced stuff!
Rule #14 — Same as Rule #13 except with people. If you say somebody said something and you liked it and it turned it out was stupid or something, just pretend you didn’t know them at all. Same goes for people you knew your whole life who turn out to be rat bastards which you knew all along. Just say they only became that way after you decided to have nothing to do with them and they fell apart. Trust me, works every time.
Rule #15 — Also, with people, and this is important, ALWAYS diminish the super accomplished and well-respected as early and often as you can. I mean, who do they think they are, YOU? NFW. Easiest way is to just lump them in with everyone else so they don’t stand out. For example, if say someone asks you about a recently deceased congressman who just happened to be one of the iconic figures of oh, I don’t know, the 1960s civil rights movement and a voice for change representing millions of oppressed citizens, just remind people guys like that are a dime, a dozen. Not even two bits. 10 cents! Chicken feed. Nothing special. Just one of a bunch of guys who did stuff that nobody remembers and even cares about anymore. Pretty much a nobody. Certainly, not up to your level because you’ve done more for them poor pathetic wretches of humanity than anyone, EVEN that guy with the silly beard.
Rule #16 — No slight can go unpunished. None. Zero. There’s no such thing as ‘too petty.’ Get it printed on a t-shirt, wear it to bed.
Rule #17 — This is a tricky one. Some people might actually have some legitimate, let’s say, dirt on you. You know, like maybe a video of you gettin’ peed on. Hey, don’t knock it ‘till you tried it! Or maybe money you owe or some corners you cut. Petty fraud. You know, they know where them bodies is buried, if you catch my drift (wink, wink). So, every once in a while, throw them a bone. Tell them, “I wish you well” or something like that, you know, a coded message that lets them know you got their back. And to keep their fucking suck hole zippered or you will stab them in it. Repeatedly.
Rule #18 — If Rule #17 is Russian, be nice. That’s it. Be nice and do what he says. He say jump, you jump asshole.
Rule #19 — If someone writes a book about you, say everything is a lie. If YOU write a book about you, make sure everything is a lie but say every word is true. This one is so easy even a Democrat can follow!
Rule #20 — When in doubt, sue. Even when not in doubt.
Rule #21 — People don’t always know you’re the greatest person to ever draw breath. I know, hard to believe. Tell them over and over. Talk about how everything is great, perfect, couldn’t be better even if it’s hell in a hand basket. Remember Rule #1! To be belts and braces (hey, I’m a lawyer, remember), make sure to surround yourself with the worst and the dumbest and the most corrupt people you can find. It helps illuminate your majesty. You know, the ones soon to join me here. Those folks. Have them swear everlasting fealty and when they stray, which they will, fire their ass and make sure they do hard time. Dangle a pardon if you have to. Or both.
Rule #22 — Always remember, there’s no such thing as too racist.
Rule #23 — On that note, white people love graduates of the Roy Cohn School for Wayward Boys and Girls and other Genders. Also known as RCSWBGG. Sometimes these people do silly things when they’re below the Mason-Dixon line. Remind the world they’re good people. Remember, they think just like you. They think they’re better than everyone else. But they ain’t better than YOU. Not on their life.
Rule #24 — Not sure why you would want to do this but if you wanna grab a pussy, just grab a pussy. What’s the big deal?
Rule #25 — Take comfort in knowing the rules of ordinary society do not EVER apply to you. You can’t be indicted, held accountable, sent up the river, whatever. You are the river! You do what you want, whenever you want and everyone else can go fuck all. You are your own DOMAIN, everyone else is just a wretched piece of a soon to be extinct SPECIES. One day when people clone their babies, they will all want your DNA because it’s the bestest DNA there ever was.
Rule #26 — Finally, never read. Only idiots read. Blah, blah, blah. Just watch TV. All the time. Every chance you get. Watch yourself. It’s fun! Twitter about this shit you watch even though you don’t understand any of it. Don’t matter. Critical thinking is overrated. Don’t sleep. Sleep is for wimps. Here in Hell, we never sleep. I only get to watch one channel. No fighting over the remote. You might be able to guess which one. Absolute Paradise …
So, with that I bid you adieu. I hope you enjoyed my rules for life. Actually, I don’t really give a shit. Use them in good health. One last thought, in case I have a senior moment. If you’re planning to vote for anyone other than my bestie, The Donald, come November, stay home. Don’t even mail it in. Don’t go anywhere near a Post Office. Too many germs, you ninny! No, for your own safety and those you love or just keep around, sit this one out. There will be other elections. I promise. Why would I lie!
In case you didn’t hear, there’s a PANDEMIC for crying out loud! You don’t want to end up like me…
XOXOXOXO
RC | https://medium.com/@henrydaas/roy-cohns-26-rules-on-how-to-be-just-like-trump-the-greatest-person-ever-bf30ee1e58b1 | [] | 2020-08-06 16:44:25.665000+00:00 | ['Roy Cohn', 'Trump Administration', 'Trump'] |
Salt, Gandhi and Covid-19.. Before even the modern era of germ… | Before even the modern era of germ theory most of the basic nutritional diseases were figured out. Even if we did not understand the basic chemistry we empirically came up with solutions. Most of these disease now have quaint archaic names, Beriberi, Scurvy, Pellagra and Rickets caused by deficiencies in Niacin, Vitamin C, Tryptophan, and Vitamin D respectively. All horrible diseases, all simple fixes.
You can add one more to the list. It’s name is as disturbing as it’s effects and while the politically correct may seek to soften the blow by utilizing it’s more scientific name hypothyroidism that clinical bit of semantical footwork does not bring the full horror of the disease or it’s wretched medieval past into focus. It is caused by a lack of iodine.
The disease is called Cretinism.
Iodine. Not something we think about very much. An interesting element when heated it produces a stunning violet vapor which is deadly to inhale. But like oxygen ,we miss it terribly in its absence. A lack of iodine in the diet attacks the unborn worst of all resulting in birth defects of a wide swath including dwarfism, disfigurement and mental retardation. In adults it most often takes the form of Goiter, large citrus sized inflammations of the thyroid gland disfiguring the victim’s necks.
Most of the world’s nations now require the iodization of salt which easily and cheaply won the war against hypothyroidism.
India took a different path or march as the case may be. The Dandi Salt March. Led by Mr Gandhi himself. The Salt Satyagraha, a 241 mile trek in protest of the oppressive British salt tax ending in the traditional “common salt” manufacturing city of Dandi on the Arabian Sea. It ended in a massive procession into that city and Gandhi’s first major act of civil disobedience with tens of thousands jailed and the eye of the world spun round toward India. It was pure political genius. It also resulted in the politicization of a chemical. Iodine.
The common salt produced by traditional methods does not contain iodine. India won the salt war gained its independence and salt became not just a staple of the table but a symbol of nascent nationalism. Not just any salt but the common salt produced by untold numbers of small producers. Not just because of a liberated market, but by law only common salt was allowed. Lots of really smart people said “Well that’s fine but we need to figure out a way to add iodine to the salt or we are going to health problems on an unimaginable scale.” This idea was characterized as neo-colonial, iodine was demonized, demonstrated in pure form as poison, ridiculed and for decades not added to the salt of India.
The result was depressingly predictable. Hypothyroidism ran rampant, mental retardation and disfigurement of newborns soared. Goiter became common. Yet still the nationalist attitude toward the banning of iodine prevailed and did so into the 21st century. Only recently has a national program been implemented to solve the Indian deficiency of iodine in the diet. It took over a half century of untold millions suffering for want a simple nutritional nail.
Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash
Now we are faced with a similar situation. Large numbers of people around the world are denying science because they feel it contrasts with their tribal political identity. They are incapable of accepting vigorously proven facts and at once embracing fantastically bad ideas that cannot be substantiated with a shred of evidence. They are active and aggressive in their mission. They seek to not only poison the well of knowledge by defiance but by statute as well. They are not at a loss finding politicians to pander to their ill conceived beliefs.
At no time in the past century have we needed people to trust the efficacy of vaccines more than this moment. The doubt promoted by the non-believers has, however, had its own viral life. Completely reasonable people have become skeptics of solid medical science. We can little afford the company of the millions of Americans and others around the world that claim they will refuse the vaccine. India watched untold millions die from a simple lack of iodine because of manipulative politicians. We have ample evidence US politicians are eager to use the Covid vaccine as a political bludgeon giving substance to the anti-science hysteria. Many of those elected officials would have no problem following a similar approach as India did with salt. Recklessly endangering a recovery and the lives of millions. Possibly even worse resulting in COVID never dying. Incubating continuously in willing deluded hosts and their children, mutating, figuring out how to beat the existing vaccines and then reinfect the general vaccinated population again and again. We need to not let that happen. Get vaccinated please. Convince others. It took India decades even to begin to eliminate a disease for which they already had a cure, all because of inflexible political differences. We have just been delivered a cure let’s hope we can put aside our differences, believe our doctors and move a little faster. | https://medium.com/@sammiller-17435/salt-ghandi-and-why-covid-may-never-die-393f162473e4 | ['Sam Miller'] | 2021-01-12 02:57:03.117000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'History', 'Chemistry', 'Covid 19', 'Healthcare'] |
Why The Universe Doesn’t Take From You, Without Giving You Something Better | The Meaning We Give Is Subjective
“To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.” — Lao Tzu
What have you lost recently that you miss from your life? Was it an intimate relationship? A career? Finances or something else? What emotions did you experience? Perhaps it was fear, anger or other negative emotions?
Have you recovered from your loss or are you still coming to terms with it? I want to reassure you, what was taken from you will be replaced by something better, in due course.
I don’t want to give you a false hope that losing a relationship will be replaced with another person. Sometimes, people leave our life with no explanation. Regrettably, I don’t have all the answers, since I am subject to the same fate.
However, there’s one thing I’ve learned. When something is taken from my life, there is a period of grief, followed by something greater coming in to my life. For example, I lost my father to type II diabetes well before his time.
His passing sent me on a quest to understand the human condition and why some people live a long life, while others succumb to illness.
I wrote a book on the topic, following years of research and it became my quest to understand the connection between mind, body and spirit.
So yes, whilst my father passed away early, the universe gave me something I could not have expected, and that was the gift of: insight, compassion, humility and wisdom.
Some of you may have lost your job amid the Coronavirus pandemic. It may have been a loss in your finances, perhaps the breakup of an intimate relationship.
These things can affect us long after they’re gone. Therefore, we ought to grieve over our loss and console ourselves before moving on. We may or may not find meaning in our circumstances.
Either way, the meaning we ascribe is subjective because we don’t really know the full extent to why things happen. We can only speculate to put our minds at ease.
Can you relate to this? Are you still looking for why a benevolent universe can be cruel and unjust sometimes? It is normal to entertain these thoughts, however they can take us down the rabbit hole of despair, searching for answers.
It may or may not come, so I invite you to focus on the lessons gained from the experience, rather than search for their meaning. I can’t explain why unfortunate events happen and it would be remiss of me to even try.
What I can do is help you make sense of what happened, to move forward as best you can. It is about re-empowering ourselves with new insights, wisdom, and seeing our misfortunes through the eyes of kindness and self-compassion.
Photo by Austin Human on Unsplash
The Universe Intends To Use Your Pain
“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” — Paulo Coelho
The universe is barely predictable because life can change at the drop of a hat. People’s lives are turned upside down and they’re forced into hopeless situations with no prior warning.
But here’s one thing I know: the universe gives us more in return when it takes something from our lives. It gives us the gift of: wisdom, resiliency, humility, compassion and strength of character.
We cannot buy these virtues online because they take years to develop, were it not for our heartbreak and pain.
What I’m saying is: when we are forced into a situation not of our choosing, we discover the essence of who we really are.
We all experience pain and suffering, and the degree to which we suffer is based on how we view our misfortunes. Having studied the lives of centenarians over the years, many of them endured pain and suffering throughout their lives.
The one common denominator to their endurance is the will to live. Viktor Frankl described this idea in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning.
Those who endured extreme suffering during the Holocaust in Nazi Germany, discovered the will to live and went on to share their stories with thousands of others.
Hardship strengthens our resolve and helps us decide what is important in our lives. Our pain becomes the healing agent to heal other’s pain and suffering.
We may use our pain to focus on areas of importance to us such as social justice, inequality, environmental issues or other issues affecting humanity.
When people lose something of importance, some find a deeper meaning in their disaster. I’m reminded of those who lose family members in tragic circumstances, such as car accidents or murder and rape.
Some start social causes, devoted to helping the lives of those affected by these tragic events. So, what am I saying?
Trust.
See if you can accept what happened, and trust the universe to use your pain for your own good or the betterment of others.
Life is neither fair nor unfair. Our mind justifies these thoughts to make sense of unfortunate events. Life is doing its job, whilst supporting our personal growth.
So, if the universe has taken something from your life, something better may take its place in the foreseeable future.
After all, it was the Greek philosopher Aristotle who said: “Nature abhors a vacuum.” Meaning: something of equal value or better will fill its place.
Call To Action
Do you want to lead a remarkable life? Are you committed to taking action despite your fears and doubts? Have you had enough of not achieving the success you seek? If so, download your FREE copy of my eBook NAVIGATE LIFE right now, and start your amazing journey of greatness today! | https://medium.com/@tonyfahkry/why-the-universe-doesnt-take-from-you-without-giving-you-something-better-c064374013e9 | ['Tony Fahkry'] | 2020-12-04 08:03:59.926000+00:00 | ['Personal Growth', 'Universe', 'Self Improvement', 'Inspiration', 'Life Lessons'] |
Ways to Give Back this Holiday | Ways to Give Back this Holiday
The pandemic has most of us cutting back expenses and unfortunately, that means charities that we used to donate to or volunteer our time at. According to Market Watch, “due to the coronavirus pandemic, most nonprofits can expect to suffer a significant setback for quite some time and some potentially will face organizational failure.” Now more than ever is the time to get involved no matter if it’s donating a small amount or attending a virtual event, every little bit helps. Join-Tandem.com Dec 16, 2020·3 min read
Some inexpensive ways you can give back and make a difference is donating canned food items at local drives, grab a couple of extra toys for a toy drive, donate an unused gift card you have, or a couple of dollars online to a local charity. I encourage you to take a look online at what everyone needs, their wish list and get involved. This year the employees at Tandem pitched in to shop online for patients and families at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
From left to right Cher Scholl, Growth Marketer, Olivia Weinstock, CEO and Co-Founder of Tandem, Brittany Thomas, Creative Director
Tandem CEO, Olivia Weinstock, “This holiday season, we are donating toys to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, a perfect way for our team to fulfill our core mission at Tandem: to provide joy to children.”
If you are looking for some safe COVID-19 additional ways to give back this year check out these options in our Giving Back Blog.
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Here are 5 tips for working from home parents: https://join-tandem.medium.com/5-tips-for-working-from-home-parents-c3eefb44cf36
6 tips for learning from home: https://join-tandem.medium.com/6-tips-for-learning-from-home-4f6b4df58baf
Here are helpful articles around COVID-19:
Your coronavirus questions answered: What families and caregivers need to know: https://www.join-tandem.com/covid19Policy
Many parents are finding their kids home from school again: https://join-tandem.medium.com/childcare-home-based-providers-are-the-future-c7d025080ffb
Listen to Tandem’s story in Salem Communication’s Local Business Spotlight Interview: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7uicmqpkq5pgx9c/LBS%20Tandem%20Childcare%2010%2003%2604%20%231.mp3?dl=0
Tandem CEO, Olivia Weinstock on Mid Ohio Breakfast Club: https://audiomack.com/wdlrnews/song/tandem?fbclid=IwAR3QMumVASuAjCoDsHqHCPP0FWShpqxllGYYnAWdVwgFwowbnKSECm5BW0s
Do you need a date night but not exactly sure what to do with the kids? 610 WTVN What Matters Podcast, Mindy and Mikaela have you covered: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/960-what-matters-with-m-29090968/episode/hr-1-need-a-date-72218445/?cmp=web_share&embed=true&pname=fb&campid=s&keyid=3577031463&fbclid=IwAR2rMzRfDnXjZ1UX_2zGOpd9dftH3fcchFIm6pVwJVFjjVy9jKdEo8GRCX8
See how Tandem helped these families in central Ohio find the perfect child care:
https://youtu.be/IsL4UBrauGo
Check out The Work From Home Mindset For Parents by 614Mom: http://www.614mom.com/blog/2020/11/17/the-working-from-home-mindset-for-parents
Tandem Co-Founders made the Midwest’s Top Female Founders to Watch in 2021: https://www.purpose.jobs/blog/the-midwests-top-female-founders-to-watch-in-2021
About Tandem:
join-tandem.com is a completely free platform for parents to find sitters, nannies, and tutors in central Ohio. Tandem connects parents with reliably vetted child care providers near Columbus, Ohio. The Tandem Babysitting App provides flexibility for both parents and providers. Open, easy communication connecting trusting parties based on matched needs. There is an efficient payment system that allows parents to pay their child care provider through their online portal and providers receive 100% of their pay immediately. | https://medium.com/@join-tandem/ways-to-give-back-this-holiday-6be09ac83e9f | [] | 2021-01-13 19:41:51.854000+00:00 | ['Childcare', 'Giving Back', 'Charity', 'Charitable Giving', 'Charity Marketing'] |
The industry’s best-kept secret: why mobile ad fraud prevention is just too good to be true | Despite the growing number of anti-fraud solutions and in spite of numerous breakthroughs in fraud detection technologies, mobile app install ad fraud remains a fatal problem for app developers and the entire advertising ecosystem. Losses from ad fraud are estimated to rise to $12.6 billion this year, making it one of the industry’s most significant challenges.
Needless to say, fraudsters continuously revise and upgrade their tactics — but so do the fraud detection companies, with some of them giving loosely promises to identify “99.9%” of fraudulent installs in real time, and even “prevent” fraud altogether. Having an ultimate solution that can wipe out all fraudulent installs and, what’s more, do it automatically, would have been a lifeline to the advertising community.
However, the issue of mobile fraud is still far from being resolved. So, as its always the case with one-fits-all solutions, “real-time prevention,” when applied to app install ad fraud, may turn out to be no more than the industry’s latest buzzword. Given the huge sums that fraud-detection companies charge for their services, there’s a surprising lack of understanding about the current state of anti-fraud technology, its limits and abilities.
When fraud prevention works
First things first, there are a few solutions that are capable of preventing fraud. By requiring app developers to integrate its SDK, MMPs (Mobile Measurement Platforms) gain access to the app’s data and can potentially prevent fraud. That often looks appealing to User Acquisition managers because fraudulent installs don’t appear in the reports and, hence, there’s no need to go through the arduous process of negotiating fraud rejects.
On the other hand, though often seen as a “silver bullet” against mobile ad fraud, the MMP’s fraud prevention approach is far from perfect.
In the performance advertising area, marketers need to pay close attention to the statistics on the attribution of new installs for calculating CPI (Cost per Install) and ROI (Return on Investment) bids. MMPs show an attributed install in the dashboard during the first five minutes, so the system is required to make a final decision on a fraudulent install within a limited time frame. At the same time, while a fast decision-making process can be a game changer for advertisers, the insufficient time available for analysis can potentially decrease the accuracy of the final result, especially when it comes to detecting mobile ad fraud. To tell if the install was fraudulent with high accuracy, a third-party anti-fraud solution would need to analyze post-install in-app activity, which would, in turn, require accessing in-app events data for days.
When fraud prevention is [almost] a buzzword
As we have stated in previous paragraphs, only SDK-integrated solutions can provide full fraud prevention. Nonetheless, some third-party anti-fraud solutions explicitly claim to prevent fraudulent installs by wrapping URLs before a publisher.
Here’s how a typical link flow (or redirect chain) looks like:
Sub publisher tracking link — contains session information from the publisher’s ad network.
Publisher tracking link — includes information related to a particular publisher.
MMP tracking link — used for tracking the success of campaigns across various publishers.
Direct app store link — used for measuring user acquisition sources with the app store’s built-in analytics.
By inserting their tracking link between the publisher’s and MMP’s tracking links, third-party anti-fraud tools can potentially flag the click as fraudulent and block it from showing up in the MMP’s tracking link. And therefore, if the fraudulent click blocked, the fraudulent install doesn’t occur and doesn’t show up on the MMP’s dashboard. The fraud had been prevented.
However, the technology behind fraud prevention is a little more complicated than that. First of all, to start using fraud prevention offered by third-party anti-fraud solutions, app developers need to change tracking links for all publishers, which would require halting all their user acquisition campaigns and re-launching them again with a new tracking link. That doesn’t only make the redirect chain longer but also poses additional technical challenges to app developers.
Moreover, effective real-time ad fraud prevention may not be technically possible. Processing millions of clicks in seconds and providing an immediate answer on whether this or that click is fraudulent with Machine Learning algorithms will entail cutting-edge technology and computational power that, to the best of our knowledge, none of the third-party anti-fraud solutions possesses. Proceeding from these limitations, third-party anti-fraud solutions can only check simple rules set (e.g. whether an IP that generated a click belongs to a black-listed data center or not). Also, handling such huge amounts of data may result in lower accuracy and a very high price of a mistake — even one or two percent error rate would lead to a considerable amount of false positive and false negative decisions.
While false both app developers and publishers are negatively affected by false positive and false negative errors, the latter are losing attributed installs (and thus money) on each false-positive decision made by an anti-fraud solution. So, real-time fraud prevention is likely to get an extremely low buy-in from publishers. In fact, some larger publishers like Twitter and Google don’t allow to use any tracking links at all, making it impossible to incorporate this fraud prevention approach in their ad networks.
Another drawback of real-time fraud prevention comes from the nature of attribution theft. Unlike the install ad fraud that generates “real” clicks and installs from fake users (e.g., device farms), attribution theft generates fake clicks and installs from real users who might’ve seen the ad but didn’t click on it. Attribution theft includes such wide-spread types of fraud as click injection and click spam, which accounted for over 35 percent of all fraudulent app installs in 2018 [according to Scalarr’s recent report].
Given that fraud prevention technology relies on filtering out suspicious clicks based on a datacenter IP that generated them, it may not always be possible for third-party solutions to identify fraud generated by genuine devices. Therefore, attribution fraud stays under the preventative tech’s radar.
Take nobody’s word for it
In the nineteenth century, Philadelphia retailer John Wanamaker said: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” When applied to 2019, this phrase сouldn’t be more wrong — marketing professionals can no longer afford to waste half of their marketing budgets on high-tech that may not live up to its commitments.
Ad fraud prevention technology promises to provide the “ultimate protection” against ad fraud, but these claims are often far from the truth. While it can, and in fact does, prevent more primitive types of fraud by leveraging real-time detection of IP anomalies, such a preventive approach may leave more complex types of attribution fraud completely neglected.
So what can you do? First of all, you need to get serious about evaluating the technological abilities of anti-fraud solutions you plan to use. Make sure this solution is able to provide well-rounded protection for your advertising campaigns, starting from the initial click and unlocking the post-install events analytics. Secondly, try not to fall for the buzzwords anti-fraud solutions use to sell their product. Just because they say it works doesn’t mean it really does. | https://medium.com/scalarr/the-industrys-best-kept-secret-why-mobile-ad-fraud-prevention-is-just-too-good-to-be-true-f171ca5adc77 | ['Olga Bazarova'] | 2019-05-28 08:01:31.561000+00:00 | ['Fraud Prevention', 'Mobile', 'Fraud', 'Advertising', 'Apps'] |
Get uncomfortable | I went down 3 hours from Sydney to Jervis Bay for a bucks trip. The idea was to camp in the area and go fishing. We had set up the tents and camp just in time before the rain set in for the next 24 hours.
We brought two utes worth of camping gear. And had lugged food, fishing gear and supplies to various spots around the bay. Setting up and packing up in the rain, wind and eventually the dark. Admittedly the weather was miserable and we were all cold, wet and inundated by insects. But we were all in good spirits and that really set and maintained the weekend vibe of adventure.
We intended to go prawning in the national park after dark. Prawns are more active at night and more easiest spotted during the night with a torch. Their eyes light up orange and their translucent body is more visible against the light at night. It was raining off and on and seemed like we wouldn’t have a successful evening of prawning. Picture this, six mates in the pitch darkness of a national park, underneath a gazebo next to a lake during a downpour. It was insects galore. We were all in our wader gear, beer in hand, sausages on the grill. Patiently waiting out the rain. If it didn’t let up we’d just enjoy the evening, even in our discomfort.
Eventually, the rain did let up around 10pm and we set off into the lake. At first the water was somewhat murky but eventually settled. I still recall the first netting of a prawn, the yelp and group cheer. After a successful and highly therapeutic night of prawning we packed up what felt like a few hundred kilos worth of gear and lugged it uphill back to the utes. Back at the campsite, our tents had yielded some water given how heavily it had rained. Tired and thankful for cover above, sleeping mattress below and a burrito of a sleeping bag — I couldn’t be happier to fall asleep.
There was a torrential downpour overnight. Packing up to return home the next morning, everything left outside was completely drenched, even if it were undercover, shoes, cooking gear and lot. The guys were great, we discussed who needed to be where by what time and hashed out a game plan. Everyone then got on with it and packed up all the wet gear and we set out.
Although the trip took place under miserable weather. And we were cold and wet in plenty of discomfort. The resilience and steadfast spirits of the guys was encouraging. It made me reflect on how easily I maintained a positive outlook because of the overall vibe and how I in turn support and maintain that energy. I also reflected on how I didn’t resist the discomfort and actually let it sink into the backdrop along with the weather. It reminded me how important it is to control your mind. Remember how we sat beneath a small gazebo in the wet, cold and dark definitely makes me appreciate the warm comfort of home. But there’s something nagging about how the discomfort was good for my spirit. I feel like its nurturing my tolerance and pain threshold. I think I’ll continue to get uncomfortable… | https://medium.com/@terence/get-uncomfortable-8dfe551c5edb | ['Terence Tam'] | 2020-12-18 22:51:08.078000+00:00 | ['Fishing', 'Resilience', 'Stoicism', 'Camping', 'Growth Mindset'] |
Filters of Consciousness | “The general root of superstition : namely, that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss; and commit to memory the one, and forget and pass over the other.”
― Francis Bacon
Imagine for a moment that our consciousness, with respect to pursuing desires, functions in a similar way to that of our sense of smell. That, encoded within each of us, is every desire we can choose to have and that, once we know that it is we want, we’re on the hunt to fulfill that end; that, like smell, the receptor needs to be bound with the right-fitting olfactory signal to consecrate a satisfying match.
Or like vision, with our ability to perceive a workable portion of the light spectrum given our ocular ability to translate electromagnetic wavelengths into colors and, from this, be able to make chemical or physical assertions about reality.
The brain filters information in such subtle ways so as to categorically align us towards achieving our intentions — whether that intention is to pick an apple or pick an internet service provider. It does this through something that, truth be told, we’ve had a rather difficult time linguistically defining: we may call it intuition or subconscious intention, for instance.
This intention functions as a filter, allowing us to conveniently disregard the infinite noise around us and be able to identify, with remarkable precision, what it is we want to do.
Circling back to the light spectrum analogy — if we had been granted the ability to see the entire electromagnetic spectrum (say, the whole lot of radiowaves, gamma rays, microwaves), we’d be overwhelmed by the input of information; thankfully, as much as we may consider it a sad limitation, we can only perceive visible light waves. This ability, to filter, is inherently and indescribably useful in easing our navigation through physical (and, arguably, non-physical) reality.
To lean on an old example I had once presented: take, for instance, someone who’s trying to play poker professionally, enough to make a comfortable living. They begin watching international poker tournaments, getting to know the iconic names in the poker community, maybe even attending a few tournaments and amalgamating themselves into that atmosphere and the many orbits that inhabit it. They talk poker, walk poker, dream poker, and imagine themselves being among the most famous poker stars one day. Suddenly, opportunities are being created. Simply by attending a tournament, by immersing themselves in that world, the future poker star is creating blips of opportunity and activating potential fields of probability: they’re making connections, accessing channels of information, picking up on the evolution of the game, building a vocabulary, etc. Their subconscious mind is tuned in to hear words like ‘ante’ or ‘hold’ that would otherwise be ignored as background noise as they walk through a casino. More importantly, they’re consciously (if not subconsciously) creating and aligning themselves with the kind of opportunities needed to eventually ascend the ranks of the poker world. They’re filtering reality to their benefit, through their conscious effort to achieve an end.
It’s such a simple yet breath-takingly complex process, something that has been both relegated to over-stated bins of pseudo-scientific spirituality while also collecting dust on the shelves of antiquated psychological redundancy.
It’s nothing new but, because it’s such a slippery and versatile concept to grasp at from so many angles of study, it has become lost in the cracks of understanding, preventing most of us from appreciating it in its pure and undiluted, uncontaminated form.
We can achieve whatever we want to achieve — not really because we have the spiritual gusto within us, not exactly because of some higher consciousness and not necessarily because our intangible reality effectuates our tangible world, but simply because we can. It’s a biological gift, privilege, and advantage that has liberated the human animal from the confines of unaware and seemingly meaningless existence.
In short, it’s a big deal.
Yet we’ve saturated the understanding into variable forms of absurdity. But I suppose that’s besides the point and, if anything, beating a drum with no reverberating purpose.
So, in the spirit of usefulness, let us move on to how we can leverage this understanding to some kind of benefit. | https://medium.com/the-philosophers-stone/filters-of-consciousness-7365c70b55c2 | ['Michael Woronko'] | 2020-11-27 18:26:16.473000+00:00 | ['Philosophy', 'Consciousness', 'Life', 'Life Lessons', 'Inspiration'] |
Javascript Data Structures pt. 1: Arrays | So what exactly are Arrays?
(thanks to Oracle Java tutorials for the picture)
Arrays are a Data Structure that can hold a number of “things” in order. What “things” are in JavaScript is entirely up to you since Javascript doesn’t force strict typing. It could numbers, characters, strings, booleans, or objects. In Order means that the ordering of the things are set, if you place an integer at the 0 index it will always be there until you say other wise.
Just to go over the diagram a bit, an element is a physical “thing” in an array. An Index is a numbered spot in an array, and you refer to all the indexes(numbered spots) in array as indices of an array. Most languages also have 0-indexed arrays, this simply means that every array starts counting at 0. If you had one thing in an array, its spot would be number 0.
Arrays in Javascript are also dynamic by default but in other languages its not the case, you would something like an ArrayList there.
Just keep in mind that in other languages like C++,Java, Python etc. standard arrays are not expandable once you declare them. If you tell an array in Java that it’s going to have 10 spots, it’s going to only have 10 spots in memory for the array and nothing more, trying to place something outside of the 10th spot or read something outside of will throw you an Out of bounds error.
something like this in java would throw you an error like below, there was only one space in this array.
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: Index 1 out of bounds for length 1
at Main.main(Main.java:9)
When dealing with arrays in Javascript we will still come across out of bounds errors, but not when putting something into an array. Only when trying to access something that isn’t there yet. If you have 3 items in an array and ask Javascript for the 4th one it will yell at you like Java did over there.
PLEASE NOTE: It’s uncommon and unnecessary to declare the indices of an array in Javascript like in line 1.
3
true
please don't error out
Should you run the snippet the above is what you’d see in your console.
It seems like an Array in Javascript has some kind of super power over other basic arrays in other languages. This is because actually, all basic arrays in Javascript are Array Objects. It would be unfair to compare an array in JS to an array in Java because they’re two entirely different things. An Array in Java is a primitive type with very basic functionality while an Array in JS is its own entity with seeming very complicated additional properties and methods like the .push and .forEach I use above.
What Javascript does to your basic array declaration
To simply put it, the Array in Javascript is an upgraded version of a basic array that Javascript hands to you out of the box. It is a much fairer comparison to use a Java/Python ArrayList against a Javascript Array. | https://medium.com/@edwinramos269/javascript-data-structures-pt-1-arrays-639df6ed5718 | ['Edwin Ramos'] | 2019-09-18 23:52:10.432000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Arrays', 'JavaScript', 'Data Structures'] |
Tortellini | Tortellini
A poem
Photo by Sara Scarpa on Unsplash
My Nonna will not be here for
Christmas, as she has gone to
dance with the angels.
It will be an empty chair that
hurts too many hearts, except
of course, she was not the kind
of woman who would be found
sitting in a chair.
She was not the kind of woman
who would be found sitting, period.
She didn’t sit; she stood. She didn’t
walk; she ran. She didn’t whisper;
she laughed and spoke with every
ounce of her being.
She will be missed, and yet,
she left behind things that make
her feel like she’s still around.
Things like memories and the
way my mother’s eyes smile just
like hers, and stories, and photos
that sit proudly on the mantle.
But more importantly, things like
the recipe to her famous tortellini.
Now, my mother will knead the
dough, and chop and mix the
filling. She will be the one to brew
the broth and she will fold them
into tiny, bite-sized dumplings of
perfection.
And as we delight in the warmth
of the soup, the magic of memory
or maybe it’s the magic of Christmas,
will make us feel as if Nonna is close
enough to feel our love and hear
our laughter. | https://medium.com/written-from-the-heart/tortellini-c7c7c473de4d | ['Megan Minutillo'] | 2020-12-23 00:15:08.301000+00:00 | ['Food', 'Poem', 'Poetry', 'Poetry On Medium', 'Family'] |
3 September 2020 — Bobbing Along on the Crest of a Wave | 3 September 2020 — Bobbing Along on the Crest of a Wave
LIFE is the crest of the wave but how easy is it for us to simply bob along, to float with the tides, and take the rough with the smooth? When circumstances occur which are not to our liking we sometimes allow our ‘selves’ to sink into despair and feel very sorry for ourselves.
When we are able to ‘bob along on the crest of the wave’ we are simply ‘going with the flow’. This is NOT suggesting that we be a ‘victim’ to circumstances for seeing ourselves as being a VICTIM is merely choosing to think negatively. And once we DO start viewing ourselves in this way we will start attracting circumstance after circumstance wherein we view ourselves as being powerless and as a victim of circumstances as, of course, what we think becomes our reality.
AND when we think negatively we bring out deep seated, buried anger at all those times when we felt ourselves to be powerless and a victim of circumstances. All those times, when instead of ’bobbing along on the Crest of a Wave’ and floating with the tides we felt crest fallen, powerless and that ‘life was out to get us’.
PATIENCE, TOLERANCE and PERSEVERANCE are the inner qualities which help us be able to ‘bob along on the crest of a wave’ and, ‘to float with the tides’: instead of feeling cross and hard done by. This, together, of course, with our ability to take responsibility for creating those circumstances facing us, instead of playing the ‘blame’ game.
instead of playing the ‘blame’ game. | https://medium.com/@thepointofpowerisnow/3-september-2020-bobbing-along-on-the-crest-of-a-wave-756ffba23451 | ['The Point Of Power Is Now'] | 2020-09-03 13:19:19.574000+00:00 | ['Tolerance', 'Bobbing Along', 'Crest Of The Wave', 'Acceptance', 'Patience'] |
Volunteer Assistance Spurs Banana Revival in Malawi | Pests and disease threaten crops in every country around the world, and Malawi is no different. Since the mid-1990s, smallholder farmers in the southeast African country have seen banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) wreak havoc on their plantations. According to the Malawian Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, almost 70 percent — more than 30,000 hectares — of Malawi’s total banana production area has been lost due to the disease, which is transmitted unknowingly through infected banana suckers — shoots from the plants’ roots that are used for new plantings.
Hortinet Foods Limited is a farming business owned by Frankie Washoni in Lilongwe, Malawi. While Washoni’s 17-acre farm includes 10 acres of various fruits and vegetables, the outstanding feature of his farm is the 6,000 virus-free banana plants he tends on the other seven acres.
In 2018, Washoni set out to establish the first private tissue culture laboratory in Malawi, investing $55,000 to construct a lab and purchase the necessary equipment. “[Accessing] banana seed remains a big problem, and we saw an opportunity to bridge the gap and eventually slow down the banana imports into the country,” noted Washoni. “We decided to invest in tissue culture technology to mass produce good-quality and disease-free planting material.”
F2F volunteer Dr. John Griffis training Hortinet staff.
As the physical facility took shape, Washoni turned to CNFA’s Malawi Farmer-to-Farmer program to request a volunteer expert in tissue culture laboratory operations and management and acquire detailed knowledge on how to produce disease-free planting material. Dr. John Griffis, Professor of Horticultural Sciences at Florida Gulf Coast University, arrived in August 2019 to assist Hortinet in setting up the new lab. During the assignment, he ensured that Hortinet had all the necessary equipment and designed a layout to facilitate efficient operations. He also trained seven up-and-coming lab technicians — four young men and three young women — in areas such as biosafety and risk mitigation.
Griffis returned to the Hortinet facility in December 2019 for a follow-up assignment to establish standard operating procedures and protocols for lab operations, and to train the team in how to initiate the trial cultures that would pave the way for larger production.
Eight months after Griffis’s second visit, Hortinet had already produced 40,000 banana plantlets, which were supplied to local banana farmers through the Malawi Government’s Agriculture Sector Wide Approach — Support Project. Other plantlets were sold to 600 contracted smallholder farmers, who will grow them and become outgrowers of mature bananas to Hortinet. The next batch of 100,000 banana plantlets will be sold to an additional 900 contracted smallholder banana farmers and to commercial banana farmers.
F2F volunteer Dr. John Griffis training Hortinet staff.
Washoni noted that “Dr. Griffis equipped us with skills and protocols we could not get from our own research.”
Based on the success resulting from the two Farmer-to-Farmer engagements, Hortinet has invested in additional equipment that will allow it to triple its production capacity — forecasted to reach one million banana plantlets a year at full capacity. Thanks to Washoni’s entrepreneurial enthusiasm and CNFA’s Farmer-to-Farmer facilitation, the future looks bright for Malawi’s banana producers. | https://medium.com/@cnfapr/volunteer-assistance-spurs-banana-revival-in-malawi-71bce147fbbf | ['Cnfa', 'Cultivating New Frontiers In Agriculture'] | 2020-12-01 18:26:02.294000+00:00 | ['Banana', 'Plant Disease Management', 'Volunteering', 'Usaid', 'Malawi'] |
Membangun UI Aplikasi MyXL Dengan Flutter — Bagian 2 | Dashboard Page MyXL Apps
Pada bagian ini, kita akan membuat halaman dashboard setelah halaman Splashscreen maka nanti akan diarahkan ke halaman dashboard atau halaman utama dari aplikasi.
Namun sebelum melanjutkan kehalaman dashboard, kita perlu menambahkan beberapa baris code pada file SplashscreenPage.dart, seperti dibawah ini,
SplashscreenPage.dart File Apps
Selanjutnya buat file baru dengan nama MainPage.dart pada direktori lib/pages/MainPage.dart , dan update kode pada file tersebut seperti dibawah ini,
MainPage.dart File Apps
Sebelum lanjut kebagian sub menu dari tiap halaman, berikut adalah penjelasan-penjelasan mengenai update code pada file SplashscreenPage.dart
Init state, atau proses awal ketika halaman atau state dijalankan
@override
void initState() {
timerLauncher();
super.initState();
}
Timer Launcher, digunakan untuk memberi waktu jeda berpindah halaman dari satu halaman kehalaman lainnya,
timerLauncher() async{
var durations = const Duration(seconds: 1);
return Timer(durations, ()=>{
Navigator.of(context).pushReplacement(new MaterialPageRoute(builder: (_){
return new MainPage();
}))
});
}
Pada bagian initState() kita menambahkan function yang telah dibuat, tujuannya ialah untuk menjalankan timer yang digunakan untuk berpindah ke halaman selanjutnya, dimana disini ialah halaman MainPage.dart atau halaman utama dari aplikasi.
Pada halaman MainPage ini kita akan membuat beberapa bagian yang digunakan untuk layout utama dari aplikasi ini, dan beberapa layout yang akan kita buat ialah ,Bottom Navigation Bar. Dimana nantinya layout ini akan digunakan untuk mengakses beberapa menu atau sub halaman yang ada pada aplikasi,
Langkah-langkah membuat bottom navigation bar ialah sebagai berikut,
Buat variable baru navBottomIndex dengan type int & juga bodyPage dengan type List Widget, seperti berikut,
int navBottomIndex = 0;
List<Widget> bodyPage=[
...
];
Buat function baru dengan nama bottomNavigationLayouts dimana function ini bertipe widget, seperti dibawah ini,
Widget bottomNavigationLayouts(){
return BottomNavigationBar(
type: BottomNavigationBarType.fixed,
onTap: (index){
setState(() {
navBottomIndex = index;
});
},
currentIndex: navBottomIndex,
items: [
BottomNavigationBarItem(
activeIcon: new Icon(
Icons.home_rounded,
color: Colors.blue,
),
icon: new Icon(
Icons.home_rounded,
color: Colors.grey,
),
title: new Text(
'Dashboard',
),
),
BottomNavigationBarItem(
activeIcon: new Icon(
Icons.store,
color: Colors.blue,
),
icon: new Icon(
Icons.store,
color: Colors.grey,
),
title: new Text('XL Store'),
),
BottomNavigationBarItem(
activeIcon: new Icon(
Icons.local_florist,
color: Colors.blue,
),
icon: new Icon(
Icons.local_florist,
color: Colors.grey,
),
title: new Text('XL care'),
),
BottomNavigationBarItem(
activeIcon: new Icon(
Icons.person_outline_rounded,
color: Colors.blue,
),
icon: new Icon(
Icons.person_outline_rounded,
color: Colors.grey,
),
title: new Text('Profile'),
),
]
);
}
Kemudian buat beberapa filesub page baru sebagai berikut,
DashboardPage.dart
class DashboardPage extends StatefulWidget {
@override
DashboardState createState() => DashboardState();
}
class DashboardState extends State<DashboardPage>{
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Scaffold(
body: Center(
child: Text('Dashboard',style: TextStyle(color: Colors.grey),textAlign: TextAlign.center,)
),
);
}
}
StorePage.dart
class StorePage extends StatefulWidget {
@override
StoreState createState() => StoreState();
}
class StoreState extends State<StorePage>{
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Scaffold(
body: Center(
child: Text('Store',style: TextStyle(color: Colors.grey),textAlign: TextAlign.center,)
),
);
}
}
CarePage.dart
class CarePage extends StatefulWidget {
@override
CareState createState() => CareState();
}
class CareState extends State<CarePage>{
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Scaffold(
body: Center(
child: Text('Care',style: TextStyle(color: Colors.grey),textAlign: TextAlign.center,)
),
);
}
}
ProfilePage.dart
class ProfilePage extends StatefulWidget {
@override
ProfileState createState() => ProfileState();
}
class ProfileState extends State<ProfilePage>{
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Scaffold(
body: Center(
child: Text('Profile',style: TextStyle(color: Colors.grey),textAlign: TextAlign.center,)
),
);
}
}
Dan nanti hasil sementara dari struktur folder akan sebagai berikut,
Folder Structure update
Selanjutnya kita akan mengupdate file MainPage.dart agar dapat terintegrasi dengan sub halaman yang telah kita buat diatas, detail update ialah sebagai berikut,
Tambahkan class sub page yang telah kita buat sebelumnya pada variable list widget, sehingga hasilnya seperti berikut,
List<Widget> bodyPage=[
DashboardPage(),
StorePage(),
CarePage(),
ProfilePage()
];
Kemudian tambahkan code berikut pada bagian build,
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Scaffold(
body: bodyPage[navBottomIndex],
bottomNavigationBar: bottomNavigationLayouts(),
);
}
Dan jika sudah selesai maka full codenya seperti berikut,
class MainPage extends StatefulWidget{
@override
MainState createState() => MainState();
}
class MainState extends State<MainPage>{
int navBottomIndex = 0;
List<Widget> bodyPage=[
DashboardPage(),
StorePage(),
CarePage(),
ProfilePage()
];
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Scaffold(
body: bodyPage[navBottomIndex],
bottomNavigationBar: bottomNavigationLayouts(),
);
}
Widget bottomNavigationLayouts(){
return BottomNavigationBar(
type: BottomNavigationBarType.fixed,
onTap: (index){
setState(() {
navBottomIndex = index;
});
},
currentIndex: navBottomIndex,
items: [
BottomNavigationBarItem(
activeIcon: new Icon(
Icons.home_rounded,
color: Colors.blue,
),
icon: new Icon(
Icons.home_rounded,
color: Colors.grey,
),
title: new Text(
'Dashboard',
),
),
BottomNavigationBarItem(
activeIcon: new Icon(
Icons.store,
color: Colors.blue,
),
icon: new Icon(
Icons.store,
color: Colors.grey,
),
title: new Text('XL Store'),
),
BottomNavigationBarItem(
activeIcon: new Icon(
Icons.local_florist,
color: Colors.blue,
),
icon: new Icon(
Icons.local_florist,
color: Colors.grey,
),
title: new Text('XL care'),
),
BottomNavigationBarItem(
activeIcon: new Icon(
Icons.person_outline_rounded,
color: Colors.blue,
),
icon: new Icon(
Icons.person_outline_rounded,
color: Colors.grey,
),
title: new Text('Profile'),
),
]
);
}
}
Terakhir, simpan dan jalankan ulang aplikasi, jika sudah berhasil hasilnya seperti dibawah ini,
Preview App
Sekian pada bagian ini, good luck ! | https://medium.com/@syarifuddinahmads/membangun-ui-aplikasi-myxl-dengan-flutter-bagian-2-4512ae518f0c | ['Ahmad Syarifuddin'] | 2020-12-21 02:33:38.039000+00:00 | ['Android', 'Flutter', 'Ui Ux Design', 'iOS'] |
Debunking EV myths | Electric vehicles have come a long way since their resurgence in the 1990’s. But still today, a cloud of ignorance hangs stubbornly over the entire industry. In this article, we parry some of the negative myths that persist about EVs.
Source: Patrick Tomasso, Unsplash
Myth 1: EVs don’t have enough range for my needs
It’s true, the average EV will get you about 180 miles (290km) on a full charge, compared to the roughly 700 miles in a traditional car. Scandalous you may think, but not if you’re pragmatic.
Take the UK for example, where the average daily commute is 23 miles (37km) return. In the US, that bumps up to 32 miles (51km). So even if you don’t proactively refuel, this would still comfortably give you a full week of commuting on a single charge.
Things get a little trickier with long trips. 180 miles might kill a weekly commute, but won’t get you far across the country. This is where public charging comes in. So forethought is the name of the game here — with a few well-planned stops, even an EV with middling range can easily handle long journeys.
Just like traditional cars, EVs should suit the driver. There are plenty of production models that cater for long distance, like the Tesla Model 3, offering 550km of range, or the Renault Zoe and Hyundai Kona (400km).
Myth 2: There aren’t enough public chargers yet
This one totally depends on your location. In the US, progressive states like California are dusted with several thousand chargers, whereas rural Alaska has only nine (one per 82,199 residents!).
In Europe, the difference between nations is equally deep. Norway and the Netherlands boast a wide, twinkling network of public chargers, whereas Slovakia and Poland have very few. Here’s a tasty fact: in the UK, there are more public chargers than gas stations.
Perhaps more important is whether public charging is even relevant for you. For many drivers, 84% according to Green Car Reports, home charging is the main way to refuel. Not only is this heavily subsidized by local governments, you no longer need your own home to have one.
But if home charging isn’t an option, and public chargers are still scarce for you, it’s worth remembering that most countries are offering generous incentives to stimulate development of charging infrastructure. While the title of this section isn’t a complete myth, hopefully it will be soon.
Myth 3: EVs are not environmentally friendly
The age of overinformation. Today, you can scrape an article from the sunless depths of the web to support almost any stance. And every so often, an article or post ‘exposing the truth’ about EVs will get enough lift to enter mainstream conversation.
Governments and market players will readily admit that EVs still have a way to go. Materials are a problem. Battery disposal is a problem. But even with these shortcomings, EVs still clearly win out, due to the intrinsic pollution of extracting and burning gas. In the EU alone, gas vehicles consume around 275,000,000 tons of fossil fuels. Inefficiently too, we might add: 70% of energy that goes into a car engine is wasted. Despite what slippery politicians might say, fossil fuels cannot be ‘clean’ as a matter of definition. Once it burns, it becomes CO2 that cannot be recovered, reused or recycled.
Source: Chuttersnap, Unsplash
Myth 4: It takes too long to charge an EV
With a traditional car, you drive to a gas station, squirt some oil into your car, pay up and go. In contrast, most people are only conscious of EVs when they see one sitting unattended at a charge station for hours on end. This paints the impression that EVs take long to charge. Is it true, though? Well, there’s no flat answer here — it depends on your charge speed.
Charging speeds have three levels. Level 1 fully charges an EV in seven to sixteen hours, Level 2 in two to four hours, and Level 3 in 30 to 40 minutes. Currently, Chargetrip only routes drivers through Level 2 and 3 chargers, as we can safely bet that traveling drivers don’t want to hang around for eight hours while their EVs charge.
There’s also an ‘ultra fast’ speed: flash-charging an EV battery in around ten to twenty minutes. This comes closest to the traditional tank-and-go experience. But using fast chargers isn’t cheap. It’s difficult to calculate the exact costs (more on that here), but generally: the faster the speed, the more power it consumes and the more costly it becomes. It’s not surprising that only 20% of EV drivers use fast chargers over five times a month. But it will likely cheapen as more stations are built, and CPOs recoup the initial building and wiring costs.
Charge speed is a key boss fight on the way to EV adoption. According to EVBox, having more fast and ultra-fast chargers, strategically placed around highways, public parking and retail locations, will be the converting factor for two thirds of future EV drivers.
Myth 5: EVs are complicated to maintain
Nope. Quite the opposite. EVs are both simpler and cheaper to maintain. Most of this is due to the modest elegance of an electric motor, containing only around 20 moving parts, compared to the 2,000 in an ICE. There’s simply not much in an electric motor that can wear out and, when it does, it’s relatively simple to replace. You also don’t need to change the oil, transmission fluid, spark plugs, fuel filters, or drive belts with an EV. This leads to heavy savings, especially as cars age.
With that said, EVs aren’t like smartphones, and do need some professional maintenance. This includes lights, cabin filtration, suspension, tire rotation, body repairs, and windshield wiper blades. The brake system also needs replacement, albeit at half or even a third the frequency of an ICE. | https://medium.com/chargetrip/debunking-ev-myths-1d2256cc5534 | ['Neelesh Vasistha'] | 2021-04-13 12:09:42.793000+00:00 | ['Electric Mobility', 'Battery', 'Ev', 'Debunking Myths', 'Charging'] |
There’s More To Chris Watts’ Murder Of His Family That Netflix Does Not Show | There’s More To Chris Watts’ Murder Of His Family That Netflix Does Not Show
Many pieces of information were left out
Never has a story gripped more people — including me. Two weeks ago, I wrote a story wondering why we are all so fascinated with murder. In this case, family annihilation — and even more specifically, this family’s story that seemingly made no sense.
After publishing that story, I learned that the Netflix documentary left out key facts, which forced me to take another look. The amount of information available online is immense. There are true crime YouTube videos with analysis from attorneys to people who have been in prison. There are other YouTube videos with recorded interviews, social media, official case discovery, evidence documentation and witness interviews, interviews with law enforcement, law enforcement interviews with Chris Watts, letters between Chris Watts and author Cherlyn Cadle and more.
There is something about this story and its tragedy that makes me feel a profound responsibility to write about it. Perhaps in the hopes of making some sense out of it — or possibly helping another woman pick up a sign or a red flag, she might otherwise not have.
Here is my first article that started this.
After finishing the above article, I was scrolling through Medium. I discovered two more pieces on the Shanann and Chris Watts story — by Shannon Ashley. My write-up was striving to answer why we are fascinated and drawn in by these horrific murders?
Shannon Ashley takes a much more in-depth approach.
She discusses the toxic male culture that produces and enables a man like Chris Watts — and excuses the very behavior that makes some of the red flags invisible.
Ashley’s main point is that Chris Watts was a seething, passive-aggressive narcissist. He was done with his wife as his narcissistic supply once he had a new girlfriend in Nichol Kessinger. His mother and sister, who were unusually possessive toward Watts, encouraged this toxicity towards his wife — and made it easy for him to devalue her and cast her aside.
Chris Watts blamed everyone but himself for his actions. He even blamed his girlfriend. Nothing was his fault. It was all due to some outside, other force. And his family helped him with that narrative. They propped him up and forgave him no matter how evil a monster he became. Sure, kill our grandchildren, it’s ok. We love you.
I was married to a man with a mother and sister who were just like that. My husband did not want them to know about our wedding until the invitations were mailed because he didn’t want them to ruin our wedding. My husband wound up getting brain cancer before any of that could happen. That toxic family stuff kills — one way or another.
In this second article, Shannon Ashley points out how the Netflix documentary did not tell the whole story.
And I could not agree more. Shannon’s articles and her points of view riveted me. Embedded in this one, in my opinion, is the best documentary about the murders so far. Shannon challenged me to look deeper. I don’t know if I could have immersed myself further without going to a dark place.
Many details are left out of the Netflix film.
She goes on to say that Netflix leaves out the neighbors’ accounts of loud arguments (completely dispelling the idea that the couple never argued). Also left out are the couple’s financial issues and the extent of the relationship with Nichol Kessinger — not to mention another version of the murders themselves — an even uglier version. That blew my mind the most in Shannon’s story — was the account of the murders that Chris Watts gave author Cherlyn Cadle who wrote the book Letters From Christopher.
There is much speculation that Kessinger was more involved in the crimes; however, once Chris Watts confessed, the investigation ended according to Agent Tammy Lee.
There are also many points of view out there — those that want to “blame the victim.” That says Shanann was bossy and controlling. That he finally “snapped.” I honestly don’t care if she berated him to a pulp. There’s always a choice. There is never, ever a reason to kill. That’s what divorce is for.
My takeaways from a deeper dive.
I took another look and spent about 14 hours reviewing videos, transcripts, commentary, articles, and more on the case. Here are some takeaways that are slightly different from what these other articles have covered.
Most agree that Watts continues to lie about the murders’ facts because every time he tells the story, it changes. The truth may never be known. And, when he writes to Cadle that he “thinks she gave birth” immediately after he killed Shanann — she could not have. The “coffin birth” referred to in the autopsy did not happen until the body’s decomposition was well underway. Not immediately after death. He claimed he did not see the autopsy reports, yet he uses facts from them to alter his story about Shanann’s death.
I agree with Shannon Ashley about Watts’ narcissism and have also heard the reports that he has a big following. He gets many letters and has a regular female visitor that shows up once a week named “Ana.” Watts claims to have found God and thinks that he has a chance that he might get out someday. Cadle talks about Watts as being “delusional and that he hopes someday Nichol will come back to him by writing a letter in code.” Also, he makes statements like, “it happened to me” as though he is the victim in the crime and not the murderer.
Discussing Chris Watts’s mother, father, and sister. It appears that their values and attitude towards Shanann enabled Chris to somehow see her as “less than.” Somewhere in all of the documentation is mention of how elated Cindy Watts was when Chris said he was leaving his pregnant wife. Others have commented in this case about his mother and sister being abnormally possessive. They had normalized his dysfunctional behavior and in a way he felt justified in mistreating his family, especially Shanann.
When there was finally a massive blow-up between Shanann and Cindy over what came to be called “nut gate,” — it allowed Chris’ passive-aggressiveness to seethe further to the surface.
During his prison interview in February 2019, he still does not fully take responsibility — even when he talks about killing his family. He discusses it in a detached way. “I never thought I’d be in prison for the rest of my life.” Then he seems to be so worried about what the agents and investigators think of him. He says, “I don’t want you to think I’m cold-hearted I just don’t show much emotion.” And then, at another point in the conversation (part 2), “it takes a long time for me to forgive myself.”
Facebook/Shanann Watts Memorial Page
So, there was a recipe for disaster brewing with this family that no one could see from the outside:
They were having marital problems. Chris was fascinated and in the “honeymoon stage” with his girlfriend; she was demanding and jealous of Shanann. Chris was withholding sex and emotional support from Shanann, which is a form of abuse. Shanann then questioned, poked and prodded — making an angry narcissist even angrier (she felt her world slipping). There is a massive schism between his family and her family, and she no longer wants the children near his family. She “tells him what to tell his parents” (she demands that he stick up for her); that schism had existed since their wedding when his mother, father, and sister refused to attend. It’s an old wound. As a result of the family pressure, his wife noticed he’s not emotionally “there “ — he’s seething. He no longer wants anything to do with her sexually (he’s having an affair). They had financial problems and had declared bankruptcy. Because of Shanann and the children’s medical issues, they had massive medical bills. More pressure. Shanann is a consultant for a multi-level marketing company. Possibly the structure of her job cost them money. The job was costing them intangibles. Their privacy on social media. She was always on social media. He did not like it. Again, more pressure. She needed to paint a picture of a perfect family, perfect life — the image she was selling for her vitamin patch products. There was a cultivated social media persona — which is why people find all of this so shocking that this happened. Her followers and everyone else that could see her posts on Facebook/social media feel like they have come to know her. He saw himself as a victim of the situation. An angry, resentful victim. She was becoming further along in her pregnancy. He did not want the baby and had unsuccessfully tried to cause her to miscarry by drugging her with oxycontin in North Carolina. Family annihilators are most likely to be white males in their thirties. They are most likely to commit the act in August, just before school. And — they usually commit suicide. — FBI Agent Brad Garrett He wanted a new life with his girlfriend Nichol, who was pressuring him to leave his wife and children. Shanann and the kids spent several weeks away — which allowed him the time to devolve into what he wanted instead of the role he was playing as husband and father. He didn’t want to let go of that new existence, and Shanann was in his way.
When Shanann Watts got home on the morning of August 13th at about 2 am from a business trip, she had no idea what was in front of her. She was about to be ambushed.
She went to bed and was killed and dragged out of the house in a sheet. Her children were treated no better by their father-turned-monster. We know how the rest of the story ends. | https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/theres-more-to-chris-watts-murder-of-his-family-that-netflix-does-not-show-3d6f90561ca8 | ['Jennifer Friebely'] | 2020-12-14 23:01:54.811000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Murder', 'Domestic Violence', 'Family', 'Crime'] |
What the Pandemic Has Shown Us About Life | If everything in the last resort is in the hands of God or of blind chance, what hope has humanity except in submission? — Buddha
This year we bought a Lego Town Advent calendar for our son. Every morning he sprints to the kitchen table to open a new window for his surprise mini-Lego. Today it is an ambulance car. His excitement lies in not knowing what is about to be revealed.
Life is a lot like this Advent calendar. It reveals what is in store for us bit by bit. Though, unlike this calendar, life can also throw us unwelcome surprises.
This year has taken us all by surprise. One year ago, no one knew that a killer virus was about to sweep the globe and wreck the lives of millions. But, of course, the nasty surprise was simply a manifestation of many concurring conditions and causes.
Buddha teaches that all events arise from a chain of cause and effect. Epidemiologists had warned for years about the next pandemic before the arrival of Covid-19. People didn’t listen. Politicians didn’t prepare. And, still today some people won’t wear a mask.
As of today, close to 1.7 million people have died from it worldwide.
It is hard to comprehend the enormous loss and pain that has transpired over the past year. | https://medium.com/illumination-curated/what-the-pandemic-has-shown-us-about-life-be599b4061a7 | ['Zul Bal'] | 2020-12-20 02:38:51.567000+00:00 | ['Pandemic', 'Learning', 'Reflections', 'Hope', 'Life'] |
Whatsapp Grubumuz | in Eudaimonia and Co | https://medium.com/shipupper/whatsapp-grubumuz-3c5799bf76c2 | [] | 2018-01-20 01:45:52.537000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneurship', 'Community', 'WhatsApp', 'Türkiye', 'Groups'] |
You’re Not Too Busy. Your Priorities Just Suck. | You’re Not Too Busy. Your Priorities Just Suck.
Figure it out and fix it.
Photo by Robert Bye via Unsplash
I have way too much to do today. I had to take my car in for service this morning. I have to leaf blow the backyard. Clean the house. Grocery shop. Write this. Return three packages. Go to Home Depot. Get my mom a Mother’s Day card. Figure out next week’s meals. Laundry. Car wash. Pay bills.
This is not an extraordinary life. I don’t know anyone whose life doesn’t look like this. I am not special.
My best friend called me at 9:00am in a panic because her dog ate her blinds and if she didn’t fix them, today, her apartment was going to give her an eviction notice. They don’t play.
She lives alone and doesn’t own a drill. It’s a two person job. For the life of her, she is trying to be a grown ass adult but she needs help. More specifically, she needs me.
My plans for the first half of the day went right out the window with that phone call. While my car sat at the shop, she picked me up and we got the damn blinds up. After that, we went to brunch, had mimosas, and caught up for an hour or so. Because we needed it and I love her. She is more important than the leaves in my yard that will be there tomorrow. Priorities.
Photo by raxpixel via Pexels
I could have easily shirked her off. Told her I was too busy and that I had too much to do. She would have figured it out. Maybe she would have just found someone else to help. I didn’t do that. Because, really, I did have the time.
We’re not too busy. We just don’t care. We make excuses for not doing things by saying we’re too busy. Too busy to eat well, visit a friend, text someone back.
It’s so much easier to act self important than to recognize we’re doing a horrible job of setting our priorities straight.
We waste a lot of time. Every single one of us. Admittedly, I screwed around for a good hour this morning doing absolutely nothing. Not a damn thing worthwhile. There is plenty I could have gotten done but I prioritized reading backlash over the President’s tweets over my to-do list. That happened.
Right now, something in my refrigerator has died a horrible death. I don’t know what it is because I have not taken the time to get in there and clean that mess out and get rid of whatever putrescence is the problem.
This is not a time issue. This is a me issue. I don’t want to clean out my fridge. It’s as easy as that.
Because I see this in myself, I see this in others.
I have a tendency to like a certain kind of man. Successful, smart, driven and with a variety of interests. I have been trying for quite a while to find a man like this that can squeeze me in somewhere. They can’t. Scratch that. They won’t.
It’s shifted my perception of time. The less I feel people are willing to give me of their time, the more important I feel my own time is. I have learned to value myself.
These men are sending me a clear message and I am hearing it: “I do not value you enough to want to give you my time.”
It is plain and simple. And heartbreaking. But, the beauty of it is that it’s not my problem. Some guy’s tendency to overwork himself, not create balance in his life, and not set priorities that include me is not my issue to deal with. It has nothing to do with me but it’s taught me to be strong enough to not accept “busy” as an excuse.
Photo by Karen Lau via Unsplash
For me, time is not only a gift. It’s the greatest gift. Time means you’re important. Time means you have value to me but time is of equal value. Yours is no more important than mine and vice versa.
It’s taken me quite a while to come to terms with the fact that asking for someone’s time doesn’t mean we’re needy. It’s recognizing that we are willing to give the best of ourselves but are asking for the same in return.
Stop being arrogant about time. Our to-do lists don’t define us. Get your priorities straight. We’re not too important for what really matters in life and the stupid things we waste our time on are not that important, either. Game of Thrones will still be there. Instagram will still be there. The president’s tweets will still be there. Sadly. Make time for what matters. | https://vanessatorre.medium.com/youre-not-too-busy-your-priorities-just-suck-8af5644dedf | ['Vanessa Torre'] | 2019-05-04 22:22:12.302000+00:00 | ['Self', 'Work', 'Culture', 'Life Lessons', 'Relationships'] |
Beginner’s Python Financial Analysis Walk-through — Part 6 | You’ve made it! Image adapted from https://manchesterfbc.com/inside-fbc/finish-line
Putting it all Together
You’ve made it! Finally, we are at the end of the project and to put everything together, there is just one more plot to make.
I combined the candlestick chart, simple moving averages, Bollinger band plots, and even added trading volume in one plot. The Cufflinks package has a pretty nifty QuantFig Class that can add multiple technical analyses to the same plot for this purpose.
df_of_interest = each_df['SPY']
qf = cf.QuantFig(df_of_interest,title='A Look at the US Economy',legend='top',name='GS',up_color='green', down_color='red')
qf.add_bollinger_bands(periods=20, boll_std=2, colors=['cyan','grey'], fill=True,)
qf.add_volume(name='Volume',up_color='green', down_color='red')
qf.iplot()
Figure 1. A combination of candlestick chart, simple moving averages, Bollinger band plots, and trading volume
Conclusion
Through this project, I have simultaneously learned a lot about coding and investing. This blog post captures what I’ve learned and I’ve hoped to convey that information to you. It’s never too late to start investing, and when you do, I encourage you to review this project and remember the fundamentals you’ve learned!
In summary, we have successfully looked at how to use Python to pull and understand basic stock information. With some basic Python lines, we were able to query stock data, understand their historic returns, conduct rudimentary risk analysis, and even use past performance to (attempt to) predict future market behavior.
About halfway through this project, I learned of platforms like Think or Swim and Yahoo Finance actually have a lot of visualization capability. While they offer more comprehensive visualizations than those covered here, those platforms can also be intimidating to start with. I think it’s good to understand the basics first before adding more advanced concepts and analysis to your market research.
Figure 2. Other complex visualization platforms
This is just the beginning of the journey, and I want to add to this analysis as I learn more about coding and finance. Currently, some directions I want to explore include more technical analysis, fundamental analysis using yfinance, and using Dash or PowerBI to create a user-friendly dashboard.
I hope you enjoyed this financial analysis walk-through and found it instructive, beginner friendly, and easy to follow. Please let me know what you liked most and what you would like to see in future analyses in the comment section below!
If you liked what you read, please reach out and connect! I always welcome a chance to talk with fellow coders, investors, or avid learners! | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/beginners-python-financial-analysis-walk-through-part-6-ad396a787fd8 | ['Keith Chan'] | 2020-08-31 04:57:31.379000+00:00 | ['Beginners Guide', 'Financial Analysis', 'Python', 'Coding', 'Stocks'] |
HBO’s EUPHORIA: Rue and Jules shouldn’t be together. | photo credit: Instagram
Where do they go from here?
HBO’s Euphoria shifting from this teen-drama series revolving around several characters, to a full-time love story is one plot twist I for one never saw coming.
Mind you, if ever you are to make a list of lovers whose fates were intertwined with another, whether you begin with Romeo and Juliet, and end with Dante and Beatrice, just be sure to mention Rue and Jules somewhere in between.
Those two got me. Oh Boy, they did.
Especially Rue. in her highs, in her lows, it’s always Jules. and romantically so- it just happens to be Vice-versa.
These are two individuals with different family backgrounds, social upbringing, different personalities, who begin to rely heavily on one another for emotional stability literally two nights after making each others acquaintance.
Photo credit: Instagram
Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with the idea of teenagers sticking with one another through arguably the most obscure stage of growth.
What really is wrong here is both parties not being emotionally strong enough to play the pillar role.
Let's break this down...
Jules
Photo Credit: Instagram
Jules believes to conquer feminity she needs to conquer men soaked with toxic masculinity which Rue isn’t.
Jules views feminity as an illusion. She now has insecurities about her body. Which she is uncertain about Rue’s acceptance of any possible change.
Jules has a cynic view of drug addicts. She sees them as villains ruining the lives of the people closest to them including Rue.
“I don’t want to be best friends with some whos gonna kill themselves” Jules to Rue- season 1 episode 3.
Jules wants to exist in two forms which is impossible; The submissive Jules sexting ShyGuy118 and the dominant Jules carrying the burden of Rue’s sobriety.
Rue
Photo Credit: Instagram
For Rue, it is quite different as she is on the worse receiving end of this intense situation-ship.
During her conversation with Ali. Rue comes to believe she lives in a world that makes no sense.
Anyone else here noticing how Rue’s relationship with Ali is a symbiotic one, as their conversations give room for Ali to reflect on his youth.
A world she believes no one gives a damn about her. Until she meets Jules, This vibrant girl full of energy and life Rue feeds from.
Even though Rue has the love of a mother and kid sister, She feels the love is tinted with pity and shame which makes her feel worse. Thus making Rue prefer the pure love Jules has for her until even that is questioned after Jules abandons her at the train station.
I empathize with Jules and Rue. One a recovering addict; dealing with heartbreak. The other, shying away from the weight of commitment as she confronts the reality of being Trans.
While this review may have painted them to be these complicated characters. In reality or fiction, however, you choose to see it, they aren’t. they are relatable, to millions of teenagers and young adults in this generation and this is what makes HBO’s Euphoria one of the Best shows to be watching right now.
Among the numerous issues being addressed, important messages being passed across through the show's characters one lesson I’ve learnt and you should too is this.
Before I say it let me be clear, I am no relationship expert neither am I the biggest advocate of self-love.
But I got this one advice for y’all…
“Never allow your mental health to rely on someone’s physical or emotional availability”
The heart wants what it wants and all but come on!
Yes we love Rue and Jules, yes our hearts melt when we see their tik-tok edits, but if we really did love them as we claim to; we will call their relationship for what it truly is “Toxic”.
Jules should focus on understanding sexuality and her multiple personalities, Let go of the strings her previous relationships have on her individuality, and focus on who she really is without her commitment to Rue.
On the other hand, Rue should focus on her sobriety outside her relationship with Jules. | https://medium.com/@israelnisola/euphoria-rue-and-jules-shouldnt-be-together-5960dc6224a0 | ['Israel Olorunnisola'] | 2021-05-18 16:22:16.594000+00:00 | ['TV', 'Euphoria', 'TV Series', 'Tv Series Review', 'Character Development'] |
Practical tips for creating equitable designs | If you are someone who totally understands why we need to shift our practice, but you are stuck on how exactly we do this, this article is for you. I have outlined the following tips under categories ranked from most important to least. I have also offered some examples so you have a better idea of what it can look like.
Like all of us, I am still learning, and especially because I am a white person I am committed to doing so publicly in order to demonstrate how important this learning is. I think it’s too easy for those of us who identify with dominant cultures to think it’s not “our” business to discuss these topics, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Inequity is a problem that exists because of dominance — as a white person, I remain committed to fully engaging in and even initiating these conversations, however imperfectly. I fully admit that I don’t know everything when it comes to this topic and I seek to share what I have learned as someone who has been deeply committed to equity over the long term. I invite you to leave comments with your own questions and experiences.
Focus on the process
Listen to feedback from people who are often oppressed and excluded.
Listening to this feedback requires both asking for it and also then being willing to do things differently because of what you heard. This won’t be easy if you pride yourself on being an expert, as you may have to acknowledge how much you really have to learn.
If you think this sounds simple enough, ask yourself how many projects you’ve worked on where this was included as a critical part of the process. For me, it’s been too few. What this has often meant is that the decision-makers don’t get this feedback until after production is complete, and this creates a lose-lose situation: There may be harm caused to people (this harm is often repetitive and therefore re-traumatizing), and decision-makers don’t have the opportunity to make changes that would reduce such harm before potential criticism reaches a higher volume (this embarrassment can lead to the project being subsequently hidden and essentially moot).
This is why this is the single most important tip here, one that essentially can eliminate all those that follow. There are more tips about asking for and receiving feedback in another article I’ve written here.
Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
Collaborate with difference.
Naturally, a prerequisite for this is appreciating difference and understanding that the goal is not to have one standard set of rules for anything, including how to best design or visualize data! Our diversity is our strength in every way, and this can be applied to our everyday professional work too.
Recognize your own individual social locations, and then identify what locations are different from yours. Now this is important for it will feel so incredibly uncomfortable: reach outside of spaces in which you know you belong to connect with people who are different. (Also, remember that our intersections are so complex that chances are that no matter how different someone may appear to be, you have something in common with them.)
If you are someone with a location that is dominant in our culture (white, male, cisgendered, able bodied, middle to upper class, etc.), please be mindful of the power dynamics in your collaborations and of the share of the load and of the recognition that’s being carried by various involved parties. Please don’t ask people who are oppressed to educate you about oppression, to listen to or care for your complicated feelings, or to engage in vulnerable conversations with you — allow them to do these things only if they want and choose to.
Lastly, consider that there are varying degrees of “collaboration,” from informing to consulting to involving to empowering, and significant shifts happen the more we move from the former to the latter.
Give credit where it’s due.
Whether people are offering you their thoughts on your design drafts, contributing data sets, helping craft language, or something else, this is part of the labor that goes into the work, so it needs to be named.
In my opinion, data stories especially are always the result of many hands, so they are less private property and more public domain. Ask yourself how this perspective might change your relationship to them and their expression.
One more thing on process: Shifting culture is a long game, period. So give yourself credit for being willing to jump into the messiness of it all and to change your own behaviors without any guarantees of success.
Mind the story
Always consider who might be harmed by the story being told.
The stories we tell, including and perhaps especially data stories, can affect a person’s safety, privacy, livelihood, health, and relationships. For example, one of my colleagues was working with data about employee demographics and attitudes, and because most employees were white and straight they had to be careful about how they talked about the data so that those who were BIPOC and/or LGBTQIA+ wouldn’t be targeted for expressing their contrary opinions in an apparently-anonymous survey.
We may not always be able to see the harm, which is why the aforementioned practices are so critical. A few common examples I have found in my work are:
Discussion of changing demographics with an implication that it’s a change to be concerned about. For example, the fact that this study looked at attitudes about increasing diversity I think says a lot. Discussion of systemic harms in a way that makes it seem like they are individual failures. Two common examples are gang violence and rates of type 2 diabetes. Discussion of policies or practices that disproportionately affect or impact certain populations without mentioning that that is the case. Yes, it’s harmful to not name harms, which I’ll discuss further shortly. COVID-19 rates are a very timely example of this.
Often what is needed to minimize harm is more than data, which never speaks for itself. By offering plenty of contexts, including by using qualitative data if at all possible, we can help audiences build a clearer understanding. Furthermore, sometimes including alternative or conflicting viewpoints helps audiences get that it’s a complex issue with multiple narratives.
For example, one project I worked on was helping people understand data related to LGBQ youth and substance use. My client responsibly included both language and data to explain that these youth experienced worse outcomes because of a variety of factors including less access to resources, lack of protective factors like a sense of belonging at school and trusting relationships, and struggles with mental health.
Use direct, plain language and avoid words that judge, minimize, misrepresent, are insensitive to, and exclude differences.
This includes being multilingual if appropriate. At the very least, don’t use jargon if you can avoid it (here’s a helpful tool).
Another common and very regrettable error I’ve seen in my work is people avoiding or “sugar coating” words instead of directly mentioning race, systemic racism, systemic oppression, white supremacy culture, etc.
For example, the dashboard shown here talks about social determinants of health (SDOH), but there is no mention of racism. This not only keeps people from understanding fully SDOH and how systemic racism shows up in people’s daily lives but consequently this lack of understanding doesn’t move people toward the development of solutions that address racism directly. (Side note: it’s very telling to me that the term SDOH has existed since 2005, if not before, and yet it’s taken until just last week for the AMA to acknowledge racism as a SDOH.)
Words like “underrepresented,” “underserved,” “marginalized,” “minority,” and “non-white” are deficit-based and belittling, and words/phrases like “Blacks” and “Hispanics,” “Latinx,” and even “People of Color” can be too reductive. The word “diverse” is often entirely misused: it means there’s a wide range of differences and should not be used to refer to people who are different from what might be considered “normal” or dominant.
As of this writing, the preference of the communities referenced is either “BIPOC” (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) or the actual names of the nationalities, ethnicities, or other specific identities that the referenced people themselves claim (each of these should be capitalized too).
Also, let’s use them/they instead of he/him or she/her whenever possible. It’s easy, not confusing, and inclusive of the many gender identities people claim. Pay attention when referencing people with disabilities too.
The power of language is so easily underestimated, and, as any good editor or writer will tell you, having a variety of readers throughout the iterative process is invaluable. It all comes back to the process!
Include clear calls to action that lead to a positive impact.
This is another seemingly simple practice that is often overlooked or side-stepped. Including these calls creates many wins, though: Audiences are left not merely able to know better but also to do better, their actions contribute to real tangible change, and the creators of the work know they didn’t merely add to the noise we are all overwhelmed by, they took a stand and sent a powerful signal. Again, let’s use our power as designers and data storytellers consciously!
Don’t forget design details
Consider visual hierarchy: Are certain stories and experiences being more emphasized?
I recently noticed a social media post about health equity leaders who’d received an award — a large photo of a white woman recipient was at the top and smaller photos of three women of color were side-by-side underneath (shown at left).
One project I played a part in included a visual hierarchy of users, and I found it troubling that the wealthy white man persona was positioned at the top.
Chances are that in both of these cases the creators’ implicit biases influenced them, but these sorts of subtle design decisions reinforce existing messages, however unconscious they may be.
When it comes to ordering labels in legends, the same rules apply. Start with the people most relevant or impacted rather than dominant groups.
Use colors appropriate for color blindness as well as race and culture.
There are many free online tools (some examples are here and here) that can help you check whether the colors you are using are accessible for those with visual impairments, but there are surprisingly fewer resources that address the racial implications of color. If there is a racial component to the data (and there very often is), I suggest using a palette with blues and/or secondary colors (oranges, purples, and greens) and avoiding colors associated with skin tones as well as reds which generally connote danger.
Conscientious use of color helps reduce the likelihood that audiences’ own implicit biases will affect how they connect with and understand the data. So, please avoid “standard” patterns like pinks for women and blues for men too.
Also be aware of the cultural implications of colors, especially if audiences are multicultural. For example, in Chinese culture red signifies fortune, but in the Middle East it connotes evil and danger.
Think about the accessibility of your design for people with varying physical and mental abilities.
Are people with low vision or dyslexia able to use assistive technology like text-to-speech software, for example? Be sure to use graphics and illustrations in ways that help anyone focus and avoid distracting or moving content if possible.
Use images very intentionally
Use photos or drawings of people to help audiences connect with lived experiences and avoid any imagery that enforces stereotypes.
Hint: run-of-the-mill stock images might not cut it. You might have to look further and farther (or better yet, hire/pay a photographer or illustrator who is BIPOC) to find imagery that speaks to the experiences at hand and, importantly, in a way that does not reinforce power dynamics. One organization I worked for included images of Black people only on the marketing materials that targeted low-income families — this is a major no-no.
The key thing is to make a point to use this imagery along with any data visualizations as it can help emphasize the people behind the numbers. One report I helped design neglected to do this, and I was left feeling that for all the thorough research and focus on precise language, the overarching messages about inequities fell a bit flat because the report seemed to be more about percents than about real life people.
I know as professionals we tend to be big-time thinkers, but if we look at our own lives I think we can admit that our hearts generally change before our minds do. So we culture shifters need to consider how we can use design to appeal to people’s values and needs, especially those related to connection, cooperation, community, kindness, fairness, and integrity.
Photo by Gemma Chua-Tran on Unsplash
Use visuals that are inclusive and non-binary.
If you use any imagery, photos or icons for general purposes be sure they represent a diversity of races, genders, generations, abilities, family compositions, etc. to make sure every viewer feels included.
I think the best icons for gender-neutral people are limited to head and shoulder outlines in an appropriate solid color.
Do not use symbols or styles from, or otherwise reference, cultures without deeply understanding them.
This is known as cultural appropriation, the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of aesthetics of oppressed people by dominant groups.
A client I once worked with preferred using their brand colors that connected to their cultural identity, which I happily obliged, but if they had been wanting to reference another culture’s colors, I’d have had a conversation with them about ethics (yes, I do that with my clients).
If you ever aren’t completely sure and want to know if you’re out of line, you will need to, circling back to item number one, ask for feedback.
Focusing on process makes it easier to mind the story, double check the details, and ensure images intentionally include. If you want to dive deeper, I highly recommend the resources created by the people mentioned in this related article.
If, like me, you are a designer who wants to live in a more equitable, fair and just society, then making sure your creations are helping everyone envision and create this society is as important as any other design decisions you make.
All earnings paid to the author for this article will be donated to Data for Black Lives. | https://uxdesign.cc/practical-tips-for-creating-equitable-designs-4c616fdddf33 | ['Lydia Hooper'] | 2020-12-03 12:00:42.249000+00:00 | ['Social Justice', 'Design', 'UX', 'Data Visualization', 'Ethics'] |
Instantly 10X your Public Speaking Skills | 1) Prime your Physiology
Not doing so leaves 93% of your communicative tools on the table.
Albert Mehrabian’s research gave birth to the 7–38–55 rule. A concept concerning the communication of emotions.
The rule states that 7 percent of meaning is communicated through spoken word, 38 percent through tone of voice, and 55 percent through body language.
So experts seem to think that the spoken word doesn’t even make a 1/10th of what is actually transmitted through communication.
There are obvious benefits of sending more blood and oxygen into the brain. However, most if not all humans get a little anxious before public speaking.
Anxiety can be seen as excess energy you don’t know what to do with. If you think of this anxiety as excitement rather than fear, well, you can channel it out of your mind and into your tone and body language in a positive way.
So try some light exercise beforehand to achieve this.
2) Quit Memorizing
A true presenter treasures the relationship they have with the audience. It’s a give-and-take relationship. But in order for this to happen, you have to be able to listen.
Most of the time, there will be dead silence, which is actually a good thing. If you hear shuffling and murmurs, attention certainly isn’t on you.
You won’t be able to read your audience if you’re simply regurgitating a memorized monologue. Generic and inattentive to the unique individuals in front of you.
Get your framework aligned well beforehand, but don’t clog up your working memory.
Leaving cognitive space for attentively and intentionally responding to your audience will take you much further towards an authentic connection.
3) Solidify your Personal Truth
Chances are, the audience or those on the other side of your zoom call are there for a reason. If you don’t have a very firm understanding of what that is, it only gets watered down by the time the transferring attempt is made.
A little self-hypnosis here can go a long way.
“What is most personal is most universal.” ― Carl R. Rogers, On Becoming a Person: A Therapist’s View of Psychotherapy
Remind yourself that each individual making up your audience is hungry for a relationship, which can also be a product or service, that they never had the luxury of having.
Maybe they look around at their five closest friends and know that they are not like themselves. And they absolutely, more than anything, need a paradigm shift in order to take action towards positive momentum in their lives or work.
We all have those things that we know about ourselves and those things determine the outcomes of our life. And it comes when the pressure is on.
If your personal truth is, I’m not as smart as these people, I’m not as good as these others. This isn’t me. That’s gonna come out because 93 percent of your communications are nonverbal. So your personal truth is going to scream who you really believe you are. | https://medium.com/@maslowsays/instantly-10x-your-public-speaking-skills-c95770db9dbd | [] | 2020-12-07 18:46:35.208000+00:00 | ['Sales', 'Public Speaking', 'Presenting Skills', 'Skills', 'Presenting'] |
What is a HSM and Securosys’ Use Cases | Use cases for Securosys’ HSMs in the blockchain and crypto economy
Mt. Gox, never again! Funds, Banks, Exchanges, Trading Platforms, and Wallet Providers
The first extremely prominent and probably still most largescale “hack” of a crypto exchange was the “Mt. Gox hack”. A total of 850,000 Bitcoin were stolen, of which 750,000 were taken from exchange users and about 100,000 from the exchange itself.
That accumulated to around 7% of the total Bitcoin in circulation back then, which would be worth approximately $5.5bn today. No user or exchange wants to experience a debacle like that ever again.
When you sign up to a stockbroker platform or your bank’s stock trading platform and buy Amazon shares to invest your savings, you would never even think that there might be a risk that someone could steal your shares and disappear for good. The same level of security and the same feeling of secure platforms is what is lacking on any cryptocurrency and crypto assets exchange today. However, that is ultimately the level of protection that customers demand from the services they use. This makes the mass adoption of these high standards a necessity for the blockchain economy.
Securosys HSMs can secure any keys used by an exchange, fund, bank exchange, or any other kind of financial intermediary, so that a hack like the notorious Mt. Gox scandal could not happen again.
The same is true for “centralized” wallets. For the everyday user, it is not necessarily user-friendly and practicable to keep their private keys in a safe place. Most of the well-known fiat gateways (platforms that offer to sell you Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for USD, EUR or CHF) offer wallets where the users can keep their cryptocurrencies. This setup is convenient, yet poses a significant risk at the same time. The centralized service saves the addresses of private keys where the users’ cryptocurrencies are held. The trade-off is always control and security versus convenience and usability. These centralized services have to avoid security breaches at all costs, as shown by the example above. Take Joe, an average user who wants to buy and hold, or maybe even use cryptocurrency. What he doesn’t want to care about is safe key-keeping, and he definitely doesn’t want to be worried by the horrible breaches he read about in the news.
Some might believe that this is only possible with a significant amount of trust. That is true. However, we firmly believe that trust can be established if the equipment used for security is trustworthy: “Secure your communications — Trust your equipment!“
Safe ICOs
The popularity of initial coin and token offerings as a crowdfunding, seed funding and public funding option has grown massively. In any case, it is paramount to protect the investors’ and the company’s assets in the best way possible. The theft of the ICO proceeds would be a catastrophic event for both the investors and the funding-stage companies, as they’d be at risk to a total loss in that case.
Aside from security, stability and reliability are crucial as well. Bottlenecks in funding rounds are to be avoided at all costs. A participant lost is money lost. Even worse are crashes of ICO platforms due to high demand or malicious attacks. For all these cases, Securosys HSMs can provide the necessary technical platform to guarantee smooth procedures, automation, and compliant operations while also keeping everything exceptionally secure.
There is a great probability that initial token offerings will evolve to the “IPO 2.0” (article by our advisor Michael Guzik). In that case, the compliance and security demands will rise to a level heretofore unseen in the blockchain economy. Securosys lives up to this high standard by preparing and manufacturing its products accordingly.
Securosys is involved with several parties that are developing such ICO platforms at the moment. They are trusted and highly experienced players in both the IT and the blockchain economy.
Blockchain platforms and systems
The actual blockchains also need secure key handling to guarantee the safety of their users’ assets. In Bitcoin, for example, off-chain signing systems like Lightning Network need protection. Proof of stake protocols require the validating parties to keep a large amount of their assets in their wallets. Keeping these funds or assets in a “hot wallet”, which is connected to the network and easily accessible, makes them vulnerable to attacks and theft attempts. The Securosys trusted execution platform (TEP) HSM creates a safe environment to run these PoS operations.
Miners, particularly large-scale mining operations, accumulate large amounts of funds that they don’t necessarily move or sell for extended periods of time. They too might want to secure their mining proceeds with top-notch secure solutions, which can easily be done by using Securosys HSMs to store their keys. | https://medium.com/securosys/what-is-a-hsm-and-securosys-use-cases-507ee9f72823 | [] | 2018-09-16 12:19:02.940000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Hsm', 'Proof Of Stake', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Network Security'] |
6ix9ine vs The “Stop Snitching” Movement | As of 2019, Tekashi 6ix9ine reign of “King of NY” has come to a screeching halt; whether you were a fan or not, it’s hard to deny the year he had in 2018, 6ix9ine had: from a collab with Nicki Minaj to beefing with…well… pretty much with everyone in the rap industry throughout the country. But sadly, all the trolling and energy he put out in the world, it has come back around and now he has gotten into an undesirable situation with being charged with RICO and possibly spending over 20 years in prison. But as of right now, 6ix9ine has taken a plea deal, if he gives up everyone in his camp involved in the actions he’s being charged for, he will receive no jail time and will be put into Witness Protection.
Which seems like a win (I guess), but in the hip hop community it’s really a lose-lose situation for 6ix9ine, cause with this plea deal, he’s already being labeled a “rat” and has gotten flack from a few rappers such as Boosie who added his two cents of his frustration with 6ix9ines situation; He posted on his Instagram stating: “WHEN YOU FIRST WENT TO JAIL I WAS LIKE FREE DUDE CAUSE I DONT LIKE TO SEE NO ONE N DAT CAGE LIKE DAT,” “BUT ONE THING I DONT CONDONE OR SUPPORT IS RATS.” Going on to also explain how him [6ix9ine] and his family’s life is at risk by snitching. Snoop Dogg also tastefully going on Instagram to give his stance on the situation. “N*ggas is bustas, man, The era I come from, you couldn’t tell on a n*gga.”(and this was before 6ix9ine plea deal was even confirmed). Meek took to Twitter and canceled 6ix9ine for snitching saying things such as:”Ok that’s cool but I don’t represent that using influence to cause unnecessary drama and then get them locked up after he portrayed a gang banger..kids will believe that and follow up it’s not cool..I got a say so when we talking the trenches so I’m speaking for us! I’m off it”.
Hell, his Twitter name was hacked and changed to Snitch9ine at one point, but immediately changed. But, whether you believed he was a blood gang-member who was G’d up and Bout It Bout It (Free C-Murder) or he was a meme-able rapper who had an act for getting under the skin of his fellow rap industry brethren’s; 6ix9ine taking the plea deal and cooperating, whatever image you believed and overall reputation has instantaneously been tainted in the rap game….. but does it matter? Hip-hop (well street culture as a whole) and it’s intolerance of “snitching” has a long history, going on for a few decades. Whether it’s loyalty, street ethics, and so on, not snitching has been embedded in hip hop culture, with many rappers in their from Biggie to Drake, the countless rapper has given there stance and expression on their disdain for snitching and snitches themselves. Jay-Z on 2003s Justify My Thug said: “I will never tell, even if it means sittin in a cell” and on 2006s, 30 Something he says: ”I’m from the era where n***** don’t snitch; You from the era where snitchin’ is the shit”, or even to Trinidad James infamous and somewhat comical line from 2013s All Gold Everything where he says: “I don’t f*** with no snitches; So don’t tell me who tellin’”. From Tee Grizzley on First Day Out to Master Ps track from 1998 about snitches properly titled…Drum roll, please … <drum roll> “Snitches” (fitting title), the list of anti-snitching lyrics and tracks is continuous.
But art reflects reality and some rappers stand by the street code of ethics and don’t snitch. Cam’Ron of The Diplomats was shot in an attempted carjacking but refused to tell who shot him and did 60 Minutes soon after. In the interview, Anderson Cooper asked if he’d call the police on a serial killer living next door to him and replied: “If I knew the serial killer was living next to me, I wouldn’t call and tell nobody on them, but I’d probably move…’”
A more famous case in hip hop in recent years Bobby Shmurda, famous for the song Hot N****, was sentenced in 2016 to serve 7 years in prison for one count of third-degree conspiracy and one count of weapons possession. What it’s interesting about it is that he’s doing 7 years because of his loyalty and street code of ethics. In an interview with Complex Bobby and Rowdy Rebel discussed their situation and how they took a plea deal. Which Shmurda agree to do 7 years for his friend: “I did it for Rowdy. They offered me five and offered Rowdy 12. They said the only way they’ll give him seven is if I took seven too. So, you know, I had to take one for the dawgs.” Doing this heighten Bobby’s respect in the hip hop community, so when he gets out, he’ll pretty much have parade waiting for him. Same goes for B.G., Max B and so on.
Which leads back to 6ix9ine, Overall, this a muddy situation for his reputation (well his life overall but I focus on the music career). Even though his camp was supposedly trying to KILL HIM, people truly believe he shouldn’t have snitched and should have done the time (Note: I’m not saying he should or shouldn’t have snitched). Will this ruin his credibility with his core audience? Will they even care if he snitched? Will his streams increase or decrease after all this? Referring back to the Cam’Ron interview from 2007, before he said the infamous “I’d probably move” line he had made a point earlier in the interview stating: “The type of business I’m in, it would hurt my business. And the way that I was raised, I just don’t do that.” That was 2007, 12 years later the times have changed and so has hip hop. We’re in a new era, where meme rappers and “mumble rap” are accepted. No one cares about Ghostwriting, this generation is more liberal and open to things in hip-hop; we are in a “separate the art from the artist” era.
But, not snitching is something passed down from generation to generation, whether it’d be via hanging with friends and family members, movies (Hood movies, Mob movies) and TV, and music……rap music. So when you’re rapper like 6ix9ine, or a Cam’Ron, who’s content overall isn’t social conscious like a De La Soul or J Cole or Kendrick Lamar, and essentially exaggerates their level of toughness and bravado; it’ll be really hard to continue making the same content when you’re labeled a snitch, in the eyes of hip-hop community, you’re a disloyal weakling and lame.
Hypothetical, 6ix9ine, if he was to continue to make music (which is unlikely, since he will be in Witness Protection, so it’ll defeat the purpose of the program if you continue to be a popular rapper) he can’t make records like GUMMO or BILLY anymore, the contradiction will be uncanny. It’ll be the equivalent to the 1993 Chris Rock movie “CB4” where Rock and his friends become megastar gangster rappers, even though they were raised in nice neighborhoods weren’t affiliated with anything street related. With all that being said, will any of this matter to this generation, to middle America, who’s to say; only time will tell. One thing is for sure, outside of the music, he’s facing a lot of heat, best wishes and hope for the best for Tekashi 6ix9ine, his family, and everyone involved that seems to be in danger or affected by his situation. | https://medium.com/@matthewspence99/6ix9ine-vs-the-stop-snitching-movement-58c7bb0e4d44 | ['Matthew Spence'] | 2019-02-25 02:38:17.306000+00:00 | ['Hip Hop', 'Pop Culture', 'Music', 'Tekashi 6ix9ine', 'Rap'] |
The Way to Self-Love is to Be Loved | Of all the self-help and helpful comments from everyone around, there is one cliché that stands out. We have all heard it when it comes to talking about relationships and love, whether single or coupled:
You need to love yourself first before you can love anyone else. You need to be whole to become a worthy partner, to create healthy attachment forms, to avoid becoming dependent or needy.
In many cases this is true, but there is another truth that complements it, and in a way contradicts it.
We are not meant to be alone and self-sufficient. Us, human beings are wired to be in company, genetically coded to be accepted and appreciated by others. Back in the days, our survival depended on it. Only those who were part of the herd — then later the community and society, — survived. Isolation is an evolutionary dead-end, isolation has been used as torture for prisoners, social isolation these days is a root cause for mental health issues and destructive maladaptive behaviours.
Being with others, appreciated and validated by others is our only way to a happy and fulfilled life. If we want to experience intimacy, loving ourselves is simply not enough. We need to learn how to love ourselves, how to appreciate ourselves — and we learn it from the people around us.
The way to self-love is to be loved.
Especially in those areas we are the most unsure about. It’s the people around us, our loved ones who validate our vulnerable sides to be loveable, who reassure that we are worthy of love — in those areas too, where we feel the most critical to ourselves.
If it happens, we feel free to show our emotions, we let ourselves be seen, we open up — that’s when we can experience intimacy, love and that’s what leads us to appreciate ourselves more. By the validation of others around us — not just a romantic partner, but everyone who we interact with and who we are in close connection with — we will allow ourselves to love in a deeper way, showing our true selves.
There is no self-talk, self-reflection or learned consciousness that will make us love deeper. It is about intimacy and freedom to be ourselves, it’s not about willpower.
In our individualistic society, we are expected to be self-made, self-sufficient, capable to solve everything on our own. We should avoid being dependent on external validation, our strength and self-love need to come from the inside.
The interesting thing is, that it is not a decision, it is depending on our personalities, how early do we learn our self-worth and how quickly we can build or rebuild our capacities to love ourselves. Those who are successful, are not lone warriors — they all have a solid emotional background behind them, that is a lot more than self-talk. We need external validation — to be able to accept ourselves.
Those who love themselves in a healthy way know exactly that to love is not a weakness. Opening ourselves up, experiencing intimacy, making ourselves vulnerable is a sign of strength, not of weakness.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Wanting to be loved is not a weakness
Yet, still, there is so much confusion about it. Intense longing for love is considered a weakness — as if we should be content being unloved, whether single or coupled. There are some who might have so much love-reserve, who were taught on every level to love themselves, but for the rest of us, it’s just simply a daunting expectation that debilitates us and makes us questions ourselves even more.
Without love and expressing our need for love, we cannot thrive. We cannot get to intimacy on our own, we need human connection to find our places in the world. We don’t need to suppress our need for love, we need to learn to honour it.
Eli Finkel, a respected researcher in the field of relationships and attraction, states that the quality of your intimate relationship affects your happiness twice as much as your career, your friendships, or even your health: Simply holding a loved one’s hand lowers blood pressure and reduces pain.
Need is not neediness
Our genuine and natural need for love has been given a bad rap. Need is not a terrible state, it’s not something to be ashamed of. It is a healthy and essential part of our selves, our humanity.
It is neediness that should be avoided. And the best to avoid it is to give way to our needs. If we suppress our needs, that’s when it kicks back, that’s when it comes out in a form of manipulative or passive-aggressive neediness.
Interestingly the people who most intensely long for intimacy are the ones most likely to find it as love — at any stage, finding it and keeping it — takes hard work. It’s those who care most about connection who is willing to do that work. The more we long for connection, the more driven we are to find it and then keep it.
It is important to see longing as a gift, not a liability. It is those of us who experience the often-painful urgency of love who are willing to do the real work of intimacy.
The catch here is, if our vulnerability has been met before with disinterest or shame, we feel the need to retract and we will think twice about ever sharing that very part of us. If our true self is met with rejection in the world, we create a false self that will make us feel safe and accepted. There is a cost to it, at best, becoming someone different, at worst, getting detached from our own humanity and realness.
We need to value and dignify our needs, even if we were ashamed for them. It boils down to communication, and knowing ourselves, as much as knowing to acknowledge our expectations and needs.
1 First and foremost, begin by accepting and dignifying your sense of need. Try to validate it. Finish the following sentence for yourself: “It makes sense that I feel this need because…” Accepting your own need, spelling it out, finding its root cause might put it into perspective — and it might as well turn out to be because of something unrelated to another person.
2 Second, without invalidating your experience and feelings, try to imagine the perspective of the person you’re with. Without phrasing our own need, it is easy to fall in the trap of believing that the world is against us. The reasons for someone being distant, disinterested or detached can be completely independent of us.
3 Finally, you need to decide on how to act. Keeping your own genuine need and the external circumstances in mind might shift the focus from your “neediness” and shines a light on something different. You need to learn to love yourself through others, and you also need to validate your own longing to be loved. | https://zitafontaine.medium.com/the-way-to-self-love-is-to-be-loved-719d2e8ddcc0 | ['Zita Fontaine'] | 2019-09-19 06:38:11.036000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Self', 'Advice', 'Love', 'Relationships'] |
Human Factors in Avalanche Accidents | An IMR collaborative research project
Each summer the Institute for Mountain Research supports a number of student/faculty collaborative research projects. We’ll get updates on the research throughout the summer and the year. In one of these projects, Russ Costa and Jadie Adams will examine the roll of human decision making in avalanche terrain. They describe their project like this:
In an essay presaging the “science wars” of the 1990’s, John Maynard Smith, a British engineer turned theoretical evolutionary biologist and geneticist, noted the following concerning humans’ difficulty in distinguishing between science and myth:
“If, before going into battle, a man sharpens his spear and undergoes ritual purification (or, for that matter, goes to mass and cleans his rifle), he may regard the two procedures as equally efficacious. Indeed, they may well be so, one in preparing the spear and the other himself. If we regard the former as more scientific, it is only because we understand metallurgy better than psychology.” (p. 376)
This distinction also largely reflects the present state of avalanche safety research and education. As noted by Maynard Smith, we understand than material more than we do than the mental, and the physical more than the psychological, leading to the assumption that the former is more scientific in explanation and more efficacious in education. Although several recent efforts have brought some necessary attention to psychological, “human” factors in avalanche accidents, the field is still largely dominated by the science of snow, not of human decision making and behavior.
Recent decades have seen a surge in the amount of human travel in avalanche terrain, and a parallel upturn in literature and other educational material devoted to avalanche awareness and safety. The present proposal aims to analyze, via textual analysis and quantitative meta-analyses, the extent to which human factors, in contrast to snow, weather, and mountain terrain characteristics, are analyzed and discussed in this growing literature on avalanches. Results of this initial project will be used to develop future projects in this area and to provide recommendations for developing new avalanche safety literature, research programs, and safety courses. We operate from the standpoint that while snow sliding down a mountainside can often be a forceful event, it is only classified an “avalanche accident” if a human (or human structure) is involved in the event, and thus the study of human factors is as important as the study of snow and terrain factors in accident prevention. | https://medium.com/the-mountain-commons/human-factors-in-avalanche-accidents-4cf5058c317e | ['Mountain Research'] | 2016-05-25 19:28:13.521000+00:00 | ['Avalanche', 'Mountains', 'Education'] |
Meet Antoinette Klatzky | Meet Antoinette Klatzky
Being in service of the now
If you participated in the GAIA Journey (GAIA: Global Activation of Intention and Action) Antoinette will certainly be a familiar face. Antoinette serves on the board of the Presencing Institute (PI) and has been part of the PI community since 2010. You might also recognize Antoinette as the executive director of the Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute (EFLI) or as the host, facilitator, and co-creator of the Eileen Fisher Foundation’s Women Together initiative. Antoinette has been working with Eileen Fisher and her Foundation to facilitate empowerment workshops with young women and educators, build the early stages of a recycled clothing initiative to fund those programs and set strategy for the foundation’s work on human rights and climate justice for 10 years.
Carried by a Lineage of Strong Women
Antoinette comes from a strong line of independent women. Her mother, after leaving a secure academic tenured career, gave birth to her at the age of 40 as a single parent by choice. Her grandmother, who gave birth to her mother at the age of 40, was the daughter of a Russian Jewish seamstress, who fled the pogroms of Czarist Russia. “It’s this lineage of strong women that carried me into this life and to the journey that I have been on,” Antoinette reflects.
Antoinette dreamt of attending a college that would allow her to travel and attend other schools abroad. This dream became reality when she discovered the International Honors Program in the last pages of a magazine. This program allowed her, and a group of fellow students, to travel to Britain, Tanzania, India, New Zealand, Mexico. The goal of this endeavor was to rethink globalization through the lenses of ecology, anthropological field methods, rethinking our economic systems, “and we were doing that by actually going to these places.”
“ I just felt a spark of something, I knew that this wasn’t the traditional abroad program but this is really how I wanted to learn…via experience. It was activating the head, heart and hands. That experience opened me up, and when I came home, I didn’t want to do the ‘system’ in the same way.”
Eileen Fisher and Antoinette at a Women Together event
Upon returning home, Antoinette took on two jobs: a social justice position in her local YWCA as well as a retail job. “I didn’t know it then,” Antoinette said with a smile, “but that retail job did give me a grounding in the clothing industry before I worked with Eileen Fisher.” When Eileen wanted to start a young women’s leadership program in order to provide young women with the leadership skills practiced by the company, Antoinette stepped into this project in order to translate these leadership practices into workshops. As it turns out, the leadership practices at the company were heavily influenced by Otto Scharmer’s work. In a way, “Otto was writing Theory U and Eileen was living it.” That was Antoinette’s “initial dive” into Theory U and Presencing.
This “feels more like my life’s journey rather than just my journey to the Presencing Institute.”
Group shot at the We The Change/Women Together event with Women leaders of BCorps
Grounding Knowledge in the Body
When Antoinette was 14, she started teaching swimming at her YWCA. She noticed how there’s “something that happens in a person’s body when they have the ‘aha!’ moment.” When you tell someone to “just kick their feet”, they might not really get it. But if they’re told to “make their ankles floppy and loose, or if I actually help them by holding their ankles and moving their feet…then they get it and it just clicks.” What’s so wonderful about the kinesthetic learning experience is “you then actually can’t not know how to do that anymore!” Suddenly, you feel it. Antoinette has found the kinesthetic learning experience to be the “quickest way into knowing how to do something differently.”
This embodied learning experience was what Antoinette was teaching as a teenager, and, at the same time, it was “also how I, myself, needed to learn.”
Learning by doing is still a part of how Antoinette learns and works. In her leadership programs with young women, she often does an activity called Strong Voice. In this activity, they go around in a circle, saying a word. The group then echoes back not only the word itself, but also the manner in which it was said. Because how a word, like “yes” and “no” is said informs how it’s felt. Antoinette says, “young women come to me and say: I’ve never used that part of my body to speak before…I’ve never spoken from my gut, I’ve never spoken from my belly.” Antoinette noticed how many teenagers and young women speak with “a lack of surety” in their voices, even when they often do know what they want. So actually “dropping into the body” in order to use the body and the voice differently carries with it immense potential. Embodied practice is “a part of me now,” Antoinette reflects, “it’s part of how I live and work.”
Antoinette holding a mindfulness moment during a Women Together event
Facing, and Being with the Pain of, the Problem
Reflecting on the interface between business and leadership, Antoinette says that “what’s required of us is to actually look at the problems…we can look at the problem and say I don’t want to look at that right now and go in another direction.” For example, when looking at a fabric that might not be environmentally sustainable, company leaders have two options — change the fabric out for another one or dive into the chain and try to change the way the fabric is produced. They might not want to do either of those things and might do something else that feels easier in another area of the company for an easy PR story.
The reality is that “if we don’t look at the problems we can’t solve them.”
Antoinette has been looking at how business leaders might address some of the crises of our time — like climate change and social justice. She says “While there can be a great deal of pain that arises when we actually look at the problems we’ve caused or been part of creating, there is a lot of possibility too.” If we don’t look at the problems of our industries, we can’t begin to address them. Antoinette notes that it can be overwhelming to look at all the problems in an industry, but taking it one step at a time, deeply listening, working as a collective, “it’s doable,” she says.
The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement would be an example of this, where it might be easier to deny the existence of racism by turning away from the problem. Yet, “the much more difficult, but necessary, thing is for us to actually look, and ask ourselves, where do I benefit from the current reality?”
We must also ask ourselves “where am I actually benefiting from low wage labor? Where am I actually benefiting from a system that keeps this wage gap in place… and where am I a part of the problem?” This is work that needs to be done both on an individual, as well as on a company, level.
Instead of turning away, what we need to do is “sit with the pain of it, because by sitting with the pain of it we can actually look at what we need to do to be with each other and solve it.” For Antoinette, this also means asking “what companies I am supporting, where I am getting my food from, where am I getting my clothes from, how do I live on this earth?” And… “it feels daunting.” For Antoinette, it’s about “taking it one step at a time and also being with the pain.”
As Arawana Hayashi has reminded me — Being with the suffering allows me to have compassion and tenderness and go for basic human goodness rather than for the perfect.”
What Is Needed Now?
In this moment of disruption, rupture, pain, and potential, Antoinette, like so many others, finds herself in a time of transition, where “there’s something that’s shifting in my life and work.” When COVID-19 hit, there was this moment of “dropping everything and asking: what wants to happen?” That’s when GAIA came in. Within the span of 12 days, GAIA grew from an idea, born in a small team meeting, into an online journey that touched over 13,000 people over the course of 14 weeks. Antoinette is “still processing what happened.”
GAIA stands for Global Activation of Intention and Action, and “the global activation has been happening for quite some time now…and what the GAIA Journey is inviting us into was to recognize that it’s time for us to stand up. It’s time for us to come together and do what needs to be done.” In many ways, it’s on us to connect with each other and talk with each other because “ there isn’t some else out there who is going to do that for us.” A key part of the GAIA Journey was, and is, “to apply a collective sensing mechanism to what’s actually going on so that we can see it… “
Everyday Antoinette asks herself what her purpose is that day, with an openness towards what might be needed of her in the future. At the moment, “I’m putting my arms down and asking: what am I being called into now? And how can I be of service to that now?”
Video | https://medium.com/presencing-institute-blog/meet-antoinette-klatzky-1d71867418ff | ['Hannah Scharmer'] | 2020-11-10 10:44:12.773000+00:00 | ['Business', 'Gaiajourney', 'Leadership', 'Practitioner', 'Women'] |
I Came to a Spork in the Road | I came to a spork in the road.
It was a roundabout. | https://medium.com/@rickpost/i-came-to-a-spork-in-the-road-e072cad4c0a9 | ['Rick Post'] | 2020-11-24 14:02:52.484000+00:00 | ['Short Read', 'Funny', 'Short Fiction', 'Humor'] |
instagram story background | Instagram, the image sharing app created with the aid of using Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom from Stanford University, spins the story of achievement capitalized the proper manner. Launched manner again withinside the 12 months 2010, Instagram nowadays boasts of seven hundred million registered customers, with extra than four hundred million human beings touring the webweb page on a everyday basis. Out of the seven hundred million customers, round 17 million are from the UK alone! When the 2 founders began out speakme approximately their concept, they quick realised that they’d one purpose in mind: to make the biggest cell image sharing app. However, earlier than Instagram, the 2 had labored collectively on a comparable platform referred to as Burbn. For Instagram to work, Krieger and Systrom determined to strip Burbn right all the way down to the naked necessities. Burbn became pretty just like Instagram and had functions which allowed customers to feature filters to their pictures. The social networking webweb page Instagram reached 1000000000 energetic customers in 2019. The US-primarily based totally video and image-sharing app is a achievement tale that has spread out because its release in October 2010 with the aid of using Stanford University college students Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom. Systrom majored in control technological know-how and engineering, at the same time as Krieger studied symbolic systems — a department of pc research mixed with psychology. When the 2 founders met, they began out discussing their concept for a brand new app and realised they shared a purpose: to create the world’s biggest cell image-sharing app. Budding entrepreneur Fellow college students recalled Systrom as being clearly gregarious and a budding entrepreneur from a younger age. He in short ran a market that became just like Craigslist for fellow Stanford college students. Krieger had exclusive capabilities and one in all his college tasks were designing a pc interface that could gauge human emotions. Prior to Instagram, that they’d collaborated on a comparable platform referred to as Burbn. They determined to strip it down and use it as the premise for Instagram. Burbn had functions that enabled customers to feature filters to their photographs, so the duo studied each famous image app to peer how they might development further. Eventually, they determined it wasn’t operating and scrapped Burbn in favour of making a totally new platform. Their first attempt became Scotch, a predecessor to Instagram, however it wasn’t a achievement, because it didn’t have sufficient filters, had too many insects and became slow. Once Instagram became launched for Android phones, the app became downloaded extra than 1,000,000 instances a day. Interestingly, the web social media platform became ready to get hold of an funding of $ 500 million. Furthermore, Systrom and Zuckerberg had been in talks for a Facebook poised takeover. In April 2012, Facebook made a proposal to buy Instagram for approximately $ 1 billion in coins and stock, with the important thing provision that the enterprise could continue to be independently managed. Shortly thereafter and simply previous to its preliminary public offering, Facebook received the enterprise for the whopping sum of $ 1 billion in coins and stock. After the Facebook acquisition, the Instagram founders have completed little to alternate the consumer phase, sticking to the simplicity of the app. The remarkable upward push of Instagram’s recognition proves that human beings agree with in actual connections as opposed to the ones primarily based totally on simplest words. Since the acquisition, Instagram’s founders haven’t made many adjustments to the consumer experience, who prefer to paste to the app’s simplicity. Its upward push in recognition proves that human beings revel in the manner the app works and just like the image-primarily based totally connections it provides. One of the maximum essential instructions of Instagram’s achievement is that the founders didn’t waste time seeking to keep their authentic concept, Burbn. Once they determined it wasn’t going to work, they moved on quick and invented Instagram. Systrom stated its call became primarily based totally on “immediate telegram”. The app became released at simply the proper time — and with simplest 12 personnel initially, the consumer base had increased to extra than 27 million earlier than Instagram became offered to Facebook. Today, maximum celebrities use it as a platform for promotions and with 1000000000 customers, it keeps to head from power to power. | https://medium.com/@qaak/instagram-story-background-4e4378448185 | [] | 2020-12-17 07:24:59.787000+00:00 | ['SEO', 'Instagram', 'Technews', 'Technology', 'Success Story'] |
React Native Image Upload To Firebase Cloud Storage — iOS | In this tutorial, we will go through how to upload images to Firebase Cloud Storage in React Native applications.
React Native
React Native is a Javascript framework by Facebook used to build cross mobile native applications(iOS, Android, and Windows). We will build an example app for iOS. You can read more about React Native here.
Firebase
Firebase is a web and mobile development platform by Firebase Inc owned by Google. It has a lot of services you can use including real-time database, file storage service, and so many others. We’ll use Firebase Storage services to store images in our application.
Prerequisites
Before continuing the tutorial, let’s make sure that we have already set up the React Native environment. If not, follow the guide here.
For iOS, we will use Cocoapods . CocoaPods is a dependency manager for Swift and Objective-C Cocoa projects. CocoaPods can help you scale your projects elegantly and ease dependency management.
Initialize the application
react-native init RnFirebaseImgUpload
After initializing the React Native application, create a dependencies file for iOS: ios/Podfile and remember to add ios/Pods in your .gitignore
Then add the following in your Podfile
After adding Podfile, install the dependencies using Cocoapod by running from the iOS folder of the project( RnFirebaseImgUpload/ios ):
pod install
From now on, we will be using RnFirebaseImgUpload.xcworkspace to open our project in XCode instead of usual RnFirebaseImgUpload.xcodeproj . RnFirebaseImgUpload.xcworkspace get generated when you run pod install .
Read more about using Cocoapod with React Native here.
We will use the following React Native packages, thanks to their creators and contributors:
Integrate Firebase in our iOS app
Log in or create an account on Firebase if you don’t have one, then create a project. After creating a project, register an app for iOS and Android to get the token.
Install Firebase core dependency
For iOS, you must provide the bundle name.
Register Firebase app for iOS
We can use XCode to get our iOS app bundle name by selecting our project on the sidebar in general and see bundle identifier input. You can also customize the bundle name from there.
In the next step, we download our app config file( GoogleService-Info.plist ) and copy it into our project folder. In our case, we’ll copy it to RnFirebaseImgUpload/ios/RnFirebaseImgUpload
Download app config file
Next, We add Firebase core dependency in our dependencies file ( Podfile ). Here, We will ignore other steps which we don’t have to follow as we are using React Native.
pod 'Folly', :podspec => '../node_modules/react-native/third-party-podspecs/Folly.podspec'
...
# Firebase core dependency
pod 'Firebase/Core
end
After adding the dependency run move to an ios folder of the app and run the following command to update the dependencies:
pod update
2. Configure Firebase
Add pod ‘Firebase/Storage’, ‘~> 5.15.0’ in our dependency file( Podfile )
pod 'Folly', :podspec => '../node_modules/react-native/third-party-podspecs/Folly.podspec'
...
# Firebase core dependency
pod 'Firebase/Core'
# Firebase storage dependency
pod 'Firebase/Storage', '~> 5.15.0'
end
Don’t forget to update the dependencies by running the following command again:
pod update
3. Initialize Firebase
To initialize Firebase in our existing ios app, we will add the following line in AppDelegate.m Which is located in RnFirebaseImgUpload/ios/RnFirebaseImgUpload/ and add the highlighted lines below:
... #import <React/RCTRootView.h>
#import <Firebase.h> // Import firebase
@implementation AppDelegate - (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions
{
[FIRApp configure]; // Configure firebase
NSURL *jsCodeLocation; ...
The above step is almost the same as the iOS Firebase integration step found in the Firebase guide (Note that React Native use Objective-c):
4. Install React Native Firebase
React Native Firebase is a light-weight Javascript layer connecting you to the native Firebase SDKs for both iOS and Android. It aims to mirror the official Firebase Web SDK as closely as possible.
npm install react-native-firebase
Link react-native-firebase
react-native link react-native-firebase
5. Test our Firebase integration
It’s now time to test our integration. Open XCode and stop the application if it was running, then run the application again.
If the app was successfully launched in the emulator, add the following lines in App.js to test our integration:
import React, {Component} from 'react';
import {StyleSheet, Text, View} from 'react-native';
import firebase from 'react-native-firebase'; const { app } = firebase.storage(); export default class App extends Component<Props> {
render() {
alert(JSON.stringify(app));
return (
<View style={styles.container}>
....
After adding the above lines of code, go in the emulator and press Cmd+R to reload.
After reloading the application, we should see our Firebase application details
This step corresponds to the fifth step of the official Firebase iOS integration of verifying the installation.
Verifying the installation
React Native Image Picker is a React Native module that allows you to select an image from the device images library or directly from the camera. This module will help us to pick an image that will be sent to our Firebase Storage Bucket.
Installation
To install React Native Image Picker is straight forward:
npm install react-native-image-picker
Link the package: react-native link react-native-image-picker , this will add this module in our dependencies, Podfile : pod 'react-native-image-picker', : path => ‘../node_modules/react-native-image-picker’
After that, we update our dependencies by running pod update (Make sure that you are in the iOS folder) and rerun the application from XCode.
2. Test if our image picker works
Let’s customize our App.js and add the following code:
The above code will give us the following output:
Image Picker
Upload image to the Firebase Cloud Storage
So far, we successfully integrated firebase and React Native Image Picker in our iOS app. Next, we have to send the picked image to the Firebase Bucket.
Set up Firebase storage permission rules:
Before proceeding, we have to note that for users to be able to upload an image, they should be authenticated. As this post focuses on uploading an image, we will add a rule that allows an unauthenticated user to upload an image.
Default Firebase Storage permission rules
service firebase.storage {
match /b/{bucket}/o {
match /{allPaths=**} {
allow read, write: if request.auth != null;
}
}
}
Add a new rule and publish
We will add the highlighted rule below, this rule will allow an authenticated or unauthenticated user to read and write the storage with the path reference that starts with /tutorials .
service firebase.storage {
match /b/{bucket}/o {
match /tutorials/{allPaths=**} {
allow read, write;
}
match /{allPaths=**} {
allow read, write: if request.auth != null;
}
}
}
Instead of adding a new rule, we can also remove the authentication rule for all the Storage path references by removing the following condition but this also means that everyone can access your Storage Bucket:
if request.auth != null service firebase.storage {
match /b/{bucket}/o {
match /{allPaths=**} {
allow read, write;
}
}
}
2. Uploading the image in the app
Let’s create a method in our App component to upload the image
In the above method, apart from uploading the image, we are also appending uploaded image URL to other images and persisting them in the AsyncStorage. When you are building an application, you can save the image URLs in a database, for example, a Firebase Cloud Store(Firebase database). We are also getting the upload progress and keep it in the state, which we will use later to design the progress bar. | https://medium.com/backticks-tildes/react-native-image-upload-to-firebase-cloud-storage-ios-24b8dc0a9c8b | ['Emery Muhozi'] | 2019-04-16 10:21:11.729000+00:00 | ['Cloud Storage', 'Firebase', 'iOS', 'React Native'] |
Auto-Complete Naming Convention. How to give better names to things in… | Auto-Complete Naming Convention
How to give items in your code more meaningful names, by referring to the context in which they are used. Yossi Yaari Follow Dec 23, 2020 · 3 min read
There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation and naming things. — Phil Karlton
Remember Hungarian notation?
In the days before intellisense, some developers used name encoding that added a variable’s type as a prefix to the variable name.
A boolean for feature enabled would be bFeatureEnabled, and the number of items would be u16NumberOfItems for uint.
This convention has been pretty much abandoned since the wide use of smart IDEs.
It seems like we have evolved into a new kind of Hungarian notation. The Auto-Complete Naming convention.
When your class has a text field for the instance name, you can call the field “name”, and the Auto-Complete can generate a getter named “getName”. And that’s great and it’s clear. There’s rarely anything you would need to add to this method name to explain it’s function or meaning. And you achieved it with minimal effort, as the IDE helped you out.
When you have a class named SomethingThatGoesBumpInTheNight, your instance will invariably be generated as somethingThatGoesBumpInTheNight, and not scaringLittleTimmy. Here is a short example to illustrate a common situation where Auto-Complete Naming (ACN) naming makes sense.
Simple Auto-Complete Naming example
As you can see in the example, BankAccount and BusinessTransaction both have instances with the exact same name as the class name. And the code is clear enough.
In most cases, this can work. But, making this a developer reflex can sometimes lead to code that is hard to understand, as there can be a lack of explicit intent.
The following example can demonstrate some of the lost intent I refer to.
Auto-Complete Naming can lose contextual meaning
In this example, we have a bank account that is used for deferred VAT payments. But the use of ACN convention hides some of the intent of the members and variables.
If we look at the sell() method body, we have little understanding of the nature of the differedPayments field.
Of course, if we were to add a second deferred payments field for a different purpose, this naming issue would be apparent, and no one would accept the following additions to the previous code:
Auto-Complete-Naming failure when adding a second instance of the same type
Explicit Intent Naming Strategy
I hope that by now, you are convinced why you should use a name that contains the intent of the specific instance. Using a name that conveys the contextual meaning and usage of the specific instance will be valuable the next time the code is read by a human.
An explicit intent naming strategy could result in extremely long names if we were to merely append or prepend the intent to the ACN convention. In my opinion, that would not lead to an easily readable code. A variable named businessExpensesBankAccountForDeferredPayments is a nice example of something that is too long.
So I suggest using names that convey the intent but do so in the shortest way. In our example, it might be something like this:
Explicit Intent Name example
The account in use is for business expenses, and now the variable name states that.
The payments are for VAT, and the variable name states that. If the developer needs to know that the VAT payments are deferred, then you would probably need to add that to the field name (vatDeferredPayments).
Also, we now understand that the business transaction passed to sell() is a sale, even if there is no specific type for that kind of transaction, or if the method name was less descriptive (e.g. when implementing an interface).
thisIsTheEnd
To wrap it up, we can conclude that using Auto-Complete Naming for your variables and other code entities may pass the full intent in some cases, but not always.
You should always check for explicit intent in your code. Check where you can change the names generated by Auto-Complete Naming so that you don’t lose your intent. Just think - the next confused reader might be you. | https://medium.com/att-israel/auto-complete-naming-convention-aaad9ba6a0e4 | ['Yossi Yaari'] | 2020-12-23 09:22:59.723000+00:00 | ['Code', 'Naming Conventions'] |
Rocks in Space | Space Science in a Nutshell
Rocks in Space
Our Solar System has planets, asteroids and other bodies. But what are the differences?
Large Meteor (Fireball) over the Atacama Desert in Chile. The radio telescope dishes are part of ESO’s (European Southern Observatory) ALMA telescope (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array). Credit: ESO/C. Malin; License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
“Last night I saw a meteorite in the sky!” “I thought its called asteroid?” Hmmm …
Astronomy and astrophysics are great research fields that inspire us with fascinating images of exoplanets, galaxies, black holes or try to answer fundamental questions of the universe and our existence. But our very cosmic neighbourhood, the Solar System, has one advantage: we can reach and explore foreign worlds with spacecraft missions. We analyse and catalogue miscellaneous bodies and can see different objects (and appearances) in the night sky. You have probably heard of asteroids, comets, meteors and many more.
But what are the differences between these objects? And why do we need to differentiate between them? Let’s take a look:
Planet
2006 the International Astronomical Union set new definitions for planets and other minor bodies (IAU News: Page 16 following). Three requirements need to be fulfilled to classify an object as a planet:
The object revolves around a star (without being a star, since there are double-star systems and more) The object needs has to have a nearly perfectly spherical shape. The IAU states that “shape of objects with mass above 10²⁰ kg and diameter greater than 800 km would normally be determined by self-gravity, but all borderline cases would have to be established by observation” The orbit of the object needs to be clean from debris and other objects (also here: observations need to determine the cleanness of an orbit. Our planet moves through different dust streams and minor bodies cross the orbit as well)
The result of this new definition: 8 planets; and for all other objects the general term “Small Solar System Bodies” applies.
Dwarf Planet
Not a planet since 2006: Pluto. Colour composition taken by NASA’s New Horizons mission in 2015. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
Dwarf planets are like planets, but their orbit is not cleared from other almost same sized objects. This definition applies for (1) Ceres, who revolves the Sun within the main belt between Mars and Jupiter; Pluto, Sedna and other too-small-to-be-a-planet objects.
You may have heard about Plutons or Plutoids, Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) or Transneptunian Objects (TNOs). These classifications are based on the orbital elements of the objects; so the orbit-types these objects have.
Asteroids
When I started working in the area of asteroids I thought “Well… I give it a try, but it MUST be boring”. I was wrong.
Today, we know 100-thousands of these primordial objects that inhabit different regions in the Solar System like the Asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Asteroids are smaller than dwarf planets and mostly do not have a round-shape body. Larger asteroids (the transition between dwarf-planets and asteroids is not 100% clear) may have a dense and differentiated structure (iron core in the centre, rocky layers and a regolith surface), but for the majority the so called Rubble Pile model applies.
Asteroids have a way lower density than dwarf planets. This suggests that asteroids are not monoliths (a single rock), but a conglomerate of rocks and boulders that are held together by gravity. The Saturn moons Helene and Pandora (that are captured asteroids) have such a low density that they would float on your oceans.
(21) Lutetia in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid was visited during a brief flyby in 2015 by ESA’s mission Rosetta. Credit: ESA 2010 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
Michel, P., et al., editors. Asteroids IV. University of Arizona Press, 2015. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt18gzdvc. Accessed 13 May 2020.
Comets
Comets are, like asteroids, remnants of the formation of our Solar System. These objects are mostly referred as dirty snow balls and contain water ice, dry ice, minerals and also complex organic compounds like amino-acids. These life-building-blocks are used by living organisms to create proteins.
Comets consist of different components explained in the following list:
Core : The core is the solid part of the comet; the dirty ice ball with its minerals, ice, and so on. Although comets may appear quite bright on the night sky (see image below), the core has a reflectivity of only a few percent. The bright appearance results from other effects that are explained in a moment. Comet cores that approach the Sun closely (within a few AU) start to evaporate. Gas and dust are leaving the comet creating a …
: The core is the solid part of the comet; the dirty ice ball with its minerals, ice, and so on. Although comets may appear quite bright on the night sky (see image below), the core has a reflectivity of only a few percent. The bright appearance results from other effects that are explained in a moment. Comet cores that approach the Sun closely (within a few AU) start to evaporate. Gas and dust are leaving the comet creating a … Coma : This part is a spherical shaped liked region around the core that consists of dust and gas. The density of this cloud decreases for larger distances from the core until the gas and dust are carried away and appear as …
: This part is a spherical shaped liked region around the core that consists of dust and gas. The density of this cloud decreases for larger distances from the core until the gas and dust are carried away and appear as … Tails: Take a look at the comet below. You see a blueish and white / grey tail. The blue one is the ion tail and is affected by the Solar Wind: A (with respect to the Sun) radially escaping stream of charged particles. These particles interact with the charged particles of the comet, the ions, and are carried away. The grey one consists mostly of dust particles and spreads along the path of the comet.
Gas and dust are responsible for the great and stunning appearance of a comet.
Michel C. Festou (Editor), H. Uwe Keller (Editor), Harold A. Weaver Jr. (Editor). (2004). Comets II. University of Arizona Press. pages 780. ISBN-10: 0816524505. ISBN-13: 978–0816524501
Active Asteroids
It’s a comet! It’s an asteroid! It’s … both? Well, yes, in a way. There are objects in our Solar System that have orbital properties of asteroids, but show cometary activity and vice versa. Further, asteroidal objects, rubble piles, eject particles and cause faint tails of dust, e.g. due to:
Collisions with other objects
Fast body rotation that leads to centrifugal forces that exceed the gravitational pull on the surface
Close encounters with the Sun that leads to thermal stress and cracking
One common active asteroid is the object (3200) Phaethon that ejects dust particles that intersect with our home planet causing falling stars in December, the Geminids.
Images of the active asteroid P/2013 P5, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope at different dates. Credit: NASA, ESA, D. Jewitt (UCLA)
Meteoroids
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) did not only introduced definitions to distinguish between planets and dwarf planets. They also introduced the definition of a meteoroid.
A meteoroid is like a small asteroid, a boulder or rock with a diameter between 30 µm and 1 m. That’s basically it.
Dust
Now, particles with a size that is smaller than 30 µm is defined as (cosmic) dust. By the way: cosmic dust was my main scientific doctorate studies topic and did you know that the guitarist of Queen, Dr. Brian May, also received a doctorate degree in this particular field?
Due to the light pollution of our modern world there are only a few places left on Earth where one can see the night sky without any artificial light sources. Dark skies have become rare and people are missing a phenomena Dr. Brian May was writing his thesis about: The Zodiacal Light. The Ecliptic Plane (the imaginary plane, where all planets revolve around the Sun) is populated with dust particles of only a few micrometers in diameter. These particles scatter the light of the Sun, causing this light phenomena, as shown in the picture below. Dust sources in our Solar System are:
Comets
(Active) Asteroids
Collisions of asteroids, meteoroids, etc.
Vulcanic active moons like Io
Meteor
Dust particles that are ejected from comets disperse along the orbit of their parent body. They form a so called Stream. These Streams cross eventually our home planet. High velocity dust particles evaporate in the atmosphere and due to the friction with the air they light up. The result: a falling star, respectively called meteor. Some meteor showers like the Perseids in August or the Geminids in December can be linked to their parent bodies. Other meteors appear randomly in the sky. Their orbit has been altered for thousands of years due to the radiation pressure and gravitational perturbations. Consequently, a parent body cannot be identified. These ones are called sporadic meteors.
Large Meteor (Fireball) over the Atacama Desert in Chile. The radio telescope dishes are part of ESO’s (European Southern Observatory) ALMA telescope (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array). Credit: ESO/C. Malin; License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Peter Jenniskens. (2009). Meteor Showers and their Parent Comets. Cambridge University Press. pages 804. ISBN-13: 978–0521076357
Meteorite
If a meteoroid or dust particle enters our Earth’s atmosphere, a meteor can be seen. If the brightness exceeds a certain level it is called a bolide, respectively a fireball. In such cases, depending on the velocity, the mass, density and composition of the falling object, a remnant may hit the ground. If you find such an object, it is called a meteorite.
Meteorites are classified in several sub-categories, depending on the origin and chemical composition. However, generally two meteorite types are quite common: | https://medium.com/space-science-in-a-nutshell/rocks-in-space-78e1ad132731 | ['Thomas Albin'] | 2020-07-25 12:05:53.444000+00:00 | ['Astronomy', 'Space', 'Education', 'Science', 'Physics'] |
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Release : 2019–10–02
Runtime : 118 min.
Production : DC Entertainment
Movie Synopsis:
During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.
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? Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) >>http://bit.ly/3199ldq | https://medium.com/@memerson374/watch-play-j-o-k-e-r-2019-8b9b53871d7c | [] | 2020-04-21 11:42:46.139000+00:00 | ['Facebook', 'Batman', 'Drama', 'Médium', 'Film'] |
Model Selection in Linear Regression | In many many practical problems, there are often many independent variables of the dependent variable Y. At this time, you may be troubled by not knowing which independent variables to choose for modeling! What kind of model is the best.
ANOVA Tabe.Image by Author
Suppose there is a linear relationship between variable Y and variables X1, X2,…, Xp which can be model as follow:
Linear regression model is a solution obtained by minimizing the residual sum of squares (SSE, Sum of Squared Error).
Intuitively speaking, for a good linear regression model, the predicted value should be close to the true value, so the SSE should be small.However, if we only use a small SSE as a measurement standard to select the final model, our model will always be a model with all variables added. Because adding arbitrary variables will reduce the SSE, even when the variables have nothing to do with the true value.
Therefore, simply using the residual sum of squares (SSE) as the only criterion for selecting variables will cause the following two major problems:
On the one hand, the model may be over-fitting: adding more variables will increase the variance of the model, and the amount of data is not enough to make the model exactly the same as the real situation.
On the other hand, the interpretation of the model is lost: we don’t know which variables will actually have an impact or which variables are most helpful for prediction .
From this point of view, our ideal model needs to have the lowest possible residuals and as few variables as possible.The actual model is not so perfect, so we need a way to balance both. From this we can lead to two types of basic variable selection logic.
Method 1: In the situation where only a small number of regressors are involved, to test the validity of a submodel m against a larger model, there is
two indices (or coefficients) whose computation and interpretation are quite immediate
A first possibility is to look at the coefficient of determination:
Where,
And,
This index therefore compares the predicted values of Y with the values observed through
The denominator corresponding in some way to a renormalization. Plus the coefficient R² will be close to 1, the greater the fit to the data of the chosen model. If we are led to choose between two explanatory models, so we are easily tempted to retain the one with the most important determination coefficient.
The adjusted coefficient of determinationmakes it possible to take into account the number of regressors retained and therefore proposes a compromise between the equation and the parameterization of the model.
This index is defined by:
where n represents the number of samples, k represents the number of selected variables.
Another approach consists in considering the model which maximizes the likelihood function,consider a simple linear regression model
Therefore the joint density of the independent random responses Y1,…,Yn is
The method of maximum-likelihood can be used to finds parameter values β and σ² that maximise the joint density .
There are two more commonly used metrics for model selection that use the likelihood function :
AIC
BIC
we denote by ln (Y, m, θ) the likelihood associated with the model m ,the AIC criterion is given by
And the BIC criterion is given by
The model retained by the intermediary of this criterion will maximize the likelihood which can be seen as a measure of the fit to the model while providing a control of the dimension of the model, the term | m | which can be seen as a term of penalization.
Method 2: Look at the prediction effect of new data. If it is difficult to find a suitable measurement standard, it is better to look directly at the predictability of the model .If the model’s predictions for the new data are very close, then we can select the variables in the model. At this time, our measurement standard is still the residual sum of squares (SSE), but the residual at this time is not the residual of the data that has been used to build the model, but the residual of the new data that has not been used.
However, this measurement method requires the support of a large amount of data. If the amount of data is small, some data will often make the model unable to learn correctly due to the lack of sample size.
References
1.CHAPMAN & HALL/CRC Texts in Statistical Science Series Series Editors C. Chatfield, University of Bath, UK J. Zidek, University of British Columbia, Canada | https://ai.plainenglish.io/model-selection-in-linear-regression-5195a666b245 | ['Nabil Madali'] | 2020-11-15 19:30:03.861000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Linear Regression', 'Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Statistics'] |
Core & UpSync’s Student GameDev Hackathon Winners | See how over 400 students made the most out of a crazy year!
This November, Core Games collaborated with student consulting group UpSync Berkeley for the Student GameDev Hackathon. This three-week experience challenged middle-school to university students worldwide to create a game using the Core platform that summarized the year 2020.
Over 400 scholars from 15 countries came together to build game experiences to express their outlooks on this year in a creative and interactive medium.
We were excited to see the range of diversity and talent that was showcased. From games that provided a comedic overview of the lighter absurdities of toilet-paper scarcity to more serious titles that reminded us that hope is present even in uncertain times. The submissions we received exemplified these students’ talents for game development and storytelling.
After much deliberation, our judging team has made their decisions. We are proud to announce the following winners of the 2020 Student GameDev Hackathon: | https://medium.com/core-games/core-upsyncs-student-gamedev-hackathon-winners-b8f3dd09fb45 | ['Dixon Dubow'] | 2020-12-07 19:36:45.634000+00:00 | ['Hackathons', 'Game Development', 'Pc Gaming', 'UGC', 'Students'] |
United We Stand | If you are enjoying this newsletter, please pass it on to a friend (or three) and tell them to sign up here.
So,
When I wrote Monday’s newsletter, I ended it by saying that I hoped this was all going to end on Tuesday. That was funny. It looks like there won’t be any resolution anytime soon as states are still counting mail-in votes. I feel like in this country we’ve all put all of our eggs into the election basket, but I wanted to highlight a different approach to change and reform happening right now in Poland.
A few weeks ago, Poland’s government declared that all abortions were illegal, except in the case of rape, incest or a threat to the mother’s health and life. This was not decided by a vote of the people and was instead simply a declaration made by the country’s Constitutional Tribunal, or their version of the Supreme Court. This was met predictably with a ton of backlash by pro-choice supporters, who decided to take matters into their own hands.
Last Wednesday, Poland had a “women’s strike” where over 400,000 women across 400 cities and towns began protesting this ruling. They stopped going to work, stopped going to school and stopped literally every other activity other than filling the streets while chanting “I think, I feel, I decide”. A further 100,000 gathered on Friday as well to continue to voice their unified displeasure with the ruling passed down from the courts. And guess what? It’s working.
The government has announced that the abortion ban is being delayed and reviewed as they come up with a better solution for the people. It hasn’t been signed into law so it hasn’t taken affect yet because of the continuous protests, which show the power of unified people for a common goal. It’s also in stark contrast to our country’s political climate, where identity politics has divided us further than ever before. Imagine the type of change or reform that could be accomplished if we stopped bickering with each other and instead focused our angst towards career politicians who are thriving while the rest of us suffer. The people of Poland were essentially able to reverse a Supreme Court decision simply by uniting around the cause.
United we stand. Divided we fall. | https://medium.com/@cahicks2/united-we-stand-9a8c34e424eb | ['Corbin Hicks'] | 2020-11-19 16:51:34.869000+00:00 | ['Supreme Court', 'Pro Life', 'Poland', 'Womens Rights', 'Pro Choice'] |
September, in brief | From the Center for Western Priorities:
The Road to 30 Virtual Tour: New Mexico
This month, the Road to 30 virtual tour continued with a stop in New Mexico. This month’s event emphasized local conservation and protecting our natural heritage. New Mexico Senator Tom Udall, New Mexico Representative Deb Haaland, New Mexico State Representative Georgene Louis, and Camilla Feibelman, Director of the Sierra Club’s Rio Grande Chapter.
We discussed the importance of protecting 30 percent of America by 2030 as well as the role that New Mexico can play along the road to that goal.
Watch the New Mexico event | Read the event summary | Visit the campaign website
Westwise Blog
In this interactive storymap, learn about the importance of wildlife corridors to the 30x30 effort and explore different types of corridors
In this interactive storymap, learn what the DRECP is, and why it is important to the 30x30 effort
Tracking the Interior Department’s remaining policy changes impacting lands, water, and wildlife
A conversation with three groups that represent hunters and fishermen — Trout Unlimited, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, and the National Wildlife Federation — about their report looking at critical minerals from a conservation perspective.
A must-listen conversation with ecologist and data scientist Nathan Mietkiewicz about his new analysis that found humans were responsible for 97 percent of wildfires that threatened homes over the last 24 years. Nathan also walks us through the effects of climate change on wildfire season, and why we cannot suppress or log our way out of the current conditions that are causing megafires across the West. Counterintuitively, the only way forward is more — but controlled — fire. | https://medium.com/westwise/august-in-brief-ae18bdaaaa51 | ['Tyler Mcintosh'] | 2020-09-30 20:47:38.740000+00:00 | ['Monthly'] |
Valley Fever Kills | Health
Valley Fever Kills
image by author
I’ve been an activist fighting against Valley Fever for at least 20 years and the executive director of the Phoenix-based non-profit Arizona Victims of Valley Fever for around 10 years (www.arizonavictimsofvalleyfever.org). In all this time I have yet to see the Arizona Legislature appropriate any monies in their budget for research on a cure for Valley Fever.
You may wonder why I’m all fired up about this. It’s simple. Valley Fever (also known in scientific circles as coccidioidomycosis) is a killer, with nearly 75 percent of all cases in the country occurring in Arizona. The rest of the cases infect people in California and other areas of the Southwest where the fungus becomes airborne through construction or even simple gardening.
Clearly Arizona needs a vaccine and a curative antifungal agent, but as yet they do not exist even though the disease has been known for more than 70 years and is worsening and spreading due to climate change.
Valley Fever may sound inocuous, but it is far from that. It can be life-threatening with symptoms that have been compared to that of COVID. It’s a fungus that infects the body through normal breathing of tiny dust particles in the air. It’s not preventable even if you wore a N95 mask 24/7. Its one saving grace is that although it’s infectious, it is not contagious.
More than 200,000 people get infected by this fungus every year, and that’s a low estimate. Some of them die. Others fight off the disease but wind up with severely compromised organs and a weak debilitated body that gives them a poor quality of life. And the fungus doesn’t just attack people; pets and zoo animals are even more susceptible than humans, and they die at a higher rate. The enormity of veterinary and human costs has been analyzed and described by the Valley Fever Center for Excellence at the University of Arizona in Tucson where Director John Galgiani, MD, works with others to fund a vaccine.(www.vfce.arizona.edu)
Fact: Although most Valley Fever cases happen in Arizona, the state appropriates zero monies in its annual budget to research and development of a vaccine and/or curative antifungal agent. (I have to repeat this fact because even after living here some 40 years I can’t believe that a state that covets tourism as much as Arizona does chooses to shirk its public health responsibility.)
Morally and ethically what Arizona politicians do is unconscionable. They invite tourists to come and spend lots of money in Arizona but throw a blind eye toward the health dangers of Valley Fever. The only politician who has ever taken Valley Fever seriously from a monetary perspective is Janet Napolitano, a Democratic former governor. Naturally the mostly Republican legislature redlined it from the budget, and since then has not taken up the cause.
Why has the Arizona legislature taken this dim, amoral view? I believe legislators are waiting for the federal government to come up with millions of dollars to finance a vaccine. In fact, the idea has been thrown around Washington, DC, with no less than Dr. Fauci of COVID fame. Perhaps he knows the sad history of Arizona’s disregard for the health of its population and tourists and is taking pity on the state for having politicians who lack the ability to prioritize and the initiative to carve out a practical pathway.
Like many people, Arizona legislators figure if they can get federal monies for a vaccine, this lets them off the hook. The Legislature denies that the state is in any way responsible for people getting sick from Valley Fever and dying — despite clear evidence to the contrary. Legislators disallow any litigation involving persons suing for damages and workman’s compensation from the disease. Naturally prisoners, who get sick in higher numbers than the general population, also are prevented from suing the state.
While California has some of the same problems, at least their legislature assumes the moral burden of appropriating monies toward the eradication of Valley Fever. The greater question is why does Arizona — with a far higher incidence — sit and wait while its tourists and residents die of Valley Fever?
When three-fourths of the diagnosed cases occur in Arizona, you might think that the state might try to clean up its own mess. To put it in more realistic or everyday terms, if someone served food that sickened their party guests, the hosts probably would at the very least offer health remedies such as an emergency trip to the hospital and palliative medications. You would not think highly of hosts who did nothing but shoo their guests out the door with only an apology.
But that’s what Arizona does to all the people who live, work, visit and travel here when in the daily pursuit of their lives, they are infected with Valley Fever. The local Chambers of Commerce and even the Arizona Department of Health Services downplay the disease, often times hiding its very existence from newcomers. Basically they go with caveat emptor — come to Arizona at your own risk. Of course if you’re ignorant of the risk or don’t take it seriously, you get stung, which has been the case for many national athletes, most recently baseball player Ike Davis, who lost his career to Valley Fever and many a whole lot more.
Forty years ago I was one of those newcomers to Arizona. I was never told of the dire effects of this disease. It was described as no more than a passing flu. And to many fortunate people, that’s all it is. Just as COVID often causes only minor symptoms in some people. But as we all found out about COVID, this disease can kill, and we now have more than 320,000 who could attest to this fact if they were still alive to do it. Luckily and with great expenditures of federal and private dollars, we now have vaccines that in time will wipe out this dread global disease.
I don’t know what the current mortality numbers are for Valley Fever, but they are, thankfully, far less than COVID. Yet if I’d know what was in store for me and my pets, I would not have relocated to Arizona. And this is true for many residents. Too little information, too late.
Arizona is playing Russian Roulette. Will the feds pay for a vaccine, or will Arizona shoulder the responsibility? And how many more years will it take to reach a decision?
We take guns away from children and mentally-deranged people, don’t we? Why then do we allow Arizona to continue to abdicate its responsibility? | https://medium.com/illumination/valley-fever-kills-a5f4efa0e9ad | ['Janice Arenofsky'] | 2020-12-25 14:55:00.333000+00:00 | ['Arizona', 'Vaccines', 'Nih', 'Coccidioidomycosis', 'Valley Fever'] |
Recursive Moving Trend Average | Photo by Lukas Blazek on Unsplash
This indicator was developed by Dennis Meyers and introduced in his article “The Japanese Yen, Recursed”, published in the December 1998 issue of Technical Analysis of Stocks and Commodities magazine. According to Meyers, this method requires a small number of historical data of the estimated price and the price at present (today) in order to forecast the price in the future (tomorrow).
Dennis Meyers suggests creating a simple trend oscillator (the ”tosc”), that represents the difference between the Recursive Moving Trend Average and an Exponential Moving Average (EMA), both using one and the same period. He suggests examining the price series and searching for changes, which exceed the normal noise fluctuations. This signals the beginning of a potential bull or bear trend.
A potential signal to buy is generated, when the tosc’s reading crosses above the “dup” level. A potential signal to sell is generated, when the tosc’s reading crosses below the “-ddn” level. | https://medium.com/@shikhar-aggarwal/recursive-moving-trend-average-7d5f3f5b21b5 | ['Shikhar Aggarwal'] | 2020-12-15 09:43:26.710000+00:00 | ['Momentum Trading', 'Trends', 'Stocks', 'Investing', 'Moving Average'] |
7 Best Tools That Make a Perfect Gift for Dad | Choosing the perfect gift for dad can be difficult. Often, it probably seems like he has everything and uses little of it. However, that is the beauty of buying tools. New and improved tools can absolutely make the perfect gift for dad.
Not only do old tools wear down, but new tools are always changing and improving from the last version. You can rest assured that by buying replacements for his old tools, you will be making dad’s next job easier. Tools are a great gift that you can really never have too many of, and there are always some you’d wish you had.
So, let’s get started with listing and discussing the perfect tools to gift dad for any occasion.
Milwaukee M18 Oscillating Tool
Oscillating tools are often considered a cheap, generic replacement for other tools. But nothing could be farther from the truth. It’s true these tools can do a lot of jobs that would often require a workbag of tools to get done.
But, nowadays, these tools are produced by high-end tool manufacturers like Milwaukee. These tools can often do the job of several other tools, and the M18 oscillating tool is no exception.
The Milwaukee M18 Oscillating tool can be used for sanding, cutting just about any material, and scraping surfaces clean. Now some details that make this tool stand out from other oscillating tools are its lightweight 4.15 pounds size, low vibrations, and high oscillation count at 11,000 to 18,000 OPM.
The only downside is the system to change blades. The M18 requires an extra lever to unscrew a bolt and remove the blade. This isn’t too bad, but it does require an extra part as well as risking foreign material building up in the shaft.
In summary, here are the features, pros, and cons of this tool for dad.
Features
Several Tool Attachments: The Milwaukee M18 Oscillating Tool has several different attachments for different jobs, such as cutting, sanding, and scraping.
The Milwaukee M18 Oscillating Tool has several different attachments for different jobs, such as cutting, sanding, and scraping. Vibration Reduction: Despite its high power for an oscillating tool, Milwaukee does a good job of reducing the vibration on the handle. This makes it a lot more comfortable than most oscillating tools for long use cycles.
Pros
Multi-purpose: This tool can be used for a number of purposes, so there is a good chance this tool will come in handy regularly.
This tool can be used for a number of purposes, so there is a good chance this tool will come in handy regularly. Comfortable: This tool is lightweight, and with its low vibrations, it is way more comfortable to use than most oscillating tools.
This tool is lightweight, and with its low vibrations, it is way more comfortable to use than most oscillating tools. Powerful: With 11,000 to 18,000 OPM, you won’t have to worry about having too little power to get the job done.
Cons
Blade Replacement: The mechanism to replace blades could be improved.
Perfect Gift for Dad?
The Milwaukee M18 Oscillating Tool is a good oscillating tool and a great gift for dad. This tool is good for jobs all around the home.
Klein 6-in-1 Ratcheting Stubby Screwdriver
There are few tools we use more frequently than screwdrivers, and no one wants to keep a drawer full of screwdrivers for every situation. That’s where multi-bit screwdrivers come in.
The Klein 6-in-1 Ratcheting Stubby Screwdriver is a stubby, ratcheting screwdriver that can fit most anywhere dad may need it to go.
So, let’s get down to the features, pros, and cons.
Features
6 Heads: The Klein 6-in-1 can be used on 6 different types of fasteners. This offers 4 different screw bits and 2 hex heads. This tool offers not only a variety of heads that make it likely to prove a useful gift for dad,
The Klein 6-in-1 can be used on 6 different types of fasteners. This offers 4 different screw bits and 2 hex heads. This tool offers not only a variety of heads that make it likely to prove a useful gift for dad, Stubby: Unlike most multi-head screwdrivers, the Klein 6-in-1 is stubby to allow it to fit in cramped spaces.
Unlike most multi-head screwdrivers, the Klein 6-in-1 is stubby to allow it to fit in cramped spaces. Ratcheting: The Klein 6-in-1 has a high-quality metal ratcheting that will survive the toughest driving. This will speed up a lot of household jobs without the hassle of electric drivers.
Pros
Flexible: This screwdriver can be used for several different shapes and sizes of fasteners as well as in cramped spaces.
This screwdriver can be used for several different shapes and sizes of fasteners as well as in cramped spaces. Durable: On many ratcheting screwdrivers, just a little bit of pressure will break the internal mechanisms, but with this one, it is built to last.
Cons
Proprietary Bits: Unfortunately, the bits are designed with small pin detents to hold the bit in the shaft, so you cannot place any bit in it, unlike some full-sized multi-bit screwdrivers.
Perfect Gift for Dad?
A screwdriver may not seem like an amazing gift for dad, but trust me when I say this is the exception. This screwdriver is durable, flexible, and works in any space.
Ready Wrench by Black & Decker
The Ready Wrench is another flexible tool perfect to gift dad. This tool from Black & Decker combines 16 socket wrench heads onto a single tool. It has 2 rotating heads that each have 4 socket heads, and the most innovative part is each socket head is sized to match one SAE size and one metric.
This tool can be great to keep in a drawer for simple home repairs. Perhaps the best possible use is keeping it in a car for emergency repairs. No matter how dad chooses to use it, it will be guaranteed to be a great everyday or emergency tool.
So, let’s look at the features, pros, and cons.
Features
16 Socket Heads: The Ready Wrench holds 16 different sizes of socket wrench heads.
The Ready Wrench holds 16 different sizes of socket wrench heads. Open Backed Heads: Each socket head has an open back. This means that it can be used in situations requiring deep sockets.
Pros
Small: The Ready Wrench is handheld and small enough to store nearly anywhere. This is perfect for keeping in a glove box or kitchen drawer.
The Ready Wrench is handheld and small enough to store nearly anywhere. This is perfect for keeping in a glove box or kitchen drawer. Lifetime Warranty: This tool is guaranteed by Black & Decker to last a lifetime.
Cons
Limited Sockets: Unfortunately, 16 socket sizes aren’t enough to replace a full socket wrench set, but it can be a very handy tool for many jobs.
Perfect Gift for Dad?
This tool is perfect for a dad who keeps tools in his car or truck. This tool can lighten the load in any toolbag and replace small socket sets in a vehicle and around the home.
DEWALT DW716 Miter Saw
The DEWALT DW716 Miter Saw is another great gift for dad. It’s great for cutting wood at different angles, such as for trim molding or door frames, but it can also be used for straight cuts.
This saw weighs 44 pounds, which is lighter than most miter saws, so it can be moved around when necessary. In addition, it can make 12-inch cuts, which are bigger than the 8 to 10-inch cuts most miter saws can make. So, dad can do more with the DEWALT DW716 Miter Saw.
This miter saw has a number of great features, pros, and cons, which make it stand out among miter saws.
Features
Blades: The DEWALT DW716 Miter Saw has 12-inch carbide blades. The blades are belt driven and make very accurate cuts in most any type of framing lumber
The DEWALT DW716 Miter Saw has 12-inch carbide blades. The blades are belt driven and make very accurate cuts in most any type of framing lumber Motor: The motor is powerful at 3,600 RPMs. It easily cuts through even hardwood and can quickly make cross cuts.
The motor is powerful at 3,600 RPMs. It easily cuts through even hardwood and can quickly make cross cuts. Laser Compatible System: THE DEWALT D716 is compatible with the DW7187 DeWalt adjustable miter saw laser system. The laser system lets your dad plan and execute cuts more easily and accurately, so dad will end up with a project he can be proud of.
Pros
Detention Plate: The DEWALT DW716 Miter Saw contains a modifiable stainless steel detention plate that has eleven positive stops. This will help to make more accurate cuts.
The DEWALT DW716 Miter Saw contains a modifiable stainless steel detention plate that has eleven positive stops. This will help to make more accurate cuts. Blade Guard: This miter saw has a clear blade guard for increased safety that does not significantly interfere with making cuts.
This miter saw has a clear blade guard for increased safety that does not significantly interfere with making cuts. Quiet: The DEWALT DW716 is belt-driven, so it can run with very little noise or vibration.
Cons
LED Light: The LED light on the miter saw is not bright enough.
The LED light on the miter saw is not bright enough. Warranty: The 3-year limited warranty does not cover normal wear.
Perfect Gift for Dad?
The DEWALT DW716 Miter Saw is one of the best miter saws available. It works well for beginners, experienced DIYers, and even professionals. This saw also comes at a good price. The warranty could be better, but the saw is sturdy and reliable and still an excellent choice.
DEWALT DWE6423K Random Orbital Sander
A random orbital sander is a great gift for any dad who likes doing home projects, especially a dad who does a lot of woodworking. This tool will make sanding faster and easier, and the DWE6423K Random Orbit Sander is an excellent choice when purchasing this type of sander.
The DWE6423K Random Orbital Sander works on most materials and has many features, pros, and cons, which are discussed below.
Features
Compact Design: This sander is very light at only 4 pounds, making it easy to use. This also reduces the vibration, which makes the sander more comfortable to operate and less tiring.
This sander is very light at only 4 pounds, making it easy to use. This also reduces the vibration, which makes the sander more comfortable to operate and less tiring. Dust Bag: The DWE6423K Random Orbital Sander has a built-in dust bag, and the sander gathers the dust. The eight holes on the sander vacuum the dust during work, leaving less work to do at clean up time.
The DWE6423K Random Orbital Sander has a built-in dust bag, and the sander gathers the dust. The eight holes on the sander vacuum the dust during work, leaving less work to do at clean up time. Variable Speed: The DWE6423K works at speeds from 8,000 to 12,000 OPM, which means it works well for smoothing and polishing. Additionally, the dial for changing the speed is easily accessible, so dad can change speeds while working.
Pros
Convenient: The DWE6423K Random Orbital Sander has easy to change sanding pads and a dust bag that can be attached and detached with one hand.
The DWE6423K Random Orbital Sander has easy to change sanding pads and a dust bag that can be attached and detached with one hand. Powerful Motor: The DWE6423K contains a powerful motor that allows it to be used on hardwood and softwood.
The DWE6423K contains a powerful motor that allows it to be used on hardwood and softwood. Ergonomic Design: This sander is very sturdy and is covered with a rubber over-mold, which makes it comfortable to hold.
This sander is very sturdy and is covered with a rubber over-mold, which makes it comfortable to hold. Air Vent: The DWE6423K Random Orbital Sander has an air vent that keeps the sander from overheating even during heavy-duty usage.
Cons
Dust Bag: The dust bag does not work so well by itself, but you can hook up a shop-vac to the hose adapter.
The dust bag does not work so well by itself, but you can hook up a shop-vac to the hose adapter. Noise: Unfortunately, the DWE6423K Random Orbit Sander is pretty loud.
Perfect Gift for Dad?
TheDWE6423K Random Orbit Sander is an excellent sander at a very good price. It is a bit noisy, and the dust bag could be better, but it has a powerful motor that allows it to be used on hardwood and softwood. Additionally, it will smooth and polish the wood with no marks. This is a good gift for any dad that likes woodworking.
Black & Decker JS660 Jigsaw
The Black & Decker JS660 Jigsaw is a basic, affordable model of a jigsaw and a perfect gift for dad if he doesn’t have one yet. A jigsaw can make cuts in wood, metal piping, and many other materials, so it’s perfect for making general repairs around the house.
The Black & Decker JS660 is no exception to this flexibility. It possesses a Smart Select wheel that makes it easy for novice users to select a material, and the saw will adjust its speed and orbital motion to cut that material.
Also, the saw has an adjustable base plate that allows the user to adjust the saw to make angled cuts. This is great for replacing larger and more complex saws for dads who don’t have an entire workshop.
So, without further delay, let’s get to the features, pros, and cons.
Features
Smart Select Wheel: This is the product’s biggest feature. It allows the user to select a material, and the machine will adjust to a preset speed and orbital motion optimal for cutting through that material.
This is the product’s biggest feature. It allows the user to select a material, and the machine will adjust to a preset speed and orbital motion optimal for cutting through that material. Adjustable Angle: Unlike some low-cost jigsaws, this machine has an adjustable base plate that allows the user to make beveled cuts.
Pros
Affordable: The biggest incentive for this saw is its price. This saw packs a number of features into an affordable saw.
The biggest incentive for this saw is its price. This saw packs a number of features into an affordable saw. Ease of Use: Black & Decker made this saw easy for complete beginners to use. The Smart Select wheel means the user does not have to guess at a good setting to cut through a given material.
Cons
Poor for Experts: For those with a lot of experience with jigsaws and cutting, the Smart Select wheel can make it harder to adjust to a precise setting.
For those with a lot of experience with jigsaws and cutting, the Smart Select wheel can make it harder to adjust to a precise setting. Inaccurate Angle Adjustment: The bevel angle adjuster lacks presets except for 0°. Combined with a window that only gives measurements in 15° increments, this makes it cumbersome to make good bevel adjustments.
Perfect Gift for Dad?
The Black & Decker JS660 is a great starting jigsaw for dad. If he has an existing jigsaw, this may be an upgrade. Although, this may be too simple for experienced, professional users.
Dewalt DCD771C2 Compact Drill Driver Kit
A drill Is an extremely useful tool that any DIY dad should have. But which one? There is such a large assortment of brands, sizes, and accompanying accessories.
This makes it really hard to decide which drill you should buy for your dad. One drill set that can provide you with excellent quality at a good price is the Dewalt DCD771C2 Compact Drill Driver Kit.
This drill has many features, pros, and cons that will be useful when doing many projects and repairs.
Features
Compact: This drill is compact and lightweight and will fit in almost any place you need to use it .
This drill is compact and lightweight and will fit in almost any place you need to use it Ergonomic: The handle of this drill is designed to be ergonomic, so it can be used comfortably for long periods of time.
The handle of this drill is designed to be ergonomic, so it can be used comfortably for long periods of time. Power: This drill has a reasonably powerful motor and two different speeds. It has speeds of 0–450 rpm and 1500 rpm. This will work quite well for most jobs.
This drill has a reasonably powerful motor and two different speeds. It has speeds of 0–450 rpm and 1500 rpm. This will work quite well for most jobs. Battery Pack: The Dewalt 20v Max Cordless Drill is cordless and comes with a 20-volt battery pack, which makes it convenient to use.
The Dewalt 20v Max Cordless Drill is cordless and comes with a 20-volt battery pack, which makes it convenient to use. Ratcheting Chuck: The kit includes a ½ inch single-sleeve ratcheting chuck that grips very well
Pros
Price: The Dewalt 20V Max Cordless Drill is reasonably priced.
The Dewalt 20V Max Cordless Drill is reasonably priced. Lock: The drill has a 0x magnetic screw lock.
The drill has a 0x magnetic screw lock. Light: The LED light is conveniently located above the trigger and works well for lighting the drilling area.
The LED light is conveniently located above the trigger and works well for lighting the drilling area. Battery: The battery charges quickly. It takes about a half-hour.
Cons
Weight: The drill is not as heavy as most drills.
The drill is not as heavy as most drills. Battery: The charge does not last very long.
Perfect Gift for Dad?
The Dewalt 20V Max Cordless Drill is a great drill for the average dad. It is not the cheapest drill, but it is reasonably priced and comes with several accessories. Also, it will work well for most home repairs and projects.
Final Thoughts on the Best Tools for Dad
When you’re wondering what to get dad for just about any occasion, you can’t go wrong with any of these 7 tools. So for the next special occasion, don’t worry about what to get him and simply choose one of these amazing options! You can always read more articles like this at my blog https://www.daditbroke.com/ | https://medium.com/@aleksandarbozic-37646/7-best-tools-that-make-a-perfect-gift-for-dad-8a7d1e9ea06b | ['Aleksandar Bozic'] | 2020-12-14 17:19:22.561000+00:00 | ['Present', 'Home Improvement', 'Tools', 'Holidays', 'DIY'] |
Featured AI2ers: NLP Highlights | What inspired you to start NLP Highlights?
I listen to a lot of audio, and because I listen at 2.5–3x speed, I can easily get through 3 hours of content a day, sometimes several times that. I found there was very little content I could listen to that was directly related to my work, and nothing that was specifically focused on NLP [natural language processing]. One podcast that I listen to suggested that when you find yourself in a situation like this, you should start your own podcast, so I did.
The hosts of NLP Highlights: Matt Gardner (AI2), Pradeep Dasigi (AI2), Waleed Ammar (Google)
How do you choose your topics or interviewees for each episode?
At first, it was just papers that were on my reading list, mostly because they were related to my work. We’ve since tried to be more deliberate about choosing topics, trying to make sure we’re covering a wide variety of topics from a diverse crowd of people. Occasionally listeners will suggest topics, and we do our best to accommodate those requests (if you have something you’d really like us to cover, let me know on Twitter!). Sometimes we hear from corporate marketing departments wanting us to interview some CEO; we always say no to those requests. We want this podcast to be focused on research, and the folks doing that research.
As NLP Highlights nears 100 episodes (!) — what’s been the most surprising or rewarding thing about creating this podcast?
The most rewarding thing has been having several people that I look up to tell me how great they think the podcast is. Even though this podcast features in-depth technical discussions on research topics, we regularly pass 3,000 listens for each episode at this point—that’s over 50% bigger than the EMNLP conference attendance this year! It’s pretty humbling. I guess one of the most surprising things was my wife posting on Facebook about how our podcast is a good way to put yourself to sleep :).
One piece of advice you’d give aspiring podcasters?
If you are passionate about a topic that you think other people might be interested in, go for it. It’s a great way to learn, and a great way to gain some recognition in the community around that topic. People tend to like podcasts that involve interviews and discussions rather than monologues, and interviewing people gives you the opportunity to learn from someone else. As for the practicalities of actually producing the podcast, it’s really not hard to get started. Find yourself a good mic, and use Audacity to do whatever editing is needed. Try to have each person on the podcast use their own mic, with headphones — audio quality is significantly better that way.
What’s next for NLP Highlights? Any special plans for your 100th episode?
No special plans for episode 100; what’s next is just more episodes! We recently had a slow patch with Waleed (former AI2 research scientist) moving to Google and with me being very busy with a bunch of paper deadlines, but we’ve recently added Pradeep Dasigi as a co-host, which should help smooth things out when one of us gets busy. We are also adding transcriptions to the podcast, including transcribing all prior episodes. We’re not sure yet where exactly these will live, but you should see them go live in the near future. | https://medium.com/ai2-blog/featured-ai2ers-nlp-highlights-d7f8ae0fd041 | [] | 2019-11-12 21:12:31.557000+00:00 | ['Featured Ai2er', 'Podcast', 'NLP', 'Allennlp', 'Interview'] |
This Summer: Stop Buying $5 Iced Coffees | by Simone Eastman
It is summer. It is hot. Tomorrow is the first day of June, which means that you’re contractually obligated to consume only cold beverages. Can I get you something to drink?
ICED COFFEE
While the subject of iced coffee preparation is somewhat controversial, I am unafraid to come down squarely on the side of the cold brew preparation. Living in New Orleans made this my jam. Cold-brewed coffee (and tea) is less acidic, smoother, hella strong, and you don’t heat up your kitchen to make it. I also use way less sugar in cold-brewed iced coffee.
Now, you can buy a Toddy coffee maker or whatever, but that is not actually necessary. I once made a cold-brew concentrate in a Ziploc bag and brought it along on a road trip in a cooler. That was rad. It can be kind of messy, what with all the grounds, but if you have a French press, you do not have a problem.
You will need:
- A French press, if you have one. If not, you need some sort of glass, plastic, or stainless steel jar or pitcher or bowl with a lid. You will also need a fine-mesh strainer (or even a colander lined with paper towels).
- Coffee, coarsely ground (like a French press grind, if you use one at home)
- Water
- This Times recipe uses a ratio of one ounce of coffee : five ounces of water, so if you have a four-cup French press, you’d use 6.5 oz of coffee, or 3/4 cup + a skosh. (This is an inexact science, obviously.) Scale up or down accordingly. If you want to use an entire pound of coffee (and end up with eight cups of coffee concentrate, which will keep for two weeks in your refrigerator), use 10 cups of water.
Put the ground coffee and the water in your container. Don’t push the French press’s plunger down, if you’re using one. Refrigerate 8–12 hours, then strain, either with your French press or with your strainer. Now you have a concentrate that you can dilute with water and/or milk.
To serve, use 1/4 cup concentrate to 3/4 cup milk or water. (Extra milk makes it creamy-delicious, but also compounds the coffee poos, if you’re the sort who is susceptible to them.)
ICED TEA
Listen up, America. Nostalgia kills. Stop with the “sun tea.” Get rid of your sun tea. It is revolting. That shit is crawling with bacteria because the temperature of water heated au naturel (about 130 degrees) does not get high enough to actually kill bacteria (195 degrees). I mean, you’re into whatever you’re into, but Alcaligenes viscolactis causes “gastric upset, diarrhea, and other flu-like symptoms.” Not a good look for summer. Cold-brew that shit instead, sister.
You will need:
- Some sort of tea-brewing vessel that has a lid to keep fridge smells out of your beverage (a jar or a pitcher, or even a bowl with a plate over it, will do).
- 1–2 tea bags (or 1–2 teaspoons of loose tea) per eight ounces of water
Put the tea bags in the water, obviously. Refrigerate anywhere from 4–12 hours! Green and white teas need less time than black teas.
What might you add to your tea? Ideas: sliced ginger, fruit (citrus peels, berries, anything sliced, lychee), cucumbers, herbs (muddled or chiffonaded lavender or mint, maybe even ROSEMARY?), spices (think chai: cinnamon sticks, vanilla beans, cloves, lightly crushed cardamom pods, black peppercorns). After brewing, you can add sweetener or juice (or make an Arnold Palmer).
SIMPLE SYRUP
Use simple syrup and you won’t end up with gritty sugar at the bottom of your cup (unless you’re into that sort of thing).
You will need:
- A small-to-medium saucepan
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
Combine sugar and water. Boil, stirring frequently, until sugar dissolves. Let cool and bottle for storage.
This will last two weeks in your refrigerator, unless you add a skosh of vodka as a preservative, in which case it will last a little longer.
That was delicious. And yes, I’d be thrilled if you washed the glasses.
Photo via ks_marks/flickr.
Simone Eastman is a cat lady. She thinks you are perfect and beautiful. | https://medium.com/the-hairpin/this-summer-stop-buying-5-iced-coffees-947d14f7dc50 | ['The Hairpin'] | 2016-06-02 02:09:51.795000+00:00 | ['Cold Brewed Coffee', 'Iced Beverages', 'Coffee'] |
Why does the company need a UI KIT? (Frontend + Design) | Why does the company need a UI KIT? (Frontend + Design)
Hi! I am Vlad Savin, and this is KOTELOV.com! In this article, I’ll tell you what a UI KIT is, what it’s for, and how it will save your time and money. KOTELOV.com Dec 18, 2020·5 min read
In this article, we will look at kits that were made by designers, and translated into components by front-end developers.
What is a UI KIT?
This is a single set of user interface elements. It looks something like this:
What it is for?
1. Single style for all projects
All of your information systems will be identical. Customers will recognize your company by identical elements. For them, it will also be more comfortable working with each of your new products, as they will be familiar with all the elements and behavior thereof.
“Starting a project always involves creating the first basic elements of a UI KIT based on an approved concept.
The main reason is the unification of interface elements, which reduces and simplifies the work in future complex projects, to avoid errors later. It also helps coordinate work with developers to get the uniform design on different pages of the same project.
Fortunately for us, the time of Photoshop has passed and Sketch (to the delight of the Macbook users), and later — Figma have appeared in the market and immensely simplified the work for the designer. Everyone’s favorite components made it possible to make changes many times faster, literally in one click. All this allows you not to switch across all screens and check where the color has changed and where not”
Andrey Zaletov
Senior UI/UX designer at KOTELOV.com
2. Savings on Development
If there is no kit, the companies shall fill out a brief when hiring a contractor, who in turn, develops a design from scratch, and then creates components on JavaScript frameworks (Angular, React, Vue). That is, the customer each time pays for the design and programming of the same frontend elements to different contractors, and what is interesting, all the elements are different in design and code, thereby preventing us from scaling. In the case of a kit, you pay only once.
3. Instant access to the UI KIT for the entire team
Analysts, designers, and developers have access to the kit via the link. They can independently get to know all the elements, the rules for their use, and create prototypes, frontend, and design.
4. Development speed
With a ready-made UI KIT, you have all the elements, such as buttons, input fields, tables, and charts already designed and translated into components (in JS). You can build systems without wasting time on design and development. Prototyping is also simplified. While earlier you used to make prototypes out of simple shapes, now you can make them from a real design.
Why is it important to make a UI KIT if a button or field can be drawn and programmed quickly enough?
Most users see the button as just a rectangle with text in the middle:
Here’s what the button code on React looks like:
This is what a handy button, which makes the interaction with the system convenient looks like:
This is what the healthy person button code looks like:
That is, the development of any seemingly simple element is a long and expensive work (if you make it convenient and scalable), therefore it is easier to draw and program each element once and then use them in all projects. A UI Kit for a developer is a set of components on which your service’s UI is built. In simple terms, it’s a visualization of each component for different user actions. User Interface Kit is used to simplify, unify, and comprehensively implement large projects. It allows to quickly and efficiently create more complex interfaces. Igor Lysenko Team lead frontend developer at KOTELOV
Can I use a ready-made UI KIT?
There are a lot of kits on the Internet for a little money, something about $15. You can definitely use them. However, they are more suitable for small projects that are not going to scale far or if your company is supposed to make one system, rather than build a lot of products.
The main reasons for building rather than buying a UI KIT
1. Large companies bring all systems to a single kind so that employees and users navigate easily in any system of the company;
2. Companies need to adhere to corporate identity;
3. When buying a UI KIT, you need to start from the technology embedded in that kit purchased;
4. The purchased kit cannot cover all the functionality of the systems, that is, you will need to finish and refine it; and
5. When building a UI KIT from scratch you fully see the purpose of the development. That is, you will be able to develop elements based on the task, making each element more convenient.
UI KIT developer requirements:
A UI KIT is developed only by a Senior-level designer and developer who have experience in such projects. The designer and frontend developer must have the experience and knowledge to build complex systems since the UI KIT will be used for about 5 years by all your company’s development teams and the contractors involved for most of your systems.
Otherwise, just contact KOTELOV :)
Save the post in bookmarks and subscribe! | https://medium.com/@kotelov/why-does-the-company-need-a-ui-kit-frontend-design-e3783501d1b1 | [] | 2020-12-18 11:41:19.734000+00:00 | ['Figma', 'JavaScript', 'Design', 'Frontend', 'React'] |
2020 Completes A 200-Year Astrological Cycle… | During times of collective uncertainty, it’s hard to lean on truths. We all disagree, after all. That’s the nature of subjectivity.
And although astrology is widely open to interpretation, and cultures all over the world from Mideival Muslim astrologers to tribal African astrologers to pagan Latvian astrologers assign different symbols and meanings to heaven-sent events…
We are at least all looking at the same sky.
And it turns out that Monday night heralded a particularly interesting event. Several celestial occurrences converged, and in a year fraught with muddled meanings, checking the fixed bodies in the skies has brought clarity and direction to many.
For starters, Monday, December 21st was the winter solstice.
That means that it was the shortest day of the year, and we can all look forward to longer days to come — no, those of us in the Northern Hemisphere won’t have much long evenings in the immediate future, but every little bit of sunlight counts.
Physically, the solstice occurs because the sun is at its lowest point in the sky in December (just like it’s at its highest point in the sky in June), but emotionally, the solstice rings with importance.
The Solstice, Your Soul, and the Double Blessing of a Short 2020 Day
In simply describing what the winter solstice is, we can find meaning in its metaphor.
It is the longest, darkest night of the year… followed by a “rebirth” of the sun, as no night will be as long as this one for another year to come.
Because darkness is followed by light, people today and people long ago interpreted the solstice as a time for reflection, stock-taking, and meditation on future growth. Pagans celebrate “Yule”, a holiday praising the Goddess Moon.
Traditionally, feminine energy was often associated with the concept of birth and life-giving, and the inevitable continuation of the cycles of the universe.
This 2020 cycle will end… and another will be born.
Commonly, the solstice’s focus on composting the year behind us and generating the year before us leads to symbolic rituals. For example, sitting in darkness so as to really absorb the collapsing of the former sun before its rebirth can help encourage us to reflect on who we’ve been showing up as in the world.
Followed up with bonfires, candle-lighting, and other light-centric celebrations (where do you think we got the idea to light up our Christmas trees?) reminds us to raise our eyes and register the illumination before us.
Ask yourself questions like…
Who was I in January? Who am I now?
What has happened in my relationships this year?
What choices have I made that have shifted my life’s trajectory?
What don’t I feel ready to let go of?
Who DO I feel ready to let go of?
How will I shape my next Life Garden?
And while we have the opportunity to reflect on the solstice once a year…
Something else happened on Monday that hasn’t happened in about 800 years.
The Great Conjunction
Jupiter and Saturn — you know, the planets — will appear to draw so close together that you’ll need binoculars in order to tell they’re not overlapping. Of course, in reality they’re miles and miles away from each other. But that’s not what we’re talking about.
Now, this happened in the 17th century as well, but they couldn’t be observed by the naked eyes of Renaissance era watchers.
Technically, conjunctions happen every twenty years — however, the last time these planets were observably this close together was in the year 1226.
(The Great Conjunctions that happen every twenty years don’t happen as distinctly as this one, the one 400 years ago, or the one 800 years ago.)
And that’s significant.
While it’s been 800 years since we’ve been able to visually experience the Great Conjunction, as it’s called when Jupiter and Saturn appear to overlap, it’s been 200 years since another big change.
You see, for the last two centuries, every Great Conjunction has occurred in an Earth sign. But this Great Conjunction is in an Air sign.
Thus, an era is ended.
Wait, What? Go Back
These Great Conjunctions all occurring in Earth signs have reinforced the “Earth energy” that has been dominant for the last two hundred years — heavy emphasis on certain foundations, structures, material reliances, and institutions that may not continue to be important during the next two hundred years.
In the next two hundred years with our new “Air energy”, experiments, efficiency, community, and ideological power over using “tradition” as guidance will rule.
Great Conjunctions mark shifting moments in society.
If this one in particular marks…
The first visible Great Conjunction at this order of closeness in 800 years…
The first Great Conjunction at this order of closeness in 400 years…
The first Great Conjunction outside of an Earth sign in 200 years…
And is occurring during the winter solstice…
We’ve got a big and gradual energy change in store for us.
Less tradition, more innovation. Less institution, more ideals. Less foundational, more expansive. Less individual, more community. | https://medium.com/@pedramshojai/2020-completes-a-200-year-astrological-cycle-ce13a962ecbb | ['Pedram Shojai'] | 2020-12-22 20:49:34.794000+00:00 | ['Paradigm Shift', 'Resolutions', '2020', 'Astrology', 'Paganism'] |
Rivian, The Adventure In Electric Pickups Just Got Interesting | When looking at Tesla’s stocks, investors look at the technology besides the financial indicators. Tesla has promising innovations that have not been matched by legacy automakers, in terms of development. The old automakers are more used to mass producing vehicles for the retail market, but they don’t quite have the EV(Electric Vehicle) line that Tesla has. The full vertical integration within the Tesla production line allows them to compete proving to be their comparative advantage, though as Tesla realized, they had to go through a production hell process in building the Model 3. It was actually a good learning experience since Tesla also built some new equipment along the way.
The Tesla Cybertruck (Source Tesla)
The next big target for EV is the pickup truck market. The interest is growing based on data gathered from social media (e.g. Twitter). The Cybertruck would be the electric answer to the Ford F-150 or Dodge Ram. The latter have become iconic staples to modern life, especially for those who have a great utility for driving a pickup. Your typical pickup owner needs it for loading and transporting heavy loads, like a small truck. The Cybertruck, from its look and design, doesn’t seem to offer that but its selling point are its capabilities and features. Tesla was supposed to deliver a modern version of the pickup, but critics have to look away from its design in order to appreciate it. So far they have this market without a close competitor in sight … until 2020.
The Rivian
Now comes Rivian, another EV automaker from California (Southern California). They are going to enter this market with their own line of electric pickup trucks. The most noticeable difference with Tesla is the exterior design. Rather than an unconventional look, Rivian looks like your traditional pickup truck. From a consumer price point, the Rivian follows the same strategy Tesla used with the Model 3. You pre-order for $1,000 and pay the rest later. The final retail cost is a bit pricey ($69,000.00 USD) compared to traditional pickup trucks. That factors in the cost of the EV production, with the benefit of saving the costs for gas or diesel. The price is about right when compared to Tesla, but the Cybertruck has lower cost tiers for its single and dual motor models. The higher end Cybertruck is a tri-motor AWD model.
The R1T (Source Rivian)
The Rivian’s pickup truck line R1T, introduce quad-motor all wheel terrain with independent air suspension and hydraulic roll control. It has a high capacity 180 kWh battery which was developed in-house. It has got a maximum towing capacity of 11,000 lbs., which actually still falls behind more powerful gas engine pickup trucks. The Ram Heavy Duty 3500, named Motortrend 2020 Truck of the Year, can tow 35,100 lbs, with a Hemi V8 engine. The best for towing though is the Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD which can tow up to 35,500 lbs. with a Duramax diesel V8 engine. The Rivian units are still in prototype and expected for delivery around June 2021. That is plenty of time for things to develop and also for more competition.
Rivian is also making the R1S which is an SUV. It is the counterpart to the Model X, though it seems that R1S is more capable of heavy duty action. This is the market Rivian wants to capture as well, though there are already competing electric and hybrid SUV in the market from the likes of Audi and Jaguar. A full electric model though, is more the advantage of Tesla since the other automakers have released hybrids. This is what the R1S will be up against.
The Battery
We cannot talk about EV without discussing the battery. It’s well known that Tesla has the best proven battery technology for EV. They have a sophisticated cooling and management system BMS (Battery Management System), that is standard on Tesla’s models. While some automaker’s overheat, Tesla production units have performed very well. Tesla has plans for its “Million Mile Battery” which could further disrupt the auto industry as it pushes for more efficient battery design that can increase the range of existing batteries with less charging times.
Rivian’s battery uses a BMS to optimize cell performance and extend battery life. This would implement a form of machine learning model to allow the BMS software to learn how driver’s use and charge the pickup. They also place emphasis on all terrain driving by providing a proprietary underbody protection for the battery to prevent damage. This is a feature that will appeal to pickup truck enthusiasts because at times they drive off-road on rough terrain. This is your typical scenario on a ranch, farm or country road where a pickup truck is preferred because of its utility.
Rivian’s battery pack (Source Rivian)
The 180 kWh battery can provide significant range. On Rivian’s website, the claim is a 400+ mile range for their battery. That is about 55.5 miles/ 25 kWh at a 400 mile range. Compared to the Cybertruck, which has a 250+ mile range. The superior range is advertising at best, but in reality there are many factors that can affect or limit the range. 400+ miles does give an idea of what the battery’s highest range is capable of. Range anxiety has been one reason car buyers reconsidered purchasing an EV, but now batteries are providing longer ranges and more availability of charging stations.
Charging Stations
The good thing about Tesla is they provide an international charging network for their customers. Rivian does not have that robust infrastructure yet, which they are still developing. They will have time before the 2021 launch to start building, because this is an essential part of an EV system. Rivian owners will not likely be able to charge at Tesla’s charging facilities because there is a difference between their models. They don’t follow a “plug-and-charge” standard quite yet or maybe never.
There are connector specifications for EV when it comes to chargers. Rivian uses CCS (Combined Charging System) for their EV, so it has a different connector from Tesla. It uses a Combo 1 and Combo 2 connector that can provide up to 350 kW for charging. Having the correct cables and connectors with a compatible charger is important for drivers to have, otherwise they won’t be able to charge their EV.
Combo 2 Charger Plug (Source BMW)
Rivian users can still charge their EV at home, but that takes longer than a fast charging station. Typically it would take hours using conventional AC outlets (110/120V). It gets a little faster at 220/240V, but is not as fast as that from a charging station. There are existing CCS charging stations Rivian owners can use, providing 150 kW to 350 kW in some places. At 150 kW charging, the battery can reach full at an estimated time of 1.2 hours. At 350 kW, the battery charging time is estimated at 30.8 minutes. Charging times do continue to improve with battery design, so these estimates can fall further.
Self-Driving Features
When you think pickup trucks, what usually comes to mind is mean, lean, towing machine capable of heavy workloads and reliable performance. The new generation of electric pickups offer even more. It brings the digital lifestyle to the pickup truck as well. Tesla can offer limited self-driving features (upgradeable to full SAE Level 5) along with various intelligent sensors that traditional pickup trucks don’t use. The Autopilot is coming standard with the Cybertruck.
The Rivian provides SAE Level 3 self-driving features. It has yet to be tested in the real world. Tesla’s Autopilot is not itself error prone, since it has had its unfortunate taste of accidents and even fatalities. Level 3 allows an intelligent system to take control with “conditional automation”. That means the driver can override the system and take control when they need to. With Level 3, the car can actually drive itself so the driver can take their hands off the steering wheel. The driver can then take back control by placing their hand on the steering wheel.
Rivian self-driving system is similar to Tesla, but more refined. Unlike Tesla, Rivian uses a sensor fusion that combines cameras, radar, GPS and ultrasonic sensors with LIDAR. Tesla does not use LIDAR on any of their line. The LIDAR allows the car to see in dark conditions using lasers. If Rivian proves their self-driving system meets the highest of standards in safety, then it reassures consumers.
Level 3 Autonomy using sensors like radar, ultrasonic and LIDAR (Source Rivian)
Final Thoughts
The appeal to your average pickup truck user is the simplicity of the Rivian design. It looks familiar and not out-of-this world like the Cybertruck. We must not forget that we cannot judge a car by its exterior alone. Both electric pickups have advanced features that bring the power of electric motors and a more digital electronic system to the pickup truck. However, they have a long way to go to match up against traditional pickup trucks in terms of towing capacity and utility. More serious car buyers who really need to use a pickup truck for work purposes may still stick to the gas or diesel engine variety until electric pickup trucks have proven their value.
The R1T could be more than for work, but also for play and recreation (Source Rivian)
The R1T looks better on paper compared to the Cybertruck. While the Cybertruck has that futuristic look going for it, under the hood the R1T has the better specifications. In terms of range and towing capacity, the R1T has the better overall data. That doesn’t mean the Cybertruck’s performance is sub-par. The Cybertruck’s approach angle (35 Degrees) may give it some advantage for off-road and rough terrain driving.
There is no actual performance data available other than baseline tests. There are no benchmarks on actual performance since Rivian’s line, the R1T and R1S, have no proven track record. Pickup trucks like the F-150 and Ram have been around for decades so we know their reliability, there is just no comparison with Rivian. We have to see Rivian’s electric pickup in action to make an impression. Other automakers are coming after the heels of Rivian and Tesla, so the next few years should get more interesting in the electric pickup truck market. | https://medium.com/0xmachina/rivian-the-adventure-in-electric-pickups-just-got-interesting-ec1371a31ad5 | ['Vincent Tabora'] | 2020-08-30 11:39:40.205000+00:00 | ['Automotive', 'Engineering', 'Electric Car', 'Self Driving Cars', 'Technology'] |
Microsoft Wins $480M Contract to Provide HoloLens to US Military | by Joel Hruska
Microsoft has won a $480M contract with the US military to provide its HoloLens technology as part of an augmented reality technology package that the Army intends to use for training as well as in combat missions. The contract calls for Microsoft to provide “Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) prototypes.”
Microsoft’s HoloLens has always been a bit of an odd duck. First released in 2016, it’s an augmented reality headset Microsoft still sells for a cool $3,000. Unlike Google and its ill-fated Google Glass, Microsoft has kept HoloLens firmly positioned as a developer and business option as opposed to quickly pushing the product into the hands of consumers. This has prevented any explosion of ‘Glasshole’-style controversy, but it’s also limited the reach of the hardware and, arguably, any near-term ambitions Microsoft might have otherwise had around augmented reality (or, as Microsoft calls it, ‘mixed’ reality). Obviously, a deal worth this much money is a healthy shot in the arm for the HoloLens team as a whole as well. The stated purpose of the prototype adoption program is to “increase lethality by enhancing the ability to detect, decide, and engage before the enemy.”
“Augmented reality technology will provide troops with more and better information to make decisions,” a Microsoft spokesman told Bloomberg in an emailed statement. “This new work extends our longstanding, trusted relationship with the Department of Defense to this new area.”
Microsoft has reportedly sold ~50,000 HoloLens to-date, which constitutes about half the total number the military expects to buy. The $480M contract also includes additional support and services, as well as what’s almost certain to be additional custom work to turn the hardware into something soldiers could use in the field. In its current form, HoloLens isn’t exactly helmet-friendly. The Army has said it wants the final product to be capable of thermal and night vision, to be capable of measuring various vital signs and overall ‘readiness’, monitor soldiers for concussions, and provide some degree of hearing protection.
How Microsoft employees will react to this news is its own topic of discussion these days. Earlier this year, a group of Microsoft employees published a letter on Medium, asking the company not to bid on the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract, over moral concerns that employees were being asked to develop tools that would be used for waging war. In this case, the linkages are even more explicit. JEDI is a program to develop cloud services. This new HoloLens contract directly calls for sophisticated warfighting capabilities to be implemented in hardware with the goal of killing people more efficiently.
Microsoft’s response to its own employees’ concern over JEDI was to promise that individuals who did not wish to work on the project would have the opportunity to transfer to other areas of the company. Presumably, the company will make a similar offer here, especially since this Pentagon contract fundamentally changes the nature of what HoloLens is, at least as far as the employees who will work on the military version are concerned.
Now Read: Why Google Glass Failed, and What to Expect Next, Intel Kills the Atom SoC Powering Microsoft’s HoloLens, and Microsoft wants to bring HoloLens to the consumer market once the technology matures | https://medium.com/extremetech-access/microsoft-wins-480m-contract-to-provide-hololens-to-us-military-f52d74f91281 | [] | 2018-11-30 14:47:32.840000+00:00 | ['Future', 'Military', 'Augmented Reality', 'Defense', 'Microsoft'] |
Pillars for an Harmonious Life | Each in his life was faced with a manifestation of illogicality in others and himself. Often we spend our time, money, life resources unreasonably. As a result, it seems to us that they are constantly in short supply. Is it possible to find an inexhaustible source of strength and energy?
The principle of Kindness (Ahimsa) implies that we will try our best not to harm any living creature unless necessary. If there is no opportunity not to harm, then we are guided by our duty. This is the first principle that Yoga recommends observing to achieve harmony with oneself and with the surrounding world.
Further, Yoga strongly recommends observing the Second principle — the principle of Efficiency or Logic (Brahmacharya). According to this principle, we do our best not to waste our time and energy in vain, but to achieve our goals in work, study, leisure, or Yoga. Everything that leads us away from our tasks should be ruthlessly discarded.
What does it mean to be logical?
Where does the illogic in us come from?
What goals does the second principle imply?
Does one need to become ruthless to others?
In Yoga, any manifestation belongs to one of three levels: illogical, logical, and super logical. Some features of our behavior that we inherited from the time of life in animal bodies have lost their relevance in the human body. If in animal bodies such manifestations were absolutely justified and logical, then already in the human body the same behavior becomes illogical. Through the mechanism of associative relations, stereotypes of behavior are firmly entrenched in our structures and continue to manifest themselves in the human body, often inappropriately. Illogicality weakens the mind, reduces freedom, and leads to a misunderstanding of a particular situation, to aggression and suffering.
Logic in Yoga implies the observance of the law of Karma, the law of cause and effect. Each life situation has its cause in the past and is its consequence. At the same time, this same situation is the reason for the consequences in the future. How a series of karmic situations in our life will unfold depends on what actions we perform and whether they are logical according to the Second principle of Yoga. We all write our own code of laws of Karma, according to which our life and destiny are formed.
Super logic is a concept that is superior to logic, but often outwardly similar to illogical. How to recognize the super-logical? Firstly, super-logic will never contradict ordinary logic. And secondly, logic is such an instrument of our mind, using which we can always distinguish one from the other. Inconsistency will not pass the test of logic. In the event of controversial situations in life, when it is difficult to determine whether we have encountered a manifestation of illogicality or super-logic, you should not be afraid to use logic to analyze the problems that have arisen. If we are faced with a super-logical situation, then logic will never destroy it. And if our logic suddenly destroys what we considered to be super-logic, then it was illogical and should not be regretted.
The knowledge of yoga is super logical, the concept of kindness, friendship, love, enlightenment is also super logical — all this is from an area beyond our usual logic. Yoga calls us, developing logic and perfecting the mind, to exclude illogical manifestations from our life as much as possible and thereby advance to super logic.
Yoga does not impose specific goals
The goal of Yoga is absolute unconditional freedom from everything, including Yoga, if it makes your life not free. Therefore, coming to yoga, you can have a variety of goals. Moreover, any motivation leading to yoga is worthy of respect!
Yoga only recommends, first of all, not to do harm, and secondly, to outline the goal and consistently go to its implementation, without being distracted by extraneous matters. The Principle of Effectiveness calls us not to waste our time and energy, not to be scattered, not to be exhausted in those matters that in no way will bring us closer to our goals.
The application of the Second principle without following the recommendations of the first is fraught with the fact that a person can become cruel and cynical, inclined to go towards his goals by infringing on the freedom of other living beings and causing harm to them. So tyrants are born, “walking on their heads.” And on the contrary, one who strictly follows the First principle, without harming anyone, and at the same time achieves his goals, following logic and common sense, “finds” the path of dharma in his life. Such a yogi follows his duty and at the same time expands his freedom, but not at the expense of infringing on the freedom of others, but at the expense of rational use of his life resources.
The first principle of Yoga for that and the first to be respected in the first place
Situations can be very different. For example, you were invited to a bar after work, while you decided not to drink strong drinks on weekdays. Following the task, you smoothly, without sudden movements, move forward, reducing the frequency and duration of such meetings. And even if circumstances sometimes force you to retreat, you, “having broken”, remember the goal and do not stop trying.
Often beginner yoga is faced with a very difficult task — a change of interests and life priorities leads to a change in the circle of friends. What to do with “old” friends? Strictly following the first principle, we do not allow our relations with loved ones to move to the enemy level. No drastic steps should be taken in this regard. As a rule, subject to the First and Second principles of Yoga, the circle of communication changes gradually, quite easily, and harmoniously. The right people themselves will remain and reach for you, the unnecessary ones will “fall off” themselves, as it will become “not interesting” to them.
An inexhaustible source of strength and energy is inside us
Illogical, unreasonable actions, as a rule, lead to conflicts and cause a whole storm of negative emotions, which depletes us. Compliance with the principles of Yoga reduces the number of such situations, eliminating the leakage of vitality. At the same time, Yoga calls to reveal from within the power that every living creature possesses, or rather, our Higher Self. But we do not know about it from our own ignorance. Knowledge of yoga eliminates this ignorance, and regular practice allows you to uncover an inexhaustible source of strength and energy, cleansing all our structures and channels. Through classes, we will experience from personal experience that all knowledge, power, and enjoyment are within us.
I want to be logical! I can be logical! I will be logical!
Observing the above recommendations and principles, we naturally stop spending unnecessary forces. Moreover, due to some reserve, we can make a qualitative breakthrough in our spiritual development subject to the regular practice of yoga and find an inexhaustible source of strength and energy within ourselves.
Be logical, but not indifferent! | https://medium.com/blueinsight/pillars-for-an-harmonious-life-c482c430fdcc | ['Alex Koma'] | 2020-12-24 05:16:20.508000+00:00 | ['Blue Insights', 'Life', 'Yoga', 'Self Improvement', 'Life Lessons'] |
WHY DID I DECIDE TO LEARN SOFTWARE ENGINEERING ? | My passion for learning the Computer technology grew when i was in 6th grade and started to learn computers in school, i was so intrigued by it and i remember the feeling when my parents bought me and my brothers our first PC to share i was in 7th grade, and then after i learned about the importance that the Computer technology holds, my dad sent me to get classes for Computers because it was new and i wanted to learn more, even though i was learning it in school, i took extra classes to learn more of it like learning Microsoft and basics of Command Line Interface, terminal , how to create directories and files. It was basic but i still remember it and how excited i was.
When i went to College i decided to take Computers major because that’s what i had always been interested in, and there i learned the programming languages like C, C++, Java, learning Operating systems, Computer Graphics, Digitals, Information technology, Computer Networking, ASP.net, databases like Oracle learned how to use MySQL, HTML and much more and that’s when i graduated with degree in Bachelor’s of Computer Applications in 2016 with University Merit from a Accredited University in India.
Just one month after i gave my last exam, i moved to United States in 2016 . I didn’t get to attend my Graduation Ceremony. When i moved here and wanted to continue my education so i decided to study Computer Networking i studied for the CCENT exam and passed it and got the Certification from CISCO. It didn’t end there, i started applying for Jobs, i had no luck getting even the interview, every job i had applied to wanted a job experience, which i had none since i moved here right after graduating and i didn’t have a job it was discouraging and i felt like i had to start over.
Since i was new here with no network of friends or people i know , i had to find a job to start somewhere when this didn’t work for me, i worked at Customer Service at Target as my first ever job when i was 21 and then fast forward i got the Job at a Bank and i have been in Banking for past 3 years worked for 2 different banks, which is an experience i am glad i have now because i learned a lot, it built my confidence in speaking with Clients and helping them and providing them the best service, i liked helping people but my dream of becoming a Software Engineer always stayed with me, i couldn’t ever stop thinking about it, every time i questioned my career choice.
i kept myself in touch with learning through Youtube or other educational websites until one day i came across Flatiron School, at first i didn’t know what to expect and i signed up for it and here i am today, super thrilled and excited to start this journey!! and can’t wait to build projects and learn as i go. This is i believe one of my best decisions in life i have made for myself to finally have the career i love and passionate about and
i will continue to share my journey and share the learnings through my blog. Stay tuned! :) | https://medium.com/@salonimehta27/why-did-i-decide-to-learn-software-engineering-665fe3c84a01 | ['Saloni Mehta'] | 2021-04-27 01:23:11.212000+00:00 | ['Computer Science', 'Software Engineering', 'Computers', 'Flatiron School', 'Information Technology'] |
Tokenized Securities: are they worth the hype? | I’m not sure if you’ve noticed…but talk about tokenized securities is increasing. Not everybody is talking about it, but more people are.
In my last post I gave a brief and simple summary on what tokenized securities are and 3 ways they will revolutionise traditional securities as we know it. If you haven’t read it, you can check it out here.
In short…I believe the hype.
Now this is probably no secret if you’ve been following me for a while and let me share with you 3 reasons why I’m bullish on tokenized securities and what I’m currently doing about it.
Let’s get into it…
#1 The project’s financial success is my success
I’m not going to ‘forget’ utility tokens or think they are no longer worth investing in. I’m still bullish on utility tokens with the right elements, however a question I’ve always had is, what happens to my tokens if this project is acquired? Would the value go up? Down? Would I even benefit? The truth is, I don’t know. So for a utility token to give me any security in the long term, the token has to be an integral part of the project — that it cannot function without it and is attached to the value of the token.
With a security token, however, especially one that is equity based, it’s clearer to me what happens in a scenario like an acquisition, the bottom line is that I benefit. I like this. Additionally, if tokenized security provides a right to cash flow, then again, I know that if the project grows, there’s a direct link where I benefit, my ROI grows too.
#2 Value is driven by team performance, not just supply and demand
What grabs my interest about tokenized securities, is that there are two factors that impact it’s value. Firstly, fundamental economics, supply and demand, the more people who want this token the higher my token value goes.
But what if the demand isn’t there and the team is killing it? Signing big customers, growing sales, releasing new products? If it’s a utility token, there is not always an impact on the value, however if it’s a tokenized security with equity or cash flow, then it’s value will go up in the eyes of a potential buyer or my cash flow would increase. So I love the idea that the value of my token is not purely backed by speculation but also by the performance of the team, which makes team selection more critical.
#3 Backed by an asset
This is probably the most obvious reason, which is not a top priority for me in particular but it is a key factor. The reason I think this is key because with utility tokens, you don’t own a piece of the company and the utility is not usually realised when you first invest in this kind of project. So what backs the value of a utility token, especially in the first 12 months or so, typically, is pure supply and demand…pure speculation.
Now speculation is not bad, I can still make a lot of money on pure speculation, but if I’m new to crypto or used to investing in traditional assets, I won’t really get it. But I will get investing in a tokenized security and would feel comfortable in the fact that it’s regulatory compliant. In short, it’s simple and easier to understand. So if it’s easier to understand, my guess is that a lot of money will also go that way.
I do believe there is a strong case for utility tokens and I will continue to invest in the ones I believe have long term merit. I still believe it’s an extremely valuable market, which I can still make a lot of money in long term, however I can’t deny it feels good to own a piece of a company. And if I feel like this, so will a lot of people who don’t get crypto but do traditional assets.
So in summary, I’m actively researching and taking positions in this space. I’ll also be sharing the STOs (Security Token Offerings) and projects in this space I review in the coming posts, so be sure to follow this medium to ensure you don’t miss out.
What do you think? Are you bullish on security tokens or are you avoiding them altogether? Let me know in the comments below. | https://medium.com/cryptocurrency-orchard/tokenised-securities-are-they-worth-the-hype-bc54f8459f31 | ['Jason Cameron'] | 2018-07-04 10:33:21.801000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain', 'ICO', 'Ethereum', 'Bitcoin'] |
10 Questions I not Still Have Gucci-Jeezy Verzuz | Gucci Mane. Photo: 2020HHA/Getty Images
Ifyou’re here you already know what this is about. From the moment Jeezy and Gucci Mane were announced as the latest Verzuz battle, people knew that the head-to-head promised more than performative pettiness. (For the uninitiated: 15 years ago, intense beef between the two Atlanta rappers resulted in Jeezy’s friend, Pookie Loc, losing his life.) We were nervous heading into last night’s duel, and it did not disappoint. We got drama, intensity, Atlanta institution Magic City, and a palpable fear for everyone in attendance — thanks in large part to Gucci performing multiple songs dissing Jeezy, including “The Truth,” which explicitly mocks Loc’s murder. Things felt like they were about to go way the hell left, but cooler heads prevailed and they ended up performing “So Icy” together. (Then they co-hosted a superspreader afterparty at Atlanta nightclub Compound, which is another story altogether.)
I’m still coming down from the blood pressure spike, but some pressing unanswered questions from the night remain. | https://medium.com/@nombhefgeoprom/10-questions-i-not-still-have-gucci-jeezy-verzuz-8aed5a3ef025 | [] | 2020-11-24 06:49:53.748000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Tutorial', 'Verzuz', 'Activism', 'Guns'] |
Using Classification Models To Predict Vaccinations | We are currently in the seventh month of a global pandemic. I think I can safely say no one is enjoying it. The quicker this ends the better. One of the most important tools the medical field has when it comes to mitigating the spread of a virus is vaccination. However, vaccinations don’t work if no one gets vaccinated. Now, I realize that sounds like an obvious statement, and in many ways it is. However, it is nonetheless a hugely important fact. This is the underlying idea of “herd immunity”, and it is vital to be able to identify members of the community who are unlikely to get vaccinated.
Fortunately for us aspiring data scientists this is not our first pandemic. In response to the H1N1 Flu in 2009, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducted a survey “in order to monitor and evaluate flu vaccination efforts among adults and children”. This phone survey asked people whether they had received H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccines, in conjunction with information they shared about their lives, opinions, and behaviors. DrivenData provided a large chunk of this dataset and posed the question: Using the survey results can you make a model that predicts who will get either vaccine? I figured I would give it a shot (pun intended).
For my last project, I created a linear regression model to predict a baseball team’s total wins. The target there (wins) is a continuous value and so it was perfectly suited for a regression model. This problem is not so simple (or perhaps it’s more simple?). Here our target value is binary, whether or not a participant got the vaccine. So for this problem, we will be looking at classification models rather than regression models. These are models that predict the likelihood of one result or the other, rather than trying to predict a continuous variable.
In this post I will walk through the process I took to build my model as well as explain some of the different classification models I ended up not using.
Data Cleaning
Fair warning, this is the boring part, so if you aren’t very interested you will not lose anything by skipping this section.
The data set consisted of 35 different questions. Twenty-three of the questions had numerical answers, with either a range on an opinion scale (1–5) or a simple binary yes(1) or no(0). Twelve of the questions however had categorical answers, i.e. income level, education level, race, city, etc. Most classification models will not work with pure categorical values, so I had to use a few different techniques to convert these categorical values into numerical inputs.
The first method I used is to create dummy features for each category. For example, one question asked for a home city. Instead of keeping that one column with all the cities (in text form), I turned each city into its own column. Each city column had a 0 if the respondee did not live there and a 1 if they did. This can be a dangerous approach as it can greatly increase the number of columns, and thus the dimensionality of your dataset.
The second method is to convert the text data to ordinal numeric values. This is done when there is some ordered relationship between the values. For example, when looking at education, the data was in the form of “Graduated High School”, “Completed Some College”, “Graduated College”, etc. These values can be converted to 14, 16, and 18 respectively to give a rough estimation of “years in school”. Again, this is only really appropriate where there is already some underlying relationship between the values, where one is “larger” than the other.
On top of these transformations, I also had to deal with all of the “Null” values. In particular, for a question on whether or not a participant had health care, nearly half of the responses were “Null” i.e. no data. My first inclination was to just toss this column altogether, there’s not enough data so just get rid of it. However, upon closer look, I saw that while slightly over 20% of all the respondents got the H1N1 vaccine, of the people with “Null” healthcare only 13% got the H1N1 vaccine.
This told me that there may actually be value in those “Null” values, so I decided to create “dummy variables” out of that column. I ended up with three columns, “Has Healthcare”, “Doesn’t Have Healthcare”, and “We Don’t Know”.
Was this the right approach? Perhaps not, and with more time I would have loved to play around with this feature some more. But this process really exemplified how data cleaning is not a cut and dry process, but rather each decision is unique and requires thought out reasoning. Anyways, now that I had a numerical full data set with no “Null” values I was ready to move to the fun part.
Model Introduction
Welcome back to those that left us.
There are quite a few classification models to choose from. For simplicity (and time) I will be focusing on three classifiers in this post: K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Random Forest Classifiers, Logistic Regression.
KNN
Let’s start with KNN. This model uses clustering to create a prediction. Let’s first envision a problem with only two features (X and Y) and a target (Orange and Blue). We could graph those features like so:
Example KNN
Now if we are given a new data point with an X and Y but not color, we could plot it and see what colors are around it. If it is near a lot of blues (in the top right) we will categorize it as blue, if it winds up near a lot of oranges (in the bottom left) we will categorize it as orange. We can fairly easily conceptualize how this would work if we added in a third dimension. And thanks to distance formulas in math, this idea can be scaled up to theoretically infinite dimensions. This is exactly what KNN models are doing.
The main parameter you can set in a KNN model is the number of neighbors it will look for to categorize the data point. If you set K to 1, then the new data will be categorized as whatever the closest point is categorized as. This would lead to an extremely overfit model. Likewise, if you set K too high then the model will tend to underfit. Finding an appropriate K is imperative for a good model.
Random Forest Classifier
The second model I looked at was a Random Forest Classifier (RFC). An RFC is just a collection of Decision Trees, so let’s first breakdown what a decision tree is.
Here’s a definition straight from Wikipedia: “A decision tree is a flowchart-like structure in which each internal node represents a “test” on an attribute”. Huh? Ok, maybe a visual representation would be a bit easier.
Example Decision Tree
The above is an example decision tree to decide what a person should do with their day. The questions are the nodes of the tree, and depending on their answers you work your way down different branches of the “tree”. At a certain point, you reach the “leaf node” which is the category that the model predicts. What does this mean for my model? Well, each survey question will be a different node. So if I feed in a set of survey answers, it will run it down the decision tree model and land at a leaf node which would be the prediction.
One main variable you can use to “mold” this model is the tree’s “depth”. The initial node is set at depth 0, and each ensuing branch adds a layer of depth. The “deeper” a tree is the more overfit it can become. A really deep tree would do a great job of explaining the training data, but a poor job of generalizing for new data. There is no “one size fits all” for how deep a tree should be. It will differ for each dataset and each problem. Again, it’s helpful to have a good understanding of your problem in order to understand how to play with this variable.
One dataset can have thousands of Decision Trees that give slightly different results. An RFC aggregates a certain number of these trees into a “Forest” and takes the mode of all of the Decision Trees’ results. For example, I made an RFC of 100 trees. If I feed in a set of answers and 70 trees predict “No Vaccine” and 30 predict “Yes Vaccine”, then the RFC will return a “No Vaccine” Prediction.
Logistic Regression
The last model I’ll discuss in the Logistic Regression model. Of the three this is definitely the hardest to conceptualize. Whereas Linear Regression assumed that there was a linear relationship between our features and our prediction, Logistic Regression assumes a linear relationship between the features and the log-odds of the prediction. So ultimately, the output of a logistic regression model is the percent chance the data entries correspond to one of two binary predictions.
Example of Linear regression
As you can see in the above image, logistic regression will give you a value between 1 and 0. The closer the value is to 1, the more likely it is to belong to that class. In my case 1 represents a “Yes Vaccine”, so if a logistic regression model returned a 0.85 it was telling me that the given survey inputs corresponded to an 85% chance of getting vaccinated.
For a logistic regression model, it is very important to understand your “threshold”. The threshold determines at what cut-off to split your data. If you set your threshold to 0.6 then anything under that would be predicted as a 0. There are a few different methods to determine what threshold works best for your dataset that I will get into later, but again the most important thing to understand is it will vary for every problem.
Model Selection
Once I had a good understanding of how each model worked, I needed to determine which model would work best for my problem. My model would need to predict two separate targets, H1N1 vaccination, and Seasonal-Flu Vaccination. In the initial data exploration, I quickly noticed that the H1N1 target was highly imbalanced.
The proportion of the population that got each vaccine
As you can see from the above graph, while close to 50% of the respondents got the Seasonal Flu Vaccination, only about 20% of the respondents got the H1N1 vaccination. This means that we can’t rely on a metric like accuracy to determine how good our model is. Why not? Well, if we made a “dumb model” that just predicted a respondent would not get the H1N1 every single time regardless of the inputs, it would still have an accuracy of almost 80 percent!
For this problem, I decided that the False Positives would be the term I would like to limit. These would be the people that my model predicted WOULD get a vaccination that ended up NOT getting a vaccination. This number is important because ultimately I want to be capturing as many of the non-vaccinators as possible. The more False Positives I have, the more non-vaccinators are slipping through the crack.
Let’s take a look at how my models did. For the sake of this blog, I am just showing what I did for the unbalanced H1N1 target, but in actuality, I performed all these steps for both target variables.
Here you can see three different confusion matrixes for my three models predicting H1N1 vaccines. The False Positives are shown in the top right corner. These are the people the model predicted would get the vaccine that did not. You can see that the Nearest Neighbors method fared the worst, misidentifying 241 non-vaccinators as vaccinators. In addition, it also had the highest number of False Negatives, people it predicted to not get the vaccine that did get it.
So it was clear to see that the KNN model would not be the best model in predicting this problem. The other two models had much closer values. I had to look a bit further into these to decide which I would use.
Recall versus Precision
Recall and precision are two vital metrics when analyzing a classification model’s predictions. They are also very easily mixed up. Here are there formulas:
So what do they mean? Precision can be thought of as the percentage of correct identifications out of all of the true values. While the recall is the percentage of correct identifications out of all of the models predicted identifications. In my case, I wanted to limit the false negatives so I wanted to maximize the recall. There will always be a trade-off between the two. So in order to get a higher recall value, sometimes you have to sacrifice a bit of precision.
I realize those are a lot of numbers to look at. But focusing on the No H1N1 vaccination recall we see that both models had a score of .95. This means that of all the people that didn't get vaccinated, the models were able to identify 95% of them. Comparing this to the roughly 80% we would have gotten from just guessing that EVERYONE wouldn't have gotten vaccinated we see that our models are doing definitely doing better than a “dumb model”.
It turns out my two models were pretty neck and neck when it came to their predictive abilities. By using some fancy ensembling techniques (combining multiple models and taking their averages) I was able to get to a model that consistently (albeit slightly) outperformed these more basic models. However, the last thing I had to factor in was model complexity.
For me, this meant how big my actual model was (in actual MBs when I stored it) and how long the model took to make predictions. Logistic regression was an order of ten times smaller than the Random Forest model (remember the random forest was comprised of 100 decision trees) and could produce very quick predictions. So ultimately I decided to use the logistic regression model as my final model for my app. Try it out and see if anything surprises you!
Takeaways
I found that the most important features for my model were whether or not vaccines were recommended by a doctor and whether or not the respondent had health insurance. This is noteworthy because it tells us that across all ages, education levels, and socio-economic levels a doctor's recommendation is possibly the biggest tool we have. It may not be the most exciting discovery, but I believe it is important none the less. It seems imperative that doctors provide vaccine recommendations during any and every check-up. And if the doctors better understand the impact their recommendations have, I’m sure they would make sure to do so. | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/using-classification-models-to-predict-vaccinations-f71d1c43bec7 | ['Ryan Werth'] | 2020-11-18 12:56:33.915000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Pandas', 'Python', 'Classification', 'Data Science'] |
I Was 47 the First Time I Swallowed | Living My Best Double Life
I Was 47 the First Time I Swallowed
And he tasted good
Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash
He started thrusting back against my bobbing head; his breath growing ragged. He was close.
“I’m going to cum,” he grunted out, warning me to move.
And I had a problem.
We were in the backseat of my SUV in a Walmart parking lot near midnight.
“Go ahead, it’s ok,” I told him between downstrokes.
I’m sure he liked that, but I had no idea what I was going to do next.
Hubby loves his Audi, so spitting a load on the carpet wasn’t an option. I couldn’t clean it up well enough before he saw it, or explain how it got there.
“Ah….”
His cock pulsated as he exhaled forceful breaths in time with the waves of his orgasm.
And he pulsated.
And pulsated.
Even as my mouth filled with his semen, I wasn’t sure if I was going to hold it. If I could hold it long enough to open the car door I’d be good, but I was filling up fast.
No one other than hubby’s came in my mouth, but I’d never swallowed.
My gagging always stopped that. And I wasn’t a slut!
Thankfully hubby didn’t often come in my mouth. When he did, spitting him out was easy because I was the one cleaning up, so I’d spit on the easiest thing to clean.
Even so, it’d been over ten years since this was even a problem.
And pulsated.
Fuck.
And pulsated.
Where was he hiding it?
And pulsated.
I was running out of options — fast.
I couldn’t keep sucking and hold his cum in my mouth at the same time. It was already starting to drain out the corners of my lips.
Fuck.
The door was behind me, and there was no way I could turn fast enough without ruining his moment or dropping it down the front of my blouse.
Jesus.
Without another thought, I lifted my chin, tilted my head, and gulped him down in two quick swallows.
Whoa.
Maybe I am a slut, I thought, smiling.
“Did you like that?” I looked up.
“God, yes! Thank you,” he said. “Your mouth is so good.”
Running my tongue around my teeth, clearing the rest, I swallowed again.
Considering the texture and taste, now that I had a moment to think, egg whites and a minty aftertaste were the first things that came to mind.
Not bad. Thank god. Wait. Do I like it? Hmmm, I did.
Fixing my lipstick in the makeup mirror I laughed,
“There! Better. I can’t go home looking like I’ve just sucked a cock, now can I?” | https://medium.com/sex-and-satire/i-was-47-the-first-time-i-swallowed-6a312d3bd751 | ['Teresa J Conway'] | 2020-10-13 06:54:48.134000+00:00 | ['Sexuality', 'Cheating', 'Relationships', 'Dating Advice', 'Self-awareness'] |
Faster R&D pace complicates SQL Server upgrades for users | Faster R&D pace complicates SQL Server upgrades for users
Microsoft is updating SQL Server and Azure SQL Database more quickly than it did in the past — and keeping up with the new releases can be a tough task for DBAs. sheikhSumon Dec 22, 2020·6 min read
SEATTLE — SQL Server 2019 will be the third version of Microsoft’s relational database software in four years, the product of an accelerated development pace that creates new challenges for users on SQL Server upgrades.
The faster R&D velocity also affects users of Azure SQL Database, SQL’s Server cloud cousin, and Microsoft’s other cloud-based data platforms. Those technologies and tools that support them are updated rapidly; for example, Microsoft releases monthly updates of its Azure management portal and Azure Data Studio, a database administration tool for both SQL Server and Azure databases.
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“It’s like drinking from the fire hose to keep up with all the changes,” Mark Freeman, a senior database administrator (DBA) at Azure SQL Database user BDO Global, said in an interview at PASS Summit 2018.
Brussels-based BDO runs hundreds of instances of the cloud database. Freeman, who works at the tax, audit and management consulting services company’s office in Columbus, Ohio, said the speed at which Microsoft is developing the Azure data services line “is just mind-blowing.” Overall, the fast pace is to the good, he added, but the vendor is moving so quickly that it can cause some issues for him.
“I like to say that they tend to move my cheese a lot,” Freeman said. “I go into the Azure portal and things that I’m used to using have moved or aren’t there anymore. And sometimes they pull the old thing before a new thing is ready — they get ahead of themselves a little bit.” | https://medium.com/@sumonsheikh391/faster-r-d-pace-complicates-sql-server-upgrades-for-users-7d56c4f04639 | [] | 2020-12-22 16:04:31.054000+00:00 | ['Server', 'Topics', 'Users', 'Sql'] |
Crossed Legs | Cross my legs and hope to die,
Raspberries and grey-blue eyes
Tangled in you until tomorrow
Yours are minutes I’ll borrow
Tied with troubles
No business in the rubble
Fake the feeling
Even though for me, wheeling
Projecting and pretending
You would be sending
Your well wishes
And cigarette-stained kisses
Another visit, but I’m naive
Imagining one you’ll never leave
So light my name
Like flowers, tame
And resume your single-cylinder
Life, while I review new contenders | https://medium.com/lit-up/crossed-legs-cb60afb17110 | ['Stephanie Jackson'] | 2020-07-18 15:44:27.117000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Life Lessons', 'Poem', 'Breakups', 'Poetry'] |
WFP delivers | One of UNDP’s implementing partners, Caritas Antilles, is repairing and rebuilding houses of those most affected in Grand Bay, which has been badly hit by the hurricane. In a country where more than 90% of the roofs were damaged or destroyed, there is a lot of work to be done for organisations such as UNDP and Caritas Antilles. In Grand Bay, Caritas Antilles is helping at least 58 families build a new home and 160 further families will be assisted with building repairs using the building material delivered by WFP.
Mike (Head of Operations, Caritas Antilles) and Luis (Logistics Officer, WFP) at the distribution of building material in Grand Bay. Photo: WFP/Zerina Karup
After arriving in Dominica only three days after the hurricane, Mike, Head of Operations at Caritas Antilles, explains that they had faced logistical issues in assisting their beneficiaries. He says: “I don’t want to say WFP was Godsent, but WFP has really helped us a lot.” Particularly early in the emergency response, there was a lack of coordination as well as major congestion at the port, which has been improved with the help of WFP’s logistics team. This allowed Caritas Antilles and other partners to reach their beneficiaries in the midst of the emergency.
IsraAid reroofing a house with material delivered by WFP. Photo: IsraAid/Debra Mailman
As time is moving on, relief organizations are speeding up reconstruction efforts for those in need. In collaboration with UNDP, the IFRC is constructing a total of 400 houses across the country. IsraAid is also on the ground in collaboration with Digicel whereby Digicel is reconstructing schools and IsraAid is reroofing some of the students’ homes in Atkinson, Castle Bruce, La Plaine, Salybia and Concord. By assisting these partners in storage, operational support and distribution, WFP is making sure that they receive the material needed to provide shelter to those most affected by the hurricane. Jonathan, Team Lead and Programme Manager at Americares, explains that WFP is assisting them in the distribution of building material and emphasized the efficiency and reliability of collaborating with WFP. Americares has reconstructed two primary health care facilities and is currently rebuilding five additional primary health care facilities as well as one central medical store.
Inasmuch as the implementation of a project is important, so is its logistical handling. In an emergency, collaboration between UN agencies, NGOs, the Government and private sector is key. In the case of Dominica, it has materialized into a rapid and successful response to the impacts of Hurricane Maria. This has only been possible thanks to the support of WFP’s donors: European Commission’s DG ECHO, CERF, DFID, Facebook, the Government of the United Arab Emirates, USAID, Google, Sealed Air, Nielsen, Luxemburg, Canada and Cisco Foundation. | https://medium.com/world-food-programme-insight/wfp-delivers-cff6839d6712 | ['Zerina Karup'] | 2018-03-09 12:56:06.117000+00:00 | ['Hurricane Maria', 'European Commission', 'Dominica', 'Humanitarian', 'Emergency'] |
The Birth of Sodom | Everyone knows that you never forget your first time.
Akindayo knew this well. The memory of it never left him. At times, it was quiet like the bushes of Ibadan at midnight, and sometimes it was loud like a drunkard walking through the streets of Lagos on a Friday night, but it never left. The most it did was sleep.
On his 18th birthday, as Pastor Tobi prayed over him in the same tongues Akin has been hearing ever since he was born, he looked over to see her staring at him with a strange look. It was not a new one. He saw it at odd moments for the past few years and it was a reminder that he did not carry this burden alone. She too had been blessed with this curse.
He had known Toyosi ever since he was 7. She was 9, had just come back from Nigeria, and had what he used to call a “very weird way of speaking”. She spoke a lot, and Akin quickly realised when speaking with her that she was satisfied if he just nodded from time to time. She looked just like her father Pastor Tobi, but had the complexion and beauty of her mother, Aunty Joke. However her personality was all hers. She would tell stories of how lizards and wall geckos were lords over the walls and you could go nowhere without seeing them. She would mimic the way the lizards nod in a way that had them falling down laughing and holding their bellies each time, and he soon subconsciously started nodding like a lizard whenever she would tell a story.
By the time he was 11 and she was 13, everyone in church knew them as best friends. He was over at their house so much, that Aunty Joke started calling him her second husband whilst Pastor Tobi started calling him his son. Toyosi was a bit of a tomboy, and so he didn’t see it as anything significant. She was practically just one of the guys, and was one of the best midfielders he had ever seen. Every Sunday after Church, they would go to the local astroturf and fall into their automatic roles as captains. Being on the same team wouldn’t be much fun, and so they made it their goal to be rivals each time. It wasn’t much of a rivalry as her team beat his constantly, but it kept things interesting. She played semi-pro football for a while after, and Akin used to regularly think to himself that maybe she could have gone pro if things didn’t turn out the way they did.
He remembered she was a girl when he was 14. It all changed overnight. One day she was wearing her T-shirt and jeans, and the next she was wearing maxi dresses and skirts. He began to notice the curves that were never originally there, and how when she laughed it would pierce any black cloud following him. It was the first time he truly understand what holy meant. And she could feel it too. He tended to be oblivious to how many girls desired him (as boys of that age tend to be), but she started noticing how many stared at him when they went out, and out of curiosity she started staring too. And she realized soon enough that he was worth staring at. He was worth listening to. Her mum had always said that he was a very handsome boy, but she never saw it. Until she did.
One day, he decided to go to her house and wait for her. She had traveled with her football team to Liverpool and they were coming back that night, so he decided to go to her house and wait to surprise her. Pastor Tobi had traveled to Ghana on a ministry trip, but Aunty Joke was around, and so he decided to hang out and watch some TV until Toyosi arrived. At 5:57pm, a time he has never forgotten, Aunty Joke shouted for him,
“ Okọ keji, jẹ ki o ran mi lọwọ lati gbe apoti yii. My second husband, come and help me carry this suitcase.”
He put down the bowl of chin chin he had been eating and ran to where Aunty Joke was. She was standing by the side of her bed looking at a suitcase on top of the wardrobe, and he licked his fingers and proceeded to position himself to carry it. Aunty Joke stepped aside, and he began to stretch, when he felt her seem to edge closer towards him. He thought nothing of it and concentrated on the task at hand, till her hand was over his groin. He froze and couldn’t move. Things are a blur after that. What he does remember is Toyosi’s face when she walked in to find her mum and her best friend half naked in bed. It was a weird mixture of anger, shock and hurt. Aunty Joke jumped up to chase after her daughter, whilst he somehow managed to get his things and go home.
They stopped speaking after that. What is there to say after that? Everything about that day hurt her. The image she saw. Her mother. Her best friend. The fact that she had scored a hat-trick and won the tournament, and never had a chance to celebrate it with him. She won it for him. The image of her mother kneeling down before her half naked and crying that the devil made her do it, and that she shouldn’t say anything. The guilt that ate her up because she listened and kept a secret that should have never been hers to keep. It choked her for a long time after.
It all came to a head when Aunty Joke died a year later.
She was involved in a car accident on the M4, when her car hit a truck at full speed. Everyone from Church would never forget where they were when they heard the news. Toyosi never forgot the look on her father’s face as she came out of her college building at the end of the school day. He was with two of the Church deacons and he walked briskly towards her to utter words that would change her life.
The funeral stayed fresh in Toyosi’s mind. The feelings of hopelessness. Of loss. Of anger. Of guilt, because maybe all the curses she had shouted to the heavens for months after that night had been heard. Grandma always used to tell her to be careful of what she said, as the wrong angel might be listening. Maybe an angel of death had been sympathetic to her case and had thought that this would be blessing. How wrong he was, she thought, as her father’s denominational overseer gave a eulogy that she knew in her heart to be false.
Akin too felt robbed. He never had a chance to explain himself. He never had a chance to tell Toyosi that he didn’t want it. That he didn’t know how to say no. That the shock of it all paralysed him and his body decided to ignore his heart. He never got to tell Aunty Joke how betrayed he felt. How deep the wounds went, and how they haunted his mind at every second. There was no one he could share his guilt and shame with. He knew he was underage, yet he felt it hard to classify himself as a victim. He wrestled with what label to give himself for a long time. The day after Pastor Tobi prayed for him, he finally settled with “pathetic”. By the time his first year of university came, he welcomed the opportunity to start a new life.
He never went back to that Church. He embraced Sodom instead.
To be continued… | https://molasope.medium.com/the-birth-of-sodom-fe38566720f4 | ['Michael Olasope'] | 2019-03-17 00:43:08.088000+00:00 | ['Short Story', 'Nigeria', 'Best Friend', 'Church', 'Abuse'] |
Walking Away | I made a decision last week that it’s time to go. Clearly, all the signs are there, and my gut is not just whispering, it is screaming, “Get out, by whatever means available, just go. This ship is sinking, and there is nothing you can do to stop it from doing so.” It is, and there isn’t. I need to go.
I went in yesterday, and slowly found myself second-guessing my decision. “What about this great view?” I will miss this. But, it’s like the first year the Washington Nationals were in their beautiful new ballpark, but the team was atrocious that year. By mid-season, I could no longer justify my season tickets. It got old saying, “How about that ballpark”, when the team was doing nothing and going nowhere. I had to go.
I’ve only told a couple people — granted, they were the most important people to have told, but I have let it be known that I need to go, and they are putting the wheels in motion to make that possible.
Nothing to do now but strap in, throw my hands up in the air, and get ready for one wild ride. It helps, also, to scream. Ya-a-a-a — a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a — let’s go. | https://medium.com/the-story-hall/i-guess-you-could-say-ive-developed-the-fine-art-of-walking-away-through-the-years-e69c9792188d | ['Hawkeye Pete Egan B.'] | 2018-02-13 15:44:45.456000+00:00 | ['Surrender', 'Work', 'Friends Of Cowbird', 'Walking', 'Fear'] |
Baby-trapped (Day 64) | Photo by Joshua Reddekopp on Unsplash
Otto has been sleeping a lot these last two days. I mean more than usual. He always sleeps well at night, and he has been napping during the day abundantly.
I’m reasoning it as his time to process what he has seen, felt and experienced in between naps. It is the way he grows.
And sure he does. I mean you can see the difference from when he was a newborn. He is very alert, active and receptive. I’m talking to him a lot, and he is the cutest as he responds mostly by gesticulation, but also with some cooing. And his smiling. It is just something out of this world. It melts your heart, I swear.
The funniest thing is that he absolutely adores the curtains in our living room. He stares at them and I can’t understand what is so fascinating. They’re gray and white and maybe it’s just the contrast that he likes.
We also exercise, sing, read stories, rattle rattles, observe things in our house and cuddle.
So I guess it is a lot to process. And so he has to sleep. At his age, up to fifteen hours per day. He gets good ten to twelve hours at night and he also gets me baby-trapped for four or five during the day. Mostly, he naps with me on the couch or in our bed, as he isn’t accustomed to sleep alone. This is a task we will have to do soon as it will only get harder when he’ll be older.
Motherhood in numbers: | https://medium.com/a-year-in-a-life/baby-trapped-day-64-e81f4fc25484 | ['Sara Tomsic'] | 2019-11-26 20:34:34.457000+00:00 | ['Baby Sleep', 'Motherhood', 'Baby', 'Parenting'] |
Participatory Inquiry, episode 152: Social Cognition | “In a network, social cognition, at win^n scale.”
@johnkellden
Social Cognition
How people process, store, and apply information about other people and social situations. It focuses on the role that cognitive processes play in social interactions.
Social Interaction
“Social interaction is the regulated coupling between at least two autonomous agents, where the regulation is aimed at aspects of the coupling itself so that it constitutes an emergent autonomous organization in the domain of relational dynamics, without destroying in the process the autonomy of the agents involved (though the latter’s scope can be augmented or reduced).”
— Hanne De Jaegher and Ezequiel Di Paolo
Social Graph
Circles of friends and acquaintances, digitally augmented and evolving through our circles of concern, influence and confluence.
Circle of Concern and Influence
A Circle of Concern encompasses the wide range of concerns we have, such as our health, our children, problems at work, the amount of government borrowing, or the threat of war.
A Circle of Influence encompasses those concerns that we can do something about. They are concerns that we have some control over.
Circle of Confluence
More than two thousand years ago, there was a confluence of two ideas:
- the alphabet, invented by the phoenicians
- the idea of progress, the idea that we could become better than our parents
Data
In a network, data is the intersect of will and intelligence, will turned flow and performance. Warm data is data cultivated in a context of dialogue, learning, generativity, mutuality, play, nature and connectivity. Next-gen digital platforms, can be designed to both honor digital identity and support open data ecosystems.
Identity
At the center of our circles is our notions of selfhood, service and synthesis. Our personal self exists in a state of imaginative, generative tension with our essential character and evolutionary purpose. Our desire to game our environment for our own advantage, is guided by how we perceive the world, orient ourselves in it, decide and take thought and action. Our levelling up in our game of life, can be outlined by win, win-win and win-win-win.
Win^n
A generative sequence, from win, to win-win, to win-win-win. Generative sequences are sets of (playable) patterns, producing structure-preserving transformation.
the times they are a changin
Information
Information is the intersect of situational awareness and will turned flow.
Ie, without data supporting, wireframing our information, there’s a risk with information too selectively sifted and sorted, reinforcing our own separate, separative, polarizing will. In a digital conversation, uninformed opinion as one of the common patterns.
Knowledge
Knowledge is the intersect of imagination and situational awareness, with our own and others’ existing behavior the core constraint and, should we so choose, providing us with ample opportunity to learn, unlearn and relearn.
Wisdom
Wisdom is the intersect of intelligence and imagination. If our behavior is too much of a constraint, to the detriment of our imagination, the intersect of intelligence and imagination becomes polarized, conflicted, resisted and in extreme cases, non-existent. The generative review of wisdom is ability.
“Intelligence is quickness to apprehend as distinct from ability,
which is capacity to act wisely on the thing apprehended.”
— Alfred North Whitehead
Wise Playground
Wise playground, is a confluence of four ideas: impact investing, next-gen social network, decentralized autonomous organization and practical wisdom. It is designed to scale to 300k humans, forming small groups, with intelligence augmentation and knowledge allocation (insight markets) where conversations that mind and matter at network scale, turn intelligence into ability, in service to needs.
Complex Responsive Processes
A combination of interactions, conversations and transactions, combining human ingenuity and social network connectivity.
Conversations that Mind and Matter
A subset of conversations, enabling knowledge leverage and navigation.
Graph
Structures, processes and flows, out of a combination of identity, co-creation of value, intelligence augmentation, coordination of means and knowledge navigation.
Knowledge Navigation
A superset of search. Open data ecosystems, providing actionable insight(data) in service to actionable insight (story, knowledge ecosystems).
Participatory Inquiry Graph
complex responsive processes x social cognition = participatory inquiry graph
A (network) graph, is the product of processes and social cognition. Networked social cognition is how we coordinate ourselves in networks, and how we coordinate networks.
Participatory sensemaking and meaning-making
Participatory sensemaking and meaningmaking, is to community (and writ extended and over time, cultures and societies and civilizations) what participatory inquiry is to individual will, will turned flow.
Participatory sense-making An enactive approach to social cognition
“As yet, there is no enactive account of social cognition. This paper extends the enactive concept of sense-making into the social domain. It takes as its departure point the process of interaction between individuals in a social encounter. It is a well-established finding that individuals can and generally do coordinate their movements and utterances in such situations. We argue that the interaction process can take on a form of autonomy. This allows us to reframe the problem of social cognition as that of how meaning is generated and transformed in the interplay between the unfolding interaction process and the individuals engaged in it. The notion of sense-making in this realm becomes participatory sense-making. The onus of social understanding thus moves away from strictly the individual only.”
— Hanne De Jaegher and Ezequiel Di Paolo
Doing A POODLE
Informed and guided by the above, we have an option, to move from existing practice, to best practice and from best practice to best option. As part of such a movement, trust; trust, movement, we can extend the competitive OODA-loop to an intelligence and knowledge augmenting POODLE-loop:
OODA: Observe, Orient, Decide & Act
POODLE: Perceive, Observe, Orient, Design, Learn & (En)Act
And, in the end, the flow you instigate, is equal to the know, you make. | https://medium.com/@johnkellden/participatory-inquiry-episode-152-social-cognition-7ee0e19d78ed | ['John Kellden'] | 2019-05-25 07:21:32.488000+00:00 | ['Participatory Inquiry', 'Conv That Mind And Matter', 'Cognition', 'Strategy', 'Social'] |
teen years//humanity | Thorns piercing my skin
More powerful than anything seen
They darken my heart, blur the light in my eye
I do not know why tears of blood I cry
Tears of oblivion, water of the primordials
They drop unknown in the inner universe of the creator's prison
Through blue hellfire the great deciever crawls
To save the monarch of a falling empire, to show him the divine's treason
How can you accept to fly with the fallen angels in their twisted paradise?
How could He forsake us, tell us all these lies?
But when the angels turn their head at the sight of your light
The demonic will embrace you, darken your sight | https://medium.com/@stefanmatei95/teen-years-humanity-685a2b9d3efa | [] | 2020-12-24 00:08:39.727000+00:00 | ['Divinity', 'Poetry', 'Chaos', 'Love', 'Freelance'] |
Think You Need Microservices? Think Again | Microservices have been everywhere for the past few years. YouTube is using them. Facebook is using them.
But should you use them?
Spoiler alert: Microservices probably isn’t the best solution for your cloud architecture. In this article, we’ll explain why.
Let’s start with the basics.
What Are Microservices?
The two most popular paradigms are monolithic architectures or microservice architectures.
For years, a monolithic architecture has been a dependable way to compose systems. These systems have multiple components all under the same service. They leverage internal libraries and don’t require much network activity.
The other, newer, sexier option is microservices. Rather than a single service, microservices have many components, each with its own specific process. Each component has distinct lines of responsibility and is separated from one another.
Here’s an example:
When you log into your email, a few things must happen.
You visit a webpage You submit your login and password Your device connects to a database A server grants your access A new webpage loads with your email interface
In a microservice architecture, each of these steps would be contained within their own process. In order to complete the full task (logging you into your email), each of these components much communication over the wire. This breaks up your environment into tiny pieces of information and requires multiple connections to function.
Why Are Microservices So Popular?
We hate to see it.
It’s because the big boys are doing it.
We often hear things like,
“Microservices is scalable! I want to scale.”
“Microservices is reliable! I need reliability.”
“YouTube is using microservices and they are soooo cool!”
Tech giants like Facebook and YouTube are using this architecture because they’re operating at a scale larger than 99% of companies that exist.
They need a system that can process 6,000 user requests per second. They have two billion users.
But Here’s The Problem
Simply stated: Microservices are over-hyped.
The fact is that most software architectures won’t ever be difficult or complex enough to require microservices.
Most companies (read: your company) can handle a simple architecture. Rather than breaking out systems, you can copy systems.
Here’s What You Should Do
We repeat: Your niche software application probably doesn’t need the same architecture as YouTube.
However, like all things, it depends on your unique use case.
While you’re the subject matter expert of your domain, don’t underestimate the power and simplicity of a well-maintained monolith. Once you start using microservices, you put yourself into a design paradigm that you can’t easily get out of.
If your application requires certain functionality that isn’t easily internalized, such as NLP or a machine learning process, you would be a good candidate for separate service, while still maintaining the sanctity of a monolith application.
Overall, well designed monolithic architectures are simpler and easier to maintain. And when it comes to architecture, the simpler the better. | https://wintersieck.medium.com/think-you-need-microservices-think-again-b48b3e0caf33 | ['Allan Wintersieck'] | 2020-10-23 18:46:39.032000+00:00 | ['Microservices', 'Software Architecture', 'Software Engineering', 'Cto'] |
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